Hyggeligt

Hey everyone! It has been a long time again so I'm sorry for that. But I have a lot to tell you all too. The word "hyggelidt" that I named this post is a Danish word that doesn't translate to English. The closest translation would probably mean cozy, fun, or nice but in Danish it can be more then that. It is a lifestyle. The danish life is "hyggelidt" they always lite candles, they eat cake, and drink tea. It can't get much cozier then that. Anyways, around this time of year Denmark is very hyggelidt. As the days are getting shorter and the darkness is coming sooner more candles are being lit, more people are cuddling up on the couch, and most importantly more food is being eaten! Nowadays the darkness comes at around 4:30 maybe and it doesn't get light until around 7:15 in the morning, and they will continue to get shorter and shorter throughout these next few months until spring when we will finally get an abundance of light. The darkness may sound bad but as I was saying, Danish people make the most of it. All the towns around me, including Copenhagen, are getting decorated with Christmas lights and everywhere you go there are candles burning and hot tea being served. As for the food, it is awesome! Danish people are known to eat a lot around Christmas, whether it is the delicious Christmas cookies everyone buys called Pedder Nodder (I think I am addicted) or the traditional Danish dinners like Flæskesteg (consisting of roasted pork with a crackling around it and served with potatoes and a brown gravy), it is all good. Though I'm not much of a slab of meat kinda person I have enjoyed all the traditional Danish meals I've had here and look forward to bringing the recipes back to the USA. I look forward to Christmas here, though I will miss my family a lot. I also am a little sad I won't be home for Thanksgiving which is just around the corner. I can only imagine the mix of delicious dishes my Dad will cook up this year. Lucky for me I will be creating a mini Thanksgiving though on Wednesday for my host family, it won't consist of much but at least I will have Pumpkin Pie and Mashed Potatoes! Well anyways, I have been quite busy recently. Before I wrote about going to a water park called Lalandia, that was a ton of fun! We just stayed for the weekend but we all had a great time and there was wonderful company. Of course the waterpark wasn't quite as big as Raging Waters or something of the sort but it was nice and there was a lot of sweet families there. The next weekend was my Rotary Get Together weekend. That was so awesome! It was so great to see all my Rotary friends again and meet new people as well. We enjoyed good food and even had a DJ and live band at night as well as a costume party due to the fact that it was around Halloween. The weekend after that was my trip to Oslo! It was so much fun. We took a boat over night on Saturday and arrived in Oslo Sunday morning with 7 hours to explore the city. The only problem was that it was a bit rainy actually and we had a hard time finding shops that were open on Sunday. In Denmark and Norway the idea to stay open for even a bit on Sunday is new to them, but more and more shops are doing it now. We ended up finding some cool places though and got to see the Royal Palace and the beautiful Opera House. After the Opera House we tried to find some place to get a hot chocolate but weirdly enough we couldn't find anywhere! We ended up just grabbing some tea, but the warmth was nice after a long day in the cold! Last weekend (Nov 16-18) was the weekend I moved in with my new host family. I moved in midday on Saturday and my old host family and new one had some tea and treats together. It was sad saying goodbye to my first host family, my host mother and I were almost brought to tears, but I know I can see them and visit them whenever I want and nowhere in Denmark is far away so I know I will stay in touch. My new host family is really great, they have two kids: the daughter, Lise (20) and the son, Johan (16). They are both beyond sweet and so far we have got along super great. The host mother and father: Mogens (father) and Janne (mother) are very nice as well and they both work in Copenhagen. I am enjoying myself so much here already and I am all moved into my new room now. I will keep updating on how it is here when I get more adjusted though. Well this friday is my Gala, which is kind of the equivalent of prom so I am very excited. I got a dress for it and I will get ready and have dinner with some Danish friends from my class before. There is not much else going on with me. I hope everyone is doing well and hopefully someone at least still reads my blog every once and while even though I am so bad at updating! Sending love and Danish hyggelidt.