100km later...

1. Bornholm.  Denmark’s “Sunshine Island,” is beautiful. 

At midnight on Friday night about 60 of us boarded an overnight ferry from Køge to Rønne, on Bornholm.  Most of us slept on ferry chairs, and were woken at 530am when the sun started to rise.  So, very little sleep, and a TON of biking ahead of us in the next few days.  After arriving in Rønne and driving to our hostel in Gudhjem (translates to home of the gods), we ate a quick breakfast and were given bikes to explore.  Seven of us girls decided on the Killer tour, which went to the famous beach Dueodde, which exports sand for hour glasses because it is some of the finest sand in the world.  The “Killer tour” was originally meant to be 65km around the south-eastern part of the island, up and down hills, and through beautiful fields (which equaled strong winds).  Sounds like a challenge for sure, but do-able.  Well, our group split up a bit, and as it turns out, both groups got pretty lost.  We probably biked at least 80km on Saturday, which is 48 miles.  Up and down hills. Against wind.  In case you haven’t guessed, our bodies were ACHING.  And really, we would have been much more lost, if Assiyah didn’t wave a car down.  The woman in the car was so friendly- informing us that we had actually gone the OPPOSITE direction that we wanted to (greatttttt).  BUT she also gave us her map of Bornholm which was SUPER nice.  And really, it was our life savor.  But actually.  So, about 20km later, we were back to DanHostel- wind burned, freezing, thirsty and hungry.  I inhaled 2 pieces of chicken breast and nearly a plate of rice.  Oh but don’t worry, we still went for ice cream and got the Gudhjem special- 2 scoops of hard ice cream, soft ice, and a flødebolle (pronounced in my head- flu-butta).  Yes, I was nauseated after this.  Geri Kelly Sarah and I were in our beds and asleep by 945.  It was glorious. 

rolling hills :)

super intense

Assiyah and I

Michelle on the bike path

green fields :)

Dueodde sand dunes

Geri at Dueodde

Geri Sarah Me Assiyah Michelle Katie Kelly

Day 2.  I woke up around 6 with the sun bursting through our window (with a view of the sea : ) ), laid in bed awhile and then went and sat by the rocks and journalled before breakfast.  After breakfast the group of us took off north- biked to the art museum and then hiked a bit from there, to a beach, and to some cliffs/jagged edges.  It was really beautiful and very fun.  The rocks were GREAT for climbing, except Michelle and I got super nervous because if you slipped, you would die. (literally, fall 20-30feet into the rocky sea).  We both wanted to live a little longer, so we took extreme precaution (don’t worry M&D!!).  We biked some more hills for kicks and giggles, and then went back to Gudhjem.  Sarah and I enjoyed tea and chocolate and pears at the chocolate shop (delic) and then I bought some gummies for Mike and Kel before packing up and heading back to København.  I slept at Assiyah’s house because she lives way closer to DIS and lugging my big rolling bag through the rain (oh yeah, did I mention that I brought an ACTUAL duvet (not just the cover) to Bornholm, and brought the biggest suitcase I’ve traveled with all semester for less than 48 hours of travel? Because, I did!- dumb dumb dumbbbbb).  But it was great fun to have a sleepover, so I was a-ok with it in the end : )

wild flowers and Baltic Sea

   Random cool things about Bornholm (mostly food related hahaaha)

-RIDING A BIKE WITHOUT HOLDING THE HANDLES!!!!!!
-fell in love with the hotdogs (again)
-“stole” some sand from Dueodde beach to make my own hour glass (not

really, but I did take the sand)

flødeboller and tea :)

-took some cool skipping stones from Dueodde

-ate some yummy gummies

-found a rock that looks like a heart : )

-biked around with some pretty awesome chicas

-wore dandelions in my hair all weekend

-the woman who gave us the map and directions

-learning how to spell flødeboller

-Danes are super nice here

-didn’t get to try herring (the specialty

2. Summer. A mini update I guess ( I find it fascinating to document this for myself since my life has not had such little “organization/planning” for a chunk of time as big as a summer in a longgg time it feels)  

*Internship with Global Health Ministry- once a week, go to Philadelphia, work from home every day on organizing data and information into teaching manuals for community health workers

*Epidemiology of Aging- one week, 20 hour course at Columbia at the end of June, live with Kylie and explore NYC in the afternoons… : )

*teaching CCD to 8^th graders- two weeks, end of July/beginning of August

Still figuring out/thinking about… GRE prep, planned parenthood/other pregnancy center, trip to Florida, Victoria’s wedding, visiting Assiyah in beautiful California? We shall see, we shall see….the stuff that is set though, is quite exciting to me : ) the cosmetic surgery internship was on a personal level kinda conflicting, so turning it down was wayyyy peace-giving.

Jeg elsker dig
I love you :)
[[a poster in the chocolate shop in Gudhjem]]