Homecoming

People, I will never be a blogger. That said, I owe it to this bloody thing, and more so to my exchange, to grant you the following.

Like riverwater rushing over stones

Or stiff wind hissing through bones

My breath heavy not with lusty power

But fast approaching inescapable hours

Who walks the seas and feels not the breeze?

Whom can pierce the flood of time apace?

Can any alive defy that awful race?

I know not.

I know heavy hearts and bent backs.

Shaking voices and made choices.

The end subsumes, God presumes, 

and I absume.

Give not unto regret, 

and live ever on in glory.

Cast your gaze down the coastline,

and mark it well.

Waves and Time will batter,

you and the coastline shatter.

And morrow come there lies a beach,

But what of you? 

What has Time taught, does now, and will teach?

Live, be brave, and mark yourself.

The waves will wash away all that you are not.

What remains?

See you back in Canada folks,

-Callum

(I plan on making legacy blog posts, for all the many, many things I've not yet posted about, when I'm bored and feel like doing so. Thus, the blog does not end here. Although this is the end of my exchange.)

Austria Trip!

Hey folks,

For my vinter ferie (winter vacation), my host family took me on a trip to Bad Hofgastein, in Salzburg, Austria! And boy am I lucky! I can't begin to describe the experience so much like with my last post, I'll let the pictures do the lion's share of expressing, and add my comments as I go!

Morning of the first day! I wasn't able to get any sleep the night before and stayed up from the previous evening right until we got into the car to leave! I was that excited. This picture is of the German morning, resplendent with crimson sunrises and windmills galore!

Miraculously, the seventeen hour drive was very serendipitous even having to sit next to my pain of a host brother. (just kidding!)

As you can see, we got along splendidly.

Frederik also showed me how to train to make my muscles huge! Very few reps, mostly training at what I guess would be threshold? Don't quote me on that, but either way, my arms and shoulders were really  sore the next morning!

First view of an Austrian town with the beginnings of mountains in the distance!

MOUNTAINS! SNOW! AHHHH! We had to drive through several mountains to get to Bad Hofgastein, so I got to see plenty of peaks!

Host brother and exchange student, both happy to finally (finally) be where the snowy things are! Snowballs may have been thrown. Allegedly. :)

Day 1 of Skiing! Clear skies, no wind, great conditions for skiing and picture-taking!

The three lads at the top of the mountain, raring to go!

Spectacular views like this one couldn't possibly be made better!

Unless you add in this handsome devil, naturally!

Taking panorama shots of the mountains takes skill, timing, and a good camera. I had none of these, and look how well the picture turned out!

Me and Mette were all smiles, especially since we had such great weather and views!

And here we are, a great first day of skiing accomplished, enjoying the tradition of After Ski, with some friends of my host family's! Warm hot cocoa (with just a little Stroh rum) and cookies!

I found the "Beginner's Trail," as this is the only run (I skied on, at any rate) on the entire mountain where no matter how much one stays in a racing tuck, eventually it's necessary to use your poles and/or skate with your skis to make it to the end of the run.

And on the third day, my pants rose to snow pants heaven, whatever that is. Luckily, Bent helped me stitch this decrepit pair of zipperless wonders into a passable covering until we finished up with skiing for the day. Later, I procured a snazzy pair of green snow pants!

Beautiful morning sun and light fog on the fourth day!

These views!

Avalanche! Or at least, the evidence of one. Don't worry mom, no avalanches happened on the trails while I was skiing.

Inside of one of the many ski lodges

I didn't take wind into consideration recording the above video, but if you couldn't tell, I'm really happy, and expressing my gratitude for the amazing and awesome opportunity that my host family and my real family have given me on this exchange!

More beauteous views of the mountain range!

A perfect way to end the day? I certainly think so.

The last day wasn't great, weather-wise, but some great skiing was had!

-Callum

(figured I've waited long enough on this one. Hope you enjoy the vids and pics! I might write more about this later. There's still a bunch of stuff I could make posts about!)

