Being New at Old Things

Recently, I have started up some of my old hobbies. Ballet, guitar, singing, etc. I don't know why it took me this long to get back in to doing things I love doing so much. I guess I didn't realise how much I missed them until I started doing them again!

In saying so, that doesn't mean it's easy to just start again straight off the bat. You can't just not dance ballet for eight months, start again and expect everything to go hunky dory. That's just ridiculous. The day after my first class, my calf muscles ached and I walked up and down stairs at snail pace. Not to mention that during the actual  class I struggled to keep up - it's a new syllabus, a different style of ballet, another teacher than the one I have had since I was five, aaaand the list goes on. It wasn't easy, and it still isn't to be honest. It takes some time to get used to things: both physically and mentally.

Yes, now you see where I am going with this.

It's a metaphor for what it was like arriving here because that, too, was sort of like starting something old again. I have lived in foreign countries before, I've been away from home before, I've learned languages and met new people but that doesn't mean I was in the least prepared for anything I have experienced here.

I expected a lot of myself at the beginning, and when I couldn't meet my own expectations I got really frustrated. I wanted to learn Danish so badly, and it seemed so immensely inconvenient to me that my brain wouldn't just be a sponge and soak everything up instantly. I wanted to fit in and make friends so much, but the language barrier makes this a rather difficult task. I really expected myself to be a chameleon, to just adapt and blend in to my surroundings instantly. The fact that I stuck out like a sore thumb a lot of the time bugged me, and I felt like I was letting myself down.

A lot of the exchange students who have just arrived here with the summer intake remind me so much of myself in that sense that they are so desperate to adapt, but it seems impossible to all of them. The thing I have learned is that adapting takes time, a lot of time. When you first arrive here, you want to adapt straight away, but what you don't realize is that that would take all the fun out of it. That IS the essence of the experience of an exchange, the process of getting accustomed to something totally new. Let's say I decide one day I want to be a professional trapeze artist or something. If I could get up on a trapeze and be perfect at it straight away, that takes away the specialness of accomplishing the small goals that you make for yourself along the way. Why would you want to take that out of the equation?

Also, returning home will be like a magnification of starting ballet again. It's not going to be easy. Having to adjust to my old lifestyle is going to be a total shock, and it will take some time, especially after having experienced something so different. What will make it easier for me now is that I know it takes time, I know that I wont instantly revert back to my old self within an instant. I may never return to being my old self. The thought of that once freaked me out, then I was okay with it, and now I think it is a good thing. A really good thing. What is the point of living if you are going to be exactly the same person your whole life?

I'm not even sure what I'm trying to express to you all here, but I guess the essence of it is that just because something is old doesn't mean it can't be made new again.

:)

Lately

Now time for another big catch up! Here we go....

School has well and truly begun now. My life is back to the early mornings, day spent hunched over a desk, and evenings filled with homework. The days seem to go by in a flash! It is scary to think that now I have pretty much three months left here... Time seriously flies. It's scary.

School started on Wednesday two weeks ago, but on the Tuesday beforehand all the new first graders  (we call them putte) at the gymnasium had a day with he school to themselves. It is apparently a tradition that the third and second graders stand outside the main entrance to the school and throw water and bird food at them when they leave school at the end of their first day, so we did that on Tuesday. I must admit it was a pretty pathetic effort, not many people showed up because the weather was lousy PLUS the putte got let out early, so we were caught off guard. 

Afterwards, everyone went to Lunden. Oh Lunden. The drama you have caused. Lunden is a classic example of Danish youth culture. It is a piece of grass about two minutes walk from the school that is right outside a supermarket. On Friday afternoons (and sometimes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday too) most of the students from our gymnasium flock over to it. We buy cases of cold beer or cider and sit on the grass soaking up the sunshine for a few hours before we go home. It sounds nice, I know. However, some students recently have taken Lunden a bit too far... It began with drinking games: some of which involve running in circles in combination with drinking, some which involve hitting an upright beer bottle with a shoe. Too complicated to explain. In short, a small group of students were considerably sloshed, went in to the supermarket and did some things that got us into some serious trouble. 

Peeing in the changing rooms. Throwing up in the staff bathrooms. Opening a jar of hair gel, using it, then putting it back again. The list goes on, you get my point. So, obviously the school is coming down hard on Lunden right now. Luckily, Autumn has just begun so the weather no longer really permits it to be a good time. I have a feeling this week may be the last week in Lunden, for me anyway. Friday afternoon drinks are not really my thing...

3.A (my class) at Lunden

After the first week of school I took off to a place called Kalundborg. 

