Denmark: The Sequel

So I am here in sunny Aalborg finally! It is so beautiful here now, like it was in September, the first month I arrived. Hardly any clouds, sky stretching out before me for days, and the green spreading across the whole country. There is the ever-present breeze and the sun baring down harshly on you to remind you how much closer you are to it compared to somewhere longitudinally lower.When I left, the whole country was covered in ice, and the sun "light" would grace us with its presence for 5 hours total per day. Now, there's too much light! At midnight, the sun still cast a multicolored hue on the sky, and it was alive and alert at 4am. When I go to Stockholm, it will be worse. I never feel like I'm missing the day this way, however, which is nice.
Once I got to Copenhagen, I took the 5 hour travel cross-country, and I got to see how Denmark thrives in the summertime. It's magnificent! There are fields of yellow blossoms on top of the brightest green I can imagine. What a difference from winter!
I arrived at midnight on Thursday, safe, sound, tired. I slept 14 hours and haven't faced any jet lag since then. Friday I went to the city center and had dinner with friends, but we went back home early to prepare ourselves for karneval early
the next day. I woke up Saturday morning around 8am to the sound of the squawking Danish girls across the common area from me.
I suppose I should talk a little bit about karneval, seeing as that's the main reason for me coming back to Aalborg. There are family activities happening all week in Kildeparken, like music and art and far-too-expensive beer. Friday night there is a battle of costumes in the street and the beginning of the big festival in Kildeparken. The main events happen on Saturday, where everyone wakes up early and starts drinking with breakfast. The masses congregate around 11am, already drunk, and start the parade around noon. Basically, the parade is just a mass of drunk, wildly costumed college-age people walking through the city center of Aalborg until they reach Kildeparken.
It sounds ridiculous... and it is, but so much fun with all of the colors and the music and masses of people, and of course the shenanigans. Bastien and I lost everyone we'd congregated with, but we took a lot of good pictures and left the parade around 3. After a very sobering nap, we had dinner and met with other international students to prepare to venture back to the city center. Somehow, Bastien and I lost our group again, but we danced our hearts out until 4am. I have such a fondness for dancing in Europe in the smoke-free discos with poppy Euro-trash music until the late hours of the morning. I missed the last bus home, so I walked by myself about 3 miles to the AIK. As miserable as that seems, it has refreshed my enjoyment of walking. It was also light outside by the time I started walking. So far, I'd say my trip has been a success!
Other than that, I have nothing interesting to report. I've been alone most of the time since karneval, of my own volition, reading and writing and making food. I have a bit of a sore throat from the long walk on Saturday and going to the grocery store in the rain the next morning, so I find it really nice not to talk much. I anxiously await Séverin's return to Aalborg, and I have seen almost everyone I have wanted to see. On Thursday, I am walking to the Lindholm Høje viking graveyard with the girls before making dinner that evening.
http://www.vikingdenmark.com/lindholm-hoeje-viking-burial-site-jutland-denmark.html
One week until Stockholm!
And for you viewing pleasures....

I'm hooooooome!

