Shopping in Germany og Lækker Mad

Jeg er så træt nu, men så glad. Det var en fantastisk weekend, lignende til mange dansker studenter. Jeg kun ikke striver tidligere fordi jeg havde så meget sjovt.

This week was another busy week, and I am definitely tired. I am exercising more again, went the District Conference, and got to go to Germany for the first time!

It was on Wednesday when I finally got to go to the gym again for the first time in a long time. I’ve been biking to stay in shape – and my legs have felt it – but I haven’t gotten the opportunity to go to in to the gym for a while. I finally have my gym membership, and got to go back to the gym!

I soon realized how much I missed going to the gym. In the US, I went to the gym two or three times every week, as well as run at least five time a week. Here it’s tough to coordinate my eating schedule with running as the constantly hungry, constantly taking up spontaneous plans exchange student. I have decided to go on a  lot more bike rides, because it’s a lot of fun biking around town and the time the last meal was eaten is not an important factor. I also am really excited to get my arm strength back, though I am happy that I have kept up on my workouts this whole time.

On Thursday I read children’s books with Benedikt at the local library, and though we were extremely out of place, and it was a lot of fun and work. Benni was very tough on my pronunciation, vocabulary, and spelling so it definitely helped me out a lot. I never imagined that reading children’s books would help so much, but it’s very nice to read something that is actually on my level!

Friday was definitely an interesting day. After school, I hung out with my friend Sarah, and we got some lækker chocolade og softis. We really had a great time, and it was great getting to know each other before the party on Saturday! I also had quite the night with the exchange students in town.

We got to wake up nice and early for the Rotary District 1461 Conference for the next day. This was a much different experience than my District Conference in Bismarck, ND. It only lasted a day instead of three. It was fun getting to see my exchange student friends again, and going through another flag ceremony. We also got to go bowling – strangely enough, like we did at the 5580 conference – which was nice!

My friends and I finished up the night at Laurel’s (other exchange student from US) birthday party and had a lot of fun. That was another night to remember.

Bodil and I finished off this week with a trip to Germany and some lækker flødeboller! I got the best tour possible as we drove through to the west coast (Jeg bor i østkysten); Bodil and I stopped several places along the way to the coffee shop with the best flødeboller ever. I am not joking when I say that they were the best flødeboller ever; I tried one regular and one raspberry one and oh my were they phenomenal. They go so good with kaffe, the sweetness balancing the bitterness of the coffee. I was also in such good company, min sød værtsmor!

We then saw a castle, a church and a barn turned culture center, and passed by the spot where two gold horns were found. Bodil did an excellent job of explaining the history of everything and I learned a lot despite my tired state. The church was so gorgeous, here are the pictures of the church!

After seeing all the sights, we got to go shopping in Germany. Many people in Southern Danmark go shopping in Germany because of the lower taxes, and there are stores set up especially for this purpose. They have large amounts of marzipan, nutella, candy, and so much more. Since they were out of Pikant ost (vegetable cream cheese), we bought pesto arugula ost instead, and I am definitely in love. I may miss eating cheese with everything, but pesto cream cheese makes it all worth it.

Jeg behøver at sove nu, jeg er meget træt. Jeg er så glad for den gode gange med mine venner her, lækker mad, og bare at være her i Danmark. Jeg vil skrive mere næste uge!

Bridge Walking og Hygge

Det har været godt, mine venner. Jeg har lært mere dansk og jeg er spændt at forbedre det!   Denne sidste uge jeg har haft meget hygge.

After one heck of a crazy weekend, this week started off exciting and ended up with relaxing with lots of hygge along the way!

I had gotten the email that my district was doing bridge walking a while back, and I honestly had no clue what it was. It turns out that bridge walking is simply walking on a path on top of a bridge that is designed to have people walk on it. There are two places in the world you can do it; Middelfart, Denmark and Sydney, Australia. Ironically the people I walked next to while crossing the bridge were from Australia, and were aware of bridge walking before coming here.

Our bridge walking adventure started with putting on these glamourous gray suits so we would blend in with the bridge above and not distract the drivers. We then got to walk up a bunch of stairs to get to the top of the bridge, and then proceeded to walk the path on the side of the top of the bridge. This was not an activity for those afraid of heights, as we got pretty high up and the path were walking on was designed so that you could see through it.

