So! Since my last post was insanely long, I decided to post 2 entries. One about my time and one about new and interesting and different and WEIRD things. haha here you go =)
THINGS I'VE LEARNED SO FAR::
-Denmark is the only country that doesn't have a 'B' note, but it has an 'H' I guess. Mind fully blown. So much for music being an international language. This was like telling me 2+2=5 here..makes absolutely no sense.
-There are spiders everywhere here! And big ones. With huge webs. And literally EVERYWHERE. ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
-People can park on the wrong side of the street here..In fact, if there is no designated parking spot, people just park half on the sidewalk.
-Canada has a lot of the same systems as us in the US: the oulets, using feet and inches to measure height...so ha! take that Europe! haha we aren't the only ones that do it this way =D
-I figured out which era the Danish fashion reminds me of! The '90s, most definitely. I couldn't figure it out for the longest time, but indeed. We are talking shoulder pads, pants up high on the waist line for girls, wedge shoes, one piece suits...yea, the whole nine yards =P
-The busses do not always run on time, and the next bus WILL leave you behind.
-My Danish teacher said that some drunk Viking must have thuoght up the Danish language, cuz it's just that crazy haha
-The notebook paper for school has 4 holes, not 3. Why they need an extra hole? I have no idea.
-Some words in the Danish language cannot be translated. EX: hyggligt (hue-gah-lee) everything is hyggligt. It's like saying comfy or cozy, but there is really no way to tranlsate this word..IT'S EVERYTHING! haha
-Speaking English to some people shocks them at first..but speaking Danish to a classmate is almost more shocking.
-If you're done eating, put the knife and fork on teh same side of the plate, otherwise you're still hungry..yes, it took me a good 2 weeks to figure this one out. "Why are they still giving me food?!" yea, that's why...
-Black is a major staple in most people's wardrobe.
-The music is old here. Old as in, they are just now getting things on the radio that we had months ago.
-Chucks/All stars/Converse are very popular. Go US =D
-A lot of people are caffeine addicts. Coffee and tea all the time. Sometimes they drink 3 cups of coffee at 8-9-10 at night. It's usually black, no cream or sugar. And it's ALWAYS scalding hot. I don't know how they drink it that way, but they do.
-People play hacky sack here! Haha this gave me a kick
-The water is completely clean no matter where you go. Straight from the tap is how they drink it. And I also blame the water for a few things: making my hair grow super fast, making a lot more hair fall out, making the Danish people so tall! It's gotta be the water, guys. It's gotta haha
-A Dane can out-eat an American any day. Seriously, they eat A LOT. I saw this little 11 year old eat 3 plates full one time.
-Sometimes they eat really slow and sometimes you blink and the food is gone. They tend to talk a lot during mealtime, so this could explain it.
-A 'typical' Danish boy might come off as gay. They dress well, smell nice, are very free and open with other guys, and their mannerisms are very feminine. Don't be fooled hahaha they are about 95% of the time straight.
-When in a place like a store or postoffice, people are generally very willing to help if you ask. Like I said earlier, they are kind of taken aback by the English at first, but they help with a good attitude =) very nice people
THE LANGUAGE BARRIER::
I think I should updat y'all on how my Danish is going. Det går ok. It's going ok. Pretty much. Haha I am learning more everyday, but it's just not enough. I have danish lessons after school on Mondays for a few hours. Right now, I'm in that place where I can understand if they speak slowly and give me a few seconds to translate, but that's not what most people let me do. When I'm in a group of people and they start speaking Danish I can usually pick out words and figure out what they're talking about. But somedays, my brain gets so tired that I quit. I haven't gotten my first dream in Danish yet, but everyone says it should be coming any week now ^_^ I have started to think in Danish though. Not fluently by any means, don't get all excited. But sometimes I'll just be sitting in class and I'll just start saying Danish sentances in my head. The only problem with this is that when someone asks me a question, I can only off the top of my was give them a bare minimum answer. But if I can think about it, I can say so much more in my head. It's frustrating cuz it jusr won't come out. Haha Also, an interesing fact, my English is starting to suck. Majorly. My vocabulary is shrinking rapidly. My grammar is getting bad. Sometimes I hve to ask my friends what the word I'm looking for is. Yea, that doesn't help when they don't know the word either. =P so, my English is going bad really fast, but my Danish is getting better super slowly. I wonder if I wot be able to speak at all during this year ^_^ o, one more thing, "tell us what you know in Danish!" is a horrible thing to get asked. Because now, I know more than my name, but I can't translate a sentence for you if it's too big. So pulling a good Danish sentence out of my head is tricky. It takes a minute or two. O! And when I read, I can read almost everything now. Ok, not everything, but I can read a lot an understand it. It's because I can think about it more and read the context...I think that's about all for language ^_^ it's coming. But it's just gunna take some time. More time.
That's all for now! =D I hope you are learning a lot from these blogs. I wish you could experience it for yourself, but since you can't, I hope you find this insightful. =) until next time! <3
Rebekah~~~~ jeg elsker jer. Og, jeg savner jer. Jeg skal ser jer snart! (I love you all, and I miss you all. I shall see you all soon)
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
ET...Phone Home!!!
so! this past weeks have been awesome =D you kno, it still had it's ups and downs, but for the most part it was good =) sorry it's been like 3 weeks since my last update. Wow. It HAS been that long. Well, let me try to remember what has happened =D
the week went by like usual. nothing special happened. and then this weekend of September 10-12, the other kids in my district went to the southern island called Lolland (low-lan) to a little town called Maribo (my-bo). it was a lot of fun =) I got to see all of the kids in my district and that was awesome because I really like my district. We also got to spend time with the oldies in my district too. Oldies are the people from the southern hemisphere that have been here half a year already.
So on Friday, I went on the train with Stephanie and we all met up in Nykøbing. then we hopped on the next train to Maribor. That is where i saw all my friends and the new oldies. After checking with our 'surpervisers' for the weekend, we all got on this really old style train that was going to take us to the place we were staying. And I do mean that this train was ancient! Haha it actually belonged Tina museum and the rotary let us ride on it =) that was a lot of fun. I got to stand in between the cars, terrified of falling off. And the wistle of the train blew and blew. I'm not sure exactly how long we were on the train, but it was great.
Then we got off the train and were driven to the camp site where we were going to be for the next few days. No, we didn't stay outside, we were in a little cozy cabin type thing. Me and all my friends claimed a whole top row of bunk beds so we could all be next to each other. 5 beds. One and a half for luggage, and three and a half for 5 girls ^_^ o yea. Haha that's just how we make things work =P it was a lot of fun. I love being with my girlfiends...so on Friday night we got to just relax for a few hours. And then after dinner, at about 8 I think, some ZUMBA intrustors came! For those of you who don't know, zumba is a mix of dance and workout. It was sooooo much fun =D sure, I can't dance, but I honestly think that none of us can. Haha so after they left, guess what we got! Cake!! (kage {kay} in Danish) yep. After we worked off all of our calories, then let us eat more ^_^
that night we didn't sleep very much. Not by choice either. It was the blasted oldies!! It's unfortunate, but they didn't get along well with us. Well, the ones from Australia and new Zealand mostly. They just are a bunch of party animals and that's not what a lot of us are into. So we butted heads a few times...anywayz! On Saturday! We went into the town first. And had a boat ride in a lake. Pretty relaxing. We saw so many ducks!! And they were so close to us. Like on shore they were only a meter away on te grass! So me and some friends had some fun chasing them. Haha there is a video on facbook. Check it out! Then after the ride we got to wander in the city, and we got to see a military tatoo. It was like a bunch of marching bands dressed up in old style military gear and playing. So cool. But, what made it the beat ever! There were some bag pipers. I'm sorry that a lot of you absolutely loath the noise, but I love it =) and!!! they started to play "Amazing Grace" as we were walking back to our bus. I can't explain to you the emotion...it was just, GAH! yea. haha i loved it soooooo much =D then after that! We went to this place called Knutinborg..I think that's how you spell =P this place is the coolest! It's a SAFARI! in the middle of Europe!!!! Yea it was great. We got there and the weather was kind of junky, go figure in Denmark. ^_^ but we got there and ate lunch outside and then! Before we started our tour of animals, we got to roam around this playground area. LET ME TELL YOU! this, was the most awesome playgroud/obstacle course that I have ever seen! It wad so big and there was so much to do. I want to go back just so I can play there again =D am I a child or what...then! We got to see the animals. Giraffes. Tigers. Wolves. RHINOS. Zebras. Gazell. It was AWESOME. haha I love the zoo, but this was like the zoo on steroids. So much fun =) I would love to go back with my girlfriends sometime.