The red cross on the left is Kalundborg, and the red cross on the right in where I live. There was a music festival on on Kalundborg, and my host dad's dad lives there, so I was invited up for the weekend to go the festival and go for a horse trek! My host grandfather has five children, the oldest of which is Thomas (my host Dad) and the youngest of which is Liv. She is seventeen, but my host aunty. Cool! She has just come back form an exchange to Englang, so we had a lot to talk about. I spent the weekend with her listening to all the bands and meeting all her friends. The music was great! My favourite was this guy called Rasmus Seebach, but I also really liked another guy, Mads Langer. I'd heard some of their music before, so I guess it helped being able to sing along. There was also this really weird act on the last night that was this weird techno music and crazy costumes and then all of a sudden there was a dude playing bagpipes...

So that was that. Seriously weird combination. On the Sunday, we went horseriding. Liv has her own her, her dad has one, and her mum has one! I rode a delightful Icelandic horse whose name I can unfortunately not remember. I think it was Sunny. He was very sweet anyhow :) In spite of the rain we set out for an hour long ride which involved some moments of trotting pretty fast. I'm not exactly a professional horse-rider so I had sore legs the day after... The last time I rode a horse was when I was twelve I think. Dad had given me a four hour trek with him as a Christmas present, and I got given the most EVIL horse in existence. It sort of scared me off. But it was nice to try something different - you can certainly not horse ride in the city anyway.

The following Friday night I went to Tivoli with my host family. Tivoli is this huge theme park right by the central station. Every Friday throughout the summer the put on concerts, and last week was Mads Langer, the guy whose music I quite likes at the Kalundborg festival. It was my immediate host family + mormor, morfar, mormor's brother, his wife, and their daughter. We went out for dinner beforehand and then milled around before the concert started. There was a ridiculous amount of people. You almost couldn't see anything through the sea of sardines, and the music quality was pretty bad too, but Mads Langer was there, and we heard him (again)!

The next day, I went in to Copenhagen with Molly from New Zealand (an exchange student, not to be confused with Molly my dog) to see the Gay Pride Parade. Words cannot express the madness.

This guy was pretty normal. There was one dude I saw who was completely naked. Like, no clothes AT ALL. I considered taking a photo with him, but then when I thought about having to show it to people I realized it might not be such a good idea... Not everyone would appreciate his nudeness. Copenhagen was so vibrant and full of life, it was insane. I must say it was a bit overwhelming - all the costumes, music, alcohol and madness - but it was certainly an entertaining day.

Last night, I went to a friend's 18th Birthday. There is another one next weekend, plus a school party the weekend after that, and then off to Paris for a school trip the week after that, So I guess you could say things are getting a bit busy!

Another update coming soon. Over and out :)

Molly

Molly, our Golden Retriever, is probably one of the things I am going to miss the most. It's weird, but she's just ALWAYS there and always happy to see me. Some of her habits include:

-Morning and afternoon walks
-She eats grass
-She whimpers and twitches in her sleep
-Whenever we sit down to eat, she has to go outside
-She never barks, but scratches at the door when she wants to come in
-If you are home alone she sits outside your door and watches you
-If you are patting her and then stop she will stare at you and shove her head into your lap until you start again
-She malts like crazy

And many more. Here is a taste of her life.

The preceding image serves as a warning that this post is going to be an absolute MONSTER. Since the last time I properly wrote ( didn't just add a link to a video ) I have been on soooo many adventures. So here we go.

I think it must have been the 14th of July when it all began. A one and a half hour drive to a place called Marielyst in Nykobing Falster, the summerhouse area in the southernmost island of Denmark. Caroline's best friend Frida and her family were down there and we had been invited to stay for a night. It isn't actually a summerhouse either - well it is but that's not how they tend to use it. Frida's Dad is an actor and most years he performs in something called a "Review" - a series of skits and scenes that sort of summarize the years' political, sporting , and cultural achievements/failures in a hilarious, piss-taking sarcastic way typical of the Danes. The 'Review' is performed every Tuesday-Saturday from June until August I think, so Frida's Dad Henrik actually LIVES in the summer house for two/three months.

The house was right next to a fabulous beach which we walked along to get ice cream. There were waves and sand and wind and it was a lot like a beach at home, really. Marielyst is also kind of like The Mount of Denmark. In the summer time all the 'buffies' and Jersey shore types arrive in their fancy cars, drink like fish, cause absolute havoc and disappear with the sun in late August some time. Weird thing is, they are nocturnal. During the day it's all German tourists, then at night time the party begins. Or at least so I heard.

