It's been about two months, or has it been longer? Whatever, way too long. I finally found the motivation and the time to write something again. I don't know where to start, because I have no clue where I stopped. However, it's not important. I might even tell you more than before..
My Erasmus adventure already ended almost two months ago. So here I am, being back in Belgium, back to the normal life. And how does that feel? It feels hard! I miss it, I miss everything. It's hard to explain what you learn in these few months away, but I feel it. It's hard to fit again. I was gone, and people just lived their life. One day you come back, everyone wants to see you and meet up with you again and after a week it feels like you've never been gone.
The first thing I wanted to do when I was back in Belgium was visit my grand parents. I was home around Christmas, so family meeting after family meeting, telling your story every time. I liked it, don't take me wrong. But the more I was telling it, the more I realized it ended and it would never come back. If I look back to my Erasmus and have the change to do it all over again, I would handle it differently. I was pretty scared the first weeks, feeling a bit lonely and tired. I didn't party that much, until mid-October. Then I finally started to enjoy myself, party (sometimes too hard) and start to let myself fall in love..
Well, what is an Erasmus without some interesting love stories?! Telling yourself you would never have a long distance relationship, but fall in love, again, after too much holding back. It felt so good, and it still does. His name is Sacha, French-Canadian, engineer student and the guy that stole my heart, slowly. Like everyone around me, I ask myself sometimes how we can handle it. But I realize fast that future can't be predicted. Change is the only constant in life, so why not enjoy every tiny thing while you can?! It took me some years to realize it, but I finally feel complete. I allow myself to feel relax, to enjoy something, to smile and to cry, even if it's stupid. Well, it feels nice to know someone is supporting you and is there for you, every day, no matter how far! And you know what is the good thing about a long distance relationship, you enjoy each other every second while you are together, because nothing else matters. You get to see beautiful places, you learn to trust someone, you learn to bond in a different way. I would never have thought that I would and up in a relationship after Erasmus and I would never have thought it would make me this happy!
Back to Belgium, back to reality! It's weird to be back. I don't like it, to be honest. I feel lonely and bored, like nothing is the same anymore. My boyfriend told me that things and people here probably didn't change that much, I did. And probably he's right. I got used to live my own life, to be independent and to do whatever I wanted. I can be like that here, in Ghent, and I really like this place, but I miss something. It seems stupid. I love the people around me and I love how the enjoy themselves, but I am more looking from the outside than living with them. You know what changed inside me, I found peace. I build my own life, still exploring all my options, but I am not so scared anymore to live on the edge and take a risk. Because what I've learned, is that every decision you didn't make, every risk you didn't take, you regret. And why live with regrets if life's too short to waste?!
PS I want to thank everyone I met on my adventure, especially my boyfriend for making the special adventure a bit more special and my housemate, Siri, for giving me the motivation to write this blog message (and new ones)! Thank you!
I think it's been too long now! It's shameful, I can't even remember when I wrote my last message. So I try and sit back on a Sunday night to write down my wonderful evening. But thank you internet for ruining this good will. With just a bit of inspiration of yesterday I'll try to write down what I am experiencing, what I am enjoying here. Just sit down and relax.
I owe you quite a lot, being silent for two weeks. My mind can't even remember all the things that I've been doing. I have to dig deep , and it already puts a smile on my face. Let's go back in time, three weeks to be exact!
Well, being back from a wonderful trip in Sweden with wonderful guys makes you think about your life. What am I aiming for? What do I want to achieve? What do you want to do for your whole life? I am 21 for god sake, how should I know what I want to do for the rest of my life. We even have to face this question sooner, at the age of 18 when we decide to go working or to go to university. So many options, so many possibilities, but what leads our decision at that moment? Your mind influenced by people and things surrounding you. But what if that leaves, what if you change and the people around you change? What if you find another goal in life that suits you more at this time? Can you throw it all away? Don't be afraid, I am not thinking about quitting and run away from my life, even though a few people asked me already why I just don't quit and explore the world. I start doubting what I am doing and where I am heading at.
