Danish Lesson
I go home in less than a month and I am not okay with this at all. The only regret I have about this adventure is that I only did it for 3 months (my amazing family who loves me probably is thankful for that one though lol). Last weekend I went to Aalborg and spent time with my Danish Aunt, Uncle and cousins. I obviously have known them for 17ish years but we only met 10 years ago for the first time and honestly have only seen each other maybe twice in the past 10 years for no more than a few hours. So I flew up to Jutland on Thursday night to head back Tuesday night. Norwegian Airlines (my new fave) has a 45 minute direct flight back and forth with wifi for the 20 minutes you are in the actual air. Mind you, my 8 and 11 hour flights will have no wifi... The airports here have some new technology I have yet to see when going through security. Instead of waiting in the line for the TSA agent to look at your ID and ticket and then back at you, the airport has installed these gates that when you scan your ticket, if it is valid, the gates will open and off to the metal detector you go. This means not once did I prove my identity, weird but made it go a hell of a lot faster.
The first day was a tour of the city! We went to the Aalborg Zoo first. The weather was gorgeous so all the animals were out to show off and the way they have done the whole zoo is amazing. Each section has an indoor viewing, where the animals come in to warm up, and outdoor. They also provide different viewing areas instead of the standard "right in front of you" exhibit. Here are a few of my favorites from the zoo.
From there it was up to the Aalborg Tower. The tower stands 105 meters over the city and is the highest vantage point. You get a 360 degree view of the downtown, parks and river.
We then went and had lunch in the downtown area and went shopping. This also started the sugar coma that would be my weekend with the Elbro family...
We went to this bakery and got "chocolate balls" which is a bun filled with melted chocolate. It.Was.Amazing. We also bought these chocolate sticks that you use to make hot chocolate with :) After a gorgeous sunset, I had a traditonal Danish meal usually made for Christmas consisting of Flæskesteg, which is a pork roast, a side of potatoes with what they tell me is called "brown sauce" and I call "heaven in a liquid form".
Saturday had eh weather so I partook in what best can be called "hygge" which is a Danish word for coziness. We baked treats, snuggled under blankets and watched movies all day. It was exactly what we needed.
Sunday we were off to my first handball game. Miss Sofie's team was playing and I got a crash course in the sport. It is kind of like basketball and soccer mixed and was an interesting thing to watch. From their we sugar coma'ed again since it was discovered I had never had Flødeboller. This is a chocolate covered marshmellow like treat, kind of like a mallowmar. So we stocked up on sweet treats and went to town.
We had a delicious roast for dinner and then some homemade soft ice :)
Early Monday morning was back to school for this twentysomething girl! I went to what can be considered "Junior High" with Sofie to learn a little about Danish education and to teach her religion class a little about my experience of being Jewish.
There wasn't a lot of differences between American school and Danish school except they had more freedom and were treated more like adults than I remember being treated in school at their age. They also call their teachers by their first name and can take a walk through essentially the town's park during their lunch. Security is not a thing in the schools here. There is no "welcome desk" you must register in. No one knew I was there, in fact several teachers thought I was a new student because I didn't have to tell anyone who I was. The way the school system is set up is different after their "Junior High". They go off to "high school" where they can decide to learn traits of what they want to do after university. They then go to University around the age of 20.
I am so happy I got the chance to spend time with them and see a new side of the country!
Back in Copenhagen we are heading into winter with the sun setting around 4:30 and the colorful fall leaves hitting the ground. This morning I decided to spend sometime enjoying what is left of the season.
The exciting news of last week was may acceptance for Birthright! I will be spending Christmas in Israel with my best friend learning all about the motherland. This week my mom is coming into town and then we will be spending a girls weekend in Paris to celebrate her belated (really belated) 50th birthday celebration. I am looking forward to seeing her and showing her some of the cool things I have found and spending some time with her.
Until next time...
XO J