Hm.

So apparently I'll never update in full on South Jutland and Hamburg. I can update now, though - I just don't have the energy to remember everything from that far back. They were both great, and meeting all of Stefan's family was wonderful. They're really cool to hang out with, and we even made a new friend in Copenhagen named Roland, who is 25 and the little brother of Stefan's older sister's friends who are twins (hm.). The city of Hamburg was a nice one, really modern. I don't think we caught many pictures of it, because we only went into the city twice. Bitten and Lothar (Stefan's sister and brother-in-law) let us stay with them for a few days, and it was a really wonderful change after the big city. They lived in this wonderful little countryside house, about a 40 minute train ride from the Hamburg. We hung out with them and their four friends - twins, their little brother, and one of the twin's fiances. It was interesting, but mostly in Danish. Fun to see how the younger generation of Danes act, I guess.

On Easter Sunday, we headed over to Brøns, Stefan's town growing up, at around 6:00a.m. It was a long drive, but luckily we didn't have to pay for transport, because Bitten and Lothar drove. We saw the sunrise over Germany, so that made up for it in the end. Brøns a really small town, smaller than my town in the ISLANDS (hm.) - just about 600 people. For me though, it was really nice to be reminded of Vermont and the Islands, since I haven't seen them in almost four months. We spent lots of time wandering around the town, even to the edge of some of the coastline. We spent a lot of time walking the Nielsen's husky dog, Sekina.


In Brøns with Sekina on Easter Sunday:

Stefan later drove me out to one of the Danish islands, one called Rømø, which is near impossible to pronounce. It was SO beautiful there - it looks like I went for a visit to some southern European country, but really, it's all in Southern Denmark. The water was really, REALLY cold, but it was fun to step into the ocean. This beach was huge - there was clean, white sand everywhere, and water as far out as you can see. Seriously, something I never thought I would see in this cloudy little country.


Anyway, Easter dinner was fun, I was able to speak a little better with the family, and it was really nice to be able to get to know them and see Stefan's hometown. It's so strange how similar we are, even though we come from so far apart in such different cultures. His family made me feel really welcomed into their home, and I hope I'll get a chance to go back to Brøns and Rømø before I leave Denmark.

Lately things have been hectic to say the least - Final two weeks of classes and exam week always seem to be. Crunch time really hit last week, when I had three papers due on Thursday, one due Monday, and an oral exam on Monday, too. I still have two more exams, each on noon on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm really looking forward to them being completely finished - I have extreme senioritis (hm.) at this point in the semester.

Last weekend, Stefan and I cleaned the entire place (dusted, vacuumed, everything...), and moved everything around to make room for me for the upcoming couple of months. We made it into a cosy little den, and I think now we can make due for a month or two. It shouldn't be so bad. After some grocery shopping and making finishing touches on the new room set-up, we went over to Valby, where Stefan's other sister, Nanna lives. It was Stefan's sister Nanna, her husband Andreas, then Andreas's brother, and his American wife, Mia, who is from the West Coast somewhere, Stefan and myself. We had a really good time chatting, and I think I was a lot more comfortable because there were two of us who could talk about home. Interesting dynamics, but a fun night. Afterwards, I went to Studenterhuset to bartend, which was fun as usual. I got back home around 1am, and then we went down to the Kollegium basement to hang out with everyone for their usual Saturday Bar-Night, where the dorm finances alcohol to be served.

Now, things have calmed down a lot, and I think we're just waiting around for all of our friends to leave. All the DIS kids are packing up and going off back to the States. At times, it's really hard to hear everyone tell me how excited they are to go back - but I feel happy when they start talking about how much they're going to miss Denmark. I know that I would feel incomplete if I didn't stay longer, so I don't really regret it at all. Sunday is my last day here in Hvidore, and on Sunday, I'll start in a new home in Rødovre (these translate out to whiteover and redover). Lars and Lene are having a dinner, and have invited some of Tali's family who'll be up visiting, and Stefan. It should be a fun night. I will definitely miss them, as they were a big part of Denmark for me. It's amazing that the semester's almost over - I can't believe I'm having ''wrap-up'' thoughts. It's strange, because in a way, it feels like I've been here for so long, but at the same time, feels like it was just yesterday I was scowling at the ''Wonderful Copenhagen'' signs in the airport.

But some things to look forward to before returning to the State:
-Cruise to Oslo on the 22nd - 24th of May!
-First Danish lesson on the 25th of May!
-Alexis to visit on the 27th of May!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I have my second to last final tomorrow, so I should probably get some rest...

I'm sure you'll hear from me a little bit more in the next couple days - I have to move, and you know what that means - PACKING! I'm sure Blogger will be a bit of a procrastination method - who knows, maybe I'll tell you more about Hamburg and South Jutland! (:

Sweet dreams,
Kristin