Day I was born, Turkey in the morn

In Denmark, it's my birthday for 2.5 more hours. In Toronto, 8.5 more. And perhaps in the distant land of Liechtenstein, April 30th hasn't even arrived yet.

Either way, Kimberly Ivany is 21!

It was a rather strange birthday, being on a different continent than my family. I don't think I ever felt "homesick," but it was really wierd waking up and READING happy birthday wishes from my parents instead of actually hearing them in person.

I did get to skype them though, we well as my sisters and grandparents!!! Together from the little Goergetown living room, they sang to me, and I successfully blew out the candle via computer screen ;) It was magical.

But birthday celebrations didn't just start today. I am a firm believer in birthday weeks, and it's been a fun one :) Festivities included sunny lunch breaks at school, karaoke, a massive boat race party in the park, a bbq birthday party (skjoldhoj style), an afternoon by the lake, more drinks in a sunset, and some lovely presents from both Denmark and Canada :)








...and the COLOURS of April in Denmark!!! I just can't over them! I really do love being a spring baby :)



But Kimberly, why aren't you off sipping free birthday drinks right now, you may ask?

Well. This ain't no Thanksgiving -

...but it's TURKEY TIME!!!

Oh yes. In precisely 6 hours, my trip to Istanbul begins!!!

Marieke, Hugo and I are departing from Copenhagen airport tomorrow at noon to head to Istanbul to film our final project - a short documentary about the identity of Turkey, told through the perspective of students.

We'll be staying on the Asian side of the city for the first week on an actual univeristy campus, and then heading to the main city centre of Istanbul for the last 4 days of our trip!!!

HA! I was actually laughing out loud this afternoon as I was packing. Since I've been to Denmark, I've been to Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Perugia, Rome, and Barcelona. Packing for Turkey just seemed like a normal, daily activity...HAHA! Oh. MAN! Kimberly, just hang on a mo and think about it!!! You're going to TURKEY in the morning!!!

I remember meeting a guy from Turkey in Toronto about a year and a half ago. He raved about his city, and told me that I HAVE to visit it at some point. I remember responding really enthusiastically, but in my head, I was thinking that it would never happen. Why would I ever have reason to go there, or even a big desire to!?

And now, what is the first thing I'm doing as a 21-year-old?

Going to Istanbul for 10 days.

HA!!! But, of course.

We've got some interviews lined up, and some possible people we want to use as our main case studies to tell our story...but our storyline is a little hazy at the moment, and I'm feeling the pressure. We have 10 days to film enough material to make a solid 15 minute documentary and I want it to be GRAND! I've never made a doc before, nor have I ever been to Turkey, but I do hope - and think! - that we're going to create something delicious...hee ;) I'll keep you posted.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes :) Next blog post, I'll be is Asia...HAHA! Just have a think about THAT one!

-Kimberly Ivany, 21 years of age.

April 30

Good morning from Denmark :)

The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful...and I am 21!!!!!!!!!

...and I'd like to thank Facebook for the timely reminder, because I nearly forgot:


InDEED it is!

After a big barbeque-dance party here at Skjoldhoj last night - (THANKS Marije and Wendy for your bbq and house!) - it looks like it's going to be a pretty chill day. I've got some packing to do and a tea party to attend, but I shall return as the sun doth set to post some pictures, tell you about upcoming adventures, and to pass on some wisdom and whimisical ponderings from a 21-year-old Canadian in Daneland.

EEE! Life.

A small chrous of birds are singing outside my open window at the moment, and I do believe it's to the tune of "Happy Birthday." Ah! How nice.

TAK SKAL DU HAVE, BIRDS :D

Arhus awakens

Party people in the place to be,
you are now in the midst of a real MC,
throw yo' hands in the air if you as real as me
ooooOOOOOOOOH!

Hey there!

So I've been feeling rather sick the past couple of days, BUT. At this moment, my throat isn't screaming at me too loudly :D It's amazing how much we take health for granted. As soon as you feel better after feeling lousy, it's like the world is just a big bundle of chocolate cake joy.

Plus! With the help of Thorsten, I just finished my danish homework in preparation for class at 4:30. The Module 1 exam is coming up in a couple of weeks, which is oddly causing me a unnecessary amount of stress. If I don't pass, there is essentially nothing at stake, but I think my Type A personality is talking to my subconscious...which makes this fact an impossible one to accept.

However! Sometimes I surprise myself at the amount of Dansk I actually know! For example, I totally knew the blank for "Det ___ jeg ikke" just now. AND! I successfully said the number 1679 correctly when I read it out loud to Thorsten. FANTASTISK I say!

