This is the story of my 6 months of studying in Arizona in 2010 and subsequent travels in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Enjoy!

Friday, December 31, 2010

Sedona Amazement - Day 2

So stuck in Sedona overnight because of road closures due to snow. Waking up December 30th we spent some time figuring out what the situation was at that point. It was freezing, and it had been snowing during the night. I-17 (north to Flagstaff) and I-40 (west towards Nevada) were still closed, and after a walk around time looking at shops and talking with people who advised us to not try the roads, we decided to stay in Sedona for the day and another night.

Having made that decision we called the hotel in Las Vegas where we had a reserved room 30th-2nd. Luckily they agreed to cancel our room that night with no charge. :) We talked with the super nice Sedona Motel owners again, who suggested what we could do that day - a short hike in the gorgeous red mountains. Equipped with maps and loads of warm clothes, we jumped in the car, passed a grocery store to get things for lunch and some snacks, and then headed up the highland.

Its hard to describe just how magnificent the scenery was. I was in Sedona also in late November but there was no snow, and it looked completely different at this point. Please do check all the pics in the Roadtrip album! :) We got a 5$ parking pass, and headed up the short trail we were suggested. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, the clouds cleared off and the sky became super blue! With the red rocks, green trees and white snow it was an amazing sight! I was wearing my new boots, very grateful that Helene suggested to buy those instead of some hiking shoes which would not have worked as well in these conditions. So already they have been worth the money! Helene was wearing running shoes that worked alright until the very last bit of the hike, where she slipped into a ankle deep pond. I did the same stunt, but left with dry feet. :)


On the way back from the mountain we drove towards the scenic point by the airport, where I had also been with Hillary and Aizhan. A totally different scenery this time. :) Well home in the motel room with soup to warm in the microwave and bread to dip in it we had a nice end of the afternoon. Helene went for another short walk in the city while I was writing my blog and editing pictures. For dinner we bought a pizza from the across the street Italian restaurant, and ate it at home while watching a movie. And then we went to bed early in order to get up and on the road again Friday morning, December 31st.


Aaaaand we are off! Though with some complications... Day 1.

Wednesday 29th I got up at 7 AM to move the car and to finish the cleaning. It was supposed to be checked at 9 AM, but the guy was apparently asleep, and only woke up when I called him 45 mins later. The check took 5 mins (!), and for sure there was no need to the thoroughness of the cleaning we had exerted! Anyway, I could leave it with pure conscience after saying goodbye to the room, Jing, and Jesus, and packing the car. Thanks to Helene for the help! :)

One thing did bother us with the Toyota. It didn't have cruise control. Not convenient for a 3200 km / 2000 mile drive, so we decided to go back to the shop to ask if we could switch it to another. So at this point it turned out to be quite good that we got a non-clean car the day before. That gave us another argument to switch, since it wouldn't be another cleaning for them, but still we could hardly believe it when the guy said "Sure", and gave us the keys to a Mazda with cruise control, and other conveniences the Toyota didn't have! After repacking into the new car, we were on the road! With Hillary's GPS and a new iPod adapter for the car stereo, lots of cookies, candy, and some non-perishable groceries, guide books, etc. etc. we were very well off! 

The direction was north, towards Flagstaff in order to get to Grand Canyon on the 30th before going to Las Vegas. We had a hostel booked in Flagstaff, and was looking forward to getting there! On the way we took a detour to Casa Grande, an ancient native American ruin a bit off the highway. We came 50 mins before the next tour would start, and spend the time eating our bagels and watching a movie about the area and its history. It was all pretty impressive, the history lesson of the day, but unfortunately it started raining while we were there.

So we got back in the car to I-17 North, passed Phoenix while it was raining cats and dogs, and then reached the mountain area between Phoenix and Flagstaff. And it started snowing. Didn't seem to be such a big deal, but only a few miles later the entire road was closed, so we had to get off and consider an alternative road to Flagstaff. Since we didn't know the reason for the road closure, we figured that it would be an option to pass through Sedona over the mountains. Getting there we learned that this road was also closed due to the snow, and that there was no way of getting to Flagstaff that night. We got a tip for a budget accommodation from the Hyatt Hotel people, and got the last room at the Sedona Motel. After telling the owner of our unfortunate situation and our very limited budget, he offered us a discounted price for the very nice room we was going to be in. We arrived around dinner time, and soon after went out to find some dinner. Ended up in the next door barbecue with a couple of beers, and then went back to the room around 10 PM.