Then we spent ANOTHER sleepless night in the cabin. Then left bright and early on Sunday (Søondag). So, after a BUNCH of confusion over who gets into which vehicle and which train to get on, we boarded the train and were off! About an hour later, Næstved was approaching, and after that is Ringsted. Now, I wasn't exactly sure which stop to get off on. See, Ringsted is closer to my house, but Næstved is usually where we get on and off the train. So! wanting to call my host family to ask them, I reached for my phone, and guess what...that's right! DEAD AS A DOORNAIL -_- so I decided to just get off in Ringsted since it's closer to my house, and I figured that was where I would be picked up at. Jokingly, I knew something was going to go wrong, and that I would be stranded at the train station. So I told Stephanie to look for my host parents and point them in the direction of Ringsted if she saw them at the Næstved station. So I said goodbye to Steph, and then I was on my way to Ringsted. After arriving I looked for my host mom or dad..no dice. SHOOT. Yea, through my head I was saying "I'm in trouble" just over and over again. haha this stuff just always seems to happen to me! So I'm in a total calm/stressed/panicked state, if ever such a thing existed ^_^ so I had no idea what to do. My phone was dead, and I didn't see any outlets in the walls. So I walked up to a couple of the oldies and was like "guys, I need help from my older and wiser oldies" haha And they suggested taht I go up to the counter at the convenient store and ask to plug in my phone..I guess they really aren't that bad, huh. =P so I walked up to the cuonter and asked the lady if there was anywhere I could plug in my phone, she pointed to a corner. I quickly walked/ran over to the corner, and as soon as I bent down to plug in my phone, I heard my name from behind me. My host mom had arrived!!!! haha I ran up to her and gave her a hug andtold her how scared i was that I was going to be stranded there forever! And guess what, she had gone to Næstved, she had seen Stephanie, and Stephanie actually told her where i was!!! yea, this kind of stuff only happens to me guys ^_^ it's soo funny to think about now. like, wow. anywayz! that was that weekend =D crisis averted.
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Just when you think nothing else can possibly go wrong, it does. I'm talking about the following Monday morning. SO.MUCH.FUN. not. this was the worst day I've had in Denmark to date. Let me explain! So I woke up on Monday morning, bright and early at about 5:30 like usual, got ready, and started out on my bike at 6:30. I ride my bike every morning to the bus stop 2k away, which isn't so bad. It takes like 8 minutes, something like that. So I set out! Well, about 2 minutes into my bike ride, it started to sprinkle..OH NO. And then! POURING. And not just normal pouring. POURING BUCKETS! so, that was not fun, I had to finish my bike ride, soaking wet. Then, with the bus stop in sight, this big blue van pulls up next to me, this lady leans out her window, and starts yelling at me. IN DANISH. So I had to just sit there, in the pouring rain, listening to this lady yell at me, and then I finally said that I don't speak Danish. She looked back at me, annoyance clearly written on her face, and just said very curtly "you need to put lights on your bike" i then replied with not having any lights, and she said to get some! then she drove away. So then I rode away, drenched, and got on the bus, freezing. I was hoping my clothes would dry in time, but no dice. I had PE that morning too. So I had to take off the wet clothes, then put them back on...fun fun fun. ^_^ worst morning ever.
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Now! A bit more recent. This past weekend, sept 18-19, me and Stephanie went down south about 2 hours to see my friend Hillary from Canada and Erica from Illonois. (These were my group from intro camp) That, was a super long train ride, I must say. haha but it was all worth it, because I got to see my awesome veninder (girl friends). So we finally got off the train and then were met by Hillary and Erica and then walked out to Hill's house. We chilled there for a few hours, then ate dinner. And somehow we made dinner last almost 4 hours it felt like. TOO MUCH TALKING. haha but then, we finally had the night to ourselves. And we went out like we planned to. CLUB. My first dicso in Denmark. We had to first walk to the bank so Hill could get money to pay for us all to get in, and then we had to walk to the disco. It was like 11:30-12 at night by the way. And freezing. haha but! we finally got there. It was still super early when we got there, so we just chilled out and talked until like 1 when more of a crowd started coming. There was some dancing, but like I said in a previous post, the people here can't dance very well ^_^ but we tried. haha the only thing i hated about the club was all the smoke. it's "illegal" to smoke in clubs, but no one really cares. So it felt like I smoked 5 whole packs myself that night. My eyes were falling out of my head practically. Yea, not so much fun. But overall, the whole night was good. I was the first out of the group of girls to get talked to by a few guys we didn't know. One asked if he could come home with us. hahaha Erica got bought a drink, so did Hill. Steph, did you get any action?? haha jk. It was fun. We headed home at a mere 4 in the morning. Yea, we were all dead by this time. No joke, but we still had to walk home. Still freezing out, by the way. =P But let me tell you, getting home and taking off the smoke smelling clothing and crawling into a nice warm bed was probably the best thing that happened to me all night ^_^ Then we all awoke Sunday afternoon, ate some chow, then headed off on our ways. Erica had her bus leaving at 4, so Steph and I found a train leaving at the same time. I then arrived home at the RIGHT train station, and my host dad was waiting to pick me up =) So home I went. We ate some dinner together, then I think I passed out on my bed =D that was my weekend
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The past week at school has been less than thrilling like always =P Just the normal stuff happening. Classes. Boring. Sleeping in classes. On Tuesday (sept 21), my afternoon classes got cancelled, so I decided I didn't want to stay at home for 10 hours, and I wanted to go shopping. The only problem, I left some stuff at home that I really wanted to return. So this is what I had to do: took the bus home, got there at about 1, ate some food, took the next bus out at 2:20, arrived in Næstved at 2:45ish, walked to the mall, got there about 3:10, then got all my returning done eventually, then I got to shop =) It's my Nanny's Birthday today (Sept 27!) so I wanted to get her a card. It took FOREVER to find the birthday cards. haha then it took forever to find the right one. but I did it! =) and I found some postcards too. I have never told so many people that I didn't speak Danish before. haha I was asking for help ALL over the place! Yea, you all should be very proud of me, cuz if you know me, you know that's not me. Asking strangers for help...I'M GROWING UP! O MY GOODNESS HAHAHA but it was a good trip =) i'm very proud of myself actually...My host mom was able to come get me from the mall, so I didn't have to take the bus. YES! this, was a great day =)
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and then this past weekend, sept 25-26! (finally up to date!!!!!) on saturday I was home alone all day because my host mom was in Germany (Tyskland) for work, my host sister went to a friend's house, and my host dad had a birthday party (fødselsdag) to go to for someone in his family. So that left me home alone..The few times that I have been home alone the host parents seem so worried about me. Telling me that I can cook whatever I want and to not get scared and whatnot. haha little do they know, I have stayed home alone since I was practically 7. ^_^ it was a very relaxing day. very enjoyable. and! i got to talk to my parents <3 yea, i miss them, i'll admit. haha Then on Sunday, a man from rotary and his wife and their son wanted to take me out to this school that their oldest son was at...this is called an "efterskole". Normally, students in 10th grade do this. It's a lot like a boarding school. Students live there, but they can see their parents almost every weekend if they choose, and each school has a specific interest. Like gymnastik, music, theater, things like that...So we visited the school on the open house day, and all the students did a show for us visiters. A gymnastik show. (hopefully, i'll be posting the video on facebook soon) It was a lot of fun! Then after that we drove to this place where there are cliffs made of chalk and the WATER! Yea, it reminded me so much of Newport and home. It was good to see again =) I miss it I guess haha. Then, we went home. Another hour in the car..actually, it wasn't a car. It's an SUV. the first and only I've seen in Denmark. stranger, huh...
