All by myself

Yes, I am "all by myself" now. Paul left early this afternoon and is now halfway across the Atlantic, finally going home after ten weeks abroad. For him it was very exciting; I'm excited too because I know how much he wanted to go home but at the same time it stinks to again be alone here. Yes, I am making friends but we all know that is not the same. But let me tell you about yesterday!

I did not blog yesterday because, well, it was Paul's last day here and we did quite a bit. I went to work in the morning and got as much as I could done before he came around noon. He successfully managed my morning commute by himself and we went to lunch with Arkady. Klas was eating with his group and Esben was busy in lab. Not exactly how I'd hoped lunch would go but I knew he would meet Klas and Esben at dinner for sure. He got a very short and limited tour and then we just waited around for a couple of my things to finish so we could leave. Left work a bit after two and headed into Copenhagen.

We walked for about two hours, covering the whole of the Pedestrian Street as well as Christiansborg (another palace) and Nyhavn and Kongens Nytorv (again). We got delicious ice cream and also looked around the Georg Jenson store (really pricey and beautiful silver) on the Walking Street. Plus, you know those street performers who are in all white/gold/silver, including their faces? Well apparently, even after visiting multiple big cities in Europe, Paul had never seen one. So that was kind of fun to see.

We weren't meeting anyone until 6 but finished walking around 4:45. We were near Tivoli and sat on a bench right outside of the City Hall building on a big square. Besides the fact that a huge screen next to us was playing the World Out Games recap and some rather obnoxious and repeating music, it was very relaxing. Just chilling with hundreds of other people out in Copenhagen. :-) Oh, I forgot, when we were walking down Nyhavn we heard some really loud singing. Turns out it was a group of Spaniards who were in town either to cheer or play (not sure if it was the team or just fans) against one of the local soccer teams. I was enamored and we stood there watching and listening for like 5 minutes. Anyway, after sitting for 45 minutes we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe Copenhagen.

Happy hour at HRC goes from 5-7 and, since we were meeting people at 6, we went a little early to get some drinks. Now, we both somewhat forgot about happy hour until we ordered. I got a Raspberry Lemonade and only remembered Happy Hour when the bartender began making two of them. Yes, happy hour is two for one on cocktails and drafts. And oh, how delicious and dangerous that Raspberry Lemonade was. Absolutely delicious! Right at 6 Burcin and Brandon walked in, followed almost immediately by Klas, Arkady and Esben. All we had to do was wait for Yujie but, since it was already 6, I showed my priority seating confirmation and we were immediately seated (very cool thing when you see the people in front of you get handed a beeper). Arkady and Esben visited the bar for the Happy Hour special and I started in on the 2nd Raspberry Lemonade. Somehow 40 minutes passed and we eventually all ordered. 5 of us got ginormous burgers (I am pretty sure all of us Americans had forgotten how large our portions are) and Brandon got the pulled pork and Arkady got Salmon. No burger was the same but they were all polished off, some more easily than others. :-)

I just want you to know that dinner with these guys will probably be one of my favorite memories from this trip. I love people coming together and this group definitely came together. Brandon randomly catches my "accent" the first day of work and later, upon my invitation to Roskilde, I find out his girlfriend works at Topsoe too (Burcin). At lunch the same day as the invitation she and I meet for the first time. And who did I eat with that day? Klas, Arkady and Esben: all of whom knew her or of her. I LOVE connections! And then Paul comes to town and I knew almost from the beginning that he'd get along swimmingly with these people. And, ahem, I was right. :-) We all had the science connection and, for the scientists and engineers out there, our conversation sometimes strayed to topics and jokes that no normal group of people would have found interesting or funny. I apparently can't find the words to aptly express everything I feel about dinner so I will leave it at that.

Dinner wasn't the end of last night, though. Oh no, far from it! Arkady convinced us all to go across the street to sit in a bar and have "a beer." Oh man, "a beer" will be the famous last words of this summer. Everyone but me (I was incredibly full from the burger and the sweet lemonades) had a single drink and we sat and talked for close to an hour. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the conversation pretty easy. It was during this time that I realized the whole evening had been spent talking in English and I had never felt out of place or as if I didn't belong. Once we all reached Vesterport (minus Klas because he was taking a bus and not a train) I shared these sentiments with Brandon and Paul and they both agreed. Brandon especially because he and I (and Burcin) generally find ourselves in an all Danish group about once a week if not once a day or more. It is frustrating, as you probably know from my previous posts, to be somewhere and not be able to understand anything. I am lucky in that I do not have to go to group meetings that are held entirely in Danish--something that is a weekly occurrence for others. But anyway, that's a complaint that will put a damper on how fun this night was.

So anywho, the 6 of us waited for the train and we were off. Esben left first, then Arkady and the 4 of us continued to Hellerup. We said goodbye to Burcin and Brandon there and waited about ten minutes for the bus. We were so into talking about careers and choices and such that we almost missed our stop! I happened to glance out the window right as the gas station before the stop came past my window and we were able to get off. It was going on eleven when we got to the house and I think Yujie was already asleep. She never did show up to dinner and I was afraid that I had missed her and she'd just gone home.

