This Somehow didn't get posted before I left

Snowing AND minus degrees so it'll stick around (fingers crossed) until when I arrive on Tuesday! :D

I'm completely packed, have left home, my family and my pets for the last time in the next 6 months. I am now in Sydney about to go to sleep and eagarly awaiting my flight tomorrow. Curse those evening flights that make you wait all day! 

Ana xx

They Liked It So They Put A Ring On It

The pretty little piece of paper saying I have been granted my Residency and Work Visa arrived in the mail today, so I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious. One less stress :)

They said yes!

Denmarks happiest resident xx

Wanderlust

How I feel, and not in a lame Hipster #BecauseI'mAwesomeIfIFeelThisWay #WanderlustIsCool kind of way

5 days to go :)

Ana xx

1 Week!

That Forecast

This weeks forecast looks amazing, bulk snow! I just hope it can drop a few more degrees and stick around!

Ana xx

6 Months in a Suitcase

As I began packing up my room in Armidale I decided to divide all of the things I had with me: 

• Things to take to Denmark vs. thing to leave behind/I won't need. 

As I began to pack the 'take to Denmark' things into my large suitcase my imagination ran wild as I envisaged the roles these things would play in my 6 months in Copenhagen. 

 Have you ever dreamed of something but, even though you have plans to make it happen, it just seems like something that will perpetually 'be happening in the future'? This has been me since I returned from Finland. 

Then in this mundane moment of packing the reality of my next adventure sunk in, my heart began racing, I got an epic adrenaline rush, I packed with unmatched enthusiasm, a permanent grin on my face and there was this feeling of indestructable elation consuming my whole being. It's hard to explain but if that feeling were a drug I would definitely be a junkie. Of course I feel happy and excited in similar magnitudes at other moments in life but there is this specific variety that is directly related to travelling/moving overseas on a semi-permanent basis; a specific rush that comes from leaving the comfort of everything familiar and entering the great unknown where the possibilities are endless.

I have officially crossed the threshold from simply knowing something is exciting to feeling it is exciting, bring on the next 6 months!

Ana xx

My Farewell/21st

When I returned to Armidale I had a small get together (dinner, then hitting the town followed by everyone heading back to the house I share with some friends) with close friends so I could see them all before I leave the country and don't see them for 6 months.

This small something turned into 5 days of celebrating with friends who came up early for some quality chill time and with those who stayed after the Saturday for the same reason. It was really great to be able to see so many of my close friends before I leave and feeling the love when people don't want me to leave and say they'll miss me. Don't worry guys, I'll be back before you know! <3

For those of you who made it an awesome few days and are now reading this, thank you so much for some great memories to take away with me and to everyone else, I hope you have a few close friends that love and support you as much as mine do.

Here is where I'll draw the gushing and warm and fuzzies to a close for now,

love,

Ana xx

Turning 21!

So my birthday lands on the 30th of December and this year, ladies and gentlemen, marked my 21st birthday!

I spent the day at home with my family, we went out for a nice breakfast in town with my Nana before she left to go home and just spent the day reading my lonely planet guides to Denmark and Copenhagen. My mum went on exchange to Denmark when she was 18 so she showed me all the places she had been and memories she had in these places.

When I opened the Lonely Planet guide to Copenhagen when I recieved it as a gift I flipped to a random page to see what it would say, as one does. I kid you not, the page I opened to was on drinking and clubs - if any number of my friends were present they would have said 'Classic Ana,' upon further investigation it turned out that not only was I in the alcohol section, but the alcohol section in the chapter specifically relating to Østerbro, the neighbourhood I am going to be living in. Clearly the universe knows me too well.

In the evening we did cake (because 'cake' is a verb now), it was an absolutely amazing cake that Dad had baked for me that day, it was a hit with everyone.

As a random side note: as of my birthday I have lost 12.6kg in 6 months, now having lost all my exchange weight (all the ex-exchange student out there feel my pain) an the lightest I've been in 5 years. Happy Birthday me!

Feeling Festive

Christmas 2013 was the first Christmas in 3 years that my immediate family were able to celebrate all in the same place. Two years ago I was on Rotary Youth Exchange in Finland, last year my sister was on university exchange in the US, but this year we were finally together again. We had a small family Christmas, just Mum, Dad, Nana, my sister and I.

As is tradition, we had a Flowering Gum as our Christmas tree - it made the house smell amazing!

Christmas Eve dinner - hosted by yours truly

Christmas Dinner - eating by candlelight

Festive Mantlepiece Decorations

The main theme behind most of the presents I recieved was, of course, my up and coming 6 months in Denmark. I interpret the gifts as enthusiasm and encouragement from family and friends, not everyone trying to get rid of me as quickly as possible, fingers crossed I'm right! Haha.

Lonely Planet Guides - Denmark (Christmas present) and Copenhagen (I later recieved for my 21st birthday)

DKK200 - my first Danish Kroner!!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas with loving company and great memories wherever you may have been celebrating,

Ana xx