And that's all there is! Sorry that this post was so long. I will be posting my "what I've learned" section in a new entry. Thanks for reading! I love you all and miss you. jeg elsker dig og jeg savner dig =)
<3 Rebekah
the week went by like usual. nothing special happened. and then this weekend of September 10-12, the other kids in my district went to the southern island called Lolland (low-lan) to a little town called Maribo (my-bo). it was a lot of fun =) I got to see all of the kids in my district and that was awesome because I really like my district. We also got to spend time with the oldies in my district too. Oldies are the people from the southern hemisphere that have been here half a year already.
So on Friday, I went on the train with Stephanie and we all met up in Nykøbing. then we hopped on the next train to Maribor. That is where i saw all my friends and the new oldies. After checking with our 'surpervisers' for the weekend, we all got on this really old style train that was going to take us to the place we were staying. And I do mean that this train was ancient! Haha it actually belonged Tina museum and the rotary let us ride on it =) that was a lot of fun. I got to stand in between the cars, terrified of falling off. And the wistle of the train blew and blew. I'm not sure exactly how long we were on the train, but it was great.
Then we got off the train and were driven to the camp site where we were going to be for the next few days. No, we didn't stay outside, we were in a little cozy cabin type thing. Me and all my friends claimed a whole top row of bunk beds so we could all be next to each other. 5 beds. One and a half for luggage, and three and a half for 5 girls ^_^ o yea. Haha that's just how we make things work =P it was a lot of fun. I love being with my girlfiends...so on Friday night we got to just relax for a few hours. And then after dinner, at about 8 I think, some ZUMBA intrustors came! For those of you who don't know, zumba is a mix of dance and workout. It was sooooo much fun =D sure, I can't dance, but I honestly think that none of us can. Haha so after they left, guess what we got! Cake!! (kage {kay} in Danish) yep. After we worked off all of our calories, then let us eat more ^_^
that night we didn't sleep very much. Not by choice either. It was the blasted oldies!! It's unfortunate, but they didn't get along well with us. Well, the ones from Australia and new Zealand mostly. They just are a bunch of party animals and that's not what a lot of us are into. So we butted heads a few times...anywayz! On Saturday! We went into the town first. And had a boat ride in a lake. Pretty relaxing. We saw so many ducks!! And they were so close to us. Like on shore they were only a meter away on te grass! So me and some friends had some fun chasing them. Haha there is a video on facbook. Check it out! Then after the ride we got to wander in the city, and we got to see a military tatoo. It was like a bunch of marching bands dressed up in old style military gear and playing. So cool. But, what made it the beat ever! There were some bag pipers. I'm sorry that a lot of you absolutely loath the noise, but I love it =) and!!! they started to play "Amazing Grace" as we were walking back to our bus. I can't explain to you the emotion...it was just, GAH! yea. haha i loved it soooooo much =D then after that! We went to this place called Knutinborg..I think that's how you spell =P this place is the coolest! It's a SAFARI! in the middle of Europe!!!! Yea it was great. We got there and the weather was kind of junky, go figure in Denmark. ^_^ but we got there and ate lunch outside and then! Before we started our tour of animals, we got to roam around this playground area. LET ME TELL YOU! this, was the most awesome playgroud/obstacle course that I have ever seen! It wad so big and there was so much to do. I want to go back just so I can play there again =D am I a child or what...then! We got to see the animals. Giraffes. Tigers. Wolves. RHINOS. Zebras. Gazell. It was AWESOME. haha I love the zoo, but this was like the zoo on steroids. So much fun =) I would love to go back with my girlfriends sometime.
Then we spent ANOTHER sleepless night in the cabin. Then left bright and early on Sunday (Søondag). So, after a BUNCH of confusion over who gets into which vehicle and which train to get on, we boarded the train and were off! About an hour later, Næstved was approaching, and after that is Ringsted. Now, I wasn't exactly sure which stop to get off on. See, Ringsted is closer to my house, but Næstved is usually where we get on and off the train. So! wanting to call my host family to ask them, I reached for my phone, and guess what...that's right! DEAD AS A DOORNAIL -_- so I decided to just get off in Ringsted since it's closer to my house, and I figured that was where I would be picked up at. Jokingly, I knew something was going to go wrong, and that I would be stranded at the train station. So I told Stephanie to look for my host parents and point them in the direction of Ringsted if she saw them at the Næstved station. So I said goodbye to Steph, and then I was on my way to Ringsted. After arriving I looked for my host mom or dad..no dice. SHOOT. Yea, through my head I was saying "I'm in trouble" just over and over again. haha this stuff just always seems to happen to me! So I'm in a total calm/stressed/panicked state, if ever such a thing existed ^_^ so I had no idea what to do. My phone was dead, and I didn't see any outlets in the walls. So I walked up to a couple of the oldies and was like "guys, I need help from my older and wiser oldies" haha And they suggested taht I go up to the counter at the convenient store and ask to plug in my phone..I guess they really aren't that bad, huh. =P so I walked up to the cuonter and asked the lady if there was anywhere I could plug in my phone, she pointed to a corner. I quickly walked/ran over to the corner, and as soon as I bent down to plug in my phone, I heard my name from behind me. My host mom had arrived!!!! haha I ran up to her and gave her a hug andtold her how scared i was that I was going to be stranded there forever! And guess what, she had gone to Næstved, she had seen Stephanie, and Stephanie actually told her where i was!!! yea, this kind of stuff only happens to me guys ^_^ it's soo funny to think about now. like, wow. anywayz! that was that weekend =D crisis averted.
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Just when you think nothing else can possibly go wrong, it does. I'm talking about the following Monday morning. SO.MUCH.FUN. not. this was the worst day I've had in Denmark to date. Let me explain! So I woke up on Monday morning, bright and early at about 5:30 like usual, got ready, and started out on my bike at 6:30. I ride my bike every morning to the bus stop 2k away, which isn't so bad. It takes like 8 minutes, something like that. So I set out! Well, about 2 minutes into my bike ride, it started to sprinkle..OH NO. And then! POURING. And not just normal pouring. POURING BUCKETS! so, that was not fun, I had to finish my bike ride, soaking wet. Then, with the bus stop in sight, this big blue van pulls up next to me, this lady leans out her window, and starts yelling at me. IN DANISH. So I had to just sit there, in the pouring rain, listening to this lady yell at me, and then I finally said that I don't speak Danish. She looked back at me, annoyance clearly written on her face, and just said very curtly "you need to put lights on your bike" i then replied with not having any lights, and she said to get some! then she drove away. So then I rode away, drenched, and got on the bus, freezing. I was hoping my clothes would dry in time, but no dice. I had PE that morning too. So I had to take off the wet clothes, then put them back on...fun fun fun. ^_^ worst morning ever.
