aarhus, this is where i live

Ah! Finally!

i actually feel such a relief to be sitting down to write this. 

in between writing blogs, i get all these one-liner thoughts and phrases which get stuck in my head, and i have no way of releasing it.

sometimes i wake up and type thoughts groggily into my phone, other times i alternate between my ipod and my notes on the bus.

so it feels great to have a place to just vent them all into one space, like one big email, with pictures to go alongside it.
!!

 

anyway. 

so i have been officially studying in aarhus for two and a half weeks now. except for this week, we haven't had any classes. 

i am continually surprised, taken aback, hmm, probably mostly SHOCKED at the whole university system here. i need to be careful what i say and how i say it, but it is safe to say it is unlike anything i've ever expereinced before. 

just last week in class, the teacher made a mistake in her english and told us to "bite her". i didn't know whether to stare blankly in shock, or to laugh, so i sort of did both. 

 from a very basic, superficial comparitive analysis, australian universities produce well educated, disciplined students with strong work ethic. the level and severity of grading we recieve, as well as the fact that we eventually have to pay back the government for our HECS debt typically means that australian students are forced to thoroughly research the topic of assignements and produce a well written, well structured piece of work. even then, if one has mininterpreted the question, not gone deep enough into theory or application, or even referenced wrong/plaigarised, they are at risk of failing the whole assignment.

it's nothing like that here. 

in a nutshell,

it is completely the opposite.

basiically, as a friend explained to me: 

since the government pays for everybody's education here, they can't afford to fail students. 

so students really do take advantage of it. 

this doesn't really sit comfortably with me for a number of reasons,

but i have to be ok with it.

and besides!

it gives me the chance to come home and leave uni at uni!

and to TRAVEL!

we have just finished our first module. 1 down, 3 more to go. so i got friday, monday and tuesday off school to explore  denmark :D 

but just quickly, for all my social work friends:

in this module, i learnt about the different theories you can practise when one embarks on a cross cultural community development project and the various conflicts that may arise. in this last assignment we analysed the red cross and explored the different approaches it utilises to do it's humanitarian work in various countries and contexts. 

but in other news!!

bridget and i still needed a bike. we have this thing where whatever we are facing, concerned about, or needing - we talk about it and commit it in prayer to God, and wait for Him to provide it in His timing. we do this while we are walking, just before we go to sleep, or just by ourselves. 

denmark transportation is suppper expensive - even a bus ticket is $80 per month! so we were committing to God our desire for a bike each, at a cheap price. 

in class last week, a girl who (i don't think) i'd ever met, just casually told me that she'd brought her old bike to class, and it was mine for the taking!!!

:))

i couldn't believe it. 

this was my first bikeride home:

 my knuckles froze through my gloves, and my cough became raspy, but i had a bike and that was all that mattered in the world.
i even do my shopping with it now:

this was somewhat amusing.

 being on a bike helps me to appreciate the small things i see on the way home, like the cute bakeries and second hand shops.
or the bigger and weirder things. i'm not sure whether this is denmark-weird, or just universally weird.

locking up my bike, i got to meet this little guy!!!

 reminded me of millie!
aw millie.
why are you so annoying and greasy and why does your breath always smell like fish.
but i miss you.

but in saying all of this, i have to admit;

the bike is stuck in 4th gear.

the bikes only go up to 7th, but it still makes a long stretch of flat road a tough ride. 

i committed to God that i needed this fixed, and also that bridget doesn't have a bike yet.

being with somebody almost 24/7 makes it weird when you can't share something with them!

just a side note: bridget and i also both decided we needed a home cooked meal with friends sometime soon. so another prayer offering!

ready?

sunday night, our old friend christian told us that his sister could lend bridegt her old bike for the remainder of bridget's time here.

for free.

:))

and just yesterday i got an email from a friend i met in the first week who said he knew how to fix bikes, and also would we like to come for dinner to his house with all our first-week-in-denmark friends. 

:))))))))))

so stay tuned on how bridget and i go on our new bikes!

literally. we are almost 40 minute rides away from everywhere. 

i know we want to be danes, but they have bikeriding in their blood.

we have cars and fuel in our blood.

i hope we wont, but we may need the bus pass still.

ha!!!

but at least we will be able to try it for free!

