Denmark Has My Heart

~I HEART COPENHAGEN~

Dearest Family and Friends in America-

   I am writing you from Denmark one last time. I leave in less than 5 hours for the airport to fly home to the USA. The past week with the Parents visiting has been wonderful-I will post a blog later with stories and pictures. I also had my pseudo-graduation ceremony which was by far must better than anything Uconn could have done! There were only a handful of us at the closing ceremony that were recognized and given a rose and a Danish gift. It was a graduation to remember, how many Americans can say they've graduated in Copenhagen?! I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

As expected, I am having mixed feelings about leaving- I can't wait to get home to see all of you, but it is tearing my heart up to leave. I have been tearing up on and off for the past three days, trying very hard to hide it from my family to not upset them ( of course you will be reading it shortly!) I must now say a quick goodbye...

To My Danish Family-

   Without you, Denmark would not have become my second home. I would not have enjoyed my time here half as much. You,and You alone, made my time here in Denmark the best experience of my life. I was a stranger and you welcomed me into your home as if I was a part of the family, and I now feel like I am family. You all- Lone, Andre, Fredie and Little Nicoline will have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. I will be craving Meatballs and Curry and Andre's Famous Omelette every single day, and hopefully I can at least manage to make myself some Danish Pancakes. Lone, you have become my second mother. I will never forget how caring you have been- to call me a cab at 3AM to make sure I got home after a night of drinking, and going out at 11PM just to take me to the doctors. Andre, I will never forget your sense of humor- from talking about poop, farts and even vaginas at the dinner table to forcing Miki to try out Nicoline's mattress in the kitchen! I will also miss the high-tech coffee machine! Fredie(Roxy), You are by far the coolest 11-year old I have ever met, you act as if you are my own age...and you could pass because you are just as tall! Great call on the Experimentarium, It is SO FUN! Keep on finger painting and if you need refills on Reeses or Hershey's syrup just let me know. Oh, and don't ever forget how AMAZING your English is, keep up the good work! Little Nicoline, You may not remember me ever living in your house, but hopefully we will all keep in touch anyways! You have made me feel so proud over the fact that you now know the word SHEEP and at how you have mastered your Puzzle with 'Santa's Arc and his animals' :-) I will leave my window ajar just in case you ever want to stop in and ask for a Vinegummi. ( spelling??) I could go on forever and write a whole novel full of Thank You's and memories with you all, but that would take too long to read! So...Again, Thank you all so much- and of course tell the rest of the Pedersen Family thank you and I will miss them as well. Your whole family is so wonderful and it is the reason why I am having such a hard time leaving this wonderful country.It is always hard to say goodbye, But this is not goodbye...but SEE YOU SOON! I will be counting down the days until your visit to the USA. This time I can show you around my country! Also, I will be looking for you on Skype- hopefully I will see all your lovely faces over my computer screen very soon!

( I am now ending this letter in tears, but very happy tears because of all the wonderful memories I now have.)

MANGE TAK! VI SES!

All my Love,

Your crazy American Daughter, Vicki Jo. 

So, back to you Americans-

...as Andre would say, My danish vacation is now over...time to go back to the real world?? I find it so hard right now to even imagine that fact that tomorrow afternoon I will be sitting in my house in Bristol, Ct. But, I will be returning to many family and friends who I can't wait to see. I have graduations to celebrate and road trips to take. I have more ambition now to see some of my own country this time around! 

A quick word of advice for you all: Visit Denmark...it really is the happiest place in the world!

I came to Denmark for only four months, earned my college degree and a wonderful family- life could not be better!

This is your European-Expert saying goodbye for one last time.

Signing off at 00:30.

See you in The States!

-Vicki

Embarking on a week of EXAMS

Dearest Loved Ones-

I currently have one Final down and three to go. We had our Oral Final last week for PCD and my group got an A! (applause is welcomed) Tomorrow I have a written final for PCD, which I feel pretty o.k. about. Or..sorry to say this parents...but I hope five years of college has paid off a little bit and has at least taught me how to be an excellent bull-shitter. 

The past week was a lot of fun and full of sunshine.

 On Thursday we had our PCD reception. 

It was a nice little get-together with snacks and beverages 

provided by DIS for us students and our Practicum

supervisors. My professor and a few students gave speeches and played some music and we had all pitched in some Kroner to get our professor a Thank you/Congrats on the baby gift. I went shopping for it with my friend liz and we found the greatest wooden toy farm, with all the little animals and everything! I wish I had one for myself. :-) We drank the night away thanks to DIS providing us with alcohol, which is one thing I will greatly miss about school in Denmark.

This weekend was also Karnival! There was a huge festival in one

the many beautiful parks here in Copenhagen. It was awesome weather

and Lots of fun. Amazing music, sunshine, and I even got to play in 

the Hay- sounds strange, but it was fantastic!

Pictures on this blog include:

Me with friends at the PCD Reception, The Huge and beautiful park, and My friend Carrie and I at the park enjoying the sunshine. 

