hygge hygge and more hygge's!

i write this as i wait for the care taker to come and inspect my bare dorm.

this is the floor i'm sitting on!


SO SAD!!!

i am officially moving out of skøoldhoj today, and i'm doing everything i can to keep distracted!

it was so weird  to pack away all the things which i'd collected on my travels and just out and about. 

i have no idea what im going to do with three suitcases full of things. 

but since sentiment is my bittersweet disposition,

God has been graciously faithful in providing me  THE MOST amazing, cosy and fun

hangouts which have all served me well to keep me distracted.
not only away from the fact that i'm finishing up my time here, but also that my international friends are also leaving! 

my past two weeks have been full of "hygge".

hygge is very popular here in denmark, and while nobody can give you a proper definition of what it means,

everybody knows it when they are experiencing it. 

here is a little clip which might help clarify. a bit. 

coincidentally . . .
taylor swift even sings about hygge, and she probably doesn't even realise it!

and shyly, it has me cycling round aarhus to her song more than i'd like to admit!
dayum it gets me peddalin!

so my since my last blog, my weeks of hygge began just before daphne left for back home.

 we did a sunset-sunrise bonanza. 

this is daphne

and this was sunset from angie's apartment

we cooked dinner and watched movies until 3am, where we bycled to the beach 

mental note: don't get over excited at how it's not minus temperatures anymore. it still gets cold and you WILL need extra jumpers early in the morning.
fail katemurray, fail.

we waited patiently for the sun to rise . . . 

and took many pictures when it began to!!!

except it rose behind the clouds :/

nooo!!!
but it was still a great hygge time.

at 5am cycled back to angie's (have you ever cycled for 20 minutes uphill at 5am on no sleep?)
where we crashed for 6 hours, had brunch, then cycled into town for a wander, coffee and cake.

 cept i got the bread and cheese of course!

we went to thisss cool place.

with the nice waiters and cool architecture ;)

and then layed out in the sun and watched the sky.

.

tuesday night, the 11th june 20 thirteen,
was our last international cluster at church.

epic hygge. 

we all made something from our homeland,

and i made lamingtons. 

i don't really know what to say here. but i just thank God for these precious gifts He gave me while on exchange here in denmark.
while i am so sad to give the gifts back to Him, i feel very comforted and encouraged that we all met under God's auspices for such a time as this...
and we set sail into the next chapter of our lives with the imprint of the past few months on our hearts.

i rode home that night, might i add, a proper dane.
i sat down the entire way and had this little danish bun happening.

it happened.
i'd also like to point out that you can tell how danish somebody is by their calf muscles.
sometimes i'm riding and im blinded by them!

ha!

angie made chicken stragenaff that night,

so i made that for the next few nights. 

and THEN!!
my birthday came up.

too right.

i had one of the coolest birthdays yet. 

early in the morning, i went for a walk, before skyping with mum, nicole and lisa.

they watched me open a little box of gifts they had sent me, which included taylor swift tickets (AGGH!) and a new "cashmere sweater and ring which in the words of my sister "you CANNOT LOOSE" .
Jan. I would just like to mention.

i have an iphone note list

on how many times i've already lost the ring.

the second one's recovery was quite impressive. 

but i'm saving it to read out to you when i get home,

and i also hope that subconsciously, 

it is making me more aware of where it is at all times. 

where. is. it, actually? (where. am. i.? - finding nemo) ;)

anyway.

(it's fine it's in my suitcase) 

skyping with nicole and lisa made me remember that in perth, i find that i am always attempting to look perfect!

neat and tidy hair, applied makeup, good ensemble of clothes

i forgot about that!!

here - there's no point fixing your hair and well applied makeup - it will all get wind swept on your bikeride anyway!
so i've fallen back into embracing the natural look and casual comfortable clothes, and i LOVE it. 

and so naturally, after skyping with them, i felt all self conscious!!

so i did my hair and makeup and actually wore a beanie on my head to keep my hair in tact for angie when i met her for brunch.  

not only did i get very hot, but i looked like a tourist. 

so i took it off, and ended up with frizzy hair and a wavy fringe. 

but i decided i don't care, and i like it like that.
!!!
i told nicole that later and she just said "be where you are."
ha!

so back to a  very danish brunch!                     . . .

before a cycle to the sculptures by the sea :)

we arranged our bikes as we left to look like they were sculptures

can you tell? don't you just want to ooooh and aaaaah and take a photo at the texture, composition and positioning?

look you can even see my discarded beanie in the basket. how arty!


we hygged on a jetty and chatted about life

before we met up with helene and her goodness!!
she's one of my favourite danes here in denmark

she then sang me happy birthday in danish!

and then jasmine sang me the hong kong version of happy birthday. ha!!

then we went out for sushi ..

exchanged more gifts,

 

i now love to knit!!

and met up with some friends for some street outreach ministry.
i then had my first happy meal in four years :)

the next day, we had another hygge in a cafe downtown where some friends and i knit together.
we also accidentally set fire to the table.

after all the social interaction, i needed some down time. 

a quiet night in is sometimes so good for the soul!!

okay. 

