Adjusting back to real life after an almost 2 and half week break was a bit tough for me...all the sudden my life wasn't focused on reading a map taking pictures it was back to commuting and homework.
I got through the first week back with minimal difficulty...minimal brain capacity as well lol. But last weekend was fantastisk as the Danes would say! I went on a sailing trip with DIS. It was a spectacular weekend, with a bit of crazy thrown in, but nevertheless, it was a memorable experience! We took the train out to Holbaek where we would get on the sailboat. The sailboat was gorgeous! It was exactly what I pictured it would look like :] The crew was great, this old danish couple and a young mate who did all the grunt work.
The crew talked to us for a bit and the we set sail! Well actually it wasn't very windy so we used the motor lol. I felt alive being out on the water, I was amazed that I was really sailing in a Danish fjord, it was ridiculous :] We anchored near a little island took an inflatable raft thing to the island. The mate's name i think was soren...not sure, Danish pronunciation=not so good! Soren took us on a little trek around the island--turns out its a training base for Navy Seals...but we didn't get to see any, bummer! At one point Soren went barging into some brush and caught a snake with is bare hands! And then he freaked out and threw it back because he couldn't remember which of the two types of snakes that Denmark has was the poisonous one lol.
We went back to the sailboat and my group made lunch. We prepared quite a spread for lunch, I was impressed at the capabilities of us college students lol. After lunch we set sail again...I was really hoping to hear someone shout the stereotypical nautical saying "weigh anchor" but no such luck :[ maybe the captain said it in danish? It was the perfect afternoon--the sun was shining, there was a light breeze that smelled wonderful, the water was a deep blue and the islands around us were covered in bright green trees! We all took a little afternoon snooze in the sun on the deck...never thought i'd say I did that while in Denmark lol.
In the late afternoon we finally began to sail, like real sailing this time, Soren assigned us all jobs so we could pretend to be useful. I did a lot of rope pulling and ducking, then I climbed on top of the wheel house...its a scary climb up there...to tie down one of the sails. We made our way to frederickssund where were docked the boat for the night, we couldn't sleep out in the water. We were parked in front of an apartment building so all the tenants came out on their balconies to take pictures of us and the sailboat lol, it was kinda fun being a spectacle lol. We walked around the town for a bit, and saw this ancient viking boat they keep on display in the water...pretty awesome! Dinner was delicious, it was also very hygge, for those of you who don't know hygge is the word Danes use to describe an atmosphere that is cozy or warm and inviting...it actually doesn't have a direct translation because its 100% Danish!
We each had to take a night watch slot, meaning you sit on the top of the boat and make sure that there aren't any fires or strangers that try and get on the boat. I had the 1 am time slot, the night watch went smoothly and then I went back to sleep at 2. That is when the weekend got crazy! Around 4 in the morning the girl in the bed next to me started to scream and cry, so naturally everyone wakes up and is trying to figure out what is going on and where the noise is coming from. Once I told everyone who it was, the intern and her friends went over to help her. Turns out she was asleep and screaming and crying. Like a zombie sleep! People threw water on her and physically moved her and she still wouldn't wake up! At times she started responding to questions but we figured out that she was just sleep talking then too. It was so scary! We had no idea what was going on with her, if she was okay, if she would ever wake up and there was nothing I could do to help. After about an hour we finally got her to wake up completely and her friends took her up on the deck to see if fresh air would help. She started complaining about shoulder pain and then about an hour later she like passed out from the pain or something and our intern rushed her to the hospital. We found out later that she had somehow dislocated her shoulder...in her sleep! What an interesting way to start the day off lol.
We were two sailors down but managed to get through the day and sail back to Holbaek. It was still beautiful out and a little windier so we got to sail more! I found out that I am remotely decent at being on back sail crew. We tied down that back sail with the best of 'em :] Unfortunately our crazy sailing experience was over and we all headed home to prepare for the coming week of torment! I had so so much to do and very little time to do it :\
This past week was like a 6 day long nightmare for me...but hey I made it through and now I can relax for a few days. Monday night involved powered through two papers and going to Sierra's house to study for our test in history the next day. We stayed up till 2:30 studying to go to class and not have a test! He taught for half the class before a student went up to him and asked when we were taking it, to which he replied angrily that the he told us the test was friday...except he didn't! Basically there were 25 really really pissed off students for the rest of the day lol. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent writing my core paper and researching for my history paper. I finished my core paper....well "finished" it lol around 3am wednesday morning when I literally fell asleep on my laptop...oops! Thursday I had a meeting at 6 so I hung around DIS for 4 hours after class doing research for my ten page paper due the next day...why do I procrastinate so much? I got home at 9:30 and still needed to finish researching and write that 10 paper before the next morning :\ I got down to business and started to wrote, I watched the clock tick and the sky get lighter as I came closer to the end of my paper. The sun came up and I still wasn't done lol. Eventually I finished a pretty poorly written paper around 6 am and took a two hour nap before getting up and putting the finishing touches on my final papers and heading to class.
Turning in the papers wasn't accompanied by the typical sigh of relief this time because they were just adequate papers at best, not quality work of any kind lol, but hey my grades from this semester don't affect my GPA :]
My host family is gone in Jylland this weekend so right this minute I am sitting in the dinning room looking out over the beautiful yard and wooded area and sipping a cup of cinnamon hot cocoa...aahhh this is what life's about :] Tomorrow I'm off on another Swedish adventure! I'm going on a DIS rock climbing day trip with my Alana friend :] Watch out Sweden...we're a comin!
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