Introducing Aaryn

With the days growing shorter, my time here in the US is diminishing daily. What currently stands between Denmark and me are a few classes, a few holidays, and a few orientation meetings, and after that, nothing. Sometimes, I think if I stay so on top of things that I get ahead of where I need to be in school, it will shorten the time before my plane leaves the ground at O’Hare and lands in Denmark.

I had this dream the other day, I’m getting off my plane, hair a mess, clothes wrinkled, and face flushed, and I see my host family for the very first time. There are five of them, a husband, wife, two girls, I’d say about 10 and 12, and one little guy holding a little flag in his hand. They are standing there, filled with nearly as much excitement as I am, waiting for me!

Obviously this was just a vision of my imagination, and I really have no idea what type of family I’ll be staying with, but it’s magical to wonder and dream! I can’t wait to see the smiles of the family that will be taking me in for five months. The people I will be sharing dinners and laughter with! It is all too real! These are the people that will be my first window into Denmark, my first and most impressionable experience abroad!

After this wonderful dream, I woke up in the morning to a series of applications for scholarships, housing, and classes. The reality of it all is that it’s time consuming to plan and plan and plan to do something as spectacular as go abroad, but it is all worth it! To be neck deep in a culture that is so different from your own! I can’t even imagine the way I will feel touring a castle that holds hundreds of years of history nailed to its walls and secured beneath layers of glass! I can hardly imagine what photos I will come back with, what lush scenery and historical landmarks will fill the backgrounds of my selfies and group photos! It is almost unreal! And yet, in a few short months, Denmark will be my life and my home!

Because I am leaving all of you wonderful lovelies behind in the cold Wisconsin air, I have decided to blog my experiences in Denmark, so that when these dreams are no longer just wishes granted by sleep but are real feelings, thoughts, smells, and photos, I will be able to share them with you! You, the people who encouraged me to apply to go abroad, who told me it was the experience of a life time and I deserved to experience it! You too deserve a sliver of my experience and I hope to grant that much to you with this blog!

 

Until next time!

Aaryn Kealty