I haven't typed much lately about what I have been up to during my saving up period, as I felt that I had summed up my work in my last article about Nordjylland. However, some things did change and I was given more responsibilities and a little more variety of tasks. Also, I'm now sad to say that I am no longer working at Nordjylland in light of my recent problems which I'll elaborate on shortly.
Another thing I have not mentioned in a while is hitch-hiking. Fortunately for me as it started getting cold, it was decided that Nordlys would pay for my transport to Tvind and back on study weekends, so I haven't done any hitch-hiking these past few months, except from last week. That's not to say I haven't traveled by way of the thumb since I last mentioned it though. Unlike my previous articles regarding hitch-hiking, I was actually very lucky as I didn't have to wait around so long. You may recall that the first time I hitch-hiked to Nordjylland, it took me over 10 hours, but other times, it only took me around 4 hours. Some pretty interesting people picked me up along the way: a worker at a refugee center, a student studying at a film school, an enthusiastic tattoo artist and middle aged man who disregards the law on drinking and driving. I remember one time I inadvertently hitched a ride from Ulfborg to Holstebro by asking two ladies for directions to the train station, and because they didn't know where it was themselves, they offered me a ride to a bus stop then changed their mind on account that it was a very cold day, so were gracious enough to drive me to Holstebro themselves instead. It's kind hearted gestures like that that reminds me not everybody is so selfish and self-serving.
So, back to Nordjylland. It must've been three months or so I helped Lars with the building project. Gradually he struggled with giving me tasks to do and eventually my plan was changed; I was going to be helping Ole in the workshop and carry out tasks with a couple of the students there. It seemed there wasn't much for me to do there either though, except help make yo-yos which was quite enjoyable. Another student had started by this time and I was tasked to do music with him two days a week. He's a pleasant young man with a great sense of humour I can relate to, so it was often fun having these music sessions with him. We both learnt to play a few songs together during my time with him. Initially, he was quiet and introverted, but over time he started coming out of his shell and opened up. He's very anxious around a lot of people and won't eat in front them, but I managed to get him to drink some tea and have the odd slice of apple or a piece of bread sometimes. I felt I was making headway with him and was in the process of taking him on a trip to a cosplay convention, but then, almost abruptly, I was told I would no longer be working there.
Gerda had some qualms with me and we had a meeting before I left for our study weekend. She was disappointed that I had not learnt much Danish in my time being there which is understandable. Admittingly, I did get lazy with learning Danish; Duolingo was frustrating - it was hard motivating myself to use it - and I kinda lost my incentive to learn Danish as, for the most part, I was doing practical work and when I did finally work with a student, he was happy to speak English (in fact, I think they put him with me as he was very eager to speak English with someone). So they are my justifications - hey, I didn't say they were good! No, in hindsight, I really wish I did put more time and effort in to learning Danish. I could have asked the teachers and pedagogues for help. In any case, I was determined to put my head down and learn after Gerda told me of her disappointment.
She also had other minor gripes with me. One was that I wasn't using my own initiative much and not communicating with the teachers. The latter is fair enough as I am generally a quiet person, but it is also due to the fact that I couldn't communicate with them due to the language barrier (that I guess I had put up myself by not learning!). After all, I do communicate often with my teammates for example. The former, though, I'm not sure I agree with entirely. Recently I had decided to meet with the Nordlys pedagogues and state that I would like to make changes to my daily plans so I would have a better idea of what I am to be doing and on what days; I wanted more responsibility and I was given more chores to do in the afternoons and evenings. Also, it was my idea to take the student out for a trip as I thought it would be really beneficial to his development and had wrote down a concrete plan and budget for it. Also, I put together a "hygge" club Thursdays where the students can mingle, play music or draw together. It wasn't entirely successful though (only one night more than two students bothered to turn up), but it was still something. Too little too late, I guess.
