I’m aware that I’ve been severely
slacking on keeping up with writing this travel blog.
So much so that you could barely call it a blog. If you want to know about everything I've been up to, hear some stories, and see some pictures, just ask me and I promise I'll show you in person when we get a chance. I’ve been really busy these past 4 months,
but a good kind of busy – not just with stressful school stuff, but also
experiencing Danish culture, making great new friends, falling in love (yes, I’m
being serious), and traveling around Europe, among other things. When you’re trying to just live life and make
the most of your short time in a new and exciting place, it doesn’t make sense
to spend much time documenting what you are doing instead of just doing
it. That’s what I’ve been doing, and I
regret nothing. Nevertheless, I still
feel like it’d be weird to leave Denmark without writing a concluding post for
the blog.
As I write
now I’m sitting outside on the porch of my homestay house in Jonstrup, the
suburb of Copenhagen where I have lived these past 4 months. My wonderful hosts, Jan and Inga, have just
left for their country house for the weekend; our goodbye was pretty emotional,
maybe more so for me than for them.
Jan’s daughter Mia is coming to pick me up and drive me to the airport
in an hour – I’m heading to Amsterdam now for a few days, then Belgium for a
week, then, finally, back to the United States!
And what I feel now is a strange, dual longing – both to stay in Denmark
with all of the people I have known and loved here (which is impossible), and
to return home to see my friends and family.
But I will do my best to enjoy these next 2 weeks of travel, because I
do love seeing new places and I won’t be back in Europe for at least a year or
two.
It still
hasn’t quite hit me that my semester abroad in Copenhagen is over forever. The thought makes we want to curl up in the
fetal position and hibernate for a year.
And it’s weird because even though it’s over and my departure is
imminent, I’m still here, sitting in the house that has truly become my home
during the past 4 months. As sad and
eerie as this all is, I feel assured knowiing that this semester has left me
with lasting memories and relationships.
And as attached as I’ve grown to Denmark and to my life here – my host
family, my amazing friends here, my positive psych class, Samantha, the city of
Copenhagen, Danish food and hygge – I know that this is a part of my life that
I will be able to remember and cherish forever.
I will be back in Denmark before I know it, and will get to see the
people I care about and do the things I wanted to but didn’t have a chance to
do, like Distortion and Roskildefest and Bornholm and the Gliptotek.
It is
always hard to say goodbye. Particularly
when you love a place so much. The past
4 months have probably been the best of my life. I expected to enjoy this semester, but I
could never have expected it to be this good.
Every day has been an exciting adventure, and I am leaving Denmark with
a profound new optimism and excitement for life. And besides, I know that I’ll see the people
that really matter to me again, and will be back here sometime not too far in
the future. So really, this isn’t “hej
hej” for Denmark. It’s more like “Vi
Ses!” And it’s comforting to know that I
have my amazing and supporting family and friends waiting for me back home, as
well as new adventures coming up in the near future. So as I prepare to leave this part of my life
behind, I will just follow Jan’s famous and wise words of advice: “Don’t worry,
be happy.”
Shaykis out.
