what.. the.. actual...

Introduction to school assemblies in Denmark..... two people throwing condoms at everyone

conquering three danish cultural activities... in two days

Two months ago, I was sweating it out in the Australia, counting down the days until I would hop on a plane and jet set across to the other side of the world to a country that I knew little about. Two months in and I am continuing to love every moment. Exchange was honestly the best thing I could have ever done, and I am so thankful that I have been given this opportunity to travel and experience the world. 

If I were at home, I would have been almost a month into my degree at UNSW, and by some Facebook statuses floating around in my news feed, I would have spent my nights cramming over confusing text books and essay questions realising that year 12 was a walk in the park. Instead,  I find myself on the other side of the world, sitting in a Danish school classroom, surrounded by a new and strange language.... and on that note I can't imagine being anywhere else right now. 

These past two months have flown by and I am finding that every day, I am settling into the Danish way of life. This weekend I was lucky enough to experience more aspects of the Danish culture... the kind that were up my ally :) 

So on Friday, two of my friends from class came over. We took over my host families kitchen, and made pavlova and cinamon scrolls. It was really nice to make the pavlova with my school friends, as they had only ever seen it before on Master Chef (they actually have Masterchef Australia over here! I watch it at the gym) Anyways, the pavlova's turned out DELICIOUS! So much so that we had three helpings each and my tastebuds were extremely satisfied as they were reunited with their one true love. The fresh, hot cinnamon scrolls were also delicious and I have saved the recipie so I can share it with all of you when I get home! Funnily enough we used a recipe called Sarah's cinnamon scrolls. Coincidence?! I think not

None the less, it was a very good afternoon in the kitchen and I really enjoyed spending time with my school friends outside of the classroom. In Danish terms, we had a hyggleit time. One of my friends then stayed the night at my host families house and we bonded over a packet of Oreos and the movie Mean Girls. With our tummies exploding from pavlova, cinnamon scrolls, Oreos and danish candy we called it a night. 

The next morning (Saturday) we woke up to the smell of freshly baked bread. My host mum makes THE BEST balle's in the world. I love them so much! So we ate some delicious breakfast and got ready to go to my friends gymnastic event. Gymnastics is an entirely different culture in Denmark. It's like a cross between dancing (minus the insane dance mums, false eyelashes and heavy stage make up) and the gymnastics that we know and love in Australia. I loved going and watching my friend perform! So the day began with a flag march- where the whole audience stands as the danish flag is walked through by competitors. Then the event began! So most of the day consisted of small kids showing off their routines. It reminded me of being at a dance estedford, without the bell, adjudicators and stage lights. It had a relaxed atmosphere and I loved it! My friends team were awesome although they didn't do a routine that i would think was gymnastics.. it was more contemporary and hip hop dance. It was awesome! And of course it included some epic flips and cool gymnastics tricks... I had a really great day seeing what gymnastics was all about! So I came home and was feeling pretty tired. I watched two movies with my host family. The first was a Danish movie about two painters. It was of course in Danish, but it was cool listening to the danish and reading the subtitles. I like listening to the prouncination and am starting to hear more and more danish words in conversations. Anyways, this movie was really cool, as it was based on the painters who painted the paintings that I saw last week at the art gallery in Copenhagen! I loved it, it was a really well made movie!

The second movie was Skyfall. A classic James Bond that I had not seen! Went to bed exhausted!

Yesterday, I caught up on some sleep and ventured to the gym with my host mum, host brother and his friend. I did a body flow class which I am really enjoying as it gives me the opportunity to stretch and work on my core strength which has seriously declined since arriving!! The classes are in Danish which can be funny at times. So after the gym, I came home, had some lunch and then we ventured into Copenhagen for the afternoon. Thats the greatest thing about living so close to Denmark's capital! This time in Copenhagen, we saw the musical Frankenstein at the acting house which is located near Mary's palace, right on the harbour. It had a lovely atmosphere and I was so glad to be on the theatre scene. I had been missing it! 

The play itself was of course in Danish, but having studied Frankenstein last year, i found it good as I had a basic grip on the content and characters that were being presented. The play was not a traditional one, and it steered clear of Mary Shelley's setting and some of the characters. But what they had done with the text was amazing. The sets were unbelievable and the writers had included song to tell the story. This was very clever and something that I really enjoyed. The singer (who is also famous in Denmark) had such a powerful voice that would given anyone (even an english speaker) goosebumps. The actors were also really good and overall I thought that it was a really good production. I later found out that the theatre is a place visited by the royal family. Mary sure lives the good life here in Denmark!

This week will be a super dooper week!!!!! I have my first school party on Friday (which has a rave theme). I am really excited for that, and it should be a fun night. Then the next day, I'm waking up at 4am and going to NORWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAN NOT WAIT!