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Now! A bit more recent. This past weekend, sept 18-19, me and Stephanie went down south about 2 hours to see my friend Hillary from Canada and Erica from Illonois. (These were my group from intro camp) That, was a super long train ride, I must say. haha but it was all worth it, because I got to see my awesome veninder (girl friends). So we finally got off the train and then were met by Hillary and Erica and then walked out to Hill's house. We chilled there for a few hours, then ate dinner. And somehow we made dinner last almost 4 hours it felt like. TOO MUCH TALKING. haha but then, we finally had the night to ourselves. And we went out like we planned to. CLUB. My first dicso in Denmark. We had to first walk to the bank so Hill could get money to pay for us all to get in, and then we had to walk to the disco. It was like 11:30-12 at night by the way. And freezing. haha but! we finally got there. It was still super early when we got there, so we just chilled out and talked until like 1 when more of a crowd started coming. There was some dancing, but like I said in a previous post, the people here can't dance very well ^_^ but we tried. haha the only thing i hated about the club was all the smoke. it's "illegal" to smoke in clubs, but no one really cares. So it felt like I smoked 5 whole packs myself that night. My eyes were falling out of my head practically. Yea, not so much fun. But overall, the whole night was good. I was the first out of the group of girls to get talked to by a few guys we didn't know. One asked if he could come home with us. hahaha Erica got bought a drink, so did Hill. Steph, did you get any action?? haha jk. It was fun. We headed home at a mere 4 in the morning. Yea, we were all dead by this time. No joke, but we still had to walk home. Still freezing out, by the way. =P But let me tell you, getting home and taking off the smoke smelling clothing and crawling into a nice warm bed was probably the best thing that happened to me all night ^_^ Then we all awoke Sunday afternoon, ate some chow, then headed off on our ways. Erica had her bus leaving at 4, so Steph and I found a train leaving at the same time. I then arrived home at the RIGHT train station, and my host dad was waiting to pick me up =) So home I went. We ate some dinner together, then I think I passed out on my bed =D that was my weekend
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The past week at school has been less than thrilling like always =P Just the normal stuff happening. Classes. Boring. Sleeping in classes. On Tuesday (sept 21), my afternoon classes got cancelled, so I decided I didn't want to stay at home for 10 hours, and I wanted to go shopping. The only problem, I left some stuff at home that I really wanted to return. So this is what I had to do: took the bus home, got there at about 1, ate some food, took the next bus out at 2:20, arrived in Næstved at 2:45ish, walked to the mall, got there about 3:10, then got all my returning done eventually, then I got to shop =) It's my Nanny's Birthday today (Sept 27!) so I wanted to get her a card. It took FOREVER to find the birthday cards. haha then it took forever to find the right one. but I did it! =) and I found some postcards too. I have never told so many people that I didn't speak Danish before. haha I was asking for help ALL over the place! Yea, you all should be very proud of me, cuz if you know me, you know that's not me. Asking strangers for help...I'M GROWING UP! O MY GOODNESS HAHAHA but it was a good trip =) i'm very proud of myself actually...My host mom was able to come get me from the mall, so I didn't have to take the bus. YES! this, was a great day =)
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and then this past weekend, sept 25-26! (finally up to date!!!!!) on saturday I was home alone all day because my host mom was in Germany (Tyskland) for work, my host sister went to a friend's house, and my host dad had a birthday party (fødselsdag) to go to for someone in his family. So that left me home alone..The few times that I have been home alone the host parents seem so worried about me. Telling me that I can cook whatever I want and to not get scared and whatnot. haha little do they know, I have stayed home alone since I was practically 7. ^_^ it was a very relaxing day. very enjoyable. and! i got to talk to my parents <3 yea, i miss them, i'll admit. haha Then on Sunday, a man from rotary and his wife and their son wanted to take me out to this school that their oldest son was at...this is called an "efterskole". Normally, students in 10th grade do this. It's a lot like a boarding school. Students live there, but they can see their parents almost every weekend if they choose, and each school has a specific interest. Like gymnastik, music, theater, things like that...So we visited the school on the open house day, and all the students did a show for us visiters. A gymnastik show. (hopefully, i'll be posting the video on facebook soon) It was a lot of fun! Then after that we drove to this place where there are cliffs made of chalk and the WATER! Yea, it reminded me so much of Newport and home. It was good to see again =) I miss it I guess haha. Then, we went home. Another hour in the car..actually, it wasn't a car. It's an SUV. the first and only I've seen in Denmark. stranger, huh...
And that's all there is! Sorry that this post was so long. I will be posting my "what I've learned" section in a new entry. Thanks for reading! I love you all and miss you. jeg elsker dig og jeg savner dig =)
<3 Rebekah
Monday, September 6, 2010
Sports Day =)
i got a couple requests to actually SEE the penguin costume. so here you go =D along with some other pics from that awesome day at school!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Party Time ^_^
this last week at school was AWESOME! it was sooo much fun. let me tell you about it::
yes, even though i was super sad to have to come back home after that last amazing week and go back to school, i still enjoyed being back. i missed all of my danish friends believe it or not ;) So it was nice to come back and see them all. It was especially nice to have a fun week.
Pretty much all week we have been preparing for friday. Friday was "sports day". It happens once a year. Every class dresses up like something, performs a little dance, then competes against each other in sporting activities. It was great. My class decided 3 weeks ago that we were going to be apes. Then we decided to do bay watch. Then we FINALLY decided to be penguins =D so the class bought their costumes the week I was gone, and unfortunately I don't own one. One of my friends let me borrow hers for a couple games.
Anywayz, on Monday we practiced our dance during gym class. Then at various other times during the week. The teachers let us do it during class a couple of times. Which helped a lot. We eventually got it down enough to where we could perform it. My class did great =) I am going to try to post the video if facebook will let me...we also did a pretty ok job on the activities too. Well, we lost almost all of them. But it's the spirit that counts haha. There was this baseball game. A game with an American football. 'water skiing'. A wheel barrow race. Volleyball. Field hockey. And frisbee. It was fun =D like I said, we lost almost everything, but it was great to just hang out with friends all day and not have to do school work. fun fun =)
then that night there was a party for the whole school. i went to steph's house and then with her to her host sister's pre party. we got to the dance at about 9:30 and had to wait outside...in the rain -_- yea, my hair died...but when we FINALLY got in, soaking wet and all, we started finding some people we knew and started having a good time dancing and what not.
the party started at 8, and i arrived about 2 hours later. there were 2 bars at the party/dance. and they were used, believe you me. most of my classmates were already 'gone' by the time i got there. because of the pre party and all i guess. everyone was crazy and having a blast. i was having fun too =) dancing with friends is always fun. they then had some live music play, and that pretty much killed the mood..yes, THAT bad. so i took a breather and wen looking for stephanie, and eventually i found her with another exchange student. now this other girl had had a bit too much to drink, i could tell becasue someone had drawn a mustache on her in blue pen. is it wrong to find this funny? haha sorry if that offends anyone.
anywayz the party was to last until 1, but we didn't make it. 12:30 and we were calling stephanie's host mom to come pick us up. then we went to bed =) sleeping the night away!
and that was friday. haha the rest of the week was comparably boring, but still had some ups. one day with my geography teacher, my class went up this ginormaous hill and climbed to the top of a water tower. i think we were measuring wind speeds?? by the way, i do NOT like heights...so i was pretty scared up there.
then one day me and stephanie went shopping in downtown næstved. we wanted to buy some shoes for the dance, but no dice. we walked around for a long time, then we ended up at a little supermarket store underneath the library. we were both craving cake, so guess what i bought =DDDDDD yes, a little chocolate cake that we shared. we only got half way through with it, then we were done. haha or, i made us be done. cuz we would hae gotten so sick! then we went up to the library for a bit while we wre waiting for her mom to come get here. and then i left to catch my bus! not getting lost by the way =)
o, something exciting that is coming up! volleyball is starting here at the gymnasium. every thursday there is practice. i'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stoked! for those of you who don't know, i have played since 5th grade with the amazing crusaders with amazing teammates and amazing coaches. i played until 10th grade and 11th grade i couldn't play becasue i had missed out on sign up, but i assistant coached a 3-5th grade team of girls =D it was great! well, anywayz, i really miss playing the sport, so i'm really happy i'll be able to do it again. now i just have to find some sports store that actually HAS volleyball gear...=P
that's all for now folks! keep in touch =) and i'll try to update more often!