Being abroad makes you realize a lot. You realize what a great life you have at home, even though it takes all your time and energy away. Sometimes it was too much, running from one point to another. But it's a decision one makes to taste the most in life. But these choices always make you forget the other, greater, bigger things in life. And that is what I realize here. There is so much more than Belgium, Gent, my town. But on the other hand, there is never a more important thing than family and friends, and you only find them home. Thus, of course I am coming back. Too much people I miss (and people that miss me :D), so much things I am missing out on. The routine, the safe feeling of home, the love. But I am losing direction with all of this emotional stuff. What am I been up to, next to all the 'realizing-stuff'?
I finally went to Ikea to eat meatballs! The first thing to start with is food, great job Annelies! Well, I love food, I can't hide it anymore (thank you, trip buddies, for always making that very clear). I am getting fat, but not too fat (I hope). But it's the perfect way to get through the dark, rainy and cold days, and to date the good guys ;) It's actually not that bad here. The sun was shining the last weeks. Of course we had some rainy days, but that's the same in Belgium. The weather was even that good that I took a jump in the -ice cold- sea. Blue and frozen toes as a consequence, but it felt pretty good. I join everything that can make this adventure a bit more special, especially to show you I might be a bit crazy and weird, like people think of me.
Two weeks ago I had some visitors :D My uncle, his girlfriend and their goddaughters visited me in Aarhus. It felt very good to see a familiar face again and get a good good hug from the family. And of course, they brought a bit of Belgium to me: chocolate, cookies and nutella! :D We spend some evenings together (ending up eating of course) and we visited 'Den Gamle By'. This is the old time, an open air 'museum' with all typical old houses which you could visit. Afterwatds we came home for a nice slice of cake of my Canadian friend: Maplesyrup cake! Sweeet, sweet delicious!Perfect. (Mange tak, Sacha) Starting the Friday night like that was perfect. Dormparty with some drinks and talks, perfect to start your weekend. And a perfect weekend it was. I spent the day at the harbor in the sunshine and good company, ending the day with the dilemma of going to a Halloween party or not! I ended up on one of the Halloweenparties. It was a long long night with a lot of fun and mystery. You'd love Halloweenparties if you'd know ;)
Last week was tiring! Starting the day at 8.30 am in library, leaving at 3 pm to end up in the dark one hour later. It is so depressing to see the weather changing. The darkness outside at 4.30 pm makes me want to stay inside and watch a movie instead of joining my friends on the international night. But I managed to get out of my room to study at night in the state's library. Well, studying.. Sitting with 5 friends, enjoying free food, cooking, tea and coffee. It's hard to call that studying,b ut still - honestly - we did some studying after visiting the top floor of the building to enjoy Aarhus by night. And I can ensure you, that is motivating! On Friday I went to the Moesgarden Museum with my friends. It's amazing what people can create and make history interesting to see. Afterwards it was party time, twice. But with great responsibility in enjoying comes the requirement of studying. This weekend it was really hard to find some motivation to do that. Tired of all the pressure, assignments, the 'musts'.. I've been studying for four years now. I've been studying hard, not enjoying the things I should have. And then in a weekend like this, I question what I am doing and why! I even started to get sad while thinking of going back home. That moment of getting in the car/train back to Belgium frightens me somehow. Not because I don't want to come back (I'd loved to!!), but because of all the people and memories I have to leave here. I've been homesick, I've been searching my way to feel 'home' and now that I finally found it, I start realizing I have to let this go again. So I try to hug, talk and laugh as much as possible. Fortunately hope is always the thing that keeps your head up!
To date, the 'why'-question is still in my head, but now with a smile. Ending your weekend with a perfect, intimate concert makes me relaxed. A good ending gives you a great start of the new week.
Last but not least, I have to thank you for still reading this.
