And the night turned to morning before our eyes.

So this is it. It is my official last full day in Copenhagen.

I have taken my last 14, 1a, and 85n bus rides
I have locked the door and turned in the keys to the room I called home for 4 months
I have packed my bags (in hopes that I will not be over weight restrictions)
I have said my last goodbyes
I have taken my last steps down Strøget, Vestergade, Tasingegade, and Skindergade

And finally, I have watched my first, but definitely not last, Scandinavian sun rise.

We concluded DIS. Yesterday the Conclusion Ceremony was held in the beautiful concert hall of The Royal Danish Academy of Music. There were speeches from students, faculty, and the DIS director. Awards were given and seniors were congratulated. There was a champagne reception and the conversations were lively and sad as many people said goodbyes to the people from their classes who they just may not see again.

It wasn't the ceremony that made me realize how much I will miss this, but it was the gathering of good friends in the beautiful park next to the water just smoking hookah, telling stories, laughing and soaking up the sun. I was a memorable day to say the least.

The night brought many of us students together in the basement/laundry room of Skindergade apartments for one last hurah. We spent the early hours of the night socializing and celebrating the ending of an amazing semester we then proceded to head to our favorite nightclub in the city, Kulør bar, where we danced until the early hours of the monring. On the bus ride home I actually watched the night turn to morning as there was a beautiful sunrise over the water! It was stunning. I thought about all the things I will miss from this city and dispite the first few months of constant clouds the springtime of Denmark is definitly worth the wait.

This morning I packed up my all of my things and cleaned the room. I am spending the last night here at my visitng families house where they have taken me in over the past week. It was a nice break and a more pleasent place to study for exams and not get distracted. They are taking me to the airport tomorrow and I will say my goodbyes to Denmark, but they are not real goodbyes.... I will be back here someday. This is a place I really want to share with my family and/or friends. Copenhagen really means so much to me. I feel like I have a new concept of culture and a new concept of self all due to this city and this time abroad. I wish that I could have shared this city with my family, in time hopefully that will happen. For now they will have to experience through my photos and stories (though really the photos do not do this city justice!)

Denmark, the beautiful Danes, and my new American friends will all be missed.

Hej Hej Københaven. Vi ses!

the last stretch...

Here we are. I can count on two hands how many days I have left in Europe and two weeks ago I couldn't wait for May 17th to come and now I regret ever thinking such things...I am so torn between what I want it this situation. The Copenhagen spring time has caused me to fall deeply in love with this city and the time I have spent here. I am looking at my schedule for next week, which includes 4 days packed with 4 finals..... All I want to do is see the city, lay down in the park, run around the lakes, stroll down Storget, and people watch from behind a large cup of coffee in Nyhavn. All in the same time, I want to be home in the comfort of my family and friends, the food I know, the language I understand, and the currency that doesn't need to be converted.

I am sturggling to study tonight thinking about all the things that I have done this semester and how much I have grown from this experience. It is something I will never forget. To distract me from my studies I searched for a few quotes that descrbe me and my experience of travling this semester. It really has been life changing.

“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky - all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” - Cesar Pavese

“All the pathos and irony of leaving one’s youth behind is thus implicit in every joyous moment of travel: one knows that the first joy can never be recovered, and the wise traveler learns not to repeat successes but tries new places all the time.” - Paul Fussel

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” - Mark Jenkins

1. Maj: My attemt at true cultural imersion

The first of may in Denmark is their labor day all the school kids and workers have off. On my way home from classes I noticed that the bus was unusually packed with people, then as we got closer to my neighborhood people were swarming the sidewalks all walking in one direction. I figured they must all be going to the MayDay celebration that I had heard about called 1. Maj...

Because all my friends were either leaving for the weekend or had afternoon classes I decided to check out what this was all about by myself. I grabbed a snack and a few somersby ciders... I noticed people carrying crates of beer to this festival so I didn't want to look out of place! I walked a few blocks from my house to the park where I always stretch after my runs and read and lay out during the sunny days and it was completely transformed! I have never seen such a celebration for labor day before there were approximately 100,000 people gathered in the park to enjoy different music (about 5 different stages all in different areas of the park), food, and of course a lot of beer. After waking around for a while checking out all the interesting people and music, I realized that this sort of thing was something you come to with a bunch of friends and hang out, not really go by yourself.

So, I went to a quieter less crowded park that is on the way to the main park sat myself down and read my book. While I was reading a few people passed and said something in Danish to me... I looked up and said "what?" (which is one of my responses I use when I need people to know that I don't speak Danish, it always works right away) then they said in English, "Why are you by yourself reading on first of may?" I responded, " I would rather be by myself here than in the festival by myself." They quickly invited me to come along with them. Hesitantly I accepted thinking that, hey I really have not hung out with too many Danish kids my age so why not?

We walked back to the festival and went to the hip hop stage where they had a blanket set up and a few friends, they were a little bit younger than me and asked so many questions about American kids, things like; "What is prom like?" "Is high school like the movies? do they have cliques?" "Did you have a sweet sixteen?" It was hilarious for me to listen to these questions because the media puts such an emphasis on these events that's all they thought American kids did. It was a fun experience and I think they enjoyed talking to their "American friend" It was definitely interesting to compare the two cultures and it was so strange for me to see this many people, all drinking, with not a lot of police officers around. Since the drinking age is 16 in Denmark literally EVERYONE was drinking, and they just were not strict on the drinking age like they are in the US.

My 1.Maj was a fun, sun filled afternoon and ended up being more a cultural experience than I though! Well, only two more weeks to enjoy the beautiful weather and atmosphere that spring has brought...