Why do all good things come to an end?

Farewell Århus, my beloved Danish home

And before we knew it, the end was upon us. We planned to finish it off with a bang, hence my last days in Århus were emotionally charged and packed with partying.

Our official party was held immediately following my last exam. I was so sleep deprived from studying that I had to take time outs from the party to take some power naps. Our organiser also arranged for activities apart from our usual drinking, like writing farewell messages to each other (that took a long time, because there were 12 of us, it was like writing for school) and a game of giving Xmas presents to each other. The party was not as fun as I had expected, I would have prefered it if we just sat around the table and talked and drank. But...yea it was not interactive enough, perhaps.

Us

Cassie showing off her sexy Xmas present

Our favourite game: ugly bugly

Cute Naho-chan playing with a tripod

Cassie's 口头禅 and farewell message to everyone

Amy, Heeyul and Marcin were surprised with birthday cakes. Amy cried, but Marcin doesn't seem too pleased?

Drunk and exhausted, we crashed anywhere we could in Marcin's room at 5:30am.  here's photos of the sleeping beauties.

This one is a snoring beauty ^^

After the party, I felt so sad to be leaving Århus and my new friends. I feel as if I've just settled down into a social circle, and now I must uproot once again and leave. In a way, the temporary nature of exchange is almost cruel: to put us in a foreign environment where we are forced to make new friends, then tearing us apart just when we have become accustomed to the new bonds of friendship formed.

My last night in Århus and first time in a proper restaurant. We also celebrated Heeyul's official birthday, Marcin and I baked him another surprise cake, bought him some funky undies and a birthday card made for girls (Marcin and I have strange senses of humour).

The Polish cheesecake with coconut sprinkles

Birthday boy

Cute Hyeri baby!!

copying Hyeri ^^

A frozen, numb and bruised arse

Last night I went sledging. It was convenient as in the centre of our university campus is a park complete with hills, a lake and ducks. Initially we went with some make-shift sledges consisting of a piece of cardboard covered with garbage bag.

I was really bad at sledging!! Cassandra kept saying what a failure I was!! Indeed, I kept turning a quarter of the way down, and by the time I've turned 180+ degrees, my speed would have come to zero, and I would only half way down the hill. All the while everyone else has gone full speed to the bottom, without any turning!! WHY?!

There were these high school boys also sledging at our hill. We eyed their proper sledges enviously and asked them if we could borrow them. They told us they stole their sledges from a nearby school and would lend it to us if we paid them 50kr. So of course we were just like "whatever". But when they finished sledging, they just left their sledges on the ground!! One of them even threw theirs into the lake!!! So we quickly went downhill and picked up their stolen sledges. It was so much better sliding on proper sledges, less friction maybe? We didn't play long with our trophy sledges though, because Amy was afraid the deliquents may come back and reclaim their sledges. So after our second run down, we quite literally ran away with our double stolen sledges.

My arse was still frozen/numb when I got home (warning TMI: I realised this as I did not flinch - actually I didn't feel ANYTHING - as I normally do, when I sat on my frozen toilet seat), and this morning as I turned in bed, I noticed a peculiar pain on my behind/thigh, a sensation that is consistent only with bruising. I also could not t fall asleep for a long time because of the residue adrenaline in my body. But I went home with a big smile on my face' sledging was too much fun!

Posing with our trophies. Cass (girl on left) is holding our Gen 1 and Gen 2 sledges

Countdown - One Month Left

Ok, technically less than one month. One month til I leave Århus forever.

Oh how I wish I could go back to August, when the weather was warmer, and I was bubbly, content, euphoric all day, every day. I remember walking home at 9pm when the sky was still bright feeling so happy nothing could bring me down.

Winter Wonderland

The morning I left for Copenhagen, I woke up to find the ground covered in a thick white blanket of snow. It was 5am. When I looked out the window at 1am it was raining. It must have snowed very hard in the intervening 4 hour. I was going to take the bus to Copenhagen (I really want to write København), so I was very worried whether the buses will operate due to the snow. But to the credit of the prompt Danes, not only did the buses operate, it was also on time.