So after talking with Gerda about these problems, I was determined to do better. After all, I enjoyed working there and felt I had bonded with quite a few of the students. OK, I wasn't integral to all of their developments, but I'm not a pedagogue. I'm inexperienced in this field of work and I'm a student myself. Of course they wouldn't go to me to talk about their problems as that's what the pedagogues are there for. As one of the pedagogues recently said to me, I was just a helping hand. I was simply doing what asked of me on the plans made for me. No more or less than what previous DNSers done who were sent there. Gerda was happy to let me continue to work there and show improvements, but she had changed her mind as Michael informed me that I would no longer be working there during my study weekend, which was sad and surprising to hear.
Of course, to state the obvious, this is all from my perspective. It's hard to be objective but now I'll try. Recently, as some of you may recall, I had told people that I may have a mild mental condition - a mood disorder called Dysthymia (note, it is a self diagnosis at this time as I can relate to some of the symptoms. A visit to a doctor is in order, pronto!). This means that sometimes, I have a low drive, low energy, I don't feel like socialising sometimes and I have problems getting to sleep. There are other symptoms such as feeling sad and having low self-esteem, but I don't feel depressed or feel like shit. Anyway, you can read more about it here. We all feel down and not very socialable sometimes, it's just that I may feel like that a little more than the average person. I just want to clarify and reiterate as some people misunderstand, I do not feel depressed nor suicidal or anything. I'm not stressed out nor am I on the verge of some mental breakdown. I just have infrequent days where I just don't have any energy or feel responsive. Most days, I am fine and feeling productive.
I admit that having such a condition may mean that I am not suitable for such a job where I live with students with their own problems and have to work with them. Especially when they are concerned for me themselves as I guess I have been noticeably "down" sometimes. Whether it has been a great hindrance to my work at Nordjylland or not, I can't say. But if a lot of people are concerned about me, then perhaps I am underestimating how bad I am sometimes. I can only recall a few times where I feel this condition had affected me; one of the times was what compelled me to speak about this problem in the first place, as I didn't want people to be upset with me should they feel I'm being "off" with them. Sometimes, I did go to my room to be alone, but that's natural, no? I was there 24/7 (remember I lived and worked there) and need to cherish solitude every now and then. Unlike the teachers and pedagogues who work there, I have nowhere to go to blow off steam or go and relax and have undisturbed rest. I imagine most people would feel the urge to go to their rooms from time to time too. It's easy for people there to notice me being "down" because I have nowhere else to go to be "down". That's why, I think, it seemed apparent and perhaps frequent. My work colleagues could go back to their own sanctuary, away from Nordlys to be sad, angry, irritated or whatever and no one would be any the wiser - I couldn't. If I had a bad day, everybody would know it. Anyway, most times, I was just genuinely tired or just wanted to go and watch some shit on youtube in my room. Nothing more.
Another thing that no doubt attributed to me feeling "down" was the fact I felt really lonely. Sure, there were students and pedagogues that I could talk and have fun with, but it's for work. It's a more professional kind of friendships I guess. Not to say that I didn't genuinely enjoy their company, but they were there to work first and foremost. I went out a couple of times with a few of the pedagogues, but it wasn't enough. I needed more of a social life as that was what I was missing and yearning for the most. I just needed a friend or something. I had told practically everyone about my feeling of loneliness and it was decided that they would bring another DNS student to work there too. And they finally did - now that I've left. I just hope they still plan to have two DNS students working as I imagine Marina will soon feel the same loneliness as I did. She's certainly concerned about it.
So, yeah, it was a slap in the face being told that I would no longer be working at Nordjylland during a time I felt I was beginning to make some impact there. At least potential impact anyway. Again, too little too late. No matter, Michael said I could stay at Tvind and work while we come up with some solutions to deal with my problem. Priority is seeking professional help and he seemed adamant I could get it here. My lovely teammates and friends were supportive of this idea. Then the following day, a punch in the face came - it was decided that, actually, I would no longer be a part of the DNS 2015 team. It wasn't made just because of my work in Nordjylland, there are other factors which I'll write about soon. I'm still trying to absorb it all in to be honest.
