Another Batch of Homesickness... Along with Some Happy Moments

I'm pretty sure the title of this post explains the past week- I've been going through some challenging times. I never really thought I'd miss the little comforts of home, like my own bed, chai tea, my favorite movies... But here I am, missing exactly that. I have wonderful days here, and then some days I feel a sense of lonliness that can only be accompanied with homesickness at the pit of my stomach. I won't bore you with details.. SO I guess I'll transition into some of my happy experiences in the past 10 days! I am getting along so well with my classmates; they are so sweet to me and invite me to hang out all the time. Friday night I went to a get together for all the first years at my school. We ate popcorn and watched Insidious which was completely terrifying! It's safe to say I did not sleep at all that night. But it was still loads of fun! Saturday night was very special because all three of my host families and my Rotary counselor got together for a big dinner. It was a very special moment for me because I knew that I had brought these people together, just by simply existing. I cannot explain to you the feeling that accompanied me Saturday night... But pure bliss is a good way of trying to describe it. Sunday afternoon I went to a museum in Århus with my second host family. It was a orginal buildings from different centuries, and when you walked inside it showed you how the Danish people lived, worked, and shopped during that period. It was so much fun and also very interesting. Today I was very fortunate to recieve a care package from my grandparents. I felt very accomplished because I told the postman that "I don't speak Danish".... In Danish. Oh, the irony! But the package was wonderful; it made my day so much better and I am so happy to know that the people who love me most are thinking of me. Thanks to all of you who read my blog. To end this post on a good note, I hope you all have a fantastic week; I know I will :)

 Kram fra Danmark
Hugs from Denmark, xoxo

1 Month Down..

En måned i Danmark! Jeg er så glad være her. Jeg elsker at her.
- One month in Denmark! I am so happy to be here, I love it here

I've been here for one month.... I can't believe it. It feels just like yesterday I was walking off the plane in Billund, Denmark, unsure of absolutley everything. Now I just have to laugh at myself for all the funny/embarrassing moments that have happened in the past month. Here's some examples:

•  When I first arrived here, I would say "Tak for mad" after everything because I was under the impression that it was a very polite way of saying thank you. A couple weeks later I realized that "mad" meant food, so I had been saying "thanks for food" when my host dad would drop me off at school, when my teachers would give me papers, etc... Now I know that they weren't laughing at what I thought was my cute American accent that became very pronounced when I politely said thank you, they were laughing at the invisible food I was apparently thanking them for.
• I didn't know that you had to press the stop button on the bus if you wanted to get off, I just thought the bus driver would stop at every stop. After a couple weeks of having to walk a few miles more than I needed to, I realized that the red button labeled STOP wasn't just there for emergencies.
• Everywhere I go, people think I'm Danish (it could be the blonde hair, but it may also be the thousands of clothes I've bought in the short amount of time I've been here) so they speak to me In Danish and I just look at them like a lost puppy...
• The first weekend I was here my host family took me to Djurs Sommerland, which is an amusement park in Århus. When I walked into the bathroom I got really embarrassed because there were men everywhere. I thought I had walked into the wrong bathroom, so I asked the person next to me if this was the ladies room and he looked at me like I was crazy. Apparently same sex bathrooms are the norm in Europe, but how was I supposed to know that?
• I'm not even going to count how many times I've gotten lost...
• Or missed the bus...
• Everytime I speak Danish, I feel like I have a potato in my mouth.. It's a really awkward language, so therefore it has led to countless embarrassing moments when I say something in Danish and people have NO clue what I'm trying to tell them.

I could go on for days about all the funny things I've done here, but I'll just leave it at a few of the best ones. My point in this post is that even though I have never felt so uncomfortable, awkward, embarrassed, crazy, and just straight up weird ever, I wouldn't trade this month of my life for anything in the entire world. I love it here in Denmark, and I can see myself changing (for the better!) every second that I'm here. I can't wait for the next ten months! If they go by as fast as this month did then I will be home before I know it.. And I can't even bare to think about leaving this amazing place yet. There's still so much to do! I haven't seen even a quarter of the things I want to see yet. Today I am thankful for everyone I've met, everything I've done, and everything I will do. Much love, Denmark. xoxo

To the people who read my blog:

Vi ses næste uge!
 -See you next week!

