My German sister

Exactly 6 months. It feels like an eternity, but still I feel like I know her like the back of my hand and in no time we're back to the way we used to be. My German sister Lena - it feels so good to be reunited! It's like finding a piece of myself I had almost forgotten about. Now we got 5 days to catch up (and mock each other enough to make up for the rest of the year). Ready or not - Frankfurt here we come!

Merry Christmas!

First of all a merry Christmas to everyone. It’s a little strange knowing that all the Americans are just about to get started on the unwrapping, when our Christmas really is over. With the sugar hangovers I have from last night it’s probably for the best I didn’t have to get up early though. We celebrate Christmas the 24^th with the best (and probably richest) food of the year. Duck that melts on your tongue, heated chips, and potatoes cooked in syrup. Maybe we can’t compete with the deep fried… basically everything… you can get at State Fairs, but we can use our (greasy) imagination as well. And it’s most obvious when we make our Christmas candy. In my family we always have a little completion going on to see who can come up with the funniest thing to shape in marzipan. We kind of went with a unicorn theme this year.

 

 There was even a unicorn that moved in to the Christmas tree.

 

There’s something about traditions just putting you in that Christmas spirit. And the gifts always make it better as well.

 

The best part about this Christmas was definitely being back home with my family. It was probably the time I missed them the most last year. I’ll just let the family photo speak for itself. Nobody compares to them.

 

Oh, and then you can’t really come about the Christian thing when it happens to be Jesus’ birthday. Christmas Eve is for church, what January is for Fitness Centers, the only time of the year that Danish people actually bother going. My little sister insisted on singing an actual Birthday song for Jesus as we walked around the Christmas tree, but wasn’t sure, if it really was necessary to go to church. Here is your quote of the day.

Quote of the day:
We’re discussing whether or not we should go to church, and my little sister W was a strong advocate on skipping.

W: “I don’t wanna go. I don’t believe in God and all that – I believe in Big Ben!”

We ended up leaving the mass a little early. I mean if it’s family mass on Christmas Eve and you know everyone is preparing their duck at home, you don’t expect the mass to last 1½ hour. Do you?!

Anyways, Merry Christmas to all whether you believe in God, Big Bang- or Big Ben for that matter!

Dancetastic

The world did truly lose a great man, the day Mandela died. He did such great things and brought tremendous personal victims, so  that you can't help but admire him. Of course his death was tragic, but he was also 95 years old and it is a time to look back at his long life and great accomplishments. I went to the memorial for him in Copenhagen and it really was more of a celebration of his work than sorrow you found there. Everyone had a torch and it was so pretty. He pushed the world in the right direction and if one person can do that, what couldn’t we all accomplish together as one world? It gives me hope. The whole memorial was full of hope and there were even some African dancing. Really wish I could do that!

Me and my girls Friday night

I did dance Friday night at the school’s Christmas party though. And the best part; so did some of my teachers! You kind of get a new view on your math teacher when he’s in the middle of the crowd showing off his best old school moves.

Oh, and the dancing doesn’t stop just yet. It’s hard to come about the fact that it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow and we will of course take up the proud Danish tradition of dancing around the Christmas tree. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

Something's in the air

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas, and candles, cookies and glitter in your hair. Christmas is really a great time. It’s a season of “hygge” as we say in Denmark. It’s not a word you can translate. It’s spending time with the ones you love. Sitting in a cozy chair by the fire place. Relaxing playing a game. Just having a good time.

I’m definitely having a good time with Christmas parties, get-togethers and advent calendars. My tummy is having a good time as well. Way too good actually. But you know what? I like Christmas candy too much. I mean January is synonym to diet anyway. So I’ll just join the Danish migration to the gym in the beginning of the year. And I’ll be one of the ones sticking to my New Year’s resolution – of course(???) But until my blog turns in to a health freak’s diary, you can just sit back with and enjoy the pictures of my excessive use of chocolate in this s’mores dip me and my friend made the other day (my mouth did literally hurt for days because of that sugary stuff).  You can relax, knowing that you might sit on the couch with your computer but I just beat you bad on calorie consumption.

