Leaving on a Jet Plane

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again, oh babe I hate to go..."

I have not stopped humming the Peter, Paul, and Mary tune today. This song reminds me of my six summers at sleepaway camp - it always brings up sad emotions of leaving friends and moving on from an amazing experience. It is fitting then that this song has been running through my mind all day. I woke up, finished packing and stuffing everything into nooks and crannies of my bags today and just had dinner at Kaffesalonen with my friend Katie. Taking the 5A bus back from dinner for the very last time until I don't know when really made me sad that I'm leaving. I don't think I truly processed it until just now. I walked into my empty room, bags everywhere, bare walls, memories running rampant through my mind.

I know I'm behind on writing posts but I was busy "studying" for my finals and trying to soak up the last few ounces of Copenhagen that I missed. I still have things on my to-do list, but as my mom always says, I have to leave something to do for next time. I returned my dongle, the internet connector booster, and of course the wifi has been shitty so I just want to get this last post in before I actually leave (and before the wifi drops on me again).

Tomorrow a cab is coming at 9:15 to take me and a friend from my dorm to the airport. One bag weighs in at 64.4 pounds, another at 68.6, and my carry on is 21 pounds. I'm scared to weigh my backpack - it's where everything that couldn't fit in any of those other 3 bags found a home. I still want to buy gummies and snacks in duty free - I wonder if I can grow two more hands before tomorrow...

A brief reflection on the semester. Well first things, I'm a little disappointed in myself. I usually write in my journal major things that have happened (cheesy) and I was expecting to write about everything new and exciting in Copenhagen. I even bought a new moleskin journal. I only wrote in it like 5 times, if even that much, and I thought that I would blog more. I guess I just realized I forgot so much that has happened already and I can't imagine how quickly my memories will fade without even realizing it. Anyway enough self-deprecation. This semester has truly worked wonders for me. I was able to exercise my navigation skills in a metropolitan European city, I made some truly life-lasting friendships, I explored new cultures, I travelled all over Europe and even hopped over to the Middle East, I developed opinions on human rights issues (I wrote a paper on child marriages in Yemen), fashion (I started reading fashion blogs and appreciating the Scandinavian styles), and universal health care (I compared Germany, Poland, and Copenhagen's health care systems in a paper for my core course). I regained my independence, and I am coming back a more cultured, humbled girl.

Katie asked me at dinner if I could study abroad for another semester where would I want to go. I said Australia, because Sydney is originally where I wanted to study but got anxious about the distance from home and wound up choosing something a little closer (Cope).  But honestly, Copenhagen is a truly amazing and complex city that I can't imagine myself studying anywhere. Before I came here, I had no clue where Denmark was on the world map, or even what Danish sounded like. It was such a random choice for me, but the DIS program had so much to offer that I simply couldn't resist.

It's weird to know that by this time tomorrow I will be in New York, in my house, with my parents, with English, dollars, pizza places and starbucks and duane reades on every corner, and constant wifi/3G. It will be difficult for me to adjust to living at home again, and it will be even stranger that I won't be able to legally drink until after I graduate college (baby genius, remember?). I think the strangest thing of all will be not hearing Danish every other turn and seeing people wearing sweatpants in the streets of NYC. The loudness and filthiness of New York City are something that I have always grown up with, but I have been spoiled in that Copenhagen is not only clean, but the buildings are low, there is limited pollution, rarely homeless people, and everyone actually cares what they look like when they walk out the door (read: a lot of black because that's the easiest). Summer in the city is always fun and hot and sticky and I'm ready to get my tan on because Cope has been anything but warm and sunny. (except now the sun doesn't set until like 10:30 and it rises well before 5)

I guess I'm rambling now but these are just all my thoughts culminating into one final post while still physically in Copenhagen. I do still need to write about my weekend in Paris and about my cooking class that I took all semester, but that can wait until I'm sure of my internet connection.

I think I've gone on for too long now. Too scared to upload any pics for fear of dropping the internet. so this is the final goodbye. Thanks to everyone for reading my blog and putting up with the ramblings about my European adventures.

Hej hej Copenhagen,
Vi ses!