For en uges tid siden tog jeg en tur til Helsingør for at deltage i et arbejdsrelateret møde, og jeg besluttede mig for at tage forbi Kronborg slot inden jeg tog hjem. Jeg har lavet en video-blog fra dagen, som du kan finde på min YouTube-kanal her.

Jeg har været på Kronborg en enkelt gang som barn, men vi besøgte ikke Sjælland ret tit, fordi vi boede i Jylland (til gengæld har jeg besøgt Legoland min. 20-30 i mit liv). I hvert fald er Kronborg virkelig smuk – nok endnu smukkere om sommeren – og fæstningen/slottet er fuld af historier og eventyr. Kan I huske ‘Jul På Kronborg’ og sagnet om Holger Danske? Der er bare noget nærmest vidunderligt og eventyrligt over en sted som dette.

_____

About a week ago I went to the town of Elsinore (Helsingør in Danish) to participate in a work related meeting and I decided to visit the castle Kronborg before heading home. I’ve made a video blog from the day which you can see here.

I have been to Kronborg once as a child and we did not visit Sjælland often because we lived in Jylland (on the other hand I’ve visited Legoland maybe more than 20-30 times in my life). Anyways, Kronborg was really beautiful – and perhaps even more so in the summer – and the castle is full of stories and fairytales. Many Danes can probably remember the Christmas TV-show ‘Jul På Kronborg’ and the story of Holger Danske. There is simply something wonderful and magical about a place like this.

Det er blevet tid til endnu et oplæg om mit udvekslingssemester i Japan, som jeg for et år siden påbegyndte. I dag skal det handle om opholdet under den japanske vinter, som viste sig at være mere hård og kold, end jeg havde regnet med. Flere af de japanske studerende sagde dog, at den var koldere end andre vintre. Også vinteren var en dejlig tid på trods af, at jeg var syg en del, men sådan er det nu en gang, når man har en lidt sart hals. I løbet af vinteren fik jeg både besøg af min søster og min kæreste, og det var dejligt at have nogle at dele min Japan-oplevelse med, selvom mit værelse var rimelig lille til to personer.

Lige så snart Halloween var overstået, blev Halloween-pynten taget ned i butikkerne, og julepynten kom op. Japan er fantastisk til glimmer og glitter til jul, og det var umuligt ikke at komme i julestemning. I november gik tiden mest af alt med at forberede specialet (skrive på opgaven, researche, læse, finde materiale, lave spørgeskema osv.), men jeg fik da tid til et par lørdage med bjergvandring og onsen inden jeg fik besøg af min søster i starten af december.

Jeg hentede min søster en aften i Ōsakas internationale lufthavn, og det var rigtig dejligt at se hende igen. Hun havde taget danske julekalendre og juleslik med til Japan, så det blev næsten en normal december for mig. I hverdagene skulle jeg naturligvis på uni for at komme til undervisning, og min søster tog tit med derhen, men i weekenderne tog vi på tur rundt i Kansai-området. Vi nåede både at tage et par ture til Ōsaka, komme ind og se Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, tage til Himeji, Nara, Kyōto, Universal Studios, se Luminaire, skrive nytårskort på uni og komme med til en end-of-year fest med Okinawa tema. Vi havde ret højt tempo på, og både min søster og jeg blev syge i december. Jeg blev desværre først syg den dag vi tog hjem sammen til Danmark på juleferie, hvilket resulterede i, at jeg var syg resten af året og indtil midten af januar.

Da jeg tog hjem til Japan efter en uge i Danmark sammen med min kæreste, var jeg stadig meget syg. Flyveturen hjem var fuldstændig forfærdelig (specielt fordi at vi måtte vente 6 ekstra timer i Istanbul lufthavn pga. stormvejr), og jeg var så syg, at jeg ingen kræfter havde tilbage i min krop til at hoste. Da Frederik og jeg samme dag som landingen fejrede nytår sammen på mit lille værelse med fugu og andet godt japansk nytårsmad, friede han til mig, og jeg nød aftenen så godt som jeg kunne. De næste par dage  besøgte vi templer, spiste festivalmad i boder og hyggede os egentlig bare i Kōbe. Mens han var på besøg i januar skulle jeg også på universitetet, og han gik for det meste med tidligt om morgenen, fordi jeg var bange for, at viceværten skulle opdage, at jeg havde en overnattende gæst (hvilket man faktisk ikke måtte have). Vi havde mange gode oplevelser og ture sammen til Ōsaka, hvor vi shoppede, gik på Gudetama café, spiste Kōbe kød, var på hunde café og tog ud at skøjte. Det var vildt sjovt at være ude at skøjte lige indtil at jeg faldt og brækkede min arm, som måtte i gibs. Jeg formåede også at få influenza de sidste to uger, hvor Frederik var der, så januar var en spændende måned.

