Valentines Day, Fastelavn, and Pi Phi Love!!

Happy Valentines Day Friends and Family!!

I had such a great weekend last weekend! One of my close friends Patsy, who is currently studying abroad in England visited me this past weekend for Valentines Weekend. She goes to Dickinson with me back at home and also is in my sorority. However, because she is studying in England, which is a year long program, I haven't seen her since my Sophomore year! It was such a great reunion. Also, her trip couldn't have been more perfect in my eyes. She came on the weekend of the Fashion Festival on Stroget, Valentines Weekend and also the Danish Halloween Fastelavn.

Patsy came on Friday afternoon just before lunch time! She traveled with Henry (who is also on the England program) and is dating one of my friends here (Caitlin- she is also from Dickinson but is on the same program with me (DIS). Therefore, it was one large Dickinson reunion! After catching lunch with Henry and Patsy, I had my Friday class until 4 :(! After class was over we went home and caught up on what had been happening in our lives for the past year. Needless to say, it took us longer than one night to catch up and we were still telling stories by the end of the weekend :)! Friday night, we had dinner with my host family and went to see the movie "Valentines Day". (Side note: little did I know that when purchasing the tickets here, you pay for your individual seat. The front row, middle seats cost the most money following the middle seats middle row, etc. Being vertically challenged, I chose middle seats, close to front row-->expensive evening (18 US $ per ticket)! I felt totally gyped that the man didn't tell me and more like an American after I gasped at the total price!) However, the movie was totally worth it and a great chick flick for Patsy and I. We went home after the movie and rooted for the American athletes in the Winter Games!

The following day Patsy and I hit the Fashion Festival with our plastic :) I bought a cute nautical dress for the Cruise (for those of you who do not know, I am going on a Cruise with DIS students to the Greek Islands and Turkey during my Spring Break in March!) and also a fun blue top! Patsy fell in love with a pair of shoes in the very beginning of the trip and I convinced her to keep moving because we hadn't even hit Stroget yet and there were so many more shoes stores to look at! haha :) However, she couldn't take her mind off of them so we grabbed lunch and headed back to purchase them!!! The Fashion Festival was fabulous for there were run way models everywhere and models in the windows showing off the clothes within the store. After watching the store, Coldstone caught our eyes. AH! American Ice Cream! We were in heaven and devoured it quickly! We headed back home after a long day shopping and made dinner together. What was on the menu? My specialty--grilled cheese of course! :)

Saturday night was so much fun!! We went bar hopping with Caitlin and Henry and a few other of my friends. We ended up at my favorite place (The Scottish Bar) and danced to Christina Aguilera, MJ, and so many more American singers! We ran into some of my other DIS friends at the bar and we all went to a large dance club called Rosie McGees. This dance club was four stories and the dance floor vibrated when people danced. It was crazzzy and packed with people! There were dancers ontop of the tables and drinks were flowing everywhere. Not to mention, crazy costumes because it was Festelavn (midnight by that time) and also Valentines Day! It was a long night and we had to top it off with McDonalds at 4 a.m.!

As expected, we slept in most of the day Sunday and headed out to celebrate Fastelavn with my host family. My family puts together a carnival for the whole neighborhood every year in a playground within the area! It was so cute! There were piñatas, candy, danish pastries, drinks, magicians, and musicians! There were over 100 Danish individuals dressed up and ready for the festival. Watching the kids hit the piñata brought back childhood memories from home. But then, I was able to relive them. Little did I know, there was a contest for adults. So Patsy and I confidently walked up to the piñata and swung! We didn't even leave a dent! haha. It is said in Denmark that if you knock the piñata open you are the Queen/ King of Fastelavn. You then receive a gift and have bragging rights until next year! But Patsy and I did not represent strong American women for we never left a dent :) We were still given pastries and that made us feel like Queens (there is NOTHING like a Danish pastry!). We continued to relive our childhood pasts and watched Disney movies together the rest of the night until dinner! That night I received beautiful flowers from my family. The precious tulips are still sitting next to me along with a card from Patsy and my Grandma! It couldn't have been a better Valentines Day.

Monday was here before I knew it. I couldn't believe how quickly the weekend had gone by. I totally forgot to show Patsy around Copenhagen! So, I did something I would never usually do. I skipped class, took a map, and got lost in the city. I think this was the highlight of my time with Patsy. We found beautiful gardens, fun cafes, cute shops, and amazing cathedrals. We took so many pictures and had a blast running through the city like children.

I was very sad to say goodbye to Patsy. It was so nice to have such a special friend visit, not to mention, someone that I knew personally. We were our crazy normal-selves and it was magical to spend the whole weekend with such a dear friend and sister! :) I feel as if every weekend gets better and better here! I can't imagine what it is going to be like in my final weekends here. However, I am living each moment as it comes and enjoying every second I am here.