After what was otherwise a great study weekend of meeting two new teammates - Marina and Andre, partying like nerds and doing a lot of promotional work, my next priority was going back to Nordjylland to get my things. Marina, who I guess would have being working alongside me, was now going to replace me so we agreed to hitch-hike together there. I wasn't feeling too enthusiastic about hitch-hiking as it was cold, wet and windy, but it was nice to be in the company of a bubbly, energetic girl who I figured would make it fun. It was Marina's first time hitch-hiking as well, so she was excited and a bit nervous too.
We were dropped off in Ulfborg and walked to main road just outside of the village. We didn't wait for too long before a driver stopped - a Polish paramedic who had been living and working in Denmark for 7 years if I recall correctly. Usual questions were asked of where we are from, what are we doing, where are we going etc etc. Such questions are to be expected every time from curious drivers. He drove us a little further than where he wanted to go and dropped us off on the outskirts of Holstebro.
It was at this time it started to rain, but it didn't break our spirits. We were busy singing, laughing and mocking each others accents to worry about getting a bit wet. Our initial place to hold our sign and stick out our thumbs seemed to be a bad spot, so we eventually walked further down the road where there were no more turns for drivers to use the gestural excuse of having to turn off down the road. 'twas a good strategy we thought. Just past some traffic lights to boot so we could stare them in the eyes and make them feel guilty for not picking us up. "Please sirs and madams, I need to go home. My children - they are dying. I may never see them again," I joked in some shit eastern european accent as they would drive past, of course not hearing me at all. Hitch-hiking with another person makes for some sillyness to pass the time though.
After waiting for about 20 minutes, an English teacher who was nearing her maternity leave picked us up. As somebody who has hitch-hiked herself, she naturally feels compelled to stop and pick up one up if she should see one. Often it is fellow travelers, hitch-hikers, vagabonds or whatever that tend to be the most likely to stop. We were once again lucky as she was heading to our next location - Viborg - and was generous enough to go a little out of her way to drop us off just outside the city.
To pass an otherwise dull time of waiting, I taught Marina to sing "You Are My Sunshine" and she taught me some Catalan song for children which I can't remember (sorry Marina). Another 20 minutes or so, a young woman on her way to a funeral stopped saying she can drop us about 20km away. It was a kind of detour to Aalborg and we figured it would be nice to get out of the cold for a little while and at least we would be a little closer to our destination. The young lady had hitch-hiked in England one time and shared a story of how she was offered a lift by some lecherous old bloke who expected sexual favours from her.
The lady dropped us off at a small roundabout giving us directions to where we should head next. By this time, we were hungry and Marina had brought some bread with her. As she began to rummage through her bag, an old man stopped in his old van. He couldn't speak a word of English but gestured us to come in anyway. Perhaps stupid on our part as we couldn't tell him where exactly we wanted to go. "Aalborg, Aalborg" we said as we got in and he replied something in Danish that made Marina thought he said he could drop us off 20km from Aalborg. It wasn't the case though. Instead, after about 15km, he pulled over on a road in the middle of nowhere. "Mange tuk" we said as we got out. With no clue to where we were now, we just waited patiently hoping the next driver could take us to Aalborg. As we waited, we ate some bread and some more sillyness ensued.
There were very few vehicles on this road so we joked about being stranded here and dying. But we didn't have to wait too long before someone stopped. This guy wasn't talkative, so Marina and I conversed while he just drove on silently. I think he only talked to tell us where he could drop us off - outside a city called Hobro. My hitch-hike experiences to Nordjylland never consisted of going to Hobro so I had no idea where the fuck we were now. We had taken a detour from my usual planned route. That's the thing with hitch-hiking though, plans may never go expectantly.
It was at this point our fun journey started to become tedious. It seemed even more cold now and Marina couldn't feel her feet as we waited for fucking ages for someone to stop, but to no avail. I suggested we walk to the city and see if we can get a sense of where we are and if there's public transport we could use. We had some money on us after all. And I was hungry and thirsty too. So eventually, we gave up and walked stopping off at a supermarket on the way to get some refreshments.
