Skip to main content

i almost forgot i went to denmark.

I realized I actually didn't write anything about my weekend in Denmark. I completely forgot to tell anyone that I went. It was a REALLY chill weekend, hanging out with friends from Gustavus, staying in my friends apartment near Copenhagen, exploring the city, having home-cooked meals, and going out in Copenhagen at night. Not a single map was opened, not a single tour was taken...we just spent time together and  enjoyed the beauty of being Gusties and being in Copenhagen together. I loved it.

However, the thing that made my trip to Copenhagen so significant was the fact that I went ALONE. I met friends there, yeah (they were SAINTS and picked me up at the airport), but I travelled to Rome and flew to Denmark ALONE. I've never done anything like it before. I mean I've flown alone before, in the U.S, but never in a different country. I was nervous. I had to take a really early morning bus from Perugia to Rome on the Friday morning after thanksgiving...then spend like three or four hours in the Rome Fiumicino airport alone, then fly to Copenhagen alone, and then wander aimlessly until I found my beautiful, amazing friends. I've literally never been happier to see friends before. Ever. I don't have a phone that works outside of Italy, so I was SO nervous that I wouldn't find them in the airport, and then I'd be stranded in Copenhagen, alone. But no, my friends are awesome and were there, waiting cheerfully as soon as I got off the plane. :)

So that went smoothly. However, on the way back, I was even less excited, because I was leaving my friends, and was going to be spending the night alone in the Rome Fiumicino airport upon my return to Italia. So Peter took me to the Copenhagen airport in time for my 6:20pm flight on Sunday night, at the end of a short but wonderful weekend, and I caught my flight back to Rome. However, I didn't land in Rome until after 9pm, and the last bus/train back to Perugia leave before 9. SO I was stuck. It would have been a waste of money to get a hostel, and totally dangerous for me to have tried to get there in Rome alone at night. So I got some snacks, pulled out my blankets (I thought ahead), hugged my backpack with my LIFE, and slept. In the Rome airport. Alone. On a chair. Clinging to my backpack for dear life (AIN'T NO PICK-POCKETERS GONNA GET THIS GIRL). It was not my favorite moment of the whole semester, but I DID IT. I have never spent so much time alone in my life. With literally no contact, with anyone. It was definitely a moment of growth for me. I learned that I can, in fact, handle being alone with my thoughts for over 10 hours, surrounded by people who don't speak the same language as me. It wasn't horrible, and it definitely made me a stronger person.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.

Fun fact: No pictures were taken in Denmark. Literally none. So realistically, there's no proof that it happened. Which is probably why I forgot to tell people I went. But it was one the best weekends of my semester because it was SO relaxing and SUCH a learning experience. I had to be so independent, and I'm SO proud of myself!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mental Health Awareness Month Resources and Reflections

General Mental Health Awareness Resources (linked below): National Institute of Mental Health Mental Health America Brain and Behavior Research Foundation National Alliance on Mental Illness National Eating Disorders Association Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Donor Drive (in honor of Ryan P. Johnson) Myths v. Facts of OCD: International OCD Foundation

mood-o-meter

One of my main goals for my classroom this year is to teach my students how to communicate their emotions and use productive and healthy coping mechanisms. So, I introduce to Miss Forster's first grade class... ....DRUMROLL PLEASE..... The mood-o-meter!! Here's an example of a mood meter that I found online: Basically, here's how it works/how I want to use it. The colors can represent different types of feelings on the spectrum.  Blue: low energy/unpleasant=sad, depressed, sulky, tired, etc. Green: low energy/pleasant=happy, content, peaceful, calm, etc. Yellow: high energy/pleasant=excited, surprised, enthusiastic, etc. Red: high energy/unpleasant=angry, frustrated, annoyed, etc. In our classroom this year, we are going to start the year off by learning about this spectrum of emotions-->the mood meter. We'll discuss what the different colors represent, what someone looks like when they're feeling each emotion, what you feel like doing whe

werk ur body

My beautiful and wonderful friend Anna Ayers Looby sent me a link today that really got me thinking. Here's the link: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_physicaled Basically it gave me the flashing reminder that my students NEED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY in their daily lives. Everyone should have a total of 60 minutes of some sort of physical activity every single day. Since my students only get P.E. twice a week, most of them just want to eat their snack instead of run around at recess, and the rest of their 8 hour day is spent sitting....majority of those minutes depend on me. Now, when your school and state have a deathly fear of failing and standards, objectives, mastery, and test scores are at the core of everything you do, it's easy to forget about the importance of educating well-rounded children. If you'd asked me to add physical activity to my classroom during my first year of teaching, I probably would have started crying (ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME I CAN HARDLY GET ALL THE