Of all the places in the world, Sedona is not the worst place to be stuck. Especially not when you have a nice motel room and your sister around! :)


Roadtrip day 0 - Picking up the car and Sabino Canyon

After waking up December 28th Helene and I spent a few hours cleaning the apartment. Breakfast, lunch and dinner this day consisted of pretty much everything I had in the cupboards, in order to clear those as well! So at night we also "had" to eat pumpkin bread from Marianne, brownies from Sanford's and ice cream... :) (To be honest we have A LOT of cookies and cakes with us on the road.. ;))

At 2 PM we were off to pick up our rental car at Hertz! Hence roadtrip day 0, 'cause we spent another night in Tucson. We had to wait a while because they didn't have any clean cars for some reason. In the end we drove off with a white Toyota. We took it straight to Sabino Canyon in the north of Tucson, and got there just in time to catch a shuttle to the bottom of the canyon. Was really nice weather though not too warm, but with a scarf and gloves we were both fine. The area is incredibly beautiful, and it was great to be out of the city a bit! :)

We got off the shuttle at its last stop, and climbed up the mountain a little bit. The last shuttle back left 30 mins later, so we didn't have time to get very far. It was just around that time when the sun starts going down behind the mountains, and the light was incredible. Taking the shuttle back we decided to get off a few stops before the parking lot in order to walk back. A really nice hike in the sunset along the water stream. On the way back we went to Target, where I was looking for some shoes for hiking. I ended up with a nice pair of boots. Back home we cooked pasta with meat sauce and salad, ingredients for which was exactly what we had left in the fridge. :) Jesus came up for dinner, and Jing joined us as well this last night in La Aldea.



Thursday, December 30, 2010

My 26th birthday


Sooooo 27th December arose, and so did my 26th birthday. Helene and I started out in superior style with breakfast at the Marriott Hotel, where they in addition to the breakfast buffet have a chef who will cook what ever you would like in pancakes, omelets, waffles, and french toast. I got the latter, while Helene tried two of their omelets. Of course together with cereal, bagels, fresh fruits, etc... :) FANTASTIC beginning of the day.

It may sound sad, but I spent the afternoon packing up my things and cleaning the apartment. I didn't mind though - I guess because of the symbolism in turning a page and moving on in life. Not that I was getting too restless here (some of those around me might disagree, but only because they haven't seen me REALLY restless ;)), but I just have so many nice things coming up! The roadtrip with Helene, a Spanish course in Guadalajara and Mexico with Sofie, and then back home to write my thesis. It will all be fun!

At dinner we went to a nice Indian place, Helene, Jesus, Aizhan, Theo and I. It was a delicious dinner, just what we felt like eating. Afterwards we went bowling, perfect timing as they had 5$ all-you-can-bowl including shoes. It was Aizhan's first and Theo's second time of bowling, but they both really had fun - as did Helene and I of course!

We were home around 11, rounding off a very nice birthday!


Christmas celebrations

After our little trip to the Sonoran Desert Museum December 23rd (or "Little Christmas Eve" as we call it in Danish), we had a very relaxing morning on the 24th. Spending a while in the gym was pretty much all we did - and it was nice. :) At 5 PM my professor Ernie from Strategic Planning picked us up again, this time to celebrate Christmas Eve with his family at his sister's place. First we went to his house where we met his wife Marianne, who was very sweet to us from the very moment we met her. :) Always nice to be welcomed with a warm hug and a thorough tour of house and garden! We gave Ernie the present we had gotten for him; two books of Grooks, little pragmatic verses written by the Danish artist and writer, Piet Hein. Check them out by clicking here!

