Denmark

Notes of things not to do once in America again.

2009-07-03T05:02:00.002+02:00

1) Don't try to stop the jet lag... just sleep

2) Whatever you do, don't pig out... you will die

3) Same as above... note, Taco Bell does not digest.

4) Taco Bell is not even that great

5) Ouch... Taco bell is hurting me sooo bad right now

6) I'm going to bed

Coming home

2009-06-21T15:05:00.002+02:00

Yeah, I guess this will be my last post. I am going to be home pretty soon and I'm really tired of blogging! I mean, I always feel like I am just talking to myself.

Well it has been a very long year, but short at the same time. Life moves pretty darn fast when you don't grasp every second, and I didn't grasp every second here.

So,

Farvel.

2009-06-10T09:26:00.000+02:00

Hi, I'm still alive.

Love you guys.

Bubye

Back in the Swing of things

2009-05-28T18:22:00.002+02:00

I am now back in the swing of life after a wonderful trip to Berlin. I am happy to say I am still alive and well. My second date never did happen because she had to go visit her friend in the hospital the next night. I am relieved that we have talked since then and she says that her friend is okay.

In Berlin I saw tons of stuff. I travelled with Tove, Gustov (contact adults) and their 3 daughters and boyfriends of those daughters. It was very fun and we relaxed and soaked up the wonderful sun, which we still do not get in Denmark.

In the picture above you see me with the just a few of the folks we hung out with. Danish people will never change...
We did do our fair share of tourism. We walked everywhere all over Berlin. This is me at checkpoint charlie and it cost 2 euros to get my picture with these two random strangers, but I guess it was worth it. Unfortunately Gustov is not the best photographer and most the photos of me are full body and really far away looking.
Artists at work. I think this really represents Berlin and Europe really well. In Europe is where the first real graffiti started with throw ups. I am pretty sure this was legal though as he was pretty well set up and it was day time. You can find graffiti all over Berlin.
These are the gates in Berlin and there are two sides. At these gates there were lots of big concerts, two while we were there. I think it represents Berlin because there are these types of statues everywhere.
This statue was given from Denmark to Berlin... I think. I should look that up I guess.

Well, in a way of saying it, I had a really good time in Berlin and would recommend Berlin over Amsterdam any day of the week. There is no way you could see it all in even a month. There is way way too much to see. I have another 200 pictures and movies of this trip.

Randomness to report

2009-05-20T12:17:00.003+02:00

I am currently in Berlin, but because I have not downloaded the pictures to my computer yet I will not write about Berlin really. What I will write about however is a girl I met in Berlin. Ah, yes, a very kind red head. We stayed up, not by choice really, until 4:30am sitting by the river and drinking some drinks. The reason we stayed up so late was because trains stop running at about 2 and start again at 4:30, so we missed the last train, but it is not such a bad thing. We walked from the river back to my house and we stayed there until the train would come.

The lesson I learned from this, not all blind dates are bad. Plus I will have good stories to tell of the german that I went on a date with in Berlin :) Nothing spectacular happened, but it was very nice.

You know a date went well when you hug at the train station before she leaves while saying that you will see each other again soon. Then walk away with a huge grin on your face. Then before falling asleep that night writing an email to her letting her know that it was a good night and all. Truly it was very relaxing :) I will see her again.

Amsterdam

2009-05-13T15:10:00.005+02:00

Early this year I decided that there was no way I should go home without first partying in Amsterdam for a while. Plans fell through many times, but alas, I knew I would eventually make it. I travelled with my oldest host brother, Ivan.

I travelled by train for about 13 hours, starting the journey around 8pm, and luckily getting a nice ca

bin in the train to sleep in. Six people sleep in each cabin so space is cramped. I was very very sore upon wakening and actually throughout the whole trip my arms were hurting really badly. But we got there ok, without getting lost, and found ourselves a nice little hotel.

