Last update before Scotland!

We leave for Scotland in 4 days!!!! Yay!!! I'm so looking forward to spending time with Klaus by ourselves with no work, or school, or anything else to get in the way. I know he's ready for it too, he's been working a LOT the past couple weeks and deserves a break! :) I've got everything taken care of that I can so far, we'll do the last loads of laundry this weekend and then we'll be able to pack the bag (Klaus has one of those GIANT backpacks that we're planning on taking- I'll carry the camera bag... lol!)

Things around here for me have been a little on the boring side actually, without my classes anymore I have turned VERY domestic... which is totally bizarre! I've been doing a lot of cooking and cleaning and grocery shopping and organizing the apartment while Klaus is at work. But I also FINALLY joined a gym here which has helped immensely! :) So I actually get out of the apartment and do some physical activity too which has really been the only thing keeping me sane...

This boring stuff will hopefully change soon though because 1) Klaus will be around more once his project at work is finished- which should be soon after our vacation and 2) after Scotland I plan to really start working on the wedding stuff! So I'll have something to focus on and plan for, yay! and 3)I'm planning to start up some informal danish lessons at the red cross once we get back as well so hopefully I'll be able to practice what I learned in class and build on it too.

Here are a few more pictures from my random walks around the area just to give you guys a glimps at Copenhagen (or really Lyngby) :) Enjoy!

Pretty sunset!

This makes me smile everytime I pass it! :)

This is the IBM headquarters- really neat building!

I miss everyone back home- all this alone time has made me a bit homesick I think, but its ok!
XOXO
Joy

Danish 4th of July!

The 4th of July just isn't quite the same when you're in Denmark, but I did the best I could to re-create a "real" 4th of July for my danish friends and a couple other Americans! :) Here are a few of the pictures from the party!

Waiting for the guests to arrive so I thought I should take some pics!

I may have gone a little overboard???

Since we're in Denmark you can never count on the weather and I knew as soon as I planned to have everything outside there would be freezing cold rain/winds/ awful weather (dårligt vejr) so I set up everything inside with the hope that we could go outside if the weather cooperated... I was THRILLED when the sky was clear blue and the weather was PERFECT! We really couldn't have planned it any better. So once the guys lit the grills (yes 2 because we're in Denmark and they apparently only have kiddie-sized grills here) we took the snacks downstairs along with a football, softball and gloves and a Frisbee to play while we waited for the food to be ready. It was such a fun time to just hang out and enjoy the company of friends! :)

Then came the FOOD!! So for the appetizers we had some standards like chips and veggies with dip, but then I also added fruit skewers that looked like an American flag, ants on a log (since apparently this is something that Danes don't ever do!) and of course popcorn! :)

Jesper was NOT a fan of the Ants on a Log! lol!!



For the main course we had hamburgers with corn on the cob and cole slaw!

Then for dessert we went WAY overboard! lol! We first had S'mores outside because my neighbors have this really cool torch thing that makes perfect toasted marshmallows (not the intended use, but hey it works really well!)



I know it looks like its the middle of the afternoon, but really it was probably 9pm at this point. So we decided to head back upstairs since it was starting to get a little chilly and there was CAKE upstairs! :) I had made the "traditional" cake with whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries as well as strawberries dipped in white chocolate and then dipped in blue sugar. I also had coffee and tea for everyone as well as chocolate chip cookies (but no one really ate those because everyone was full/ on a sugar high from the cake and strawberries!)



So that was our 4th of July celebration overseas! :) I had such a good time introducing my new friends to a lot of the things that remind me so much of home! The only things missing were my family and friends from home and the fireworks (but apparently its illegal to shoot fireworks off on a "random" Wednesday night!)
What do you think? Did I miss any other big traditions? How did everyone back home celebrate this year?

XOXO,
Joy

Two weeks to Scotland!

It sort of seems like I'm already on vacation so its funny to me that Klaus and I will be leaving for "real vacation" in two weeks, but I'm really excited about this trip!!! :) We will be going to some pretty cool places and I have had a blast researching and finding out more about this cool country. Including random facts, for example, did you know that there are a ton of TINY little mosquito-type bugs there that you are apparently NOT supposed to swat and kill when the little jerks bite you, but instead you are supposed to gently blow them off without killing them so that their little dead butts can't alert the rest of their friends that there is fresh blood around??? Apparently once you kill one of these little guys you are going to be swarmed by THOUSANDS!?!?! Yikes! I made sure to add bug spray to our packing list! lol!

I have spent the majority of my morning confirming bookings for our hotels and tours. We will fly into Aberdeen and then take a train to Edinburgh on Tuesday (17th), we will be in Edinburgh until Friday, when we'll start our "Misty Isle and Mountains 3 day bus tour" that will take us up to Isle of Skye and then to see the Loch Ness Monster and some other fun stuff! We get back sunday evening into Edinburgh only to leave again on a different tour monday morning. This one is the one I'm really excited about the group is called "The Hairy Coo" and all the pictures on the website look goofy and everyone looks like they're having a lot of fun. :) The tour will take us to St. Andrews, a whiskey distillery and another castle! :) We'll spend another couple days in Edinburgh before going to Glencoe (where the big braveheart battle was and the location where they shot some of the Harry Potter stuff!) This part of the trip is mostly for Klaus, he's the one that really likes the hiking/ nature stuff, but I think it will be nice and peaceful so I'm looking forward to it too. Then we'll go back to Aberdeen for a couple days and fly back to Copenhagen on Saturday the 28th. Whew!! Action packed vacation!

I'm looking forward to the trip because it will be the first time Klaus and I have vacationed together and I know he's looking forward to actually having a vacation! Its also been nice to have plenty of time to research and figure out where to go and what to do. I feel really lucky that I have so much free time right now that I have the ability to plan at a leisurely pace and not stress about getting it done. I'm hoping this feeling carries over into the wedding planning which I plan to really start after we get back! (YAY!)

In addition to planning the what/wheres of the trip I've also started playing around with figuring out some real photography stuff. Since Klaus has a really nice camera I thought it would be good to learn so that we can get some good shots of our trip. :) Here's some of my "playing around pictures" from our walk thru a park this past weekend. Enjoy!

That's all for now- I'll update again Thursday after my 4th of July BBQ!!! :)
XOXO
Joy