And the sky is still light

I was just walking back home from the train station (for the last time) and I was struck with just how light is still was.  It was just after 11 and it looked more like 9:30.  The sky was mostly grey from clouds but on each side there were large areas of vibrant blue...not sky blue, but a cerulean-type blue.  It was amazing.  This made me realize just how far north I actually am right now and have been for the past four months.  Light in the sky at 11 is definitely not something I will see in Iowa this summer.  Don't worry, I savored it as much as possible.

So now I am laying in bed, not wanting to go to sleep because sleep makes time go faster and I only have a few hours left to live in Denmark.  Do I really want to waste those hours by sleeping?  Well...maybe some of them. But first I will do the obligatory get-you-up-to-speed on all the things I have not yet.

I left off in the middle of the deer park.  Did my pictures show you enough of how awesome it was??  At least 25, maybe more, deer in the middle of a field.  We got so close to them before they got a little spooked and ran.  What made it even more surreal was that the park was so quiet that the only noise was coming from our footsteps on the crunchy twigs and leaves.

Here is a close up of a few of the deer

After enjoying the presence of the herd of deer, we continued our bike ride.  

And then we went to Bakken (the old amusement park) for a bit.  We rode one roller coaster and then we parted ways. Delayna hopped on the train to take her home and I rode the 10ish km back to my house.  It was a tough ride (lots of wind, lots of tired legs) but I was very satisfied by the time I finally made it.

Friday night I went out salsa dancing and then to a funky little club in what is known as the "meat packing district".  Gotta be honest, I don't really know the story of the meat packing district.  It's just a very industrial part of town that really gets hopping on the weekends.  We met up with my friend's friends at the train station and then to get to the club we...are you prepared for this?-- rode on the back of their bikes (and yes, they were slightly intoxicated!)  Sorry Mom!  So there I am, in a skirt and tights, riding on the back of a bike through the city.  You might be picturing a sweet motorbike but remember, this is Copenhagen.  It was just a legit, 6-gear city bike.  On the bright side, I did hold his beer for him so it's not like he was actually drinking and riding.

But we survived!  And it was actually a little fun.  Go figure.

Saturday was the long-awaited caramel-making day.  My Grandma Audrey (my mom's mom) has forever been the queen of caramels.  They are just these amazing homemade caramels that she made every Christmas.  I swear she made at least 25 pans some years.  In the last few years my mom has taken over the caramel tradition (though she thankfully sticks to less than 20 pans) so this is a tried and true Seyb/Clark recipe.  I brought some of these famous caramels to the Larsens when I first arrived in Denmark and this spurred them to ask for the recipe a few times.  Just last week I finally asked my mom for the recipe and once she sent it we went about finding a substitute for the American corn-syrup and converting measurements to the metric system.  I was a little nervous to be in charge of the making of these because I have never actually made a batch.  I have always only watched my mom do it.  Everything went splendidly but I was so nervous to burn them that I finished the cooking a little early and we ended up with very soft, very delicious, caramels. Definitely not at all a failure. I would even dare to call it a great success...at least it appears that way because all of the caramels have been eaten by now : )  I think the Larsens are excited to make the caramels themselves so they can get the consistency just right.  I am so pleased to have brought the recipe over here and now it will live on!

Rebecca being my stirring assistant 

Finished product!

On Saturday we also had a special dinner and exchanged "going-away" gifts.  The Larsens gave me the most beautiful book with photos of Copenhagen taken from above.  It is so cool to flip through it and now that I have been to so many of the places and now I can tell my family all about them.

Saturday night was also full of excitement because it was the Eurovision song contest!! (which is a pretty big deal over here, not surprisingly)  We got to watch the final 25 countries perform their songs and then each country called in with their votes.  I actually fell asleep during the voting process but I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the countries' performances.  I even bought a few of the songs on itunes afterwards because I liked them so much : )

Sunday was full of packing and playing soccer and having my final lesson in making Danish pancakes.  I think (I hope!) that I am now skilled enough to try making them back in Iowa.  If anything goes wrong I can always try and skype with the Larsens to get a refresher on how to flip them or how much flour to use.

That brings us to Monday.  Hmm..what was Monday?  Oh wait, that was just yesterday.  I guess I stayed home and packed for a while and then I went to the city to take my books back.  I found some friends and ate lunch with them and then we did a little shopping.  I know, I didn't really need more stuff for my suitcase but there was one shirt I couldn't stop thinking about so I went and bought it.  I guess a few European items of clothing will help me remember my time even more :)

And then last night I just got to spend some very hyggeligt time with the family, playing soccer, making pizza, easting the delicious pizza we made, and playing at least 6 games of Sequence with Jesper.  I couldn't have asked for a better 2nd to last evening.

Today.  Today was my final day in the city.  Lauren and I went out for lunch at the super cute coffee shop I keep talking about and then we did a tiny bit of shopping before heading to the Closing Ceremony, which was full of great music, good speeches, and nostalgic memories about the place we are leaving behind.  Afterwards I bought my last pastry, took my 2nd to last train ride home, had my last dinner with my family and finished packing.  Then I went in to the city for the final DIS party, where I danced a tiny bit but mostly just ate peanuts and said good-byes.  I can't lie and say that wasn't hard.  It certainly was.  And the train ride home was quite difficult too.  I listened to my "Denmark faves" playlist on my ipod and stared out the window at the darkness passing by.  It's hard to explain all the emotions that ran through my head during those 20 minutes.  The sad thing is that this part of my life will be over soon.  I will never again live in this house in Denmark (probably never live in Denmark again) and I will never get to experience the city in quite the same way.  But there is always a silver lining and that is that I will be back someday.  I will be back to visit, with my family, and I will see the city again and I will take great pleasure in feeling as though a part of me is coming home.

I feel as though I should have had a "What do I miss most about America? post" or a "What will I miss the most about Denmark?" post.   I didn't even really think of that until today when Andreas asked me what I miss from America besides my family and it took me quite a while to come up with any sort of answer.  I did say Emma, my roommate, of course...but she kind of counts as family to me.  Jesper helped me out and said "the candy". Well, that is kind of true.  I would really love to sink my teeth into some swedish fish right about now.  But Karina also helped by saying something like "You have what you need in Denmark."  That is so very true.  Not only do I have the basics like delicious food, clean water and the other luxuries of America, but I also have a great family to hang out with, a cat to snuggle with (when he is in the mood) and two awesome kids to play with. Oh and I even had peanut butter for most of the semester! I certainly do have what I need and the family aspect, in particular, is mostly what has made this semester so great.

I guess I should sign off for now.  Since this will probably be my last official post while I am in Denmark, I shall make it as official as possible.

I thank you so much for joining me on this journey.  I hope you have been entertained by and engrossed in my various stories. I hope I have helped to provide cultural-knowledge and the basic Whats and Hows of studying in another country.  I hope I have portrayed accurately not only how much fun I had this semester, but also how much I have learned and grown as a person.  I have had to do a lot of thinks on my own while I have been here, but that has given my a great chance to get to know myself better and to be confident in my abilities (still haven't gotten lost in an airport...knock on wood!!)  Thus I hope you have enjoyed the journey as much as I have and please let me know if you are ever headed to Denmark...I will have lots of tips and tricks to give you!

Again, the blog won't stop! It maybe will for a few hours tomorrow when I am flying over the ocean, but after that I will post whenever I think I have something interesting to say (which seems to be a lot. Whether it is true that it is interesting is not as much my concern : )  So check back when you get the chance!


Vi ses!.