Happy Valentine's Day...or lack thereof.

I have to be honest, in the ultimate ranking of Valentine's Days based purely on awesomeness...this one was probably at the bottom :(  It wasn't an awful day and it was definitely made brighter by the candy I received from my parents and the messages I got throughout the day, but it just was not as full of happiness and love as I prefer my Valentine's Day to be.  The Danes don't celebrate this day.  I saw one store with giant ugly fuzzy hearts on display...but that was the extent of the Valentine's giddyness. While I do appreciate the lack of commercialism (because let's all face it, Hallmark and Russel Stover are really the big winners on this day of love) it still was hard to spend a day that I am used to celebrating by instead taking an Architecture exam and hanging out in the library with myself and my peanut butter sandwich.  (If anyone asks, I most certainly did NOT have food in library today).

On the bright side, it seems as though I had many revelations today. Most of them occurred because I had no one but myself to talk to and thinking epic thoughts makes the cold outdoors seem a little less cold.  And today, I needed all the epic thoughts I could get.  It was so cold!! It was -18 C or something (which is around 0 F).  I realize it gets colder than that at home in Iowa and at Knox, but in neither of those two places do I have to bike and walk as far as I do here.  It was really the wind that was out to get me today and kept making me wish I would've just stayed in my warm bed all day long.  I'm not sure I've ever had such appreciation for the 3 minute walk from SMC to pretty much anywhere on Knox campus.  I thought I had learned the art of layering...turns out an extra one or two more layers over my tshirt, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt and north face jacket would've been really helpful today.  Thankfully I did have a scarf, a hat and gloves.  Think I could've also used a ski suit and maybe a giant heated blanket wrapped all around my body.

Anyway, one revelation came when I was walking towards the place where I play badminton and I looked up suddenly to see the reflection of the America flag waving in the window of the embassy.  I saw the embassy last time I walked this route, but for some reason tonight it seemed particularly striking.  I remember thinking that even though it was all closed up for the night, it brought me a strange sense of comfort.  I personally think the embassy should have a 24-hour lounge with free hot chocolate for Americans, because that would have brought me a LOT more comfort...but nonetheless it was kind of nice to feel a little less foreign standing in front of a United States building.

My second revelation came as I stood waiting for the train after badminton.  Usually, by dumb luck, I end up at the station with only a few minutes to wait patiently before my train arrives.  Today, I had to wait 16.  I wandered through the little Kiosk (convenience store) and bought a 'peanuts and berries' trail mix and a strawberry "naked" smoothie (it was not a legit naked smoothie, but it did say 'naked fruit' on the front of it and hence it reminded me of home).  As I stood and waited for my train a woman walked up to me and asked something in a language I don't speak.  I said "English?" But she shook her head no and urged me to look at her sheet of paper.  It was her travel itinerary saying she was to go from Airport -> Osterport ->Hillerod (E S-tog) -> Bus 341 to some street.  I pointed to the Hillerod sign and then pointed up to the place where it says which train is coming when.  The E train to Hillerod was coming in 4 minutes so I said 4, said fire (4 in dansk) and held up 4 fingers hoping one of those would make sense to her.  She still seemed worried but said  "4 minuter...train come here?"  I told her Yes, right here, the train will come.  She started to walk away and then came back and said YOU. You, train?  I said No, I am taking another train and I pointed to the "A- to Farum" sign.  She nodded and walked away.  I guess she got my message because when the E train came, she got on.  I really hope she got where she was going and ended up in a warm place with people she knew.  Even though I have found the language barrier to be an inconvenience at times, I realized that it is nothing to be frustrated about.  I could have it so much worse-- having to communicate with people via pointing and grunts or getting lost and not simply being able to ask a nice Dane which way to go.  So much to be thankful for.  On that note (kind of), thanks to my Danish language class I now know how to say "I like" such and such and "I don't like" such and such.  I know other phrases too but those are the newest and most exciting ones.

And now for my final revelation. Well, this isn't so much a revelation as it was just a memory and bout of homesickness.  Remember that strawberry smoothie I got in the kiosk at the train station?  Well I couldn't open it.  I tried so hard.  My hand was red and ache-y from straining to open that stupid bottle.  You know how things look more delicious when you can't have them? Well I cannot explain how delicious this smoothie looked to me.  There was a picture of a strawberry on the bottle taunting me with its yummy-ness.  At this point I am sitting on the train, trying time after time to unscrew the lib and each time giving up with an exasperated sign of frustration.  As I was staring at the smoothie I couldn't have, I recalled the very first Naked Juice smoothie I ever had.  It was Valentine's Day, probably 4 or 5 years ago and my mom had bought me a Red Machine smoothie and it was waiting at my place at the table along with candy and probably cute valentine socks or something like that.  That one smoothie got me so hooked to Naked Juice that it has been a staple of my diet ever since.  I drank them after working the 5am-7am shift at the Y, before (and while) teaching hour after hour of swim lessons, before swim practice with my daily cliff bar for lunch and during most tennis meets.  I'd say that was the best Valentine's Day present ever :)

So no, this day of love did not measure up to my previous ones, but I guess that's ok.  It made me think about  wonderful memories from home and all the people I love so very much back across the ocean.

Here is my advice for the day to you:  Eat the candy you like and hug the people you love.  I'm at least doing one of those :)
Test in neuropsychology tomorrow- better get some sleep and let my brain get ready for that one!