Party Weekend

This past weekend was packed.

Friday: Pancake party in the city

Tons of homemade pancakes with delicious house blend syrup. I got to meet some new people. Shared housing here is pretty much a hotel!

Saturday: Orchestra practice in Buddinge and Brett’s 20^th birthday party in Gentofte

I got completely lost in Buddinge, a suburb outside Copenhagen, and my wonderful chair stand partner found me. (I learned that stand in Danish is “poot!” What a cute word!) My first traditional Danish birthday party was a lot of fun and filled with delicious food. Brett’s host family were really nice and interesting people. His host sister is planning on traveling to Tanzania to volunteer at an orphanage there. Afterwards, I was invited to sleep over at Merianne’s so we could have some extra time to plan our 2 week travel break. Yay for slumber parties!

Sunday: Flea market at Holte and Asian cooking party at Birkerød

I’ve actually never been to a flea market before, and I thought this one was SO much fun! Finagling prices with the locals was interesting and I think it turned out pretty well. I got a beautiful ceramic coffee pot for free and a few neat Danish gifts! It was funny because I noticed that there were a LOT of Asians shopping there, but then I noticed that my entire group of friends that were there were also Asian- haha. Asian thriftiness is universal! After shopping the four of us went for a nice stroll around the local lake and forest to Ben’s house to make dinner, which was a complete success- I made a Thai coconut soup, Merianne made Adobo, Ben made spring rolls and desert plantains, and Paul made Kimbop (Yes, Paul has joined the cooking trio)- Yummy! Ben’s host family was very sweet and enjoyed the meal. It was nice to talk to them about their travel experience because they seem like they’ve been everywhere. The 16 year old host son probably has traveled more places then the four of us combined!

Now that it’s Monday, it’s time to start finishing everything due before the travel break. Fortunately for me, I don’t have that much- just a Danish oral and written exam and an outline in Healthcare in Scandinavia. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but I’m taking:

Complexities of Cancer

Danish I – the program we use is “Danish Ducklings,” hence the name of this blog

Human Health and Disease

Healthcare in Scandinavia

Youth and HIV/AIDS in Africa

I really like all of my classes and the professors, so going to class is really not that bad- but we’ll see how it turns out at the end of the semester. For now, though, only one more week till travel break!!!