The time was at 14:00 today (that's 2pm for all you Americans) and the place was Gråbrødretorv (an open square near my house where I love to sit underneath a giant ol' tree). I had just finished my last class - not just of the day but of the entire semester. I had walked to the square in a confused daze because I found it so strange to consider the fact that I won't be going to any more classes in Denmark and that I have barely over a week left of living here. So I returned to something familiar and pleasant - my spot on the bench at Gråbrødretorv. Here I sat contemplating life and bemoaning the fact that I'm leaving Copenhagen next week. I was in the middle of writing a sentimental entry in my journal when...
A bird pooped on me. Large and fresh and right on my shoulder. I was in mid sentence and the bird went and pooped on me and broke my train of thought completely. But I'm glad he (or she) did. I laughed quite literally out loud. Not one of those fake out loud laughs that people say they do when they write LOL but an actual laugh. Which is strange to do on your own anywhere but especially so in Denmark.
As I said, I'm glad that bird pooped on me. Not because I hated the scarf it ruined (I actually quite liked it) but because it sent me on a completely different train of thought. The rest of this is based off what I'd written.
It's over. I have 8 days left until I leave. I know it's time to leave, I've been preparing for it to be time to leave but [insert bird poop falling and subsequent laughter]... Ok I have to admit that the bird poop incident of 2012 just broke my thought process and what I was going to say doesn't seem important anymore. What does seem important is to remember that life happens and that I can choose to mope about the sad stuff or to be happy about the good stuff. Something tells me to choose the latter.
I've become a student of life while being abroad. Though I learned a lot in the classroom the majority of what I learned this semester came from outside of it - from wandering new places and getting to know them, from hours in conversation with people from other cultures, and from observing and being open. Beyond all the Danishness I've learned so much about and have in many ways taken on as my own, my broader outlook on life has changed and I realize that the good experiences I'm having don't have to end when I go back to the States - and for anyone else, they don't have to start just when you're abroad.
All it requires is an open mind and a willingness to step out wherever you're at and try new things. In the words of an all time favorite character, Miss Frizzle from Magic School Bus, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" Though you probably won't end up traveling through a friend's digestive system or being baked into a cake, you just might make a new friend or, in my case, find that you have a secret obsession with rye bread.
Life is full of opportunities to say yes or to say no. I find that I've been saying yes way more frequently while abroad than I might've normally, and I've been loving my time here because of it. For example, my favorite trip this semester began with the simple thought, "Hey I'd really like to go hiking in Norway." I said "Why not?" and ran with it, booked a cheap flight, found a place to stay via CouchSurfing, and packed my backpack for a solo 5 day adventure in Bergen - the city of seven mountains and the gateway to the fjords. I came away from that trip with the confidence that, come rain or snow, I can hike mountains on my own; with the discovery that Norway (especially the fjords) is one of the most beautiful places I've seen; and with the experience of creating a unique CouchSurfing family (1 Latvian, 1 Slovakian, 2 Americans, and 1 Norwegian family). The days were simple, lots of nature and conversation and no technology, and the evenings were well spent over shared meals and stories and hours of game playing. An experience I wouldn't trade for anything... and wouldn't have had if I didn't take the chance of going.
Life's like one of those "please touch" interactive museums, not a stale museum where you just stand politely and look at artifacts. It would be very possible to create artifact after artifact of past experiences and to spend all my time thinking of those memories (and in some cases regrets). Remembrance has its place but life shouldn't be lived there. Life should be enjoyed in the here and now, and it should be spent doing things you love alongside the people you love.
Yeah I'm saying goodbye to a place and to people I've grown attached to. But I'm not leaving empty handed; I'm carrying back with me the fruit of much growth, a new-found appreciation of candles and cycling, and a realization that "How are you" is a question only worth asking if you truly want the answer. And I'd like to think that through time spent volunteering and in making friends I'm leaving a piece of me behind here, too.
So, you see, instead of focusing on what I'm leaving it's better to focus on where I'm going and to remember to live fully no matter what country I'm in. This isn't really an "end" that I've reached, then. It's just the beginning.
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| A bit of natural beauty for you... #1: Norwegian mountains |
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| #2: Danish flowers... Happy Spring! |
P.S. I expect this to be my last post before coming back to the States. Something about wanting to live fully during my last week in Denmark - which does not include spending tons of time on a computer.
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