Life in Denmark, from the Exchange perspective.

So I've been here one and a half months, which seems like both a long and short time. Time flies in some moments, and can't go fast enough in other moments. i.e. Time is going very slowly at the moment, because in two weeks, my class and I will be flying, for two hours, out of København Lufthaven, across the North sea, over the coast of my ancestors ( I think...) and into England!
Saying that I am excited, does not do it justice! However, instead of talking all about London here, I shall promise to do a blog all about my wonderful adventures and all the sights, most importantly, the Tower!

Living in Denmark and settling down into a routine is strange but fun but exciting but frustrating... you get my drift! There are too many feelings and experiences for words to justly express it. However I will tell of some of the things I've noticed since being here:

• The window latches are very different to those in Australia, but are most certainly a smart design

I cannot take credit for this photo - another exchange student ( and good photographer) took this one

• Instead of having a hot and cold tap in the shower, there is one bar, connected with the movable hose shower thingy, with two knobs on either end - on for water pressure, the other for temp - simple design, but it was one of my biggest challenges working out how to use it, somewhat embarrassing I know....
• There are three different letters: å/Å æ/Æ  and ø/Ø and distinguishing between them is quite difficult
• Lego is pronounced lAgo (as said by my host father)!! For those who say lEgo... you were wrong. Of course if I get corrected by another Dane on that fact, it'll be a tad humiliating...
• Potatoes (Kartoffler) seem to be the staple part of the winter diet, fortunatly they taste brilliant though.
• Danish hotdogs are amazing, they put the most bizzare things on top, but the result is so good! So you have the bread as usual, and a sausuage, and then ketchup, mustard and remoulade (Danish remoulade has a mild, sweet-sour taste and a medium yellow color. The typical industrially-made variety does not contain capers, but finely-chopped cabbage and pickledcucumber, fair amounts of sugar and hints of mustard, cayenne, coriander and onion, and turmeric for color. The herbs are replaced by herbal essences, e.g. tarragon vinegar. Starch,gelatin or milk protein may be added as thickeners.) Good ol Wikipedia deserves credit there - anyway, back to it, so after remoulade, you put roasted onion pieces, followed by agurk salat - the pickles that come on a burger.

• My bike is my worst enemy and my best friend - it allows me a lot of freedom and independence, but being annoyingly unfit makes it my worst enemy - I would like to blame year 12 IGA runs as the predominate source of my unfitness, but thats not really fair to all those delicious chocolate croissants that Georgia and I consumed 

20 cm of snow 

• The Danes know english grammar better than myself - quick note to Julia ( is she still in power?) Put Grammar lessons into the national curriculum! 
• Snow is both beautiful and annoying - when it fell, it glittered like diamonds under the street light, and was incredibly light and fluffy. Riding in the snow however, is a different matter - and stacking it on the ice is quite painful if I may say so. I did think, while riding on ice, of year 10 Physics, that ice removed the friction ( or something similar) and decided that I cannot elude school, wherever I go

I find myself being much more patriotic here, than when I'm in Australia

• I accept that putting on many a layer for 5 minutes, is part of life and something you suck up and do, because it'll be better in the long run
• All the chairs at school, are lifted in and out of little slots under the table and it generally takes more coordination that I am capable of
• I daydream a lot - maths especially....oh, and do Sudoko
• There is this thing called Kaffehaus at the school held 4 times a year. Most people come and sit on the stairs in the school, eat food and watch while some people perform music, or skits etc. The other Aussie exchange ( Perth) and I thought we might, if brave enough, do a typical Aussie song at the last one - very open to suggestions, preferable not one where we have to play guitar - that would be something of a fail
• There was a whale that became stranded on a beach last year in a nearby city called Vejle, and it ended up dying, after being pushed out, and coming back into the fjord. Anyway it was 17.2 meters, 24 tonnes and about 130 years old - I can't really give any more information however, my Dansk reading skills are a bit rusty.... My point to that little tale was that my host father and I went and saw the bones, which currently reside in Vejle

The wee beastie

and his jaw!

In Kolding with Mariana and Paulina ( Mexican Oldies)

• Night time train rides from Kolding are very enjoyable, you have a whole seat to yourself, maybe even a cabin and even if the ride is only 20 minutes, and you then walk/ride/ freeze your way home in - degrees, its all part of the experience

Maddy (other Aussie exchange) and I on our way back from Kolding 

Anyway, I think that's about it for now - I will have to get some pictures from around the school and Fredericia however my next blog will be all about the London experience - If only I could find a way to gate crash the royal wedding... I dream. But for now, Farvel

P.s. Happy Birthday to the most wonderful women in my life! Mum, You are amazing! xx

Almost a month in a foreign land! - Introcamp!