 

 then came valentines day!!

i LOVE valentines day. i think that no matter whose in your life, there's always someone to celebrate love and friendship with. 

for me this year, it was with these two girls:

they're the coolest new friends in the world. 

i can't believe that i didn't even know either of them a month ago!

but they are amazing. and i love them alot. 

we went to this really cool art museam at night, and then to this local cafe which employs socially disadvantaged people or people with a mental illness who can't get jobs in the mainstream. 

it was the best valentines day.

so from here we went to the little restaurant cafe for dinner and dessert.

 
this was 'bleeding chocolate cake' with berry sauce and cream, with a free coffee on the side.
it was the best.


 i also like decorating my room with the smallest things around valentines day.

 it's the little things that make the heart warm.

i've also been sllowwly adding to my room new little additions. like this little danish number: 

and this! which is reads : "to travel is to live" , a quote by Hans Christiansen Anderson,

whom after reading up on, i've decided is a REALLY cool guy. so he gets a quote space in my room.

but after booking various trips now, i need to cut back on my spending on little decorative things.

maybe.

we'll see how that goes.

but moving on!

dorm living means numerous things:

washing your whites in the bathroom sink:

 accidentally cooking abnorally large portions and combinations.

and to become accustomed to living aound other people's schedules and ways of life.

 last week i was just hopping into bed when i noticed my iphone had connected to somebody's wifi. 

i would usually turn it off so i didn't steal their internet, but i felt like talking to my brother on viber. he was just getting ready for work and i was chatting to him about things were. 

i had only had 5 hrs the night before, my shower had been cold and there was a party going on outside. suffice to say, i was feeling quite tired ,a little overwhelmed and a TINY bit homesick. as i was telling him this, somebody tried to get inside my room. they were drunk and i supposed were mistaking my door for somebody elses. 

i was telling my brother this as it happened, 

and i was so grateful my wifi had connected at that time.

but it was one of those moments i realised : yep, i'm definately in a different world!

as weird as it sounds, it's kind of cool - those moments.

you are by yourself and you HAVE to press deeper into your faith and conviction on why your doing what you're doing, which makes you so much stronger and determined to push through.

i didn't actually stop to think of what it would feel like if my sister texted me from africa saying that someone was trying to get inside her room.

oops! sorry bro!

haha!

but moving on!

church has been really great.

we usually sit at the back and listen to the english translation so we don't distract people, but everybody can tell we are internationals. 

it's actually really refreshing to be going to a large church filled predominately with young people who are studying, but are also hungry for God and deep theology.

i haven't really known that before. 

but the worship is also very refreshing. some of the songs are in danish, but it's still so nice to be part of. 

doing what you've always done but in a different way in a different culture. 

i'd recommend it.

we have also joined the internationals 'cluster' on tuesday night, where a bunch of english speaking international students meet and share dinner, before talking about a passage of scripture. everybody wants to dissect it, and is interested in learning and sharing.

again, i haven't really known that before either.

it's so wonderful to walk in this new season!

i literally wake up in the mornings and get so excited to start my day. ha! or sometimes it happens opposite way round, and i can't sleep. that's more annoying, ha! 

it's not an external excitement mainly - although what's happening on the outside is very exciting.

but honestly? all this could crumble in one bad turn of event. i'm not naiive to think that i'm invincible.

but i do know that God holds my world and he has my best interests at heart. 

i have this deep setted joy and peace which surpasses all my understanding: whatever happens, God is orchastrating all things according to His good purposes for me. 

everything could fall to pieces, but God will STILL go before me, still be behind me and orchastrating what is best for me. i don't have to worry about anything.

there's no other better feeling in the world.

but back to denmark,

we had "study days" on friday, monday and tuesday, so bridget and i decided to set off to explore this new foreign land.

loads of people told us to go here and there, but not to this place or that place in the winter, but maybe that place, so we took everything with a grain of salt and decided we wanted to go to Odense on friday, but then on the other days we would just rock up to the train station and see where the next train went.