Anyways, I just wanted to check in- let you know I have ben enjoying my last days here in Copenhagen and now I am beginning to stress about finals. Please keep your fingers crossed for me- 

I really want to be a graduate! 

HELLOO PARENTS! You arrive in 2 days! I hope you are ready and I apologize for the fact that the weather forecast is not looking so great. You will get the true Denmark experience!

It is crazy to think I will be seeing you in person and not over a computer screen! I am looking forward to it. I have grown to be so comfortable here it's just weird to even think about getting on a plane and landing in The States and stepping foot into our house. Life is Strange.

The next time I talk to you all I will hopefully be done with my Finals and be much more relaxed- and hopefully a Graduate! 

See you all in America in Aprox. 10 Days!

Studying with my fingers crossed,

    Vicki

A trip to The Homeland

~Hobbit HomeLand~

Dearest Family, and friends I consider family-

It turns out Sweden looks like Hobbit land! Ha. The nature is just so beautiful and GREEN. To fill you in- This past Thursday and Friday, my friend Kevin and his host-family invited me along on a trip to Sweden. His host-parents own a flat there, in a town I can't remember the name of ( sorry ). Anyway, it's half way in between Copenhagen and Stockholm, near lakes and forests- where I love to be! I had a wonderful time and Kevin's host-parents are super nice and fed us way too much food! Also, Sweden is absolutely beautiful. I'm glad I got to see another part of it compared to Malmo (where i had been before) because that area is very industrialized- newer buildings and very touristy...so it was nice to see the country side and the woods. And hopefully I will see another side, the sea side, when I go back to Sweden with the parents to visit family! :-)

Also, turns out houses in Sweden, at least in the woods, are VERY cheap. So, I think I need to look into buying myself a nice little Summer Swedish Cottage one day. The picture below is the lake we hiked around the first day we got there. Supposedly it is called Heart Lake because it is shaped like a heart...Now you respond: "Awweee" :-)

We also went to a rock quarry where we could look out over the forest, it was so pretty.

It was a lovely opportunity to get in on a free trip to sweden, with wonderful company and a cozy home to stay in.  

Now...To fill you in on my position in school. I only have one more day of class, On Friday. Tomorrow I will be doing some reading, shopping for a gift for my professor, and going to see Explosions in the Sky later in the evening ( this is an AMAZING band, for those that don't know what i'm referring to, AKA- Mom and Dad). Then, on Thursday I have my first Final, an Oral Exam for my PCD class. It is a group final, there are 5 people in my group. We had to pick a general topic: ours is Theory Versus Practice, and we each have to give a 5-minute presentation on a theme within this topic and then we have 15 minutes to bring up discussion questions and have constructive conversation amongst ourselves and then we get a grade. Sort of nerve-racking, but I think we will do just fine. And after the exam we have a Reception that night for all of PCD, which I think will be a lot of fun. Then Friday is my last day of class... of college... everrrr, or atleast until Grad School. :-)  Then next week I have three finals and the parents are coming! Woooooo! It is so weird to have this all come to close so soon, my time here just flew by!

Ohhh. I had a story I wanted to tell you all, or a quick image to illustrate for you.

On my way to class this morning, the guy walking in front of me was wearing the following outfit: Nicely styled Spiked hair ( to look all messy, like he didn't try to look nice), tight n' bright t-shirt with a Navy-style jacket over(also tight fitting), converse sneakers and tight fitting jeans with a belt that said LONDON from behind pulled down just enough so that you could see that his cute little butt was wearing bright pink undies- Now folks, this is the essence of Danish style! :-)

Talk to you all soon, and see you as well! Yippeee!

 Vicki

A Day at the Beach

~PCD at the Beach~

It is SUMMER in COPENHAGEN!!!

So, I just had to let you all know how awesome the PCD program is here in Denmark, because last Monday for class our professor took us to the beach for the afternoon! Since we are all psychology and child development majors, we are the most fun- so we spent the afternoon playing in the sand and being taught new arabic games, like "SHABADEEEEE". Maybe one day i will teach you all, but it can be a slightly aggressive game in which minor injuries could occur. We also were able to sit around and discuss everything that we have learned while being here and things we want to take back. It was a nice little session, and I think we all agreed that America need some "Hygge" in it! I will be brining the essence of hygge back with me, so don't you all fret. By the end of the day my face was as red as a tomato - my skin hadn't seen such sun in so long!

Anyways, I think it was a nice little way to bring our program to an end. Tomorrow is our final PCD class and I am SUPER sad about it. It is amazing how fast the time has gone by her, and i will truly miss our little PCD crew. 

Oh, and I have finished typing up the 15 pages for my portfolio - and I wish I could write more!! There is just so many memories that I want to share and talk about, I may just have to continue it on my own. But, one less thing to stress about- now its an oral exam and three finals to start studying for!

Also, I will be posting about my trip to Sweden shortly- but I need to lay out in the sun first; get my daily dose of Vitamin D. :-)

Only 17 days till I am home! See you all super soon. 

Hej-hej.

Sunshine and happy,

   Vicki