Coming Home

Jeg skriver fra Minnesota, ikke Danmark, og det er så mærkeligt. Der er amerikanske flags i stedet for dannebrogs. Nu jeg må sove med to hunde. Mennesker synes at det er ikke rigtigt når jeg siger “hva”.

On July 6th, I woke up. I ate a small breakfast with the Jørgensens, pet my host kitties for the last time, and said goodbye to them. My dear host brother Simon – who is so great that he actually volunteered to drive me to the airport without me asking – picked me up, and we had our last drive.

Out of all the goodbyes I had to do, saying goodbye to Simon was one of the least fun.  There are many people who have impacted me, but Simon was really a brother to me. There aren’t many people that can be really good at school, work out for a significant portion of each day, know how to relax, and be a genuinely caring person. Somehow, Simon managed to be all of those things. I could always go home and talk to him, and that is something that new dog can replace, and ever since I’ve been back I’ve missed him incredibly.

This particular day, Simon was a comforter of sorts. We talked on the way to the airport, as the car inched towards the place I had been dreading for eleven months. He stayed with me as I struggled to find the place I should go, calmed me when my suitcase was a tiny bit over, and stayed with me until it was time to go for security.

Then it was one last picture, one last long hug, and then it was time to cry in the security line.

After crying in the security line, it was time for actual security, then my last chance to have Lagekagehuset in Denmark. After waiting for a long time, I eventually got on my flight to Amsterdam.

I had just enough time so that I was very comfortable, but not waiting an excessive time, in Amsterdam. This first lead me to speaking a Chinese woman and her toddler son, who were waiting on a flight to Beijing. I heard her son speak Danish, and though he couldn’t speak English, we ended up having a good conversation in Danish. They had lived in Denmark for a couple years, and I didn’t really expect having that chance in Amsterdam.

The craziness continued when I ran into my old piano teacher. She was on the same flight back to Minnesota after being in Sweden, and she noticed me due to my very noticeable jacket. I was starting to feel like I was back in Minnesota already. The chance of us being on the same flight was pretty small, so I was quite surprised.

My jacket also was noticed by a girl returning home to Minnesota as well, from Germany. We automatically bonded over the crazy thing that we were doing.

It was the weirdest thing, getting on a plane for nine hours, and telling the flight attendants that you are going home from being gone for eleven months. I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I got off the plane. Exchange puts you through a lot, but I don’t anything really can prepare you for stepping off the plane.

I made it through customs, and was greeted by two very happy parents. There was the happy reunion, the first dinner back, and getting to see my dogs for the first time. However, I would be lying if there is anything easy about being back.

It takes listening to just one song to bring me to tears. When I’m in my room, I feel like I’m trapped inside the room of the person I was before. I miss all of my Danish and exchange student friends that I met in Denmark. Something will happen, and I just want to go home and tell Simon, but I only have my dear dogs for siblings.

However, there are the beautiful moments. Our new dog, Princess, Frieda, does not compare to host siblings in anyway, but she is actually really a sweetheart that happens to be quite adorable and loves snuggling. Meeting people for the first time in eleven months, well, that’s quite the feeling. That will always bring a smile to my face.

There was the chance to talk to the new exchange students at the Central Rotary Student Youth Exchange Student Conference, and tell them all about the challenges they could face, but also the beautiful things. There was going back to the exact same pizza place I was at in Chicago last year, Pizza Due’s, and having the best deep dish pizza. I might insist on going to all the places I haven’t been, and I don’t know how people feel about that, but going to Zorbaz, La Barista, and Long Bridge is quite the feeling. I was be sitting in the coffee shop, and a woman (who presumably reads my columns) that I don’t know will tell me welcome back. When I went to church, there were so many people happy to see me and eager to hear about my experience.

It has been a challenge, but at this two week mark it’s starting to feel a little less painful. I may cry more than one should, be way too emotional, and feel a bit off most of time, but I’m getting there. I have way too many things to do in the time I have here to waste it. I have people that I need to see for the first time in eleven months, presentations to prepare, things to write, a room to paint, dogs to snuggle, and soon to start working. My plans for the future depend on something that I’ll hopefully find out soon, but I’ll keep you updated.