Oh, and no “hygge” without my YFU family. Never has glue all over been feeling as good, as it did today making Christmas packages for the Danish exchange students  in the States.

Happy Thanksgiving or "Thurday" as we like to call it in Denmark

Where to start? There’s so much to be thankful for! Living in a country with great options to take whatever education you want, a random act of kindness making me believe in the faith of the human race, my wonderful family, my best friends, sunshine. I could go on. But since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, my thoughts keep drifting over there.

If I go back one year to my first Thanksgiving, I can really tell how much I’ve changed. It’s hard for me to put in words how thankful I am for my exchange year and exactly what it has meant for me. It was a year full of challenges – and I probably shouldn’t say this, because I don’t want to scare anyone away, and I always try to encourage to go on exchange because I think in the end it’s definitely worth it – but if I had known exactly how hard it would turn out, I’m not sure I would have gone in the first place. I don’t regret going – not at all. We grow through hardship. Moving around, having no less than three host families made me doubt myself and question my actions and way of thoughts. It was probably the most natural thing to do, but none the less, it’s not a very pleasant feeling to have. I’m more independent now. I don’t care as uch for people’s opinion anymore. Don’t get me wrong, but it just doesn’t affect my choices much any longer. Being cool is just not that important. And if you don’t like my friends, singing or colorful leggings, you know what? That’ your problem - not mine. If you don’t accept me for who I am, I just don’t need your accept at all. I’ve also changed in many other ways as well, like I’m more outgoing – and as my mom would say, my music taste has gone quiet terrible, with all that nigga-gangsta-music.

Cheers to new friends

The most amazing thing about going on exchange though, is that it’s not an adventure that ends when you come home. I think of America daily and also it has brought me many amazing friendships. This weekend, I volunteered on a weekend camp for Danish students going on exchange next year. I had such a great time with the other volunteers. It’s always nice seeing the ones you already know, but what is really incredible, is how quick we all connect. You’re just instantly friends.

The weekend before, we actually did celebrate Thanksgiving. I really like being around students from around the world that is staying in Denmark. It’s funny how they can see from our society from another angle and I’m so impressed how much they work to understand the culture and learn the language – even though it sometimes come out a little funny. We’ll get back to that. So I had the Thanksgiving, now I just need a black Friday! It’s like when you’ve been thankful for all you have, you just feel the need to go buy some more stuff…

Wish y’all a happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family!

Quote of the day:

Me and one of the exchange students are playing draw something. I’ve drawn a stickperson and am halfway through a bottle, when he guesses the word.

“Drunk! It’s a happy person and it’s a Dane. He gotta be drunk.” Somebody picked up on that Danish culture quickly ;-)

All I do is win

I wish! Probably DJ Khaled does too. So much for gangster attitude!

We went to a competition last week. It was called Kortdage or “map days”. Really just a mecca for geeks.  My class had managed to have two of the three finalist team, which was pretty cool, when you take into account that it was a nationwide competition. But even in those favorable odds we lost to the last guy. Still we got a runner up price and each of our teams went home with 2500 kr equal to $450, so it wasn’t too bad. Also it was a pretty cool place to be. They showed of this car, that made me, as a person with no driving skills what so ever, very happy. It could drive in traffic with no driver, everything just monitored by sensors! Welcome to the future!

My team's poster

 

What my day consisted of

Wednesday we weren’t really in school either. It was OD-dag, which is one day of the year where high school students in Denmark donate one day of their education to give an education to people in less fortunate country. We work somewhere this day and donate the money we make, this year to Sierra Leone, home of the blood diamonds. I didn’t choose my own job and was sent to work at a night club (during the day, but still). It was kind of strange because you have to be 18 to get in there, but I was cleaning and pouring together alcohol all day. I even made some Facebook events for them and invited people to parties, I can’t even go to myself. Funny, how the normal rules doesn’t apply when it’s for a good cause. I was happy though, the guys were really nice and I didn’t have to go gardening like some other people. Hopefully it will be a win for some people in Sierra Leone as well.

