HI ALL!!!
First, I think you will want to know that I am not only okay in my new place, but also extremely happy and ecstatic with my new roommate!! With that part over, let me go back ... way way way back to

Wednesday:
After the tete-a- tete, friends and I went to CARLSBERG BREWERY!!! We got there kind of late, and we knew that the bar was closing soonish, so we decided to rush through the museum to be able to get the two free drinks. I got a .... what was it .... a Carlsberg Saaz Blonde. It wasn't too bad ... one of the better ones I have had, that's for sure. I was going to get a second one, but I wasn't up for it, so I got a Coke Light instead ... still tasty. :) Then I looked at the new housing (I promise I will tell more soon), and was thinking ... ehhh. But that's because my roommate wasn't there. Then I went home, was civil, packed for the next day, and went to bed.

Thursday – woke up SO early, at 5:45. Sigh ... it was horrible!!! Sigh – but c'est la vie. The bus ride was fun – many friends on my trip (including someone who I went to camp with – how weird is that?!?). We went over the 2nd largest/longest bridge in the world (the largest/longest is in Japan ... we were joking that it was only larger by a foot or something, because that would be REALLY funny!!), and it was ... fun ... I guess. When we got to Odense [it is the island in-between Jutland (the mainland) and Zealand (where Copenhagen is)], we went to the H.C. Anderson museum. This is the town where he was born, but he, literally, hated this town so much that once he was of adult age to leave (14), he did and moved to Copenhagen. Something else I learned was that his mother was a wash-woman (who washed clothing in the river) but because it was so cold when they did it, and they had to be in the water the whole time, the only thing that helped warm them up was alcohol. So ... she was an alcoholic – which made Anderson feel like he would be judged for it. So that was another reason he left. My friend, Leandra, and I went to lunch together, then to a watch/glasses store so that I could get my watch battery replaced (had I known I could do that, I would have brought my REALLY cool watch with the multi-colored face. Sadness). While waiting, we bought ourselves Valentine's Day chocolate, and then went back to the store. I saw these really cool sunglasses there, and ... I bought my FIRST really cool thing in Denmark!!

Then we had a tour of the town, which is small, but really really cute!! We next went to the hostel (I KNOW!! ME IN A HOSTEL!!!) and my 3 roommates and I got settled. I roomed with Leandra, and my friends Maddy and Kathryn (who I'm going to Turkey with ... Kathryn, not Maddy). After nine years of sleeping on top (.... of a bunk bed), I finally got to sleep on the bottom!! It was fun. And helpful for Friday night ... but that comes later. We then went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then friends and I went to a bar for drinks ... because it's legal! I got two drinks, which was fun. After my first drink, we saw that there were all these people had come in. One of the braver people I was with talked with them, and found out that they were exchange students from all over Europe, and they were doing a PUB CRAWL around Odense! So ... We followed along. We were thinking that, technically, we're exchange students ... so it counts. ; ) But then I got really tired, so I went back to the room to read my book that is, basically, a modern day version of Pride and Prejudice and it's not that great.

Friday ... we went to a type of high school where you can take classes for 2 weeks to 4 months, but with no credits given. So a lot of people do it to figure out what they want to do with life. For the one we went to, it is a lot of foreigners who come to this school to learn better English and to learn Danish so that they can find suitable work in Denmark and be able to live well here. We had a really good lunch buffet there, which we were told was very Danish ... and delicious! Then we went to a Moravian village ... which was somewhat pointless because the tour guide did not speak English much, so we had no idea what she was talking about ... and she didn't talk about traditions of the people or anything interesting like that. My friend, Leandra, comes from a Moravian town in PA, and she had more information about the town than the tour guide told us. The entire time we were freezing our butts off, wishing that we were in Odense where, at least, we could be in the warmth ... hypothetically shopping. FINALLY, we get back to Odense, and we shop. But, because I knew I was leaving, I didn't want to get anything because my bags are already too full as-is. Then my friends Leandra, Lauren (who I was at camp with), Allie, Jess (who goes to Goucher ... Jess Weissman) and I went to dinner. We got nachos to share, then our own dinners (I got a burger) and water. Well, after dinner, I start feeling those nachos ... and not in the good way. But I just figured that I needed some time to let it digest. I go to bed at, around, 10pm, wake up at midnight feeling queasy. I quickly walk (four steps to) the bathroom, put my hair up, close the door, and get ready. Then I start .... getting violently ill. Now, it had been 2 years since that has last happened to me and, honestly, I expected to be ill from alcohol NOT food (like always). But ... sigh ... it sucked. But I am all right now – so life's good! :)

Saturday! We went to an open prison, which was cool because we TOTALLY have nothing like that at home! So ... they get these jobs, and have a lot more freedoms than they do in closed prisons. It was really interesting. There, Leandra and I decided to start pictures called "Where's Hilary?" So all the places we went to after that, we had me go somewhere and I had the same facial expression and hand motion and stuff. It was really fun to do! Next we went to a boring art museum, where I started to get nauseous again. Then we went home. And I packed, because the next day I would be leaving.

Sunday. I finally left the hellhole called my home stay. I moved into shared housing, which is like a mixture of an apartment and a dorm room (a two-person dorm room ... NOT a one-person dorm room). My roommate was not there, so I decided to go to DIS to do some homework. Well ... that plan failed miserably because it was my first time in 4 days online, and I had a LOT of email to catch up on. So ... a lot of time was spent online, and not as much on the computer. When I finally got home, I meet my roommate and she is so sweet!! Her name is Rachel Katz, she is from Houston, Texas. She is Jewish, like me, and only child, in the business program ... and just really sweet!! So, I am really happy where I am. Also, the four other DIS people living on our hall seem uber nice as well ... so YEAH ME!!! Obviously, karma decided to give me something good after my bad experience... but I will not finish my sentence since I am supposed to have moved on.

Today ... I had school. Kind of enough said. OH! Something I thought was funny was that, in my Danish class, my professor told us how words in Danish make no sense at all. Haa! Isn't that ridiculous?? We have to learn a language that makes no sense .... Great. ;)

Another update ... esque ... bit of information is that my friend, Maddy, decided that she wants to call me "Hill Bill." Well, originally, it was "Beverly Hill Billy," but I nixed that because it sounds weird, and like I am a hill-billly. We laughed about it because it would be funny if I had three kids and named them Beverly, Hilary and Billy. Haa!!

I am now trying to book a flight to Paris, so I can stay with my friend Molly for a weekend. I also need to buy a ticket for Ireland, with the roomie, and a ticket for a weekend in London. EXCITEMENT!!

love always,
HILARY!!