Long time, no see…
Winter break was good to me: I had a great time next to my family and friends on Christmas, but also gathered new forces and energy for the new year! Is always a good idea to travel, to try to find yourself in another place, make new friends and get used with new habits, but coming home will always be one of the best parts. Because what is going away without having something to come back to? Someone to listen to your stories and truly see how the person they used to know changes little by little.
Still, words such as “home” or “family” can have so many meanings. Today I choose to tell you about what these meant to me in the last four months through this little, yet big, city of Viborg.
To be honest, my first impression was not a very good one as I arrived in the most inappropriate moment: on a rainy Sunday afternoon. If there is something I learned about Denmark, that is you will never see people going out in these circumstances! I just got used with crowded Bucharest and I was happy being in a big city with a lot of things to do, now I found myself in a small empty city. So yes, I was quite depressed in that day wondering “why am I here?”. Well…the answer came later on the journey I got myself in.
The sun show up in my life (and in Denmark) once I met my new classmates which became this new family I was talking about. I think this was the best part of my Erasmus experience, getting to know people from all around the world and building together our home far away from home. No matter where we would go in this world, the people are the one truly making our experience better, not the place itself.
To describe the city in an objective way, I would say that is a typical one for Denmark: brick houses, the center with shops and groceries, a street that ends with a big church, eventually a park and few supermarkets at the outskirts. Few aspects that make Viborg different would be the university, which brings a lot of teenagers in town; but also the beautiful lakes Sonderso & Norreso with the park that surrounds them which is always a good choice for a walk or jogging.
If you are passionate of animation or you are an artist yourself, than Viborg is the best place for you. There are university programs dedicated to animation (such as cartoon movies or comics creation) and every autumn they organise a big animation festival known as VAF ( http://animationsfestival.dk/ ). I think being a volunteer at the festival was one of my best choices as it opened to me a world I knew so little about. Imagine being in the same room with the creators of your favorite cartoons, helping at their exposition or even celebrating at the same party with true artists at the end of the festival. The old me would think artists are quite arrogant or full of themselves, but now I know these are stereotypes and that they can be the most open and fairplay people.
Got the chance to see the best reproduction of Little prince
The French kiss exhibition which was also the main the theme of the festival
Saw the first sketches of Coco and Minions
Enjoyed good music
Another moment when Viborg is full of life is in December, especially when the Christmas market is opened. I was surprised by the Danish traditions and how this opening is such a big event for the citizens.
Not being sure of what I was doing, I joined together with my friends the crowd of people holding burning torches and then walked with them through the city till we reached the place of the Christmas market. On our way we met Santa in a small train with a lot of kids in his company and an old fire truck followed us all the way with the fire workers singing carols at instruments. For sure that was a brand new experience, a “ritual” I never heard about before.
I have to say this reminds me of the winter ritual seen in Vikings series
As for other places that I would recommend, for tasty and affordable food my vote goes for Viborg Streetfood where you can find dishes from different countries and for all tastes. When it comes for fun, our favourite places were Zwei Grosse Bier Bar and Tema Bar because you could also dance and party late, but for a chill atmosphere and live music Latinerly is also a good option. I only recommend the places I liked, but of course in the center of the city is easy to find more pubs ( opened usually from Thursday to Saturday, no Sunday haha).
At the end of a semester spent in there I feel in my home town the way I felt in my first day in Denmark, homesick !
End words:
- don’t let a first impression influence a whole experience
- take every opportunity to go in a new place
- is ok to attach yourself to people, you can always have a second family
- see the good in everything
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