To go back to my winning strike (and driving skills), I really won a lot of respect this morning. I got my winner’s kiss from the asphalt, when I fell on my bike right outside my school this morning. My knee did hurt a bit, but not half as bad as my self-esteem, as all my school mates walked by. It was right in front of a group of people handing out candidate flyers for the upcoming election. Those people are on every street corner at the moment! They were so busy helping me out, they forgot to give me a flyer – I guess that’s kind of a win ;-)

Dilemma!

Your life is probably pretty good if you don’t have bigger problems, but I’ve put a lot of thought into what concert to choose; Drake or Jason Derulo?

I’ve been telling my mother that if Drake ever came to Denmark, I would give up my heart to organ donation, if that could pay my ticket. But at that point I didn’t know he was going to come the same day as Jason Derulo! What is the chance that those two guys, that not exactly are frequent visitors in Denmark would come to play the same day?! And I already bought the ticket to Jason! I really wanted to go with my friend, but I would regret it for the rest of my life (or teenage life at least) if I didn’t go see Drake.

Now one of my other friends is going to take my ticket for Jason, and see what ticket I bought today!!! I don’t know exactly who I’m going with. But as long as I’m there and Drake is there, who cares about the rest?!

OMG I can’t wait! Drake, here I come!

My little sister's big day

 

This post is dedicated to my little sister on her big day. Congratulations to Cordelia with her confirmation. Of course it’s a day to celebrate; to spent with friends and family. But it’s also a day of reflection. I wrote a toast and it made me realize how much I appreciate my sister. Sometimes it might drown in stupid arguments (she might look like an angel in that white dress, but I’m telling you she can be a little devil too. Especially when she steals my clothes!), but it’s great always having someone around; to talk and laugh with. I hope she never reads this post, because if she finds out I wrote that I love her, it might be used against me later, but I’ll take the chance. Deep down I do love her, and I’m really thankful how much closer we have gotten since I came home.

I wish her the best in life!

Sisters always

Just a Lidl busy

”Ehh, how do I do this?”, “Just a minute”, “Let me ask my colleague”. All sentences I’ve asked a lot lately. I’ve started a new job. When you live the glamorous high school life, you need a just as glamorous job like mine in Lidl (or you could just have a sugar daddy).  And I feel pretty glamorous in my work clothes as well.

But then I can save up money and go buy a lot of clothes in the US hopefully. Forever 21, how I miss you! I hope I can come back over summer. It might seem like a little far out in the future, but the truth is that time goes by sooo fast. I keep myself busy. This week is worse than usual. The bare thought of it makes me look forward to this time next week. Not because it’s not good things I’m up too, there’s just so much to get done.

Today I’m in school until 4.45 pm, before I’ll have to hurry home because I’m hosting a Halloween party for some exchange students.

Wednesday I have an appointment with an acupuncturist. If I survive my fear of needles I’ll have to go to work from 4-9.30 pm afterwards.

I can’t wait until Thursday. We’re going to the Bruno Mars concert! Can you spell supertastic-crazy-awesome-great?

On Friday I’m going to an YFU-weekend training course for volunteers.

The course doesn’t actually end until Sunday, but I have to leave Saturday, before the party, because I’m going home to another party. One of my good friends is turning 18.

The biggest reason I have to leave before time, is because my it’s my little sister’s big day on Sunday. It’s her confirmation and the whole family is coming over (and I’m going to church for the first time since I came home this summer). If someone would write my speech I wouldn’t mind it, and while you were at it, maybe do my homework and help my mother clean the house? I would be forever thankful!