The reason we went by Ernie's house was that they have a special tradition in the neighborhood. For every few feet of street they put a white paper bag with a lit candle inside, and when it gets dark, the roads are lined with these pretty little lamps. We drove around for a little while to enjoy, and then headed to the dinner. Here we met Ernie's sister Lizzie and her husband Tom, their daughter and Marianne's daughter. Later Ernie's sun and his wife joined us. The atmosphere was warm and cosy, the dinner light and delicious, and we had some very nice talks about culture and related topics. Before we left we took a closer look at the decorative little christmas town set-up, and we realised that something was wrong... What was the stuffed yak doing on the street? The bear on the roof of the church? The lion with the people? And the car in the Merry-go-round? Apparently Tom was bored with the traditional way, and decided to spice things up. Way to go! :)

December 25th was to be spent with the Sanford's, and Theo picked us up at 10 AM so that we could get there to help with the dinner preparations. So we spent the morning hanging around the big cooking island in the kitchen, pealing potatoes, eating cookies, and playing "Apples to Apples". Was just so cosy! Then sit was time for handing out presents, though we were not aware that there the Sanford's had bought stuff for us as well. Amazing people... We all got a bunch of presents; candy, a homemade scarf, cosy pants, a picture fram, and other little things! Wow! We had brought a present for the family, namely a picture of a Piet Hein (click on the picture to see a larger version).

Around dinner time we were Rachel, Janine, and Chuck Sanford, Julie Sanford and her family of 4 kids and husband, Theo and Jing, and Helene and me. Like at Thanksgiving, the amounts of food were substantial, even more actually! Besides the apparently mandatory turkey, we also had roast beef and lamb. Side dishes included (but were not limited to... ;)) mashed potatoes, mashes sweet potatoes, turkey stuffing, gravy, asparagus, rice, creamed corn, and fruit salad. This time I actually managed not to get insanely full! After another game of Apples to Apples we went back home to rest and read. I was very happy to hear that Helene had also had a great day, and really enjoyed to hospitality of the Sanford's. It was hard to say goodbye that last time, I have really been so lucky to be taken under their wings this semester.


Next day we woke up and got some work out done, and after lunch at home we met with Nik and his friend Silvan, who had a rental car. We went to San Xavier mission 10 mins drive from Tucson, an old missionary church in the desert. Great weather, great views, and very nice company! Back in Tucson we parked the car and tried to get into the cathedral, but like on our previous trip downtown it was locked. Then we went to 4th Avenue, checked out some shops and got coffee and lemonade in a café, before going up the A-mountain to see the view of the city and the sunset. Really spectacular! Coming home to La Aldea we met Ying in the kitchen, and she insisted on cooking dinner for us, since the day after was my birthday. And well, we wouldn't say no to delicious Chinese food! :)



Friday, December 24, 2010

Days before christmas

As always, or even more so, days are flying past. Helene and I are enjoying the holidays and each other's company, though also spending a lot of time with my friends over here. As you can read below...

Saguaro on campus
So last time I left you Saturday night, where we cooked at home, just for us for once. Sunday morning we had agreed to meet early with Theo to go grocery shopping in Traderjoe's, mainly to show Helene another kind of supermarket, and of course, not least, to by hummus. :D In the afternoon we went for a nice walk around campus, and got some great pictures (see the December link in the menu to the right.) I had invited a bunch of friends over for dinner, and we ended up being 7 as my flat mate Ying and her friend also joined. So we had a nice meal with a mix of my Hungarian/Greek/Danish meet-stuff and Ying's Chinese. In the end we we're only Nik, Ying, Helene, and myself left around the table, and we started playing Taboo - great fun! Oh, and I shouldn't forget to mention the stupid fish, which we took care of for Jesus. Not his fish, but since he was taking care of it for a friend but himself was away for the weekend, we hosted it for a few days. Let me just say that I am not considering getting one for myself...

Monday afternoon we went into a cookie cooking frenzy, yielding a very large amount of really great cookies! And again a lot of fun in the cookie factory, with Helene and I knowing how to divide the work from years of experience, and Ying enjoying using the cookie cutters in the dough! Uhm... So good!

