thinking about a scenic change...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/14-reasons-everyone-needs-to-move-to-denmark-immediately

The above post explains why i will notttt come home to australia in January :)

summer loving happened so fast

Apologies for the extreemly late, belated and overdue blog post. It's just that while the sun is shining you want to be outside lapping up the beautiful Danish summer! And for the past few weeks, Denmark has been blessed with beautiful weather that may be on the same temperature as a pleasant Australian spring day. But today, its freezing and raining so this presents me with the perfect opportunity to update my blog. 

So much has happened since my last blog post and as per usual time continues to fly by right before my eyes. 

I have now been in this beautiful country for six months- how that is even possible is beyond me. Some days it feels like i left home yesterday and then others it feels like a lifetime ago. But none the less I am continuing to love my exchange and soak up every moment!

Summer holidays have been in full swing and in true exchange student style I have been fully booked with so many plans as I have the ambition to see as much of Denmark as I can! I think it's been a whole month since my last blog entry, so i will try and recite everything that i've been up too, but apologies if i miss out on some little details!

Denmark in summer attracts a lot of visitors, which is good for me, because among the hundreds that flock to Copenhagen have been some of my nearest and dearest Australian friends. I caught up with Linda who was an exchange student in Holbeck when she was 18 some 30 years ago. It was so awesome to see her and her family, and we toured around Amalinborg (Mary's palace) and also took a canal cruise through Copenhagen which was beautiful and it allowed us to see a lot of Copenhagen that even I hadn't seen. I was with my exchange friend Lauren from South Australia, and she also lives in Holbeck in Denmark.. Turns out that her and Linda went to the same school, so its like Lauren is having Linda's exchange- crazy crazy crazy!! A few days later, Orla came from across the English sea to have some Danish adventures. It was so lovely to catch up on our european adventures and show her some of Copenhagen! Of course we did the essentials- nyhavn, mary, harbour and of course the little mermaid. It was a great day and kinda strange to see one of my friends from home.. in Denmark. 

I have also caught up with some of my exchange student friends and we were able to have a mini euro tour in Denmark! I saw my nearest and dearest friends from Euro tour- that being Laura, Kathleen and Lauren. They all stayed at my host famalies house for a few days, and we lived in their black house (basically a granny flat that is seperated from their house) so it was like our own summer house. We did our Summer Sealand tour with day trips to Helsingor, Hillerød, Copenhagen and of course my beautiful town of Roskilde. We had a great time and we saw quite a lot of Denmark- visiting some old castles and lapping up the beautiful weather. We enjoyed some girly time and even had our own Aussie bbq together reminicing and laughing about Euro tour. It was great to celebrate my 6 months with them. 

I also met the sweet Danish exchange student that is now living in my room with my family in Australia. We had a lot of fun together and it was so lovely to meet her in Denmark and I can not wait to get home and have some Sydney adventures with her. I'm really lucky as she only lived 10 minuets away so I was able to meet her family and everything. The first day we went to the Copenhagen botanical gardens, which were awesome! There were so many plants from all over the world. We also got some bubble tea and ice cream (of course) and it was so good to tell her about my family and home in Australia. It's kinda weird as she will be going to my old school! So anyway, after our Copenhagen trip, we went back to Anna's house to exchange pins and put our blazers on ready to go to her Rotary meeting. It was really hyggelit to meet her club, and I was presented with a banner! I was also quite proud of myself as I spoke in only Danish in front of the entire club! I was quite nervous, but surprisingly im becoming more confident with my Danish! The next day, Anna and I also planned to go to Malmö which is just 30 minuets away... but in another country. CRAZY RIGHT?! So we met on the train again, bought our tickets and headed to another country with another currency and another language. It was like I was back on Euro tour again! Our day in Malmo was awesome. We had beautiful weather and so we were able to enjoy walking through the shopping street! We first stopped at a giant shopping centre which had a viewing platform where you could see the bridge to Denmark. We also ate at Jensens Beefhouse for lunch (a danish restaurant) and i thought it was kinda funny that there was a sign on our table advertising 'steak fresh from down under' so many australian connections and little reminders of home! Our meal was good and we were recharged for more shopping and more exploring. I introduced Anna to the Nescafe shop (where of course you can try coffee for free) and Anna introduced me to the Swedish department store... helllo heaven! Overall it was a great day and we arrived back quite tired! Anna then invited me over to her house to have dinner with her family. They cooked traditional danish food of pork, potatos and brown sauce (like gravy but different). It was a very very hyggelit afternoon and hearing Anna talk about her dreams and excitment for Australia reminded me of how I was before i embarked on my journey 6 months ago. I stayed talking to Annas family for hours, and at 10:30 i decided it was time to head home. it was very very hyggelit indeed!

I have also caught up with my third host family! We all went into Copenhagen parkken (like a soccer stadium) to see Robbie Williams live. Of course, as usual he delivered a spectacular show and I was particularly impressed with his support act Olly Murs. It was a great evening, and the weather was so so nice so we had a picnic dinner before the show. It was lovely to catch up with them and it was of course amazing to see Robbie live! 

I also said some goodbyes this month as so many of my 'oldies' have gone home. An oldie is an exchange student who has been in your host country 6 months longer than you. It was so sad to see all of them go home, as I may never see any of them every again. It was especially hard to say goodbye to my Brazilian oldie Isa :( We have been through so much together. It's also kinda scary as now I am in fact an oldie! As the newbies are due to arrive within the next month. Time has flown so so quickly. 

So it has been great catching up with old friends, meeting new ones, and hard to say goodbye to friends for life. 

I have also been loving where my new host family live. Right on the fjord, so it literally takes 2 seconds to walk down to the water front. This presents the opportunity for many many great things, one of which is WATER SPORTS which i have been lucky enough to try. I am now okay on a knee board, and hopefully by the time I leave this family i will be up and wake boarding. The doughnut is also so sooooo much fun! And we just bought a double bed sized one! It's been so lovely to swimg every day and it is very much like living at Staurts Point. The only place to be in Denmark! I've enjoyed loaning our owners boat and watching the sunset from the middle of the fjord! 

The plans for today are going into Copenhagen for a shopping trip with my two host sisters. That should be fun! Then im catching up with some of my danish friends from school, going to the Grøn Concert which is like a one day festival with all the danish superstars (really excited for that!) and then a few trips to Tivoli, a trip to Odense to celebrate my Australian friends 16th, maybe a trip to somewhere in Denmark (or london ;) ) and thennnn school starts in 3 weeks. Will be kinda strange to go back after a 4 month vacation. Exchange life... its a tough one but someone's gotto do it!

Sending lots of love back home xxx