Elissa Goes Abroad: Denmark Diaries: A Busy Week, Indeed!

My week has been busy to say the least, and perhaps a little chaotic. Last Wednesday (the 3rd of September) , after sitting in a meeting that had me staying later at the office than intended, I returned to my desk to gather my things and a rather excited Lars approached me. Carsten S. (Rotary Club Carsten, not Christina's father Carsten) had called, and told me that I "needed to be in Vejle by 6:00pm." Upon arriving home, Ella knew nothing about what Carsten had told Lars, so we were sort of running around like chickens without heads trying to figure out what the plan was.

I feel very short, and
I'm 5'7"

Eventually it was sorted out, and I hopped a train to Vejle. Upon arrival, Carsten S's wife Kirsten picked me up at the train station and then took me back to their beautiful home. I hung around for a while, talking to their son Jon. Then their other son Lasse and their exchange student (staying with them from Mexico) Victor came in. They told me about where we would be going. We were going on a picnic at this place called Tørskind Grusgrav, a sculpture park with the work of Robert Jacobsen. Formerly a gravel park/pit thing, Jacobsen transformed the landscape with the help of his former student Jean Clareboudt, into a place of sculptures made of iron, wood, and concrete. Thematically, they are supposed to reflect the transition of the sun's path over the night sky. Unfortunately, I didn't really get a whole lot pictures of the sculptures. They were interesting, but better seen in person.

However, there was another reason we were there. There was a car show. Now, if you know anything about me at all, you'll know I love cars. Old cars, new cars, exotic cars, muscle cars...and there was no shortage of cars at this car show. What was great about this one was that it was European, so I got to see a couple American classics, yes, but I got to see a lot of cars I'd never seen before -- The European classics. Old Morgans, Triumphs, Fiats, MGs, Saabs, something called a NSU, and something that looked like it belonged in a Bond movie (or maybe it was in one). I had a blast taking pictures, and Lasse and Jon had some fun ~~trying to~~ photobomb. The evening ended with a photograph in front of/on one of the sculptures...a photo that makes me feel very short compared to the three handsome boys I'm standing with.

On Thursday the 4th I had a bit of an existential moment. I had been invited to go see Den Lille Havfrue, aka The Little Mermaid on stage. The show was professionally done, with Broadway-style stage tricks and vibrant, exciting costumes (some of which I'm positive you wouldn't see in a children's play in the States--Ursula's electric eels, I'm talking to you), and the cast was amazing. Ursula, man, what a set of pipes on her. During the rendition of "Part of Your World," that was when I had my moment. It was a surreal one, being surrounded by Danes, in Denmark, watching a play in Danish that was made famous by a Dane. I started to cry. It was all very real, but I also knew at that moment I had grown into a different person over the course of the past month. I was, er, am more confident I think, and I had/have come so far. It was a small moment, but an amazing one.

Århus City Hall,
built 1941

Following work on Friday the 5th, I went to Århus to visit my friend Arense. She came up behind me in the train station as I was replying to a text message and startled me, but once my surprise wore off I gave her a big hug. It had been only a few weeks since I'd seen her, and I've only known her a couple months, but I've been told that if you make friends with a Dane, you are friends for life. She gave me a quick tour of her city, a beautiful city full of college-age culture. The bit I found particularly interesting was the bit about the City Hall. It was built by Danish architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller. They didn't want to build a tower, because after all, why would you want a tower if all city halls have towers. They gave in to popular demand, however, and eventually constructed one. While I'm not sure if it is true since I like to fact check, but I was told that everything in the building was designed by the designers, down to the silverware.

After a lengthy dinner full of conversation, me, Arense, and her boyfriend Bjørn ventured out into the night to take a "light tour" of buildings illuminated in fancy ways. We saw the coolest stop first, an old brewery illuminated from the inside and timed to music, such as Massive Attack's "Teardrop" which was playing when we walked in. We stayed and watched for a while before moving on to other illuminated buildings throughout the city. Although, as previously mentioned, none were as impressive as the former. There was a mirror installation we had walked under before that had been lit up as well, and that was very cool to see. It was crowded when we got there during the night time, as it was offering shelter from the rain that had started coming down.

The next morning was much like dinner the night before, except Arense's voice had somehow disappeared. Breakfast was full of conversation, a fantastic meal, and good company. I was out by 11am, Arense and Bjørn had a food festival to go to and I had a weekend with Carsten S's family to attend. So I boarded a train once more in the direction of Vejle, trying not to fall asleep and miss my stop or wind up in a detached train car. But I made it to Vejle, and once again Kirsten picked me up. Instead of going right to herhouse, she took me about Vejle. We went to the pedestrian mall, into the churches St. Nicolai (13th cent.) and St. Norbert's (1924), out to another more modern church that I can't recall the name of built in 1959 (very reflective of Danish design), to their family church also built in the 50s, and up to the iconic Vejle windmill, built 1890, where I not only got to experience my first windmill, but also got a wonderful vantage point of the city, since it sat atop one of the steepest hills in either the area.