Miss you all Australia

xxx  

  

Fotos fra sidste weekend!

Rosenborg's Slot in Copenhagen- Home to the crown jewles and some of the most amazing things that i have ever seen!

Crown Jewles. This one is the Order of the Elephant (this is the highest order in Denmark. Princess Mary has it :) ) 

How amazing is this crown?! It belonged to Christian the V (I think..... there are a lot of kings called Christian) It had so much detail. It was unbelievable 

You know you're in Denmark when it snows in Spring... 

Crown Jewels 

Danish Art 

Learning the Lingo

I have been asked, on numerous occasions if I have a second language....I just laugh and attempting to explain that by the terms of the Australian school system, if you can count to 10 in German after learning it for a whole year- you're fluent. 

Coming here though, I am so amazed at the amount of languages people can actually speak. Some of my friends at school can speak French, English, Danish and are learning German, some even know German and are learning Spanish! It's crazy!! So for them, me not knowing another language is kinda strange, especially because languages have been pushed so hard all throughout their schooling.   

I suppose that my lack of foreign vocabulary has made me even eager to learn Danish and I have found that learning a new language is so much fun! Okay, so there are some days where it is so difficult but google translate has always got my back. I have a feeling though that I will come back to Australia with REALLY bad English, as the Danish language is a little confusing and steers clear of our confusing grammar

For example

When saying the number 21 in danish you say one and twenty (so the numbers are totally reversed)

Once I got my head wrapped around this, my next challenge was the word 'ikke' which in English means 'not'. The Danish way of placing the word ikke is extremely confusing to an english speaker as it is placed in a completely different place to where we would normally say it in a sentence. 

BUT the most challenging thing for me when learning Danish has been sentence structure as in English we say so many little words in sentences which the Danes do not. 

Okay so lets take a simple sentence like 'I will not go to the movies" 

In Danish the correct way of saying this is "Jeg vil ikke gå i biografen"

(so they are saying i will not go to movies) Thus they have eliminated the word 'the'. 

Another example is the sentence "she is not an idiot"

Danes say "hun er ikke idiot" (she is not idiot) thus the elimination of words such as 'the' and 'an' and 'a' has been really really really confusing and made me realise how many words we put in sentences! 

Listening to conversations is now so much more fun because sometimes I can actually get a general idea of what people are talking about. This post is an accurate representation of my concentration face;

http://blazersandpins.tumblr.com/post/39790785123 

I also like listening for phrases that are said a lot and then later ask what the heck it means. This has been rather funny! So a lot of people at school say the phrase "what did you say?" in Danish this is "hvad siger du?" but because they say it SO SO fast, I thought that they were saying "hvad zero?" My host dad was very confused!

One of the girls in my class has also helped in my danish learning by creating a facebook page called 'learn danish with Karoline' where every day she posts a new word, phrase or sentence for me to learn. This is so sweet, and is actually an amazing idea :) So far i can say 'slippers' in Danish and the sentence 'this is a train. it stops at the station'.

The most annoying thing about learning Danish has been the fact that everyone in Denmark speaks English. This is super good at school and i wouldn't have survived the first month without it, however when you attempt to order something from a cafe in Danish such as a 'varm kakao' the shop keeper automatically switches into English. I think it is because they can hear my accent, or perhaps my facial expressions of 'concentration/im trying to be a local/please dont recognise that im foerign/im trying really hard' give it away. Who knows... But my aim for the next month is to be able to hold a conversation with someone and of course order something in Danish without the person automatically switching into English :) My long term goal is to read harry potter in danish 

The biggest and most ambitious step though in my danish learning adventures has been changing the language of my iphone from english to danish. This is actually a really good learning curve as simple words such as camera and photo are now in danish and i see them on a regular basis so slowly they are sinking into my brain.

Anyways, this afternoon two of my friends from school are coming over to cook up a storm. We are going to tackle Danish cinnamon scrolls (they are the best) and of course pavlova. Will be super fun and hyggelit :) 

jeg er så cult

Dear Australia, you do not know the definition of cold until you have lived in Denmark.... If I see a Facebook status complaining about the weather on a 10 degree day- look out!

Okay, so you can forget everything I said about the nice and lovely and warm spring weather, because the Serbian express decided to blow it all away- quite literally.

Never in my entire 18 years of existence have I experienced anything like the cold that came over Denmark on the weekend. (just when I thought that I was getting used to the weather too!) This wind that blew in from Serbia was the coldest thing that i have ever endured.. But alas, I am a fearless exchange student who survived these freezing conditions, and only have a cold to remind me of my adventures. 