I februar blomstrede de smukke blomme (ume) træer, og det var dejligt at opleve dem, inden Michelle og jeg skulle mod Danmark igen. Michelle og jeg fejrede også setsubun, som er en festival, hvor man basically fejrer foråret. Vi havde også en skøn valentinsdag sammen med vores venner Basia og Alberto, hvor vi var oppe i pariserhjulet ved Kōbe Harborland, og disse begivenheder afsluttede vinteren i Japan rigtig godt.

_____

It’s time for another post about my exchange semester in Japan, which began a year ago. Today’s post is about my stay during the Japanese winter, which turned out to me more rough and cold that expected. Several Japanese students also told me that it was colder than usual. But despite a lot of sickness the winter in Japan was very enjoyable. That’s how it is to have a weak throat. During the winter I was both visited by my sister and my boyfriend and it was lovely to share my Japan experience with them, even though my room was a bit too small for two people.

As soon as Halloween was over, the Halloween decorations were taken down in the stores and the Christmas decoration were up. Japan is amazing with glitter and lighting for Christmas, and it was impossible not to feel all Christmassy. In November most of the time was spent preparing my thesis (write, research, read, find material, make questions and so on), but I did find time a couple of Saturdays for some hiking and onsen before the visit by my sister in the beginning of December.

I picked up my sister a night at Ōsaka’s international airport, and it was lovely to see her again. She had brought me Danish Christmas calendars and Christmas candy to Japan so it was almost like a normal December for me. During the weekdays I naturally had to go to uni for classes, and my sister often went with me, but during the weekends we went on trip around Kansai. We went to Ōsaka a couple of times, watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, went to Himeji, Nara, Kyōto, Universal Studios, watch the Luminaire show, wrote New Year cards at uni and went to an Okinawa themed end-of-the-year party. We did quite and lot and eventually both my sister and I became ill. Unfortunately I didn’t get sick until the day that we left for Denmark for Christmas which resulted in my being sick the rest of the year until the middle of January.

When I went home to Japan after a week in Denmark with my boyfriend I was still sicks. The flight home was absolutely horrible (especially because we had to wait an extra 6 hours at Istanbul Airport because of a storm), and I was so sick that I had no energy left in my body to do anything, not even coughing. When Frederik and I the same day we landed celebrated New Year’s eve in my tiny room with fugu and other delicious Japanese New Year foods, he proposed to me and I enjoyed the evening as much as possible. The next couple of days we visited temples, ate festival food and just had a good time in Kōbe. During his visit I had to go to university and he usually went with me early in the morning, because I was afraid that the landlord would find out that I had a guest (which we were not allowed). We had lots of great trips together as we went to Ōsaka where we shopped, visited the Gudetama café, went to do café and ice skating and had Kōbe beef in Kōbe. It was so much fun to go ice skating right until I broke my arm. I also managed to get influenza the last two weeks that Frederik was there, so yeah January was an interesting month.

In February the beautiful plum (ume) tree were starting to bloom and it was lovely to experience them before Michelle and I headed back to Denmark. Michelle and I also celebrated setsubun, a festival where the start of spring is basically celebrated. We also had a lovely Valentine’s Day with our friends Basia and Alberto, where we went to the ferris wheel of Kōbe Harborland, and these events made winter very nice for us.

I sidste uge havde jeg besøg af min veninde Kat fra Edinburgh, og vi fik sightseeing til den store guldmedalje og spist lækker (men smådyr) mad forskellige steder i København. Vi besøgte også en masse steder i København, som jeg længe har villet besøge som f.eks. Rosenborg Slot, og vi spiste steder, som jeg nok ikke kunne få lokket Frederik med til – kagen fik vi på La Glace og pizzaen fik vi hos Gorm’s. Derudover besøgte vi mange must-see steder i København, hvor jeg allerede har været, såsom Nyhavn. Jeg glæder mig allerede til at se Kat igen!

