September 3
Ven. It is an island that sits between Sweden and Denmark and is less than 5 km wide and long. Only 374 people live on it. It is flat, with high cliffs on the perimeter with two natural harbors where ferries from Landskrona in Sweden arrive. As I might have said before, Laure’s mentor group was going to Ven and it sounded like a great idea so myself, Frieder, Yuko, Helene, and Frieder’s friend Paul all came along too. And fortunately enough, it was a spectacular day. Blue skies, just under 70 deg, shining sun. We rented bicyles on the island, and the island itself is extremely accomodating for bike riding. Paul and a Belgian girl he met Anemie tried out a tandem bike and it was quite fun to see how they managed it. We set out to the heart of the island, where Tycho Brahe constructed a observatory to make astronomical observations. It was not much to see, but interesting that it happened here. There are no large towering structures on the island of Ven. You can often see the sea all around and the nearby coasts of Sweden and Denmark. We biked to a harbor where we found a very nice spot by the beach and spent 2 hours there enjoying the view, the sun, and the food we brought for a picnic. It was also a chance to meet more people, such as students from Russia, Slovakia, Poland, Spain, and Belgium.
I was riding in a group of around 8 that headed off before the mentors’ group did. So while they went counter-clockwise around the island, we went clockwise. I think our way was nicer. After finally getting back on the road at around 2:30pm, we started to ride along the coastline and it was great. On the left you had the deep blue of the sea with sailboats, and on your right you had the golden fields of freshly harvested grain with the bright red barn.
We reached the ferry quite early and relaxed a bit at the harbor area. I did not get much sleep the night before, but only when we were on the train back to Lund did I feel really tired. The mentors (which are better than mine) announced a barbeque at 7:30pm and a meeting place. We decided to tag along, and biked back to Delphi from the train station. We went to Willys to pick up things to cook and relaxed a short while at the dorm. We left the dorm a bit late and subsequently had to wait and look around for nearly an hour before we finally got to the barbeque site. It turned out that it wasn’t at a house or corridor, in fact it was on top of a hill in a park in northern Lund. The town of Lund and the surrounding areas were below you in all directions. Off in the distance you could easily see the bright lights of Malmo. They had portable tins with coals so it was like a camping barbeque. I ate apples, some grilled vegetables and corn. It was very nice sitting in a campsite-like setting with the view all around us. It did get cold near the end, but after we began moving it was ok. As we were cleaning up I spotted a fireworks display going off in Malmo and it went for quite a while! We think it was for the America’s Cup race that was being held in Malmo. Those of us living in Delphi split off and headed back home. That was also nice, for we walked through what looked like a forested park with no one else around, a street light every now and then, in the darkness. We would come onto forks in the road with nothing unique in each direction. We weren’t worried though. We actually ended up right behind our exact building in Delphi! It was quite cool. I came back up thoroughly exhausted. I was thinking about going to Copenhagen tomorrow, but I do not think that would work. I might go to Malmo or Dalby though. As for photos of Ven, I will sort them tomorrow and upload then. Good night for now.