So as the title reads, it will soon be a month, since I packed my bags, boarded the plane, spent two very very long days flying, and arrived in this cold country. There have already been ups and downs, but fortunatly, mostly ups! 

I should however apologise for a mistake made in the past blog - I said that Richard got annoyed at the song 'You're so vain' but after thinking about it for more than a second, it was actually 'I am Women' :D I think that needed to be clarified. And tip #1 to anyone travelling to Europe in the winter - When Dumbledore exclaimed that one can never have to many socks, he was right!! There have been so many times that I have expected to pull my feet out of my shoes, missing toes from the frostbite - Converse All stars don't cut it as winter shoes.

The second week I was here, I tootled off to a town called Bjerringbro to go on introcamp with all the other exchange students ( or newbies) who came from the Southern Hemisphere ( Mostly Aussies, some NZ's, Brazilians, Argentinians and a South African in the 2nd half of the week) Our camp was held at Nørgaards Højskole which is pretty large ( see pic below - however remove most colour and leaves from the tree's, chuck in some grey tones, and maybe some rain, and there you have it! )

The school is perhaps comparable to a TAFE course mixed with boarding school, in which you don't have to sit exams and that sort of stuff, and anyone can attend, to specialise in a certain field. Many international students ( from places like Poland, Hungary and Lithuania also attend) This school in particular was strong in the music, art, drama and sport field and most of the full time students would stay there maybe 6 months, before going onto doing something else, be it Uni (and in saying that, I learnt that most students don't start Uni until they are around 22/23 yrs old) or Music Academy etc. It actually seems like a really good education, although it is one of the systems that you have to pay for unfortunatly. Provided ( I think this is correct) you attend lessons in your certain field for at least one and a half hours prior to, and after lunch, then its all good. The youngest student is 18 and the oldest about 28 at the moment. Back on track though, we rocked up, most of us having caught the same train, at Randers train station and were taken by bus, to the school, which is guarded by a large troll called Gudar ( beats me why they wanted a troll to guard it - Harry Potter influence perhaps? :D ) We were all given a dorm on campus to share with another student - my roomie was a girl from Toowoomba, living in Roskilde, called Sav, who is, if I may say so, very cool, and a lovely person!

After being shown a tour of the school ( side note: I will try not to bore with details - the three page email I sent to min Mor og Far allowed me to say everything to my hearts content) we were divided into classes, there being about 52 of us in full, with three teachers. The most important thing on my mind at that time, was not to learn Danish, but to watch the final of the World European Hanball tournament, being held in Sweden, with Denmark and France playing off against each other. Most people, rotary kiddies and full time students bundled into the lecture hall to watch, and my goodness, it was so intense! Stomping, clapping, cheering, yelling in frustration and with about 10 seconds to go, down one goal, a Danish player called Bo Spellerberg gave Denmark another chance by smashing one into the goals - we were ecstatic!!!!!!  Anyway, in the extra 10 minutes, with everyone sitting on the edges of the chairs, Denmark very sadly lost 37 - 35, the last goal being scored with about 1 second to go - so incredibly disappointing, yet everyone, rather than say how well they had done, sort of slumped out of the hall for dinner! Still I now believe with all my heart, that handball is a much better game than AFL or cricket, and can happily live in the knowledge that I am not completly loyal to all Australian things. 

Gudar the troll

Anyway the Monday and Tuesday were spent learning Danish verbs, the alphabet, numbers etc. and a bit of grammar - I now fully believe that the Australian Govt. needs to make grammar part of the national curriculum ( and for my sake, probably spelling as well :P ) and on Tuesday afternoon, we sat down and discussed what its like to be a Danish teenage - very different from anything I've ever known back home - bit of a learning curve ahead! Tuesday night was pretty nifty though - everyone, long term students as well, learnt a song by Prince called 'Feel for you' and being back in a choir was surprisingly fun! So for about 2 hours we sat there and sang to our hearts content. In the evenings, we had a room called Pejsestuen (fire room) to use which was generally filled with the yells of students playing marfia, while others strummed away on guitar or piano, and the rest just chilled - twas a very nice atmosphere, if not sometimes loud! On the Wednesday, we took a trip north, to a town called Viborg, in which resides a Domkirke ( Cathedral - one of the main ones in DK) and it was amazing! From creation right through to the crucifixion and various NT stories, were painted on the walls and then in the main, central dome, the 12 disciples sat facing inwards - obviously words will not express  how magnificant it was, but wow, seeing something that historic, and elegant ( I can't think of the right word ) was pretty  breath taking! 