The next plan was to get a bus to Aalborg, but since we were on a road that headed to Aalborg, Marina suggested we continue to hitch-hike. I was reluctant at first as I've heard it's nigh on impossible to hitch a ride from within a city, but thought fuck it, it's worth a shot. Got nothing to lose and our spirits were back up. We waited just outside a gas station and it seemed that the rumours were true as vehicle after vehicle just drove on past. Eventually someone pulled in the station to fuel his car and Marina approached him and asked if he could take us just outside the city which would better our chances. Luckily for us, he agreed and now we were back on track.
Very quickly after he dropped us off, a woman stopped and picked us up. Finally, someone who was heading to Aalborg! She too had done a lot of hitch-hiking and thus was compelled to pick us up. She dropped us off near the E45 motorway to Frederikshavn and it was starting to get dark now, which meant that our chances of getting a lift decreases further the sun sets. Rapists and murderers are like to commit their heinous crimes at night and for some reason (mass hysteria), people are afraid of hitch-hikers because of rare and isolated incidents which has tarred us all with the same brush.
Anyway, a woman offered to take us towards Frederikshavn, but it was another detour. She convinced us we had better chances of getting a lift at the location she had in mind, and wanting to feel warm again, we hastily jumped in. We were dropped off at another gas station and I opted to buy hot chocolate for myself and a cup of tea for Marina. It was now dark at this point. Very few cars were driving now and I doubted anyone would pick us up at this time. I was proven wrong though when a young man with a great moustache and his mother told us to get in. They weren't going to Frederkshavn but said they could drop us off at a village at a bus stop which we were fine with.
Once there, we called Gerda who told us to get on the bus to Frederikshavn and get a pedagogue to pick us up. She told me that I could also stay until Monday so that I could say goodbye to everybody which was nice to hear and of course I accepted. It wasn't much longer before we finally reached Frederikshavn and Lasse came and picked us up.
So for the next few days, I stayed at Nordjylland. It was good to spend a little more time with the students and pedagogues there. I still helped out with some chores, cooking, cleaning, driving - the usual tasks that I would be required to do. I also baked a chocolate cake with Marina's help for us all, including Norden, which we all ate together. It was at this time I thought, did I really do a bad job here? Did I really not connect with anyone except from one student? It's hard to believe this when some of the students approach me and tell me that they're sad to see me go and want to keep in contact.
During this time, I told Marina everything I know and what she should expect from this work. I helped her settle in and introduced her to everyone. On Monday, I went over to the school with her so that I could say goodbye to the teachers and students there. During tea and coffee, Lars stood up and gave a brief speech saying he's sad to see me go and presented me a gift from everyone - a nice, warm jacket - then I too gave a little speech saying that I had enjoyed my work experience there, I found them all a pleasure to work with and wished I had done more. I thanked them for the opportunity and told them I'll miss them all and farewell.
It was also nice spending time with Marina. I grew quite fond of her over the past several days and during a time when I should be freaking out, she kept me smiling and my spirits high. I just wished I could stay like that.
Gerda had some qualms with me and we had a meeting before I left for our study weekend. She was disappointed that I had not learnt much Danish in my time being there which is understandable. Admittingly, I did get lazy with learning Danish; Duolingo was frustrating - it was hard motivating myself to use it - and I kinda lost my incentive to learn Danish as, for the most part, I was doing practical work and when I did finally work with a student, he was happy to speak English (in fact, I think they put him with me as he was very eager to speak English with someone). So they are my justifications - hey, I didn't say they were good! No, in hindsight, I really wish I did put more time and effort in to learning Danish. I could have asked the teachers and pedagogues for help. In any case, I was determined to put my head down and learn after Gerda told me of her disappointment.
