Friends and Fitness in DK

I am so incredibly thankful for all of the technology that is so easily accessible these days! In this week alone I have gotten to see and talk to my mom two or three times, my grandparents and my brother and sister-in-law, in addition to google chat from my phone (so it really just seems like texting) with three different friends, in addition to my weekly phone call to Michelle PLUS facebook has made staying in touch sooo much easier! I tried to imagine how much different my experience would have been without those options and I think I would have been so lonely and homesick that I wouldn't have been able to enjoy all of the wonderful things that Denmark has to offer. :) So I guess I just want to say thanks to all my friends in the States who are keeping in contact with me while I'm over here and all of my new friends over here who are helping me get to know the city and take in all of these fantastic experiences, you have no idea how much easier you're making it for me!

This week Klaus and I had one of his former colleagues and his wife over for brunch on Sunday which was really fun! Its amazing how similar our situations are and how comforting it is to know that someone else is sharing the same thoughts and frustrations (with regards to the laws and red tape that is involved in being here for a foreigner). We also realized that we have joined the same gym!

So on Monday morning Lyn and I went to a fitness class together called "Stram Op", I had been before and enjoyed the class and the instructor (although being "encouraged" in danish is just kind of weird... "OP-NED-OP-NED, KOM SÅ!!!") it made me miss Nichole's classes and training sessions!!! But going with Lyn was so much better, I don't know if its because I didn't feel like I stuck out so much as the only non-danish speaker or what, but it made the class way more fun! So I think we're going to make this a regular thing as well as the class on friday afternoons. :)

Monday evening Klaus and I met up with the running club we joined for the first time. I LOVED it! It felt really good to get back into running after I have been slacking a lot since I got here. I've been good about training on the treadmill, but as far as really running goes, I haven't wanted to go by myself and running with Klaus isn't so much fun because he runs WAY faster than I do so our compromise has been that I ride my bike while he runs lol! But the running club is great because everyone meets up at the beginning and splits off into 5 or 6 different groups who all run at different paces and then everyone meets back up after an hour. This week Klaus and I ran in the beginner group just to see what its all about, but I think next time he will pick a faster group. The start of the run was insane because there were probably 50 people all standing around in a big group with no real organization that I could see until 6:00 when all of the leaders of the different groups said "Skal vi løber?" ("shall we run?") and took off in different directions towards different paths! It was a bit of chaos until we had gotten onto our path and away from the rest of the groups, but once we had split off our group of 17 people stuck together pretty well and the run was very organized and at a good pace for me. :) They run thru a big park called "Dyrehave" or Deer park which looks like something off a postcard! So running here was really nice because of all the great views along the way:
(I took this picture on a different trip, but it looks about the same these days!)

Other than that, I've just been working on wedding stuff and things for the apartment. I am also getting a LOT better/ more confident on my bike and ride it almost everyday! :)
I think that's all for now, but I'll try to update again soon!
XOXO,
Joy