Aarhus and Hadsten for Hellos and Goodbyes

We arrived in Aarhus very smoothly.  Our bus ride was mostly uneventful and unremarkable except for the incredibly long bridge from the island Copenhagen is on (Zealand) to the island Funen.  This bridge is called the Great Belt Fixed Link and is the third longest bridge in the world (and the longest outside of Asia).  It is 1.6km long (for comparison, the Golden Gate Bridge is 1.3km).

Thomas (my host father) picked us up from the bus station in Aarhus and drove us to Hadsten.  Once we arrived at my host family's house, I met Jane (my host mother, who will also be my Cooperating Teacher)!  She made a delicious dinner, which was very Danish (beef patties, caramelized onions, gravy, potatoes, and green beans).  It was very fun to get to know Thomas and Jane during dinner.  Thomas is a driving and first aid instructor and of course Jane is a teacher (specifically she teaches English and Danish).  They are both very kind people and their home is warm and welcoming.

Thomas's family has an annual New Year's Hunt tradition in Northern Jutland, so after dinner Thomas and Jane got ready to leave (they'd already told us we'd be solo on Friday).  They made sure to tell us how to take care of the house while they were away and how to set up a DVD to watch (and they recommended a film to see: Hvidsten Gruppen).

After they left, we did indeed watch Hvidsten Gruppen as it had already been recommended by Philip's dad and we'd been meaning to see for some time!  The film is about the Hvidsten Group, which was a group of people who received weapons and supplies dropped from British airplanes for the Danish resistance during WWII.  The center of this group was a family that ran an inn in Hvidsten, which is not very far North of Hadsten, where I am staying.  It was a great story, but we were a little disappointed with the film because it moved the story along quite slowly and as a result, lost a lot of its impact.

The next day (my first full day in Hadsten) we had decided to spend in Aarhus with Allison (from TEP)!  We met her at the train station around 10:30am and all took the train together into Aarhus (the second largest city in Denmark).  It was so much fun to spend the day with Allison and sort of crazy to be hanging out on the other side of the world!

First on our agenda in Aarhus was to visit the museum, ARoS.  As we walked to the museum, we walked by the City Hall.  On New Year's Eve, we had been told by Lisbeth that her husband, Mogens Bøggild (a famous Danish sculptor) had a piece in front of the City Hall building in Aarhus, so we made sure to find it.

The name of the piece is: Ceres Brønden, which I think is a sort of play on words with the ideas of healthy/well pigs, pigs regarding a well, and the phrase "well regarded"?*

We've seen many of Mogens Bøggild's pieces in Philip's home and those of his family members, so it was very cool to see one in public.

We then continued on to the museum, which currently has an exhibit called "Pas de Deux Royal" that is composed entirely of pieces created by the Queen and the Crown Prince!  It was very interesting to see how talented the royal couple is.  I particularly enjoyed the Crown Prince's sculptures and the fact that the Queen had designed sets!  Apparently this exhibit is somewhat controversial, and I saw a statement on television last night from the director of the Louisiana Museum saying that they wouldn't do this exhibit because they are more concerned with works of international acclaim.  

Another interesting thing about the museum is its structure: it has 9 floors and is loosely designed to model Dante's 9 circles of hell.  The bottom floor is underground and holds an exhibit entitled "The 9 Spaces," which definitely feels well-suited to the lowest level of Hell.  It consists of small, dark rooms off a long, winding (also dark) corridor.  This level has the most contemporary pieces and each room houses a different piece.  They ranged from a room full of ticking clocks to a room with a mirrored floor, so you felt you were about to fall off a ledge.  

Heaven is represented by the top floor, which is amazing.  It is called "Your Rainbow Panorama" and is very unique and quite remarkable.  Pictures do it most justice:

  

What is looks like from outside the building

From inside the Rainbow, looking through a clear portion at the other side

Philip inside the Rainbow, in the purple section

Allison inside the rainbow, in the yellow section

"Your Rainbow Panorama" was not only beautiful, but also really cool because we got to have a great view of the whole city of Aarhus and of the ocean.  

After this we went outside, where it was unfortunately just beginning to rain.  Indecision and confusion meant that we ended up wandering around wet and hungry for awhile longer than we would have liked, and we got an unconventional tour of Aarhus.  

We eventually decided to eat lunch in downtown Aarhus and then explored the shopping district of Aarhus.  There were so many cute and interesting shops.  It was quite fun.