To be honest I was a bit disappointed I was going to leave Århus at the first heavy snow (and the disappointment wasn't completely unreasonable, as I later found out my friends had a snow fight whilst I was gone), particularly since it was raining when I got to CPH. It was raining and windy, until happily, when we were at Tivoli, it started to snow. By the time we were getting ready to sleep, there was already a collection of fluffy snow on the ground.

The day after I got back to Århus, it snowed hard. Giant flakes of snow, composed of smaller pieces of snowflakes congealed together, looked like cotton falling out of the sky, falling so heavily that the view looked greyish and white...

As it snowed...

A thick deposit of snow just waiting to be thrown at someone

First Snow

Note how, strangely, there is a pair of boots sitting in the snow. They are still there. Different car parked in front though...

Had a rather big night on Thursday. Only slept 5 hours. Stay indoors the whole day on Friday. Slept 14 hours. Woke up with the ground covered in snow. Looking forward to the month to come.

Hopping Around

We went ice-skating yesterday. This was only my third time ever. At the beginning I held onto my friend's hands, but I felt a bit bad after doing a few laps with them., because I felt like I was keeping them from having fun, so I grabbed a hold of a penguin (see below) when I saw a free one so they can play piggy in the middle/tip.

Me leaning on a penguin for support. I'm unnaturally positioned for skating because the penguin is meant for kids. Still, I thought it was cute

After about an hour of holding onto the penguin, my friends were rather insistent I let go of it and upgrade to a more advanced mode of skating. So I held onto Gaby's hands as she skated backwards. She use to do figure skating, so she's very stable, and numerous times saved me from falling over. But at one pertinent time, when I started to slip and fall backwards, she hugged me to prevent me from falling backwards, as she usually does, but I was falling too fast that I also brought her down with me. She fell on my leg when it was at a rather awkward angle. The first thought that ran through my head when the gravity of the pain hit was, "OMG is it broken??"

I didn't break any bones, but it sure as hell hurt when I walk. I asked Oppa to help me home. He piggy-backed me to the bus stop and then from the bus stop to my apartment. There is something not right about the way he holds me or the way I hold onto him because I keep slipping and it is super tiring for him; he had to stop at multiple intervals to catch his breath and regain his strength.

When we finally got to my place, we realised Oppa also became injured as a result of the ordeal. His arms were already tired because he just started doing push-ups that morning, and after carrying the 'heavy load', could no longer lift his arms passed his shoulder. Still I'm very grateful to have a friend like Oppa, or maybe an Oppa like Oppa.

So that's how I injured my leg. It hasn't gotten better since yesterday, as I still can't stand on it without it hurting. So I'm hopping about my place, can't go anywhere! Had to ask Gaby to buy some groceries for me so I won't starve for next few days. I'm also a bit sad as now I won't be able to go to a sushi party that's on tomorrow. I'm worried about how serious this injury is, I really hope I will see better progress tomorrow!!

Update 14 Nov 17:51:
I can LIMP! WOOHOO!! The first step was the hardest because I was so scared it was going to hurt. But it doesn't if i walk a certain way. I can go to class tomorrow, I am so happy.

Culminating with a Very Fine Sunday

A normal day in Århus is grey with showers. It is so rare for the blue sky to be unblemished by clouds, but last Sunday is such a day. But I think the story should start somewhere on Wednesday. Amy wanted to make dumplings that night. Initially it was only going to be a small affair with the girls. But she didn't go downtown on time to buy the ingredients, and then we invited more guys as the day passed. I like how this spontaneous 'party' was borne. We cooked whatever we bought from the supermarket: unfallible Heeyul (hereafter Oppa) cooked some Korean meat with sweet potato noodles, Kengo in his debut performance, cooked meat with lettuce, I cooked brocolli and carrots (gotta hv the vegies!) and Gabrielle made her mother's famous apple crumble.

Our group (L-R): Kengo, me, Amy, Peter, Oppa, Hyeri and Gabrielle. Oppa says this photo captures how we normally behave so acurately (mostly directed at the three kids on the left).

It was a good night, I was drank to a perfect, happy level, scraped the apple crumble clean, danced and sang to 2NE1, wore Kengo's new boots even before him, then stole his other boots forcing him to walk thru gravel and wet grass in his socks (ahhh...teasing him gives such a perverse sense of happiness. He says I'm saddistic).

