Håndbalt!

It is actually a little strange for me to be consistent with my blog updating- I mean two blog posts in the space of 2 days! But the current maths lesson I am sitting in isn't so appealing, so I decided to do another update on what I got up to last night 

So last night I managed to tick off another thing on my 'to do list' in Denmark. This list is becoming shorter and shorter, and I have almost managed to achieve everything I wanted to do on my exchange year. The thing that has now been crossed off my list was a håndbale game... Something that to me is very Danish as i first experianced the hype of Denmark playing the finals when I first arrived. 

But Australians, the handball that we think of is NOT the handball that they play over here in Europe. I'm sure we are all aware of the fun handball game that consumed much of my primary school lunchtimes. Four people, in their own square bouncing a ball around a few times. It's fun, but NOTHING compared to the standard and the stamina needed to be a player over here. Here is a short youtube clip incase some of you aren't familiar with the sport (because I sure wasn't when I came) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYfK7U9xRmk

It's exciting, its face paced and Danes love it! The atmosphere at the game was awesome, and everyone was right into it. Of course, it did help that Denmark won. I saw the womens game, and the best way to describe it is like an over aggressive netball game with a hint of some soccer goals. It is very fast paced, and you have to keep your eyes on the game or else before you know it the other team has scored!

Denmark played Austria and I wondered what language the umpires would speak, or how difficult it would be for the Austrian team to understand danish... kinda like what i experienced when I first came to Denmark. I suppose being Aussie, we don't really think about that because we just take it for granted that we are an english speaking nation. Europe has defiantly opened my eyes to the wider world. 

Me and my host sister dressed up for the occassion hoping to make the TV, however we were sadly missed in our Danish outfits. I had a lot of fun, and picked up a Danish flag blower and of course some clappers! It was a really fun night and I am so glad that I got to see a live match as we do not have it so much in Australia. 

Me and my host sister Julia ready for Handball! 

And tonight I do not get an early night. I'm off to Tivoli with two of my Aussie friends and of course I am going again on Sunday because I just love Tivoli and haven't seen it for Halloween (what?!) On Saturday I am off to one of my Danish friends 18th birthday :) and last period today, i am doing a presentation on the stolen generations....to 60 people... in a classroom.... with a microphone... for the last period of the day... 

Wish me luck!

Ola fra Spanien

Ola! I will start this blog post with the greeting that I heard for 12 days whilst on my little afterårs ferrie with host family number 2. Our destination- Spain but to be more specific the Grand Canary Islands and to be exactly correct the island of Lanzerota at Club La Santa, a sports place that is a popular holiday destination for danes, englanders, germans and some spanish people.

My holiday began on Thursday two weeks ago (what!) with a 3 and a half hour flight to Madrid. From cold Denmark to a mildish warm sunny Madrid

On the way! 

Emma, me and my host dad ready for Le Santa! 

We were in Madrid for the night, and stayed at my host Dad's friends mansion 30 mins from the airport. I can now officially say i have ridden in a Mercadies! So we crashed and woke up very early the next morning ready to jump on another plane ride to reach our next destination- the grand canary islands and airport. The flight was around 3 and a half hours again. It was a clear day, so we could see out the window as we flew over Paris and other exciting European cities. 

At least the early morning provided a really nice sun rise

We arrived in the Canary island airport and it was clear that we were far from Europe's cold grasp. It was hot. Like not quite Australian 40 degree hot, but hot which was SO nice! We changed clothes and then got on another plane ready for our final destination- LANZEROTA!

Our 3rd and final flight

nb before i came to Denmark, I had only been on 2 planes..... within the space of 2 days i have exceeded that limit- what?! 

This flight wasn't so long, only lasting about an hour and a half. And finally we had arrived in Lanzeroter! We got our hire car, and drove half an hour to our home for the next 12 days- CLUB LE SANTA! It was good that we had a little drive, as I got to see some of the islands landscape. There is lava rocks everywhere and of course catacuses! There are actually some volcanoes on the island that are no longer active (thank goodness ;) ) 

I wouldn't call it a tropical island by no means! So the geographical aspect of the island was interesting and within the 12 days I got to explore a lot of it. One of the days, we drove to a beach about an hour away to go snorkling. This was just AMAZING as we were snorkling over some lava rocks from the volcano. Of course there were tropical fish which were amazing to see in the wild. And the water was crystal blue and so warm and inviting. It was a wonderful day. 

Ready for snorkelling! 

Beautiful beach!

I was also lucky enough to go to a Spanish market in one of the neighbouring towns in La Santa in a town called Teguise. This market literally had everything and it was by no means on the same scale as Cobbity markets. it was HUGEEEE and took up the entire town. It had a really cool atmosphere with spanish music and it was located around a beautiful old church (of course its europe after all). I didn't buy much as a lot of the stores had typical paddys market knock off design things, however there was some cool individual stuff. So I picked up a few souviners and headed back to La Santa! 

The Market (the church is in the background)

Beautiful Spanish Town! 

We also ventured out to a cave which has a unique species of crabs which is found no where else in the world. This was beautiful to see! And the Spanish people of course turned it into a fancy restraunt where concerts are held. We just had a coffee and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of the cave. It was difficult to get a photo that did it justice!