This is what our street looked like. In both directions there where numorus shops with all types of colorful items inside :S Also there were lots of cheap restaurants and coffee shops (the Dutch type) all around. It was really an experience that I don't think I will soon forget. This picture was taken out of our window.

We did many things in Amsterdam during our short 3 day trip. This included seeing the Van Gogh Museum and the Anne Frank house. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and took many boat rides through the canals.

Overall the trip was a success and nobody was killed nor injured except for my leg which took a beating from the paddle boat that we rented. Not much of a story behind that. If you guys have any questions please feel free to write a comment. I know that I have not posted in a long time. I will post again soon.

I Want You

2009-04-27T09:42:00.002+02:00

I'm cracking up over this and want to write it down.

I'm sitting in biology class watching a video and the teacher walks up... so I pause the video. He hands me a work sheet and says, "I want you..." I wait for a few seconds waiting for the rest of the sentence. I assumed he would say "...to work with" or "...to work on", but no, that was all he said before saying it's a Bob Dylan song.

... Ok???

Then I just laughed because... like seriously, what was that about. haahahahaha^^

fun stuff

Hair cut for Gallafest

2009-04-25T14:04:00.002+02:00

Granted this video really doesn't have anything fun in it... but I figure some day down the road I might want to watch it.

Today

2009-04-23T23:41:00.002+02:00

I woke up

I showered

I went to language school from 8-1:15

I went home, stopping by school to talk to Ulrik

I made pasta

I worked out

I showered again

I played video games

I walked to Anne Mangles house

I went to an AFS meeting

I came home

I ate 2 rolls

I typed this blog

I fell asleep

Such is my average day

AT again

2009-04-21T11:35:00.002+02:00

So, we have AT again. It is very difficult for me to do AT because it is a synapsis on a particular subject and I don't know how to write a synapsis, especially a danish one. So I have been spending all of my time in "the tower of knowledge" as I call it. I have been researching the Spanish Civil War durning 1936-1939.

More on "the tower of knowledge". It is a large glass box with two stories in the middle of our school, the only second floor on our whole school. Inside there are free printers and copying machines as well as quite a few laptops out on the tables... about 30. The nice thing is that it is amazingly quite inside and you can look down on students as they pass on either side. Since my school doesn't really have hallways you can see almost the whole school from inside. Fun fun!

Yesterday I put my hand down on a plant that attacked me... it wasn't nor is it now very nice feeling. I feel now like my hand is asleep and i have little red dots all over it. Yesterday it burned and itched sooo bad that I had to fall asleep to ignore it. I asked my friends right after it happened and they said that it was not deadly, so I hope that it goes away soon and I can go back to normal life.

Today I have piano which I am not looking forward to. I have no way to practice because so often the only piano I can use has a class using it or other students or it is locked up. All of those things are really annoying.

welp, back to class for a bit

Our Electric Lawnmower +++

2009-04-18T17:43:00.002+02:00

First off, I'm tired of all my posts having to be memorable adventures. I don't do that much that stands out for me anymore. Here is what is on my plate, and how I think of things here.

I have to do a paper for sprogskole on libraries in denmark. Only one page should be good enough.

I just sent a package home including stuff I don't need and college forms so I can get those to B-W now.

I need to practice bassoon after dinner, right after dinner and not put it off until it's too late.

I have decided not to join Uffe and the guys at Beerfest this year. Sorry but 300kr. entry fee is a bit steep even if we do have open bar. Plus I have no team, and might not know very many people there.

Then I can go to sleep, probably around... 2 am.

Today so far has been really nice. We ate outside in the back yard on a picnic table we own. Boris is gone, and I don't really know where, but I have been gone for the last 3 days at Uffe's house sleeping on the couch.

I noticed today that our lawn mower was powered with a cable plugged in. All I can think is how many times I would run over that cable and electrocute myself if I mowed. I am not sure if it is good or bad, just an observation that I had never even thought of.