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR::
danish girls loooove mascara, for most, that is all they wear makeup wise. and i must tell you, it feels really nice to not wear as much makeup anymore =)
they have donuts here, i have seen them...also pringles =P
when calling for a cab, count how many people will be riding in it SEVERAL times...and pray it's not raining outside where you're waiting
nothing feels better than a letter or package from home (thanks mom)
danes DO know that smoking kills you
don't give a drunk friend a rubber stamper, becasue he will go around stamping EVERYONE he meets
denmark used to have an empire! no joke, just learned that today...they used to own sweden and norway and the virgin islands and more of germany...CRAZY
we no speak americano is like my new favorite party song
danes CAN'T dance ^_^ sorry guys..
coffee and tea and cookies is pretty common on a sunday afternoon =D
ok, that's all! o, shoot! language stuff...ok, i'm starting after school danish lessons every monday at school. i hope they are effective. i learned a lot of danish at the intro camp i feel like...i have OFFICIALLY been here one month =DD and i can understand a lot, if you speak slowly and repeat. my pronunciation sucks however. but reading is getting better =) some people in class said it's not fun that i'm learning so fast because now i'll know what they are saying to me. haha and yes, people have said that i am learning danish quite fast. and this makes me sooooo happy. maybe i'll actually be able to conquer this language that some people say is harder than chinese =P
now! that's all haha please keep reading. i hope you like what i have to say, and my opinion on things. ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE. i'll answer. love you all. miss you <3
rebekah smith (jeg elsker dig, i love you)
yes, even though i was super sad to have to come back home after that last amazing week and go back to school, i still enjoyed being back. i missed all of my danish friends believe it or not ;) So it was nice to come back and see them all. It was especially nice to have a fun week.
Pretty much all week we have been preparing for friday. Friday was "sports day". It happens once a year. Every class dresses up like something, performs a little dance, then competes against each other in sporting activities. It was great. My class decided 3 weeks ago that we were going to be apes. Then we decided to do bay watch. Then we FINALLY decided to be penguins =D so the class bought their costumes the week I was gone, and unfortunately I don't own one. One of my friends let me borrow hers for a couple games.
Anywayz, on Monday we practiced our dance during gym class. Then at various other times during the week. The teachers let us do it during class a couple of times. Which helped a lot. We eventually got it down enough to where we could perform it. My class did great =) I am going to try to post the video if facebook will let me...we also did a pretty ok job on the activities too. Well, we lost almost all of them. But it's the spirit that counts haha. There was this baseball game. A game with an American football. 'water skiing'. A wheel barrow race. Volleyball. Field hockey. And frisbee. It was fun =D like I said, we lost almost everything, but it was great to just hang out with friends all day and not have to do school work. fun fun =)
then that night there was a party for the whole school. i went to steph's house and then with her to her host sister's pre party. we got to the dance at about 9:30 and had to wait outside...in the rain -_- yea, my hair died...but when we FINALLY got in, soaking wet and all, we started finding some people we knew and started having a good time dancing and what not.
the party started at 8, and i arrived about 2 hours later. there were 2 bars at the party/dance. and they were used, believe you me. most of my classmates were already 'gone' by the time i got there. because of the pre party and all i guess. everyone was crazy and having a blast. i was having fun too =) dancing with friends is always fun. they then had some live music play, and that pretty much killed the mood..yes, THAT bad. so i took a breather and wen looking for stephanie, and eventually i found her with another exchange student. now this other girl had had a bit too much to drink, i could tell becasue someone had drawn a mustache on her in blue pen. is it wrong to find this funny? haha sorry if that offends anyone.
anywayz the party was to last until 1, but we didn't make it. 12:30 and we were calling stephanie's host mom to come pick us up. then we went to bed =) sleeping the night away!
and that was friday. haha the rest of the week was comparably boring, but still had some ups. one day with my geography teacher, my class went up this ginormaous hill and climbed to the top of a water tower. i think we were measuring wind speeds?? by the way, i do NOT like heights...so i was pretty scared up there.
then one day me and stephanie went shopping in downtown næstved. we wanted to buy some shoes for the dance, but no dice. we walked around for a long time, then we ended up at a little supermarket store underneath the library. we were both craving cake, so guess what i bought =DDDDDD yes, a little chocolate cake that we shared. we only got half way through with it, then we were done. haha or, i made us be done. cuz we would hae gotten so sick! then we went up to the library for a bit while we wre waiting for her mom to come get here. and then i left to catch my bus! not getting lost by the way =)
o, something exciting that is coming up! volleyball is starting here at the gymnasium. every thursday there is practice. i'm sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stoked! for those of you who don't know, i have played since 5th grade with the amazing crusaders with amazing teammates and amazing coaches. i played until 10th grade and 11th grade i couldn't play becasue i had missed out on sign up, but i assistant coached a 3-5th grade team of girls =D it was great! well, anywayz, i really miss playing the sport, so i'm really happy i'll be able to do it again. now i just have to find some sports store that actually HAS volleyball gear...=P
that's all for now folks! keep in touch =) and i'll try to update more often!
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR::
danish girls loooove mascara, for most, that is all they wear makeup wise. and i must tell you, it feels really nice to not wear as much makeup anymore =)
they have donuts here, i have seen them...also pringles =P
when calling for a cab, count how many people will be riding in it SEVERAL times...and pray it's not raining outside where you're waiting
nothing feels better than a letter or package from home (thanks mom)
danes DO know that smoking kills you
don't give a drunk friend a rubber stamper, becasue he will go around stamping EVERYONE he meets
denmark used to have an empire! no joke, just learned that today...they used to own sweden and norway and the virgin islands and more of germany...CRAZY
we no speak americano is like my new favorite party song
danes CAN'T dance ^_^ sorry guys..
coffee and tea and cookies is pretty common on a sunday afternoon =D
ok, that's all! o, shoot! language stuff...ok, i'm starting after school danish lessons every monday at school. i hope they are effective. i learned a lot of danish at the intro camp i feel like...i have OFFICIALLY been here one month =DD and i can understand a lot, if you speak slowly and repeat. my pronunciation sucks however. but reading is getting better =) some people in class said it's not fun that i'm learning so fast because now i'll know what they are saying to me. haha and yes, people have said that i am learning danish quite fast. and this makes me sooooo happy. maybe i'll actually be able to conquer this language that some people say is harder than chinese =P
now! that's all haha please keep reading. i hope you like what i have to say, and my opinion on things. ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE. i'll answer. love you all. miss you <3
rebekah smith (jeg elsker dig, i love you)
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Best Week EVER!
hello everyone! it's been a WHOLE week since we last spoke. SOOO much has happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! let me begin:
this past week, august 22-29, i was at the rotary intro camp in a town near Randers which is also near Århus. this was an 'intro camp' for all the other newbie exchange students in denmark. there are about 150 of us. it was so amazing. by far, it was the best week of my exchange so far.
i left bright and early saturday morning and got on the train in Ringsted, about 10 minutes from where i live. my host dad, torben, took me, and after i got to the train station i noticed right away some friends from my district! there is stephanie from LA who also goes to my school. Hillary from canada. poliana from brazil, she goes to my school as well. and about 5 other ppl. we all waited around for like 10-15 minutes until the train arrived. i hugged my host dad goodbye and boarded the train. MY FIRST TRAIN RIDE EVER!!! it was thrilling haha none of us exchange students paid much attention to our ticketed seats, we all just sat together with our friends in little groups.
throughout the 3+ hour train ride, more and more exchange students boarded the train. i felt sooooooooo bad for the actual passengers, because we were really loud ^_^ and of course, no one was sitting in the right seats either. we all had to hold our breath at each stop praying that no one would kick us out of their seat. we never had to move =) we just had sooooooooo much fun.
after arriving at the train station in randers, all of us on the train piled out and followed some people to the busses that were going to take us to the city where our camp was. i managed to score a seat next to this girl, erica from illinios, and guess what! i had flown on the plane with her to copenhagen =) it was about an hour drive and we all just had fun and chatted.