Til Bodil og resten af familie Jørgensen – tak fordi i havde mig, når jeg var syg, for min sidste uge. I betyder så meget til mig, og dit hjem vil altid følge som hjem til mig. Tak til Sara, fordi du vågnede tidlige op, til at se farvel. Du er en fantastisk værtsøster, jeg er så heldig for din støtte. Tak til Bodil, fordi du har gjort så meget for meget for mig, og været med mig gennem alt. Tak til familie Skødt, ved at i er en mega rar, klog familie. Johanne – jeg savner at have en lille søster, og jeg har ikke mødt nogen endu, som er dygtig som dig med geografi. Held og lykke i New York, Emilie, jeg er sikkert at du vil have et uforglemmelig år. Til Simon, det er bare ikke sammen, når jeg kommer hjem, og du er der ikke. Tusind tak for alt, og jeg glæder mig, til når jeg kommer tilbage, og spiser alle af din sild igen. Vi ses, forhåbentlig snart.

En Sidste Måned

Nu er jeg tilbage i Minnesota, og selv om jeg er ikke glad om det, jeg tror at jeg vil klare det. I mellemtid skal jeg skrive om mit ophold, så værsgo venner –

Things got quite busy in my last month, and I was also quite emotional. However, I’ll do my best to sum up what I did in one post.

I went on Eurotour, and though I will primarily be writing about that in my newspaper column, I have a great video that my friend Emma from California made. We went to seven different countries – Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. I do believe that there were around forty-seven of us exchange students from Midtjylland and Sønderjylland on one bus. We were amazed by Vienna’s atmosphere, taken aback by the concentration camp in Terezín, amazed by the food in Italy, adventurous and roaming the streets and metro of Paris, and I was personally very happy to have my birthday in Amsterdam with my best friend. However, it is much better summed up in this video, so many thanks to Emma.

 

I’ll try to sum up about most everything that went on in the last month here –

 

 

 

My friend Kaitlyn decided to spontaneously visit me from Viborg! Thankfully, I didn’t have anything going on besides my Rotary presentation, and we were able to catch up. Kaitlyn met me last year at the CSRYE convention in Grand Rapids, and we both were amazed by our changes and stories. Kaitlyn might be one of the sweetest people I know, and I hope that our paths can cross again.

I gave my Rotary presentation to my club in Denmark, which went really well! It’s hard to sum up a year, but they were really happy to listen, and my Danish was significantly better than my first week presentation for them.

I visited my dear friends up in Ringkøbing – don’t ask me how two of my best exchange friends live up there – for several days. Well, I visited Tom, Jared, and Tom’s beautiful host kitties. I also got to meet Signe, the girl who will be living with my District Outbound Coordinator for four months next year in Minnesota. It was really hard to say goodbye to these guys, and I can’t wait to see them again.

 

 

 

Right after that, I had to hurry up and make some chocolate chip cookies for my class’s sommerfest. We grilled, went swimming in a cold lake, made snobrød (bread made over a campfire), and had lots of hygge. I unfortunately had to say goodbye to the majority of them there, and that was really hard.

Not long after, graduation week began. This was particularly exciting for me, as I have three host siblings that were in the third year. They all did quite well on their exams, and and had very nice parties. It was pretty great seeing what they experienced in their celebration week, and I was happy to spend more time with them and to get to know Simon’s incredibly sweet class when they visited us.

Tillykke til Simon, Sara, og Iben – I klarede det godt, og jeg er mega stolt af dig. Jeg har meget grund for at være en stolt udvekslingsstudent søster.

 

 

 

I also got the chance to go to Kløften, the local music festival in Haderslev. I got to spend my last time with some of my dear exchange student friends who I had to leave soon. We saw Nik og Jay, Djämes Braun, Carpark North, and the best and last, Rasmus Seebach.

That week, I also got to visit the beautiful island of Årø with Sarah H (Canada), Aneki (Finland), and Laurel (California). Honestly when I suggested that we go there, I had no idea what to expect, I just knew that it was nearby and that we hadn’t visited it. We went to a beautiful cafe, had skildpadder and cheese and crackers on a park bench, and took lots of great pictures.

 

 

 

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The next week, my German friend Leo (my English teacher’s son) came up to visit me. I got the brilliant idea to meet up with my German friend Fabian in Aabenraa, which was nice, but they did get into a very intense discussion in German. The next day I took him to Koldinghus (a castle), and I had one last coffee session with my dear Sarah. I ended up saying farewell to her in Meny, our special spot, where I crying after.

