stamina of a viking

I think that this weekend would have had to be one of the busiest, craziest and best weekends of my exchange. To say that I am exhausted is an understatement, but it was so worth it!

On Friday night, I had a hygge night with some of my friends from my class. I ate dinner out with two of my Danish friends at a place called Jensens Bøfhus in Roskilde which is Danish chain restaurant that is quite popular. Being a beef house, I ate beef of course. It was really hyggelit to eat dinner with the girls in my class! Roskilde was also really hyggelit at night, as the christmas decorations have been set up. The lights haven't been turned on yet, but there are little christmas decorations hanging off the lamp posts, similiar to the one in Camden. I am really looking forward to when the lights are turned on!

Anyways after eating dinner we caught the bus back to school (school on a friday night?!) for a thing called Råhygge. This is a special thing in Denmark that we do NOT have in Australia. It was really nice though, and had a chilled atmosphere. There was just some music playing and my class played cards. After, we went into Roskilde. It was a really fun night. 

On Saturday, I went to Holbæk, which is the neighbouring big town to Roskilde to have a hygge night/day with my four Australian girls who I was with on Euro tour. This was the last official time that we would be together. We arrived at around midday, and we ate lunch, reminisced about Euro tour (of course) and talked about what we had been up to lately. It is strange to think that we won't be able to do this next year. We watched a movie, ate junk food, and just had a really chilled afternoon. Lauren and I had a little surprise for the girls though. In the weeks before, we had made a little sash for each of them. We decided that it would be a good idea to award tiltes to the five of us and what we will be remembered for. I was awarded Miss Tivoli, Lauren was Miss Common Sense, Laura was Miss Rural and Kathleen was Miss Selfie. Each award suited us perfectly and there were a lot of laughter and tears when we all sat around opening them. After the movie finished, we all got ready to go out for dinner. We had chosen to eat at Jensens (again) hahaha but it was a really nice night. Kate somehow managed to fall in the water fountain before we even entered the restaurant, so she sat there freezing and pretty soaked. It was a good way to start the night. I think we sat in Jensens talking for three hours, and we even stayed there til almost closing time. It was such a nice dinner! After, we went out in Holbæk, came home and crashed!

MISS TIVOLI! 

The five of us with our sashes 

The opening of our sashes 

The next morning, we had bacon and eggs for breakfast, and then I headed home to Roskilde so that I could get ready for my first official Jule Frokost (christmas lunch) with some of the girls in my class. I carpooled with a girl in my class, and we arrived at around 3 and talked about Friday night, and then waited for the other girls to arrive. We then hoped in the car, drove to Netto (Danish equivlent of woolies) and walked around for a while getting together a few ingredients... But that was kinda an epic fail because we all stood there and were like "who knows how to make this danish christmas food" or "what ingredients do we need". It was rather funny. So we just ended up getting 'christmas pizza' which is just normal pizza with a christmas title so we didnt feel too dumb for not sticking to our traditional christmas theme. There were signs of christmas though. We bought a countdown candle and had that on our table, and made marzipan and nougat christmas confectionary. This is apparently traditional in Denmark, where you make like little animals. We then made pizza, talked and played a danish christmas game called 'pakkelige' where everyone buys some cheap fun gifts, and puts them in the middle... then you roll a dice, and if you get a 6 you get a gift.. then the next round if you get a 6 you get to pick someone elses gift, and if you roll a 3 you have to pass a gift on. Then the final round, all the gifts are open so you can see what you are taking and giving away. It was really fun and I have never played this game before! So the food wasn't traditional but the Danish idea of a christmas hygge sure was. I drove home with a girl in my class, then crashed pretty tired after the weekend!

This week is also pretty booked! Tomorrow I have an early day at school, so Lauren and I have planned to go into Copenhagen to finally buy our souvineers, and then on Wednesday I am off to Berlin with my host family and get back sunday where I have another christmas lunch. 

One things for sure, this busy schedule means that the remaining 48 days are going to fly by! 

oh and ps it snowed last night ;) YAY! 

what am i going to do without remoulade?!

weekend shenanigans

Another weekend has been and gone, December is creeping around the corner, and I now only have 54 days left in Denmark. WHAT! This timeframe is strange and scary... because before I know it is will be Vi ses Danmark og G'day Australia. 

This weekend was a pretty quiet one. It was actually the only weekend that I had free before I went home. Pretty crazy. 