I don’t understand how my mother and other grown-ups ever have time to sleep! I feel busy, and I don’t have to manage a full time job, paying bills, picking up kids, cooking, cleaning and whatever else those over humans manage to do in a 24 hour period. I think I’ll just stick to my job in a grocery shop for now.

 See you in Lidl!

Nature is meditation

And I’m back to the civilized world! Internet my dear friend! I’ve been on internet rehab aka family vacation to Sweden. I might have a bit of an addiction… I love my Internet, but here is what makes me the happiest. A top four (I couldn’t limit myself to 3 – chocolate is kinda in its own category) in random order.

·         Chocolate

·         Meeting new people

·         Travel

·         Looove

So based on these criterions how good was my fall break?

Sweden has sooo much candy! It’s crazy! Godis (Candy you mix yourself) is everywhere. So tempting! Definitely, can check of my chocolate need.

Meeting new people? Well, there are not a lot of people out in the middle of the woods. I think I scared the ones that might have been, when we used the sauna by jumping around in bikini in puddles. Oh well, you know what they say; no church in the wild and no other fun then what you create yourself. I managed to talk to some German fishers though, but they only talked German. Do I have to mention it was a short conversation? I sure did meet and talk to some people I never would have otherwise.

Sweden might not be further from Denmark, than Kentucky to Tennessee, but it’s still another country, so I guess it counts as a travel.

I’ll have to admit I didn’t meet the love of my life, but you can’t have it all. A lot of love to my family though.

And then probably what filled the most; peace. I’m usually not very good to just sit back and relax at home, but in the middle of the Swedish nature, you can’t really fight it. Walks in the woods, sailing on the lake, sauna, puzzles and books completed my fall break. No make up and rubber boots all day!

A very happy birthday

17! I feel totally different now! Or not at all… 17 is really just an in between year. Another step on the way to turning 18 and being able to vote, drive and go clubbing… Just another year!

It was not going to stop me from having a good day though! I had a great time starting out with my family waking me up by singing, all my friends’ birthday wishes in school and Rikke coming to visit afterwards. My diet was not on, and I ate enough chocolate, cake and candy to cover my needs for the rest of the year. All in all just a cantastic time, even though I was on crutches after jamming my foot the day before. I was a little too determined to win that Ultimate game. There’s just something about my birthday; somebody has to get hurt. Last year S broke her arms, this year it was my turn. Maybe it’s just a way to overcome the misfortune of the year at once….

I feel pretty lucky at the moment anyways… I got rid of the crutches, fall break just started and I’m heading for Sweden and a whole week of relaxing!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and have a great week – I’m planning on it J

Going to the Hot Houses

Public transportation is a great thing. No doubt. I can go anywhere I want to and don't have to rely on others or my bike. Just get yourself to the nearest station and you can go just about anywhere. The problem, though, is that there might be a train for anywhere but it doesn't go anytime. So now I'm stuck on Copenhagen Central Station, because it'll be 30 min until the next train to Hedehusene. Hedehusene doesn't have an English name, but the direct translation would be "The Hot Houses". We sure do have the best names in Danish - kinda sounds like a village of saunas. Might be why it's so small... And the reason it's so rare that trains stop there...

So why am i going to such tiny place? I'm going to bake an eye cake. By that I don't mean a cake where you just paint an eye on top of the glace or some cheating like that. No we're going to bake a cake that contains all the different parts of the eye, like the lens, cornea and pupil. I promise to take a picture!

Well, I guess the good thing about waiting is that I have to post to my blog... My train is finally here. Today it's actually here on time... Not always the case. Sometimes I wonder if the name of the train company, DSB, actually stands for Don't Stop Believing. You never know today might be the day with no delay ;-)

Happiness

Layer cake. Brownie. Cake lady. You can add in some candy, fruit and buns (My mom has really been busy in the kitchen… As always) and you got the recipe for a family birthday, oh yeah, you can add in the family as well. So as you might be able to tell, I don’t have to go to sleep hungry tonight. Pure happiness (and calorie bomb) in my stomah. 
I’ve actually started on a diet now and even though I totally crossed the line today for how much cake I could have, I’ve still lost 4.6 pounds the last two weeks. Still have some way to go, but definitely progress.