However, even if you were afraid of heights, there is no way that you could deny that the view was spectacular. We also were lucky enough to get a day with weather that was perfect; we could see everything without a problem. I knew that I would be seeing a lot of Denmark when I found out that I was going on exchange here but I did not know that I would be seeing it from a bridge!

 

On Tuesday I hang out with my friends Benedikt and Sebastiano (another exchange student from Italy) and we played cards while they made throat noises for the sole purpose of annoying me. It was actually a really hygge time with great conversation and I look forward to more spending more time with them!

Wednesday was yet another fun day. It was my host grandmother’s birthday, so Sara (my host sister) and I headed down to her house after school to celebrate. Together we enjoyed hot chocolate, rolls, my grandmother’s wonderful cookies, and this cake that was filled with this very delicious cold cream.

The eating continued when we went to a very fancy, old Danish hotel restaurant. We got to eat delicious steak, vegetables, potatoes, and more potatoes as fried; all with béarnaise sauce. Bearnaise sauce is something that I highly appreciate about Denmark; it’s a really creamy sauce that basically makes everything taste good. I was in great company, with my host mother Bodil, Sara, and my host grandmother! It was quite a hygge time again.

The hygge continued out throughout onto Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Iben (second host sister), her friend Sophie, and I headed out to Bønnerup Strand in Northen Denmark to Sophie’s summer house! We spent most of the weekend relaxing, eating a lot of great food, napping, playing cards, and helping me read children’s books. This weekend was exactly what I needed to relax and refresh myself, and it was fun getting to know Iben and Sophie better!

Besides relaxing, we got to see the ocean! The last time I saw the ocean I was on the Oregon coast, and it’s crazy to think how much has changed since then. The water was still cold, but I still had a blast going all the way in such great company. We were amazed that we had gone swimming in September, and it was a bit cold, but I for two Octobers in a row I went swimming back in Minnesota. Swimming in cold water is always an adventure no matter the circumstances, however, and I am so glad that we did it!

I am really grateful for all the wonderful people in my life right now and hygge. Despite being exhausted all the time and everything being new, I have never been so happy in my life. I am so lucky to have such amazing host families and friends.

On a sadder note, my thoughts and prayers are with my state now with the terrorist attack. It was on Sunday morning when I happened upon a news article reporting on the stabbing attack in St. Cloud. I never imagined that would be reading about St. Cloud from the New York Times. I don’t know what the atmosphere is like in Minnnesota is now but I know that it must be different, and I hope the best for my home state.

Tak for læsning, mine venner! Jeg vil ikke stoppe skrivning meget, så jeg er glad at I stadig læser min blogs. Jeg vil skrive mere næste uge.

Stafet for Livet og Calculus

En smule sent, men jeg har været optaget. Det er fint, jeg havde en god gang sidste uge med Stafet for Livet og Introfest. Jeg er stadig træt, men glad.

Last week was another fun week. I was feeling better after the previous week, and ended it with two very fun activities. However, I must first tell you about the food I had!

On Tuesday, I got the chance to help my host sister in my second family make chicken wild rice soup. I didn’t have access to the wild rice I brought from home, but we made do with the rice that was mostly white rice and a little bit wild rice. Chicken wild rice soup is a dish that holds a special place in my heart, and it was really nice to have a little taste of home in a foreign country.

The next day I headed to the library with Iben (second host sister) and her friend, Thora. It turns out that the library sells really cheap but delicious apple cake with whipped cream, and it was rather nice to eat it with the view that we had.

This week was really good food wise, but that wasn’t even the best part. The first major school party was on Friday, and it was definitely a great time with new experiences. School parties in Denmark are nothing like anything I have experienced in the US, but also a lot more fun. My class is a great bunch and there’s no way I’ll ever forget that night.

I spent the night with Danna, another exchange student from Colombia, and the next day we headed over to Stafet for Livet! Stafet for Livet is basically Relay for Life, which I never participated in the US but was very happy to be a part of. For those of you who are unfamiliar with either, Stafet for Livet is basically a festival to raise money for cancer research, honor cancer survivors, and remember those who died do to this horrible disease. For the Haderslev and Vojens Rotary Clubs, members would raise ten or twenty kroner for each lap around the lake walked, depending on the length of the lap walked.