This is the longest time since I got to Denmark that I've gone without writing. I haven't written a blog post, a letter, or a journal entry in two weeks. I came home three weeks early, much to the surprise of pretty much everyone at home, and I've been so occupied with packing, 23 solid hours of traveling, visiting with people, attempts to sleep, and settling my life that I haven't had time to write. Or maybe I haven't wanted to hear myself think. It's weird to be home; the excitement wore off and now I'm home. Job searching, driving a car, spending too much money at restaurants or movie theaters, watching television... things I hated about living in America. They've come back like a bad habit; honestly, aside from job searching, all of those things are bad habits. It was so easy not to think about these things in a different setting, but here it's all too common and normal. Maybe life in Aalborg was like a pilgrimage, going somewhere so different and isolated from my home to see if I could live without a car on the cold days or read a book when I was bored. It's a state of mind, not the setting in which you're placed... I just have to keep remembering that and writing and discovering new aspects of myself, the family I make in my life, and life in general.
So far, I haven't seen anything glaringly American other than the huge cars, and I didn't need to go to Europe to realize that people are completely ridiculous about SUVs. I just feel so different, you know? The change is totally within, and I've decided to stop looking for differences between Europe and the US. I realized that I haven't been treating the settling down experience here in the same fashion as when I got to Denmark. In Denmark, I made no immediate judgments, gave every bad experience a fair chance, looked for the positive everywhere, and remained really sensitive to myself. I'm so much harder on my home than I would be anywhere else, and I need to lighten up. One obviously upside about being home is that it's home, and I'm with family and friends here. Another thing is that the sun rises at 8:30am and sets around 6. That's about 4 more hours of sunlight than in Denmark, hahaha. I'm trying to keep an open mind and a center. I really am.
Last night, I had dreams about traveling plans gone awry, missing planes, getting stuck in a strange city, calling airlines and being hassled. I realized that I need to wait a little while and settle down before I travel again. My parents are going to take my grandmother to Panama to live with my aunt and uncle in February - I was jealous that I couldn't go with them, but then I remembered my hellish dream and the horrid process of customs. Welcome back to the US, Dani.
Also, on a side note, traveling has wreaked havoc on my body. I never weighed myself in Europe (what am I going to do with kilos?), but I am currently 8 pounds more than I was right before leaving Atlanta. I think I've lost some since the height of my weight gain, which means I gained 10 or more pounds, despite my healthy lifestyle. My friend Michael said that he gained weight in Scotland and his ex-girlfriend Jen gained 30 lbs in South Africa!! Yikes! I can gather a number of logical reasons from weight gain when traveling, but how does one counteract that?

Glædelig jul!!

Merry Christmas to everyone, happy holidays to everyone else! Denmark has been snow covered for almost two weeks now, and the sun is currently brightly shining over the sparkling, melting terrain! Perfect weather for yesterday - my first white Christmas - and perfect weather for today - no more snow! It turns out that I'm not a snow person; it's just nice for the first two or three days. I even brought a bike to Denmark thinking that I could get tough and handle Danish winters, but I have humbled myself!
I got a facebook comment from someone last night asking if Santa came to the AIK yesterday or not, and I was suddenly reminded that people get gifts on Christmas! How can someone from such a capitalist society forget that?! I guess everyone has been talking about being with family or loved ones so much for Christmas - since most of the people I know here have to cross country borders or even oceans to be with their loved ones - that other parts of the holiday have paled in comparison to being with people. At some point about three or four Christmases ago, I dried up like an old prune and totally lost the "holiday spirit" and haven't been excited about Christmas dinners, setting up and decorating a tree, getting gifts, Christmas music (a double egghh to that), or anything like that. Especially this year, I had no one to spent it with, aside from the happy couple the room below me who probably wanted something special, and it didn't bother me at all. I had a great day! I went out in the snow, organized and uploaded over 300 pictures, downloaded about four days' worth of music, made delicious food, enjoyed the quiet of my own company... sometimes it freaks me out how much I love being reclusive.
It seems, though, that I make the perfect solo traveler - enjoys being alone but also adapts well to and thrives in new social situations. Unfortunately, I don't travel well with others - easily suffocates when in close company with others.
Well, the point is, how did this happen that I am so bereft of any spirit whatsoever? I feel like social anomaly, considering how other people get around the holidays. More importantly, it doesn't bother me that I have no holiday spirit. I'm not bitter, nor do I refuse to celebrate with others... it just doesn't mean much to me. Things will be different next year when I'm celebrating with my niece(s) and nephew. Children have the magical holiday touch on me.
Everyone is gone now, other than Alessandra downstairs and Emrah at the end of the hall. The AIK is discomfortingly quiet and lacking in drunk Danes and Daft Punk being played at lunchtime. Aalborg loses a bit of its charm when everyone who made me fall in love with this life is gone. I've found it exceedingly difficult to stay in the present because I'm in between two modes of life. My Aalborg life has sort of left me and is more or less over, and my Atlanta life is just beckoning me prematurely. I've been doing my best to enjoy this alone time while I have it, and in general I've done a lot of things that I needed to do and haven't minded the unoccupied time. At the same time, I stray into thoughts of what I want to do when I get home or how much I am missing this or that from the last semester. Here and now. That's all. Here and Now.
I have a lot of things I'd like to talk about, but I think I'll wait until the timing is right. My life is about to get very different, and I am so excited to grow with these changes!