She also had other minor gripes with me. One was that I wasn't using my own initiative much and not communicating with the teachers. The latter is fair enough as I am generally a quiet person, but it is also due to the fact that I couldn't communicate with them due to the language barrier (that I guess I had put up myself by not learning!). After all, I do communicate often with my teammates for example. The former, though, I'm not sure I agree with entirely. Recently I had decided to meet with the Nordlys pedagogues and state that I would like to make changes to my daily plans so I would have a better idea of what I am to be doing and on what days; I wanted more responsibility and I was given more chores to do in the afternoons and evenings. Also, it was my idea to take the student out for a trip as I thought it would be really beneficial to his development and had wrote down a concrete plan and budget for it. Also, I put together a "hygge" club Thursdays where the students can mingle, play music or draw together. It wasn't entirely successful though (only one night more than two students bothered to turn up), but it was still something. Too little too late, I guess.
So after talking with Gerda about these problems, I was determined to do better. After all, I enjoyed working there and felt I had bonded with quite a few of the students. OK, I wasn't integral to all of their developments, but I'm not a pedagogue. I'm inexperienced in this field of work and I'm a student myself. Of course they wouldn't go to me to talk about their problems as that's what the pedagogues are there for. As one of the pedagogues recently said to me, I was just a helping hand. I was simply doing what asked of me on the plans made for me. No more or less than what previous DNSers done who were sent there. Gerda was happy to let me continue to work there and show improvements, but she had changed her mind as Michael informed me that I would no longer be working there during my study weekend, which was sad and surprising to hear.
Of course, to state the obvious, this is all from my perspective. It's hard to be objective but now I'll try. Recently, as some of you may recall, I had told people that I may have a mild mental condition - a mood disorder called Dysthymia (note, it is a self diagnosis at this time as I can relate to some of the symptoms. A visit to a doctor is in order, pronto!). This means that sometimes, I have a low drive, low energy, I don't feel like socialising sometimes and I have problems getting to sleep. There are other symptoms such as feeling sad and having low self-esteem, but I don't feel depressed or feel like shit. Anyway, you can read more about it here. We all feel down and not very socialable sometimes, it's just that I may feel like that a little more than the average person. I just want to clarify and reiterate as some people misunderstand, I do not feel depressed nor suicidal or anything. I'm not stressed out nor am I on the verge of some mental breakdown. I just have infrequent days where I just don't have any energy or feel responsive. Most days, I am fine and feeling productive.
I admit that having such a condition may mean that I am not suitable for such a job where I live with students with their own problems and have to work with them. Especially when they are concerned for me themselves as I guess I have been noticeably "down" sometimes. Whether it has been a great hindrance to my work at Nordjylland or not, I can't say. But if a lot of people are concerned about me, then perhaps I am underestimating how bad I am sometimes. I can only recall a few times where I feel this condition had affected me; one of the times was what compelled me to speak about this problem in the first place, as I didn't want people to be upset with me should they feel I'm being "off" with them. Sometimes, I did go to my room to be alone, but that's natural, no? I was there 24/7 (remember I lived and worked there) and need to cherish solitude every now and then. Unlike the teachers and pedagogues who work there, I have nowhere to go to blow off steam or go and relax and have undisturbed rest. I imagine most people would feel the urge to go to their rooms from time to time too. It's easy for people there to notice me being "down" because I have nowhere else to go to be "down". That's why, I think, it seemed apparent and perhaps frequent. My work colleagues could go back to their own sanctuary, away from Nordlys to be sad, angry, irritated or whatever and no one would be any the wiser - I couldn't. If I had a bad day, everybody would know it. Anyway, most times, I was just genuinely tired or just wanted to go and watch some shit on youtube in my room. Nothing more.
Another thing that no doubt attributed to me feeling "down" was the fact I felt really lonely. Sure, there were students and pedagogues that I could talk and have fun with, but it's for work. It's a more professional kind of friendships I guess. Not to say that I didn't genuinely enjoy their company, but they were there to work first and foremost. I went out a couple of times with a few of the pedagogues, but it wasn't enough. I needed more of a social life as that was what I was missing and yearning for the most. I just needed a friend or something. I had told practically everyone about my feeling of loneliness and it was decided that they would bring another DNS student to work there too. And they finally did - now that I've left. I just hope they still plan to have two DNS students working as I imagine Marina will soon feel the same loneliness as I did. She's certainly concerned about it.