finally! we arrived in bjerringbro. we all gathered our luggage and met in front of the school we would be living in for the next week. the leaders were calling out the names of people to get them checked in and settled into their rooms. guess how they did it? alphabetical order of course. and my name is always near the end. haha and it was mega hot out! but, i found brittney, the other girl from oregon, and we just chatted until my name was finally called. i got room number 413 =)
so down the stairs we went. up the stairs we went. all the way to the end of the hall we went =) to my new room. opened it up, empty. i was kind of surprised that my roommate hadn't already arrived and set up her stuff. but i didn't think much else of it. i chose my bed, and then me and brittney went out to look for my other friends. we found them,then we all had to go to our first meeting in the lecture hall. the teachers gave us a tour of the school, which we all managed to navagate around by the end of the week, and then left us with the reminder of when dinner was. 6:00 sharp!
all my friends and i just went back to my room to crash before dinner. we also went down and hung out in the common room. then dinner! it was the normal danish dinner that all of us kids had come to love. haha meat and potatoes. AND! they actually gave us some dessert that night too. ice cream =) after dinner we met back in the lecture hall once againto get our classroom assignments for the rest of the week. i got a teacher named anders. he was super cool and nice. we went to our classroom and he basically told us what the plan was for tomorrow and what time to meet back and what not.
after that i think all my friends and i went back to my room. i still didn't have a roommate, so i moved stephanie in =D shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. she was in a hallway with no one else she knew, so i had to rescue my friend, yea? well, she moved in. then guess who decided to show up? right, my REAL roommate. haha we arranged the beds and things so we could all still stay in the room together. it was very cozy =P my room then turned into the ultimate party room. all of my girlfriends would come crash in there when we were on breaks from our lessons ^_^ ana, my roommate from brazil, didn't mind much, as she was out partying with her friends as well.
so this is what happened almost everyday that week:: wake up- 7;30, go down to breakfast- 8 (it closed at 8:30), meet in the lacture hall for the schedule- 8:45, go to danish lessons- 9, BREAK FROM DANISH LESSONS- 11 or so for 10 minutes, then we had to go back until lunch, lunch- 12:15, relax time until 2, danish lessons-2, BREAK TIME for ten minutes, maybe another break depending how nice the teacher was, dinner- 6:00 SHARP (not kidding, if you didn't get there at 6, they wouldn't let you eat), meet in the lecture hall for evening activity choices- 7:30, free time!, in your OWN room- 11 (this one didn't get followed very often, as all my friends were still in MY room usually haha)
that's pretty much the whole week, everyday. there were a few exceptions.
on tuesday night we got to watch a danish movie! thankfully, there were subtitles, so we understoof pretty much everything taht was goiing on. i thought it was a good movie...realy different from american ones. it was just a fun night. all 150 of us kids were yelling at the screen and laughing and clapping. and even when it was completely silent, at least one nim-rod was yelling at the screen...that would be me of course. haha it's ok though, because everyone laughed ^_^
on wednesday we went to a town called viborg (vee-bor) to visit an old cathedral. well, we got there and guess what? yep, the cathedral was closed. i was pretty disppointed because everyone said that it was really beautiful inside. but o well i guess. we all got to do a little shopping instead =) that's never a bad thing. i got to practice my danish when i had to ask someone on the street where the store H&M was. (hvor er H&M?) it was GREAT!!!!!! i was so excited haha. then at a different store, stephanie and i found some adorable shoes on sale for 25 kr. that's practically free here. i was super excited. erica (from illinios) bought a black trench coat, hillary (from canada)..well i don't remember what she bought. and brittney (from district 5110 in oregon!!!!!!!) bought...well i don't remember that either.
so after the shopping we all made it back to the bus on time, and no one was left. (not joking, they would have left us) then we went to this look out over a lake for tea, coffee, and cake =D it was really pretty. i'm happy we got to stop there..then we headed for home, just in time for dinner! haha then that night an up-and-coming danish band came to play for us. soooooooooo good! honestly, i liked them. they sounded a lot like the band 'muse' from the States.
another odd day was friday. we got a chance to go to århus all day! this is the second biggest city in denmark. we left at 9:30 and arrived about 11 i think. the first stop we made was at an art museum. we had a scheduled tour there (each classroom was separate) and then we got to wander around until 1. it was a great musem. big. there was a lot to see, so i'm very disappointed that i didn't get the chance to see more. it was a very new one, only about 8 years old i think. and their featured exhibit at the momnet was called "i love you". it had 'art' dealing with everything about love. every aspect of love. from real love, to passion, to lust, to everything. it was really thought provoking, i really liked it. i think i want to go back to the museum while i'm here just because i didn't get to see practically anything there at all.
then at about 1:15 all of my friends gathered up, and we went on an excursion in århus! we eventually found the mall after passing a delicious looking café AND burger king. haha it was hard to resist. so when we got to the mall and we saw the mcdonald's, we HAD to stop and eat there =D it tasted soo good. like home almost haha what we have noticed is that the portions here are pretty small compared to the portions back home..SO! we finished eating and went on to shop! we visited the trusty H&M, along with a million other stores. this is the biggest mall in denmark. i ended up buying a jacket and a shirt =) very happy. then at about 3:20ish, we decided it was time to go, because we didn't want to be left by the bus which was leaving at 4 sharp. we stopped at this little convenient store, and then erica and i went to use the bathroom. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!! you have to PAY money to pee in the train station. luckily, a lady held the door open for me so i didn't have to pay to open it. it didn't lock, but that's ok. hahah ok, enough of that, of course.
on the way back to the bus, which was parked outside of the museum, which was like a ten minute walk, we decided that the café was wayyyyyyyy too tempting, and we stopped in. my group of 4 ordered some drinks, we sat down, realized we had to leave soon, then went on our merry way =) the coffee was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. you can't imagine. haha i got this iced latte with carmel and whipped cream and chocolate pieces on top. wow. heaven. i definitely want to go back there. ^_^ so! we made it back to the bus on time =DDD and as we were leaving the town on a busy road, we noticed someone walking down the street...AN EXCHANGE STUEDNT!! dear heavens, they actually left her. everyone in my bus who saw her was peeing their pants. she started running to the bus and after stopping at a light, she made it =) we could all breathe again. whew! still, this was extremely scary. they would actually leave us to take the train home...later on we found out that a bus was indeed still waiting for her at the museum, so the teachers don't actually hate us. haha
this night, we finally were able to have our bonfire. the weather was good =) we started at about 8, which coming from newport oregon, seemed very early for a bonfire. but o well. go with the flow, ya know? it was good. the fire was SUPER hot at first, but the later it got, the colder it was outside, and it finally started to feel really nice. we experienced a danish tradition that night:: roasting bread over the fire. kind of like marshmellows, but, ya know, with bread. you wrap some dough around a stick and cook it =) it was kinda hard because all of us kids are impatient and didn't let it cool all the way through, or burned it, so i decided that it tastes better when it's a little gooey inside. ^_^ this was a gerat night to just chill out with friends. relax. sing some songs. be together as a group and not separate countries.
the last night we were there, saturday, there was a party for us awesome kids. each classroom had a show cased talent first, and then the party with musica and dancing started. my class did an act set to music. we wrote all the things that we think a 'typical' danish day includes...stupid bread, stupid weather, bicycling, saying the words that we know we can't say 'rød grød med fløde', and a couple other things like taht. everyone thought it was pretty funny because we described it well i think. haha we all love denmark enough to laugh at things we don't like =P
then after all of the classes went, our teachers for the week decided to play for us =DDDDDDDDDD my teacher, anders, was on the keyboard. palle, the leader of the camp, was lead guitar. martin, stephanie's teacher, was bass and percussion and back up vocals, marie (who is amazing), was lead vocals, and the 3 other teachers came in for a different song. they sang a danish song to begin with. marie has the voice of an angel. all week, all of us kids were just mesmerized by her. she looks like a model, she teaches, and she can sing. the next song they played was soul sister by train =D we all LOVEEEEEEEE this song. so they let us sing along. then for the last song, palle come to sing and marie took his spot at guitar. he sang min engel. a danish song we heard earlier in the week and fell in love with. it was amazing. he can sing also! the other 2 women teachers came in for backup vocals, and the last teacher, kristian, kind of crashed the party when he walked up in the middle of the song in a white sheet and palle sang to him. it was GREAT. best night ever. we all loved our teachers. all of them were between 25 & 30, and all of them were extremely good looking. at the end, all of us girls had crushes on the guys. and the boys all fell in love with marie. haha we were all convinced that her and palle were secretly dating or belonged together, because they looked perfect. we never did find out the truth tho ;)
then the dancing and music started! the party went until 1, but me, not being a major party animal yet, went to bed about 12:30. of course, with my girls =D then we all had to wake up the next day...pack up...eat breakfast...clean the room...and leave =(((((((((((( i did NOT want this week to end. i didn't want sunday to ever come. it was sooooo sad. to have to leave all of the friends i made. rotary is evil like this i tell you. i miss them all so much already. but home we had to go. we all got on teh busses and headed to the train station together. we all sat together until our stops arrived. then it was goodbye...