The cave where the crabs live. 

The beautiful fishing town where we had dinner that night

We also had surfing lessons in a neighbouring beach called Farmara. The surf was pretty good and offered me some beginner waves to find my balance on a good old foam board. The surf turned on the first day though and became a little washing machiney. We were there for just two days, but I learnt a lot and by the end of the courses I could ride the waves standing up. Of course that will all change when I get home and try it out on a hard board at Grassy! 

The courses were from 10 30-16 00 each day (long day) and we had lunch provided by the school. This was hyggelit as we got to meet people from all over the world. There was a Russian, dutch, italian and german. Quite a nice range. 

The instructors were good, and one even asked me to marry him because he wants an Australian citizenship. So i suppose I'm now engaged?

The beach where we had our surfing lessons

Beautiful last morning at the beach!

Unfortunately I have no photos of me ripping up the waves. Have to save that for when I get back to Oz!

For most of the time though, we were just at Club Le Santa becuase there is SO much to do there. Every sporty thing you can possibly think of it offered and the days were filled with a range of classes, from tennis to kyacking to wind surfing to zumba to paddle tennis to morning 3km walks to dance to yoga to cycling. You name it, they have it!

So at 8 00 every morning they do this thing called morning warm up which has not changed in the last 30 or so years. The same music, same movement, same time every morning. It was a fun way to begin the day 

Here is a peak of what we did and where we did it (you can actually see some of the club in this video) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP-v0XZUKRM

After the warm up, there was a range of runs or walks you could take and i opted for the walk on the first morning so I could take in my surroundings. We did a range of activities that lasted for an hour. During the day, I went mostly to dance, zumba, aerobics, paddle tennis, kyacking, wind surfing, body ball and a lot more. It was a very fun and all free! The instructors were trained in absoloutley everything you could think of. 

Where classes were held during the day. It was so hot!

We also had a lot of chill out time in the middle of the day where we could relax by the pool. I managed to finish harry potter in Danish which i was quite happy about. The pool was beautiful and I really enjoyed soaking up my last dose of sun for 3 months!

The pool of a night. We had some beautiful sunsets 

My favourite activities down there were wind surfing (which I didn't quite successfully get the hang of. Good thing we have one home ;) ) and dancing. It was SO good to get back into it again. 

The club was also beautiful and offered beautiful modern facilities! There was a wellness centre which I enjoyed a spa one night and of course there was some pretty good restraunts where we ate out of a night. 

The beautiful sunsets

The Green Team Show- one night during our stay, the team members known as the Green team who run all of the activities put on a show for us. It was a lot of fun and they did a range of things, from dancing to sycronised swimming skits. 

Sadly this vacation of mine had to come to an end, and I am now back in Denmark where there is clearly a temperature diffence and it is time to send all of my summer clothes home. 

I had a really really great time away and hopefully can one day take my own family to Le Santa because i think they would just love it! 

And if anything I found out what I can do with my Danish- work at Le santa!  All green team members need to speak danish or english. So i meet the standards! ;) 

So now time is moving all too quickly and i have less than 80 days left of my exchange year. If anything, this year has taught me how quickly time just passes. Like this time last year I was doing my HSC exams- WHAT?!?!?! 

Anyways, the plans for the next week

-Tivoli (of course) for Halloween

-Last EVER get together :( with the whole of Denmark

-School

-Keeping warm

Oh and to all my fellow Aussie readers who are affected by those terrible bush fires, my thoughts and prayers are with you

Much love xxx 

Zoo and other things

So, as always I am a busy little exchange student determined to make the most of my 94 days in beautiful Denmark and last weekend I managed to tick some things off my 'to do list' in Denmark. 

On Friday, I went to my first EVER gymnasium party in Denmark. My class couldn't believe that, especially since I have been here for nearly 9 months (what). Anyways, gymnasium fests are something that we absoloutley do not have in Australia. Basically in a simple description it is a party that the school puts on for students. The easiest way to describe it is to actually just post the link to the video that was taken on the night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZLsf1Vt0Ro&feature=youtu.be (see if you can spot the 5 second footage of me!)

Gymnasium parties are a very big part of Danish culture, as it allows the classes to socalise. This party was HUGE because it contained all of the gymnasiums in Roskilde (four of them). It was a lot of fun. Not many people from my class were there though, so I made mexican food with some of my host sisters friends before we went to the party. It was very hyggelit. 

