Week 21 brought around the week for each group to carry out
their second planned activity for the class.
On Monday the first group had
organised a type of scavenger hunt in the Aarhus town. We all met at VIA
University to get our first instructions. Here we were ordered to climb all the
way to the top of the building (which believe me is not something you want to
do at 9am!) to locate a map which gave us directions to follow. After following
the map, carrying out the different tasks along the way, a visit to AROS museum
and a trip to the Viking museum we ended up back at the botanical gardens.
Here
we had time to reflect on our views of the day, how we worked as a team and
our overall perception of the activity. In my opinion I found the activity a
really good one; it gave us the opportunity to see parts of the town we never
knew existed even after almost four months!
However, the weather didn’t hold up
for us to be running around the town which was the only downfall, but still a
good day overall.
Later on Monday night we all gathered in Jessica’s flat to
have dinner together and watch a film, however with the MANY different preferences,
we never decided on one and instead the Irish picked a quality programme to
show everyone else…Father Ted. Much to our disappointment, it didn’t go down very
well because we couldn’t get subtitles and if I even struggle sometimes to
understand a strong Southern accent, our international friends had no hope!
On Tuesday, it was my group’s activity. We had planned an
activity that incorporated coping mechanisms for stress and to promote mental
health and well-being. Thankfully it wasn’t raining so we took to the botanical
gardens and began our day with some yoga and meditation. After everyone was
relaxed, we encouraged them to partake in some games, the first being Kings, a
game quite similar to dodgeball. Then we went back to yoga and some more
meditation time, then finished up with a game of rounder’s, something that was
actually a difficult concept to explain to our class but it ended up being
quite successful. Our aim was to give our class a day for relaxing and having
fun and I think we managed to do so rather effectively.
Once my activity was over and done with, we had made
previous plans with Dr John to meet for lunch downtown, so that’s where we
headed next. We arranged to meet at the train station and go to a little
restaurant the girls and I had stumbled across one evening. Dr John informed us
that he just wanted to grasp an idea of how we were getting on in University
and our course, difficulties we had encountered and the general gist of how we
got on living in Denmark. The other girls and I couldn’t speak any more highly
than we did of our time in Aarhus and I think Dr John was more than pleased
to hear that we had survived this long without any problems and were continuing
to make the most of our experience and enjoy the rest of the time we had here.
On Wednesday it was the third group’s activity, and this
involved an insight into the nutritional content of different foods that we eat
every day, our lifestyle habits and general health and well-being. I can say
now that after this activity I was truly enlightened by the consequences of bad
diet and lifestyle, and not only was it a enjoyable day but I can honestly say
I learnt a lot.
Unfortunately Wednesday wasn’t all good; it also brought
about the beginning of saying our goodbyes to our classmates. It was Cristina’s
last day and no matter how hard we all tried to ignore it, when the time game
it brought an overwhelming sense of sadness. We knew this was the start of what
we had to face over the coming week and there was no way to avoid it. We sent
Cristina on her way, with lots of hugs and best wishes and although it was hard
we had to keep thinking that, it’s a good thing that we all had the opportunity
to meet each other and an even better thing that we made some great
friendships!
On Thursday it was the turn of the last group’s activity, beforehand
we got wind that the activity was mainly reflection based and so I turned up to
VIA expecting the day to be quite, sorry to say, but mundane. How wrong was I?!
This activity was by far the best to end on, we all got the chance to say our bit about our time in Denmark and the amazing experiences we all had together
and although it got very emotional at times, it was heart-warming to hear
everyone’s story about the fears they overcame coming to Denmark and how they
are leaving an all-round better individual, and I’m so glad to say, that I felt
exactly the same.
Later that evening, we all gathered at Dorte’s house for a
BBQ to prepare for our final goodbyes to the tutors on Friday. It was a great
evening, filled with reminiscing over the past four months, laughs and of
course more Øl bowling! Everyone was in a good mood from the day’s activity and
the night had such a relaxed atmosphere, we were all just appreciated the good
times we had left together and ensuring we were treasuring the moments that
would later turn into memories.
On Friday it was the long awaited graduation day! The tutors
each gave their insight into their experiences with us and praised us on
becoming such a close-knit group that they were sure would continue to be
life-long friends. We got shown a presentation of photos, Álvaro gave none
other than a hilarious speech and Lea’s broke all our hearts with her rendition
of ‘With a little help from my friend’s’. After we were awarded with our
diploma’s, we filled ourselves with the spread the tutors had laid out for us. Sadly
again this was not a completely happy day as we had to say goodbye to Evelyne
and Joliene who were off back to Belgium, after more hugs and well-wishes we
left the University together for the last time.
Not wanting to spend a minute without each other
we all made our way to Paolo’s that evening for yet another BBQ and to
celebrate our graduation, we all went to Skjoldhøj bar together that night.
On Saturday, we decided to host a formal dinner together in
Jessica’s flat, for the ceremonious giving out of our message notebooks,
personalised books that everyone in the class had wrote a little message in. Yet
again, the evening brought sadness as we had to say goodbye to our good
friends, Ana and Lea. It was a very emotional farewell but they both assured us
that it would be no time until we saw them again!
‘The two hardest things
to say in life are hello for the first time and goodbye for the last time.’ –
Moira Rodgers
On Sunday, we gathered to bring some happiness to the group
and to forget the inevitable that was happening in the next few days and the
best way we thought to do this was through a good game of Pictionary! The week
ended on such a high and I was glad to have a distraction from the looming
moment I had to say goodbye, not only to my new friends but to the country and town I had now grown so fond of.
References
Moira Rodgers - http://quotesgram.com/funny-quotes-to-say-goodbye/
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