Well, goodbye

2009-04-11T18:00:00.001+02:00

I want to... before I leave... visit some of the surrounding countries. Including Germany and The Netherlands. I would love to see Paris also.

I am working on it.

Kyle

School

2009-04-09T15:09:00.003+02:00

Danish schools are totally different from American schools. I think however that Americans get a more rounded education while Danish people learn what they want to learn and what they need to get a job. I find that the expectations for a danish student are a lot lower, not that they will not reach a lot higher, but if they want to drop out of school it is ok as long as they get a job.

One thing I like about the Danish education system is that you are responsible for your own life. You have a schedule which gives you free time where you are expected to study. More work is done out of school then in school. I will admit that high school in the US does not get that difficult and you don't have to work at home very much, but if you are doing all the work they require here, you will be doing a lot more.

I like our way of grades better though. I think it is important to have incentive for getting homework done. Here if you don't do it you can get away with it because you don't have to turn anything in.

That my answer to Dad's question. Any other questions just post them.

Galla Fest

2009-04-05T13:54:00.003+02:00

Sidste fredag vi havde Galla Fest. Det er "Prom" i Vejen Gymnasium. Vi spiste meget mad og vi drikke meget også. Vi også dans men, dans ikke så meget. Det var en rigtigt godt aften og nat. Jeg var hjem igen klokken 6.

One of the reasons the night did not go so well though is because somebody I did not know died on her moped earlier in the evening. Everyone was very sad and they cancelled the music and everyone went home, except for some people who went to town. I also went to town and hung out with my friends.

-note: the order of the pictures are in reverse, the night went:

1)Arrive and watch seniors arrive in their floats, cars, and other things.

2)Drink and socialize

3)Eat dinner

4)Watch the dance/dance.

5)Go to town

The dance performed by the students is a four part danced. We rehearsed for about a month learning how to all dance at the same time. First everyone watched the 3rd years dance and clapped and had a great time. Next many others from the other years joined in the same dance.

Uffe and Claus were my partners in crime for the night. After eating and realizing the night was not going so well because of the death we decided to go back to Uffe's house before hitting the town.
This is what the first coarse of the meal looked like. It was a nice first coarse but the service for the buffet was slow and food ran out for about 10 minutes. Each table had a theme and our class chose Mexican... although Victor, the Mexican exchange student in our class, did not show up for the party.
Finally, me. I am proud to say that I did everything on my own preparing for the dance. I picked out what I would wear, found a tie and jacket, and even cut my own hair, all before the dance. People did notice and told me that I looked good. I was proud of myself for that.

I hope to hear some responses from everyone! I also want some questions you guys might have on Denmark. Don't let me down guys.

Kyle

Class trip to København

2009-03-27T22:55:00.003+01:00

Hej igen folks!

I will write in english because it is late and I have a lot to say.

My class went to Copenhagen for our class trip this year. It is not as big as most the classes who travel all over Europe, but it will do. There are a lot of things that we did on the trip.

On the first day we arrived in the morning and checked into the hostel. After that we walked around for a while and looked at the buildings. Then we went to the government building where we saw a meeting the government was holding(equal to our president). While we were inside it started snowing. The night was free to do whatever we wanted to in the city, so it was a late night full of parties. I did some karaoke in a bar, it was funny.

My Class

(they followed me, I was just climbing the fountain)

The second day was almost horrible. We walked around the whole morning with a tour guide who talked (in danish) about the different historical buildings. It was freezing cold and everyone was tired from the night before. After the tour we went to the (work museum). It was also extremely boring and all in danish.

This is a pretty nice building, you should have seen the garden on the other side!