Also, it was me and my little sister’s birthday we celebrated so I got presents!

Just to make a great day even better, I found this post on Instagram with a picture of me from my sweetheart Hannah. I miss her so much and seeing this just made my desire to go back to the States so much more urgent.

 

Quote of the day:

Stolen from the one and only Hannah because she always have the best and happiest quotes.

 

"Success to me is waking up happy, going to bed the same way and appreciating all the moments in between... Life ain't always easy but it's good!"



I've been busy...

“I’ve been busy”, people use it as an excuse and so do I; I haven’t posted on my blog in a week, because “I’ve been busy”. So in this post I’ve decided to take a look at, what I’m so busy doing that I can’t find half an hour to update my blog

Saturday:

I promised to show a picture from the party Saturday. We are the Z class. Harry Potter’s scar kind of looks like a Z so we had a Harry Potter theme. I was Bellatrix Bellatrix Lestrange, since I was put in the house of Slytherin. I loved the theme! It was pretty geeky. We even played quidditch

 

Sunday:

I had to get up to go to a meeting… I know a meeting sounds a little boring, but it really wasn’t. It was an YFU (my exchange organization) meeting and I’m going to be volunteering. I’m sure it’s going to be fun! So many nice people! Afterwards we went bowling… I don’t want to talk about the results of those games…

When I came home at night, I just had time to go visit a long lost friend before I passed out in my bed.

Monday:

When a youth party in a town of 50.000 people can get two members of the Danish Parliament to come and debate, you kind of have to go. So that was what I and a couple of my friends did.

Tuesday:

Most days we get out at 3.10 pm, but we have to stay longer sometimes; Tuesdays or Thursday. We weren’t out until 4.45 pm. At that time the only thing I had energy left for, was to go to the nearest coffee shop and play Bezzerwizzer with some friends. Funny how you suddenly wished you would have listened in geography, when they ask what the capital of Chechnya is called…

Wednesday:

Handball time! Me and my friend, Caroline, went to a game in the best Danish league. It was not the most exciting game I’ve seen, but is there anything better than watching old men running around in shorts throwing around a ball that has been bathed in resin?

Thursday:

Same procedure as Tuesday, this time I just lost badly in Bezzerwizzer… Really should have listened in that geography class, even when it’s past 4 o’clock and you just want to go home…

Friday:

I had to go to work, but actually managed to buy a pair of shoes before I had to clock in. I mean, the money you work for is not worth anything before you spent them ;-) Afterwards I went to a movie night with some of my girls. I’ll recommend that you see The Dictator… IF you have bad humor… And by that I mean as bad humor as mine!

Saturday:

Finally catching up with reality! Today it’s my little sister’s birthday. My little angel is already 9. I can’t believe it! She is getting old, and it’s making me feel SO old! Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

 

So as you can tell I’ve had just a few things going on. Especially if you add in my homework and a couple of other meetings for things I’m volunteering for, I didn’t put in, because I didn’t want to bore you. I’ve even had to cancel my basketball practices. There has actually been so much, that I’ve started putting stuff in my calendar – with color codes! If you know how unstructured a person I am, you would also know how desperate I would have to be to start color coding things!

But I really love being a bit busy! I don’t like sitting at home doing nothing. It’s just not my thing. It feels good to be out and around, as long as I’m busy doing things I like. Could I have found half an hour to update my blog? Definitely! If I had cut out my Facebook, texting and Instagram time, because that’s some things I’m probably a bit too busy doing…

Quote of the day:

“Do what you love. Love what you do.”

Say cheeese

Here is the picture as promised. We look very cute, right? It's from yesterday when I was a work with Caroline again. I'm starting to get some idea what to do - still happy to have Caroline beside me though! You have to get to know this whole keyboard. It looks just like a normal keyboard but instead of having normal (apple) buttons, I got pizza buttons. You have to get used to having an "extra cheese" button instead of a "?" and that "escape" is replaced with "whole grain".