this week was a major success i think. we all learned so much danish it felt like. i can now tell time with 'ease', and i can't say 'unskyld, jeg kommer for sent' (sorry i am coming too late lol) i learned a lot about danish culture and history. and i made some amazing friends. i'd like to just tell you some of them:: stephanie-LA, erica-illinios, hillary-candada, canada (real name brett, but i call him this)-guess where, bread (real name brett, misunderstanding on the pronunciation)-canada, poliana-brazil, ana-brazil, boris-chile, brittney-oregon, hana-japan, rena-japan, and sooooooooooo many others! some of these people are in my district, so i'll get to see them again soon, but others i won't be able to see for awhile. they are amazing people. i miss them all...
this was the best week of my exchange so far. i'm so happy i got to go. i can't wait until the next meeting in october with the oldies (exchange students from parts of southern hemisphere who have already been here 6 months) and us newbies. it's going to be so much fun!
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR::
soooooo much...i don't kno where to start
no matter what country you are from, we all have a bond together
brazilians have soooooooooo much spirit! haha
danish people cannot dance very well
south americans can dance EXTREMELY well ^_^ (i plan on shipping a couple in when i have to go to a club or something)
rød grød med fløde tastes pretty good! (we ate it on saturday for dessert, first time ever having it!)
BE ON TIME IN DENMARK. the bus will leave you ^_^ (no, really, be on time, it's only proper and respectful)
SKÅL! (cheers)
the 3 hours it takes to cross the country seems like forever to people here, but it takes 3 hours to get from newport to portland back home...perspective perspective...
they have house warming parties here
i have officially seen my first stop sign! i didn't think they existed here...all yield signs and round abouts and stop lights
police cars exist too!!!!! i saw one for real in århus ^_^ haha
bed times are...well...more like suggestions
danes swear A LOT. so it's pretty amusing sometimes..and shocking lol
we can call our teachers by their first names here, STRANGE!!!
the chinese food here is pretty similar to that in US..but i like it better back home haha
even though you may miss all of your friends terribly, nothing feels better than sleeping in your own bed after a week of being gone
that's all for now folks! please email, comment, write. anything. i hope you enjoy my little updates! miss you all so much <3
love, rebekah
this past week, august 22-29, i was at the rotary intro camp in a town near Randers which is also near Århus. this was an 'intro camp' for all the other newbie exchange students in denmark. there are about 150 of us. it was so amazing. by far, it was the best week of my exchange so far.
i left bright and early saturday morning and got on the train in Ringsted, about 10 minutes from where i live. my host dad, torben, took me, and after i got to the train station i noticed right away some friends from my district! there is stephanie from LA who also goes to my school. Hillary from canada. poliana from brazil, she goes to my school as well. and about 5 other ppl. we all waited around for like 10-15 minutes until the train arrived. i hugged my host dad goodbye and boarded the train. MY FIRST TRAIN RIDE EVER!!! it was thrilling haha none of us exchange students paid much attention to our ticketed seats, we all just sat together with our friends in little groups.
throughout the 3+ hour train ride, more and more exchange students boarded the train. i felt sooooooooo bad for the actual passengers, because we were really loud ^_^ and of course, no one was sitting in the right seats either. we all had to hold our breath at each stop praying that no one would kick us out of their seat. we never had to move =) we just had sooooooooo much fun.
after arriving at the train station in randers, all of us on the train piled out and followed some people to the busses that were going to take us to the city where our camp was. i managed to score a seat next to this girl, erica from illinios, and guess what! i had flown on the plane with her to copenhagen =) it was about an hour drive and we all just had fun and chatted.
finally! we arrived in bjerringbro. we all gathered our luggage and met in front of the school we would be living in for the next week. the leaders were calling out the names of people to get them checked in and settled into their rooms. guess how they did it? alphabetical order of course. and my name is always near the end. haha and it was mega hot out! but, i found brittney, the other girl from oregon, and we just chatted until my name was finally called. i got room number 413 =)
so down the stairs we went. up the stairs we went. all the way to the end of the hall we went =) to my new room. opened it up, empty. i was kind of surprised that my roommate hadn't already arrived and set up her stuff. but i didn't think much else of it. i chose my bed, and then me and brittney went out to look for my other friends. we found them,then we all had to go to our first meeting in the lecture hall. the teachers gave us a tour of the school, which we all managed to navagate around by the end of the week, and then left us with the reminder of when dinner was. 6:00 sharp!
all my friends and i just went back to my room to crash before dinner. we also went down and hung out in the common room. then dinner! it was the normal danish dinner that all of us kids had come to love. haha meat and potatoes. AND! they actually gave us some dessert that night too. ice cream =) after dinner we met back in the lecture hall once againto get our classroom assignments for the rest of the week. i got a teacher named anders. he was super cool and nice. we went to our classroom and he basically told us what the plan was for tomorrow and what time to meet back and what not.
after that i think all my friends and i went back to my room. i still didn't have a roommate, so i moved stephanie in =D shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. she was in a hallway with no one else she knew, so i had to rescue my friend, yea? well, she moved in. then guess who decided to show up? right, my REAL roommate. haha we arranged the beds and things so we could all still stay in the room together. it was very cozy =P my room then turned into the ultimate party room. all of my girlfriends would come crash in there when we were on breaks from our lessons ^_^ ana, my roommate from brazil, didn't mind much, as she was out partying with her friends as well.
so this is what happened almost everyday that week:: wake up- 7;30, go down to breakfast- 8 (it closed at 8:30), meet in the lacture hall for the schedule- 8:45, go to danish lessons- 9, BREAK FROM DANISH LESSONS- 11 or so for 10 minutes, then we had to go back until lunch, lunch- 12:15, relax time until 2, danish lessons-2, BREAK TIME for ten minutes, maybe another break depending how nice the teacher was, dinner- 6:00 SHARP (not kidding, if you didn't get there at 6, they wouldn't let you eat), meet in the lecture hall for evening activity choices- 7:30, free time!, in your OWN room- 11 (this one didn't get followed very often, as all my friends were still in MY room usually haha)
that's pretty much the whole week, everyday. there were a few exceptions.
on tuesday night we got to watch a danish movie! thankfully, there were subtitles, so we understoof pretty much everything taht was goiing on. i thought it was a good movie...realy different from american ones. it was just a fun night. all 150 of us kids were yelling at the screen and laughing and clapping. and even when it was completely silent, at least one nim-rod was yelling at the screen...that would be me of course. haha it's ok though, because everyone laughed ^_^
on wednesday we went to a town called viborg (vee-bor) to visit an old cathedral. well, we got there and guess what? yep, the cathedral was closed. i was pretty disppointed because everyone said that it was really beautiful inside. but o well i guess. we all got to do a little shopping instead =) that's never a bad thing. i got to practice my danish when i had to ask someone on the street where the store H&M was. (hvor er H&M?) it was GREAT!!!!!! i was so excited haha. then at a different store, stephanie and i found some adorable shoes on sale for 25 kr. that's practically free here. i was super excited. erica (from illinios) bought a black trench coat, hillary (from canada)..well i don't remember what she bought. and brittney (from district 5110 in oregon!!!!!!!) bought...well i don't remember that either.
