Odense and LOTS of snow!!!

DIS doesn't schedule class on Wednesdays so we can either have the day off or go on field trips with our classes (every class must have at least 1 field trip, most have 2 or 3). So, today, while most DIS kids were sleeping in after a difficult first half of the week, I got up early (though I got 20 extra minutes of sleep than usual) and headed to DIS for a field trip to the town of Odense, birthplace of HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN!!!

We got a gigantic double-decker bus for the 2 hour trip to the island of Fyn ( I think pronounced fEEna) to see the H.C. Andersen Hus (house/museum) and explore the cute little town that HCA once lived in (*note: Odense is DK's 3rd largest town, do NOT call it a cute little town in front of Danes!!!). Our first stop was the museum, very small, but pretty nice. HCA was a very troubled but gifted guy. Born into poverty, no one liked him, BAM fame and fortune. After that we had lunch then explored the town. My friend and I walked around for a little bit, and then we found a candy shop so we OBVIOUSLY had to stop (I firmly believe that you can tell the character of a place by its candy). Apparently (well, probably a lot of people know this but it was news to me) Haribo gummy candies are either Danish or some other type of Scandinavian because it is EVERYWHERE!! So we got some sweet Haribo treats and headed back to the bus for the trek home!

HOWEVER, it had been steadily snowing the whole day and as soon as we hit the road KABAM snowstorm! It took us and extra hour/hour and a half to get home and the roads were terrible! There was only a couple of inches on the ground but it is very important for me to stress that the Danes are beside themselves right now because this is the worst/wettest winter they've had in 30 years. They have very VERY few plow trucks, they don't use salt, they don't plow sidewalks, and many city streets are cobblestone which makes things more difficult. On top of that, Danes don't know how to drive in the snow! The radio kept saying that a commute from the city that usually took 15 minutes was taking upward of 2 hours! We had to take a bunch of detours to avoid accidents, and we passed several! In a nutshell, today was not the day to be out toolin' around in a doubledecker!

But, we finally made it back to Copenhagen and I got home safe and sound! Tomorrow I am off to Farum to get my CPR card then I'm going shopping with friends because right now is the big sale time in Copenhagen (and apparently this is the only time things are on sale!)

Food log

Breakfast: musseli and yogurt

Lunch: delicious ham sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and this butter/cheese/Danish spread thing. My host mom got it b/c she said all of the American students like it!

Snack: an assortment of chocolate and gummy candies from the candy store in Odense

Dinner: Mashed potatoes and a kind of beef stew thing, but instead of chunks of meat it was in slices, like a roast, it was REALLY good!