AUSTRALIA MEETS DENMARK!!

vegemite and cheese on rye bread for breakfast!

i also got this in the mail! from my WWWWWWONDERFUL friend asja!!
since all of my danishh friends had flown south or headed to the country to study at their parents homes over my actual birthday, i had planned to catch up with them all on sunday 16th june.
but lovely sweet asja still managed to send me this cute number!


agh :)

 THEEEHN!
sunday, my party day came around.

a picnic in the botanical gardens - the most epic hygge.

however, sunday morning woke me up and it was raining!

now,

every girl needs a friend like lea godrum.

that girl who just knows how to save the day.

she phoned me as i sat staring out at the rain on sunday morning wondering what to do,

and said "kate lets have it at my house!"

unlike many students, lea has an epic house!

lea and asja then pretty much co-ordinated the whole party for me

so all i had to do was chat to friends and relax.

i LOVE these girls. 

(dang, i don't have a picture of just them!)

mary anne, the american lady from our international cluster 

and who owns a sandwich store (dee dee's) downtown,

also donated to me an abundance of muffins and cookies for the party!!

and so we had a danish birthday party!

                                                                              hygge style!

ooooh,
HERE IS ASJA!

she reminds me of katherine heigl.

and here is asja and jasmine. two precious treasures!

they also sang me a happy birthday song!

the idea is that you've got to pick two instruments they have to play in the song.

i chose the guitar and the piano

INTERVALLLL!

the caretaker came in just as that video was being uploaded

i got fined $25 for not cleaning the toilet properly (which is a really good outcome - i was told i'd be lucky not get get fined up to $500!)

but apparently napisan left soaking in the toilet bowl overnight didn't do the trick.

ha!

but hooorah that i get the rest of my hefty deposit back.

 that now pays for a flight and one of my tours.

and here i am now

and i will continue blogging. 

these are summerbird chocolates. the best chocolates you will ever have. 

get the description :

 "Spanish almonds embraced in praline and white chocolate, rolled in chopped strawberries"

and this one

"Spanish almonds embraced in white chocolate, dusted with liquorice powder"

how good is the word embraced. 

thank you heine!

my other danish friends gave me a collection of sentimental items and jewellery which is SO cool!

i posted a status about my danish friends after my party, which kind of sums up the many things i feel about them: 

"they say that once a Dane lets you into their heart, you experience the most happiest, fun loving, genuine and beautifully kind souls in friendship. This has most certainly been my experience here in Denmark, and i thank God for each of them".

:)

okay now i didn't realise this until my international friends and i were having a discussion of "first impressions" (guess whose idea is was to talk about that) but

one of the first questions i asked benedicte, angie AND jasmine (all at separate times) was "hi! do i have anything in my teeth!?"

apparently my first impression was that i was very carefree.

so they got me a mirror to help me not be so socially awkward!

i can't help that my teeth are just so aligned to catch nearly anything i eat or drink!
and i'd rather be told than walk around with spinach or coffee grind or pepper corn in my front left toothe!

 but moving on!
more hygge and taylor swift sung about nights meant lazy picnics.

i say lazy because usually we'd bake the treats and sweets, but since my international friends and i were all moving out of our accomodation, we needed to get rid of all our packaged biscuits!

jasmine used up her crabsticks and eggs on me to make me an asian omlette!

with rye bread of course. asia meets denmark.

the night before angie (from brazil) left aarhus, we went for a wander downtown at 10pm

AAAAAAAANGGGIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

the next day, i dragged out my suitcase to begin packing, too.

i've actually never been less excited to see it!
don't get me wrong, i feel so privelaged and blessed to be able to travel around europe in july, and then to go  home to a wonderful family, awesome friends and to finish a brilliant social work degree (how good are all my adjectives), but i am always slow to warm up to change. i like my life here. no, i LOVE my life here, and i don't want to leave it!!!!

i have been hygge-ing on the beach with benedicte and some of her friends .. having bbq's and serendipitous conversations

and taking morning walks through the forrest near my dorm to retain photographic memories of the places and spaces that have helped me refresh and recuperate over the past 5 months.

ok get this,

this is how sentimental i am ..

this was my last supper in my dorm. 

see why God needed to orchastrate plenty of night time hangouts to keep me balanced and distracted over the past few days!?!

last night, we roasted marshmellows in the botannical gardens until 12.30am to say goodbye to jasmine

this was 11pm!

and i bike rode home through gellerup at 1.30am for the last time.
im really going to miss that ! ;)

i had my final breakfast this morning on my outside concrete slab

and took in my favorite place to eat my daily bread

and that's the end of my time at skøldhoj!

i am moving into helene's apartment this afternoon - i'm downtown waiting for her to finish class.

i will live with her for 10 days,

before i set off for germany on july 1.

i am so excited to spend the next week or so with her - she is definately one of my favourites.

tomoro is the longest day so everyone has a 'midsommer party'

so that will be fun!!

but that's it from me for now. 

until next time, which will probably be my last aarhus written blog! 

hej hej!!

x

"i am a flower quickly fading

here today and gone tomorrow,

a wave tossed in the ocean

a vapor in the wind.
still you hear me when i'm calling

Lord you catch me when i'm falling 

and you told me who i am

i am yours. i am yours"