Paul and I finished off the little beer that we'd bought on Sunday and watched 4 or 5 episodes of Scrubs. THAT was great, let me tell you. Plus I had some lemon bars at like midnight. Yes, I know, very bad decision but it was sooo good! About 1 I called it quits and we both went to bed.

And now we're to today! Haha, not as much excitement or as many smiles as yesterday here. I got up a little after 8 (yes, sleeping in felt sooo good!) and got ready for the day. Once ready I biked down to Fakta to get bacon and rolls. I also picked up chocolate (some for me to bring home home and two little candy bars for Paul to take on the trip). Must've been a strange sight. :-) Once back here I immediately got to making breakfast. Bacon, rolls and gravy. Still not doing so well on the gravy as this time I added too much flour. I'll get there, though. Just might need to wait a week as the bacon seemed to have been salt itself and, well, the gravy is mostly fat; my body needs to recuperate from such tastiness.

Oh, and I finally caught up with Yujie this morning. Turns out she'd e-mailed me around 3 or 4 saying she wouldn't be able to make dinner and would tell me more later. Since I'd left work at 2 I had not read the e-mail. I was still relieved to hear she had been safe and not lost last night.

Anyway, we left around 10:35 and caught the 10:43 bus to Hellerup. Oh, it was raining too, by the way. We caught the 10:59 train to the airport and were there around 11:30. I stayed with him until he'd checked in, dropped off his checked bag and walked up the stairs to security. It stunk. On the way to the airport I had a sinking feeling in my stomach for two reasons. First off, Paul was leaving and, obviously, that didn't exactly make me excited. The second seems to happen every time I go to the airport (except for when I picked Paul up): I don't want to leave Copenhagen. Even though I was going there to send Paul home I still didn't want to think about leaving. And as much as I want to see everyone at home and in Madison, my life here just started! It is selfish, I know, to want the best of every world and to want to stay here. But I digress.

From the airport I went straight to work. Took the train to the Central station and met two British women with four young girls in tow. They were adorable! The women sounded so sophisticated with their accents and I think even more so because it wasn't fake or pushed; they spoke naturally and talked about their own lives--something about that grabbed my attention. Anyway, I got off and switched to the B line to go from the Central Station to Jaegersborg. Once there I waited for the local train and, upon reaching Topsoe grounds, went immediately to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich. On my way in I ran into Esben, Anders and Mai-Britt just leaving. Grabbed food and headed to my desk. I took about 20 minutes to eat and check e-mail and then look to see if Paul's flight had taken off. My mother's habit has definitely rubbed off. Haha!

Radek stopped by my desk to see how I was and I apparently looked intent on my screen because he immediately asked if I was busy. I was, to a point: busy looking for Paul's flight update! Anywho, tomorrow is the last Friday of the month and he wanted to know if I'd be going to the bbq (just like last month). I really don't know if I will or not. It will depend on how I'm feeling, especially because I feel, at the moment, that I've had enough to drink this week and really don't want a repeat of what happened after the last bbq.

The next two hours passed relatively quickly, which surprised and pleased me. But, after that two hours, my work was basically done. I had gotten to work around 1 pm and was done by 4:30. Honestly, there was nothing else I would have done today. I am waiting on supplies and doing whatever reactions I can so I am limited. I did wait to leave till about 5, a half day of work being done. Plus I was able to see when Paul's Atlantic flight took off (at least 25 mins late, fyi).

I came home and on the way realized how tired I was. I had seen Arkady by chance around 3 or so and he said I looked really tired. I denied being tired and said I thought I was just disappointed that Paul had left. The trip home "showed me the light." I have done very little tonight: a couple e-mails, made dinner and washed dishes while it was cooking, watched TV and now blogging. I will probably get ready for bed, watch a bit more TV and then go to bed "early." It will be a good decision, I know.

My prayer requests remain the same but please pray that Paul gets home safely. I'd also like to say that I am feeling much better and didn't have any discomfort today, or yesterday for that matter. The days are flying by so I ask that you pray for wisdom (I need to buy my Munich flight and hostel still), courage (to face the fears I have of travelling alone as well as finishing strong), contentment (with the time I have left in Copenhagen), motivation (to see and do what I want to do before leaving), and peace. Peace in relation to the other requests, to my dwindling time here, to my solitary travel experience, to my flight home, and to the job searching and decision making that waits once I am back. I am finding it difficult to not worry about the future, especially because the future holds my second to last semester of college as well as the career fair that could very well place me on the path to a permanent job. Ah, can you feel my fear? How wonderful to know that God will provide and that He has a plan for me. My past three summers have been proof of that!

Well, I am off for now. This has been incredibly long and for that I do apologize. I seemed to have a need to blow off a few thousand words tonight. :-)

Have a wonderful and restful day/night/afternoon,
Bekah