Saturday, May 15, 2010

BEST DAY EVER!

Ok. This might be my last day with my host family, but I think this was the best day ever. I woke up, got really dressed up to go to my host sister's confirmation. Although the service was completely in Danish and I didn't understand a word of it, I still thought it was perfect that my last day started in a church. The church was built in the 1500s for vikings (like everything else in Denmark) and it was hauntingly beautiful. There was an undescribe-able quality about the church that really spoke to me. I'm not sure what it was; maybe it was the fact that I didn't understand the service so I just had an hour of quiet meditation in a church. Either way, it was definitely one of my favorite experiences.

It was raining when we left the church. It was dark, cloudy and raining. My favorite weather (aside from sunny heat)!! What a nice going-away present from Denmark. After the service, we went back to my host family's house for some hygge-licious (hygge is a Danish word. It doesn't translate into English because it is too awesome/ It basically means good feeling, etc) time with the extended host-family. Granted, none of them really speak English and I ended up in my room working on a last-minute paper that is due on Monday, but it was still fun.

Then we went to Maria's party. Let me explain. Confirmation to the Danes is a little like a quinceanera. They get super dressed up and have a huge party. Maria's party was at a restaurant and it was 5 courses. It was a lot of fun and the food was so good! I'm glad I had a huge feast as my last meal (sort of) in Denmark. The wine was good too and there was champagne (my favorite!). Let's just say I had never had that much to drink at 3:00 in the afternoon. Those Danes know how to party. I got to talk to my host-mormor (my host mom's mother) and she is really cool. I had met her a couple times before, but had never really spent any time with her. I found out that she loves peanut butter! I wish I had known that when I still had some. Because I would have made her peanut butter cookies with it! But alas, I did not find out about it until today. I think I'm going to mail her some or mail her the recipe and a jar of peanut butter. Haven't decided yet.

It was really hard at lunch today though. Since I had never met a lot of the people there, Lise (my host mom) was telling them all about me. She didn't know that her brother was translating what she was saying into English and it was all really sweet. I almost started crying. Its going to be harder than I thought to leave. I thought I was ready to go. And I am in a lot of ways, but I'm not ready to leave the Klaris family! I am really going to miss them.

Anyway, the party was a lot of fun. I also got to talk to Serena, who is 19 and went to school with Maria (I think).  She was really cool and it was nice talking to someone my own age about real things. I have had a lot of integration with Danish culture, but I haven't spent a TON of time with people my own age. Maria is 14 and Mikkel is still 17. But my favorite part of the day? I GOT TO DRIVE! Oh man oh man. I really wanted to drive in Denmark SO BAD! And I didn't think I was going to be able to. But Niels had too much to drink at Maria's party and didn't want to drive back. SO I GOT TO! It was the best. I hadn't driven since I left the states. And since the car was parked going downhill (and is a stick-shift) it took me a couple times to get it going. It was also wet outside. Dude I didn't stall though. I was so proud of myself! Some of the adults were looking at me like I was crazy. But I was like, if you hadn't driven in 4 months, how would you be? Other than that, I didn't have any problems. It just takes time to adjust to a new clutch. Ah! That made my day. Seriously.

Now I have to finish a paper that is due on Monday. Mom and Dad are already here and I'm going out to see them tomorrow. I can't wait! I've talked to them since being here, but I haven't seen their actual faces in months! I am in such a good mood! As I try to avoid the cliche, this really has been the time of my life!

Monday, May 3, 2010

I think a song is stalking me!

Every time I start to think I could live in Europe, Chicken Fried by the Zac Brown Band comes on my iPod. Then I start to miss everything that is awesome and great about the south. The heat, friendly people, Ford trucks, cows, sweet tea, corn on the cob, biscuits and gravy, Shiner beer, BBQ (!!!!!!!), country music, bonfires, cowboy boots and cowboy hats. The list goes on and on.

GAH! I'm ready to be home.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Chicken Steaks?

I made chicken-fried steak for my host family last night. I'm not sure they were impressed, but they ate it nonetheless. I didn't have classes Wednesday, yesterday and today and all of my friends left the country to go to wonderful places for the long weekend. So I volunteered to cook dinner for my host family. And I didn't know what to make them, so I decided on something they probably never had eaten before: chicken-fried steak! When I told my host mom what I was going to make, she got really confused. She was like, I'm not sure if you'll be able to find stuff to make this chicken steak but you'll find out when you get to the grocery store. So when I got to the store, all I could find were these oddly shaped steaks and wiener-schnitzel. I didn't feel like trying to explain in the 12 Danish words I know that I was looking for cube steak. So I ended up getting the wiener-schnitzel. The only problem with it was that it was way too think to cook as chicken-fried steak. When I got back to the house, I started looking for a meat tenderizer. I searched through all of the drawers in the kitchen and all I could come up with as an alternative was a rolling pin. Maria and Mikkel came into the kitchen and saw me banging steaks covered in butcher paper with a rolling pin. Lets just say it was an interesting experience!! I think my host family liked it?