My day in Vejle ended with Carsten's family taking me up to the top of a hill, were we could see the fjord and where we would eat dinner. We sat and listened to the storm come in, with the rumbles of thunder getting closer and a few drops of rain, but then fading away much to our relief. It was a nice evening, filled with many laughs.

On Sunday the 6th, I was up bright and early at Carsten & Kirsten's home to take our day trip up to Skagen, the northernmost point of Denmark. It was a rainy drive, and the rain lasted almost all day so I didn't get to see the color difference of the two seas as I was hoping. For those who don't know, Skagen is where the North and Baltic Seas converge, but due to different water densities, they cannot mix so there is a split in the water. Despite the grey, I was able to identify where they met based on what was wavy and what was flat. That being said, we were fortunate enough that it stopped raining pretty much the exact amount of time we needed to walk the 2k or so out to the end, and the 2k back because the usual tractor transports had stopped running.

Besides walking out to the end of Denmark, I smashed my toe so hard I thought I had broken it, learned a little bit about Denmark's tactics in WW2 in trying to sabotage the Germans, but also discovered my love for the Danish artist Laurits Tuxen at the Skagen Art Museum. His works were beautifully rendered, detailed and full. However, I thought it was curious how sometimes he chose to make the faces relatively messy and seemingly incomplete compared to the rest of the painting. I theorized, after reading that he learned from his teacher to omit details that didn't add to the work, that he left out faces sometimes because they would neither add nor subtract from the complexity of the piece. I thought that was interesting, and wish I had the money and weight in my suitcase to buy his book. I also saw PS Krøyer paintings, even one that I had recognized from my studies, and the two Ancher artists, Anna and Michael.

That day we also saw the Skagen Kirke (yes, another church). This one was different than the other Danish churches I'd seen so far, but that was probably because it was built centuries after in 1910. It didn't have a "closed altar" (I don't know how else to describe it), and it had balconies. We also saw the Buried Church aka Saint Laurence Church. The earliest information on it dates back to 1387. According to the sign, "In 1785 Danish King Christian VII gave permission for the church to be closed, as it was no longer possible to protect it from drifting sand." The church tower, which dates from the 15th century, was left after the church was demolished to act as a sea mark and whitewashed in 1816. That landmark was actually underwhelming, but hey, I can say I've seen it. I had a rather enjoyable day with Carsten's family and Victor (the Mexican exchange student). Me and the two boys (Jon was not with us) goofed off and teased each other. The city itself was very quaint, composed mostly of old yellow houses with white trim and red roofs. It smelled at worst, like rotting crabs, and at most the mild odor of ocean fish. Despite the pungent fish odor, it was a very cute town indeed, even if nothing was open because tourist season was over. The whole day was another setup for a great joke: A Dane, an American, and a Mexican are walking through an empty tourist town...

I think that about sums up the touristy side of things...

Work related: On 9/10 I handed the first draft of my 106-page manual to the CEO. Now I just need to wait on his instructions, and fuss with the section dividers. Continuing to work on the internal communication campaign.

I'll try to get another post in this week. I went to Sophie and Christian's school music and I'm going whale watching on Sunday (the 14th)...but we'll see what happens and how much I procrastinate.

Other observations that I seem to neglect:

If you want ice, forget it. No ice for you (Made the ice bucket challenge difficult)
No window screens. While there are less smaller bugs, there are:
Lots of really big spiders, and I don't like that at all.
There are almost always dividers in doorways between rooms on the floor. I still haven't figured this out, and still trip over them constantly.
Liability seems to be different. If you don't lock something down, it's your fault and insurance won't pay for it. At least, that's what I've been told. I find that very interesting if that's a Danish thing. Like way back in the beginning, on my second day or so, I was told that if you don't lock your bike, insurance won't cover it. How would insurance know if you locked it or not?
Cars Part 1: Cars are so expensive here in Denmark. About 3-4 times what they would be in the US. A Mazda6 would cost $76,000
Cars Part 2: I like seeing all the American brands with cars that we don't have in the states, like the Ford Ka and the Ford Mondeo.
The flagpoles in every yard, and flags are used for well, everything. (Did I mention this already). I thought the US was a patriotic country...

I guess another thing, more self-reflective than anything, is how much I am struggling to deal with my introversion here. I am very self conscious about it, especially living with a family that is not used to my ways (or maybe they are by now). Being around people exhausts me. People of any kind drain my energy--friends, family, coworkers, the public, and I need to recharge and spend time alone. I try to find a balance of spending time with the family and, well, being a recluse. That is very much a challenge, and I'm trying to monitor it, I do often find myself worrying if the family thinks it's because I don't like them or something, which is absolutely not the case. I love the family. They are great to be around. They're friendly and tease me, they make me laugh every time we chat, they have provided for me and shown me the country and cultural ways and are patient with my ignorance and questions. I am learning so much under their guidance and in their home. I don't think I could have asked for a better family. But I still am self-conscious about my reclusive personality, and wonder if I will ever find the perfect balance or if it is simply just part of the struggle of being an introvert.

Well, I think that's enough rambling for now. I hope this post made sense, it's taken me a few days to write it...well, the writing was easy, it was editing all the HDR photos that took all the time.

Until next time!