On Friday night, I made some christmas decorations with my host family. These were hand made, and different to the decorations that I am used to in Australia, as they are more hyggelit, and are designed for the cold winter days that surrounds christmas time in Denmark. Actually, it is a little weird to think that christmas is just around the corner, as the weather is everything that I dont associate with christmas. It is cold, dark and rainy.... total opposite to Australia! 

I am really looking forward to experiancing a Danish christmas. Singing the song "let it snow" this year will make sense. I get my first taste of a christmas lunch or 'julefrokost' in Danish on Sunday, with the girls in my class :) I think it will be really fun. There we will play games, and eat traditional danish food. I am really looking forward to it. 

On Saturday, we had a quiet day in, except for a little tour to the summer house which, I was scared for my life for as this tour was not in a car, it was on a motorbike. I wasn't really too keen on this, as I am quite scared of motorbikes, having witnessed many accidents on the highway to Stuarts. So I was basically scared for my life on the back of the motorcycle..... But it was actually fun and I found myself enjoying it. I'm glad I experienced it, and am glad that I made it out alive however I think it will be my last tour on a motorbike!

On Sunday, it was just a quiet day around the house, but in the evening, my host family and I went into Copenhagen to see Stomp the Musical, which was really really cool. It isn't on the same scale as Grease, or Legally Blonde, but Stomp is in its own element. There is no singing, and hardly any talking throughout, it is purely through dance and rhythm that makes these characters and the musical worth seeing. The cast of 9 basically made sounds and music out of every day things... such as plastic bags, rubbish bins, brooms and kitchen sinks. There was a lot of humour throughout and it was a very clever musical- recommend seeing it to anyone who heads over to London's West End. 

Today I am back at school and so I will be for the rest of the week. Nothing really exciting is happening this week, weekday wise.... but On Friday, I am hoping to do something with the girls in my class, on Saturday I am having a day with my four australian best friends as the last time we will all be together and on Sunday I have a christmas lunch with the girls in my class. Booked schedule, but undoubtedly a great weekend and week ahead. 

A-Z of My Exchange

A: is for Autumn leaves because I have never experienced an Autumn so beautiful 
B: is for biking because I bike nearly everywhere now
C: is for cake because Danes love it so much
D: is for darkness because it gets dark at 4:30pm in Winter
E: is for Euro tour because it was the best 18 days of my life 
F: is for frikadeller because they taste so good 
G is for guff because it also tastes so good. similar to the inside of a pavlova that you put on ice cream
H: is for hygge, possibly the most important word in the Danish language  
I: is for ice cream because I ate so much of it during summer
K: is for København because i love the city so much  
L: is for liquorice and liver paste because they are some Danish food that takes a little getting used too
M: is for Mary because she is Australian 
N: is for nik and jay because they are a danish band that i love ;) 
O: is for the size of my mouth when I first saw snow  
P: is for Paradis is the best ice cream in the world 
Q: is for quarantine & Customs because in Europe it doesn't exist 
R: is for rødgrød med fløde and røg brød they are words that I can not sayS: is for snow because I hope that it comes really soon 
T: is for TIVOLI!!!!!! because it is my favourite place in the world
U: is for understanding because I understood nothing when I first arrived
V: is for very…very…VERY cold winter.... I mean I thought 10 degrees was cold! 
W: is for WEEKEND!!!!!! because today is Friday! X: is for x-hausted because sometimes I have nooo energy 
Y: is for youtube because sometimes in maths class it is my best friend 
Z: is for sleep  because I never seem to get enough of it 

made it to the front page of my school website

In history this morning the front page of the school website popped up. Turns out I made the homepage. This photo is taken of me and my fellow ring master from my schools party on Saturday night. Kinda funny as it is not the most flattering photo.... 

For those interested in my schools website to see what its all about, check it out :) http://www.roskildekatedralskole.dk 

humour

This is what I learnt at school today ;) 

For those not up to date with the scandanavian sterotypes, scroll down for my latest blog post!

Goodbyes

It seems that in between AT week, eating sushi, planning a party, attending a party, hygge, danish school and shopping in copenhagen I have fallen behind in my blogging adventures and am lacking a post about one of the most emotional, fun and saddest weekends of my exchange. Yes, Holbæk Get Together has been and gone. It was fun, it was exciting, it was sad and there were tears shed all over the place. My last ever Rotary get together. Where has my year and time gone in Denmark? Speaking of which, today there are exactly 2 months until I am home in Australia. It is now 11:15am in Denmark and I suspect that if we fast forward to this exact time in 2 months, I will be fighting back all the tears, giving my final hugs to the people who have become such an important part of my life. It will be weird not seeing my class everyday, not speaking danish everyday, not just being able to go to copenhagen whenever i want, or even just popping over to Sweden just to go shopping... A little thing called reality hit me at Holbæk when I reluctantly gave my final hugs to all of my exchange student friends from all over the world. For some, it may be the last time that I see them, which is weird to think about because each and every one of them have been an important part of my exchange. So many tears and hugs were shared and the weekend was just perfect. 