So, yeah, it was a slap in the face being told that I would no longer be working at Nordjylland during a time I felt I was beginning to make some impact there. At least potential impact anyway. Again, too little too late. No matter, Michael said I could stay at Tvind and work while we come up with some solutions to deal with my problem. Priority is seeking professional help and he seemed adamant I could get it here. My lovely teammates and friends were supportive of this idea. Then the following day, a punch in the face came - it was decided that, actually, I would no longer be a part of the DNS 2015 team. It wasn't made just because of my work in Nordjylland, there are other factors which I'll write about soon. I'm still trying to absorb it all in to be honest.
After what was otherwise a great study weekend of meeting two new teammates - Marina and Andre, partying like nerds and doing a lot of promotional work, my next priority was going back to Nordjylland to get my things. Marina, who I guess would have being working alongside me, was now going to replace me so we agreed to hitch-hike together there. I wasn't feeling too enthusiastic about hitch-hiking as it was cold, wet and windy, but it was nice to be in the company of a bubbly, energetic girl who I figured would make it fun. It was Marina's first time hitch-hiking as well, so she was excited and a bit nervous too.
We were dropped off in Ulfborg and walked to main road just outside of the village. We didn't wait for too long before a driver stopped - a Polish paramedic who had been living and working in Denmark for 7 years if I recall correctly. Usual questions were asked of where we are from, what are we doing, where are we going etc etc. Such questions are to be expected every time from curious drivers. He drove us a little further than where he wanted to go and dropped us off on the outskirts of Holstebro.
It was at this time it started to rain, but it didn't break our spirits. We were busy singing, laughing and mocking each others accents to worry about getting a bit wet. Our initial place to hold our sign and stick out our thumbs seemed to be a bad spot, so we eventually walked further down the road where there were no more turns for drivers to use the gestural excuse of having to turn off down the road. 'twas a good strategy we thought. Just past some traffic lights to boot so we could stare them in the eyes and make them feel guilty for not picking us up. "Please sirs and madams, I need to go home. My children - they are dying. I may never see them again," I joked in some shit eastern european accent as they would drive past, of course not hearing me at all. Hitch-hiking with another person makes for some sillyness to pass the time though.
After waiting for about 20 minutes, an English teacher who was nearing her maternity leave picked us up. As somebody who has hitch-hiked herself, she naturally feels compelled to stop and pick up one up if she should see one. Often it is fellow travelers, hitch-hikers, vagabonds or whatever that tend to be the most likely to stop. We were once again lucky as she was heading to our next location - Viborg - and was generous enough to go a little out of her way to drop us off just outside the city.
To pass an otherwise dull time of waiting, I taught Marina to sing "You Are My Sunshine" and she taught me some Catalan song for children which I can't remember (sorry Marina). Another 20 minutes or so, a young woman on her way to a funeral stopped saying she can drop us about 20km away. It was a kind of detour to Aalborg and we figured it would be nice to get out of the cold for a little while and at least we would be a little closer to our destination. The young lady had hitch-hiked in England one time and shared a story of how she was offered a lift by some lecherous old bloke who expected sexual favours from her.
The lady dropped us off at a small roundabout giving us directions to where we should head next. By this time, we were hungry and Marina had brought some bread with her. As she began to rummage through her bag, an old man stopped in his old van. He couldn't speak a word of English but gestured us to come in anyway. Perhaps stupid on our part as we couldn't tell him where exactly we wanted to go. "Aalborg, Aalborg" we said as we got in and he replied something in Danish that made Marina thought he said he could drop us off 20km from Aalborg. It wasn't the case though. Instead, after about 15km, he pulled over on a road in the middle of nowhere. "Mange tuk" we said as we got out. With no clue to where we were now, we just waited patiently hoping the next driver could take us to Aalborg. As we waited, we ate some bread and some more sillyness ensued.