I am most looking forward to the upcoming events in my calendar. This next Sunday (the 28th) I am heading to Scotland for a week with my core class (Psychology of Happiness!). I am sooooo excited to visit another country apart from Denmark. Not to mention, I have grown very close with a few girls from my core class. We are even having a pre-Scotland get together and going out for dinner and a movie this week! That weekend I come home (March 6th) I am going to be pounding in hours of homework for that Monday MOMMY & GRANDMA COME for 10 days!!!! I am so beyond excited to have my family members come and visit me. I already have things in mind for what I am going to show them! THEN, can you believe it but two weekends later I am on Spring Break for two weeks (the tentative plan before the cruise is Prague, Budapest, and Ireland (for the first week) and then my week cruise to Greece and Turkey). I can't believe I can even say I am going to all of those wonderful places for Spring Break! Eeekkk! Before I know it, it will be the middle of April.

Therefore, as you may notice it is a hectic schedule from here on out. I will be able to update my blog after Scotland and after my family visits but come end of March to middle of April, I will be traveling Europe for my Spring Break! Once I return safely home (and tan!) I will spill all of my stories and detailed adventures!

I hope you are all doing well at home. I do miss America, do not get me wrong. Especially hearing the National Anthem and seeing the flag in the stands in Vancouver, is tough. I miss the small things and especially the people. Again, thank you for continuing to read my blog. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy telling you my stories.

Jeg savner dig (I miss you),

Chels

Short Study Tour to Jutland, Denmark

Dearest readers,

I have had a fabulous weekend while traveling to Jutland. It was an educational experience but a pleasurable one. I wont waste anymore space!

A short study tour is part of the DIS experience while studying abroad. Each discipline has a specific location throughout Denmark. For Psychology, we traveled to Jutland. For those of you whom I haven't spoken to, study tours are a chance for me to compare my American Psychology skills to the Danes way of studying Psychology. I traveled with my Psychology of Happiness class (class size= 32) all the way to Esberg. Here we stopped at a small business school where the "S-Project" is well known. The "S-Project" is a "skills project" or program for under privileged students. Many of these students have had bad childhoods, bullied by classmates, or just did not fit into, what I would call, a, "normal", high school. After hearing some of the students' stories about their life, my classmates and I learned about a typical day in school for them. The students gather as a family for breakfast every morning (for many can not afford breakfast) and take specific classes towards mental and physical health. Therefore these 24 students take classes such as: gym, personal reflection, general courses (found in most high schools), and more. They are all in the same class which is located within an average high school. However, they have a special hall for this program. A staff of professional psychologists and high school teachers run an eight week program that encourages the students to progress towards their academic career while improving their health (physically/mentally/emotionally). As I listened to the lectures on how the psychologists improve one's self-esteem, character strengths, and trust in these individuals; I couldn't help but think about how positive my life has been.

After the lectures, I had to have a one on one intervention with one of the students in the "S-Project". I had to talk about how the program could be improved and what my thoughts were. Although I was quite nervous for my first Psychological intervention, the Danish student I was talking with lightened up the room by asking the interpreter, how my teeth are so white! :)

After finishing with the students we headed for our hostel. Believe it or not it was a clean and beautiful hostel. I bunked with three other girls who I have been getting quite close with. Throughout the trip I really bonded with them (and we are going shopping tomorrow!). The next morning we traveled to Arhos. This is the second largest city in Denmark. Here we visited an art museum! Although I am not to fond of art, the museum was fascinating! I enjoyed all of the different forms of "art". I never thought art could be so interesting. Guess you learn something new every day huh? After the art museum, we again had an academic portion of the trip. We traveled to a unique school called the Kaospilots. This is a three year school which focuses on "finding yourself and your inner strengths, while applying that into leadership and academic excellence". The two speakers, whom were former students, took us on a "journey" of our trip in Denmark. With personal reflection, group therapy, and interventions on what we wanted throughout our time abroad; my class seemed to be bonding well and I had goals set for myself regarding my time here. It was fairly easy to see how Positive Psychology was used within this academic portion of the trip. Therefore my paper, which is due tomorrow, was easy to finish.

Finally, we had a night on the town to ourselves. The girls and I wasted no time and went shopping, had pizza/beer, and met up with a 100 other DIS students at a local bar. Dancing to Aqua and chatting about our study tours made the time fly by. Before I knew it, we were on our way to our last stop. That following morning, we headed to a small town called Roskilde to visit the Viking Ship Museum. I had a blast dressing up in old clothes and taking pictures inside the boats. Overall, the experience was great. I bonded with friends, got to know my classmates, had a chance to personally reflect on my ambitions throughout the trip, met wonderful Danes, and had a great night out.

But, weekend doesn't end there. When I got back Saturday night, I was so exhausted. However, my friends pulled me out to the Scottish Bar. We had a few drinks and walked along Stroget with hot chocolate. After admiring the shops, we planned a day to pull out our credit cards--tomorrow!! :)

Sunday was a bit more relaxing for I was able to do laundry and catch up on work. The night ended perfectly with hamburgers and fries for dinner! In addition, I took another step further into being a member of the Klausen family. I helped my younger host sister with her English fantasy paper. I was very impressed with her English skills and loved how her characters were Bella, Edward, and Jacob. After reviewing her paper, we played Wii with her brother. Yes, I lost again. We even tried to play another game--bummer. To finish the night of perfectly, we all, as a family, watched Night at the Museum. AND it was in English :)

So much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to.

Love from Denmark to you,

Chelsea