Friday, was J-Day, for when the Christmas Beer (Juleøl) is released. It's a brew made especially for Xmas, and we were told there will be hot girls handing out free beers on trucks. Actually I did see lots of them in skimpy Santa Claus dresses and a truck near the university prior to going, so I was very excited. But when we got to downtown, we couldn't find any hot girls on trucks handing out free beer as promised by the Danes. We walked everywhere we could think of and all we found were OLD MEN dressed as Santa Clauses playing Xmas carols. Such a disappointment! In the end we just bought some Xmas beer from 7/11 and went to Peter's place for a quieter, more restrained night in. But the night didn't end there, for we missed our last bus home, so we had to walk. home. It was nevertheless a good walk because we sang on the way in French, Korean, Chinese and English.

People dancing with Musical Santas

Hyeri imitating the Santa on the Xmas Beer. I know I will likely be arsewhooped by her if she ever finds out I put such a photo of her in the public domain, but she's such a cutie-pie here I'll take the risk

On Saturday night, we went to Oppa's place for his Bibimbab party. Bibimbab is my favourite Korean food, enough said!

And on Sunday...yes it was a really fine day. In the morning, Peter took Oppa, Naho and I to an chocolate fair [for Christmas chocolate (Julens chokolade)? The Danes have Xmas everything!]near his place. We sample fine chocolate from many makers, so much I felt really quite sick after just the 2nd or 3rd table. Then, we went to deer park, a place I've been wanting to go to for a long time. It looked so different from the photos I had seen because the ground was covered by amber leaves. Afterwards, we walked the chocolates off by the beach.

Getting colder

On Tuesday, I walked outside and saw a man cleaning the ice off of his car window. Then as I walked a bit further, I noticed how the grass and leaves on the side walks had a peculiar grey coat on. It was the dew turning into ice. It was very cold that day, it felt like we had skipped Autumn and delved straight into Winter.

- Edit -

2 Nov: It's winter already!

On a good day, I end up with melted marshmellow on my face and hair

I won't hide it, I have not been feeling all that great lately. But yesterday, the clouds parted (literally) and for the first time in a long while, I felt (emotionally) invincible again.

Sitting in my 8am Trade and Environment class, the cloudless, light blue sky was so enticing I couldn't wait to get out into the sunshine. After a week or so of cloudy, windy and sometimes rainy weather, today was too good a day to be trapped indoors. So after lunch, I went with my neighbour Gabby to the Botannical Gardens to study. It was difficult to concentrate though, as my mind was elsewhere, my eyes would glaze over the text of my book and fail to transmit meaning into my brain. Then I would just look up and revel in the surrounding greenery and the odd tree with golden leaves.

Autumn is beautiful

At night I went to a bonfire at the beach organised by a guy I met on the bus to/from Skagen with Gabby and Kengo. We cooked sausages (or as Americans call it, dogs) and marshmellows over the fire. The marshmellows were caramelized on the outside and slightly gooey inside; when I tried to pull it off the branch, it would stretch like melted mozzarella cheese, and then almost instantly harden like candy in the cold northern wind. It was hard to get it in my mouth with the marshmellow strings flapping unpredictably with the wind; later I found bits of melted marshmellow stuck fast to my face and hair! Eating highly processed foods on an unsterilized dead branch? Good stuff!!

There was a small hitch on the way home. You see, to reach the beach we had to walk through the Riskov woods, which is pitch dark when the sun goes down, as it is unlit by lights and the trees block the little moonlight available. Although we had a torch to find our path, it is the sort of setting horror movies are build on. I psyched myself slightly by commenting how this was the perfect place for murders to take place. Coincidentally, just as we were nearing the last leg of the woods walk, we see two bulky figures sillouetted against the road lights that signalled the edge of the woods. I was scared but Gabby said to keep walking. I hardly dared to look up as we walked, but when I did, I noticed the two bulky figures stood stationary in the middle of the path and distinctly remember hearing "woohoo" (like the sound owls make). It was like they were trying to freak us out! Finally when we about 5 metres away, I see a little white dog walk around figures (it was like...the biggest tension breaker) and then Kengo shone his torch on their faces...it looked like an old couple. WTH? WHO GOES ON WALKS IN THE WOODS AT 10PM?! Nevertheless *phew* possible death averted!

no photos of the bonfire yet...