Beginnings, endings, a way to mark progress

This is the beginning of my wonderlust blog, also the end of the semester and paper writing. The beginning of my true, undeniable wanderlust, and the end of my first real journey alone into the world. What a great time in my life!
I was encouraged to start a blog when I left for Denmark from the States, so I realize that I'm a bit late. However, living in the present, this is decidedly the best time to start blogging. This is my first "adult" blog ever! I used Xanga back in the day, but it was uninspired, an attempt to keep up with the times. Also, to be fair, I have made two big updates on facebook about the journeys, which I will put below. I just want to say that this blog isn't just about traveling, trying new cuisine, discovering new music, meeting amazing people, although those things are a part of it. It's about how the world is always opening my eyes, no matter where I am or who I am with. I can't help but look on with wonder and curiosity about it all, and you might be able to relate to the feeling. I hope you do!
Anyway, here is my first update about Aalborg, Denmark:

10.27.09
Hej hej!
I’ve been in Denmark for about two months now, so I guess it’s time to update everyone. I thought this would be the best way; sorry it’s not as personal and intimate as a letter, but it’s a bit tedious to write the same story so many times.
First, of course, I miss and love everyone so much! I want to know what’s going on with everybody, so please message me/ write me a letter/ send me something delicious and somewhat non-perishable. If you write me a letter, I promise to write a response.
Second, I love it here! Everything I do is very different from my lifestyle at home. I live in the Aalborg Internationale Kollegium, AIK, which is 1km away from campus and 6km from downtown Aalborg (always looking for an excuse to ride my bike downtown), and I couldn’t have been put in a better kollegium, my home away from home! All of the rooms face a big common area and kitchen, but we also have our own small kitchen and bathroom in our private rooms. It’s the best of both worlds because I can be as social or studious as I choose. We have about 50 residents here, both Danish and international students, so the AIK is full of so many different good languages, cuisine, cultural norms, senses of humor, stories, as well as people who know where things are! The library is 100 meters down the bike path – it’s so close that I could accidentally sleep walk and wake up at the bibliotek. We have a lot of impromptu dinner parties, and we had a mafia party last Friday, the first AIK party of the semester, and there were 200 or so people here! The American students are cooking a giant Thanksgiving dinner and bringing food from another kollegium to be served at the AIK, and Mom and Dad are going to be here for the dinner too! The international students LOVE Thanksgiving dinner but still make fun of Americans all the time.
Miniature rant: It’s just starting to bother me how frequently people use “American” as an insult.
Of course I’ve met people here who will probably stay in my heart forevermore. Food, language, and humor are the easiest ways for me to connect with people, I’ve found. The people I spend the most time with here are my French counterparts Séverin and Bastien. We’re a bit like the three stooges together, and they make me laugh until I cry. We cook almost every single meal together, sometimes with more people joining us, and the meals keep getting better and better. I’ve fallen in love with cooking. Also, I teach them English, and they teach me French. The more French I speak, the more I realize that I’m TERRIBLE at it but absolutely eager to learn! If you ever go abroad, almost everyone you meet knows English in addition to their native language and maybe a few other languages – you can hardly justify only knowing one language. I also have coffee with my Danish neighbor Jesper almost every morning, and sometimes he teaches me a little Danish and taught me how to make bread from scratch!
To interrupt myself again, I have a quick public service announcement. 1. Vikings never wore the helmets with the horns – that was Hollywood lying to us. 2. Danishes, the pastries, actually translate to “Viennese bread” in Danish, so they’re actually Austrian. I haven’t had a single “danish” since coming to Denmark.
