To be or not to be....

Plenty of new experiences this week!

I met a bunch of Danes this week. Benedicte was on holiday this week for school, so some of the family came over so they could spend time with her. Tuesday night I met Thomas's sister, her two kids, Anna who is 18 and Kristian who is 22, and I also met Kristian's girlfriend Frederikke (yes that is how you spell it!). They are quite a lively bunch! Anna is in her last year of high school and loves to watch Disney movies with Benedicte, they watched a few on monday and then she brought four Disney movies over for Benedicte to see. IKristian and Frederikke are studying history at the University of Copenhagen. Kristian is a magician, he showed me some card tricks and this crazy trick where its like he can predict the future, pretty sneaky stuff. Frederikke and I had a lot to talk about, she speaks english really really well! Frederikke lived in France, just outside of Paris, for a few years when she was younger, and then she went back for a few weeks to study French. She went to America once, to North Dakota, and she didn't like it too much lol. It was nice to talk to some people around my age, we talked about the education system, which is very different from the American higher education system.

On Wednesday Lindsey and I took the train to Helsingor, north east of Birkerod. We walked around the coastal town in the freezing weather! We got attacked with frozen ice snow pellets, they kept hitting me in the face, quite a lot of screaming happened! We went to the Kronborg Castle in Helsingor, or more popularly known as Hamlets Castle! To be, or not to be. That is the question! The castle was really cool, we went on a couple of tours. We went to the dungeons, where I swear is saw some old blood stains!! We were sooooo cold so we decided to head back to the train when the castle closed at 3. We were starving so we tried to find some food, easier said than done! Many of the restaurants were closed and the one's that were open were so expensive!! We decided to just head back to the train station and see what food we could find there, again easier said than done! We kinda had no idea where we were :] We remembered that the train station was a big old brick building, so we thought okay well walk until we find the brick building! Small problem, there are a lot of big old brick buildings in Denmark! Eventually we found water so we walked towards that and followed the coast until we found the station. We ate 7/11 food for lunch, I think I eat something from 7/11 almost everyday!

Once again we had trouble with the trains and almost missed the one we needed to get home, I did however encounter a large problem! I forgot to punch my ticket at the train station, and of course within a few minutes of being on the train the ticket checker came around, so naturally I started panicking! You are fined like a hundred dollars if you don't have a valid pass or stamped ticket. The ticket checker guy finally gets to us and I hold up the klippekort and show the guy that I have 3 punches left and that I was supposed to punch 2 but that I just forgot because we didn't know what train to get on and then it was about to leave and I was really sorry and a lot of other probably incoherent babbling and asked if there was anything I could do! He gave me a stern look and told me to get off and the next station and run to the ticket machines to clip the card and I could get back on. I was so happy that he didn't fine me I just about hugged him! I got off at the next station and ran for the nearest ticket box, got it punched and sprinted back to the train just before the doors closed, then I proceeded to hunt down the ticket guy to prove to him that I did get it punched! I learned later from Thomas that I was extremely lucky, normally he said the ticket people show no mercy!

I bet you thought this adventure was over, ohhhh no, not quite yet! We are at Kokkedal station and walk over to our 500s bus that will take us home. The bus is parked and dark, so we assume that it must be time for the driver's break. We stand outside for a few minutes and wait for the driver to come back to the front. The bus driver comes back and opens the front doors for us, I stepped up and went to walk through the door when all the sudden I feel the doors start to close on me! I mean like I was squished against the metal pole in the middle of the door. So I kinda fall backwards off the bus, but still feel a pain in my leg, I look down and see that my leg is still stuck in the door, and I couldn't get it out! Lindsey and I look at the bus driver and he is like laughing and saying something in Danish. We have the most confused look on our faces and are like What! Eventually he opens the door so I can get my foot out and then I climb back on the bus, the doors stayed open this time. Lindsey and I sit down and she goes "What just happened!" So I guess what I've learned from this situation is that public transit hates Alyssa!

I got home after this interesting adventure to meet more Danes! Christina's brother, Martin, and his two kids, Agnes age 12 and Gustav age 9. They are a lot of fun! I had some great conversations with Martin, who works for Vestas, which is a wind turbine company, the maker of the turbine that I got to go inside a few weeks ago! Agnes and Gustav did not say too much to me, they are shy to speak with their english. But we were able to communicate a bit. The group stayed the night, but since I had classes today I did not get to spend much time with them. They left after dinner this evening, they have quite a long drive, something like 3 hours.

I am going on a short trip with my host family this weekend, we are going to Lalandia for a long weekend. So I get to miss class on Monday :]