Come and get it

It wasn't my idea. Let me just start out saying that. But when somebody offers, I'm not going to say no to free tickets to Selena Gomez.

My little sister and her friend were going, and she preferred that I went instead of my dad, so I went to Copenhagen to be the grown up for the night. It wasn't much of a job and I really just had a lot of fun.

Selena Gomez was pretty great. The girl can sing and dance, also she's just a bit more hot and classy than some of the other Disney stars... I'm not going to mention any names, but my thoughts keep drifting to the VMA's. The experience only got better because stood just 25 feet from the stage.

Back to work

School has been starting for real now which means school from 8.00-3.10 most days. It’s really interesting, and even though we haven’t had too much homework yet, it’s obvious that I’ll have to work a lot harder to just get half as good grades as I got in America. Before you start high school in Denmark you choose a major and they put you in a class with people that have the same and you stay with them all day for the three years you go there. My class is a little special though, it’s a mix of two classes; geoscience and biotechnology. There’s only nine of us that have geoscience, so when we have our major classes, it’s only the nine of us. It’s really cool, because it gives us the time to do some pretty cool things and a chance to really understand the stuff.

Trying to find the circumference of the Earth.

Luckily it’s not all school and yesterday when we had a canceled period a bunch of us went to a coffee shop and battled in Bezzerwizzer. I’ll just say it one more time; I love my new class!

Friends, family and fun

Weekend. Finally. It makes it sound like it's been a hard week. Really it hasn't. It's mainly been fun. How I love my new class. We've been on an introduction schedule, so we've been out at 1.30 pm. I wouldn't complain about that! Yesterday our real schedule started though. We got out at 3.15. Doesn't mean you can't have fun luckily.

I went and saw this Danish rapper, Linkoban, last night. It was pretty great. She played at Roskilde Festival, but we wanted to go see Rihanna, so we only saw a part of her concert there. She's so cool! She probably gave a better concert than Rihanna really - she actually sang. No playback. Luckily I had another chance to see her last night. I had a great time with some of my friends.

Outside the window is Denmark passing by. The train is heading to Jutland, where the annual family camp is going on. It's been so long since I've seen everyone. The sun is shinning and I just talked to an Italian interrail traveler. It's going to be a great day.

At the End of the Rainbow

12,000 people gathered in front of the parliament and whichever way you look you see rainbow flags, painted faces and people holding banners. “Putin go straight to hell!” is one message. Another one urge the Danish prime minister to call Mr. Vladimir Putin.

There was a demonstration yesterday against the anti gay law that has been passed in Russia.  It’s a law that bans promotion of homosexuality. It has caused great controversy and gay people that have taken part in rallies despite the law, have been beaten up without the police hindering that they got hurt. The police didn’t take action before the assailant left. Then they took the gay rights activists to the arrest, because they’ve been participating in an illegal demonstration.

Luckily our demonstration wasn’t illegal, and it was cool that so many Danish people showed up to support gay rights in Russia. And I mean just because it's a serious cause, doesn't mean you can't have fun. I had a great time with my girls!

Dancing in the street

There wasn’t much booty shaking when my class was dancing today. It was fun for sure though! We spent one and a half our dancing Danish folk dance. It’s part of our introduction to the school and a fun way to get to know each other. We were for sure laughing and sweating when we got done twisting and turning. I know what I'll be dancing to the next party ;-)


Too bad we didn't have the costumes

Forget me not

I finally made the poster I've wanted to for a while. It's full of all the great memories I've had during my year in the USA. Now it's hanging on my closet as a reminder of some of the amazing times I've had in the States.

Looking at it makes me happy, but I can also feel that I don't miss it as much anymore. I still miss my friends and want to come back, but starting school back home I've started a new chapter in my life. I'm almost excited to go back to school tomorrow to see my classmates and see what the new week have to bring of new experiences. My exchange year taught me a lot and I'm ready to use it in this next part of my life. Now I'll be reminded of it every day, when I get dressed and look at the poster.

Drake go home! I like my new friends

10 miles and do you know what? It was worth. 10 miles on a bike headwind and I thought I for a while that I would die, but I made it and it was all forgotten, when we finally made it to the camp for the first sleepover with our new class. It was so much fun! In Denmark you are typically in the same class with the same people all day all the way through high school, the exceptions might be your second foreign language and your artistic subject, but bottom line; it’s pretty important you get along with your classmates. I feel so lucky. I got 26 nice ones and I’m sure it’ll be three great years with them!