We only stayed one night there, but Simon ( host brother ) and Vigo ( Frida's little brother ) insisted on going for a run as Simon was really keen on staying in top form for when soccer started back. An hour and a half later, they still weren't back. That was a stressful morning. Anyway, they came back eventually and we went to see Møns Klint - a chalk cliff about an hours drive away. We had to walk down four hundred steps to get to the bottom. We stood in awe, then walked back UP four hundred steps again.... Unfortunately at this stage my camera was buried deep in my bag so I got NO photos but I took a peice of chalk with me, and the lovely google image can supply an image to go with:

The same day, we continued to drive on to Sønderjylland where some family friends were borrowing a relatives house whilst they were away. To get there I think we drove through almost every major island Denmark has...  Sønderjylland is a region in the Southern part of Jutland next to the German border, and it is rather different from the rest of Denmark in a variety of ways. It actually used to belong to the Germans, so parts of the German culture have crept their way in to the area. They also have a very special accent down there - a mixture of German and Danish sort of. The other thing about it is that they speak VERY slowly. This leads a lot of Danes to think they are slow in the head, but they aren't, just more relaxed. I can also see how it would be good to live there as an exchange student - everyone talks so slowly that it is easier to understand the language in a weird kind of way! It is a part of the country rich with history too - some of which we saw when we went on a bike ride around. Canons, an old port etc. There was a museum but it was hideously expensive and apparently underwhelming so we skipped that and got ice cream instead!

We stayed there for two nights, then drove on to Berlin. I saw drove on like a casual thing but it actually took about 6-7 hours. There were road works on the highway so we had to drive via Hamburg. One thing about German motorways - there is no speed limit. It freaked me out. I swear everyone in Germany has either a Porsche or an Audi that they drive at like, 300km an hour. Now I wont say too much about Berlin, as most of it is said in the video. I will, however add some pictures.

It is a strange feeling to see places that you have seen it history films. Places where you have seen Hitler giving a speech on an old black and white tape, where you have seen Nazi soldiers marching in old movies. It's weird and kind of unreal. In the second photo we are standing by a large chunk of the wall that had been preserved. At one stage, I walked past a photo which showed three dead bodies which had been strung up to the wall. The photo was displayed in front of the exact same part of the wall where those bodies had been. It was a really grounding thing to see. 

Another interesting thing about Berlin is that despite the wall coming down, there is still a separation between West and East, however it's much more atmospheric. It was much like when I was in Vietnam a few years ago. The state of division no longer exists in an official sense, but a division of a certain kind cannot be broken - it is retained by the people, the ambience, the buildings, even the smell of places sometimes. Especially in a place like Berlin where the separation existed for so long, it is a little as if people forgot how to be unified as a whole city again. It's definitely not a negative thing, just quirky. It was also boiling hot and I do not understand a word of German.

SO. It took us TEN hours to get home this time because the traffic was so thick. Awesome. Also - on the way there we stopped off at the border shop. It is technically in Germany but everyone who shops there is Danish. It is MEGA cheap and you can get bulk loads of fizzy drink, chocolate, lollies and stuff for SUPER cheap prices. We were glad we did it on the way there rather than we way back. That way we had sugary snacks for the car ride (yum) and didn't drag our journey out longer than it already was.

We got home at around eight, had dinner, slept, then got into the car the next morning and went to the summer house in Nykobing Sjælland. Yesssss.

Days and days of this. Perfectly blue sky, sun, beach, and nothing but free time. Only problem being we spotted a fair few nasty jellyfish in the water sometimes. The beach by the summerhouse is a rock beach - different to what I'm used to at home. The benefit of it was that you don't get sand in your bikini, towel, hair, food, sunscreen etc. etc. and in that sense it was LOVELY to have a rock beach.

Next stop: Bornholm. Again. If you read my blog all the time then you will have read a post in April about this place. I went for a mini-stay with AFS when it was FREEZING cold over there. In summer it is a totally different place! We stayed in a summerhouse there with some family friends and their kids. It was such a nice week - a good balance of good and bad weather, relaxing yet no too relaxing so it gets boring, and entertaining all at the same time.


We did most of the same stuff I did during that week, and a few more things in addition. We went to a glass blowing place where I helped Cecilie ( one of the family friends' kids ) to make a name plate for her hamster out of little bits of glass. We stuck them onto a big piece of glass which was then heated over night so they all melted together and it looked fabulous! I also jumped off a cliff and zip-lined over a lake. That was really really fun! There is a video, but it is incompatible with my computer for some reason. Will try get it up somewhere - it does exist!

