Sweet November

November is here. The holiday is over. Halloween is gone. School started again. Time seems to pass faster. Mara said she feels that the days pass really slow, maybe this is because she went home and now she only thinks about going back. In December she will finish her Erasmus semester and she will not be coming back again for spring. I will miss her and I really hope somebody nice will come in her place. I will have her room starting January, so I will have to give up my little sanctuary and build another one. But it isn't going to be as difficult as it was with this one, because I already now the house and my things are pretty much in order. Even if I don't have a very social, active life here I like the silence and peace I get every time I look out the window in the morning. We have bicycles, sauna and a really nice running place - a lot of little relaxation spots. I guess this is what I will miss most about Aarhus...the ability to clear my mind everyday by doing pleasant things.

November didn't start as bad as the period of the year announces it. It isn't very cold - or at least it isn't raining anymore. The rain stopped these days and the winter cold stepped in. This morning when I woke up everything was white. It wasn't snow, because from what I heard it doesn't really snow here...it was frost...winter frost. The grass is still green so the feeling of life still exists. If this is how winter will be here it will be even more difficult to leave it behind and turn it into a memory.

I'm happy because this week I didn't really have school. I had a free Wednesday, Thursday and Friday...which means a long weekend. Still I had to make my essay for Hagen (International History)...but it wasn't such a pain. I hope this is how the second half of the semester will be. I'm thinking about going home but this thought always makes me look with fear at the exam period :D. I found out that my last exam will be on my last day before winter holiday. In one way I am glad I will really forget about all these things once I get on the plane but on the other hand I will not have time to enjoy my last winter days in Aarhus.

I personalized my room a bit to give it a warmer feeling. I built a little picture out of postcards. My own masterpiece.

Goodbye and Hello

My first week back in the system after the wonderful Scandinavian adventure. It wasn't one of my best weeks, but I learned some good lessons about life. Going back to school was a bit weird because I didn't miss it so much...it was great last week because I didn't have any worries and now I had to get back on track and start reading and worst of all...thinking. On the emotional side I felt some ups and downs...changes and losses which will maybe contribute in time to my process of getting wiser.

On Wednesday, October 22nd, I found out that my grand grand mother passed away. It was a tragic loss for my soul. I knew this was going to happen while I would be away but I didn't want it to happen. The night she passed away I had a dream of her and when I woke up I felt that I was going to get the sad news sooner or later. I had a dream that I was little...just like in the old days when I used to spend my holidays at the country side. I pictured her in my dream as I remember her back from those days. She was feeling good and she had the same strong figure she had during her whole life. She was 94 and was begging for God to take her away for a few years now. I am glad in a away her suffering stopped, but I am sad because I feel like apart of me died together with her. I resemble to her physically a lot. I have her noes...which till now I hated and wanted to change through plastic surgery :)....through her loss I understood my roots and my faith...my feelings changed completely and I feel that this is what still bounds me to her. The saddest is that in the past years, when she was no longer as connected with the real world as she used to be, she always recognised me and was happy when I went to visit. She called me .. “my little girl”...hugged me and kissed me. Maybe the dream I had just the night she passed away was her goodbye to me. I wasn't shocked to find out about her death but I was extremely sad...Though I don't believe in God and Heaven and Hell, I believe in that everybody has a soul which travels around us and goes into the people surrounding us in some amount at some moment in life. I hope that her soul found its right place and that she will keep guarding me as I will always have her in my memory as a never lasting figure of a strong woman.

The same day I found out that my friend, Ileana, has given birth on the 18th of October to a beautiful baby boy. This compensated my sad feelings and made me melt into a confusing rollercoster of emotional joy and sadness.

That evening we went to sauna, our new twice a week habit, and relaxed and had my thoughts and feelings straighted up. I guess there is no need for being sad when you realize that the natural cycle of life goes around just in front your eyes.I should be happy I met such a great person and I had the honor of having her as my grand grand mother. Not many people get to see their roots in their life, live with them, have memories and share a part of their soul not just out of respect but out of real parental love.

The next day I couldn't go to school, it was the day of her funeral. Not being there is difficult for me but I managed to relief my stress by doing what I always do in these tight circumstances...clean. I cleaned my room to the extreme..I washed my windows, vacuumed and cleaned the floor just as I was imagining the burial process, the priest and her coffin going deep into the ground. I can't wait to get home and go there...light a candle and sit in her little cottage...the cottage I used to stay in when I was little and watch from the window during winter people passing on the street and waiting for my grandmother to come home and bring me something sweet. I can't wait to feel the smell of that house again and remember the little kittens which I was allowed to bring in whenever I wanted. I learned something interesting in school today about pictures that are amazing once you understand their ability of getting one particular moment in time and make it unforgeable and representative for you whole life, but also the life of the ones that come after you as a legacy of time. My picture legacy from my grand grand mother is her wedding picture and a picture of me and her from when I was little, just like in my dream.