I am back, back to reality! This is how it feels. I came back Monday evening, tired as hell and thinking about how much work is waiting for me. But the trip was great!! :D
Seven days, 24 hours living together with 3 guys, how do you do that?! To be honest, the group didn't really exist out of 3 guys and 1 girls. I quote the leader of the group (also called 'GPSacha'): "I am travelling with 2 girls and 1 woman." (just to be clear, the woman is me). And I can't counter that. It was pretty funny seeing the guys tired and complaining all the time. It was cold, it was exhausting, but it was definitly worth it! The first two days of our trip we spent in Copenhagen, together with an Italian girl. She booked -coïncidentally - the same bus to Copenhagen. She booked a ticket to go to Passenger and wanted to stay two days in the city. She could spend the two days together with us, exploring the city. Definitly better than doing it on your own. Wednesday evening we met our fourth group member in the train station to start our travel towards Sweden. First Malmö, then night train straight towards Stockholm. We stayed two days in Stockholm, which is way too less to discover that amazing city. Even one night sleeping outside doesn't make me change my mind about the city. In the morning we jumped on the train to Göteborg for a proper sleep of 5 hours in a warm train. That felt so good :D Göteborg was a bit disappointing, a lot due to the grey and dark weather and the shops closing at 4 pm (on a Saturday?! Can you believe that?!). We managed to find the best spots in Göteborg at the end of the trip and we even saw the sun. Then back towards Denmark, but first with a stop in Malmö. Unfortunatly, we didn't find a place to sleep there, so we decided to go back up. We took the train towards Kristianstad, a small little city on the Westcoast. Small end very cosy. We discovered the beauty of the town during the night and finally ended up sleeping in a corner of a passage in the park. Well, I and the Portuguese guy slept, GPSacha stayed awake and listened to our weird sleep noises (with which he can still tease me). Freezing and tired as we were we took the first train towards Malmö at 4 am. We didn't feel like waking up yet, so we decided to take another train back to the North to enjoy the warmth and the sleep. Finally, it was time to drive back to Denmark, Copenhagen and then Aarhus. I was happy to go back and looking forward to sleep in my bed again. But the moment I left the bus and came into my room, I knew I would miss it! And I missed it, I even missed the guys!
To summarize, the trip was amazing, so were my travel mates. There was no moment I felt uncomfortable or left out. I was an equal member of the group and they took care of me the times it got cold or we got tired (I even got a surprise at the end of the trip). I've never laughed so much on a trip, I've never did so many crazy and unorganised things, I've never felt so reborn after a trip! Thank you guys, for the amazing experience!
Now I am back in Aarhus, back in my room and back in my readings and papers. I am doing what I am supposed to do here again: having a good balance between studying and having fun. Ooh and of course, I need to be the housewoman: clean, cook, wash, iron... I am pretty happy about the past week.Thus, let's enjoy this adventure to fullest, cause time is moving too fast now!
I hope you are having as an amazing time as I am! Lots of love from Denmark
So what about having a new update! I should start writing more. It's hard to remember what happened last week, so how will I be able to remember all the little things I do not write down?! The things that made this journey a bit more special..The akward moments, the frustrations, the feeling of safety during a hug, the moment of pleasure after a beer or just the smile on someone's face after doing stupid things?!
It's hard to write it all down. Some things are just indescribable, others things just make you too sad. That is how life passes by: good moments and bad moments. That is how my week felt! I know it can sound a bit stupid, but this week I really wanted to come home and feel safe again. It's break week, so a lot of people are going home (Germans, Norwegian), others started travelling already (Australians, Canadians, Japanese friend..) First, I didn't want to go away, just stay here in Aarhus and prepare for my exams. But a friend made me realize that there is more than just studying here. Stop stressing, live your life, travel! And that is what I will do! I am leaving tomorrow - way too early - with the bus to Copenhagen. Wednesday evening we cross the border to Malmö, Sweden. The packing was exciting, the preparations were nice, so the trip will be fine, I guess! I even skipped my Danish class for it (twice) last week. One have to set priorities!
What else did I do this week? I went to an event called 'Post a Letter'. The purpose of this event was to make people start writing letters again, instead of communicating only through Facebook and e-mail. The coolest thing: we could send our letters for free! It was really nice to write some letters and to surprise people at home :) I even got surprised by my roomy from Ghent: she wrote me a sweet letter, which I received Tueseday morning. I was so happy, I even started crying. Tueseday felt like a long and depressing day. The weather was grey and foggy, I didn't go out of the house and I didn't see anyone all day. So I got a bit sad in the evening, wanting to go home and cuddle my sister. Luckily I planned to meet up with some friends to play the pub quiz, and of course the little surprise from my roomy helped me to feel happy again.