As far as the rest, I did go down and visit Germany, but my visit was cut short when I came down with a bad fever. I got to experience the German health system, and picked up the essentials (Haribo + Ritter Sport) before heading back to beat my fever.

I had my farewell dinner with all of my host families on Monday, organized by Bodil. I was feeling mostly better, and it was all very hyggeligt, though sad to say goodbye.

On Tuesday, I headed to København to visit Siri one last time during my exchange. We went on a boat tour, saw Tivoli, ate at PapirØen two times (Moroccan, Italian, and Mexican), and walked a decent amount round København. I couldn’t have ended my exchange better.

I ate dinner with the Jørgensens on Wednesday night, strangely calm for the next day. However, that is a story for another blog, as well as how it’s been being back. I’ll write about that later.

Har det godt danske venner, jeg savner jer virkelig meget. I gav mig en fatastisk sidste måned, og jeg glæder mig, til når vi har mere måneder.

Brønderslev Besøg

Jeg har været meget heldig i Danmark og har set meget, men før jeg besøgte Malene, jeg havde ikke set Aalborg. Jeg havde en meget hyggetligt tur, det hele på dansk, med masse af hygge.

I’ve spent ten months in Denmark now, and have changed a lot. For a good nine months of it, I hadn’t actually seen anyone that really knew me before exchange started. However, that changed when Malene, the previous Danish inbound for my home district, invited me over up to her place in Brønderslev for a weekend.

This meet up hadn’t happened before because while Vojens is very much in the Southern part of Denmark, Brønderslev is quite north. After a long train ride up, I arrived in Brønderslev late on a Friday night.

I learned pretty quick that Malene was actually willing to speak Danish with me. There are lots of former exchange students in Denmark who are very enthusiastic to speak English. However, Malene was kind, and began to speak in Danish with me from the beginning. She welcomed me into her house with her three friendly siblings and parents.

In the morning, Malene’s mother drove us down into Aalborg. I was really looking forward to this, as Aalborg is the only major Danish city that I hadn’t explored. Our adventure began with getting to see Aalborg from above from the Aalborg tower. The actual view was better than the pictures that I took, as it’s quite hard to capture good pictures with slanted glass.

We then wandered over to a place with musical trees. I didn’t know that musical trees existed, but it turns out that in Aalborg there is a little park with trees that have music boxes at the bottom. There were many good artists, but one that was necessary for Malene and I to take a picture of. This was also next to quite the positive graffiti.

Malene then took me up to Budolfi church, where I then found out why it was so well know. It was absolutely stunning. We then found a food sampling place, which none of us had any idea existed beforehand.

After wandering around a little more, we found each other at this adorable cafe. There was a piano hanging down from the ceiling, and the nachos that we ordered might have been the best I have seen in Denmark.

It was then to see more of Aalborg. When exploring, I didn’t really feel like I was in a big city so much. Aalborg has big buildings, a long bridge that can open, and the fourth largest population in Denmark, but I felt like less people lived there. We finished up our relaxing day seeing the bridge, a soccer event that we found, and eating strawberries in a park.

That night, we headed over to Løkken Strand, an adorable little beach town with Malene’s best friend. We went out on the dock and through the streets, and the sky was simply beautiful that night.

That night, after some technical complications, we ended up watching a film. We woke up well rested to a nice Mother’s Day.

I couldn’t spend Mother’s day with my actual mother, but I did enjoy going to Sæby with Malene, her mother, and all three siblings. Sæby is a town that is south of Skagen, but is hauntingly like it, without the intense overpricing. This would have been the typical beach town visit with a gigantic ice cream cone, but an intense downpour started. We found refuge under the the sides of houses, and tried to wait it out. We soon learned that this was not something we would be able to wait out, so in two different groups, so we made a run for it. After our adventure, we happily hopped in the car to drive home.

It was sad to say goodbye to Malene, but I was really happy have finally met up with her. It’s a crazy experience to finally meet up with someone that actually knew you before you exchange, and speak to them entirely in a different language than you did before.

Fra denne tidspunkt, jeg havde ikke så meget tid tilbage. Det er op sent, fordi jeg fik meget travlt før Eurotour. Men det er dejligt at kigge på det nu. Tusind tak til Malene og hendes sød familie, fordi de havde mig.

Galla og Tyskland

Nu, har jeg set galla i Danmark, og det var en anderledes oplevelse end i Minnesota. Dansker kan lide at have mindre glimmer og mere at drikke. Jeg har også besøgt Schleswig og mødt fantastisk mennesker, og en sød beagle.

