VACATION!

While many of you were in school waiting for the day to end I spent last week on vacation! Yes in Denmark we have a week off for fall vacation. I began mine on friday with a girls night. I went in to the city with a few of the girls from my class. After a crazy night with my girls and spent the rest of the weekend relaxing to get ready for the rest of the week. It all began with Sweden on monday. My host mom, sister, brother, and I took a train to Sweden. It amazes me that you can go to a whole different country in only 45 minutes. Of course from vermont we could go to Canada in little time but it didnt even feel like crossing borders. I didnt have to take out my passport or anything!In sweden we found this little store called the American store. I felt like I was at home. They had everything and it was so great to walk around and tell my family about everything and even buy a few things to bring home and try. Unfortunately, the store made me very homesick but I looked at my host family and thought about how truly lucky I was to have these people in my life. When we got back I was exhausted. The next day I went into town and met up with another exchange student, Anthony, from Canada. He really is a sweet kid. We went and got tea at a little cafe and just caught up on what was going on in our lives. Its nice to know you arent alone on exchange. That night my host sister Anne and I had a little bonding night. We went and saw footloose; it was awesome! We spent the whole ride home laughing and talking and having a good time. I spent wednesday decompressing so nothing really crazy or exciting happened that day but thursday the excitement resumed. I spent the whole day with my younger host brother, Mads. He wanted to try KFC for the first time and we looked one up in København. After he realized how gross greasy, fast-food chicken is we walked around and ended up finding a store that sold root beer. Later that night he and I made root-beer floats and we watched a movie. We became overwhelmed with a sugar rush so we took a late night run. It was a refreshing way to end a fantastic day. But the fun didnt stop there. At the end of the month Holbæk is happening, its a halloween party for all the exchange students and we dress up in costumes. One of the exchange students, Madeline, and I went costume shopping and ended up buying cowboy hats, mustaches, and water guns. Its going to be a good night. I then went to my friend Christina's house and I love having her around. She really is wonderful. I feel comfortable around her and we always have a good time no matter what we are doing. On saturday morning I woke up early and headed home. My family and I went out to brunch and then went to a little kite show in Dyrehavn, a HUGE park on Sjaelland. I was reading "The Kite Runner" at that time so it was interesting to have the image of this blissful event along with what was happening in the book. After the kite event my host sister, Ida, and I went back home and carved a pumpkin! It was so nice to have one of those little traditions from back home. We carved a classic pumpkin face with vampire fangs. We had so much fun doing it. I couldnt just let the seeds go to waste so Mads and I roasted them. I have never roasted pumpkin seeds before but they actually turned out pretty fantastic. Unfortunately came sunday. The last day of vacation, I was not ready for it to be over. Sunday I spent relaxing and getting ready for school. All in all it was an amazing vacation. I got closer to my family and i truly cherish their company. It will be very difficult to leave them.

the hard times.

My mind wanders because it has the time.

Im sitting here in class doing absolutely nothing and feeling stupid. I have never felt to insufficient and dumb in my entire life. They tell you "you are so courageous for leaving your family and going to a whole other country." That is not even the difficult part, we all leave the nest at some point. The hardest part is having to feel so inferior. Its not knowing, anything. After feeling like you are finally somewhat intelligent you get thrown into baby years all over again. The social norms are different, the language is different, the classes are different, NOTHING IS THE SAME! I would never trade this experience for anything because it is absolutely amazing and I am learning and experiencing so much but damn....this shit is hard!

I am starting to feel like more of a burden, i feel as if i am not contributing everything. Even at "home" I still feel like a guest. One of my host sisters gets really mad at me and yells at me and tells me to stop feeling like such a burden and frankly it doesnt make it better. She used to be an exchange student and I feel as if she would understand but she just gets mad. I have always been independent and i dont enjoy the feeling of codependence and here, i cant do anything by myself. It is a belittling feeling.

