I have been bad at updating my blog, yes, but to be fair, I've been quite busy. That's always my excuse, but it's true; I've never been quite so busy as I am during my hectic exchange life. I've moved again, to Aabybro, two weeks ago, making this my third move in three months, and Aida, roughly a month ago, jokingly called me a fugitive. It doesn't really feel like such a joke anymore. It's a little difficult to feel like you have a home when you're moving about so often, when just as I get comfortable, everything familiar becomes unfamiliar again. I've moved from Aabybro to Biersted to Birkelse, and now I'm back to Aabybro again, albeit in a fourth home.
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accurate representation of my
relationship with nickolai |
I haven't met with my language tutor for a really long time, due to the fact that we had a lot of trouble communicating; he didn't speak English very well (and sometimes he was speaking German on accident), and I had a lot of trouble understanding his Danish, and right now he's actually quite sick. He was also incredibly busy with his wine business. Instead of giving up, though, I've had a lot of help from my friends, especially Nickolai, who's being altogether fabulous, giving me a Danish lesson every two or three days and helping me read through/translate the first Harry Potter book from Danish to English. Everyone told me Danish would be hard, and of course I believed them, but as someone who always prided herself on her mastery of language, not being able to communicate in the native language is a massive blow to my pride. It's intimidating to do anything alone, from going to the post office (which I still haven't done, because I have no one to go with me) to the convenience store to ordering a sandwich in Aalborg, everything is a potentially embarrassing situation, especially when the words for chicken and kitten are also nearly identical to a word that directly translates to "a woman who yells obscenities at her children from her porch." It has an easier translation to an English swear, mind you.
I also have supervised a "sweet-16" birthday party for someone's younger sister, which is significantly different from its American (or at least Hoosier) counterpart. With alcohol abound, I got to see adolescent drunkenness in a very unprecedented, though endearing, way. The same weekend I had a girl's night with Aida and Johanne, where we feasted on food that they cooked, as I came late and am useless in a kitchen anyhow. We watched the movie
Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging and ate so much that I thought I was going to throw up and I still don't know how I haven't gained weight here because I feel like all I do is eat and play League of Legends.
With my new family, I've taken two short trips already (a day trip to Den Gamle By in Aarhus, and a weekend in Copenhagen). I went to Aarhus with my host mom and her children and three grandchildren, and it was much, much colder than expected. I had been to the Old Town (Den Gamle By) before, but when we went this time, the Christmas decorations had lit up everything, and Julemanden came to town. Both of my host parents were quite excited to be part of my first excursion to Copenhagen, even though the weather started to get bad early Sunday morning and we had to head back home earlier than expected. They lived there for several years, and while we were there, I got a dress for the New Year's party I'm attending in Aalborg. We also visited Rosenborg Castle, and I got to go to Tivoli to see all the Christmas lights there, as well as Statens Museum for Kunst, a gigantic art museum that was more lovely than I ever imagined.
In the next week or two, I have Christmas, my host mother's birthday, a Christmas lunch with a friend's family, a New Year's party, and a julefrokost with my class on an undetermined date, and after that maybe my life will slow down in January and I'll be able to catch some sleep.
