Scandinavian chill

It has been almost a week since I last posted. Since then, things have changed here pretty significantly. I'm talking weather.

I took a screen shot of the weather forecast to make Eddie Escobio laugh last week.

 The current weather forecast is:

I wasn't kidding when I mentioned that it rains daily. It's also windy. So windy. With windchill, temps feel up to 10 degrees colder. It's been a QUICK transition to fall here We're learning to deal with it. Since my room is a little (lot) drafty, Bri borrowed an extra comforter from her Visiting Family for me (THANK YOU) & I came across a cozy fleece blanket sporting the logo for a fruity Carlsberg alcoholic drink.

Last Tuesday, we had a big scare in our house. There's a local bar that has drink deals every Tuesday, and a bunch of our house-mates were there on the 18th. One of the guys, trying to do the right thing, tried to break up a bar fight at the end of the night. He took one massive punch and fell, slammed his head against the cobblestone ground, and was knocked out cold. The people around him had the wherewithal to take him directly to the hospital. His skull is fractured and his brain bled for 2 full days before he was released from the hospital. We're so thankful that he's doing ok. In such a small house, everyone is very very close. It was nice seeing the support when all 25 of us showed up at the hospital to support him throughout the next days. Because he can't go out of the house at all for the time being, we all stayed in with him on Friday night (a rare occurrence) and watched Anchorman. It was a perfect hyggelig night with Ravnsborggade. 

Last Thursday, we had "Danish night" with the whole house. Ravnsborggade gathered and our SRA's cooked a traditional Danish meal for us. 

The meal included Danish meatballs of some sort, boiled potatoes, carrot salad, creamed cabbage, & rice. It was another hyggelig night with the whole crew. (Bri is considered the honorary housemate, so obviously was at the dinner)

On Saturday, I went with Bri and all of her housemates to the Frederiksberg Palace and Frederiksberg Gardens. It was a great afternoon. The weather wasn't perfect (it rarely is here), but it was so nice to spend time in nature. I really really miss being on a campus. Villanova is so beautiful. And though this city is charming, majestic, and really wonderful, it's not the same as living among the trees.

Frederiksberg Garden

Frederiksberg Garden

Frederiksberg Palace in the background

Academically, things are heating up a little. Because this is the last week of classes before a week long travel break, it's full of tests and papers. I'm obviously procrastinating by blogging in the precious cafe in the basement of my house. My Danish midterm is Thursday. Good thing I don't have class tomorrow.

I got to work at Mother's Help a few times this week, and I really love volunteering there.

I'm involved in a program here that has allowed me to work with 6 Danish members of MS Action Aid, a large scale non-profit in Denmark. Together with 3 friends and the 6 Danes, we are planning a 3-day "festival" event in November. The event, which will be in the bar in the basement of my building, is intended to raise awareness about and funds for an Action Aid project benefiting women in Kenya, and the planning just started to get really fun. Instead of doing a overly serious event about women leaders in East Africa, it is fleshing out to be this cultural, exciting, interesting, great event. I'm so excited to be doing volunteer work again, especially in this setting.

The end of this week brings about the start of an INSANE month. October is bound to be absurd. I leave Saturday night for 4 days in Athens followed by 4 days in Milan. Then I'll be in Copenhagen for 5 days. Then I'll spend 3 days in Barcelona and 2 days in London. Back to Copenhagen for 1 day. Then, 2 days in Paris followed directly by 5 days in London. That brings us to October 26th. Um... WHAT?!

Wish me luck, followers. Love to all 3.5 of you.