As you can see we had a pretty good time, even though working Friday means not being able to hang with my friends as I usually do... Oh well, I'll go party with them tonight instead. If I should lay out another teaser I'm just going to say that you might want to see the pictures from that party too. It has a pretty awesome theme! I'm going to give you one hint, I'm in the Z class ;-)

I wrote this Saturday afternoon, just weren't able to publish it before now...

Domino's

First day at my new job at Domino's call center. Was I nervous? You bet! Luckily it was one of my best friends from middle school that trained me and it all turned out to be two pretty nice hours. Even though I messed up a couple of times and was very happy that she was there to save me. Now I got a way to make money, now I just need yo figure out when I can go to the states :-D

Sadly I was so busy comprehending the new informations that I forgot to take the classic "at work selfie"... So you'll have to wait for that... With such cliffhanger I know you can't help but come back to read my blog... I've probably seen too many soap operas. Sadly there's no "will Curt and Blaine get back together?" all I can offer is a picture of me wearing headphones ;-)

I'll make a man out of you

Friday 13th, a day of horror movies and spookiness and a day you definitely don't wanna be left alone in the woods. Of course my class had to have a movie night, and of course we had to watch... Ehm... Disney movies?! Mulan and Herkules might not be the obvious movie choice for Friday 13th, but if you add some good friends it sure is a recipe on a good movie night! Just try to imagine a bunch of teenagers singing their lungs out to "I'll make a man out of you" ;-)

You make me wanna say...

"I do". What do you do if you really want to get married but haven't found the right one yet? You participate in this new Danish TV show where a bunch of match makers set you up with your perfect match. Or at least you have to hope it’s your perfect match, because you won’t meet your chosen one before you stand by the altar about to say the magic two words “I do” to this person you haven’t met before. It’s a marriage arranged by the state owned television. It was so fascinating! I don’t know exactly what I expected, but it really seemed like pretty normal people. It’ll be interesting to see if it lasts! Can you actually work love as a science like that? Guess it all comes down to the chemistry of the brain in the end. The three couples you followed in first episode seemed pretty happy on their first day as a married couple. Oh well, the whole kissing thing was a little awkward… Different strategies were tried ranging from cheek kissing and hugging to face eating.

 

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but “Married at first sight” just got added to my schedule for Wednesday nights. Who knows maybe it’s going to be like the new net dating. You might just find me on one of these shows in 15 years.

 

Happy

Denmark just got the title as the happiest country - again. I'm pretty happy too! This weekend was great. I had a good time hanging with the other exchange students. It really made me want to volunteer in YFU. Maybe with some of the ingoing students, that's coming to Denmark. I love that we have an Italian guy at my school.

Quote of the day:
"Don't look for happiness - create it!"

Left or left?

"Is Denmark... like... Ehm... a socialist country?" The answer is probably yes if you see it from an American point of view. We are not communist though, just want to make it clear.

All the 8 parties in our parliament would probably be placed on the democratic side in America. The party that's economical most liberal wants our taxes down to 40 %.... And people think that unrealistic. Have I said enough? Not that I think it's a problem to be honest. We might pay very high taxes, but on the other hand we get free healthcare, college and such.

I just joined a political youth party, called Radikal Ungdom. It's like the party right in the middle of the Danish political scale. Their economical goals are more rightwing, while their views on social issues such as immigrants are pretty liberal and more leftwing. I went to my first meeting Wednesday and had a good time. The election for the county boards are coming up, so you might find me climbing lampposts to put up election posters.

Right now I'm on a train, it seems like a new tradition to blog from the train. I'm on the way to a YFU weekend for returned exchange students. Got about 24 hours to bond with them, but it's usually pretty easy, because we got that one year in common.

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 ;-)