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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 =)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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