Håndbold: Canoeing and Handball and Shopping, oh my!

After quite the weekend, and a busy start to the week, we're back into our normal schedules. Saturday marked a fun team bonding event when the 5 U16 girls from the USA went canoeing with many U16 Danish girls from Bjerringbro FH. Despite typical Denmark weather conditions - cold wind & rain - we bundled up in rain jackets and sweatpants underneath our lifejackets and were on our way. We put in at a small town above Bjerringbro, and paddled about for a little over an hour-putting us right into the heart of Bjerringbro. It was a really fun trip, and gave all of us a chance to bond and meet the Danish girls outside of Handball.

After canoeing, we had a less than an hour to relax before meeting at the train station for a bus to Silkeborg to watch Bjerringbro's professional team-BSV, play against Kipling IF in Silkeborg. It was an awesome experience, as much of the arena was full of fans of both teams, and a GREAT game. BSV and Kipling stayed close throughout the game, but in the end BSV pulled ahead to snatch the win. It was fun to watch, and I'd wager that there were more people in the arena watching handball than in the entire United States.

The rest of the weekend gave way to relaxing & school work, and Monday was back into Handball and School. Tuesday, however, began another adventure of Team USA in Denmark. Århus is hosting the GF World Cup of Womens handball this week, and we were lucky enough to travel to Århus in the morning and watch the opening games. The first game, at 14:00, was Russia against Sweden. After a small mishap in walking from the train station to the NRGI Arena, we arrived about 10 minutes into the game-just in time for things to get interesting. After settling down into our seats, I received a huge shock-I RECOGNIZED the goalie playing for Russia! She had also participated with Russian 1st Division team Rostov-Don at the Robert Schumann tournament in Oldenburg, playing against the USA Women's Select team. I was thoroughly suprised and, of course, found myself rooting for Russia throughout the game. Russia and Sweden found themselves locked goal for goal through the 2nd half, and Sweden scored off the left wing as time ran out to secure the win. After that, we watched Hungary pull away from Germany, much to my dismay, and Norway give away an early lead to fall to Romania. But those were the small games. We were there to watch Denmark play France. Natascha King and I had our Denmark jerseys on, and Gaby Rapp and myself had found someone to paint Danish flags on our cheeks- oh yeah, we were ready. People began to pour into the arena, leaving few seats open, and red & white enveloped the crowd. After introductions and an acapella Danish National Anthem sung by the crowd, the game was on. Denmark scored early, but France held up through the first half. The second half, however, was completely controlled by Denmark who, despite France's best efforts, pulled ahead for the biggest win of the day 32-29.