So on friday morning, it was a chilly, early -2C 6am walk to the aarhus train station!

and alas! here we were and there we are going!

 aarhus train station has a BAGEL AND COFFEE shop!
i was so sleepy, but so so so so so happy as i ate a mediteranean bagel with cream cheese and a coffee while waiting for my train to come.
i felt like my two loves collided. america and denmark.

there's few things i love more than staring out the window and listening to my ipod. my theme song for this trip was slumber, by need to breath. 

thank you janice for putting it into my playlist!

 and so we arrived into odense! the city of weird statues.

 

 

 so i jump in a few to make them all the more colourful :)

 bridget and i wandered around downtown taking photos as per usual, before setting off to the Hans C.A museam and the time museam.

such a typically snapshot of us, in so many ways.






now bridget and i aren't much for museums, but i think i had one of the best days here in odense. i think it was more because i discovered all about H.C.A. and the kind of guy he was.
he wrote fairytales like 'thumbalina', 'the ugly duckling', 'the little mermaid' and a whole bunch of others. but what i loved most is that you could read all about his personality profile and the life that he led.
he was definately an infj who had a deep, profound faith in God and used his creative mind to express it all simply, in the form of cutouts and children fantasy stories.

 he would sit and tell stories to children and families with a folded piece of paper and scissors in his hands, and tell the most magical stories and tales. he had everybody around him entranced, and it was said that he never quite realised the impact he had on those who listened to him.

he was a humble, sensitive man who came from poverty himself and was very aware of the existance of a social heirachy. As the son of a cobbler and washermoman he had been subject to social judgements, and believed that individuals should be judged according to their talent, genius and spirit rather than their social origins.

H.C.A was deeply rooted in his christian faith and was quoted saying in his 1847 biography: "Life is like a voyage to some known point. - I stand at the rudder, I have chosen my path, - but God rules the storm and the seas. He may direct it otherwise; and then, happen what may, it will be the best for me ... my life will be the best illustration of all my work."

i stood amazed in this museam. i don't think bridget was quite as captivated as me, she finished it alot quicker, ha ha! but i just kept reading and staring and reading. like this candid shot shows it

he also said: "it doesn't matter about being born in a duckyard, as long as you are hatched from a swan's egg!" - the ugly duckling

"i'll give you the whole world and a new pair of skates" - the snow queen

"just living is not enough ... one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower" - the butterfly

"when the bird of the heart begins to sing, too often will reason stop up her ears" - a good humour

"first you have a terrible amount of adversity to go through, and then you become famous!" - the fairytale of my life

so that was the hans christiansen anderson museum.

then we went to the time museum. sounds boring, but possibly the funnest place ever.

this was outside the time museum. the most colourful thing i'd seen all day and i got really excited

in the 1960's a danish lady noticed that since everybody had jobs and were becoming quite affluent, they were throwing out all their old possessions and clothes. things which dated back to the 1900's. 

so she went around and collected them.

she collected so many things for so long, that she had to put it in her dad's storage centre!

as time went on, she continued to collect things, before finally in the 90's, she opened up a museum.

she died a few years ago, and i was now chatting to her daughter. 

this museum was divided into 10 rooms. 

each room was a decade in danish history.

you walked into 1910, then 1920, then 1930, and so on. 

you could walk into the room, pick things up, sit down etc. 

i took a video, but  i am yet to edit and upload it!

my favourite was the 40's, a time when modesty, well cut summer dresses and polka dots were the norm. first time around.

and then in the back room, you could dress up in the old clothes! 

 haha.
it was great.

i then got a salmon salad for the first time in AGES.
i was so. so. so. so. happy here!

and appreciated the cool decor!

oh and here is han's head on the street

 and more weird statues.

when i got home, i was exhausted and not overly eager to cook a big meal.

so i had a student's version of budget tapas.

packet soup, mushrooms with a casesar dipping sauce, a date, a cracker and a muesli bar. 

 on monday we jumped on the first train out of the station, which ended up being silkeborg. which was nice, we'd heard good things about silkeborg. my theme song for this train trip was lady percy, by king charles.


until we got to tourist and information and were told that EVERYTHING WAS SHUT!

but the aqaurium was open?!