I can speak Danish

I've been in Aarhus for two weeks now, can't believe it, time has flown by so fast. So far I've really enjoyed my time here, living by myself and the freedom that comes with it and making new friends!

The last two weeks of "intensive*" learning have been quite packed, after our daily morning classes we were arranged to attend lectures on Danish politics, Viking History and Hans Christian Andersen, or visits to the Old Town and a museum.

The excursions were great fun! Especially Den Gamle By (their Old Town museum). I went twice (that should explain why I have two different outfits in the photos), first time with my normal group, the second time with Amy and Amanda. The second time was much funner, because we went on what you may call old fashioned rides, like swings with boat-shaped seats, and a boat where we have to pull ourselves across the water. The swing was particularly fun, us twenty-and-up year olds were having more fun than the little kiddies for whom the swing was actually designed for. In fact we loved it so much we went twice!

Most Danish kids are blonde

The awesome swing (unfortunately there isn't a good photo of me)

The ARoS museum definitely wasn't as fun as Den Gamle By, but I enjoyed the exhibitions, unlike Amy who practically raced through the place. That day I did two quite illegal things, first (and the more exciting/significant) was getting to the museum, I sat behind Tang's bike (I don't really know how to say it in English, it's 他荡我). His friend said he was a good rider; he's Chinese too, so I felt assured knowing he has probably had ample practice at 荡ing someone back home ;) But it's dangerous, cos we didn't have any helmets. Still...we flagrantly disregarded Danish law in downtown in broad daylight. BOOYAH! Rebels we are.

Yesterday was the last day of our Danish crash course, Destination DK. I got a certificate, which says I am able to understand and participate in everyday language. If that means saying Hej, Hej Hej, Tak, Sel Tak and describing to the Aldi man the Danish word for butter**, then yea! I can understand and participate in everyday conversation with a Dane~ ANYWAYS~ we had a little brunch party to commemorate the two weeks we had, everyone brought a dish from their own country, like the Spanish brought Tortilla, the Poles brought sausages, pickles and dumplings with white cheese and potatoes (Pole food was the best ytd)... I made scones with another Aussie chick who happens to live above me.

Tortillas, roll cake with nutella, Polish dumplings, "German" bread and cheese, Polish pickles, and last but not least my scones!

*our teacher was a very kind lady but she really didn't teach us much. She concentrated so much on numbers, which in her opinion was hard, but neglected everything else. We didn't even properly learn the alphabet so as to help us with pronounciation. Heck I don't even know how to greet people other than Hej, Godt Dag and Hej Hej.

** Me: Excuse me do you have butter?
Aldi Man: is it an American...[hand gestures to form a large rectangle]
Me: no, [thinks] smor?
AM: smor?
Me: S-M-O with a line through it - R
AM: oh smurr!

小天堂

When we were young, my cousin and I shared a bed. She would sometimes talk about a room we can call our own. She called it Little Heaven (she's always very creative like that, like that time when she would philosophically say, "wasting your time is wasting your life".) I don't think she said it because sharing a room or bed with me was a drag, but more because of that romantic notion of having one's own room and bed, and where you can prance around in the abundant space.

So this is my Little Heaven in Aarhus. I'm not living in a dorm, it's like a studio apartment with its own kitchenette and bathroom. I'm lucky I don't have to share anything. The previous occupants left me a lot of things so I don't have to buy anything. I had so much pots and plates I even had to throw out some! The last one even left a huge selection of tea and night pads!


On the first Sunday after we arrived, a welcome dinner was organised for us. It was funny how all the Asians sat at one table and everyone else sat at the others. Amanda, Amy, June and I sat amongst those Asians.

Yesterday there was a Speed Meeting thing ("like Speed Dating but without the kissing" - June) and my DKK classmate Ken couldn't be bothered to go back home after class, cos it's so far away so he asked if he could come to my place instead, since my place was within walkable distance of the school. That one guest increased into 3 further self-invited guests.

Here we are eating pizza on the floor:

The chick squatting in the middle is from UTS. I met her at the Welcome Dinner, she's absolutely hilarious - she entertained my guests.