so after the shopping we all made it back to the bus on time, and no one was left. (not joking, they would have left us) then we went to this look out over a lake for tea, coffee, and cake =D it was really pretty. i'm happy we got to stop there..then we headed for home, just in time for dinner! haha then that night an up-and-coming danish band came to play for us. soooooooooo good! honestly, i liked them. they sounded a lot like the band 'muse' from the States.
another odd day was friday. we got a chance to go to århus all day! this is the second biggest city in denmark. we left at 9:30 and arrived about 11 i think. the first stop we made was at an art museum. we had a scheduled tour there (each classroom was separate) and then we got to wander around until 1. it was a great musem. big. there was a lot to see, so i'm very disappointed that i didn't get the chance to see more. it was a very new one, only about 8 years old i think. and their featured exhibit at the momnet was called "i love you". it had 'art' dealing with everything about love. every aspect of love. from real love, to passion, to lust, to everything. it was really thought provoking, i really liked it. i think i want to go back to the museum while i'm here just because i didn't get to see practically anything there at all.
then at about 1:15 all of my friends gathered up, and we went on an excursion in århus! we eventually found the mall after passing a delicious looking café AND burger king. haha it was hard to resist. so when we got to the mall and we saw the mcdonald's, we HAD to stop and eat there =D it tasted soo good. like home almost haha what we have noticed is that the portions here are pretty small compared to the portions back home..SO! we finished eating and went on to shop! we visited the trusty H&M, along with a million other stores. this is the biggest mall in denmark. i ended up buying a jacket and a shirt =) very happy. then at about 3:20ish, we decided it was time to go, because we didn't want to be left by the bus which was leaving at 4 sharp. we stopped at this little convenient store, and then erica and i went to use the bathroom. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!!! you have to PAY money to pee in the train station. luckily, a lady held the door open for me so i didn't have to pay to open it. it didn't lock, but that's ok. hahah ok, enough of that, of course.
on the way back to the bus, which was parked outside of the museum, which was like a ten minute walk, we decided that the café was wayyyyyyyy too tempting, and we stopped in. my group of 4 ordered some drinks, we sat down, realized we had to leave soon, then went on our merry way =) the coffee was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. you can't imagine. haha i got this iced latte with carmel and whipped cream and chocolate pieces on top. wow. heaven. i definitely want to go back there. ^_^ so! we made it back to the bus on time =DDD and as we were leaving the town on a busy road, we noticed someone walking down the street...AN EXCHANGE STUEDNT!! dear heavens, they actually left her. everyone in my bus who saw her was peeing their pants. she started running to the bus and after stopping at a light, she made it =) we could all breathe again. whew! still, this was extremely scary. they would actually leave us to take the train home...later on we found out that a bus was indeed still waiting for her at the museum, so the teachers don't actually hate us. haha
this night, we finally were able to have our bonfire. the weather was good =) we started at about 8, which coming from newport oregon, seemed very early for a bonfire. but o well. go with the flow, ya know? it was good. the fire was SUPER hot at first, but the later it got, the colder it was outside, and it finally started to feel really nice. we experienced a danish tradition that night:: roasting bread over the fire. kind of like marshmellows, but, ya know, with bread. you wrap some dough around a stick and cook it =) it was kinda hard because all of us kids are impatient and didn't let it cool all the way through, or burned it, so i decided that it tastes better when it's a little gooey inside. ^_^ this was a gerat night to just chill out with friends. relax. sing some songs. be together as a group and not separate countries.
the last night we were there, saturday, there was a party for us awesome kids. each classroom had a show cased talent first, and then the party with musica and dancing started. my class did an act set to music. we wrote all the things that we think a 'typical' danish day includes...stupid bread, stupid weather, bicycling, saying the words that we know we can't say 'rød grød med fløde', and a couple other things like taht. everyone thought it was pretty funny because we described it well i think. haha we all love denmark enough to laugh at things we don't like =P
then after all of the classes went, our teachers for the week decided to play for us =DDDDDDDDDD my teacher, anders, was on the keyboard. palle, the leader of the camp, was lead guitar. martin, stephanie's teacher, was bass and percussion and back up vocals, marie (who is amazing), was lead vocals, and the 3 other teachers came in for a different song. they sang a danish song to begin with. marie has the voice of an angel. all week, all of us kids were just mesmerized by her. she looks like a model, she teaches, and she can sing. the next song they played was soul sister by train =D we all LOVEEEEEEEE this song. so they let us sing along. then for the last song, palle come to sing and marie took his spot at guitar. he sang min engel. a danish song we heard earlier in the week and fell in love with. it was amazing. he can sing also! the other 2 women teachers came in for backup vocals, and the last teacher, kristian, kind of crashed the party when he walked up in the middle of the song in a white sheet and palle sang to him. it was GREAT. best night ever. we all loved our teachers. all of them were between 25 & 30, and all of them were extremely good looking. at the end, all of us girls had crushes on the guys. and the boys all fell in love with marie. haha we were all convinced that her and palle were secretly dating or belonged together, because they looked perfect. we never did find out the truth tho ;)
then the dancing and music started! the party went until 1, but me, not being a major party animal yet, went to bed about 12:30. of course, with my girls =D then we all had to wake up the next day...pack up...eat breakfast...clean the room...and leave =(((((((((((( i did NOT want this week to end. i didn't want sunday to ever come. it was sooooo sad. to have to leave all of the friends i made. rotary is evil like this i tell you. i miss them all so much already. but home we had to go. we all got on teh busses and headed to the train station together. we all sat together until our stops arrived. then it was goodbye...
this week was a major success i think. we all learned so much danish it felt like. i can now tell time with 'ease', and i can't say 'unskyld, jeg kommer for sent' (sorry i am coming too late lol) i learned a lot about danish culture and history. and i made some amazing friends. i'd like to just tell you some of them:: stephanie-LA, erica-illinios, hillary-candada, canada (real name brett, but i call him this)-guess where, bread (real name brett, misunderstanding on the pronunciation)-canada, poliana-brazil, ana-brazil, boris-chile, brittney-oregon, hana-japan, rena-japan, and sooooooooooo many others! some of these people are in my district, so i'll get to see them again soon, but others i won't be able to see for awhile. they are amazing people. i miss them all...
this was the best week of my exchange so far. i'm so happy i got to go. i can't wait until the next meeting in october with the oldies (exchange students from parts of southern hemisphere who have already been here 6 months) and us newbies. it's going to be so much fun!
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR::
soooooo much...i don't kno where to start
no matter what country you are from, we all have a bond together
brazilians have soooooooooo much spirit! haha
danish people cannot dance very well
south americans can dance EXTREMELY well ^_^ (i plan on shipping a couple in when i have to go to a club or something)
rød grød med fløde tastes pretty good! (we ate it on saturday for dessert, first time ever having it!)
BE ON TIME IN DENMARK. the bus will leave you ^_^ (no, really, be on time, it's only proper and respectful)
SKÅL! (cheers)
the 3 hours it takes to cross the country seems like forever to people here, but it takes 3 hours to get from newport to portland back home...perspective perspective...
they have house warming parties here
i have officially seen my first stop sign! i didn't think they existed here...all yield signs and round abouts and stop lights
police cars exist too!!!!! i saw one for real in århus ^_^ haha
bed times are...well...more like suggestions
danes swear A LOT. so it's pretty amusing sometimes..and shocking lol
we can call our teachers by their first names here, STRANGE!!!
the chinese food here is pretty similar to that in US..but i like it better back home haha
even though you may miss all of your friends terribly, nothing feels better than sleeping in your own bed after a week of being gone
that's all for now folks! please email, comment, write. anything. i hope you enjoy my little updates! miss you all so much <3
love, rebekah
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