4 weeks to Christmas: Hygge

Hygge

When most of you read the title of this blog post, you're gonna wonder what it means. Hygge (hyu-guh) is an untranslatable Danish word. Imagine yourself sitting in your living room with your friends and family, huddled up in a blanket, watching television or playing cards in the warmth of your house, while it snows outside. The feeling you get is cozy or hyggelit. That's what hygge is.
Winter is a time of hygge for the Danes. They love lighting up the fireplace (or switching on the heaters), and sitting with their family. Even small things could be hyggelit; for example, a dinner with  a friend, or a movie outing, or a birthday. Hygge may seem good enough by itself, but it is often partnered with cake and candy, and that makes it absolutely great. I wouldn't be surprised if hygge was the reason behind Denmark being amongst the happiest countries in the world. Other
countries have been recently trying to adopt the practice of hygge as it results in inner happiness.

Early morning snow

First Snow

I experienced the first snowfall of my life last weekend, when temperatures reached -3^oC (the lowest temperature I have ever known), and the snow lasted for two days. Ideally, it doesn't snow before December where I live, and sometimes, it snows only after New Year. However, this year, the fields were covered in white, and the snowmen were out in everyone's backyards. It doesn't seem likely to snow again anytime soon, because the temperatures have increased again, but the feeling of holding a snowball in my hand was beautiful. There was just something amazing about waking up in the morning and seeing the streets covered with s

Snowman!

now, or the glow of the snow as the sun set, or having a snow fight with your siblings, or putting a carrot into the snowman to complete it. However, biking to school with frost all over the streets is not nearly as amazing; it's pretty annoying, as a matter of fact.

Almost all the trees have lost their leaves by now, and the landscape looks really bare and dry. Winter is obviously setting in, and the sudden snowfall made that more clear than ever. It is so great the finally know a real autumn and winter.

Language check: I'm beginning to speak fluently now, and my vocabulary increases by one or two worlds each day. I can understand much of what people say, and my friends at school have also started talking to me in Danish. My Danish writing is also steadily improving. It is a bit grammatically incorrect, but understandable. At least my use of Google Translate has tremendously reduced.

I'd like to thank all my readers for staying on and reading my blog every single time. I have a total of exactly 1160 page views on my blog now!