All first semester I thought that I had ample time in Copenhagen since I still had another semester. I have been away for 168 days, and I only have 102 days here left. I am getting anxiety like it was my last week, but I need to remember that some people only go abroad for a semester, and this is all the time they have. I am truly blessed to be able to spend so much time here, and fall in love with it as much as I have. That being said, my best friend leaves for Australia today for her study abroad experience! I am so excited for her I could burst! But then I am weirdly jealous that she is going without me. I do not like the idea of her having experiences that I will never be able to have or really relate to at all. I tend to be hypocritical. I know that she is going to have a life changing experience and probably the greatest 4 months of her life and I could not be more excited to see her in June.
I just got back from my Second Semester's Short Study Tour. I do not know if I have really gone into what my program this semester is, but it focuses around "Children with Special Needs" so we are learning about inclusion in the Danish school system. On Thursday we went up to Jylland (the main land-mass of Denmark) and went to a Folkehøjskole that had students who were severely mentally and physically disabled and other students that live with them and are "helpers". A folkehøjskole in itself is such a weird concept for Americans. It is a school that you go to and live at (like boarding school) for usually about a year where you do nothing but work to enrich your life. There are no grades or tests, and they have specialty ones for arts or music or language. They are really cool and a lot of Danes go to them between gymnasium (high school) and university. That day we also went to the town of Vejle where we met with a guy who is trying to change the Vejle Kommune school system. It was interesting. That night we went to the most epic hostel I have ever been to. It was on Skanderborg Lake and was made up of cabins. It looked like summer camp, but very posh expensive summer camp. Our cabin had 2 bedrooms, a loft, and a living room/kitchenette area, for just the 6 of us. There was supposed to be a "bonfire" but it kinda died in the wetness of weather. We played a game where I got one of the prizes which made me happy, and then I went out onto the dock of the frozen lake and had some good conversation and some excellent stargazing (the rain and clouds would clear periodically for stunning stars).
^^^ Our cabin.
The next day we did two academic visits. One in more southern Jylland at a school that did not do inclusion very well, but we got an hour of time in different special needs class rooms. I fell in love with the kids I was with. I do not know if I will ever be able to work with youth in a healthy way, I get super attached and love everyone too much. Later that day was went to the Odense Culture House which is geared towards disabled people and helping them make a living in the arts. We stayed and saw the band play and they were good and it was fun, but we were tired. We had the night off in Odense and while some people went out to rage, a few of us went back to the Turkish restaurant we went to last semester in hopes of fabulous dinner and Turkish pudding. They were out of Turkish pudding, and I wanted to cry, but I got "Turkish traditional dessert" instead and it was really good. We got a bottle of wine and went back to the hostel and talked and watched the Mummy on TV. It was a nice night in and I enjoyed myself a lot.
Today we went to the Tinderbox, which is my favorite place ever. It is that interactive Hans Christian Andersen story play museum place I went last semester. They changed the story from the last time I was there to The Little Mermaid. It was SO much fun and the set this time was a shipwreck and a coral reef castle and the Sea Witch's area with a whale's skeleton to keep prisoners in! It was way cool. This time I decided I didn't want to be a princess, so I dressed up like a pirate. I would also like to point out that I wore my pirate facepaint ALL day, including on the public transportation home from where our bus dropped us off in the city. We went to lunch the Hans Christian Andersen museum again. It was okay, but I was completely ready to get on the bus and pass out.
I am going to a Super Bowl party tomorrow at some sports bar. I do not care at all about football, but I feel like it will be a nice excuse to get really loud and American and go out too late on a school night.
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