Back Home!

So I was in Samsø this weekend to go see more wind turbines and bike around, all the things I love to do. I was with a group of 16 and we took the train across Zealand and then the ferry over to the island. The trip over was a bit long but I got to sit with a friend of mine from class and the time went by pretty quick. On the ferry, we got a traditional smørrebrød dinner,which was good. I don't know if I love the traditional Danish dinners but they're not bad, especially the Danish meatballs. After we got to the island we walked a little over a mile to our hostel, which was really nice and we had delicious cake and tea. I love the tea and coffee that's everywhere here, I don't know if I've told everyone this yet, but I have a coffee/tea addiction now, watch out for me when I get home. It's just delicious and who can resist caffeine, not me. Well, I got to room with some awesome, awesome ladies from the architecture course here and I'm so bummed I haven't met them earlier. 


So we got up nice and early on Saturday, ready for a bike ride in the not so great weather. But it got better over the course of the day, just not fast enough. So we rode around looking at a bunch of fields with potatoes growing on them, apparently the first bushel to market is a big, big deal. Our first real stop was to the Energy Academy and we got to talk about the Samsø project on the island. The Danish government had a competition for the smaller islands to compete to become the most sustainable and Samsø won over the 79 inhabited islands in the country. So they've integrated several wind turbine farms and that was their big push. The building itself is also really cool, using passive elements and solar panels integrated into the roof. So all good things. Then we biked some more and ended up at a local farm. The dairy farmer bought a wind turbine for 6 million dkk and had it installed on his farm. It was a really good business decision; he's making a profit from the turbine he bought 10 years ago. He might not be running the most sustainable farm but he's got an awesome turbine that I got to climb into. And well since college I've become scared of heights BUT I was NOT giving up this once in a life time (I think) chance for anything. That was awesome, awesome, awesome, and then we biked back to the hostel and had a pot luck with the community. And of course, we did all the fun activities at the hostel; it had a moon bounce like thing and swings and life size chess and sorry. Basically it was awesome, we then watched Alvin and the Chipmunks (it was the only thing in English on) and then went out to the group bonfire, and we made snørrbord, which is this crazy dough you cook near the fire and put jam on, oh so so so delicious. Anyways, mine didn't go so smoothly at first but I made it work and it was so tasty. 

Michael, our tour guide and super job doing man, he's literally done everything.

Hadar, what a cutie.

10 wind turbines

Energy Academy

Cute harbor

Straw bales that provide the household heat to the island.

Baby cow, that's a calf.

Wind Turbine!!

Looking out from the top of a wind turbine.

Dana climbing down, I was scared like no other.

Sunday: another day of questionable weather in the morning, and I mean questionable, raining at breakfast. We drove to the northern part of the island and went on a 2 hour hike/walk around the hills of the island. It was so so nice even though it was a bit hazy out. Afterwards, we wandered into the town and ate our lunches and got to go to this cute ice cream cafe. The community is super tight there and it used to be an old fishing village. It was so darling. Then we went to a local brewery and it was super duper small. It was on the second floor of a cafe, how crazy is that? Well, I did like one of them, as you guys know I'm not really a beer drinker. The falcon pilsner was pretty good though and I saved the bottle just for fun. After the brewery, we had to make it back to the ferry off the island. They only have two a day so we didn't have the choice but to make it on time. It was such a fun, good weekend and I'm so glad I went, I just hope the work doesn't kill it for me.

The ocean.

Need a new roof?

Highest point on the island.

Beer!