Merry English Christmas!

Merry Christmas, one and all!!

I have been having a lovely time in Leeds, Northern England, with Charlotte and her very welcoming family.
There was almost disaster on the way to the airport - I had just left home to catch the 1pm bus on Saturday, when I realised I had forgotten my passport and the train tickets (both necessary things for travel!), and when running back down the stairs, I twisted my ankle. It wasn't a bad sprain, but it did prevent me putting my weight on it immediately, so my friend Marte kindly helped me with my bags, but we still missed the bus!! Thankfully, we had left plenty of time with the early bus, so the next one, 20 minutes later, meant we still made the 2pm train in plenty of time!!

Our plane at Copenhagen was delayed by about an hour, then we were stuck on the tarmac at Heathrow while various things such as no free stand, a broken tug and passenger's luggage prevented British Airways landing us properly - the helpful pilot kept updating us, however I would have preferred not to keep hearing the various excuses of airport incompetence!! After the 3 hour drive to Leeds from Heathrow, we were glad to get some food and a nice long sleep, not waking up til 2pm Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is also Charlotte's mother's birthday, so we had a nice dinner and some presents. I spoke to Mum and Dad that evening, as it was already Christmas in Australia!! Christmas Day was cold and grey, unfortunately no snow, but we had a lovely time, opening presents (the generous family had even gotten me lots of cute little things!), and then eating lots of nice hot food, like turkey, baked vegies & Christmas pudding.

I am now officially addicted to British soaps, having watched both Emmerdale and Eastenders every day since Sunday - it's very relaxing, but also disturbing watching Home and Away overseas, presenting a very unrealistic idea of what Australian life is like!! More eating and drinking with neighbours and relatives, as well as sleep and watching TV, has characterised the rest of this week, which is just what I need, after the stress of exams etc over the past few weeks!!

So I hope you have all had a lovely Merry Christmas with your family and friends, and have an enjoyable start to the New Year - I will be partying with Germans and Italians back in Denmark, so it should be lots of fun!!

Danes and Rain

So, apologies for the delay - study has been keeping me rather busy!!

The rainy season has begun in earnest here, it now rains almost every day, and it is getting colder, as well as pitch black at 4pm - it's certainly a big change from my usual December!

I have completed one oral exam, with flying colours, although rather large nerves, and have two more to do this week, and after that, I have officially finished my law degree!! This is very exciting, as it means no more study! So the next phase of my life will begin - onto the UN! In between studying, I have been looking for places to live in the Hague, which has proved interesting, with very fussy landladies a premium - I have settled on a nice looking place with other interns.

Last weekend, I had the good fortune of a visit from home - Dad and Odette, who have been in London, came over to Aarhus for a couple of days.

It was great to be able to show my city off - I showed where I live (including the exciting experience of the 25 minute bus ride through the housing estates), the shopping street, the Viking Museum at Moesgaard (including my favourite bog discovery, Graubelle Man), as well as a nice taxi ride through some of the nicer areas of Aarhus!



We also went to Den Gamle By, which is The Old Town, basically a Danish version of 'Old Sydney Town' - people here rave on about it, and many of my flatmates were there, but with all the rain, we didn't find it quite so exciting!





Dad and Odette were staying in the lovely Hotel Royal, in the city near the funky Latin Quarter, so I was able to show off the lovely little cobbled streets and narrow passageways that make this city so pretty!

We also fitted in some lovely restaurants, and a spot of shopping, so now I am fully equipped for my new 'smart casual' UN position! So thanks again guys for coming to visit - with the wonders of internet and phone communication, it didn't feel like 5 months since I had seen you, so hopefully the next year will fly by also!



Last Sunday night, my flatmates and I had the traditional 'Julefrokost', which means Christmas meal. We ate the Danish 'smorbrod', which is basically rye bread with a variety of toppings - pickled herring, curried salad, eggs, tomatoes, liver paste - my flatmates all eat this stuff regularly, whereas it was a bit of an eye opener for me!! The main course was pork with brown sauce, and caramelised and ordinary potatoes - yummy! The dessert was a rice pudding with almond slivers - the game was for the company to eat the whole dish, and then whoever had found the one whole almond in the pudding got a present!! We also drank extremely strong schnapps (38%!), and generally made merry.


It's really nice living with Danish students, because I learn about the Danish traditions, such as their focus on 'Nissa', which are Santa's elvish helpers - they are the major form of decoration, in red and white, to match the Danish flag, which also regularly appears in every home!! The Danish as a whole are rather patriotic and conservative, which is why the Turkish and Lebanese immigrants in my area are treated with great suspicion. However, the Danes do have a great sense of ironic humour, which is why they get on well with the Aussies!!

Oh, and on Thursday night, we went to see a stage production of 'My Fair Lady' - it was an English company, and it was really well done! So nice to go to the theatre - we got cheaper preview tickets, one of the advantages of being in a student town!

Allrighty, back to study - I can't believe Christmas is in a week, and my time here in Aarhus is almost over - it goes so quickly!! It's getting sad, that people are leaving, who I may never see again - but I have made some really good friends here, with whom I will definitely keep in touch in the years to come.