This wasn’t just a small event, over 8,000 people attended, which is more than the population of Vojens (the town I am staying in). It was pretty incredible to see everyone coming together to raise money and awareness for such an important cause.

I also got to spend a lot of time with the other exchange students, as we stayed there for twelve hours straight. As the only American exchange student, I couldn’t hold join in with the Canadian flag holding, but I could be close to them – just like Minnesota is close to Canada!

As you can see, Haderslev is very beautiful place. At night, all of the paths were lined with the paper bag lanterns, and it was quite the sight to see. Later a bunch of lighted balloons were released into the sky. I ended out the night listening to a band with Sarah from Canada; we were both tired, and bonded over our interesting experiences so far. It was a fun time, but after twelve hours of being at Stafet for Livet we were ready to go home when it was time.

Now, you may wonder why I put in Calculus in the title. I figure that this blog is an appropriate place to write about why I am glad that I took Calculus my senior year of high school. As some of you may know, I had the most amazing Calculus class. We spent a lot of the time making really horrible jokes while completing nastily long derivative and anti-derivative problems. Though I probably won’t need Calculus to become a journalist, I am now very grateful that I learned it in high school.

It turns out that Calculus is the same in every language. Sure, my classmates have a computer program to help them do it, but it’s still the same concept. I have actually been understanding all of what has been going on in math class and it is absolutely wonderful. Not knowing what is going on all the time is really tiring, so it’s fun to know everything that is going on once in a while, even if it’s in a different language.

I’ve been up to more since this weekend, but that’s for another blog. I am plenty tired from doing so much, despite being better about getting to bed than in the US. There are even more adventures yet to come and I am so excited for them!

Min klass, tak for fredag. Jeg havde en rigtig god gang, tak for være så nyttig til mig. Jeg er spænde for den næste gang. Indtil næste uge, farvel mine venner. I er den bedste.

 

Rotary Introcamp – One Sick, Sjovt Week

En udvekslingsstudent fortsætter hvor hun er syg det meste af tiden.  Denne gang tog udvekslingstudenten  på sprog camp. Jeg var syg, men det var stadig sjovt.

This week turned out to be quite interesting. Besides getting the label of a literal cough drop, I also got to see Aarhus, learn a little Danish, and make some great friends.

I woke up Saturday morning not feeling so great, but with the great task of figuring out how to use the train system in Denmark. Now my Danish friends, I know that taking the trains is as natural to you as your love of rugbrød and salt lakrids, but I have never taken the train before (excluding the Chicago train with my dad figuring out everything). I have no public transportation experience, and we only had our ticket, which was in a language that we barely understand.

Now this would have been easier, but I received some rather emotional news on the train, and on top of that our train arrived to the station in Frederica at the same time our connecting train was supposed to leave. We thought that we had missed our train, and had absolutely no idea which platform the next one would be at. After stumbling around lost, by chance we happened to get to the train which we were supposed to be at. When we saw that the train that we were supposed to get on was late, we soon realized that we were near it, and after an intense 30 seconds of conversation with people on the train we got on. The rest of the train ride was fairly uneventful, but that didn’t mean that we didn’t have eventful week ahead.

It was really nice to see everyone, even if I was feeling gross. Exchange students are brought together by the fact that we are all experiencing the same, unique, crazy experience and it was great getting to see a few of the people I saw beforehand in Denmark itself.

Macalester College deferee represent in Denmark!

Despite the excitement, I was most definitely feeling gross. I was not feeling usual social self, but decided to make a sport of it by drinking as much tea as possible. On Monday, I had ten cups of day, and Shannon (fellow Mac deferee) declared me a literal cough drop. This was thanks to my friend Christine being kind enough to give me an entire bag of cough drops, which along with the tea saved me.

Above is a picture of my true self on Monday, as well as a picture with Christine and I together in a very delicate hammock.

It got more intense. On Tuesday I downed a total of fifteen cups, and I got the nickname “Halls” because of my name/brand of cough drops that I gave people. One guy now has my empty Halls bag to pin on his Rotary blazer, and I don’t think that I will ever be able to take back that reputation now.

On Wednesday, we all got to see the ARoS Aarhus museum with the Rainbow Panorama. It was a lot of fun, and I think that I will let the pictures just speak for themselves.

