R-E-S-P-E-C-T a'la 2014

“Oh my god, I’m so fat!”

“Oh girl, you really should start working out…”

“’Scuse me bitch, you calling me fat? Look in the mirror!”

Still worth the picture

You can substitute fat with messy hair, ratchet or all the other bad things, we walk around saying about ourselves. So many girls, says bad things about themselves, expecting other people to argue with them and tell them, that they’re beautiful – I do it myself. But how comes that I get mad when other people say something bad about me, but then do it myself? I expect other to treat me well, but pick on myself. I demand respect, but don’t give it to myself.

The annual pilgrimage to the fitness centers have started. And this year’s– because 2014 will definitely be the year – New Year’s resolution to get fit and live healthy still seems like a goal within reach. Right after quit smoking, losing weight is the most common New Year’s resolution. I’ll have to admit that I’m not much better and I just got myself a fitness membership as well, but my resolution is different this year. It can be summed up in one word; self-respect. In some way being healthy is included, because it all comes down to treat yourself right. My body deserves to get exercise and enough sleep, but even though I forget to work out or get too tempted by the deliciousness of chocolate, I have to accept that I don’t look like a model, but trust that I’ll get back on track. I think a lot of people should be less hard on themselves. I’ll start this year.

Quote of the year

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 ;-)