DAY 8, SATURDAY, JANUARY 19th
Today started as a relatively lazy day- I got up a little after nine and had a nice, delicious bowl of corn flakes. The cornflakes were especially delicious today, not sure if it's because they're always delicious and I didn't know or if it was a nice break from all the bread we eat here. I had some loose plans from the day before to meet up with people and head into the city for the day but those kind of fell through. I ended up heading out around 1:30 to a small city/town nearby called Lyngby; it's about a 20 minute bus ride away. I just walked around with a friend who lives in a homestay in that area and we explored the area. There was really cute main street with shops and food but also a huge mall and movie theater. It's also in the middle of suburbs/open space so we also walked on the edge of town along a small path. It was nice to walk around, get some fresh air, and talk!
After a few hours we headed home for dinner. My host sister, Amalie, came home for dinner tonight for the first time! She is 23 and studying at the Copenhagen Business School so she lives in the city full time but she was able to come home for a few days before her next exam. After a dinner of tomato pie and meat loaf we watched another world cup handball game- this time it was Denmark vs. Hungary which Denmark pulled out the win yet again.
DAY 9, SUNDAY, JANUARY 20th
Today we all ate breakfast together- just the typical bread, cheese, etc. and soft-boiled eggs- at about 9 AM. At 11 AM I had the homestay network jumpstart event. Basically DIS plans this event where all students in the same homestay network (people in homestays in the same general area) get together at the beginning of the semester with their host families. My host mom Helle and I went together. We had coffee, tea, cakes, and candy and then we just chatted, introduced ourselves and sang "Take Me Home, Country Roads" which was kind of random. It was nice to chat with some other students in the area and for all the students and hosts to get to know each other a bit.
After the jumpstart event Helle wanted to take me to a "Deer Park" nearby that they walk, run, and bike in relatively often. We went on about a 2.5 mile walk throughout the park. Jægersborg Deer Park or Dyrehaven, which literally means "the deer park", is a natural resort filled with forests, small lakes and wide, open landscapes. The biggest attraction is the large amount of wild deer living in the park. More than 2000 deer are living freely within the park and can be seen all over the park; we saw a couple large packs while we were walking and also saw a species of deer in the park I haven't seen before- they're extremely LARGE- the size of a small horse almost. In the 17th century, King Christian V organized the park for parforce hunting, which involves riders on horseback hunting down deer with dogs. The King's hunting lodge, the Hermitage, is right in the middle of the park so that ended up being our halfway point on our walk. It was pretty chilly out but it was nice to get outside and get moving.
(see picture of me in front of the Hermitage and a picture of a huge group of deer below)
Once we got home from our walk it was pretty much a lazy Sunday. I did some readings and homework and just relaxed. My host parents weren't home for dinner so my 3 host siblings and I got some pizza from somewhere local that was pretty good! I have to admit I'm pretty excited about the leftovers I can eat for lunch tomorrow- sometimes ya girl likes an alternative to sandwiches every day.
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