I'm baaaaa-aaack

Back to Bjerringbro




After a stay in the US that lasted, to the day, 2 months longer than originally expected, I am finally back in Denmark.

I have to admit, this has been one of the most entertaining solo trips I’ve ever made. After my 10 ½ hour flight from LAX to London, an overnight trek, I arrived on March 14. This realization, of course, came about the same time I was trying to grab something to eat and the terminal and realized that ordering ‘pie’ would get me meat and potatoes in a crust, not the creamy deliciousness I sought. However, it was March 14. 3/14. 3.14. The world wanted me to have pie in London, and it was freaking delicious. Before my pie pilgrimage, however, I had been approached in LAX by someone who lacked an accent to the point that I probably would have doubted him if he said he was from California (He was, I did). After about 30 seconds of awkward eye contact and checking my fly (I was wearing sweatpants, making things THAT much more awkward) the man looked at the USA Team Handball jacket I was wearing and points at the logo and asked “is that handball?” I kind of stuttered a yes, because yeah – I was THAT surprised that someone had known what handball was, and recognized it from a logo. He then gave me a weird “why-can’t-you-pronounce-the-word-yes” look and left, but still, good story.

I’m extremely excited to get back into the swing of things around Bjerringbro and Tindbaek, and I just can’t wait to start playing handball again 6 days a week. I swear, I suffered from such bad handball withdrawals in my first few weeks home that I would wake up early just to watch the European Championship games live. Side note on European Championships - the brother of a girl we play with at BFH substituted a Danish National team player on the roster after an early tournament injury, and finished out the tournament quite well.

After my expedition from Los Angeles, I got to Neder Kjaershold, where I will be staying for a week with my host sister, Stine, while the rest of the family is on a ski vacation in Austria. Too bad for them, its 20 degrees Celsius in Austria (Americans, that’s warm.) The estate we’re living on is gorgeous, first built around 1558, surrounded by around 500 wine-grape plants. It includes a Christmas shop run by the Risgaard family, a winery, a hall available to rent for parties, weddings, etc, and a garage housing the only Aston Martin in Denmark. Hey, wipe the drool off your face before you continue reading.

I am thrilled that other players have returned to Denmark, because I truly think that it is one of the best places to learn to play handball. With two American guys out at the Idrætshøjskolen in Aarhus, and Sophie Fasold waiting for me in Bjerringbro , in addition to those of us who were in Bjerringbro before Christmas and Julia Taylor at the Idrætshøjskolen, I can’t wait to see what America has in store for the handball world.

More to come, but first, for those of you who don’t think I’m really all that funny, are on the go constantly, or just don’t have the time to check back for new posts all the time, I will also be using twitter this time around. You can follow me as @mollywatkins and my 120 word daily updates will be sent straight to your phone. I mean, c’mon, how annoying can I get in 120 words?