This weekend wasn’t overly exciting, which is why I am choosing to detail all of its events within one entry. On Friday, I woke up gradually, and then around 10:30 I went to the grocery store with my host mom. They were getting ready to leave for their weeklong ski vacation that night, where they were driving through the night to get to Austria. She wanted to get food to make for their drive as well as making sure that I had enough food for the next week since I would be home alone. It was actually kind of a funny experience because she kept asking me if I wanted a bunch of different foods, way more than I could actually consume in a week. Additionally, since I am used to grocery shopping on my own in the states, it was kind of weird to have someone asking me about everything I wanted to get. I definitely realize that she was simply trying to help, which I definitely appreciate. I think I simply surprised her, since I was rather content with a smaller amount of food.
I then had to into the city for my two classes, which felt like they took forever. Its not that they were bad in themselves, its just the topics we were covering were not that interesting. We did have a guest speaker in my Leadership class though from the Copenhagen Business School. He was actually an American who was studying the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Scandinavian countries. Although his points were interesting, everything always leads back to differences in culture, and how cultures cannot be easily changed. I guess that the point of the class though since it is called “Leadership Across Cultures”. ☺
After classes I headed straight home, so that I would be able to have a quick dinner with my host family and say goodbye to them before they left for a week. When I got home my host mom and sister Caroline were randomly of the kitchen floor matching socks. Odd for a few reasons: 1. They were in the kitchen doing this while my host dad prepared dinner. 2. I don’t think they were taking those socks with them; they were simply doing laundry. 3. It actually appeared rather difficult because the vast majority of the sock were black. It was probably one of those things where you had to be there.
We then had a quick dinner of leftovers and they were all off to continue their packing. (I did have a personal highlight during dinner because my host mom complimented me on my skills of eating with a knife and fork in the European style; SO proud of myself.) So I camped on in the family room, while they weaved in and out of different rooms trying to get all of their stuff packed. I didn’t see the final cargo load, but it definitely seemed like they were taking a LOT of stuff with them. In the midst of all of this, I was also trying to figure out what I was going to do that evening. I eventually figured out that I was going to try to go out with my friend Taylor and some of the people that he lives with. However, on my way to meet him, he called me informing me that he wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay in. Luckily I was only at the train station in my town, so I hadn’t traveled too far yet. Since it was already almost 10:00pm and I didn’t have any plans, I simply decided to return home and relax. Figuring I would go out Saturday night.
I then woke up on Saturday earlier than expected, however I watched two episodes of The Big Bang Theory online and then headed down stairs to watch the broadcast of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. My host family told me that it was supposed to be on 10:00 so I started flipping channels around and found some coverage. However the whole thing seemed a little discounted. Then when they showed the teams parading out they only showed Canada, Denmark, and Sweden; this is when I realized that this coverage was like a highlight reel. However, luckily I found the full version of the ceremony play at about 11:00, seeing the whole thing definitely made the highlight reel make more sense. There were definitely positives and negatives to the ceremony and as a whole I think I would classify it as ‘good’.
After that I probably had my biggest accomplishment for the weekend – I went for a run! It was kind of weird since I haven’t done any real physical activity for a month, but I simply was itching to run. It was actually really nice just to get out release some tension. I then repeated this experience on Sunday. Unfortunately, I am a little sore now, but it was definitely worth it, and I am going to try harder to get back into my routine with that. During my runs, I made an addition discovery about my town, Hillerød. It is impossible to get lost. I even intentionally tried to turn myself around so that I would be forced to explore to find my way home, but I kept ending up in places that I recognized. I guess overall this isn’t a bad thing, but it makes tit a little less interesting to explore.
I did attempt to go out again on Saturday night, however everyone that contacted either had some other commitment or they were simply staying it. That is more that okay, but unfortunately it meant another night home by myself. In relation to that, I am definitely getting more comfortable being in my host house, however it is still a little weird, since part of me still definitely feels like a guest. I am sure this week home alone will probably aid in changing that.
With all this time to myself though, I was definitely able to be productive and I got all of my work completed for the start of the week. It was also beneficial because I was able to complete my work, so that the only thing I had to do on Sunday was finish a paper for my Business class. I will briefly mention that this paper freaked me out – between being my first paper, a tight word limit, too much information to include, etc. – however I am sure I will think nothing of it in a couple of days.
Another great thing about having a lot of free time this weekend meant that I some time to catch up with some friends and loved ones from home via Skype. First, I was able to talk to my mom for an hour both on Saturday and Sunday. Second, I finally got a chance to talk to Stacey and Natalie for a little bit on Saturday before they had to head of to a play and SafeRides. Lastly and probably most important to me, I was able to talk to Tory for almost two hours on Sunday – I guess if we cannot be together on Valentines Day, we can at least talk or a long time.
All and all, the weekend had some positive and negatives too it, and I definitely enjoy the feeling that I am very prepared for this week, which will make it even more relaxing than it already is. I am home alone; one of my classes got cancelled for the entirety of the week; no field study on Wednesday, which means a free day in the middle of the week; and they only major thing I have due is a paper at 8:30am on Monday, so that will be over with very quickly. It will be nice to relax this week since I have a couple of assignments due next week, and then believe it or not, I go to London in 2 weeks from today!
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