Wednesday was a boring day. I went to the library - I love that place!! - and I had the most boring course ever. I even almost started laughing with the teacher at the end of the lecture. Me and my German friend were looking at each other thinking why we were sitting there. But there was one good thing: we got free cake, Danish cake! It was way too sweet, but a good treat to survive the class. After the class I rushed to Lærdansk to meet up with my travel mates (of whom I don't know two) and we planned and talked for three hours. Afterwards I skyped with my parents and went to a friend to watch the last episode of American Horror Story. You know that series? Don't watch it, it is crazy! Just kidding, about the first part. It is a crazy series, but it is pretty good and I like it! The mystery, the music, the non-romance.. But the shocked look on my friends face really makes the deal. It wouldn't be the same to watch it with someone else (so I promise I won't cheat again!!).
On Thursday I was a bit stressy because of my Intellectual Property-course. The lecturer really stresses me out, but I try to work on that. I need to stay calm, read as much as possible (of all the articles he puts online :o) and try to understand it. I did a good thing that day: I helped my friend passing his exampaper he had to write on one day. And Friday, the day I was looking forward to because of the moviee :D Afternoon was movie time, whiiee. But first I went to the library to print out articles for my paper. I was so excited that I might have overdone it but still, it will keep me busy.
The weekend was great and sad. A real woman's weekend: getting emotions sort out. But meeting up with some new friends can really surprise you. Sometimes I don't realize I am here making friends with people from all over the world.
So now it's time to go to bed. I am so excited to go on the trip! It feels so weird: travelling with 3 guys I barely know and meeting up with people in the different cities, people I study with. It is amazing how easy it can be! z
Well it's Sunday 10 am and I am in the library (crazy right?!) Still, I need to do this. So much reading I need to do. I feel good here and I hope I will manage to do a lot today. I am sitting here surrounded by books, but I found a window so I can enjoy the beautiful sun today. I might go for a lunchbreak near the lake.
I actually should start reading, but not before I told you guys about my amazing day yesterday. I went on a trip to Skagen (in the very North of Denmark). It was AMAZING!! I have never seen nature so beautiful. I was even in the dessert, a place with sandhills (dunes) created by the wind. On the side not cover with sand you could see the trees and somewhere in the distance you could see water. Try to picture all these things together! And especially don't forget blue sky and sun :D Moreover, our tourguide was telling us these crazy stories about camels and bellydancers in the dessert. That moment he really felt in the Sahara, I guess :)
In the afternoon we visited a museum, a bunker from the second world war and then finally we could go to the main point of the day: Grenen! This point, in the very north of Denmark, is the place where the two parts of the North Sea, Kattegat and Skagerrat, meet. It was very windy over there, but there was sun and a beautiful view. You could really see the two seas bumping into each other, like they were fighting. A special part of nature, created because of the climate change (ice melting) and the wind. It was worth it!
In the evening, we went to the little town of Skagen. Near the harbor I saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! The sun was pink, orange, yellow... And the sky turned light blue and light pink. Amazing, the sky here at night. I could stare a whole evening at it.
So now I should really start studying! Don't feel like it, but I have to. Wish me luck!
It's been too long, I know! I am so sorry. I didn't find the time to write something decent. Tonight I will try, for your sake!
What did I do last week?! I remember a lot and nothing! Times passes by like clouds. Everything goes so fast here and some days I have the feeling I can't enjoy it properly. It's so busy here, or that is what my head tells me. I started stressing out today, like I do every Thursday afternoon, thanks to my dearest teacher of Advances Intellectual Property. He expects so much of us. Sometimes I don't feel I deserve to be a Masterstudent here. On the one hand he is amazing, because he really pushes us to reach a high level. His education technique is similar the system in America, I think. Do your reading, prepare the exercises and cases, we work on the exercises while highlighting the main issues and he highlights the main parts of the articles, the link between substantive and procedural law, claiming, why and who.. Just that, the rest we need to do ourselves. It's different from what I am used to. And then there is the paper we need to write, don't let me start on that! On the other hand it will give me a lot of knowledge and a great challenge where I need to find my way through. SO I am reading a lot here, and need to find some good books to broader my knowledge. You see why I am stressing out a bit. but he, I shouldn't complain. The other courses are a bit better, but also a bit more boring! I have two Italian teachers. I think that says enough: their pronunciation, their way of teaching.. I don't like it! But he, maybe these courses can relax me a bit.