In the evening we had Susan and Aizhan over for Mousakka, which Helene cooked while I tried not to be too much in the way. Not too much luck with that - or well, the dish was great, but I was very much in the way. Regardless, we had yet another cosy night. (Btw: Great to have pictures from all these days, otherwise I would have completely forgotten what we have been up to!


The Cathedral
Oooook so then it was Tuesday December 21st. During the afternoon we borrowed Jesus's bike and went for a ride around the city. Areas that I have never seen before, really nice actually! And the weather was great - it hasn't been too convincing the last days actually. Some winter thing, though apparently it is actually a warmer winter than what they are used to down here. Aaaaanyway. Great bike trip, then home for some work out and a nap (yeah, thats what we do when there are otherwise gaps in my stories. At night we usually watch movies online). Tuesday night I've come to learn is wing night, so again like last week we went with Jesus to Wings over Broadway. This time I was better able to order an appropriate amount of food, and didn't leave the place rolling like a ball.

Wednesday was a rainy day, and we decided to spend it in Tucson Mall. We arrived 11.30 after a 30 mins bus ride, where we as always had the pleasure of getting a close-up of Tucson's lower part of the community. Nothing too unpleasant though. Had some nice hours checking out the shops, and got a nice lunch in the food court. Greek. Helene didn't buy anything, but I came home with a few nice things; a blue long sleeved t-shirt, a nice wrought iron thingy for jewelry, aaaaaand... A new pair of relaxing pants, since my old ones were practically loosing a leg.

Somehow, Wednesday night we we're almost out of christmas cookies, so we decided to make another batch. Also cooking a Danish dish for dinner (frikadeller) including some special cabbage (rødkål) Helene brought over, made me very happy! :D

Desert Museum
Thursday we had agreed with my professor Ernie to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, which is apparently the biggest attraction around Tucson. I had waited to go there till the weather cooled down, and at that point I figured I might as well go with Helene. :) The drive there took us through the Saguaro National Park, and was an incredible sight - huge cacti as long as the eye can reach, and in no way capturable with my camera. In the museum with Ernie as our personal guide we had a great tour around the area - a combined zoo and botanical garden, with only local species. Very fascinating! Note on the picture Helene's hat, which she borrowed from Ernie, but ended up keeping. :)

Dinner that night was in the Guadalajara Grill with Jesus guiding our choices from the Mexican menu! Great dinner, with our HUUUGE margaritas probably affecting the atmosphere a bit! ;)





Sunday, December 19, 2010

The first days with Sis in Tucson

Wednesday passed sloooooowly, counting the hours till Hillary and I was going to pick my sister Helene up in the airport at 11 PM. I cleaned up, worked out, and tried to make time go faster - with no luck. When Nik asked if I wanted to go out for dinner I figured it would be nice to spend the waiting time with someone instead of going crazy at home!

So imagine my frustration when at 10.40 PM I got a message from Helene saying that she was stuck in Denver, Colorado, due to a delay from New York so she didn't catch her connecting flight to Tucson. AAAAARG! I texted some friends how unjust the world had been to me, and got a lot of messages back and Jesus coming down all saying the same thing: That it would be so much nicer to meet when Helene was rested instead of right after a 20 hour trip. Thinking back on my own trip and talking to an exhausted Helene on the phone, I realised they were probably right. And how nice it was to wake up the next morning to go pick her up with Hillary! :D

After 4 months, it was so amazing to get a big hug! We drove home and had lunch, and went down to the city to see the center. Not that there is much to see... I was going to the library, then went past the deserted train station, Hotel Congress and 4th Avenue. And will you believe it. IT STARTED RAINING! The day Helene arrived is the only day it has been raining in like 3 months. Not just a little shower, it rained steadily all day.