That night we ate together at an all you can eat buffet. It was pretty nice and I was very full. Then we walked to the theater where we all saw Phantom of the Opera (in danish). It was very good! Very very very good! The set was amazing and I was surprised at how many different places they used as a stage. Fog machines made the stage into the river. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling and had the ability to fall onto the stage. People fell through trap doors, lights came up through trap doors. The phantom came down on the ceiling ornaments. The last scene was the most amazing though. It literally turned into a magic act on stage where the phantom put a cover over himself and when the girl came to him and pulled off the cover which was right after he put it on, he was gone... I have no idea how that happened at all. They also shot real fire on stage. AMAZING. That night I decided to get to bed early and was asleep by midnight I think.

The last day we walked more. We went to a pre-history museum. It was pretty good and I got some good pictures there. After that we walked around and relaxed until we had to catch the train home. It was a very nice trip. I am glad that it was short though, because I need my sleep and my showers. Did I mention the hostel had 2 showers for the whole floor and no hot water... I literally could not get into the water.

That's all I have for now folks.

2009-03-22T19:22:00.000+01:00

Jeg skal til København på tirsdag med min klass. Jeg ved det ikke hvad vi skal ser.

New Video

2009-03-17T17:51:00.001+01:00

Min Ven Jonas Bonde *LOLZ

2009-03-12T14:59:00.002+01:00

Hej allesammen!!!

Jeg har fået mange venner. En af mine venner hedder Jonas. Han bor i Vejen. Jeg kender ham fordi at jeg går på gymnasiet med ham. Vi hører det samme musik. Vi hører secondhand serenade. Vi har været til fest sammen og han drikker ligesom alle mine andre venner. Vi har ikke time sammen, kun idræt og biologi.

Google translate will not translate that how I want you guys to read it. ^^ I will translate it properly now below.

Hej all!!!

I have many friends. One of my friends is named Jonas. He lives in Vejen. I know him because I go to the gymnasium with him. We listen to the same music. We listen to Secondhand Serenade. We have benn to parties together and he drinks alongside all my other friends. We don't have the same classes, only Gym (sports) and biology.

Solskinsdag!

2009-03-11T15:45:00.002+01:00

I dag, jeg er rigtig glade. In Vejen og Askov vi har sol, det er rigtig varm, og træerne er grøn. Jeg åben min vindue og har frisk luft i min værelse. Det er meget rar.

Også jeg stadig har sprogskole. Det er også awsome. Jeg kan lære meget godt dansk i sprogskole fordi vi snakker kun dansk i klass for mange timer. Jeg læse min dansk bog og jeg skrive på min projektmappe. Men jeg er stadig ikke så godt på dansk fordi gramatik er svært og stavning er også svært.

Bowling!

2009-03-08T22:01:00.003+01:00

Min venner og mig kører at bowling lanes i Brørup i dag. Det var rigtig dejlig. Vi spiller for måske en timer. I går vi har en fest og vi går til byen og CC's. CC's er Connect Club. Det er rigtig rar nu fordi de rengøres og har mange nyt ting.

Også!!! Jeg ved det ikke... men tak for så mange svar på min sidste indlæg!

Det er fra The Man Party.

Jeg har hår!!!!

Tak for pakke!

2009-03-05T14:39:00.002+01:00

Hej Darcy,

Jeg modtaget den pakke du sendte mig. Tusinde Tak!!! Jeg elsker Swedish Fish og vi har dem ikke herover. Underligt fordi vi er ved siden af sverige. Jeg tror pakken havde en rigtig hård tur, det er beskadiget, men mange swedish fish er stadig i live. ^^ Også tak for Montgomery Inn Sauce. Det er rigtig godt!

Nu...

Jeg havde sprogskole i dag. Det or ok, men mange mange timer. Jeg er meget bedre på dansk! Vi ses snart!

Kyle - while - was- a - bear

Last english post.

2009-03-03T10:59:00.003+01:00

From now on I hope to only speak danish... no english at all, for the next few months. This means less Skype calls, less facebook messages, and less everything. This is the only way I will get any language from this year. Here is the link I will provide for you to translate with. http://translate.google.com/translate_t# here you can copy and paste, or just enter my web link and translate from Danish to English. This is how I have been living for the last 7 months of my life, so deal with it.