We also visited a place called Hald Sø which is a large lake - the remains of a chunk of ice from the last ice age - surrounded by 'mountains'- Denmark in comparison to Australia, is flat!! That night we had surprise entertainment which turned out to be bowling at the local alley and it still amuses me that no matter where you go, there is a wardrobe for coats and seeing we had walked there in the rain and cold, it was very useful. It was a pretty nifty evening, managed to get two strikes in my last bowl - what are the odds? I manage to spill food on myself most meals, and many people will probably testify to that fact, but manage to get one strike, let alone two!!!

On thursday we had a lecture on Danish society ( p.s. I truthfully am trying to leave out the unimportant details, I promise!) which was pretty interesting - some info on the viking history of the country and why it is one of the happiest and least corrupt in the world, and what the deal with the heavy tax is ( Basic level wage earners pay 45% of their income!) There is also a thing called Jante Law which says that you are no better than anybody else, don't think you're special etc. sort of like Tall poppy syndrome, but it seems to work very well in Denmark, people seem more humble and the word 'Hygge' is used to mean cosiness, contentment, happiness and satisfaction.Anywho, it was a very good to know!  That evening I choose to go to a internationl night type thing where students from Lithuania, Poland and Hungary spoke about their country's culture, food, fashion, landscape and the like, I also had the chance to sing in Polish, Lithuanian and Hungarian - Danish, in comparison, will be a breeze! Still Budapest looked amazing, so that's gone down on my list of places to visit!

Friday was spent in Århus, one of DK's largest cities, going to an art museum called Aros ( The art of Denmarks Golden Age is quite beautiful if I may say, although Modern art still annoys me) and then shoppping and that evening, I watched my first ever Danish film called 'Blinkende Lygter' and while it was sometimes quite violent, it was highly amusing, and a good introduction into Danish film. 

Southern hemisphere newbies

On Saturday we met the district counsellors, who again discussed the four D's (no dating, drinking, driving or drugs ) and had an end of camp party and performance time - my class, being the coolest of course ( :p) learnt a modern Danish pop song and belted it out - so I can now say I know a Danish song of by heart, without knowing the language. In saying that, our teacher as well as introducing us to the more pop side of music, told us about a band called Kashmir, which have since become one of my favourites! 

Class - Andreas/teacher on far right

Sunday was really just cramming everything into our bags, boarding the bus with about a minute to go and catching the train home - I would say it went smoothly, but I think I boarded the train at the wrong station or something like that so the train lady got all hoity toity and told me I had to pay more - It'll be a while before I get the hang of this train business!

So overall, the camp was brilliant - learnt more Dansk, and it was especially useful getting the joining words and verbs down, met new people, made me some friends and got to see some new cities! 

Anyway, so that was introcamp - will write more later about London ( end of March) and life in general but I should also say Congratulations to Katie and Jason on their engagment and Congratulations for Nathan and Anthea for their wedding in a couple of days!!!!

Farvel for now! xoxo

Denmark

Hello to people reading this 


Well I've been in Denmark 3 days and I already think it is one of the most beautiful countries I know ( with the experience of only knowing Australia). The Denmark bound students (myself included) touched down at 6.23 am  at Copenhagen to 0 degrees. I thought that long haul flying would be an adventure, I was wrong. Melbourne airport just annoyed me and the joy of having my own TV and airplane food quickly died away. By the time we got to Bangkok, most of us were sleep deprived and had no clue how to get around the airport seeing that it is insanely ginormous - I'm not kidding when I say that, there were about 4 of each store within one leval and within minutes, I had lost all sense of coordination ( however that's not too hard for me :p) The travelator's soon became our best friend and once we boarded the two storey plane (that was a bit wierd as well) I fell asleep during take off. The one flight that was somewhat pleasant, if not cramped, was from Copenhagen to Billund. The photo below was as we were heading toward the domestic terminal to catch the shuttle bus, first experience outside and it was freezing thus the more grimancing smile. 