Apart from the stressing this week, my feeling about everything here are confusing. I love it here: great places, great people but I started to miss home again. Just the safe feeling, you know. Just wake up in the morning and know your friend/sister/mother/father will be there at the breakfast table or for dinner. Don't have to stress out about budget, washing, ironing.. just come home and relax! I can do that here though, but not this week. One way I enjoy everything more than I'd do when I was in Ghent, but still at the end of the day you are 'alone' even though after a great movie-evening or party. But maybe that is the same everywhere. The right way to happiness is to learn trust yourself and believe in yourself. Even if so many people believe in you, will be there no matter what, you have to start from within yourself.
Okay enough with the emo-thing. I know I made the right decision to come here. Homesickness is a part of this, but there is so much more. I can feel like a kid again, play games, take crazy walks in the evening, visit museum at night, falling a sleep in a cough somewhere, I don't even know where... Making the drunk Danish guys fall in love (according to them I am cute)..Just being a real student every now and then. It's just the normal way of living as a student, here or at home. But still, there is still something more special studying abroad. You can see that on the smile on my face!
On this beautiful afternoon I will try to give you a little update of my fourth week! It was a very busy week, one of the reasons it took so long I could write something in my blog. I know I need to do it sooner sometimes, because I don't want to neglect this.
I enjoyed the weekend and I had time to fully recover from my sickness. I went to the deerpart with some friends on Saturday. On Sunday I was supposed to go for a run with a friend, but the weather wasn't that good. We decided to go for a - very expensive - coffee in the city center. Afterwards, I went cooking with a friend. We drunk a nice glass of wine together and had a pretty good dinner. Just enjoying the little things and the company of so many new people. Unfortunaltely, I forgot a bit that there was still so much preparing work for the week.
It was a very challenging week for me. I had my first Danish class on Monday. And I could understand what the teacher was trying to say, but that's the only thing. I suck at the pronunciation. I have no idea how I will be able to ever speak this language properly, or even understand it, cause the way the teacher was speaking, was really basic. But I am trying: Tuesday on my way to University I was repeating everything we learned the day before. I am not sure I am doing it right, but I can try, right?! Unfortunately I had to skip my second Danish class on Wednesday evening. I found a better way to spend my evening, go and prepare my debate in the library! Imagine: a Wednesday evening, 7pm, Thursday big debate and I hadn't done anything yet! No stress, just a bit pressure to get to know something of the subject. So I decided to go and join my teammate in the library at 10pm! Nice, right! Just take your bike, access the library with your student card and read in all peace and quiet! I loved it, really. To be honest, after 12 I started to become a bit scared to sit in the library alone, in the middle of a park with almost no lights. Especially when I started watching American Horror Story (serie) the day before with a friend. It was really creepy, so I went home to sleep and get up early to prepare a bit more for the debate. The debate was okay, not very good, but we did what we could. Next time we will be better.
After sleeping too less and stressing too much, I had a relaxing afternoon with a friend. Afterwards I went to a pizzaparty! That was AWESOME :D Making pizza, drinking beer or other alcoholdrinks, talking. The pizza's were fantastic and afterwards, the 'dessert'part got even better: vodka and white rum! Hnn, I love having Polish and German friends! Yesterday I went to the Fridaybar of Esperanto's, it was crazy. Now I know how to get drunk pretty quickly: drink beershots. But don't think I am living unhealthy over here. I still try to be healthy (and yeah, it is more trying with no succeeding! My Belgian friend is already teasing me that he will take all my sweet things away, so I cannot eat so much anymore :( BUT he will NEVER take my Nutella :o). I did go for a run this week. I am lucky to have a personal coach. I never thought I could do it, but I ran almost 7 km! And it was a run with a perfect view: the sea. We stopped 15min to take a break and enjoy the beauty of the sea. This is what makes this city so great: you have everything! Anyone can feel at home! You can go partying at the bars or the Fridaybars, you can go to the beach or a park to relax, you have great studyfacilities, shoppingstreets, cute caffees, romantic places near the water and the beach... You can find it all in Aarhus! I am happy I am here, try to enjoy the most of it when I can!
