My January-February 2022: Back to Lolland

With the arrival of 2022, I travelled back to Lolland. Back to my job as an archaeologist at Museum Lolland-Falster, back to the farm and the dogs, back to weekend adventures and a slower lifestyle. But this time around things are different, as the European borders aren’t closed anymore. Covid-19 no longer plays a role in our lives here in Denmark, and so I could freely travel to Berlin for a few weekends during these first two months of the year – as well as a visit to Copenhagen and a few weekends at home in East Jutland.

1st of January in Moesgaard Forest

The year began in Aarhus with my boyfriend A and his sister who were visiting me for New Year’s.

January 1st was their last full day, and since we’d already explored the small city before last year ended, I decided to show them the best that nature has to offer in the area. We headed to Moesgård Skov, the forest that surrounds my favourite museum. But we didn’t visit the museum, instead, we went for a lovely walk through the forest, discovering prehistoric burial structures along the way, and walking along the beach. It was a foggy and cold day, but beautiful nonetheless. The Moesgård area just never disappoints.

Back to Lolland

Having said goodbye to A, his sister and my family in East Jutland, I travelled to Lolland on January 2nd, just in time to start work the following day.

It was a strange feeling coming “home” to the farm and starting work the morning after. It was as though I’d never left, as though the six months of travels I spent in between never existed. I fell right back into my life there, and it feels great. I’m happy to be settled here for the year.

Sunrise chaser

I started a new challenge after New Year’s. I want to watch every sunrise of 2022, in an attempt to change my ways from a night owl to an early bird. Will it work? I’m not sure, because sometimes I do sneak back to bed after watching the sunrise.

So far, most sunrises have been without a visible sun as January and February (especially the latter) were rainy and cloudy. But I have seen some very beautiful spectacles that I definitely would’ve missed had it not been for this challenge. I’m just intrigued to see if I can keep it up come summer when the sun rises in the early hours of the morning.

A huge surprise in Berlin

Less than a week on Lolland, and I was already heading back to Berlin where I spent a month in total in the last months of 2021. This time, I was there to surprise my younger brother Brandon who was visiting Berlin with his friend, Oscar. A and his sister had invited them to dinner on the Saturday, but what they didn’t know was that I’d already arrived Friday evening.

I snuck into the bathroom shortly before they arrived, had a shower, and then walked out without saying a word. Oscar noticed me first but didn’t quite register who I was before taking a second look. Brandon, on the other hand, was focussed on a conversation and first after a few moments, he started realizing what was going on. He was shocked to see me, surprised and overjoyed. It was one of my favourite moments EVER. I’ll never forget the look on his face when he realized it was me!

When I wasn’t giving my brother the surprise of his life, I enjoyed the city with A, revisiting old favourite destinations and exploring places I hadn’t been to before. I like Berlin better every time I’m there.

Settling into everyday life on Lolland

Back on Lolland, I slowly started settling into my life here. The weekdays don’t differ much from each other. I walk to work, leaving at 07.30 AM and arriving at 8 AM. I work for eight hours, excavating, GPS mapping, washing artifacts and doing flotation. Then I walk back home, and relax for a short while before starting the chores of the day.

Some days, I work on my blog, other days, I proofread articles for my temporary part-time job at Skalk. I try to cook delicious vegan meals often, and sometimes watch an episode or two of Lilyhammer, Norsemen, Plebs or whatever else I’m hooked on in the moment. On Fridays, I go grocery shopping and sometimes visit a thrift store or two, something I absolutely love doing! And then I cuddle – a lot – with the dogs.

Home for a family gathering – and a shiny new passport!

For the second weekend of January, I was off again, this time heading west to visit my family in East Jutland. We had our annual “Christmas” gathering at my cousin’s place, bringing our immediate family together which in recent years became much larger with the arrival of four children.

It was a huge joy to see everyone again and spend some quality time with my lovely family.

This weekend was also super exciting because I finally received my UK passport. I’m automatically a citizen because my mum is a British citizen and was born and raised in England, but for some reason, it took me almost 27 years to apply for the passport. Now I can finally prove my dual citizenship, which is a huge advantage now after Brexit.

A weekend in Copenhagen

I spent the following weekend working A LOT on the Skalk articles, but the next weekend, I was off again. This time, I went to our nation’s capital, Copenhagen, to visit my best friends, Solveig and Mikkel.

Solveig is doing her Ph.D. in Bergen, so I try to see her as much as possible when she is home in Denmark. She and Mikkel had to work while I was there, so while we spent the evenings together having lots of fun and watching Lilyhammer (Solveig is to blame for my current obsession with Norwegian comedies!), I spent the days out and about on my own, revisiting some of my favourite places in Copenhagen. I even visited the place I used to live on Frederiksberg, and ran into a demonstration against Covid-19 restrictions at the City Hall Square.

February on Lolland

With February came rain, lots and lots of rain.

We often had to pause our work at the preliminary excavation due to the weather, and head inside to wash artifacts and do flotation instead.

Life at the farm changed significantly when we lost Kanzi. He had to be put down due to a bad infection, and it was a huge shock to all of us. I really miss him.

A weekend with A on Lolland

For the first weekend of February, A took the long journey over from Berlin to visit me for an extended weekend. Luckily, he got to know Kanzi before he died, and Kanzi took to him straight away. Within moments of his arrival, Kanzi was sitting in his lap!