During the afternoon we took a nap, Helene to catch up with some lost sleep, and I because... I just like naps! ;) We went to dinner at Gentle Ben's with Hillary and Chris, walking there under an umbrella. Helene acted somewhat like a zombie, and we went home after a nice dinner to watch an episode of a TV-show (Bertelsen på Caminoen). On beforehand we had talked about watching a movie afterwards, but when the show ended, Helene just lied down and fell asleep instantly, without saying goodnight or anything. I don't know if she thought I wouldn't notice, but... Well, I couldn't blame her. :)

We managed to sleep (on and off) till around 7 AM Friday morning, had breakfast, and then went to the Health Sciences Library for a couple of meetings I had. Helene joined the first, then sat in the sun waiting for me till the second meeting was over. Afterwards we walked through campus enjoying the weather and the nice atmosphere. Jesus served us quesadillas for lunch, and then - guess what... We took a nap. :D Meeting Theo and Ziad and two of their friends from Lebanon on the Pinnacle Peak restaurant for dinner at 6, we had a great experience. The restaurant is located in a scenic setup looking like the old west, and is decorated with people's ties (see the picture!). We had a nice meal, including a birthday song and ice cream for me... Wonder why? Yeah me too, not celebrating my birthday till another 10 days! But anyway... The waiter announced to the whole restaurant that it was my birthday, and that I wanted nothing but a room full of strangers singing a birthday song for me. So they did.

We left the restaurant at 8 PM, just in time to see a gun show. Sitting under the stars and a terrace heather, it was really nice and fun! Then we went home, watched A Knights Tale (an all time favorite!) and then slept around midnight.

This morning, Saturday, we woke up around 7 again. Breakfast, then we made a list of groceries we needed, and on my and Jesus's bikes we went to Fry's for shopping. Back at noon we spent a little time in the little gym in La Aldea, and then enjoyed some of our many restaurant leftovers for lunch. At 3 PM we met Nik at the Arizona State Museum, located on the campus grounds. It turned out to be rather boring, but anyway a nice way of spending a lazy Saturday afternoon! Then a nap... of course.



It is so amazing to finally spend time with my little sister again. Though I haven't had the biggest case of missing home before, it is just so great to see each other again, and just enjoy that she is here and we both have holiday. We plan the days as we go, with no demands of high activity levels or any certain pace. It is just so fantastic to be together again! She suffers a bit from jetlag, but with the nap during the day she manages to stay up till 11 or 12 PM and relieve the jetlag a bit. She suffers from headache - I figure it might be because of the dry air and the higher pressure compared with Copenhagen (1017 and 1003 hPa). A neck massage helped a bit, and I am reminding her to drink a lot of water. Hopefully it will be better soon.

For the next couple of days... I have no idea. I'll let you know as we get there. : )

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

OMG - its over!


CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!

I have finished all my courses and finals in University of Arizona, yeah well actually all I have left before I graduate with a  pharmacy degree is my thesis presentation next fall! No more coursework as it looks at the moment... Im getting at least 3 out of 4 possible A's from my UA courses, which I think is a very satisfactory result. :)

AAAAAAnd my sister Helene is arriving in 11,5 hours at the time of writing, which I am very excited about as well. Haven't seen her for 4 months! Cool to imagine that she is in the air on the way over here at the moment. Yeah!

There are really a lot of cool things happening in the next months... For instance I just decided to take a one week Spanish course when I arrive in Mexico, in the 2 weeks I have before Sofie joins me! :) I wanted to learn Spanish for a long time, and I figure that a crash course before traveling around will be a good way to start. But half the reason I am signing up is for the social side: Instead of being on my own, I will meet people in the school that also offers trips to sights around Guadalajara in the after noons. It's gonna be app. 250$, which I think is reasonable for 4-5 hours of teaching for 5 days.

Now the question is how Helene and I will spend the next week before Christmas. :) I don't think it will be a problem... With some trips around the area, some good books and movies, and some staying outside in the December sun appears to me like a pretty nice way of having Christmas break!




Monday, December 13, 2010

I should work on my take-home exam, but...

... have you any idea how much more fun it is to plan a round trip in México? :D

I am dying to share with Sofie, my travel buddy, the itinerary I have prepared, but since I cannot get hold of her, I will share it with you all instead!

So... The idea is that I will take off from Tucson mid-January and travel for almost 2 weeks north of Mexico City before I meet Sofie there on January 27th.

