Saturday, May 8, 2010

Colombia, Denmark, Sweden, and Lithuania...the perfect babymoon?

A babymoon is what people call the vacation you and your partner take before having the baby.  When we told Leissa, our midwife, that we were going on a month-long trip, she said it was great that we were going to take the time to be together before the craziness of the newborn.  This is what I think she was thinking:

What I wish this trip was like

What this trip has been like.

In reality, we flew out to Colombia so that my Colombian family could see me pregnant to verify the fact (they all looked at me as sort of an anomaly...I was nearing my late 20s unmarried and unkidded, still in school, and living with my boyfriend.  Definitely not the prime example of a typical Colombian woman).  While there, I had to visit with my extended family, go out with them when they invited me, make sure I could translate for Billy, keep up on my work for school, and finish 2 finals.  It wasn't as much a vacation as I hoped it'd be. 

The food, however, was DELICIOUS!  My favorite thing about being Colombia is the fruit and all of the fruit juices they make.  Each morning, they would make freshly-squeezed juice.  My favorite juice was jugo de mora (blackberry juice) and my favorite fruit is this weird looking thing called a granadilla.  The fruit is hard on the outside but when you open it, there are tons of gooey blackish seeds with a slimy, sweet, delicious coating :

Delicious!

We left Colombia on Wednesday morning.  We arrived at the airport at 6am in the morning, got to New Jersey at 3:30pm, left New Jersey at 5:30pm and got to Copenhagen at 7:30 in the morning (12:30am Colombia time).  I was terrified of flying that long and being as pregnant as I am.  Leissa told us to make sure that I drank enough water and got up to walk around a few times.  I did walk around but only because I had to pee every hour or so.  I brought one of those great crystal light mini-packs that makes you actually want to drink the water, so it was pretty easy to stay hydrated.  As far as the 14 hour time spent in flight, I cannot tell you how time flies when you're watching movies: Avatar, the Departed, and, I'll have to admit, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (or something like that).  

When we got to Copenhagen, it was 40 degrees outside, rainy, and very windy.  I know this is Scandinavia, but really?  40 degrees in May?  On my trip?

We got to our apartment which is absolutely adorable.  Only downfall, the bathroom is the size of a closet and the bed is really hard, which makes it difficult for me to sleep on the requisite left side.  I can't wait to go home and sleep in my pillow-top bed with my monster pillow and see my chiropractor.  

We have not seen a lot of Copenhagen; we're staying northwest of the city in a suburb called Norrebro and Billy's working at a school in Hellerup, just north of the city and situated in the chee chee yuppie part of Copenhagen.  We've walked by several nice (read: Scarlett and Billy can't afford) shops that sell the most beautiful furniture ever.  Although the food hasn't been stellar (except for an amazing pain au chocolat that we got from the cafe), the Danes do have an eye for design.   

Look at these beauties!

Thank God I don't live here.  I'd bankrupt poor Billy.  Also, the Danes have these adorable little prams (strollers).  Well, they're not so little.  It's like carting around a bassinet on wheels, but they're pretty neat looking.


I just finished my last final (Biostatistics II) and have less work to do this upcoming week up until Friday, where I'll get my General Exam (which takes 8 hours and which I have to pass to be able to move forward with my PhD).  I'm freaking out about it, but at least I'll have a few days to relax before that goes on.

We also have trips to Stockholm, Sweden and Vilnius, Lithuania planned in the next few weeks.  If the weather keeps up like this, it means that instead of coming home like this, as I had planned:


I'll be coming home like this:

 Just the pale skin, of course.  I'm not planning any plastic surgery for this trip.

Hopefully, we'll be able to recover from this god-awful jet lag and be able to actually go sightseeing.  We'll try to take pictures to post. 

3 comments:

  1. Hey it's Kat (Jon's wife). While you're in Copenhagen make sure you get some street vendor hot dogs (with the special mustard) and some Danishes (it's called a danish for a reason) SOOOO good! I'm jealous I'm not out there again. Have fun!!!!

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  2. Mmmmm I hope you drank some maracuya in leche, too!

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  3. Kat, we have had 2 hot dogs so far and they are amazing! We had the ones that come in the little bread pocket with the "French" sauce. The "pop" that the hot dog makes when you bite into it is probably the 4th greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Also, the croissants with the chocolate in them are my favorite thing to eat here. Can't get enough of them. Pizza and burgers have been a letdown so far.

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