No sleep in on Saturday morning! I was up early and eager to make the most of a free weekend (as I dont have many left in Denmark). I hoped on a train and met my Australian friend Laura. We went into Copenhagen to do a bit of shopping. Surprisingly, the tables had turned because it is usually me who buys a lot of stuff... hahaha but laura added to her wordrobe and we then met up with my host sister in the afternoon to see Copenhagen Zoo! This has been on my to do list, as one of my cousions who had traveled to copenhagen in 2012 said that it was worth the visit! And I'm glad we went. The zoo was pretty big, although i will always have a thing for Taronga zoo. There were a lot of animals there, and i was so surprised because they had emus and a tasmanian devil (that was the present from Tasmania when Mary and Fred were married). That was cool to see. The big wow factor of the zoo however was defiantley the elephants- as there was a baby one that was just over a year old (cutest little thing) and of course the new Artic Ring exhabition that opened just last year. This exhabition features an actual polar bear. However, when we were there it wasn't particularly exciting but it was SO cool to see one up close and personal- but not too close ;) We also got to see some behind the scenes of the zoo as my host cousion works there. She took us through to the kids section (educational areas) and we got to see and touch some animals. I wasn't too keen on touching them- especially because they were snakes but i faced my fear and touched one. It was rather funny because some of the animals featured in the section were actually from Australia! It was a good day at the zoo. 

So cute 

POLAR BEAR! 

How cute is the little elephant! 

Toocan! 

Laura and me at Copenhagen Zoo 

Direct from Australia- EMUS! 

After the zoo, Laura and I went back to my host sister Maria's house to hygge for a little bit and just relax. It was nice just chatting and of course we reminiced about Euro Tour. Laura and I caught the train home at around 11ish after a really nice night out in Copenhagen

Copenhagen at night! Will never get tired of this place

On Sunday morning, Laura and I slept in until 10am cause we were quite tired! But we woke up to a lovely cooked Danish weekend breakfast of freshly cooked bread buns (which i am going to miss so much... gonna eat so many in the next 95 days!). We then just chatted, watched tv, contemplaced going into Roskilde but then just decided to stay at home. It was hyggelit to spend time with Laura :) and I had a really really nice day. My host family then drove her to the station so that she could go home and from there we drove to the movies. We saw a Danish film that was actually quite good. It didn't have any english subtiltes for me to follow, but that was okay because i managed to totally follow the movie :) I felt quite proud of myself although it was difficult at some times to understand the danish of a guy who is not from Denmark- i now know how people feel when they listen to my attempts especially in the beginning! It was overall a really nice weekend :) and I had a lot of fun, but little energy come my wake up call on Monday morning! 

I was also relativley busy during the week last week. On Monday night I ate dinner with my first host family at their house. That was really nice to catch up with them and we just talked about life and how much has changed. We joked about how they could get another Australian girl living with them (they have already had two- me and another girl) and I found out on Saturday night that a 15 year old girl is coming to Roskilde next year with my Rotary club. I am not quite sure how to feel about this situation. I suppose reality has hit that my exchange is sadly coming to an end! 

The season change is another reminder that my year is almost over. Just this afternoon actually I took my host famalies dog Mika for a walk around the block and took my camera with me so that I could grab some shots of the season change because the different colours are quite beautiful. Even in Australia I love Autumn, and the leaf changing colours is always beautiful. As I look out the window from the kitchen table, I see the pretty mix of colours- yellow, red and green. It is just beautiful and my walk this afternoon was also beautiful 

How cute is my host famalies dog?! Ahhhh I love her! 

And this is beautiful Denmark in Autumn 

ellers; Det er smukke Danmark i afterår! 

Beautiful colours! 

This week was just a regular week for me at school. Monday was my dreaded long day until kl 16 and I think my whole class was mentally and physically exhausted. Tuesday wasn't too bad as I only had class until 10:30 so I just went home and slept for a few hours which was really nice. Today is Wednesday and today began with a quick skype call home. I wasn't at school today because my class is writing a big Danish History paper and they have the next three days to write it. So, instead of just sitting at home being bored, I decided to ask my teacher if I could maybe participate too and write a paper just like my class. Of course, my limited Danish meant that I didn't have to write the 10 pages that my class has to write, it just meant that I can choose how much I want to write. I decided to write about the Vikings because I am living in the town that used to be the viking centre of Denmark. It was very interesting for me to read up about, although it did take a lot out of me because the text books were ALL in Danish. My topic was on the vikings religion and society and how their religion was reflected in aspects of their society. But it was a fun exercise and I learnt a lot. I finished it today- 700 words and my host mum just edited it for me :) I am quite proud of my efforts considering I just attempted to write an essay in Danish having only been here 8 and a half months!

Anyways, having finished my Danish History assignment I AM OFFICIALLY ON HOLIDAYS (again!) Wooooo hoooo! Yes, Autumn holiday time is now on in Denmark (starting officially Friday) which means that tomorrow i am off to SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can hardly wait! A whole week of sporting activities and realxing and soaking up the Spanish sun (because it may be the last that I see for awhile)
After I come home, it will be nearly November! HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!
Anyways, my plans include

-Tivoli for Halloween (multiple times of course)
-Handball game
-Danish friends 18th Birthday (hejså Krille!) 
-Presentation to English class on the Stolen Generations (anyone wanna help me with that?!)
-Last Get Together for Rotary (what) 

I'm off to pack my bags!
SPAIN HERE I COME! 
See you in two weeks bloggers xxxx

100 dag til bage....

100 days until I have landed in Sydney Airport.
Probably by now I am held up in customs for my trying to smuggle too much of Denmark home with me
I am not sure how to feel about this current situation.

But be sure Denmark, the last 100 days will be my best!