Thursday 12 August 2010

And on the twelfth day in Denmark...

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.
Andrew Carnegie


It’s weird how time can go by so fast, yet sooo slow at the same time. I’ve been here 12 days exactly, and in some ways I feel like I just got here, and in other ways I’m like, has it really ONLY been less than two weeks?

I’m still loving Denmark, and each day my life here becomes more and more normal. My host family is just totally amazing, and they're making it really easy to adjust. My host parents are super friendly and open and I love bring with them, weather it's hanging out with my host mom while she makes dinner, or going to the grocery store, or even just like hanging out after dinner. They're such an interesting family and it's really cool to get to know them better. And my host sisters are so sweet. They're both really friendly, and my younger sister Simone is really cool about bringing me along when she goes out, which is really nice. I've always wanted sisters, and so far everything is going really smoothly. I'm just really happy right now, and I'm so glad that everything is working out so well so far.

Since the last time I posted I have been go go go, which is good. I like being busy because then I don’t have to be homesick or anything. So I’ll give you a quick recap of the highlights of my week

Tuesday: Went to my first party! Danish teenagers are pretty different from Canadian teenagers when it comes to drinking. It’s legal here to buy alcohol at 16, so danish parents are a lot more relaxed about it. It’s not a big deal to have a drink or two here. But people also don’t care if you don’t drink. Like I was just drinking pop, and that’s cool too. But yeah, it was fun to meet other people my age, even if I didn’t understand a word of what they were saying.

Thursday: Spent the day in Copenhagen with a Rotex and a Rotarian. We hit most of the major tourist destinations, and I tried smørrebrød (open faced sandwich on rye bread) and rød grød med fløde (berries and cream). We also went to this place called Christiania, which used to be an old abandoned military base and was then taken over by a bunch of hippies and made into their own little “country.” They don’t believe they are a part of the EU, so they don’t pay taxes, and they don’t pay for their water and electricity. They are all just “special” (as my host mom put it) people who spend their days drinking and smoking. And this little village is open to the public so you can walk around and see where they live, and everything. And I have to admit, even though they kind of creeped me out, they sell amazing jewelry there.

Saturday: My current host family had all of my other host families over for brunch, so I now know who I’ll be living with the rest of the year. All of families seem really nice, so I’m happy. My second family has 1 daughter, Maria, who is 17. My third family has 3 kids, but one is on exchange, so while I'm there I will have two little siblings, Aksel and Marie, who are 11 year old twins. And then my fourth family has grown up kids who I don't think live at home. And all of my future host parents seem awesome!

Sunday: We had out District 1470 inbound orientation, where we got to meet all of the other inbound living in or near Copenhagen. I’m super excited to get to know everyone. And then Sunday night my friend Sophie slept over, which was super cool cause we’ve been skype buddies for almost 8 months now, but since she lives in Denmark, we’ve never met before, so meeting her and spending the day with her was very fun.

And then this week was super relaxed. Mon, Tues, Wed we mostly just chilled all day, enjoying our last few days of freedom. And then today was my first day of school. It was just a short day to meet the class, but it went well. There’s another exchange student in my class named Ana, from Brazil, and I think we will be good friends.

So my schedule changes every day, but the classes that I’m taking are: (I have usually 4 classes a day)
Religion
Natural Geography
English
Danish
History
Gym
French
Psychology
Art
Drama (yay!)

I’m super happy, because I really wanted to take drama this year but I was worried that since I speak nej dansk (okay, so since I speak lidt dansk) I wouldn’t be able to and that the drama teacher wouldn’t want me in her class, but luckily it all worked out, and I might even be able to be a part of the production. And also, I’m like doubly happy, because in case you didn’t notice, no math or science for me! :) And I'm taking psychology, which is exciting because that's what I want to do when I grow up. So over all I don't think I could have gotten a better schedule.

So that’s pretty much been my week. Tomorrow is my first full school day, so I’m hoping it goes well.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summers, and I’ll post again soon!

Andrea

And ps. here is the public link for my Denmark pictures on facebook! You don’t have to have facebook or be my friend to see them!

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