We played a lot of games and ate a lot of cake. My diet is so over (before it even really began)! We also went canoeing, bathing and then we had a water fight. I guess it’s a Danish thing to love water even when it’s only 68˚F. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but even though it’s hard to believe if you know me and my very close relationship to my phone, my phone spent most the time in my back. I just wanted to get to know the other guys.

I thought of America when we went to sleep though. Not because the scenario reminded me of how it is in the States. Not at all! It was like the exact opposite. We took a bunch of mattresses and put them in the living room. There weren’t enough mattresses for all, so we just shared. It was really nice and I had a great time lying under a table with two girls talking. I just couldn’t help but think, what the American reaction would have been, if they’d seen us like that; lying girls and boys in one big bunch.

We were only there for one night, but when we came back Friday afternoon I felt like we had all really bonded. We all went to the park in the afternoon and had a lot of fun. I was so tired when I came home at night!

Today I’ve been turning in some job applications. I really need a job! I want to go back to America and I can already feel that high school is going to be a little expensive – at least if you want to have fun. I’ll turn more applications in the next couple of days and hope I’ll have some luck. Tonight we also had game night. I think I was in need for some quiet family time… Okay, it’s never really quiet when it’s my family, but you get the point…

Push start

One of my new class mates and I

First day of school, and it wasn’t half as bad as I feared. It was actually pretty great! The school I go to is known to be the hippie high school. It kind of lived up to the very relaxed and alternative reputation. When you looked around at the students, you could tell that the 1000 students probably had emptied an entire thrift store to get dressed this morning. There was girls with dreads and boys with as long hair as me. I have to admit I was a little jealous of one guy’s curls :-O

As soon as our guides (that’s students in the older grades with the same major as you that are going to help you out the first time at the school) had identified us as students in the Z-class, they drew Z’s in our foreheads with a black marker. They also handed us sticks that were supposed to be magic wands. I don’t think I have to mention that our guides were kind of obsessed with Harry Potter?

After that we went into get the welcome speech. Then we watched all the musical talents at the school. First they had a welcome rap with the chorus “Everyone is welcome here – even if you’re ugly and weird”. Then we got through all the different genres; everything from jazz over salsa to metal. I love this place!

First day you of course have to learn the names of everyone, and I’m so impressed how many Danish people are called Cecilie and Karsten…

When school finished everyone went to the park. And I’m going to say it right now; I already gave up on my diet a little bit. I agreed with myself that I could drink or eat sweets once a week. I didn’t mean to, but I ended up getting into a drinking game. Beer is beer even if you only drink a couple, so I guess it counts as my one time this week. Tomorrow I’m going on a sleepover with my new class in a camp to get to know each other and there’s going to be a lot of cake included. I call of the diet until I’ve gotten over the first parties and get-togethers.

Might have ruined my diet, but it was fun!

I was so tired when I finally got home, but I felt like I needed to learn a couple of more names today, so I went to my first basketball practice at a club not too far away. I thought I was going to literally cough up my lungs, but it felt good to be back!

Finally back

Eating with Aggie

11 pounds. That’s how much I’m going to lose the next two months. That’s the plan at least. I gained 20 pounds in the States and this summer break probably hasn’t made it better. No way I would go on a diet, while I’m on vacation. I need my ice cream to survive the beach, dammit!

Greece was a lot of fun and good on my tan, but my weight? Probably not so much! I’ve ate a lot of tzaziki and gyros. I’ve got to tell you a bit about my culinary experience. If you like onion (are scared of vampires or are just trying to avoid kissing somebody), you’ll love Greek food. They put onion in everything!

The food is really not too bad, but sometimes I get a little worried when I see the menu cards… Mostly worried about the English skills ;-)

The best food I found on Lesvos was American though! I got so excited when I found that they had double stuffed oreos. We don’t have those in Denmark. It just made my day (and my waist an inch fatter) when I picked them up in the supermarket!

And then there are few things that makes me as happy as Ben&Jerry’s!