It all began on Friday night, with a 30 min car trip to holbæk. I was reunited with all the exchange students in Denmark, some of which i have not seen for 6 months and others that i have never met before (the newbies). There were so many newbies it was insane. The group of oldies isnt so big... there are around 44 of us, so we all know each other. It was so good to see them all again, and i was so happy to be reunited with my aussie girls from Jutland who I dont get to see as much as I would like. The first night consisted of dinner, and a disco with music until some ungodly hour of the morning. I think i went to bed at around 4:30am, and slept on the floor of a school which wasn't the most comftorable thing. But all of the oldies were together so it was so nice to 'hygge' together and be all together for the last time in our exchange.

The next morning everyone woke up a little tired and all nursed sore backs from that darn floor. Our day consisted of a little tour to Holbæk city, where we got to explore a little. Of course being Denmark, it just poured with rain all day, so the 2km walk into the city wasn't as pleasant as it would have been on a summers day. After becoming totally drenched, and purchasing a 30kr umbrella, me along with a group of aussies headed to a cafe to get some caffeen and recharge for what was going to be a very very long night. It was hyggelit to sit in the warm candle lit cafe and just talk about exchange and everything that we have all gotten up to. Catching up with all the beautiful Aussies reminded me how much I am going to miss all of them next year! We didn't really do much in the city, we basically tried to stay out of the rain and bought some supplies for the party. It was a nice tour though and Holbæk is a nice city even in the rain. 

We came back a little soaked and tired, but this did nothing to dampen our spirits! After eating lunch and changing clothes, we had some time to do some fun activities. You could choose from hockey, soccer or making a pumpkin cut out. But as oldies, we decided to make our own little activity and sign everyones flags, write in books and just hygge reminicing about all the wonderful memories we shared together. It is a tradition as an exchange student to have either a flag or a book signed by all of the people who have been important to you thoroughout the year. My danish flag is now covered in beautiful messages that I will have for the rest of my life. I did shed a few tears reading them later... The book however will remain untouched until I am back in Australia and have the emotional capacity to read it without breaking down.

Signing Flags 

Signing 

Aussie Hygge! 

After this little session, we had time to prepare for the Halloween Disco/party. This was a lot of fun, and there were costumes, makeup and texters going all over the place. Every person managed to dress up and some costumes were absoloutley awesome. Now that I think about it, this was actually my first Halloween, where I dressed up to celebrate the occassion. and believe me i will always remember it. My costume was a bunny, which I loaned from my host sister. But not the bunny from mean girls and not the bunny like a try hard with just the ears. This was the full shebang. I had a head, I had feet and of course I had hands. It was a lot of fun and everyone thought my costume was awesome ;)

So, to start the night off we had a formal dinner where every one sat down on round tables and in an ordered fashion went up and got food. It was a really hyggelit dinner and I sat on a table with some Aussie girls who I don't get to see too often.

After the dinner, there were some speeches from Rotarians, and then came the talent show where we were invited to put in some acts. Of course, the South Americans stole the show, so no one really wanted to dance after them.... their cultural dance was amazing, and i have said so many times that if i got the opportunity to do another exchange, I would do Brazil!

So, following the south americans, some americans got up and did a little fun rap, then more south americans danced and sung, then there was an amazing singer accompanied by my friend Beth on guitar, then the New Zeland boys took to the stage and totally blew everyone away with the Haka. It was awesome to see it live! Then.... it was my turn. Here is where the emotion for the night really began. It is a tradition as exchange students to have a farewell video that is shown on the last get together. I volunteered to make it and that was a good idea as it gave me something to do in class! Here is a link if you have 7 spare mins, i reccomend checking it out. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4c4fe-vhYA

This video was a success, and I made many cry. It was so fun to look back on our exchange year, and reflect on how far we have all come as people. I think that all of the people I came with in January 2013 have changed in more ways than one. We are now young adults, ready to dominate the world!

So the talent quest ended with a few tears, but that didn't stop the oldies from having one of the funnest nights of our exchange. There was a disco, with really high music and it had a party atmosphere. We all danced until the ungodly hours of the morning again. A band came along and played some live music, and of course there was a DJ, with coloured lights. It was so fun dancing all night long.