A and I spent the weekend out and about. I showed him around Rødby and Nykøbing Falster, the largest town in the area, and we went on a roadtrip with Kanzi to some of Lolland’s highlights: the art installation of Dodekalitten, the quaint towns of Kragenæs and Maribo and to Nysted, my favourite town on Lolland, with its well-preserved medieval castle.

Berlin bound again

The following weekend, I headed to Berlin again to visit A and his friend who was visiting from Italy. Things didn’t go quite as planned as I messed up from the beginning by forgetting my passport…

Being Schengen countries, crossing the border between Denmark and Germany without a passport *shouldn’t* be a problem, but apparently I risked a fine of 25 euros on the way over and 80 euros on the way back (Denmark is way stricter than Germany!). I lucked out big time though. The Danish-speaking border guard in Germany was very kind and told me about the fine, but said he knows it’s a lot of money for me so he’ll let me off this time as long as I promise not to forget it again. He laughed when I showed him the passport copy on my computer, and asked if he should stamp it. Hahaha! On the way back in Denmark, I showed the border guard my driver’s license and said nothing, and he didn’t care. No fine for me!

Passport issues aside, I enjoyed my short weekend in Berlin. A and I spent ages haggling over a guitar at a flea market but the (very annoying) seller wouldn’t budge and we ended up paying full price for it… which it wasn’t worth. We climbed to the top of the Victory Column and enjoyed the view over Berlin, before spending the evening with a bunch of A’s friends.

A mouth infection and some much-needed time at home

Unfortunately, I came home from Berlin with a mouth infection. It was quite bad on the way home, but I did manage to eat some of the food I’d brought with me for the long journey. The next day, I could no longer eat bread. Then salad was too painful as well. Then yoghurt, ice cubes and ice cream were the only foods that were bearable to eat. Come Thursday, I couldn’t even eat yoghurt any more. I was hungry all the time, but it was impossible for me to eat. I felt so weak that I had to have four days off work, and I visited the doctor three times (and I’m usually never sick!).

I had blisters all over the inside of my mouth and on my tounge. My gums were red and swollen and would bleed straight away if I attempted to brush my teeth. My tounge eventually developed a yeast infection. I felt terrible, and on top of that, I was dealing with Kanzi’s death and some other personal issues that I don’t want to elaborate here. And then Russia invaded Ukraine. It was all just too much to handle, and all of this made me long for one thing only. Home. The comfort of home and my family.

So for two weekends in a row, I went home to just relax and spend time with my family. I went for walks with my mum, grandmother and Brandon, watched curling with my dad, looked after my niece and went thrift shopping with my mum. Slowly, I started getting better. My mouth healed up and I could finally eat again, and I felt better mentally too. By the time my mum’s birthday came around, I was able to eat a full meal without being in pain. I chose a vegan burger, the one thing I’d craved the most during this whole ordeal!

Destinations visited in January-February 2022

• Aarhus, Hov, Rødby, Rødbyhavn, Copenhagen, Maribo, Nykøbing Falster, Kragenæs, Nysted, Odder and Hørning, Denmark
• Berlin, Germany

Highlights

• Coming back “home” to Lolland and the dogs, and starting my job again. It feels really good to be settled for a while!
• I’ve seen some beautiful sunrises because of my 2022 challenge!
• Surprising my brother in Berlin. That’s my favourite moment of 2022 so far!
• Our family gathering. I love spending time with my family, and I really enjoy watching the kiddos grow up.
• Getting my UK passport. I’m finally a dual citizen!
• Spending time with Solveig and Mikkel in Copenhagen, and going for a walk down memory lane in the city that I used to call home.
• Showing A around on Lolland. I love sharing my love for the island with others!
• Eating that juicy vegan burger on my mum’s birthday. Oh, how I longed for that after two weeks of eating hardly anything!

Challenges

• THE WAR. What can I say? I’m absolutely shocked and so so so scared for the world.
• Losing Kanzi. I miss you, my little Ken Ken <3
• All the worries because I forgot my passport on the second visit to Berlin. I definitely learned my lesson though!
• Mouth infection woes. Feeling so incredibly weak because I couldn’t eat. Ew.

Most popular post

• My favourite new destinations of 2021 (published in January) – This post includes places like Bergen, Svaneti and other favourites of last year’s travels!

The other posts

January:

• My November-December 2021: From Berlin to Norway and England – Everything I got up to in the last two months of 2021 – including three trips to Berlin!
• My best travel moments of 2021 – Mountain hiking, city cycling, island wanderings and everything else I loved about 2021!
• My worst travel moments of 2021 – Nothing seriously bad happened to me during my travels last year, but I did have some funny stories to tell!

February:

• A walk to Aalholm, a medieval castle in Nysted Nor – The first adventure of the year on Lolland!
• To Weimar and beyond: Chasing cultural heritage in central Germany – On the hunt for UNESCO sites and a very special Bronze Age disc in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt
• Borđoš 2021: A diary from two weeks of geophysical surveys in Serbia – A trip down memory lane to two of the best weeks of 2021!

Most popular Instagram picture

I finally got my UK passport, and many of you enjoyed this picture of me with both of my beloved passports! It’s also my personal favourite of the two months!

Vis dette opslag på Instagram

Et opslag delt af Melissa Villumsen (@melissavillumsen)

Coming up in March 2022

I’m going back to Serbia!

The project that I participated in back in October is continuing for two weeks from the end of March, and I’m so excited to be joining again! Before going up north to Novi Bečej for the project, I’m spending a weekend in Belgrade, a city I’ve never been to before!

But before going to Serbia, I’ve got a few weeks of work here on Lolland and two weekends to spend on hiking and thrifting!