Anyways… I’m currently attending Aalborg Universitetet and taking only two courses here. However! The university system is so dramatically different here that I’m getting the transfer equivalent of 15 credits from only two courses when it would take 5 courses worth 3 credits each at Georgia State. My cognitive psychology course is one lecture a week for 2 months, a seminar every other week after the lecture, 1000 pages of reading, and a written exam that we have one week to complete and receive a month after lectures end. Besides that, I have an experimental psychology project, where my project member and I conduct an experiment and then write 40 pages and cite 2000 pages of previous research. The paper is due between the time cognitive psyc lectures end and the cog psyc exam is due. Our oral defense of our project is held sometime after our cognitive psyc exam. This layering business doesn’t make sense to me, but I don’t have to take a single exam that isn’t a paper, so I’m not complaining! I’m really happy at Aalborg Uni, even if the project is a bit stressful. My project member Soo is from South Korea, and we are doing a study on culture, which is so appropriate since we’re from such dichotomous cultures. She’s surveying her classmates in Korea and I’m surveying GSU students. I’ll write about the results of the study when we’re finished, but I’m really excited about it! In high school, I never thought that I would study abroad. In college, I never thought that I would do my own research. After being accepted to Aalborg U, I never thought that my work here would be internationally relevant. My life keeps blowing my mind!
Since arriving, I’ve been to Legoland, Copenhagen, and around Norway. I would show you pictures, but my camera was stolen 3 weeks after arriving. I’ve been a bit lazy about assembling a photo album from other people’s pictures too. It absolutely POURED the day we went to Legoland, but it was worth it to see the Lego cities!! So amazing! The attractions were okay, but it’s breathtaking what you can do with Legos. My friend Jules and I went to Copenhagen for two days before going to Norway for a week-long student trip. We walked around the city, saw the Danish Design Center, the World Press Photo exhibition, Roskilde cathedral where all the tombs of the kings and queens of Denmark are kept, and the commune Christiania. The city is gray and cold, like Denmark, but it was nice to be somewhere bigger than Aalborg. I like Copenhagen, but it wasn’t what I expected. Norway, though, was INCREDIBLE! We went to the gorgeous fjord city Bergen, Laerdal (population of 2200, best place for star gazing!), down the Sognefjord, to the biggest inland glacier in Europe, driving on top of the world, to Oslo, which is the most expensive city I’ve ever been to. Most of the museums in Oslo are free, though, and the city exemplifies the design-focus that you find everywhere in Scandinavia (see also, IKEA). I liked it a lot.
Also, for my Intermezzo friends, I swear to Thor… I heard a street musician playing that song that Andrew was obessed with – Guantanemera!! I’ll give someone $5 when I get back if you can find out how to spell the name of the song!
Also also, the night we spent in Bergen, we were sitting on benches that overlooked the city, gazing at the city shining and beautiful, light dancing on the fjord… and then Cookie Monster walked by us! He walked by, looked at us, said nothing, and then disappeared down the hill at nine o’clock at night. It was so surreal!
Aside from food, school, parties, and traveling, I’m really happy in general. For the first time in my life, I’m in a new environment that I have had to accept, for better or worse, and this new image of myself has emerged. I really like who I am, the type of resolve I have, how I deal with things, what matters most to me. I miss Atlanta everyday (especially since the sun is now down by 5pm here), but I feel very connected to Aalborg too. My only real complaint besides the exorbitant prices (/the worthless of the dollar) is that I don’t have a solid group of girls here like I do at home… though I don’t think that is something you can just stumble upon. I don’t read for fun as much as I told myself I would, but I guess the books will always be available, but these experiences won’t.
For those of you who are curious about the beer and music in Denmark, both lack variation. You’ve got the occasional jewel, but not too much else to report.
I could keep writing forever, but I’ll save any additional details to people who write me letters/ send pictures I hope to hear from you, how your life is going, what is new, something amazing has happened to you, you’ve found some really good music you want to share with me, whatever! Much love in Scandinavia!
Dani P
p.s. I wrote the original version of this note for my family. This can’t be a real Dani note without a little language. Fuck yeah, I'm in Denmark!