_____

Last week I had a visitor from Edinburgh, my friend Kat, so we naturally went crazy with sightseeing and had lots of delicious (but slightly expensive) food at different places in Copenhagen. We also visited a lot of places in Copenhagen that I had wanted to try forever like Rosenborg Castle, and we had food at places that I probably couldn’t get Frederik to come to – the cake is from La Glace and the pizza was bought at Gorm’s. Besides that we also went to a lot of must-see spots in Copenhagen, where I have already been, such as Nyhavn. I’m already looking forwards to seeing Kat again!

Halløjsa, så er jeg tilbage! Jeg var lige en uge på Rhodos med svigerfamilien den seneste uges tid, og det var FANTASTISK at få lidt sol. Det manglede vi jo lidt denne sommer. Vi var afsted, fordi min svigerfar fyldte 60, og ja det var var bare en dejlig tur, hvor vi fik laddet lidt op.

Vi havde en dejlig uge (som i snart kommer til at se på YouTube) med 27 – 33 grader uden skyer, og vi bruge tid i Rhodos by og smukke, hvide Lindos. Rhodos lever meget af turister, og der var små butikker overalt. Vi fik lækker mad såsom gyros, tzatziki, saganaki og souvlaki og gode drinks til billige penge. Alt i alt en skøn skøn uge.

_____

Hello, I’m back! I went to the Greek island Rhodes with the in-laws for a week and it was AMAZING to get some sun. We kind of needed that this summer in Denmark. We went because my father-in-law turned 60 and yes, it was simply a lovely trip where we got to recharge our inner batteries.

We had a lovely week (which you will soon see on YouTube) with 27 to 33 degrees without clouds, and we spent time in the city of Rhodes and beautiful white Lindos. Rhodes seems to be doing fine due to the many tourists, and there were tiny shops everywhere. We ate lots of good food such as gyros, tzatziki, saganaki and souvlaki and drank cheap drinks. In total, a lovely lovely week.

Det er ved at være tid til endnu et oplæg omkring mit udvekslingsophold i Japan, som jeg påbegyndte i foråret (altså oplægget). I løbet af de seks måneder, jeg var i Japan, var efteråret i forhold til vinter nok den bedste tid at være i Japan – naturen var smuk, det var ikke for koldt, og jeg var endnu ikke begyndt at stresse for meget over eksamener og speciale. Der var tid til at nyde tilværelsen i mit nye hjem med nye venner og med japanske veninder.

First of all, så er den japanske natur vildt smuk om efteråret. Bladene på træerne skifter farve og findes i mange smukke nuancer af rød, grøn, brun og gul, og træerne forblev sådan helt til midten af december, hvor min søster besøgte mig i Japan. Jeg fik de smukke efterårsfarver at se både i Kyoto til Jidai Matsuri (festival for tiderne), på vandretur til vandfaldet Nunobiki i Kōbe, til Rokko Matsuri (årlig festival på universitetet) og i Kōbe Oji Zoo. Derudover var jeg på tur med universitetet til øen Awaji, hvor alle nye udvekslingsstuderene og tutorer så traditionelt japansk dukketeater og grillede.

Til hverdag var jeg meget sammen med nogle piger fra kollegiet og Michelle, og om mandagen havde Michelle og jeg fri og tog tit på shoppingtur i Kōbe, til karaoke, til spillearkaden, til Ōsaka eller i biografen. Vi så bl.a. Kimi no na wa, som gik hen og blev vist i Danmark også. Vi tog til fester på kollegiet, og specielt husker jeg Halloween-weekenden, hvor vi var til fest om lørdagen (den eneste fest, hvor jeg fik slemme, slemme tømmermænd) og så Halloween-film om søndagen på mit værelse mens vi spiste pizza fra Domino’s. Michelle og jeg havde også købt kostumer i Don Quixote (kaldes også Donki Hote i Japan), og jeg var klædt ud om heksen Kiki fra Kiki’s Delivery Service, en Hayao Miyazaki film. Fun fact om Domino’s i Japan: Hvis man bestiller pizza, kan man selv bygge sin pizza, og når de leverer hjem til én, kan man følge GPS’en af ens delivery guy samt se navn, yndlingsmusik og yndlingssportshold.

I Japan har de mange sæson-produkter, og jeg prøvede flere snacks med Halloween-tema såsom chips og sodavand. Der var også snacks med juletema, som kom ud allerede i efteråret, og sjovt nok forbinder de i Japan jul med jordbær (totalt modsat af her i Danmark). Derfor var der mange ting med jordbær-smag, men det skal jeg nok uddybe mere i næste afsnit omkring vinter i Japan. Som du kan se på et af billederne, kunne man allerede lave jule-purikura om efteråret, hvor Line fra vores studie var på besøg hos os.