The weather didn't stop me from having a super (I say that a lot now- because its part of the danish lingo) weekend. On Saturday, I went to the gym with my host mum to do a body pump class. This was super fun, like a dance class all in one! I then came home, and went for a 4km walk with my host dad around the area near our house. It is a nature reserve, that has heaps of exercise equipment, mouton bike tracks, fishing areas and even places for horse riding. This nature reserve was super nice, and I sure got my fair dosage of fresh air! It will be a really nice place to go for some exercise in the spring time- when its not so windy :) 

On Sunday, I again went to the gym with my host mum to do a body flow class. This is a combination of thai chi and yoga. It was super relaxing and just what I needed. Although my core strength has seriously declined since i left Australia ( I'm doing the same class again tonight- should be good!) 

Doing gym classes in Danish is actually a good way for me to pick up the language. It sounds silly! But the instructors talk about specific movements that coincide with parts of the body. So its all in one- danish training with a little bit of exercise on the side. Anyways, after the gym, we came home, ate some freshly baked bread buns (they were so amazing- will be baking lots of bread when i get back to Australia) and ventured into Copenhagen. For the trip in, we had a 'cafe on wheels' complete with tea and chocolate for the car. it was very huggelit and was just the thing to warm us up on the cold day. 

Our first stop in Copenhagen was Rosenborg's Slot (slot= castle in danish) This castle is the home to the crown jewels of the Royal Family. It is of course a beautiful castle, holding some of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. The crowns and jewels were from the past kings and queens of Denmark. So beautiful, so old, and so glitzy. The crowns were the definition of bling!

 The castle's contents was of course bursting with historical information. For example, it is famous for the wine! The first bottle of this wine dates back to the 1600's (i think- maybe give or take a few years- but never the less its ancient)  The wine is so famous because the story is that a little bit of the original wine (yes, the bottle from the 1600's)  is used to make the wine today... My host dad and mum told me that it was gross so i suppose that it makes the story more believable! But the wine is also famous as it makes an appearance at royal occasions- poor Mary! 

So after seeing these beautiful jewels, we ventured just around the corner to a little museum called Hirschsprung. This museum holds some of the best and most famous Danish art. I really enjoyed strolling through the rooms and the paintings were just unbelievable. To me, this is a reminder that I am in Europe (well.... technically Scandinavia, but two hours from Europe). Soaking up all of the culture, walking down the cobble stoned streets with winter coats and speaking another language is so surreal- and i am just loving every moment! 

Came home after a busy day, watched the last episode of Bourne (a danish tv show about parliament- its actually really good! i can see why so many families cram around their tvs on a sunday) After this, we ate some freshly baked rugbrød. I have heard many mixed opinions on this Danish speciality. Some exchange students can't get enough, where as others long for the white processed fatty bread sold in their home countries. For me personally, rugbrød is delicious. Perhaps it is because I wasn't a white bread lover in Australia or, perhaps it is because my taste buds are starting to adapt to the Danish pallet. I actually like caviar, this cod egg paste stuff and all of the fish that i have eaten (am yet to try herring). The only Danish food that will not go down well is liver paste. I actually love rugbrød so much that I am getting my host mum to teach me how to bake it so that I can eat it in Australia!! I'm sure that you will all loveeeeeeee it :) (note; i am really missing cadbury chocolate in the easter displays... its not easter unless you have those little colourful cadbury eggs- yes i am missing them)  

This week at school will be pretty average..... My class have a 'project week', where every day they go to school to work on an assignment. At the end of the week, they must produce a 5000 word essay (written in groups) on how reality TV affects the young people of today. As my danish vocabulary lacks the vital words needed to compose an essay, I will just participate whenever I can and pretend to understand what is actually going on! 

I am going to my Rotary meeting on Wednesday night though, which will be really fun and then I have language school on Tuesday and Thursday. In between I'll be hitting up the gym, and if the weather permits, getting some ice cream with my class friends :) 

This weekend should be super fun though! On Friday one of my friends from class is sleeping over. We are making some cinamon scrolls and having a movie night. I am really looking forward to it. Then on Saturday, I'm heading out to watch her gymnastics team. This should be very interesting as its not the gymnastics that we think of in Australia, its more like a dance based course where they perform for fun, not with competitions or anything. It should be really good and I am very much looking forward to it! 

And as for Sunday, well who knows........... 

buttttttttt

IM GONG SKIING IN NORWAY IN TWO WEEKS!

accurate representations of my life right now

the awkward moment when you are on facebook in class and as punishment you have to make a cake
#exchangestudentlife

fun in the sun

Since my last post, I have met more than 200 new people from all over the world, been to Lalandia (which is in the top 10 tourist destinations in Denmark), learnt to ice stake and have seen the border of Germany.... so much in such a short amount of time.
One can conclude though that my life here in Denmark is happening at a rapid pace. So many sights, new people, delicious food and new strange words to learn!