Today...my worries are away. At the begging I wanted to keep the traditional black clothing and other death rituals we have at home, but than I decided not to because this would probably get me depressed. Today I had a little party with the girls. We made pancakes, drank wine and watched a movie, August Rush. The movie was great, I haven't seen it before, but it's very girlish and emotional. It is like a farytale you would like to have in your life but know that will never happen. I also managed to throw the pancake in air and catch it back with the pan :)...I'm proud of myself because it succeed from my first try. It was a jolly way to end a tragic week. Staying with the girls more and watching their behaviour and reactions I realised that people are the same no matter where you go in this world. Being from the same country and having common roots makes people become closer even if they don't share the same ideas and beliefs. Everybody misses and becomes proud of their place of birth and their country when they are way and try to share and explain the others their feelings. It's something that you can't understand unless you live it or see it in front of your eyes. When you miss home you find it through pictures, smells and feelings which you think you cannot find anywhere else in the world...maybe because you become blinded by your stuborn wish to show the world that you are different and you don't belong in the great, general mixture and natural understanding that we are all humans and we act and react the same no matter where we were born. All these civilisation clashes are difficult to sattle and stop because they go beyond human understading and pride. Tomorrow it's general cleaning day...

7 days 5 cities 3 countries

When: 11th October - 18th October

Where: Denmark (Odense)– Sweden (Malmo, Stockholm, Uppsala) – Norway (Oslo)

Who: me (Romania), Marketa, Kamila, Alice (Czech Republic), Lina (Spain)

How: Train (intrerail ticket) – 160 Euro

Extra costs: 50 Euro

Last week it was potato week, this meant one week of holiday for all the students in Denmark at least. Potato week is a very old tradition – kids used to get holiday from school this week in order to go help their parents harvest the land and pick up potatoes before winter. We took advantage of this great opportunity and decided to take a trip around the Scandinavian countries. We made the decision a few days before leaving so we couldn't find housing before. We just hoped we will find something there...but it turned out everything was full.

We left on Saturday the 11th of October in the morning for Malmo (Sweden) from where we planed to take the train to Oslo during the night. The trip to Malmo was really nice, but when we got there we found out that we just missed the last train in that day to Oslo, so we decided to stay and sleep in Malmo.

We went searching for a place to sleep while sightseeing, but nothing. In the end we decided to find a club or a bar or a place where we could stay during the night because it was getting really cold...but nothing (they all close around 2 at night). We found a hostel but nobody was there and Marketa was really tired and she decided to stay in the hall way of the apartment building where the hostel was and wait for us while we went out searching for another option. The plan was to go back and get her after a while if we found something or not. Of course as I said we didn't find anything but when we went back she wasn't there anymore. All types of scenarios started going through our head and being tired didn't help us think at all. Her phone wasn't working and our backs hurt really bad from the backpacks so we got confused. After some hours of walking around trying to find her she called me for an unknown number. We decided to meet her somewhere so two of the girls went after her while me and Kamile stayed with the backpacks. But they didn't manage to meet. So we went to McDonald's and ate some warm unhealthy food and than went to the train station which was out last hope of sleeping somewhere inside during the night. Fortunately she was there as she knew that this was our initial plan.

Everything turned out ok but than the train station guards told us the train station closes at midnight and we can't stay there and sleep. The confusion was back. We had no idea what to do....until one of the guards suggested us that the airport in Copenhagen is open all night long. It wasn't past midnight so there were still trains going to the airport and our one day ticket trip wasn't canceled. We got our stuff really fast and got on the train back to Copenhagen That's how we managed to be in two countries in the same day – visit one and sleep in the other. Things started getting better and we relaxed. The airport wasn't closed of course and we found a nice place where we put our sleeping bags and went to sleep. There were two columns and on one of them a group of 5 boys were sleeping so we felt good that we aren't the only weird ones. The morning was a bit strange because we woke up in the airport riot and lots of people with suitcases were getting ready for their own trips. The feeling of waking up and seeing people leaving and staring at you in the morning was strange. It was good that here the chances of somebody stealing your stuff are very low so we didn't have to take turns and managed to sleep very well on the Copenhagen airport's floor. All in all the first day was rough but beautiful. We knew that this was going to be awe faith on this trip and we decided to go further and not return home. So we woke up and got on the train back to Malmo and than to Stockholm. We wanted to change our route and go to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris but we decided not two and follow the first plan..or at least what was left of it...the cities. Malmo is a really nice city - not very big but big enough to get lost in it :)

The next day the unexpected became the expected and nothing could scare us now. The train from Malmo to Stockholm was really long. But we got to see a beautiful sun rise on the Swedish fields. The sun was extremely big that morning and coloured the clouds in all sort of colours  The clouds were high and low attitude and this made us feel like floating with the train between them. I got to see to muses on the window train. It was funny because at the begging I thought they were cows...really big horse like cows and just as they entered the forest I realized they were muses. Stockholm was waiting for us.