Efteråret var rigtig hyggeligt i Japan, og jeg har mange videoer fra den tid på min YouTube-kanal. Her har jeg bl.a. en Nitori-tour (“det japanske IKEA”) og en supermarked-tour. Jeg oplevede også mit. andet og trejde jordskælv i mit liv (det første var under mit tredje ophold i Japan i 2015), og det første jordskælv skete mens jeg var på indkøb i 7-Eleven på universitetet, hvor jeg så hylderne ryste. Underligt nok mærkede Michelle ikke noget, mens jeg tydelig kunne mærke det. Damerne ved kasserne spurgte bagefter, om alle var OK, og ja, de har jo nok oplevet en del jordskælv i deres liv. Det andet jordskælv skete mens jeg sad på mit værelse en lørdag formiddag, men dette var heldigvis heller ikke så slemt. Jeg følte mig meget sikker, mens jeg boede i Kōbe, specielt fordi kollegiet og universitetet lå langt oppe. Ud over det var sikkerheden i top.

Ja, det var nok det bedste efterår i mit liv. Jeg havde ikke rigtig hjemve og talte tit med min familie og med Frederik. Jeg nød bare tilværelsen i fulde drag efter at have alt på plads med undervisning. Tak for et fantastisk efterår, Kōbe.

_____

It’s time for another post about my exchange stay in Japan that I started in the spring (here I mean the posts). During the six months I was in Japan, autumn was probably my favorite compared to winter – the nature was gorgeous, it wasn’t too cold and I didn’t stress too much about exams and thesis at that time. There was time to enjoy my new home and have fun with new friends and Japanese friends that I already had.

First of all, the Japanese nature is astonishing during autumn. The leaves on the trees change color and can be found in beautiful nuances of red, green, brown and yellow, and the trees stayed that was until around the middle of December where my sister visited me in Japan. I got to see the beautiful colors in Kyoto at Jidai Matsuri (festival of the times), on hikes to Nunobiki Falls in Kōbe, at Rokko Matsuri (yearly festival at the university) and at Kōbe Oji Zoo. Besides those trips I went on a university trip to Awaji island where all the new exchange students and tutors watched a traditional Japanese puppet show and had a BBQ afterwards.

On an everyday basis I spent a lot of time with some girls from the dormitory and with Michelle, and on Mondays Michelle and I had no classes and often went shopping in Kōbe, went to karaoke, to the game arcade, to Ōsaka or to the cinema. One time we went to see Kimi no na wa, which actually became quite popular in Denmark afterwards. We went to parties at the dormitory, and I particularly remember the Halloween weekend where we partied Saturday (the only party where I was hungover) and watched Halloween movies Sunday in my room while eating pizza from Domino’s. Michelle and I bought our costume at Don Quixote (is also called Donki Hote in Japan) and I was dress as Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, a Hayao Miyazaki movie. Fun fact about Domino’s in Japan: If you order a pizza you can build your own, and when they deliver to your place you can follow the GPS of your delivery guy and see name, favorite music and favorite sports team. 

In Japan they have a lot of seasonal products and I tried several Halloween themed snacks like chips and soda. They also had snacks that were Christmas themed and these came out already during autumn. Funnily enough they see strawberries like Christmassy (totally opposite of how it is in Denmark). Therefore there were many strawberry-flavored snacks, but I’ll talk more about it in the next episode about winter in Japan. As you can see in one of the pictures we could already make Christmas purikura during autumn, where Line from our university came to visit us in Kōbe.

Autumn was really lovely in Japan, and I have a lot of videos from my time there on my YouTube channel. There you can find a Nitori tour (“Japan’s IKEA”) and a supermarket tour. During my stay I also experienced my second and third earthquake in my life (the first one was during my third holiday in Japan in 2015), and the first earthquake this time happened while I was shopping in 7-Eleven at the university where I saw the shelves shake back and forth. Weirdly enough Michelle didn’t feel it, but I remember it clearly. The ladies at the register asked us afterwards if we were OK, and well they’ve probably experienced a lot of quakes in their lives. The second quake happened while I was sitting in my room a Saturday, but that one was not so bad. All in all I felt very safe while I lived in Kōbe, especially because the dormitory and the university was up on a mountain. Also the safety was good.

Yes, this was probably the best autumn of my year. I wasn’t homesick much and often talked to my family and to Frederik. I just enjoyed life after finding out what I had to about classes and such. Thank you for an amazing autumn, Kōbe.