The next morning, everyone woke up tired, exhausted and emotionally drained. The final goodbye came, and songs from our exchange were played which only made us cry even more. I hugged all my beautiful exchange friends for what may be the last time, and wish the all the best with the future. It was a wonderful weekend.

I was picked up on Sunday morning, and slept for an hour when I got home because I was just so exhausted. Then, we celebrated my host dads birthday! It was a lot of fun but a very very very tiring weekend. 

Back to school monday for a week that is called AT. I had a similiar week to this when I first came to Denmark, but this time I actually participated and help (a little) with the final project. My class had this project based in Physics and English (yay for me). It was different to the last one, as it was a lot more pratical and it involved nearly the entire second year. It was based around the idea of making my school more green. My group worked with the idea of solar pannels, and installing them into the school. Obviously there is not a lot of sun in Denmark, so we had to think pratically about this. Our project ended really well and it was a hyggelit week. 

On Wednesday however, we were free from school as in Denmark it was a day where people work and earn money to donate to the children in Africa. The girls in my class however didn't participate and instead used the time to go shopping in Copenhagen. Very dangerous for my already overflowing collection of clothes. We actually went to a place that I have never been before- a place called Fields which is a thumping huge shopping centre! It was so nice to go shopping with them, and I only bought a little..... ;) we ate lunch together and just talked. We went home at about 4pm, and I stayed in Copenhagen to meet one of my Australian friends. The weather wasn't the greatest, and it gets dark now at around 4pm, so we got to see Copenhagen by lights. We stopped in Nyhavn for a coffee, then ventured further down the shopping street (our usual route). We finished the night off with a dinner in the shopping street, before crashing on the way home. It was a very fun day.

On Friday night, I ate dinner with one of my Danish friends and her Australian dad. It was so cool hearing an aussie living in Denmark and we talked about some cultural differences that we had both experianced.

The rest of the week was normal, however the weekend was not as I was at school on both Saturday and Sunday to hold a fete type thing with my class. This was to raise money for their study tour to Malga in Spain, that I will unfortuantley not be here for. It is a tradition for second year students to go some where in Europe, or even New York with their class. The purpose of this, I am not really sure, but I wish that i was there when my class goes. It would be a lot of fun, but I have been asked if i will buy a ticket to Spain from Australia, or even better have there study tour to Australia! Anyway, this  weekend was a thing called study fest, where every class in second year throws a little party for parents, and friends where they have some fun things to raise money. The theme of my class was Circus, so we set up our classroom like a circus. There were lights, coloured dots, bunting- the full thing. So we met early Saturday to set it up for the night. Everyone from my class dressed up like circus folk. There were clowns, dancers and a few ring masters (of which I was one). This was a lot of fun. We had a horse, and a cream throw thing where our history teacher was the one to cop the cream. I can now officially say I have thrown cream at a teacher something that not many people can ;). We ate some dinner and then partied the night away before getting kicked out at 11pm. It was a very very fun night and my friend Laura and her host sister came too.

Sunday, we were back at school cleaning up the mess that we made... it took about 3 hours. I went home, did an english assignment, read harry potter and just had a chill out day (something that I have not had in a very very long time). Then for dinner, we ate duck as it was a special day in Denmark where nearly half of denmark eat duck.. i am not really sure why, denmark has a lot of traditional days like this though. It was cool to experiance 

Today is Monday, and I have 2 peroids of school left... english and biology. Today has been a pretty normal day although I was quite proud of myself as I presented something in Danish to my whole class as part of group work. Never in my wildest dreams would I thought that possible! AND I GOT 7 FOR MY LAST DANISH ASSIGNMENT IN FULL DANISH! WOOOO HOOOOOO! 

Anyways, this week is pretty normal. Just school and hopefully will be sending a package home. On the weekend there are plans to make some christmas decorations and on sunday im seeing Stomp the musical! Should be a good week!

Love to everyone at home

See you in two months

xxx 

little busy bee

And so another week has been and gone, and the time that I have left in Denmark continues to become shorter and shorter. This weekend I think that the realisation that I am soon going home will hit me, as I have my final get together with all the exchange students in Denmark. For some, this may be the last time I see many of them so there will be a lot of tears, and reminiscing about the year that will always be the best year of our lives. But before I become more emotional in this blog post, I better tell you all about my awesome weekend! I apologise, as this blog post will not have many pictures as my mac is in overload with the thousands (no exaggeration) that I have taken in the last year. 

