Two Worlds

How is it that I can be so in love with two places? Maybe “in love” is the wrong way to phrase how I feel. This morning and all through the day I couldn’t believe a month has passed here. A full month of living in Denmark and I finally feel like I belong a bit more. Today, at lunch with Kresten, Esben and Arkady, we were talking about weekend plans and I brought up the canal tour and then we got to talking about theatre stuff and they all suggested the opera, and how they would all like to go as well. We won’t be going to the opera, not while I’m here, because they are on summer holiday but still, it felt like I was a part of a group. And on the train today I almost started crying (again) at the thought of leaving Copenhagen. Yet not moments before I started writing this, as I was washing dishes from dinner, I was overcome with a strong desire for home. How can this be? How can I see myself living and working abroad, experiencing so much more of the world, away from my family for long periods of time and, reminded of the latter, all of a sudden have a complete turnaround? My only thought at the moment is that I’m not ready. I’m not quite ready for the distance, for the growing up and having a real job. How grateful I am to have one more year at Madison, which I miss just as much as home. Senior year hasn’t even started yet and already I’m afraid of life after graduation (technically life after Summer Lab). Another thought on how I can explain this divided love is the people. Everywhere I have been I can think of the people I have met there. People who I take with me wherever I go. Now everyone who knows me for at least a month (I say that because my coworkers just found out about my admiration today) knows how I adore my brother, and brag about him at every possible turn. There are other people too, though, that I carry to the other places I go. My intern friends last year heard about two of my best friends who were married/engaged. My ChemE family heard about my intern friends and my housemates. My best friends heard about my ChemE family and each other, because, oddly enough, they’ve never really met. Maybe that is what is so hard about falling in love with a new place, becoming comfortable in a new place: I remember everyone I am leaving.

Wow, very intense. I would apologize but this actually happens a lot. The whole serious thinking, that is. In fact I have a question to pose to you:
Consider the trees along a roadside. They are dressed fully in green; every leaf is popping and the scene is breathtaking and refreshing. But how many of those leaves did you actually see?

I’m not entirely sure when this question popped into my mind but it made me stop and think. And I would draw an analogy to life from this question but I then realized that there are so many analogies that can be drawn from almost any experience or question that there is no need for me to write another one. But enough deep thinking, let me tell you about my day.

This morning 6 AM came much sooner than I would have liked. Nevertheless, I got up, dressed and out I went. I ventured out onto Emdrupvej, a more “main” road, instead of simply going up and down the path I take to the grocery store. Going down the hill, without the speed bumps, was fantastic! It was chill and every so refreshing. I did take my grocery store path back to the house, though. My thighs will thank me some day, I’m sure of it. :-) Got ready in a jiffy and left the house at 7:30. I was at work and in the lab by 8:30 and my reaction going before 8:40. I had to do something to it after three hours and knew that if it wasn’t started by 8:45 I would be walking to lunch by myself again, hence the reason I got to work so “early.” The rest of the morning was rather uneventful. I did some research on one of the compounds; took observations; and checked out various flights and hostels. Arkady came to get me for lunch and found me trying to fix my hair clip. Yeah, I broke it. Not entirely sure how I did it but I was trying to fix it because, hey, I’m an engineer, I can fix things, right? :-P

Lunch was fun, but when is it not? Klas, I learned, is in Sweden. So he missed our continued discussion on the differences between fruits and vegetables, which both Kresten and Arkady researched on Wikipedia last night. Haha, I love these guys! So, once our definitions were set, I asked them what their favorite fruit happened to be. All three of them answered watermelon. In my opinion? Kiwi, hands down. Followed by pomegranates and tomatoes…and blackberries.  So we had a discussion about how could I say kiwi was better than watermelon. Oh, Kresten and I also discussed the phrase “How are you?” and what it means in the States. It was actually a cool conversation because he gave the “outsider” point of view and I got to explain that he was correct and yet I was being sincere. There’s not so much a Danish counterpart to that phrase, especially when you’re just passing someone on the street and say “Hey, how are you?” and keep walking; the Danes just smile and nod, maybe say “Hej” and that’s it. Really, it was an interesting conversation.

I already said that we talked about the canal tour and the opera, so I’m excited about that. Kresten asked if I had any siblings and so I told him I had one younger brother. He asked how much younger and I said 5 years, followed by him asking “And that makes him…how old?” I laughed because I could definitely see why he had asked it that way. And, sure enough, immediately following that question he smiled and said he’d been told you weren’t supposed to ask any woman how old she was. I smiled and declared both ages and we all laughed a bit. I did find out that Arkady has a younger brother too, about my age, and that he just graduated from the University in Moscow. I also got a lesson in how education there works age wise. Arkady went to school from 6-16 and entered the University at 16 or 17, graduated at 21 and had his PhD by 24. They do things a bit faster here in Europe apparently. I told him I felt behind and he smiled and said “Good. That makes me feel good for the day.” :-)

The afternoon was all reactions and analysis. When Esben and I discussed the results we also talked about the Opera and he brought up going to see the other tower in the city, one that’s super spirally. He prefaced the adventure with “You aren’t afraid of heights, I hope.” Apparently there’s little room to stand at the top…and you’re a bit of a ways above ground. So we’ll see. We decided that because it is supposed to rain this weekend that the canal tour would be a spontaneous decision one day, either during the week or on the weekend, most certainly before I leave. Too fun.

I got home a bit after 5 and really did nothing super fantastic. Actually, that’s a lie. I got to chat with a friend from home for the first time in over a month. I seriously love hearing about people’s lives and the experiences they are having. Especially the little things, the things that make their life their own and make it special for them. Anyway, Yujie came home and had gone shopping at the Chinese grocery store. She went crazy shopping! Haha, she was so excited she was dancing around the bags she’d brought. And so she experimented for dinner and, let me tell you, it was delicious! I’m so spoiled with Chinese food. :-)

Now I’m just chilling. I have a Skype date later with one of my very best friends and then will probably just go to bed. I’m having trouble reminding myself that I don’t have to work tomorrow. I kind of wish I did, just because I like it so much. But if the rain isn’t bad then I’m going shopping on the walking street. If anything interesting happens the rest of the night I’ll just have to write about it tomorrow.

I’m sorry this is so long. I wrote it out as a Word document first because I was having all those serious thoughts and needed to write them down and it just got super long. There are some of my 5000 words for the day, right? Haha.

Please continue to pray for the health of my coworkers and myself, though I am doing much better today. Pray for contentment on my part, especially that I would enjoy the month I have left here and would take all the experiences and opportunities I can. Continue to pray for courage and patience. Thank you so much for praying, I really do appreciate it.

That’s all for tonight.
Have a fantastic day/night and I’ll write tomorrow,
Bekah