I kind of thought about it afterwards as a metaphor for my exchange. Like, you walk up a big hill and get to the top of a cliff. You are scared, but you have come all this way and you have to jump now. That's what it felt like leaving home. The jump is scary, because you don't want to fall, but then you feel that the ropes have got you and you start to take in everything around you and you get a whole new view from the one you had at the top of the cliff. Then, BOOM, you land in the water with a shock. You are back where you started but you have seen and done something new and you have a new found courage. Cheesy I know but whatever.

We drove straight over the bridge from Sweden and I was immediately dropped off to AFS summer camp - I didn't get a chance to come home before. It was a fun and enlightening weekend. There were over 150 new students who had just arrived, plus the ones who came in winter. It was so interesting to see everyone going through the exact same thing we all did at the beginning - the weird combination of excitement, nervousness, sadness anticipation. Like every emotion at once. It was also the first time I had seen everyone from the winter intake since the first camp ( pretty much ). Seeing how much everyone has adapted and developed was interesting. Some definitely more than others - everyone has had totally different experiences and it has really impacted how we approached/will approach the year.

School starts again next week. I am looking forward to a bit of routine again but I know I will regret saying it in three weeks and wish I had holidays again! My Danish has improved leaps and bounds over the holidays I think, so I am excited at the prospect of seeing how much more school work I can do. After camp I have a whole new set of goals to fulfil so let's see what the remaining months will bring!

:)

Berlin

Click here  to see a video Caroline (best host sister ever) made of our trip to Berlin! :)

Catching Up

I have gotten so lazy. This:

.... my mantra in regards to this blog lately.

I think it has been a little over two weeks since I last wrote something. Since then, I have:

Been to the dentist. I freaked out coz I though I was getting a wisdom tooth and my mouth really hurt so I went to the dentist, he looked in my mouth, took some photos and no wisdom tooth! This was of course good news but also bad news considering AFS doesn't pay for dental care and I had just spent a significant sum of money for a dentist to tell me I was fine. But I'm fine guys all good.

Week before last, the weather was absolutely dreadful and I was feeling kind of depressed because it was supposed to be summer. However, I

Roskilde started the day after our schools 3rd graders graduated. They do this thing here where all the students graduating from the last year of gymnasium drive around in these big ass vans (like party busses). The day starts with the graduation ceremony, during which all the 2nd graders com and decorate the van of the corresponding 3rd grade class ( I am in 2a, so we decorated 3a's bus). Ours was, of course, the last to arrive so i was a bit of a rush to get it done. Looked pretty fab though!

In addition, 3a gave us ten beer trays with 24 beers in each... so like 240 beers. We have them standing in the office (where my host mum works) waiting for us when we start back after summer haha!


ALSO the number of exchange students in the country has significantly lessened. Everyone who came in August last year has now gone home :( Although it was sad to see them all go, all of them had homes to go back to and mixed feelings about it all: excited to go home again but distraught at leaving their new lives behind and starting 'real' life again. Now, we are only three left in our local chapter until a whole heap of new students come again in August. Our chapter is getting five new students from a variety of countries, and I am excited to meet them all and be a 'senior' eheheh.

It was also midsummers day a couple of weeks ago, celebrated in Denmark as Sankt Hans Aften. It's a bit like Guy Fawkes, we had a massive bonfire in the field out the back of our house with a witch on it. Not a real witch one made of out a broom and some clothes stuffed with straw.

I was very happy that I was NOT one of the hundreds of thousands that went to Roskilde Festival. The weather was... dreadful for a large duration of it. Still, I'm sure the music was great and the partying was fun and I hope all who went had a good time.

Last week, the lovely Emily Sceats was in Copenhagen! Emily and I went to the same schools our whole lives, primary to high school. We always knew each other, but never really KNEW each other until we went to Vietnam together on a history trip in year 12. We were room buddies, got along really well, and still do :) I spent a few days last week showing her around the city, all the tourist attractions and shops and everything. I don't think I have talked to someone so much since I got here - I just about lost my voice! She has been travelling around Europe and was on her way to London after visiting me. We are both young people on exciting European adventures, hers a little different from mine of course in the sense that she is travelling, not living somewhere permanently so we had a lot to talk about.

We also got a pool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok it's a paddling pool but who cares. Same same. It is just perfect for those hot days when you are lying in the sun and need a cool down. Stine, Caroline and I also went to the beach just today. It was a  beach pretty close to the city and was remarkably similar to Mission Bay actually. Only differences being that there was a surf lifeguard set up ( haha there was no surf whatsoever I do not understand ) and instead of the North Shore and Rangitoto making up the view, it was Sweden. Weird.