first time outside in Copenhagen ( o degrees)

Anyway, as we got close to Billund, the clouds parted and the green Danish countryside emerged, along with masses of frozen lakes and very neatly kept gardens and farms. I was met by my first host family and counsellor and we drove for 45 minutes or so ( a long time in Denmark) before getting to the counsellor's house and their view overlooks lillbælt ( I think that's correct??) and you can see the middle island Fyn very vaguely. Had a Danish style lunch, slept a bit and then experienced my first match of European handball ( Denmark vs Poland-Denmark won!) and I have decided that it is an awesome game, nothing like the Aussie 4 square with King, Queen, Jack and Dunce but more of a cross between soccer, basketball and various other games, it moves pretty quickly and is much more fun than cricket will ever be. They played Argentina last night and won, and head into the semi finals against Sweden. I've finally found a sport that I can stand watching :D

Icy road - came incredibly close to stacking it

We( Sven (counsellor), Connie (his wife) and I) went walking along the beach for a couple of hours or so. Most of the coast is clay that is constantly being washed away by the melthing ice so all along the path were uprooted trees in soft clay. The town is home to one of DK's major military bases and as we were walking home ( on a frozen road which is incredibly difficult to walk on) we ran into a army dude who had spun off the road in a mercedes benz jeep and was stuck in close to a metre ditch. I considered taking a photo but I don't exactly know if thats allowed, or if he'd be happy with it.

Anyway, we also visted the 'birth certificate' of Denmark  in a town called Jelling(pronounced like Yelling) - two big mounds, one that held the Danish King Gorm who is one of Queen Magarethe's ancestors, with a little white church in the middle, which represented the change in worship from Nordic Gods, one of whom was called Gorm, to the Christian faith and next to the church is a big rune stone. One side tells of the change to Christianity, another shows a snake encompassing a lion ( from the Nordic Gods) and the other depicts Jesus on the cross. Anyway that's me in front of it, in the freezing cold. 


When it gets to 4 pm DK time (4am Aust time), my body decides it wants to sleep which is pretty annoying but I'm slowly getting over that. I was told that each hour difference will require another day to get over so I should be in a normal sleep pattern by the end of the week, ready for intro camp with all the other exchange students. 


I forgot that cars drive on the other side of the road so to learn how I cross roads, I follow the 7 yr olds on their way to school and so far so good, I havn't been squished yet! 


I start school tomorrow in 2nd G which I guess is like yr 11 although most people will be my age or older and the school is amazing, the cafateria is massive and each homegroup have their own table. During the breaks, competitions are held as well as performances and the like. For field trips, classes go to places like London, NY, Rome, Berlin etc. and my class (2c) will be heading to Iceland in March so here's to hoping that I can go with them! I will be studying Bio, English, History, German, sport and chem (sigh sigh sigh sigh - another year of pain) but at least it doesn't count for uni. There are about 30 people in a class, you call the teacher by their first name and cycle to school every morning, it'll be very different - also no uniform (yay hip hooray).

Most of the houses look like this and have very good central heating and heated tiles in the bathroom- I don't know why more Australian houses don't have them :P Home sickeness hasn't been too bad but every now and then something happens and it makes me think of home i.e. Carly Simon's 'Your so vain' played on the radio and I thought of Richard's annoyance at the song . Anyway, electricity and things in general are incredibly expensive here although it all pays for education which is free for all as well as the very good public health system that they have. I also think that due to not knowing how the whole exchange rate thing works, I paid the euro equivalent of $10 for a cup of coffee and pastry. oops. The royal family is much more equal that somewhere like England and there seems to be less of a celebrity status around them, so maybe I have a chance of meeting Mary after all :D


For now, from an amazingly beautiful country, until after intro camp, farvel
xoxo

Why a Blog?

Why the title?

My finishing quote for valedictory was by Mark Twain and in all honesty, sure I can say it to a bunch of year 12's, but I want to live it!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Why the blog?