Ruins in Tulum
Then the party starts... :D We will stay around the capital till the 30th, and then fly off to Cancún, on the Yukatán peninsula. Since I am not a big fan of big, touristic cities, we will probably go straight to Tulum, a smaller city on the beach south of Cancún. Here we can find a cabin on the beach to stay in while enjoying a day on the beach, maybe go on a whale-shark-watching trip, and see the famous Maya ruins. Departing from Tulum Feb 2nd we will go to Piste, a town just next to probably the most famous ruin, Chichén Itzá. Arriving in the afternoon will allow us to see a show at night at the ruins, then stay overnight in the town, and go back to the ruins in the morning before the coaches arrive with thousands of tourists around noon.

An afternoon bus from Chichén Itza will take us to Mérida, another old city in Yukatán. Since I have a friend here, I haven't planned our activities yet, but I think we will stay till the 5th. Then we are off with a night bus to Palenque, to see another ruin city - this time in the jungle! Next stop is the city San Cristobal in the Chiapas region, where we can enjoy the atmosphere and take a day trip to a "living" Mayan village outside the city.

Sumidero Canyon
A bus will take us for a short ride to Tuxtla Feb 9th. This is one of the things I am in particular looking forward to: Taking a boat trip from Chiapa de Corzo into a gorgeous canyon, the Sumidero.

I hope we will be able to continue the same day, as that would allow us to spend a day in Puebla, just south of México City. Its an old colonial city, and it will take us 10 hours in a night bus to get there.

This whole quest would bring us back to México City on Feb 11th. We both fly home, though with different carriers, on Sunday 13th, so we would have a little bit of time for shopping and whatever we feel like. :)

It appears to be surprisingly easy to get around in México. The bus system is extensive and all the information about schedules and routes is online. Prices seem very reasonable. Uuh, I am so looking forward to getting started on this trip! And to finally tell Sofie about my plans... :D


Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday Morning Thoughts

I just woke up (yeah, a little late for once! :)) after a long dream somehow related to time travelling. Sadly I don't remember many details, but it made me think of the fact that I am not gonna be here much longer - from a different perspective than I usually have.

Hanging out with Hillary, long talks about everything with Jesus (my mexican friend, not the son of God...), exciting trips around the wild west, hiking trips in the mountains, improv shows, the beautiful weather, ... Oh and the TV screens on the cross trainers in the Rec center will also be missed! :D

Hmm... I wish I could have utilized all my spare time better actually. As I have mentioned I have been so much less busy than what I am used to in Europe, but I am just not good at not being busy! Though I have all the time in the world to for example read books, prepare trainings or whatever, I just don't. I don't even watch movies, I really don't know where all the time has gone. Or well... I HAVE been reading books, and really enjoyed it. :) And I have been doing homework and spent time with my friends and taking some walks around campus. And working out and cooking, oh and grocery shopping takes ages for me over here! Not to forget how much I have been sleeping lately. Pff... :)

Anyway, it has been such a pleasure to be here. I really feel like I know myself much better now, and have a clearer idea of what I want in my life on many different levels.

But I am also looking forward to getting home. Moving on, continuing down my track. All my friends at home and around Europe, traveling frequently, having dinner with my sister almost every night. Spending time at my moms place, DOING things together, which we haven't done enough previously. And just having more to do. More projects to work on, a better chance of actually achieving goals and producing results! But I will also remember to read books, and watch movies, and hang out with my friends more than I have done previously.

I wonder what I will feel like when I get home!


Improv video and December pics

Just to share a few links, which are also available from the menu to the right!

I recorded a video of the Charles Darwin Experience, the school improv team, and uploaded it in Youtube. You can watch it here - really funny!

Improv video

Also I have a new photo album in Facebook, with pics from December. Finally you can see some fall colors! :( Enjoy.

December

Weather bragging and stuff...

Hey all, another little update from my side of the globe. The sunny side at the moment, I must say - temperatures reach 25 degrees every day, and it is magnificent to sit outside in the sun reading, or like today - writing christmas cards! :) I know you are tired of listening to my bragging on this, but I just wanna let you know how much I enjoy it before going back to the ice age in Denmark!