50 Differences

1. no one says bless you after you sneeze.
2. they serve alcohol at school parties.
3. every party has a pre party (a warm up as they call it).
4. you take off your shoes at the front entrance.
5. real strong black, salty licorice is VERY popular here.
6. carrots everywhere, its the main snack and in every food.
7. every single bakery is delicious, even the gas stations.
8. you call your teachers by their first names.
9. "fuck" and other very bad cuss words are natural emphasis words here, appropriate to use in school and in front of adults, no repercussions.
10. kids are trusted and have a lot of responsibility so when you do something wrong you suffer the consequences and just deal with it, theres no guilt tripping and dwelling. whats done is done.
11. hygge.
12. everything costs money including ketchup at mcdonalds and water everywhere else.
13. theres no saying excuse me here.
14. medical care is free and so is dental care under the age of 18.
15. public transportation is god's best gift.
16. riding bikes is completely normal and for all ages, starting at about 3.
17. training wheels before 3/5. we have training wheels from 5 to 8.
18. stoplights: red for stop, red then yellow then green for go not red yellow green.
19. you eat all food with a fork and knife, everything.
20. they dont raise their hand in class they raise one finger.
21. everyone participates in class and is eager to learn because it is not the law to go to high school.
22. you stay with the same class, all day every day.
23. no tipping at restaurants unless you are feeling generous.
24. everything is very expensive but they also learn double what our minimum wage is.
25. no one likes peanut butter.
26. brown bread is very very popular.
27. a lot more liberal here.
28. people are very closed-off and soft spoken at first.
29. they love obama.
30. you can smoke in some cafes.
31. they have a smoking section at school and EVERYONE smokes in between every class.
32. school schedules are very different, they are all online and constantly changing.
33. teachers just leave you alone in a classroom and expect you to do your work.
34. everyone brings their laptop to school.
35. school is based on personal choice to learn and responsibility. you dont turn in assignments besides projects and specific homework or tests.
36. they speak danish, not dutch but EVERYONE knows english.
37. h&m's are everywhere.
38. everything is closed on sundays except for the first sunday of every month.
39. everything closes early (6/7)
40. everyone dresses up to school and no matter what everyone looks very presentable. it looks like everyone (boys and girls) just walked out of vogue.
41. you wear heels and nice dresses to parties.
42. drinking age is 16.
43. its 100% legal to drink in public.
44. people either have the most high tech phones (iphones) or the crappiest, low tech phones. there is no in between.
45. detention is a myth here.
46. there is no gummy worms or sour patch kids or chocolate pudding or peanut butter and jelly or grilled cheese or s'mores or graham crackers or macaroni and cheese.
47. will ferrel is not a hilarious genius here. (most people havnt seen step brothers or anchorman)
48. no censorship.
49. no thanksgiving.
50. all cars are manual, its rare to find automatic.
51. Christina loves tara

Tango:]

O Denmark, how i love you so. Today was no ordinary day at school, I had tango lessons for spanish class. Yea you read that right. Instead of a boring spanish class i learned to tango from professional teachers with 50 other spanish students. FINALLY I WAS IN MY ELEMENT! A language barrier didnt matter, i saw what they were doing and I felt the music run through me and let every frustration of not understanding leave my mind and i just danced. Pure and simple. I was in a place ive always loved to be in. Not to mention we switched partners every ten minutes, great way to meet people and enjoy some hilarious encounters. I will never ever have any other opportunities like this. Thank you Rotary and my family that supported me, for without you I would not have this.

Just Another Weekend

This weekend was a little uneventful but still fun. I went to a class party on friday which was fun because I just grew even closer to the kids i spend almost everyday with. The closer I get to them though the more I realize that even i dont want to leave them next year. Then it dawned on me, the soonest rotary suggests visiting is in two years and they will all be off at Uni or on to bigger and better things, living their lives. I cant believe that when i say bye it will truly mean goodbye.
But lets forget the sad, depressing stuff and get back to this great weekend. On saturday I went to my friend Frederiks house which was fun. We made rainbow cupcakes and dinner and my other friend Thomas came over and it was a really relaxing, fun night. I really enjoy their company and they make me laugh harder than anyone else.
On Sunday I went sight seeing with my family which was awesome because they told me so much history of the buildings around us and it was mind blowing because most of Denmark's historical, architectural achievements happened even before America 1700s, before America signed the declaration. I really enjoyed going around with my mom and seeing everything and I even climbed to the top of this really high church which was scary as hell because i have the biggest fear of heights. My legs were trembling and my hands were shaking. I felt like crying but with Kirsten's encouragement i did it and felt really good about it afterwards.
I am surrounded by some amazing people.

see those gold staircases? yea thats right, i went to the very top!




and just in case you wanted a closer look!!!