Instead of sending out monthly emails that people never read anyway, I figured that having a blog, in which I can post pictures etc. makes life far easier (for me at least) and hopefully I can put maps up and show everyone where I went in Europe, so if you want, you can follow my adventures

For those who haven't picked it up, I will be going on student exchange, organized with Rotary International, to a town in Denmark called Fredericia, study at school ( fortunately it doesn't count for anything), live with 3 or 4 host families in the town, travel, learn Danish, enjoy a different culture and meet new people, from all over the world. I figured it was nicer than heading straight into Uni (Which I will do in 2012 at Adelaide ( double degree with arts and science cos I still don't know what I want to do))

So Fredericia, if you peek on the map, is on the largest peninsula called Jutland, which is attached to Germany, and is very close to the bridge that joins Jutland and Fyn. It's a coastal town, and at least for my first family, I'll be about 5 minutes from the beach and about 20 mins (on bike) from my school. In saying that, I find it hard to imagine riding to school, when it's still dark, in inches of snow - that'll take getting used to!

Anywho, I leave on Jan 21st from Adelaide, go to Melbourne, catch Thai airways to Bangkok, and then Thai again to Copenhagen (capital of Denmark and yes, the ice cream does come from there ) and from Copenhagen, I catch a domestic flight to my final destination , Billund where I will hopefully meet my first Host family and Danish counsellor - His name is Sven, it makes me chuckle every time .... :D

Anyway, this week I also received info for a Eurotrip that all the Danish exchange kiddies take in May. It's 18 days, on a bus, with a bunch of 16 - 18 yr old teens - what fun... I still have yet to make up my mind on what I think about that but mainly, we travel parts of Europe and it looks amazing!!!!

We first go to Berlin, see all the sights including the Berlin Wall remains and the Brandenburger Gate, then continue to Prague, on the way stopping at the concentration camp Theresienstadt - I can imagine this will be a very harrowing experience, going to the Holocaust museum when I was a kid was painful enough, let alone actually visiting the real place, definitely not going to be an easy time.

We continue to sightsee in the Czech Republic before crossing into Austria and arriving in Vienna where we get to see the Schonbrunn Palace!!!!!!
We arrive at Lido De Jesolo which is 'a beach area of paradisaical beauty at the Adriatic coast of Italy' and the guide says, 'We will spend the next day bathing and basking in the sun' - I though it was sort of cute :P Following that we travel to Venice....sigh.... and go to St Marks Square, which is basically a square, seemingly filled with pigeons, that is shown in far too many action movies and without doubt, James Bond must have run/shot/driven etc. through there at some stage in his unrealistically long life!

Anyway, after Venice, we go to Verona and have the chance to see Juliet's balcony (for those who don't know, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set in 'fair Verona') We then travel alongside the Italian Riviera till we hit Monaco (Grace Kelly was Princess Consort before being killed in a car accident driven by her daughter, Princess Stephanie) and see the Royal Palace! (If you didn't know, Monarchy is, in my opinion, the most fascinating part of History)

Back on track, we arrive at Avignon in France, where the popes chilled back in the 14th Century and continue onto Paris!! Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, The Louvre, both Arc De Triumph's, The Latin Quarter, the Concorde Square and the Center Pompidou ( named after the French woman in Dr Who, who was mistress to King Louis 14 (also known as the Sun King, he built Versailles) and whom David Tennent, as the Dr, meets!) Hopefully we'll get to see Versailles, that'd make doing yr 12 History worth while.

We leave Paris and arrive at Brussels although I would like to see if it would be possible to stop at Passchendale and see the battlefield where hundreds of Aussies died in WW1 or at least see a battlefield. After that we go to Amsterdam, eat some 'cookies'..... actually I kid, no drugs allowed kiddies :D ....and travel through Hamburg before returning to Denmark.

While we don't get to go to England, hopefully I'll be able to go with my host family (fingers very tightly crossed)

Feelings, schmeelings...that sorta stuff

Obviously excited that I've come this far and not been told to wake up. The plane ride should be amazing seeing it'll be the first overseas travel since I was a wee kid. Bit nervous at meeting my first family although the introcamp that I go on should help, excited that I get to spend another year at school (sarcasm) studying history (that was serious), happy that I avoid Uni for a year, nervous about how to deal with homesickness, esp. missing the mother and father and GJWTHF etc., worried about how I'm meant to reduce time spent on facebook....seeing my average time during yr 12 increased, I cannot see it happening, excited at the prospect of meeting a ton of new people, nervous about finding a solid, bible based, Jesus preaching church and youth group, nervous about having a different smelling, non Adelaide hills house but overall, exceedingly excited!! Who wouldn't be?

Anyway, I apologise for boring you if you have read on to this point, but that gives a slight overview of what 2011 holds for me and I might do another blog, once I get the hang of this thing, closer to my leaving date!

Peace out,
Hannah xoxo