I hope the weather, people and places with you are as amazing as they are here! Enjoy it, now you can. Thanks for reading!
Yesterday the rain was back! I almost forgot how the weather is over here: when the sun is shining, you cannot expect that it's gonna stay that way. Ten minutes later the rain is already there. And yes, I was already a bit addicted to the all-day-long sun, but I'll get used to this again, I suppose.
I had a great weekend. Three days of doing nothing except fun things. Even though I fell sick Friday, I enjoyed the social evenings. I decided to go to the Fredagsbar just for a couple of hours and then catch up on sleep. Fredagsbar is a place where students come for cheap beer and crazy parties. You can find it in every department of the university (you can just walk through the Uni.Parken to go from one bar to the other, just try and not fall in the lake, please). You can get totally crazy, and that is exactly what Danish girls do. They are all well-disciplined but once they start partying, they go for it! So we were just standing there, look at the crazy Danish students, laughing a bit and drinking a bit (10 kr. for a beer = 1.2 euro :D). I got home pretty early, considering doing something productive on Saturday. Well I did! Reading, running, enjoying the sun with a coffee in the main shopping street.. how perfect can life be?! I started to feel a bit better so I decided to go to the dormparty Saturday-evening. I shouldn't have!! I was planning on staying for two hours, drink some very cheap beer (5kr. = almost nothing!!), meet some people and make some fun! Suddently it was 2 am. Too late, especially when you are sick. So Sunday I was a wreck. It felt like my head was going to explode. In the evening I had a dinerdat with two friends. It was a cosy and amazing night, unfortunaltely I couldn't enjoy it fully!Above all the sickness, it started to rain again and I forgot to take in my laundry, whoch was still hanging outside! Thank you, great brain of mine!
As you can read, I had a mixed weekend: great times, aweful feelings. But there were some little surprises which make this weekend - and last week - memorable! A little gift of nature can make you heal a bit faster!
So this is my second week here and I really enjoyed it! Short summary: sun, beach, friendly people and time! It feels like a holiday still. I stille don't realize I will be here for a while, but that will help me enjoy it more :)
This week the classes started. You all think I don't have to do anything over here. But it's the opposite. The teacher expect a lot so I'd better prepare my excersises and do my readings. I only had one class this week. I spent two days in the library to do all the reading so I am trying to be a good student over here :) Here you have to. It was 8.30 am and I was in the library. It was pretty hard to find a spot at the third floor. This makes me wonder: are all Danish students so disciplined that they come and study from 8 o'clock? It is pretty hard not to study if you know so many people are studying. But he, you have the best facility to do it: the library is open 24/7, well for students of AU anyway. So you can imagine the great opportunities students have to study. And it doesn't actually feel as studying in a library. You have your own little desk where you can put all your stuff on the way you like it (So I can make my little chaos, thanks AU).
I slowly start to fit in! I can ride my bike - which feels totally awesome - and I managed to go for a run two times this week. Finally I feel like I have time to just do whatever I like when I like. That is quit an amazing feeling! I missed that, I always thought I needed to do something useful but then you forget to like and enjoy the little things like watching a meaningless film. I'm starting to love this place, espcially with the sun around the last days. You have everything here: beach, nature, cute centre, bars, crazy fridaybars (where the Danish people totaly go crazy :o), art, peace and quie and friendly people! Maybe it was the lucky and best week, I am happy I am here!
You want to know why I love administrative paperwork? Because of this I got my book printed for free! :) The woman even apologized because it took so much time to print it all! Being an exchange student has its advantages every now and then!
This week I just relaxed and enjoyed a bit like I am on holiday! I actually have no clue what I can write more so I will be back for an next update soon!
