Last Day in Denmark

Well, really tomorrow is the last day, but I'll be flying out by 14.00, with a bus out of Aarhus at 6.45 in the morning, so tomorrow hardly feels like a day here. Today is largely focused on packing, cleaning, last minute errands. It wasn't easy to get up this morning knowing that it would be a bittersweet day. Tomorrow will be far more bitter than sweet, as I won't be home for 36 hours after I begin my first plane trip, not to mention the 6 hours spent on the bus, the ferry, the bus again and then in the airport before the four-flight marathon begins. I am happy to be coming home, but not as excited about the travel. I've been lucky enough to borrow some movies and books to make the time more relaxing, and I have power converters for time spent in Copenhagen and London airports, so I can plug in my computer and just sit.

Even though it will be here so soon, I can hardly imagine being home again. I have no idea if I'm different, and if so, how. I have no idea what I will want once I'm stateside again. People are always asking, "What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back?" I have no idea. I don't know if I'll want a turkey sandwhich or a diet Dr. Pepper or if I'll just want to sleep. I have no idea. It's so hard to look ahead when I'm still sitting here.

My Danish room is a skeleton now. Desk, table, naked bed. Some people say they're amazed at how much of their life fits back into that suitcase. I don't wonder at all. There are six trash bags full, sitting next to the door. I was able to take everything I wanted home, but there's a lot to leave here.

No, I haven't even looked through my Berlin photos yet. Yes, I will. The more I save to do on the airplane the better. Berlin was fabulous. We didn't end up seeing the concentration camp, but I suppose that leaves more for me to see on my next trip through Europe.

But for now I need to get back to cleaning up my room.

Ich bin in Berlin!

Yes, I am in Berlin for the week. The Internet is not available in our apartment, but we are visiting net cafes and such to stay connected. I'm here with four others who are doing their final projects here this week, acting as a trasnlator and mother, making dinners and finding what trains and busses to take. I also order the food and ask how much it costs to use the internet or where the closest ATM is. I knew six years of German would pay off someday.

We drove yesterday and mostly relaxed once we got here. The seven hour trip wasn't bad at all. We made sandwhiches and cookies and only needed a few bathroom breaks. We found a pizza place across the street from the apartment where a pizza big enough for two is five Euros. The conversion is 1 Euro to 1.2 Dollars, so most things are very reasonably priced. Berlin is much much cheaper than Denmark! It's not any warmer though. It's forecasted to rain until Thurday, but then it will be sunny and warm for the last few days.

The apartment we are renting is beautiful. We are in an area called Wedding, and we found this apartment through a Dane who owns it. He rents it out to tourists all year. There are five of us splitting the 4400 Dkr rental for the week. (That comes to about 120 US a person.) All together, with gas, the trip was only 200 a person. We all have beds and the bathroom is huge. The kitchen is completely furnished with anything we might need for cooking. Traveling like this is so much cheaper because we were able to cook breakfast and plan to cook other meals ourselves.

The stories coming out of berlin this week will cover Neo-Nazis, Prasites, Holocaust Memorials and Turkish refugees. I will only be filming and writing for fun, but I aim to possibly put together a small sidebar to my documentary aboutstreet art here in Berin, because the culture is huge here. During my feedback on the documentary at school, one advisor gave me the names of several galleries and streets to go look for art and artists. I think this will e the perfect end to my time here.

But today looks like Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and possibly the Zoo. Tomorrow I may be headed to a concentration camp with some of the other students. The longest standing piece of the Berlin Wall is near the street art museum, so perhaps that will be for Thursday. Pictures are soon to follow.

Proud

Today, I am proud of myself. The main street art web site in Aarhus asked if they could post my documentary on the news portion of their web site. Because they are non for profit, I said yes. The woman who runs the site told me that it was the best documentary she's seen on street art. I am proud of myself.

You can see it linked on their site here: http://www.gadentaler.dk/street-news.html

I checked the video on my Vimeo site and I have about 300 hits in five days. If you want, you can watch it here.

The final two weeks

So I'm not down to two weeks yet, but for intent and purpose I am. I am looking at the last few things I still need to do here in Århus, and trying to get everything in order for my departure. Today was the final exam for my class. Tomorrow we just have viewing of stories and feedback, after which I will make some changes to my documentary and re-post it on Vimeo.

This weekend I will be in Grenå with Mikkel's family at a cabin. I'm not sure what all we'll be doing, but I'm sure there will be lots of football and sitting in the sun. It won't be warmer than probably 15 (60 degrees) but the sun will be out I hope. Also, we are bringing a Wii, so that will provide some entertainment. I'm baking some "American" chocolate chip cookies on Thursday to bring along. I have yet to find chocolate chips in this country, so I suppose I'll be mashing up a chocolate bar? I realize this will not be the same, but close enough.

We'll return to Århus Sunday night and leave promptly at 6 am the next morning for Berlin. Five in the car for seven and a half hours should be a good time! Oh well, it's much cheaper than flying and I don't have to worry about bringing liquids on my person. Downside: no free baby cans of Cola Light. But we'll have an entire week in Berlin so if anyone has recomendations they would be strongly appreciated. After the street art documentary, I am excited to see the work in Berlin because I found through research that it is a very large city for street art. I will be sure to take pictures.

After I get back I will only have a few days left in Århus. I will need to pack up my room and make sure my bags aren't too heavy. I've already made calls in STL to get my serving job back for the summer, so besides the jet lag, everything will be taken care of before I leave.

But I'm not saying goodbyes yet. There is still work to do and lots of time to enjoy.

Oh, Deer!

There's a park just outside of town where deer, fox, ducks and other animals live. People are allowed to walk through and pet and feed the animals if they can get them to approach them. It's a lot like a free-range petting zoo. The animals just kind of walk around in a very large enclosed area. Today Mikkel and I walked there and met some very friendly animals.

There's a beach in Århus?

Yep.

The water is so cold!

Lots of people were out boating.

We had some tunes.

We played some games.

The beach here is really nice. From the brief time I've seen the East Coast of the United States, that's what it reminds me of. It gets warm enough in the day to lay out on blankets, and there are places to grill in the evening. Because of how far north we are, the sun sets about 10:30, so it's light for a very long time. We can go to the beach at 4:00 PM and it's still enough time to get a tan.

A Danish delight

So I've lamented the liver paste, pickled beets and mackerel with mayonnaise, but there is one Danish specialty that I am crazy about: Vaffel. Vaffel is a special kind of ice cream cone. Start with an extra large waffle cone. Add two scoops of any flavor ice cream. Top with soft serve ice cream, then add a scoop of strawberry whipped cream. To top it off, add a Floedbolle (A marshmallow on top of a cookie covered in chocolate and coconut.) The Vaffel is a huge ice cream treat, and costs about $4.50. Not only could this be an entire meal, but it will more that satisfy even the largest sweet tooth. Last night after dinner I had a Vaffel that I will never forget.