jeg savner Danmark

For dem det kan taler Dansk, og forstå det godt, jeg vil første siger at jeg savner din dejligt land SÅ meget. Min hjærte ligger i Danmark og altid vil (jeg tror at det er ikke helt rigtig, men håber at du vil hvad jeg mener). Danmark er mit andre land, og jeg savner det alt for meget. Det er så mærkligt at jeg kan ikke bare cykle mere, eller ikke bare tage en tur til kph eller spise rugbrød :( jeg savner dansk mad rigtig meget.

Hvis der er nogle fra min søde klasse, 2R, det laser min blog i Englesk timmer... eller mathma, venner altså jeg savner jer så meget! 

Men jeg tror at jeg skal skifte til englesk nu... så mest kan godt forstå hvad jeg skriver. 

So tomorrow officially marks three week since I have left Denmark... yes THREE! That is so scary, time is continuing to fly right before me and I honestly thought that it would slow down since leaving. but it really hasn't. I mean its only a matter of weeks before I am off to begin my university degree! That is kind of scary to think about! But anyway, things are good at home... its nice to be home in a familiar surrounding where not much has changed apart from the car my family own and the place of everything in the kitchen. Sometimes I find myself confused about what language to speak, and often think in Danish and say random words in sentences. I miss speaking it every day... a lot more than I thought I would. 

Another thing I miss is defiantley the weather. It is SO hot in Australia right now. Like in the high thirties most days.. and for a danish adapted weather person it is SO hard to come home and have to adapt to these conditions again. And yes Denmark I am so jealous of your snow right now... It came ONE DAY AFTER I LEFT. I mean seriously. Jeg vil gerne laver snemanden! 

So enjoy it for me! I also miss biking... and have often found myself saying it would just be so much easier if I could bike. I actually went to bike to my friends house today, before turing around after the bike failed... so I resorted to the aussie way of walking. And oh boy do I miss danish food, especially the rye bread- but the lack of potatos in my diet now is doing me the world of good! I also miss all my host famalies, Roskilde and my class... It is so weird just not being able to see them every day... and so hard being on the other side of the world. I really miss that! 

I just miss Denmark in general! And it was so so hard to say goodbye. The last week was a total blur... really. 

On Monday the 6th of January, I went back to school for a normal day. That was nice after the christmas holidays to see everyone again. It was really strange to be back, and think that I would be leaving at the end of the week. Now that I actually speak Danish it just felt like I was a normal student at RKS. I actually really miss gymnasium even though I did little work... maybe that is the part I miss? haha anyway. It was a hyggeligt day with my friends. 

On Tuesday, I didn't go to school because I went into Copenhagen for the last time with my roomie from intro camp, a girl called Jayanna who lives on the other side of Denmark. I don't get to see her very much so it was really nice to catch up and talk about our feelings on leaving. We did all the touristy things in Copenhagen... basically saw the whole city in one day! We started off at Rosenborg Slot which is where the queens jewles are. This castle is SO stunning and I love it so much. We just walked around the castle as we had both been in there before. We then walked through the Kogens Havn which is in my opinion one of the most beautiful parks in Copenhagen. It is STUNNING no matter what the season. This took us to our next stop- the big three; Nyhavn, Mary's Palace and the Little Mermaid. 

We spent AGES at the little mermaid, perfecting our last minuet tourist photos. I have to say that I have become so fond of this little lady. She really is so beautiful and I know its not much of an icon, but she suits Copenhagen perfectly. 

For me, it was probably the most difficult to say goodbye to Nyhavn. This place is home to some of my most favourite memories of exchange throughout every season. I fell in love with the little coloured houses, the cafes, the cannal tours and just the hyggeligt lighting at night. It is such a picturesque spot and I can hardly wait to go back there! 

Being exchange students,  Jayanna and I were SO excited to find out that the queen of Denmark was making a tour around Copenhagen on the royal carriage... So we basically stalked the heck out of any official looking person, until we stumbled across the royal guard of horses. I dont even know how, but somehow we took the biggest short cut ever and cut off about 1km of walking and an hours walking time... If only we had of stumbled upon that earlier on in our exchange! Anyway, we found the royal guard and were so excited because we thought that the queen was there.... but she wasn't we had JUST missed her- damn it! But it wasn't that bad. I mean, we were standing outside Danish parliment building witnessing the Royal guard on their horses all dressed up which only happens once a year so it was pretty special. and great to see especially on our last visit!