We returned to Hadsten on the train around 4:30pm and Philip and I watched the newest episode of Sherlock together.  Then, later that evening we were picked up by Lotte (who is Michael's host mother) and had dinner with Michael and his host family.  It was a really wonderful dinner with great conversation about Denmark and the Danish social system (taxes, income, unemployment, health care, and more).

My second day in Hadsten began early with a drive to the Aarhus airport.  Luckily, Thomas's car is automatic, so we had arranged that I would drive Philip to the airport using the car's GPS.  It all worked out very smoothly and the airport was so small and empty that we got to sit and talk for awhile before we had to say goodbye.  

Allison took this the day before in Aarhus.  It was hard to say goodbye to Philip, but it's only a month.

The airport is very far away from anything and seems to be very difficult to get to without a car.  In some ways, Aarhus and Hadsten has felt very "Danish" and reminiscent of the time I have spent in Copenhagen.  In other ways, it has felt very different, but I think a lot of this is the difference between a big city and a town.  For example, here people still bike more than at home, but they also rely on their cars much more.  Even in Aarhus, cars seem to be quite important.

Later that day, Allison and her host family (Jesper, Kirsten, and Trine) picked me up and we all went into Aarhus to see "Den Gamle By" (The Old Town).  It is an area where they have brought old buildings from all over Denmark and reconstructed them with real, period-accurate furniture, decor, and more.  It is pretty incredible and quite the history lesson.  Usually the town is full of actors and shopkeepers who work in the town to make and sell items (such as baked goods) and to teach history about old Denmark.  However, with the holiday season (and presumably less tourists in the winter) there were no actors or shopkeepers the day we went.  There are still many demonstrations of different crafts with life-like people and activities (think Disneyland displays, but historically accurate).  

One such display was about the family of someone who makes coffins.  They even had one available to try out and Allison, being the brave woman she is, took it for a ride:

All in all, it was a lovely visit and we even had tea in Den Gamle By, which included a slice of chocolate cake and hot chocolate.  Yum!  

Me in the center of Den Gamle By

That evening Jane and Thomas came home and after dinner we watched two movies.  It was a really nice relaxing evening and I got to talk to Jane a lot about the school system here.  One thing that stood out to me is how substituting works.  Instead of bringing someone in from outside the school, if a teacher is sick, other teachers from within the school must cover for him/her.  The school schedule is set up so there are teachers with free periods built in for this.  When there are no substitutes needed, they are aids in other teachers' classes.  I think this is genius.  It relieves the stress on the teacher who gets sick (and accepts the reality that people do) and it creates an even tighter-knit school community.  Everything I have heard about teaching and schools here makes it sound like the system is really set up in a way that encourages teachers to work together and support one-another.  I'm sure I'll find out more about this soon.

My third day in Hadsten I woke up to find out that Philip's flight to the US was canceled because of the storms on the East Coast, so now he's stuck in Copenhagen for at least 2 days!  It feels frustrating to have him so close, but still I can't see him.  Today has been a restful day spent getting things done and chatting with Allison and Michael.  We did go into the center of Hadsten (about a 30 minute walk) to see one of the longest model train exhibitions in Northern Europe: Modelbane Europa.  It was actually awesome and we spent over an hour looking at all of the detail in the exhibits!  

A miniature version of the Hadsten train station!

There was even a beach, which included a nude beach (complete with creeper taking a photo from behind the rocks) - see if you can spot him!

Tonight, Jesper (Allison's host father) gave us a mini tour of the school, so it won't be a complete surprise tomorrow morning, but I'm still feeling nervous.  It's another first day of school for us (for the third time this school year)!  

On another note entirely, so many things here keep reminding me of our wedding (I guess there was more Danish involved than I really realized).  For example, "nisse" were mentioned today - and they were our cupcake toppers!  

As a result, I meant to post this video a few days ago, when it was more appropriate with the anniversary, but I only found time yesterday after Philip left.  It's a little random now, but a fitting tie-in to Danish traditions and saying goodbye to Philip for a month.

Time to start the next (and biggest) leg of this adventure!

* Addition about the sculpture name added later thanks to my father-in-law: 

Ceres is an beer from Aarhus, so it is a gift from Ceres to Aarhus. That is why it has that second name.  The real name is Grisebrønden.  Brønden can both mean a well and a trough. Here it is a trough.