Hej,
BIG DAY FOR BETHANY TODAY!!! I am officially a yellow belt in karate!!! To fill you in, I skyped with my host family over the summer, about a month before I came to Copenhagen. While talking to them, they mentioned an opportunity I had to bring home something extra with me when I return to the states in December. I bit, asking what I could do. They said karate. I could join a beginners class with my host mom and have the chance to come home with my white, yellow, and orange belt. I said yes, of course!! So, every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, I head to Solrød Karate Club and participate in the beginner class. Not bad, right? Except I’m in Denmark, so the class is in…you guessed it, Danish. I literally have zero idea what is going on about 83% of the time, and I have learned to just kind of follow what others are doing. My host mom also acts as a translator when I need one. When I first started, my host mom told me not to worry, because some of the class is in Japanese. I looked at her and said all of it is jibberish to me, so I cannot tell when they are speaking Japanese versus Danish. But, I still really enjoy the class, and tonight I took my first step to a black belt! This is the first belt I have actually earned, and I am so happy with myself for deciding to try karate.
While today was probably the most exciting day of the past week, I did do some fun things during the rest of the week. Last weekend, I finally got to visit Tivoli! It is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. Tivoli also gets redecorated for each holiday season, so I got to see the Halloween set up. But don’t worry, I’ll be back to see it in November for the Christmas decorations.
School work is slowly piling up, with midterms and papers galore. It is crazy how fast the semester is moving. Next week is my second travel break, where I will be travelling to Italy and Greece. After that, I have only five weeks left of school!! I am loving it here, and I hope you guys are enjoying the semester back home. I want to say congrats on the Skotedis Cup win and the great work at Head of the Charles. I miss you all! Keep working hard 🙂
Best,
Bethany