So i suppose before i begin rambling, I better finish where i left off and tell you all about the super crazy fun weekend that I had at Lalandia. It was so good to see all of the newbies from intro camp again. We talked about whats happened since intro camp and discussed the important things, such as how much weight we were gaining, whilst downing swedish chocolate (go figure). It was also so good to meet all the oldies (for those who aren't up with the rotary lingo, an oldie is a person who has been here since summer.) There were so many of them though, i dont think i even met half of them! But the ones that i did meet were super nice, and they made the weekend that much more enjoyable.

There were so many fun activities at Lalandia. One could ice state, bowl or head to the aqua dome for some water slide fun... whilst it was one degree outside (imagine wet n wild but indoors)
I wasn't really feeling the slides, so I headed to the ice skating rink.....
I am not the best ice skater in the world, so it took me quite awhile to actually skate around the rink. I had my trusty witches hat to guide my clumbsy ways though so that was good, and by the end of our hour session, I was freely skating with no wall and no witcheshat. i even braved the middle. So safe to say i can actually ice skate now!

At night, everyone had  huggley (danish word for cosy) time. I watched as some sung American Pie on the karoke and tried their luck at bowling. Everyone was super tired, and my roomies and I bonded by eating a packet of Haribo lollies and talking about our experiences so far. It was really good to be with people who are experiancing the same things that I am.

Over all, it was a super dooper weekend. We all left Lalandia feeling exhausted and sat down on the carriage ride home.. however were kicked out of our seats and ended up standing for the entire two hours. It was the fullest train that i had ever been on.

So exhausted, I arrived home to a much needed sleep, and woke up at 6:30am for school.
Monday was a pretty average day. Hit up the gym with my host mum which was really good. Also stopped in town on the way home to do a little browsing and just enjoy the atmosphere because i just love it.

Yesterday I finished school at 1 and celebrated the beginning of Spring with two of my class mates. We ventured into town with the intention of going to Paradise Ice, but were too tempted by the sign that said all you can eat ice cream for 50kr. So we stopped, and sat outside (you know your a dane when you sit outside in a cardigan and its 6 degrees)
We ate five helpings each and made sure each one was topped with m&m's, waffles, oreo bits and every single sweet thing one could dream of and during the two hours we were there, we moved inside. Our minds were telling us it was the cold, but we all knew that it was to make us closer to the dessert bar.

It was so fun. They taught me some basic danish and attempted to break up the difference between the accents from Denmark. An elderly couple were listening and were trying to suppress laughter. especially when they taught me the word 'Tralse'
Stupid me said 'are you from traulse'
Little did i actually know that it was a slang word from Jetland that means oh bother. Kinda like the british word for bolloux. language blunder take 1028478912893819829184989843981.

With our tummies exploding and us vowing not to eat ice cream for at least a month i ventured to language school. This was super fun and i am starting to actually understand some danish words.
After i went to Ro's Torvs for some mexican food with two of my oldies and my fellow newbie from Brazil. Had another embarrassing language moment when i asked my friend
"hvor skal wi spieser" which i thought meant when shall we eat. I was so confident with this phrase and said it so loudly and confidently.... but when the lady at the counter stared at me weird my cheeks started burning. My friend burst out laughing and asked if i was a cannabl as i had just asked him who shall we eat?
Damn those danish Hv words.

After my cheeks had returned to their normal colour, we ventured up to the mexican restraunt. It was so much fun! good food, good laughs and a good time was had by all. Talking about Mel's idea for a traditional dress day at her school had me in stitches and i discovered that the whole world is in denial about the word 'sunbake'. Apparently the correct terminology is 'sun bathe'. whatttttt!
Immitating each others accents was also fun. and the good mexican food was the cherry on top to a good night.

So afterwards I went home, and got some much needed sleep.

Woke up this morning feeling so much more refreshed. Enjoyed my sleep in to 8:00 as i had a late start at school :) Have ditched my winter coat for a trench coat, worn my sunnies to school and have embraced the heat wave that is going through Denmark. Time to get out the 30+ its 7 degrees WOOOOO   



*nb i can not spell in english so dont expect me to spell danish words 

spring has finally sprung

The sun is shining, I'm wearing sunnies and a teeshirt and the minus temperatures are a thing of the past (well for now at least). Yes thats right, spring has finally sprung and to celebrate this wonderful occasion, I'm heading to a tropical island

Yes you did just read that correctly
I did just say a tropical island (believe me, I am as surprised as you)

This indoor waterslide wonderland is a popular summer destination for Danish famalies as it is constantly heated to 30 degrees. This weekend, Lalandia will be in for a shock, when 200 exchange students (who no longer have bikini bodies) head there for a weekend of adventure and fun. it is going to be so so much fun and i am so excited

There are pools, bowling allies, mini golf courses and an ice skating rink. Check out my summer paradise  http://www.lalandia.dk/uk/Pages/forside.aspx

Anyways, better go finish packing
cant wait to get my tan on!