Travels and Adventures- Austria!

I write this from the bitter cave of procrastination where I've been hiding for the past few months. I hope you still remember me, I know it's been a while. I can only guess my blog has the equivalent of internet spiderwebs and digital dust from lack of use. But its only fair to say I've been a bit busy in the fleeting months between the holidays and now.

The landscape has changed from the bleak never ending rain and wind to a spring paradise overnight.

I swear the Danish gods thought to themselves us Danish peasants had suffered enough and flipped the hidden switch that allowed all the flowers and blossoms to open up all at once. I have been basking in the sunlight and perfect days while my heart goes out to the never ending Winter nightmare in Wisconsin. From a recent skype call my mother has called it comparable to the never ending winter in the chronicles of Narnia only without a talking lion and the only lesson learned was to buy more long underwear in preparation for next year's hell.

I've been fortunate enough to do quite a bit of traveling in the last few weeks. I got to traverse the Austrian mountains by bus, drive down the Swedish seaside, and navigate the never ending underground Tube in London. All within a two week span of each other.

I left for Vienna in the first days of April with my class. As a second year student at Tårnby Gymnasium,  I was fortunate enough to partake in the traditional class trip to an exotic location in Europe for a week. I envisioned myself amongst the snowy mountains recreating the Sound of music while simultaneously eating Weiner Schintzel in a dirndl. We arrived on a bright Monday morning to our hostel in Vienna. It was conviently located next to the neighborhood strip club complete with wonderfully graphic posters of human anatomy. Our first day was spent basking in the glow of the city on the first sunny day we had experienced in months. Our teachers brought us to the center of the city at 3 and just said we must make it back for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8. The freedom was exhilarating and so me and my friends made it our first priority to find the cheapest restaurant serving wiener Schintzel. The city of Vienna has wonderful cultural air to it and was brimming with history and museums. The main duration of our visit was spent underground the city trying to navigate the expansive metro system. Even during the late hours of the night, it was always brimming with people. The metro car itself looked like a McDonald's time machine with extremely bright yellow and red everywhere with an industrial feel. 

contemplating my existence and what I will have for dinner

Perhaps the culmination of the trip was our journey to the ice caves. Early Wednesday morning, we rented a bus and set off for a 4 hour bus ride into the deep mountains of Austria. As hours passed and we traveled deeper into the mountains our excitement grew as we envisioned ourselves exploring the deep caves of the mountains and traversing the ice like explorers. All 25 of us were easily getting antsy until we entered the town which would be our final destination. We soaked the town and surrounding landscape in as the bus drove closer towards the entrance of the ice cave. Our excitement was easily brewing. It was my friend Olivia that spotted the sign. Outside the entrance was a modest little notice with the following written "Ice Caves closed today". So that was fun.

The trip back was spent in silence and the bitter reality of disappointment. But while I wasn't able to explore the caves, the bus ride itself was worth the trip with incredible views and the opportunity to see a more humbler side of Austria in the tiny villages that lay in the rare flat valleys of the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful bus rides I've been on and I know I'll be back one day with my dirndl and yodeling skills ready to conquer the Austrian countryside again. 

The Holidays

Any exchange student can tell you the holidays are difficult. Being away from family for the first time and thrown into another's in a foreign country can spur bouts of homesickness. Knowing this, I prepared myself for battle and the emotional turbulance the holidays bring.

Typography made by my friend Olivia

The Danes have a special word with no English equal called "Hygge". It is a word used to describe feelings of coziness and comfort and is often used as a special weapon to combat the dreary state of Danish Winters. "Hygge" is the roaring fire on a cold winters day and the warm cup of tea with friends. In my case, it was the my blanket and 5 straight seasons of Rupaul's Drag Race during winter break. This miraculous drag queen competition also helped build my repertoire of drag vocabulary and has led to me trying to slip "gurl" and "werk" into as many conversations as possible. 

The Danes have mastered the hygge method and Christmas is a warm, joyful, occasion that lasts for the whole month of December and ending with the literal bang of fireworks on New Years Eve.