Pictures of My Adventures at Middelaldercentret

Hey folks,

Here's some pics from back in October when I got the opportunity to participate in a Medieval Village and volunteer, helping out where I could but really mostly just enjoying the novelty of it all!

At the entrance to the Medieval Village, all dressed up and ready to get medieval!

This lovely view of some of the village's thoroughfare from my sleeping quarters is strictly a perk of volunteering and is not at all historically accurate, as far as I know. For somebody of my medieval economic status, my worldly possessions would constitute; the clothes on my back, a "pretty crappy knife" to paraphrase the member of the centre who helped find me a costume, and an empty purse!

We didn't have a full house in the inn, but I did have some roommates, at least at night.

My highly anachronistic sleeping stuff schlumped into a pile next to my bed. Naturally, I had to get everything squared away out of the village every morning, lest some hapless tourist discover very peculiarly modern looking socks lying underneath the bed for example.

For those of you whom have never slept in a straw bed, I recommend the experience, if only so that I can share in the pain of the bizarre aches and tender spots I woke up with most every morning. I can only imagine that the lord could afford something luxurious like a featherbed, though in all likelihood probably padded with straw too. The stuff is better than nothing after all.

When the centre closed down and it started to get dark, one cool thing I got to witness was the preparations for the NIGHT TOURNAMENT! A very big and much looked forward to event by everybody at the centre, it required getting the horses used to the open flames everywhere, as well as the decreased vision, and the loud crowds who inevitably pack the centre for the Night Tournament every year. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from the Night Tourney itself, since the centre was still open and I was in costume, but I'll include a link to their site below, where I'm pretty certain you can see much better quality pictures than my own.

Middelaldercentret becomes a home for many amazingly talented and hard-working people, and one of those is my new friend Mats! A Norwegian artist of great skill and style, I humbly requested that he capture mine own graven image! And thusly did he portray my venerable visage in what I consider his finest work! (Because it's of me, naturally!)

The night of the Night Tourney, we also had the opportunity to dine on a medieval meal completely prepared from scratch, that had been prepared the whole of the week I was there! It was delicious, and really atmospheric to eat in the village with the implements and dishes of the time period, given that the rest of the week, there actually is a modern cafeteria for members and volunteers. Once our meal was finished and it had grown sufficiently dark, the Tourney and the BOMBARDMENTS were had! You see, Middelaldercentret is also host to Europe's largest operational trebuchet! It's famous enough already, but at the Night Tourney, they light its munitions ON FIRE! After such a delightful evening of festivities, there was much drinking and singing to be done, and so it was!

More views of the medieval village, along with several visitors taking in the event which took place the last day that Middelaldercentret was open for 2017, and the last day I was there; The Laying Up of Middelaldercentret's Trading Ship!

Here you can see yours truly working hard at the capstan we used to aid in pulling the ship on shore.

My friend Hanna who's from Germany but who has spent literal years of her life at Middelaldercentret. She knows all of the members and volunteers, and since she was a lot closer in age to me, being only a year my senior, we hung out a bunch.

Me and the ever multi-talented Mats as he strums on a lute to entertain the spectators of the tourney.

And lastly, I have this awesome gentleman to thank for this wonderful opportunity in the first place! Knud, I've already thanked you in person a bunch, but it bears repeating here. I'm so grateful for having had this wonderful week to make friends, be medieval, and forge a lifelong collection of memories in Nykøbing Falster at Middelaldercentret with you and everybody else! Rest assured, I fully intend to return, perhaps even to literally forge new experiences here! After all, there are blacksmithing lessons, in addition to The Guild of St. Lukas, a functioning guild of scribes and artists! 

In closing I simply must say that Middelaldercentret and my week there were truly magical. It's indescribable and though I can show you pictures, you absolutely have to go there yourself to really experience it. A highlight of my exchange? Absolutely. Quite possibly my favourite experience in Denmark in 2017. And a world of possibility still awaits the rest of my exchange in 2018! That al being said, I hope that you've enjoyed hearing about some of my experiences at the Middle Ages Center, and that you look forward to my next blog post!

-Callum

Middelaldercentret's Website