There were very few vehicles on this road so we joked about being stranded here and dying. But we didn't have to wait too long before someone stopped. This guy wasn't talkative, so Marina and I conversed while he just drove on silently. I think he only talked to tell us where he could drop us off - outside a city called Hobro. My hitch-hike experiences to Nordjylland never consisted of going to Hobro so I had no idea where the fuck we were now. We had taken a detour from my usual planned route. That's the thing with hitch-hiking though, plans may never go expectantly.
It was at this point our fun journey started to become tedious. It seemed even more cold now and Marina couldn't feel her feet as we waited for fucking ages for someone to stop, but to no avail. I suggested we walk to the city and see if we can get a sense of where we are and if there's public transport we could use. We had some money on us after all. And I was hungry and thirsty too. So eventually, we gave up and walked stopping off at a supermarket on the way to get some refreshments.
The next plan was to get a bus to Aalborg, but since we were on a road that headed to Aalborg, Marina suggested we continue to hitch-hike. I was reluctant at first as I've heard it's nigh on impossible to hitch a ride from within a city, but thought fuck it, it's worth a shot. Got nothing to lose and our spirits were back up. We waited just outside a gas station and it seemed that the rumours were true as vehicle after vehicle just drove on past. Eventually someone pulled in the station to fuel his car and Marina approached him and asked if he could take us just outside the city which would better our chances. Luckily for us, he agreed and now we were back on track.
Very quickly after he dropped us off, a woman stopped and picked us up. Finally, someone who was heading to Aalborg! She too had done a lot of hitch-hiking and thus was compelled to pick us up. She dropped us off near the E45 motorway to Frederikshavn and it was starting to get dark now, which meant that our chances of getting a lift decreases further the sun sets. Rapists and murderers are like to commit their heinous crimes at night and for some reason (mass hysteria), people are afraid of hitch-hikers because of rare and isolated incidents which has tarred us all with the same brush.
Anyway, a woman offered to take us towards Frederikshavn, but it was another detour. She convinced us we had better chances of getting a lift at the location she had in mind, and wanting to feel warm again, we hastily jumped in. We were dropped off at another gas station and I opted to buy hot chocolate for myself and a cup of tea for Marina. It was now dark at this point. Very few cars were driving now and I doubted anyone would pick us up at this time. I was proven wrong though when a young man with a great moustache and his mother told us to get in. They weren't going to Frederkshavn but said they could drop us off at a village at a bus stop which we were fine with.
Once there, we called Gerda who told us to get on the bus to Frederikshavn and get a pedagogue to pick us up. She told me that I could also stay until Monday so that I could say goodbye to everybody which was nice to hear and of course I accepted. It wasn't much longer before we finally reached Frederikshavn and Lasse came and picked us up.
So for the next few days, I stayed at Nordjylland. It was good to spend a little more time with the students and pedagogues there. I still helped out with some chores, cooking, cleaning, driving - the usual tasks that I would be required to do. I also baked a chocolate cake with Marina's help for us all, including Norden, which we all ate together. It was at this time I thought, did I really do a bad job here? Did I really not connect with anyone except from one student? It's hard to believe this when some of the students approach me and tell me that they're sad to see me go and want to keep in contact.
During this time, I told Marina everything I know and what she should expect from this work. I helped her settle in and introduced her to everyone. On Monday, I went over to the school with her so that I could say goodbye to the teachers and students there. During tea and coffee, Lars stood up and gave a brief speech saying he's sad to see me go and presented me a gift from everyone - a nice, warm jacket - then I too gave a little speech saying that I had enjoyed my work experience there, I found them all a pleasure to work with and wished I had done more. I thanked them for the opportunity and told them I'll miss them all and farewell.
It was also nice spending time with Marina. I grew quite fond of her over the past several days and during a time when I should be freaking out, she kept me smiling and my spirits high. I just wished I could stay like that.