It is with this sore throat-less, Danish zest that I am writing to you from inside an empty TV classroom at about noon time, because everyone is chillen OUTSIDE in the LOVELY spring weather!!! AH! Yes. I just crawled back through the classroom window to express my current, state of happiness and to show you some pictures of Arhus, post-spring break!

The city definitely woke up since I was gone!!! When I got back home to Skjoldhoj on Saturday, it was like I was living in a whole different country. There are now FLOWER blossoms on all the trees, and there is so much colour everywhere! It actually looks pleasantly homey now...the concentration camp vibe totally disappeared with winter!











I also took a day trip to the beaches on Sunday! A detour through the forest lead me to a rock by the sea, where I sat and listened to the Snowblink album on my iPod about 3 times through. It was so nice just be still and breath in blue sky after a week of walking through Spanish streets!





And on Friday, we shall have a barbeque in honour of Kristin and mine's birthday! :)

Gotta love bein' TWENTY...3 days left until I turn the ripe ol' age of 21. Crazay!

Rome-ing

We met them on the Spanish steps.

Hugo was my main travel mate this spring break, but we met up with different people at different points of our adventure. It happened to work out that we were in Rome the same time as Damien, Emily and Caroline - an australian, a Canadian, and a Tennesee-er who study with us in Denmark.

We had planned to meet up with the three of them at the steps after a few hours of doing our own thing. So, Hugo and I climbed to the top and found a ledge to wait.

It was a breezy evening. I had left my sweater in my backpack, but the sun was giving off the vibe of an early summer night. The shape of the stairs was perfect. People were simply happy. And roses drew some romance like you find in ripped paperbacks.

The sky was a de-saturated blue turning into a yellow haze, and there was an energetic calmess to the atmosphere. We weren't in Rome. We were on a movie set. We must have been. It was too unreal to be an actual city where people live.

"Can you take our picture?" I asked the person I was sitting beside.

Of course, this lead to conversation.

The photographer's name was Sebastian, his friend, Paolo. They were from Brazil, and they had hopped around Italy just like we had before coming to Rome.

We sat there talking into the sunset when Damien appeared below us.

Before I could say anything to him, Paolo turned to me:

"Do you KNOW that guy???"

"Yes..."

.

....

.........

.............

"So do WE!!!"

It turns out that Sebastian and Paolo had met Emily, Caroline and Damien a few days prior in another Italian city.

The world is huge. The world is small.

Had Hugo and I not picked that part of the wall as our meeting place, if we had stayed at the bottom of the stairs, if we hadn't waited 2.5 hours in the afternoon to get into the Vatican Museum, or if it had been raining, this uncanny reunion would never have happened.

We got another person to snap a picture and we just laughed in disbelief as the sun went to sleep behind Roman roofs.

But the seven of us, along with Hugo's friend Karolina who just arrived in the city, stayed awake.

We had drinks on the steps.

We wandered down alleys.

We sat by the Trevi.

We wandered some more.

We stood under the Colliseum.

We spun under the Colliseum,

We saw.

We explored.

We sat.

We were.

An evening in Roma.

I'll be back.

Master of De Skies

Wake up in 'celona,

Have breakfast in Madrid,
fly to Copen-hagen,
but that's not all I did.

Take the train to Aarhus,
take the bus to Brabrand Nord,
climb the stairs in Skjoldhoj -
my own bed. Thank de LAWD!

AHOY, says I, I've MADE it!!
I'm home from my big trip,
of cobble-stoned italia,
with gelato chocolate-dipped.

A trip of Roman LOVIN',
with wishes at a fount,
of hidden alley hostels,
and views from on a mount.

Of Barcelona beaches,
with drinks upon the sand,
the camera will just tell you
that I've hopped across the land.

Indeed, it's been a journey
SO magically profound,
but I must admit it's lovely,
to be back on Danish ground.

Many places we have ventured,
the things we've seen, so vast,
and now back here in Skjholdhoj,
it's time for rest at last.

I've conquered spring vacation,

I found all of my planes,
I walked from here to China,
I saw the land by trains.

And yet, there's so much MORE to see -

that vastness doesn't lack -
But Italy is staying,
and I think I shall come back.

I shall return one summer,
for more Italian sights,
to find my field of flowers,
and to bask in Roman lights.

Perhaps my sister Lindsay

will come with me one day,
and Jillian will join us,
a family affair, I say!

But bed, for now, I'm headed,

I have bags un-der my eyes,
I'm off to sleep forever,
and to dream of Spanish skies.