Tivoli was shut much to my disappointment, but we did buy our last minuet souviners and make the most of our last stroll along the longest shopping street in Europe.. So sad to say goodbye to this place as well! We ended the day by buying a danish pastry from Laugekage hus- a really REALY nice bakery with the most delicious cakes. Jayanna had a strawberry tart and I had a cinamon scroll which is  a Danish speciality. We then took the train home and as usual, I biked home from the station... 

Wednesday was devoted to packing and stressing over my final Rotary presentation which was that night. My presentation was done in front of my whole rotary club and all of my host famalies were invited and all attended which was so nice. My friend Cecilie from my class was also there, which was so nice and she helped me relax a little. I was allowed to speak for 20 mins and I did this ALL IN DANISH! Okay, so lets be honest... this time last year I thought I would NEVER be able to speak danish let alone speak in front of 50 people in danish!

I was so so nervous, but really happy with the way that things went. I spoke about my experience in Roskilde, travelling, what I had learnt on exchange, all about my class, what I had learnt from each host family and what I am going to do now that I am back home. I also showed a video that I had made about my year in Roskilde.  I got a lot of positive feedback also which I was so happy about! It was actually hard to say goodbye to my Rotary club. They have been so so good to me throughout the year and I was so glad that I was put in that club. They are all so sweet and all showed an interest in my year and what I was doing and how I was progressing with the language. It is strange that I won't ever go to one of their meetings at Hotel Prisden again.. I miss them! 

Thursday was spent at school. Just a regular day. I finished my packing so that I would be free on Friday to say my final goodbyes and to enjoy my last day in Denmark! 

Friday was one of the hardest most emotional days that I have EVER had to deal with in my life (and thats coming from someone who sat the HSC!) I went to school, and saw my Brazilian newbie Fernanda for the last time. We both had free time, so we went over to the supermarket, ate my last actual Danish pastry and talked. It was so nice but so hard to say goodbye to her! Then the goodbyes came in my class... Last lesson with my class was so strange.. It did not feel like it was happening at all!  My class all wanted to see the video that I had made and before putting it on I said a little speech to my class, but kind of failed to find the right words as I just burst into tears... and a lot of my class were crying when I showed my video IT WAS JUST TOO SAD. Then I hugged all of them, said tak for nu and vi ses. Then some of my friends stayed after school because it was Fredags Cafe- which would be my first and final one ever. Fredags cafe are really unique in Denmark. Some Fridays after school, beer is served for the price of just $1! WHAT! It was really nice that this Danish tradition was on my last day. So I stayed for a while, and just enjoyed the company of some of my nearest and dearest Danish friends. I then got home from school and helped my host family set up for a dinner with all of my host famalies and two councilors. This was SUCH a nice evening.. and again strange to say goodbye to them all. We had danish smørbrød with cheese and sat around talking. It was nice to be with all the people in Denmark who had made my year so special. I gave my final hugs then went to sleep in my bed for the last time in Denmark. 

Saturday was a blur. I flew from Copenhagen airport at 2pm.... The space in between that time involved eating Danish bolle for the last time, taking all the stuff out of my room, checking in, praying my baggage wasn't over weight, saying goodbye, crying a lot, a lot more crying and finally getting on the plane for the 23 hour plane trip home... What a day!

The airport was really hard, but a lot harder than I anticipated. I thought back to last year when I fought back the tears saying goodbye to my family at Sydney airport, and realised that it was a completly different thing to be saying goodbye to Denmark and my danish family and friends. because my family in Australia will ALWAYS be there and I was always going to go home back into their loving and caring arms. I know that i WILL go back to Denmark at some point in time (hopefully a year and a half) but I am not certain when i will see the people who have become such an important part of my life again. So fighting back so many years, I said goodbye to my third host family and my first host family who also came which was so so nice. I then had to say goodbye to some of my best danish friends- Karoline, Karoline, Simon, Kristine and Christina. It was so hard to hug them all one last time and I was pratically loud crying going up the elevators waving at their faces savouring those last moments! 

I was greeted by a similiar crowd of emotional aussies in their badge covered blazers, hugged it out and hopped on the plane. I held my breath as we departed and reality really hit... exchange was over. 

So now, I find myself home, missing Denmark a lot, and feeling that I should write one more blog post for old time sake. Rest assured that diaries of a dane will make a return, as I know that I will have many more adventures in Denmark to come in the future. 

Until then, tak for nu og vi ses igen snart