But that’s all past now, because now I need to be healthy. I really want to shed those extra pounds. My hope is that I’ll have lost those 11 pounds before my birthday in October. So I can go into the 17^th year of my life that much lighter and hopefully in much better shape. I hope that making it an official goal, I’ll keep myself motivated.

Can't believe I used to eat this every day...

At least I tried to keep it healthy, when I made my first lunch box in like a year. That’s one thing I haven’t missed about Danish school for sure. Tomorrow is my first day at Roskilde Gymnasium. It’s kind of like starting junior year in American high school. It’s going to be a little nerve-racking to start on a totally new class in a totally new school. Oh well, I did it last year and I’m still here, so I guess it won’t kill me. I’ve spent way too much time finding my clothes, sharpening my pencils and just panicking in general to be ready for tomorrow. I’ll put a smile on my face and I guess I can’t do much than hope it’s nice people that I’ll be surrounded by the next three years. Oh, and then I should probably get some sleep. Good night!

 

 Quote of the day:
"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"
-Kate Moss

I wonder if the model ever tried Ben&Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie?!

It all starts with one step

08.08.13

There's nothing like the ocean. I'm sitting on a stone 40 feet from shore. The water is splashing around my feet. I have to be careful my phone doesn't get wet. I can see Turkey from here. I imagine there's a celebration going on right now over there. I'm sending my greetings to my Muslim friends around the world. Eid Mubarak!

I also have my own little anniversary to celebrate today. It's exactly one year since I came to the U.S. I'm not really celebrating though. More wishing that I, like my classmates, had first day of school today. What I wouldn't do to begin my senior year today. But I'm somewhat happy I miss being there. I'd be more worried if I didn't. Guess that means I had a good year. Also I know it'll soon be my turn to start over fresh. In less than a week I'll have my first day of school on Roskilde Gymnasium. Even though I'd rather be in Kentucky right now,  I know that it's going to be exciting. A new school, a new class, new friends and the start of a new chapter in my life.

Even though it's nothing compared to the big journey that started a year ago, I've also had some adventures today. I'm not scared of busses. Not at all. Living in Denmark you better not be. But I've never been on a Greek bus before, and that got me fearing for my life, just a bit. The roads are so narrow on Lesvos. Doesn't seem like they care for two lanes at all! I'm just going to say that I'm happy I wasn't the one to try to maneuver the huge bus up and down the mountain roads. I got nervous when the old ladies sitting around us, all wearing black, started making the cross sign over their chests. I wasn't planning on dying today! My real fear sat in when the bus driver joined in. You'd think he had enough to do getting us through all those hairpin bends with two hands on the wheel. As long as he kept his hands there, hopefully he wouldn't need God's helping hand too. Turned out that the Greek people did it every time they passed a church. We made it home safely. I can't tell if we had help from above ;-)

Lesvos

08.05.13

A little more than a week has gone by here on Lesvos and we still have until Sunday to enjoy the sun. We spent a lot of time at the beach, just tanning and enjoying the water, which is luckily a little less salty than the ocean in Turkey. Down there I couldn't go out in the water without my eyes starting to water over, so I had to wear goggles. Combined with the bathing shoes i wore to avoid getting my feet cut open, you can imagine that was a very pretty sight.

While we've been on Lesvos we've also done some sightseeing. We've been driving all around the island, literally. It's a pretty small island with an population of about 90,000. So you can imagine the towns are not exactly like New York (not that I think any city is like the Big Apple. I really need to go there sometimes!). What the island might lack in people it has in olive trees though, with nothing less than 11,000 million olive trees. I think that after a week here, we've seen everything worth seeing and I can put a check mark by Lesvos on my list over places to go.

Still we've had one week left, so we'll have to figure out how we are going to spend that time. Luckily I'm in good company, so I'm sure it'll be another good week.

Today we were at the beach as well. I got in to a game of volleyball with some Greek, Dutch and British people. That totally made my day. I love playing beach volleyball, but not as much as meeting new people. It's on the level of happiness the Ben & Jerry's ice creams bring me :-O Since I left the States I haven't really been that good at approaching new people and the people I made friends with in Turkey talked to me first. I need to get back to being more outgoing. My mission for the rest of the stay is going to be to talk to one stranger every day. Awkwardness and random compliments here I come!