i don't like the aquarium!!

i mean what. 

i travlled all the way to silkeborg to watch the otters get fed!

 hahaahha.


why wouldn't you take a photo. you're here getting the live thing!



they had this epic playground though - this girl wasn't too happy that i got here before her.

  and she never did quite warm to me after that.

so another nice lunch in a cool restautant.
 people warned me that denmark was one of the most expensive places in the world.
but i'm finding it heaps cheaper than perth!
this big chicken salad was only $12,

and the other day i went to the shops to buy toilet paper, muesli bars, milk and yoghurt and all up it cost me $6!
friends have warned me against going to certain places to eat because of the price, but when i've looked at the menu, prices have been $25 or under. for a gourmet restauant or steakhouse!

but anyway!
this is the second time i have been unbearably cold in denmark.  bridget likes to get photos by the water, so of course i go along too, but DAYUM. the chill, it gets your bones.

 but then we went inland and kept exploring silkeborg... and taking lots of pictures ;)

i sometimes feel like im constantly posing for pictures!

but anyway, after getting home from silkeborg, bridget and i showered and slept before getting up at 5.30am and heading off by train again to esbjerg, in the southwest of denmark. this train ride's theme song was 'your beautiful' - by worship mob. the lyrics were so fitting for the beautiful scenery!

bridget and i are still getting along like a house on fire. 

i told her over lunch that i sometimes share with her the tip of the iceberg to what i'm thinking, and she will then clearly articulate the whole ice berg underneath my sentence. it's amazing!

sometimes i don't know how or what to say - other times i don't know if i should say it, but yeah, she always says it, how it is!

it's just another profound way that i see God's hand in my exchange experience. 

 we then met a lady through another lady i know from church at home, and she took us to the beach!



 it's definately NO perth beach right now!

nor perth weather!

this isn't rocks, it's ice

 these are the famous four men! which nobody could say what they symbolise. i think they are just some art piece.

these are the beach houses! ha!

 you wouldn't think that one would need lifesaving device, but people still go swimming here.

actually, there's this thing some of our danish friends are trying to get bridget and i to do; you go to these nude beaches and dunk in (now, in the middle of winter) to feel alive.
you then hurry back to a nearby sauna to heat up.
one can do this up to three times before it becomes "unhealthy".

ridiculous.

these are some old german bunkers

this little man we got to hang out with was the cutest!

we then went for a "short walk" to the light house.
it was probably the third time since arriving in denmark that i had gotten horribly cold, but i thought the walk might heat me up.

it supposedly wasn't a long walk anyway.

40 minutes later, i had walked ahead by myself to get myself there quicker when i reached the crest of a hill. the lighthouse was still this far away

 i didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

 but i took this photo for THE SAKE OF IT and then literally ran up the hill to the tourist information centre.

while in there, i found a heater toward the back near the private rooms the owner must use.
i was standing over the heater, stunned and out of it trying to thaw out my body, when the tourist information lady came over to greet me.

i could barely manage a conversation, but all she said that mattered was "i'm sorry, i'm going to have to throw you out into the cold again, we're closing".

i just laughed and said "ok".

i can't describe what was going on for me at that point. all i wanted was to curl up in a ball next to this heater and maybe with a soup on the side please.

but alas.
things don't always go the way we want.

so i did what one does when they must keep on keeping on.
i found bridget outside and got a photo.

 can you tell i am smiling over a cry? ha!

we went back to our friends house for hot chocolate and oreos

before catching the 6pm train home.

we arrived back into aarhus at 8.30pm and i was so glad to be home.

this little, buzzing university city is getting ahold of me and i can feel my heart strings tying down.

ohhh noo!!!!!

we got in at 9.30pm and i decided to cook up a stir fry.

everybody was hanging out in our dorm watching a game of some sort, so it was fun to eat and chat despite my contacts occasionally bubbling up at my tiredness.

i eventually excused myself and went to bed.

rest you are so refreshing.

i have been in my pijamas all day writing and reading with tea, hot chocolate, water and apples just recuperating and hybernating. 

so that's it from me!!

Psalm 37.3:
"trust in the Lord and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

over and out for another week!