So things are still going on despite the semester ending, though honestly I can easily feel how I have less exam pressure as many others. I have more time to do stuff, but not many people to hang out with, so again I am back to watching movies, reading books, and sleeping too much. Oh and yes, take care of my take-home exam and prepare a paper on Interprofessional Education for FARMA at home. Those study things, why do I keep sounding like I never take them seriously... Tsk tsk...

Last Tuesday, the 7th, I did however manage to convince 4 friends to join me for dinner at Gentle Ben's before the Improv show. That was really a nice evening - I think it is very healthy with that weekly laughing-your-ass-off! :D The show is really hilarious, but unfortunately it was the last one in the semester.  So no more laughs for me on that account!

Wednesday I had a meeting with my Strategic Planning professor Ernie, for whom I had made a thorough course evaluation. I really liked the course, but also saw some areas that could be improved. I had a really nice meeting with him, where I also asked for a recommendation from him. He was happy to write one for me, and in the end of the meeting he invited my sister and my for Christmas dinner with his family on December 24th - that will be nice I think! :)

I decided that I felt like having a party, so Friday I invited 20 people or so over for pot luck, as described in the previous post. 18 people said they would come, but some had to cancel and we ended up with 10-ish. Which was SUPER nice! We had a good meal and then played various games for a while, including Taboo. Girls versus boys, and we kicked their butts! ;) I wanted to go out, but we had so much fun at home, and it ended up being 12.30. Since the bars close at 2 AM (!!!!!) its just not really worth it to go out at that time.

Today I have done impressingly little. Christmas cards in the sun, going for a walk around campus to take some fall pictures, then met with Ji-Young at the student union for an ice cream. Sat for another 30 mins in the sun talking, realising that we might never meet again... Im gonna get ready for talks like that I guess, there are gonna be a few in the next weeks!






Helene arriving in 97,5 hours! :D


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Some thoughts before the semester ends!

After having been sick for a week, I am now recovering. I think is a combination of the large temperature changes (down to freezing at night but often more than 20 during the day) and the foreign bugs that are getting the best of me. Just like when I arrived here in August and I had a cold for a week - blamed it on the AC, so temperature changes again! At least I am not too busy these days, so I haven't missed too much by being sick. And reading and watching movies is not the worst way to spend a few days. :)

Time is really running out now... Feels like a long time since I first got here, but only weeks since I wrote the "Half way through" blogpost. I am really happy that I am not going straight back to Denmark, I think that would somehow feel like an anti climax. At least now I have some time for adventure and reflection before I go home.

I think I will feel as many others coming home from abroad: Like I changed a lot, but everything at home is exactly the same as always. Just as well - I am looking forward to being home! In my own flat with my own things, with my sister and friends around me, working on my thesis, doing EPSA-stuff, moving on with life... Though I am gonna miss the sun and the people over here! And for sure I am looking forward to my two life-time adventures, roadtrip with Helene (las Vegas for New Year and then San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego on Highway 1) followed by a month in Mexico with Sofie! OMG its gonna be so FABULOUS! ;)

My exam period is really easy. While everybody is struggling with papers and finals, I have plenty of time to... be a little bit bored... ;) Well, I am reading a lot of books, preparing some things for trainings back in Europe, trying to learn some Spanish phrases, cooking, sleeping, and actually do the school stuff I have to do. Last Thursday I finished Strategic Planning with a presentation and same today for Research Methods. Both went well. Left is a take-home exam also in Research Methods plus a group in-class exam in Policy and Management. Quality Improvement finished without an exam, and I can already tell from my score that I got an A. :)

Hillary and Chris is coming over for homemade cookies and buns in 15 mins - im also gonna miss having my friends so geographically close! Last Saturday I had 3 friends over for dinner, tomorrow is Tuesday, and I have initiated a dinner with Victor, Eden, Andrew, and Hillary before the improv show. The last of the season, *sob! Friday is a big day with at least 11 people coming over for a pot luck (*sammenskudsgilde, everybody brings a dish for dinner), its gonna be crowded but nice for sure!