It was two years ago that I went to my first prom, and one year ago I was at my last. However, even though I have graduated from high school, I am a mere second year at Haderslev Katedralskole and could not go to galla. However, I do have three host siblings that are in third year and could learn from.

Prom in the US, from what I have seen, is a bit different than Galla. In the US, there is a lot more glitter, color, and fancy designs for dresses. We take our time to take good pictures, both in pretty places by parents and professionally. Having a nice car can be important, but it doesn’t usually get more creative than cars for transportation, probably out of practicality. Our dinner is accompanied by punch, not wine, and we do not have to do a fancy dance in front of everybody. After prom, we have a post prom (still without legal alcohol) that goes onto three in the morning.

Here is an example of my prom pictures from last year:

Ft. glitter, pretty nature, world’s largest turkey, corsages, my extreme sports bra tan, and bright colors.

I soon learned upon arriving that it isn’t such a big deal which car people arrive in, but the transportation mode they chose as they come up for the walk on the red carpet. I must say, I was thoroughly impressed when three people arrived at the bottom of a huge tractor, something that I haven’t even seen in Frazee. Simon (current host brother) and his date arrived with their class in a miniature train, Iben (second host sister) and her date arrived on a motorcycle, and Sara (first host sister) and her date in a hot dog strand. Sara and Jeppe made quite the impression by taking hot dogs with them as they walked the red carpet.

After they were all inside and had received champagne, they got to do a special sort of dance for all of us to see. This dance was fairly complicated, especially for its length, and they had only practiced it two times before. I was very impressed, as I am not sure how they memorized that dance after just two times.

They went on to have a dinner and a dance, and then after went into town. I got to go on a walk around Haderslev and then meet up with Sarah (friend from Canada). She and her host sister had a little party, which I was lucky enough to be at for the first part of the night before I headed home.

The next weekend was also very exciting, and began early when I was driven down to Germany with my wonderful English teacher Cordula, who I stayed with until Sunday. She had invited all of her students down for the weekend, and she extended that invitation to me – even though that meant driving me across the border there and back. Cordula has a very welcoming and unique family that consists of two fifteen year old male twins, a nine year old son, and a six year old girl. The twins and her and her husband all speak perfect Danish, English, and German, and switch between the three without realizing it. The two youngest can speak Danish and German and understand English, so my Danish came in handy there. They are all quite smart and fun to talk with, and I immediately felt at home there.

Cordula’s son, Leo, was an exchange student in the US for his seventh grade year, and his host sister Maggie is currently living with them for two months.  Maggie lives near Seattle in the US, and is nineteen and planning to go to school so she can cut hair. She was very kind and put my English to shame. Leo loves politics, and we automatically clicked so well it was a bit freaky.

The first day involved a tour around Schleswig. My day started out with getting Doritos, which I haven’t had since I was in the US, Ritter sport, and Ben and Jerry’s. Later I would have the first Ben and Jerry’s that I have had in Denmark. Later my other students arrived, and we got to see the very nice Danish school that Cordula’s husband works at. We had a very nice evening, and I’m really glad to have gotten to known everyone!

The next day we got to see around Flensburg. Flensburg has a sort of fjord town charm about it, and the architecture is quite old and beautiful, I didn’t get to check out the harbor, but’s apparently very photogenic. I’m really hoping to get to see more of it in the future.

That evening, I got to make a cheesecake, which was quite well received to say the least. It was eaten the next day, where we got to relax. I got to go in with Cordula as she voted, which made reading about how the elections in Schleswig-Holstein especially interesting.  The elections in Schleswig-Holstein were of special interest this year, so it was quite fun about reading them in the Washington Post newsletter the next morning.

My time in Germany finished with me having time with Buffy, the gorgeous family beagle. I did my best to get a picture with her, and though it was tough, here is my attempt along with majestic pictures of her.

It wasn’t too long before I was back in Vojens, but I couldn’t be more grateful for my kind English teacher taking me in for a weekend. I am very excited when I can spend time with them again, and excited to see what sort of opportunities will come soon.

Tyskland er et land, at jeg håber virkelig, at jeg kan se meget mere af næste år. Jeg håber, at jeg kan finde ud af det, før jeg tager tilbage til Minnesota. Fremtiden er meget spændene lige nu for mig, og jeg glæder mig meget, for at se om hvad skal det vil bringe.