Intro Camp

These last couple weeks have been so hectic that I haven't had the time to blog about what I've been doing. But now that it is Tuesday night and I have nothing to do except some English homework (Yes, I have homework here), I decided to update my blog!

Last week I was gone at Intro Camp, which is a week long camp for all of the Rotary Exchange students staying in Denmark.We had 5 hours of Danish lessons every day, but that doesn't mean it was boring... It was quite the opposite. We stayed in a town called Bjerringbro, at a boarding school called Nørgaards Højskole. When we got there, we were given dorm rooms that we shared with 1 other person. My roomate's name was Anna from New Mexico, who I LOVE... (Anna I hope you are reading this!) We had free time throughout the day where we could play games, or just hangout and talk in this cool room with sofas and chairs. There was a pretty awesome rock climbing wall outside as well. I'd also like to point out that the staff at the school was ALWAYS feeding us. I got pretty good at saying the Danish word for bread: brød, because we literally had it in every meal. There's honestly so much I could say about Intro Camp, but I've decided I should probably just break it down into the days so it's clear for my readers to follow:

Sunday: We all  arrived in Bjerringbro, seperated into our Danish classes for the week, ate dinner and then took a walk to the river.
Monday: DANISH LESSONS begin... They were extremely long but helped me so much. As a freetime activity I participated in hygge, which is a Danish tradtions where everyone sits around a candle lit table, drinks tea or coffee, and talks about life. There's no directly translation of the word, but the closest you can get to it is "cozy".
Tuesday: More Danish lessons... then at night we all went to the grocery store to buy snacks (even though I don't think I was ever actually hungry once.... SO well fed!) Then we had a really neat bonfire where we were able to make homemade Danish bread on a stick. And of course, the 12 meter climbing wall was begging for takers.

Wednesday: Again, more Danish lessons.. Then our teachers surprised us with a concert held in the lecture hall. The band was actually quite good. They're called Mettro, and are a local Danish band. I got a picture with the lead guitarist if anyone was wondering :)
Thursday: Probably one of the best days at Intro Camp. It was our free day, so we all took a bus to the city Århus for a tour of this fantastic art museum. They had something called the Rainbow Room, which was this hallway that went in a circle at the top of the building. It was all different colors of glass, and if you stared at one part of it, you're eyes adjusted so well to it that you hardly noticed it was colored until you moved on to the next one. The artist is a contemporary artist, and his idea was to make it so each time you moved you got a different perspective of the city. After the art museum, we were free to roam around the city on our own. I had lunch and then went shopping, and then me and mmy friend Andrew (Andrew, you BETTER be reading this!) went exploring and found the cutest neighborhood. After that we all met back at the bus and went back to the school.

Friday: Danish lessons start again. Then Friday night we had a movie night with popcorn in the lecture hall, where we watched a movie called Royal Affairs. It was about Denmark's royal family in the 1700's and how the government was corrupted.
Saturday: This was our very last day of Danish lessons. After we had covered the last of the material, each class came up with some form of entertainment to show at the banquet that night. After lunch we walked downtown because Bjerringbro was celebrating 150 years of being a town. Because of that, the Queen of Denmark came to visit. She walked through the streets and waved, and I will admit I was within 3 feet of the Queen :) We all wore our Rotary blazers and brought our country flags. My class sang The Scientist by Coldplay, because a boy from my class knew how to play the piano. We also had the drums and some other instruments.After each class had preformed, we had a dance which was so much fun. The night ended with fabulous fireworks outside in honor of the Queen and also the 150 year celebration.

Sunday: The saddest day since I've been in Denmark :( We left at 9:45, and saying goodbye to these wonderful people that I've met was so hard. I made life long friends at Intro Camp, and I can honestly say that I miss them already.

So there you go. An entire week all summarized into a couple paragraphs. I couldn't explain to you all in enough detail to make you feel the way I did at Intro Camp, but let me leave you with a few choice words that might help: I felt loved, cared for, and independent. I felt the warmth of new friendship, and laughter in my heart every minute of every day. I never stopped smiling; I'm even smiling as I write this! I am so thankful that I got to experience this wonderful camp. I now know the joy that Rotary Youth Exchange causes, and I've experienced first hand what it is like to have a second family of Exchange students.

Stay tuned for more on my life in DK! xoxo