It was so much fun getting to explore the museum and rainbow panorama, as well as getting to go shopping afterwards in the city afterwards. I am really glad that Rotary gave us that opportunity!

As far as language lessons went, we had a really good teacher so they were fun. I already knew most of the stuff we learned, but there were some very important things that I needed to know that we were taught. I also had a class that was a lot of fun to be with, despite feeling gross most of the week.

Thursday I finally felt better, which was good because we had a dance later that night. The dance was definitely a fun, interesting experience. I have never felt like such a white dancer, as the South Americans and Asians might have put me to shame.

It was sad to leave everyone on Friday, but I honestly missed my host families and class, so it wasn’t to terrible to go home. I finished up the week with my first music festival with my second host sister Iben and her friends!

I haven’t been to a music festival in the US, so I can’t give a very accurate comparison. However, it was a lot of fun, and I recognized a total of two songs that were played by the Danish artists! It was a great way to relax after a week that was a new experience within a new country.

Til min mine udvekslingstudenter venner, tak for en fantastisk uge. Min klass, jeg savnet dig. Jeg er spænde for Fredag, det vil være en god tid. Til alle, tak for læsning!

Week 3 – Vojens Høtte Race and Parade

Hej venner! Jeg er tilbage fra introcamp nu, meget træt men ikke syg nu. Jeg vil skrive om introcamp senere, her er min blog om Høtte nu.

As many of you may have read, I spent Friday morning taking the wrong bus and having an adventure. Despite that excitement, this week had other events take place, even if they were a tad less stressful. This week, the town festival – Vojens Høtte – took place in my small town here in Denmark. I got to experience quite the different 10k and have a lot of fun participating in a parade in Denmark.

It was back in June I believe that I first heard about a half marathon in Vojens, and I said I would do it. However, I have been nothing short of exhausted, so I took the option to do a 10k instead. My wonderful classmate Lærke decided to do it as well, so despite feeling dead tired, we went to go run.

When we go there, I got surprised by most of my second host family! Four of them had come to cheer me on, which was really nice because 10ks are not the type of events that people usually go to watch. I ended up talking with them so much that I forgot to do my typical warm up in time.

This, however, proved to not be a problem. This race had a special dance type warm up to the songs “Timber” and “Love Yourself”. I have been in many, many races, but never have I followed the dance moves of someone to warm up as part of the event. This was definitely a new experience for me, and one that I look fondly upon.

We then took off, winding around the trails of Vojens, running faster towards the end. My main goal for running this year is to fall in love with it again, and as Lærke and I went through the town, it felt like I was. Lærke is pretty fast, so at the end we ended up speeding up a lot, and we finished tired but with a decent time. The funnest part may have been hearing my second host family cheer me on and chant the “Holly call” at the end.

After consuming a lot of apples, Lærke and I headed home tired and happy. Høtte was not over yet, and I had more to experience the next day.

Thursday was a day where I was most definitely tired, but I made it through and even went to coffee with all of my siblings in my second host family. This is a more impressive feat than it sounds to be as I have a total of five siblings in my second host family who have a wide variety of schedules. After coffee, we headed to their house, where I promptly fell asleep during a Swedish baking slow. This picture is the most accurate representation of my exchange year yet.

So not long after my little nap, I headed over to where all of the organizations started their march. Sara, my host sister, was kind enough to make it so that I could be a part of the parade with her job by wearing a shirt that declared me a swim instructor. She said it wasn’t as fancy as the parades in the US, but I personally found it much more exciting.

Instead of huge floats, organizations walk and dress up in really cool outfits. There is a prize for the best costumes, which resulted in people dressing up as trolls, grapes, a badminton, and even some ladies as Prince (Minnesota represent!). Children lined the streets, so so excited for the candy that was to be thrown. I have been to many parades in the US, but I haven’t been to any as exciting as that one.

As far as exchange student emotions, they did kind of hit me harder that week. I was still happy of course, just a bit overwhelmed and beginning to see some of the deeper differences. I am sure to experience much more of that soon. So far I still haven’t felt homesick, which I am grateful for. I love and care about my friends and family at home, but my life here is so exciting, and I feel like this path is truly the right one for me.

Jeg er altid glad og træt, og meget spænde. Jeg ved ikke om hvorfor jeg er så heldig. En anden blog vil komme snart, mine venner.