21 !

Hello. I haven't written in a while and I guess I should do a massive life update.

May has been a really amazing month so far. First of all... I am DONE with school! Woohoo! HELLO SUMMER!

No more class, essays, or exams to deal with. The last exam was for my Health in Emergencies and Refugee Health class. It was an intense 4 hour typed exam. That's right, typed. I've never had a typed exam before, but I actually quite like it. The exam room was set up with rows and rows of computers. It's a lot less painful than writing for 4 hours, and I can type a lot faster than I write. There were 11 short essay questions. I ended up with about 6 pages. The max was 8, I believe.

 Every day, I bike to class. It takes about 10 minutes. This is where I park my bike outside of my campus... along with the 100923480 other student bikes.

 Then I walk down some brightly colored hallways with automatic doors. This whole building use to be an old hospital. Now it's been converted to be part of the university campus: the Center for Sundhed og Samfund (Health and Society).

 Some fellow classmates chatting it up after class : )

So anyway. There's a little taste of what school is like here on exchange. It worked out PERFECTLY that my last exam was on May 14th because my birthday was the day after!!!! It's been one of the best birthdays ever. I'm very lucky to be surrounded by good friends from all over the world and to have the birthday wishes from everyone back home as well. The day started with... 

 Surprise birthday pancakes!!!!!!!!!!!! (i.e. the BEST kind of pancakes)

 Followed by .. Surprise birthday berry cake!!!!!!!!

Birthday flowers!!!!!

It turns out that Daria also has the same birthday as me, so we decided to celebrate together and to throw one big party for all our friends. The theme? Crazy hats and mustaches. It was an AMAZING night. I didn't end up sleeping until the sun came out the next morning. The pictures are pretty ridiculous and hella funny.

Møns Klint

Yesterday we took a trip to Møns Klint (the cliffs of Møns). It's a beautiful park with white chalk cliffs all along the coast. We hiked in the forest, walked along the chalky beach, took silly pictures, had a picnic, and took in the fresh air. The water was tinted a beautiful shade of light blue from the chalk. I really suck at writing, so I'll just post the pictures.

Louisiana

Last month, I took a day trip with Tory to Louisiana (the museum of modern art). It's a bit outside of Copenhagen, but definitely worth the trip. Out of all the museums and art galleries I've been to... it's gotta be one of my favorites.

It had to do with the whole atmosphere and layout of the museum. It wasn't overwhelming with rooms upon endless rooms of art. It didn't have the arrogance of certain art galleries that really intimidate me. Instead, it was like the art, architecture, and landscape all worked together to create a nice refreshing and relaxed atmosphere by the quiet sea side.

 The museum was right beside a beautiful coastline. 

Part of the museum brings you outside to the sculpture park. I'm just really immature.

 It was all about the natural lighting.

I loved how certain pieces play with the architecture and landscape outside.
It really looks like you can just dive off into the ocean. 

The one one the left was one of my favorites. The one on the right was one of her favorites.

But nothing beats this installation piece.. it's amazing what lights, mirrors, and water can do. 

It's called "Gleaming Lights of the Souls". 

Package from Home

It's the end of the long weekend and the first Sunday of May. This is significant because the S-Trains are free on the first Sunday of every month. So in light of the good weather, we headed to a beach outside of Copenhagen.

 We all tried to be good students and brought along our textbooks for school. However, the textbooks inevitably became comfortable pillows as we lay down and just enjoyed the sound of the waves and breaks of sunshine between the clouds.

We got home and I was just sitting with my laptop in bed when my room mate handed me a PACKAGE from HOME!! I was so excited because I love getting things in the mail. Check this out:

Sweet words from my sweet housemates... the letters, cards, and notes really made me smile.

Chocolate eggs for a belated Easter! 

 and best of all... TEA from TIMMIES!! I've missed eating at Tim Hortons and my daily double double and toasted multigrain bagel with light cream cheese. It really reminded me of home.

I've officially lived in Copenhagen for 4 months. I'm really loving my time here. However, I know in my mind that all of this is temporary. I've made a whole new life for myself... new lifestyle, address, friends, school, bank account and everything. It's hard knowing that in 2 months or so, I'm going to have to leave this all behind. I'm always torn between Copenhagen and Canada. Copenhagen is so exciting because everything is so new and different and I'm constantly comparing things to Canada. 

I've really missed the people back home and I often wonder if life will be really different when I go home. So, this package from my room mates in Canada really meant a lot to me. It was so thoughtful and made me smile from ear to ear.