On Friday after finishing my presentation on the stolen generations (which went well) I was on cloud nine and this was heightened by a trip to Tivoli with two of my favourite Aussie girls. Of course i have been to tivoli a lot... and its probably the only thing i talk about in my blog but it is just one of the most magical places in the entire world. As it is now October, Tivoli is decked out with pumpkins, cobwebs and creepy things in honour of HALLOWEEN! It was so beautiful and magical in the lights and ahhhh i just love Tivoli. We took our last rides on so many rides as for christmas they are all closed. We headed home at like 10 30 as the rain and the cold got the better of us. It was a really really hyggelit night and Tivoli was just so magical. There were so so many pumpkins in there as well! I think there were over 1000. It was truly amazing and increased my love for Tivoli so much more

Halloween Tivoli! 

On Saturday morning I didn't get a sleep in as I was up and on a hunting expedition with a lady in my Rotary clubs husband. Hunting is something that I NEVER imagined myself doing... but I thought when in Denmark I may as well just try every opportunity that comes your way. So we went hunting through a beautiful forrest in the neighbouring town to Roskilde. There was a group of hunters who gather once a year and it was really nice to meet all of them. After some coffee and fresh crossants, we were out on our expedition. The weather was nice, and it wasn't too cold. It was a little scary to be there with a group of men holding guns. There was an eery feeling in the forest, as we had to be quiet. There were 3 dogs with us, and I got to hold one of them. They let them off, and they scared off all of the birds in the forest. They shot 3 in the first round. It was a little confronting to see and hear the guns being fired... and of course hear the gun shots of hunters in the next forest over. We moved onto the next part, and two deers were shot. I have never even seen a live deer before so it was a little confronting that my first deer was a dead one. I didn't shoot anything, I just watched and experienced the hunting. I was grateful for this actually! We had a drink break, and headed out again. The forrest was beautiful, and it was nice to walk through all the autumn leaves. We finished the day at around 1pm and the total was 3 deers and 3 birds. A good hunting haul for the day. I had a hyggelit day, although it was a little confronting. I think it was my first and last time hunting. After, we had lunch all together and it was really nice.

After hunting, I came home jumped in the shower and went to one of my Danish friends 18th birthdays! The girls in my class had a 'warm up hygge' before, which was really nice. We got ready together and ate some pizza. I love this about Denmark and danish culture and it is something that I will really miss when I go back to Australia. We played some games and were then ready to go to the party. The party was held in a small hall in Roskilde. It was really hyggelit and I had a lot of fun. I love Danish fests especially 18th ones!!  

On Sunday, I had a day with my host family. My year in Denmark has included a lot of firsts, but one of the most exciting was carving my very first halloween pumpkin! After seeing these in the movies, I have ALWAYS wanted to try but it is not so typical in Australia. In Denmark however it is really popular, as it is so cold and wet outside and the little candle light in the pumpkin head makes everything that much more hyggelit. I made them with my host sister Julia and it was harder than it looked! But it was a lot of fun!

After this, we went into Copenhagen as a family where I got to experiance Danish autumn in the space of a few hours. We drove to a beautiful big park just on the outskirts of Copenhagen. This is the home to the theme park Bakken, which holds the oldest roller coaster in the world. Unfortunately I never got to experience this theme park- but that just gives me another reason to come back to Denmark I suppose ;) The theme park is now closed, but it was cool to see some of the rides... They do look pretty cool. The purpose of this little field trip was to go for the annual Sunday stroll in a beautiful park in Denmark. It was so beautiful with all the autumn colours on the trees, it is so different to the scale of Autumn that we have in Australia! It was so beautiful and I finally saw a live deer! After the walk, (in the rainy weather- love denmark ;) ) we went to Tivoli for a little bit to see Halloween. It was good that I was there on Friday as the weather wasn't the best. We bought some føldeballer and ate dinner with my host sister who lives in Copenhagen.

Autumn in Denmark! 

The rest of the week involved school. On Monday however, we had one of the biggest storms in Danish history. It resembled one in Australia. It was INSANE! There were trees blown over, wild waves ripping up the coast and a little damage to my host famalies summer house. I thought it was very funny though, as being a small country, the storm impacted the whole of Denmark within the space of a few hours. This is just unheard of in Australia as only one specific area is affected. Danes didn't really know how to respond to this wild weather, and the country went into turmoil... The trains stopped working and people couldn't get to work. It was pretty crazy. 

Read about what happened: http://cphpost.dk/national/hurricane-force-storm-crossing-denmark (of course it is in english ;) )