During the first several weeks of my time in Copenhagen, I made myself a list of all the things that I wanted to do over the course of the semester. I found it last week and was extremely proud of how I have done, and wanted to share it here as a way to commemorate that fantastic experiences I've had. I've decided to re-organize it to allow for easy picture sharing and digestion. ;-)
Things I have managed to do:
Biking related
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| If you do a calculation, one hand is being used to take the photo and the other hand is giving a thumbs up... in other words: I'm riding with no hands! |
- Ride my bike from home to school
- Learn to bike with no hands
- Start biking to the train instead of taking the bus
- Master getting on and off my bike at stops with ease (like the Danes)
- Explore my neighborhood by bike
- Take my bike on the train
- Bike in Central CPH
Cultural Experiences/Immersion
- Spend an evening watching the sun set on Nyhavn
- Learn to pronounce the name of my street and my town
- Eat 3 forms of pig
- Learn to introduce myself in Danish
- Attend one of Mira's sporting events
- Attend one of Kasper's sporting events
- Pass for a Dane when buying something at the supermarket
- Eat five different types of Danish pastries
- Shop at a Danish thrift store
- Try a piece of Danish salt licorice
- Drink a beer at the May 1st Labor Day celebration
- Watch a Danish TV series
- Find at least 3 Danish songs that I love
- Spend a day studying in the Black Diamond Library
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| With Becca & Cara at May 1st |
Exploring and Traveling
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| Being supermodels at Mons Klint! |
- Go to the Danish coast
- Travel outside of the Copenhagen area
- Go to Mons Kint
- Travel independently of DIS
- Travel completely independently
- Go on at least 3 days of exploring with no plans
Site-Seeing
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| View from the top of the Round Tower |
- Visit the Little Mermaid
- Go to Tivoli
- Shop on Stroget
- Visit Rosenborg Castle
- Vist Kronborg Castle
- Go up to the top of the Round Tower
- Visit the Louisiana Art Museum
- Go to Christiania
- Take a picture in a viking hat
Things I didn't get to do:
- Spend a day sitting in random spots people watching
- Talk the S-tog to a completely new stop, get off, and bike my way home
- Go to a Danish movie theatre
- Go to the beach
- Bike the Danish island of Bornholm
- Take a train into Sweden for a day
- Go up to the top of the Spire
- Show my family around my new "home"
- Picnic at the Rosenborg Slot
- Take a boat trip on the canals
- Go for a run in central CPH
- Travel to at least 5 cities in Denmark (other than Copenhagen)
The "things I didn't get to do" are almost as important as the many things that I did because they provide me with even more incentive to come back. However, a sad thought occurred to me this afternoon that left me sniffling (loudly, and unfortunately in the Quiet Section of the train which was not something my travel companions appreciated):
After a truly amazing day doing some schoolwork and then eating/walking/talking in the city with friends, I headed off to catch the train. It had rained in the morning (one of 3 rainy days this entire spring), but by 3:30pm when I was rushing home to meet Helle to see Mira's riding class, it had turned into a beautiful spring day. I smiled to myself as I walked through one of my favorite plazas, watching the families and tons of babies out in their strollers and the groups of friends seated talking with their bikes in a heap. But then quite suddenly I was overcome with sadness that this will never again be my reality.
I know I will come back to Denmark to finish the many things on my "Bucket List" and visit my Danish family, but my experience abroad is now ending. The next time I am back in CPH I will be a tourist, not a "citizen." I will not be able to spend the day working/studying, hanging out in my friend's apartment, biking to and from the train to get home, jumping on a trampoline in my backyard, eating dinner with the Hellesens and returning to my room to think and blog about the day. When I come back, I will have no bike nor a train pass, I will have no homework (by which I mean no responsibility), my friends will not be here, "my" room will once again belong to Kasper (though I am seriously happy for him... I've felt terrible having taken over his space), I will simply be a visitor. It sadly makes me wonder whether Copenhagen will still feel like my home. :-(
I am sorry to be a "downer," but right now, sad is really how I am feeling. I know that it is in many ways a good thing to be sad; it means that I had such an amazing experience that it makes leaving it behind difficult. Tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday will be filled with emotional ups and downs: goodbyes to new friends, turning in my last final exam, adventures (and maybe checking off a few last-minute items on my bucket list) and quality time with my host family. So while I know it will be very difficult, I could not ask for a more exciting and fulfilling last few days. I'm trying hard not to think of it as the "last" time I do this or that, but the thought keeps creeping in.
Jeg kommer til at savner Danmark.
[I am going to miss Denmark]
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Denmark? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Denmark in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Hi Emilio! Thanks so much for writing! Your idea and blog are SO cool. :-) I went out today and purchased a postcard from Central Copenhagen. I will have it in the mail by the end of the week. Good luck with your project.
ReplyDeleteSara