What have I been doing the past few weeks? January turned out to be a very, very busy month, and besides the blog posts from the first week, I have had no time to write about any of what’s been happening in my life. So now I will catch you up on everything that has happened since the first week of January
1. We Made a Kage Mand (“Cake Man”)
Mads’ birthday is January 14th, and months before his birthday this year, I had promised him that I would make him a Kage Mand. A Kage Mand is exactly what it sounds like, a cake shaped as a man just with icing and candies on top, and in Denmark, it is a traditional cake to make for someone’s birthday (but usually it’s usually for kids). So before I took Mads on his secret birthday trip (more on that further down), I had to make him his very own Kage Mand. Mads had given me some guidance by saying what candies he wanted on the cake, but the rest was up to me. I’m so thankful Linda came over and helped me make Mads’ Kage Mand. He turned out so handsome! Our Kage Mand was made out of cinnamon buns stuck together into a man-shape, which apparently wasn’t the traditional way of making a Kage Mand, but he still turned out very delicious (and it only took us 4 hours to make! haha).
2. Mads’ Secret Birthday Trip ~ London
Mads knew I was planning a birthday trip for him, but where we were going was a surprise! On the morning we got to the airport, I revealed to him that we were going to London! He was so happy, because two of his best friends he met in Australia were living in London, and I had been texted with them for the past few months to arrange this trip!
Day 1 in London
One of the other surprises for Mads was that he didn’t know when we were meeting up with his friends, Shannon and Elliott. In the airport, I had told (lied to) him that Shannon and Elliott were very busy with work and could maybe meet up with us on the weekend. He believed me! After we checked into our hotel in London, one of the first things we did was “run into” Shannon and Elliott at a food market. Mads was so surprised and happy! Afterword, Shannon and Elliott showed us around London, and we saw all the sights.
After we had walked around for a little bit, the last surprise of the day was revealed. We were taking Mads to an escape room! Mads and I had tried this before back in the US with some of our friends, and we had such a blast. He was very excited to try it again! We went to Omescape London, and it was the best escape room I had ever experienced. It was way tougher than the ones I had tried before, but we still managed to escape with a minute and some seconds left. This was one of my favorite things about the trip!
To end the night, we went to a mini golf bar. I had never heard of a mini golf bar before, and I love playing mini golf, so I was pretty excited about this. Mads also loves competition, so he was determined to win. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the inside, because the mini golf course was so cool. In the end, Mads did end up winning, because Shannon, Elliott, and I collectively decided to let him win, since it was his birthday trip.
Other Things We did in London on Day 2 and 3
We had the best breakfast in our entire lives! We were at the Portobello market one morning, and I was googling to try and find a good breakfast place near us, and I stumbled upon Lowry & Baker. Their food was soooooooo good. I would definitely recommend it!
As I kind of mentioned before, we went to a lot of markets. We ended up exploring the Portobello Market, Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane Market, and the Camden Market, which is pictured above. I loved shopping and looking through all the interesting and vintage kiosks. London is definitely the place to go if you want to shop in quality vintage and independent stores. We managed to find quite a few clothing items and even lamps for our apartment!
Exploring Whitstable on Day 4
On the last night, we stayed at Elliott’s house in Whitstable. The Whitstable area is where Shannon and Elliott both live, so we decided to spend a night there to see places outside of London. It was such a cute seaside town, and we got to try out both fish and chips and a full English breakfast (Mads and I weren’t the biggest fans).
It was such a lovely way to end the trip. Mads enjoyed his birthday a lot, so all-in-all it was definitely a success! A big, big thanks to Shannon and Elliott for helping me plan this trip for months and for showing us around London and your home!
3. Copenhagen Business School Orientation and Danish Crash Course
I had a week of a Danish Language Crash course and a week of orientation. The two weeks were filled with a lot of social events, like a comedy night, movie night, welcome dinner, etc. During these weeks, I met a lot of new people including Marilyn (pictured above to the right)! I also got reunited with Sofia (above to the left), who studied at my university in North Carolina the fall of 2016. It was great going to all the events and meeting all the new (and old) people. I especially liked the Danish crash course, since I really, really want to learn Danish! 😀
4. Game Night with the Gals
The girls (Me, Linda and Natascha) were back together again! We made some dinner, drank some wine, and played A LOT of boardgames. We played some classics like Sequence and Splendor, and a new game, called Betrayal at House on the Hill. It was a super fun and cozy night, and I can’t wait to see them again!
5. Our New Bookcase
The last thing for the update isn’t really something I did, but something Mads and I bought for the apartment. A huge bookcase! A few Fridays ago, two massive packages were dropped off at our apartment, while I was home alone. I had to call Mads to come and help me carry them up, because there was absolutely no way I could do it myself. After about an hour of carefully carrying the packages up the stairs to our apartment, we put it together and put all our stuff on it. As you can see, we still need a lot more books to fill up the shelves, but it is a work in progress. 🙂 I think it is beautiful, and makes our home a little more homier.
5 Happy Things from Yesterday
- I had a great day at my new job. (More on that in a later post)
- I had my Danish class, and it is my favorite class, because it’s fun to speak Danish and I can tell that I’m getting better every time I go!
- Mads and I synced calendars so we don’t have to ask each other a million times what our plans our (we should have done this ages ago!).
- We took Marilyn to Absalon for the first time. The food was really good, and she loved the atmosphere.
- After dinner, Absalon set up some ping pong tables, and we got to play some around-the-table ping pong. I was bad, but not as terrible as usual, which I consider a happy thing. 🙂
Where Sue Wanders 