sunny day explorations.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I hope this entry finds you all doing well. The sun has started to show its face in Copenhagen more and more each day, and I can't even tell you how much everyone's mood changes right along with it. More smiles from people on the street, on the train, and even a fist pump from a guy as he passed the gym window where I was running on the treadmill.  Just a small smile or interchange like that leaves me quite giddy.

And speaking of smiling Danes..

On thursday at my practicum site, we spent most of the day outside. This is Bobby and Anders, cooking the last bit of the meal. First they cooked cut up bits of potatoes, and sausages, and ended with an egg to top it off. It had a Danish name that I asked my host parents about and then promptly forgot again. You can eat it with ketchup, fried onions and slices of beets. The kids all had red rings around their mouths from the beets. It was ten kinds of adorable.

It was so wonderful to be spending all this time outdoors, and I made a new friend named Celia. I try to spread myself around and get to know all the kids equally, but Celia won me over pretty hard. We'd been playing for a while, chasing each other around and counting to ten in each others languages. She went back upstairs to the kindergarden and I was confused about why she left, though she'd tried to tell me something. After asking one of the pedagogs what she'd said, they told me that she was getting a drink. A few seconds later from the balcony, Celia yelled down to the entire playground, "MIN VEN!!!" This means, "my friend!"She threw open her arms and smiled, and then ran back down to me to play. My heart is pretty sufficiently stolen by Cielia.

After a tiring but nonetheless fun day at Saxogarden school, I went back to Copenhagen. I sat on a bench here, looking out on Strøget and enjoyed the sun and peaceful breeze. 

I walked back to the Kobenhavn H station to go home, and passed a church that I see everyday on my way to class. I think it is just beautiful.

Yogurt and Muesli. Nothing more pleasing to the eyes on a sunny Saturday morning. 

With my host family away this weekend, I had the house all to myself.  They are on a trip looking at a puppy they might be getting Easter weekend! I try not to push too hard on the matter, but I would be in HEAVEN if they did get it. I feel like once you see a puppy that could be yours, there's no turning back.

Took this on the trail of Christiana, the little anarchist hippie society within Copenhagen. After a day of trekking around town and showing my favorite parts of Copenhagen to Elliot, Emma, and Sarah, three kids visiting from Germany (the first two are Knoxies), it was so nice to take a load off, enjoy the playful activities of the ducks, and listen to the birds chirping happily.

Emma, Elliot, and Sarah, lookin' good in front of the Christiana sign.

And after we sufficiently froze, as the temperatures dipped once the sun went down, I got to retreat home to my cozy residence in Hedehusene. With the family gone, I made myself a grilled cheese with tomatoes.

The special mustard they've got was the icing on the cake. Had a nice little dinner to myself, and even though I told my family I'd be having a huge raging party while they were gone, I did the next best thing. Fell asleep on the couch and woke up ten hours later.