Asides from that, there have been a couple of trips in to town, resulting in late night/early morning arrivals home, and lots of fun. The video below (which I hope works) is of my favourite busker. He stand there with a cow beanie on his head and plays the recorder, but he can't play the recorder so he just toots the same note over and over. I love him <3

I am leaving on a variety of travels next week and will try to keep this reasonably up to date but I can't promise anything!

Knus og krams herfra :) Meg

Lately - My Life in Videos

I have recently discovered that I can take videos with the camera on my phone! Call me technologically retarded but I seriously didn't realize. You press the button that has the camera icon on it twice and it turns to video! So cool! Hence, the following post contains a few videos of what's been going on in my life lately.

AFS has a rule that if an exchange student decides not to do all their exams, said exchange student must do some volunteer work. Others have been helping out in kindergartens, ice cream shops, technology firms, and other interesting things. I have been working in the book depot at my school. You know? The place where you take all your textbooks at the end of the year? Don't get me wrong, I like it, but it's not as riveting as I would have liked. My contact person said she had contacts at this really fancy deli where exchange students had volunteered before and she'd try getme in but we never heard back from her... So there I was... Doing this... For four hours every day for the last week or so.

What's great about it is the people. They are all so chilled and easy to get along with, and it has helped me to see how much progress I have made both in terms of my Danish and how and my people skills. Not being able to communicate so well for so long really sets you up. Now that I can communicate, I cant stop! :) It's also nice to feel useful again. I'm not going to lie I spend a lot of my time in school just playing Subway Surf or Fruit Ninja because school work had a tendency to defeat me or go right over my head. With this un-paid job, I'm DOING something. Otherwise I would be sitting in the sun reading, which is of course lovely but can make you feel both sunburned and lonely if you do it all day every day. Almost all the employees are also students at the school - more friendly faces!

Today was my last day there actually. I made a cake for everyone to say thanks :) I also got a present from Michael, the boss guy. It was a book - appropriate seeing as I was working in a book depot - however it was a VERY interesting book. Turns out that Michael, unbeknownst to all of us who work there, has been writing poetry since 1999. He published it all on the internet under a pseudonym and got a whole lot of great feedback, so he came forward and published HUNDREDS of poems in a book, which he gave me a copy of. Talk about hidden talent...

There was also never ending fruit and coffee in the staff room which I could help myself too. I shall miss that :'(

Because all my Danish friends have been having exams and tests and stress stress stress, I have been spending a lot of time with exchange students. In the last week I have been to the beach, to a picnic, to a concert, and to dinner all with other exchange students. AFS says its important not to spend all your time with other AFSers but its better than being alone, right? Besides, as I said everyone else is busy studying. Here is a video from a concert we went to on Friday night.

Bad video. But it was pretty bad music too not gonna lie. It was this song by a guy called Pharphar and the lyrics translate to "I Feel Like Rolling You." Hideously inappropriate considering the amount of children at the park. It was a free concert though, so.....

Last Saturday, my host aunt came home from a year in England. She is actually younger than me - 17. Thomas' (my host dad's) dad has been married three times and has had five kids and she is the youngest. She was such a sweet girl! It was interesting to meet someone coming HOME from an exchange year as oppose to me - halfway through it. She was really down to earth and open about everything, and her family was SO glad to have her back!

Another exchange student arrangement this Monday too - AFS Copenhagen North ( my local chapter) were invited for dinner at Mook's place. She is from Thailand and is soon to change families so she wanted to host something before the big move. Pretty much EVERYONE is changing families. Some people have had one family until now, are having one for the summer, and ANOTHER one when school starts again. I just cannot imagine it. It would be so stressful having to constantly adapt to new households. I am so comfortable with my family now and, honestly, I am starting to get a weird feeling. I don't want to go home. It's not that I don't miss home, because I do sometimes, but it represents reality. Well, it doesn't represent it, it IS reality. Coming home is an inevitability and it's only just hitting me now. Rather than coming home, why don't ll the people I miss come here? Anyway I'll stop with the melancholic spiel.

We left Mook's house really late and had to wait aaaaages for the train. Nek minnit running down an upwards escalator.

Yep. So, now I have a proposition to make. I don't actually know who reads these posts, but if you do please leave a comment saying what you'd like a video of. I like this whole video thing it saves writing time....

a) A tour around Værløse
b) A day in the life of Molly (the dog)
c) Me talking Danish about something (say what) with subtitles in English

VOTE PEOPLE. If there are people....

:) :)