My host family helped build up to Christmas (Jul in Danish) through a wide array of seasonal traditions. Starting the on the first of December everyone across Denmark began the Advent calender for the countdown to Christmas. My family bought me chocolate calender that only lasted til the 12th and every night we plopped down on the couch with a cup of tea and watched the yearly "Julekalender" which is a traditional Danish tv program that is usually geared toward children and involves something along the lines of saving Christmas. This years involved Santa a light house, a transparent villain, and twins. 

Perhaps my most favorite aspect of the season was the food. In the midst of December evenings, we dined on Æbleskiver and Gløgg. Æbleskiver are basically little balls of dough and magic that are cooked on a special pan over the stove and served with powdered sugar and jam. Gløgg is a special alcoholic drink that is made of mulled wine and spices. Call me an American prude, but I still prefer my mother's nonalcoholic version. 

Juletræ

The warmth and magic of hygge bind the country together until the momentous 24th of December where the main festivities happen. I had purchased and wrapped all my presents hastily in newspaper and leftover ribbon in a true penniless exchange student fashion. We gathered in the car and headed over to my host parents' grandparents house. At around 6, we unbuckled our belts in preparation for the Christmas feast ahead of us. We dined on flæskesteg (pork with the crispy fat still attached), white potatoes, carmelized potatoes, red cabbage, and risalamande (rice porride) with a traditional cherry sauce on top. The risalamande is the food of my dreams. It tastes like everything good and holy left in the world smothered in the sweet decadence of the warm cherry sauce. The tradition with this dessert is to hide an almond within the bounds of the large porridge substance and whoever finds it in their bowl, wins a special prize and envy from all the other family members. Though I was not lucky enough to find it this year, I plan to bring an extra almond next time around.

After dinner we let our bellies hang in shame and danced around the Christmas tree. And by dance I mean slowly walk around and try to remember the words to the Danish Christmas carols. Next, we settled ourselves down into the main event of the evening- the gift giving. Surrounded by marzipan goodies and overflowing bags of gifts, each of the teenagers took turns in distributing gifts one at time to each person. It was a wonderful evening that truly embodied the essence of "hygge". I also came home with a fresh pair of seal gloves from Greenland, Danish cookbooks, and giftcards galore! 

The gracious gods of the Danish school system awarded us with about 3 weeks of Christmas break so after Christmas, I went into default mode. I devoured both the Christmas leftovers and Netflix offerings. Between Christmas and New Years, we traversed to family members houses for julefrokost (Christmas lunch consisting of the many open faced sandwich variations and fish) and social gatherings. I even defeated my innermost demons and ate pickled herring. I tried three variations of the fish just to find one that would hopefully taste better than the last while trying not to gag on the tiny comb like fish bones going down my throat. I concluded I could only stomach it when it was smothered in some kind of curry or sauce to stifle its original flavor.

Then, the day before New Years Eve, my host family sat me down and prepared me for the series of events that we transpire the next day.

Apparently Americans have been doing New Years Eve wrong for a while. In Denmark, the arrival of the new year is treated in a celebratory manner where everyone across the land dresses in their evening best and hosts parties that could rival those of Jay Gatsby. 

New Years Countdown with the family

At promptly 6 in the evening, we all gathered around in the television in our best clothing and watched Queen Margrethe II's annual New Year's speech. It was a splendid one with the usual grace and poise expected from a monarch. After that, we dined on a fabulous 5 course meal at home that consisted of shrimp tail, seasoned reindeer, culinary mashed potatoes, and for dessert: homemade meringues with ice cream and berries followed by chocolate covered marzipan cookies and champagne that were to be devoured when the clock struck 12. At midnight and within seconds of the new year, we rushed outside to see the sky blazened with fireworks. Nearly everyone in Denmark lit off their own fireworks and as a result the sky was lit up bright lights and spirals of smoke as far as the eye could see. Even the Swedes across the bay were going nuts. It was truly an experience that far surpassed any expectations I had of fireworks from America's own Fourth of July. Seriously, America, get it together.

And thus the holidays were concluded.

From then on, I spent the remainder of my vacation enlightening myself with various cultural outings, fervently studied the Danish Language hours on end, and overall improving myself as a person at the start of the new year. 

Ha. Just kidding. I spent the majority of my time watching 5 seasons of Rupaul's Drag Race and aquiring a vast new knowledge of drag queen culture. And I even went outside a few times. Mom would be so proud.