We got there in the afternoon and after eating some more toast bread with apples and carrots in the train station (which became like home) we went out to visit the beautiful Venice of the North. The name suits the city perfectly as it is full of rivers and lakes....divided into little islands and filled with bridges that take you further into the heart of the Scandinavian culture. It was really amazing. The old buildings are monuments and statements of history and culture. We couldn't stop staring and we were like little children discovering how new toys work.

We knew that we will not find a place to sleep so in the night we headed towards the Stockholm airport. Everything was dark now and the wonder of the city turned into a cold creepy place to stay. The train took us to the airport in 20 minutes but when we got there confusing and fear started kicking back. The airport is huge and at that hour it was almost empty. We couldn't find the resting area so we wondered around it. In the end after going through some neon coloured corridor, where they had tropical forests sounds for relaxation we got to the resting area. We weren't alone this time as lots of people were crawled on the airport benches trying to get some sleep. The airport is just as beautiful as the city. There was a high glass window through which you could see outside directly to the landing lane. There were so many planes outside that night waiting for their passengers. We couldn't find a place to sleep together so we had to split and sleep on different benches I don't know if it was because I was extremely tired but I had a great night sleep there. Morning came really fast and the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a plane taking of from the lane. It was absolutely beautiful. We got our things together and met in the airport bathroom where we washed our faces and cleaned our teeth ready for another day of adventure.

The next target was Uppsala, but we decided to take a train the the evening and so we visited a bit of Stockholm again. It was Monday and all museums and closed on Monday So we went to the Royal Palace to see the guard shift and that had a walk to Vasa.

Vasa is a ship for the 17th century which sank just moments after it left the port. 333 years later they managed to take it up from the bottom of the North Sea. The surprise was that the ship was intact...in perfect condition and now they turned it into a state of art.

Even if we slept better that night we were still tired and decided to leave Stockholm for Uppsala where a warm bed and shower were waiting for us. We got there in the evening by train. A friend of Marketa's was leaving there (Erasmus student also) and she found a place for us to stay. The feeling was great. We went out to get a glimpse of the city and take some photos because the next day we had to leave for Oslo.

We ended the night in a great way with spaghetti (I burned my hand a bit while making them but the feeling of eating something else than toast apples and carrots was great).

We slept really well in a warm room and watched a bit of TV.

The next morning we woke up early and went to see the rest of the city before getting on the train to Göteborg and Oslo.

We got to Oslo in the afternoon after 7 hours of going by train. We thought that we would be relaxed after the train but we were just as tiered as waking with our backpacks.

Oslo was very different from Stockholm and the other cities in Sweden. It was something new, glass and steal buildings. There was a lack of the Scandinavian feeling which we got in Sweden The city was very big and a bit more complicated. It wasn't so great for sightseeing. Except the Vigelandsparken (sculpture park). The sculptures looked great. It was raining and dark when we got there so there was some sort of a special feeling.

Though we really wanted to find a place to sleep here we ended up in the airport again. Oslo airport was the next stop for that night...the last airport we were to see and sleep in before going home. Just like the city the airport was huge and new. It wasn't as good as the others because it was extremely crowded and it didn't have a sleeping area. Worse they were rebuilding a part of it and they were working during the night so we didn't sleep so well...at all. But the thought of going home the nest day was great and helped us get through the night. The next morning we went to the Royal Palace and to the Sculpture Park again.

The city is very expensive and filled with modern, luxury shops. On the other hand you could see homeless people and garbage on the street, a thing not common in the other places. I didn't really like it but this is maybe because Stockholm was so great.

We took the train back to Denmark the next day. I decided not to go directly home (Aarhus) but to visit Odense too. Especially since Vento was there and I knew I have a place to sleep inside at least. When I got to Copenhagen to switch trains for Odense I had a weird feeling of being home. I was so happy and really relaxed as if I knew that now everything is ok because I know what to expect and what I will get. The girls went to Aarhus as they were really tired and wanted to get to a warm bed and shower. The weather changed just when I arrived there and it was raining most of the time. That's why we mostly stayed in the room and the dorm...watching movies and doing nothing..a thing I was lusting for...doing nothing. It was really nice as I got to speak Romanian to somebody face to face for the first time in one month and a half. I also met other Romanians...it was fun and relaxing. I could stay more but decided to return home...I didn't know what day we are in as time passed to fast forward for me these days.

On Friday night I got back to Aarhus. I was so tiered that i got lost in my own city. i went 2 hours around the center and couldn't figure the way out of the mase. With help from people on the street I managed to find the way to the University and than went donwhill to the bus station. I got home pretty late and Marketa was sleeping. Mara wasn't home yet as she was to return from Latvia the next morning. The first thing I did was eat and take a shower. I went to bed and woke up late as my body was in stand by.:)

The trip was more than great and a true adventure for all of us. We survived and this gives you a great feeling. I hope we will find jobs and do it again in November...a weekend in Amsterdam is our next goal.