I will be living in Aarhus for four months for my Erasmusproject. By writing this blog I want to make you part of my adventure. I am trying to write this blog in English. My English is not perfect yet but during these months I will improve my speaking and writing skills. So please forgive me for all the (gramatical) mistakes :) I will try and write every week, maybe a few times in one week. Time will tell me when and what.
Everything is new here for me. I am trying to feel comfortable. The lifestyle, the academic culture and the language (English and of course Danish)..., everything feels weird. So let this be the first step to discover the world and its people.
Unknowingly you've learned some Danish already. The greeting is 'Hi'. So everywhere I go I say 'Hi' and the people assume I am speaking Danish so they start talking Danish to me. And of course I don't undertsand a thing of what they are saying. To give you an idea, this is how it feels like inside of my head: 'WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT?!!!??!! Seeing the words the language seems understandable, something like german. But Danish is really worse! They are like talking with a potato in their mouths. So it is really hard to 'fit in', to feel part of the Danish people. They are really friendly though, you just have to take the first step. People here are very organised adn individual (I can live with that :)) but they sometimes feel a bit cold.
The Danes are also very fit. I see them running and biking all the time, which is understandable considering the high busprices. I will try and keep up with that sportive thought but my intentions to go for a run haven't worked out yet. There are too many activities and things to do this first week. In the evening I was too tired of all the walking - it takes me 45min to walk to the centre of the city, 25min to the university campus - that I just wanted to sleep. But I had some great nights as well. We had an international night, a barbecue with the housemates and then an evening downtown to check out the start of Aarhus Festuge (Festival Week in Aarhus). This is a 10-daysfestival with concerts and parties in the city (something like Ghent Festival but with ore rain :/) The last couple of days the weather was pretty good though. On Wednesday I went to the beach with two Norwegian girls and we saw two daulphins (are I thought it were daulphins :p). We even dared to get into the water :) It was cold but it felt very good. The others days I have been wandering through the streets in Aarhus to buy a pair of shoes and to have a coffee. Just the usual things but it feels different!
I am sharing a house (with garden!) with eight other students. All of us are exchange students from different places over the world. They are all friendly and cool to live with. It is a pretty nice place to live.
It is still pretty scary though! Monday (25th of August) was my first day alone. I felt lonely and overwhelmed. The first days in Denmark I travelled around a bit with my parents and sister. Then that day came we had to say goodbye. And of course there were a few tears and a lonely feeling. It is really frightening to be here alone. Sometimes we all will feel a little bit homesick or cry, some more than others, but it is the main part to remember that we are not alone. Everyone here is in the same situation. You wake up, feel alone and ask yourself why you're doing this. That's normal the first days. But then you think of the real reasons you are here. For me it's to learn more about myself and my limits, to learn to trust myself and count on myself in difficult and stressful situations. We will see how that works out!
So what does the Danish people look like? The are very blond and very black (clothing). I haven't seen so many beautiful people together yet! But they are not only beautiful, they are smart as well. The educationsystem at AU (Aarhus University) - and all over Denmark - seems very good. Before the first class starts the students are expected to read and prepare a ot already. The professor expects an interactive discussion during the lecture, what can be really interesting with people from all over the world. Of course you are free to choose to go to class. There are no mandatory lectures or scoring points for answers in class but it will help you to study the course efficiently. And at the end of the semester we have an oral exam, so it can be pretty useful the teacher alreday saw your face in class :) My first class starts Wednesday so I will see what that will bring!
At this moment I still don't know what to expect and how this adventure will look like. I still don't realize I am here for the next four months. I need to stay here, live here and make this my home. My life in Ghent was hectic last semester. This can be my opportunity to come to peace with the world, life, myself and just find some relaxing time during the hard studying and social events. I am not sure I can handle all of this and that I can really demand myself to relax this way. I Always expect a lot of myself, maybe too much to enjoy things fully. So let this be my chance to learn to enjoy what life brings me!
It's been about two months, or has it been longer? Whatever, way too long. I finally found the motivation and the time to write something again. I don't know where to start, because I have no clue where I stopped. However, it's not important. I might even tell you more than before..
I am back, back to reality! This is how it feels. I came back Monday evening, tired as hell and thinking about how much work is waiting for me. But the trip was great!! :D