Jeg skal nu gå til sprogskole om onsdagen, torsdagen, og fredagen klokken 8 til 2. Det er rigtig godt for mig at lære dansk i sprogskole, tror jeg. Måske det er fordi jeg stadig snakker sååååå lidt dansk og jeg har mange problemer med det. Jeg snakker mere dansk end spansk! Men jeg har 2 spansk klasser og en dansk. Så jeg dumper spansk for hårdt. FOR SATAN!

Når jeg kommer hjem håber jeg at flyve til Canada. Jeg drømmer om Canada fordi det stadig er mit favorit sted i verden. Jeg elsker at slappe af og drikke soda og grape soda.

Det er så sjovt at tænke på at du læser alt mit dansk.

Nå men, du kan fortælle mig hvad du gerne vil høre fra mig.

Din lille hund,

Kyle

You know you are Danish when...

2009-02-25T13:17:00.002+01:00

I thought this was extremely funny and true when I read this post by another exchange student. I am now forwarding it on to you. This is the real Danish way.

You know you are Danish when

... you drink more beer than any other beverages.

... you plan to have one of your friends hang out after school one week in advance.

... you say "tak" (thanks) after doing anything -- ANYthing

... you speak english when you are drunk

... you style your hair (guys) or spray-tan yourself until you're orange (girls/guys)

... you're going to be a doctor or a scientist as a backup career.

... you often ride a bike as your mode of daily transportation in lieu of a car.

... you're excellent at soccer even if you "don't play it."

... you tuck your pants into your socks.

... you go to church only on a few occasions because those occasions come with massive parties.

... you sleep with a pillow that has fewer feathers than a pigeon.

... you eat a bowl of Corn Flakes or grains for breakfast EVERY morning.

... you have a "summer house" less than an hour's drive away.

... you don't even know that your school has exchange students.

... you're working on "a big report for school" (They're always doing this... Always.)

... you look forward to the weekend because it'll give you more time to do homework.

... you drink coffee as a way to relax.

... you have an intricate understanding of American politics, even though you can't locate California.

... you shower in school.

... you hate "Nick og Jay" but listen to their music anyway.

... you have a weekend hangover that lasts all week.

This is the basic understanding of how Danes act, and what they say. This does not always mean that they do homework on weekends or all the time, but it is what they would say if you asked to hang out the same day. Most things are planned way in advance.

VI SES

Ki-El

Parties Parties Parties

2009-02-23T14:28:00.003+01:00

3 Fridays in a row we have had parties, unfortunally I have not brought my camera to any of them. After searching facebook I found these photos posted by people of the some of the better costumes at the party.

At this party I think I was a russian bird hunter, but I really don't know what I looked like at the party because there were no recorded pictures of me. I wore a really big green coat with fur lined edges and a hat made out of feather ruff I guess. It worked for the most part.

The two guys dressed in red and black where the guys I went to the party with. I think their costumes where some of the best because they made all the parts themselves... and it took them a long time including cutting off Uffe's hair.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I can't believe this kid cut his hair like this. He is one of my friends at school, and I think he would do anything to fit in more.

This is a great movie really... although they don't look too much like them.

To lighten things up.

2009-02-23T10:52:00.001+01:00

I hope that these pictures lighten up my blog a bit. Animals are funny

4 months

2009-02-19T15:41:00.002+01:00

I have decided that now is the best time to really think what are a few things I would regret no doing throughout my stay. There are an unlimited amount of things I have not done yet, but I will highlight my to do list as of now.

1)I need to visit Legoland when it reopens. This is one of the most important things because it is one of the more famous things within Danmark and I would not feel complete without seeing it.

2)Go to a professional soccer game. It is important that I embrace European sports. This means I really need to see and feel what it is about to go see soccer.

3)Make ribs and sophies potatoes for the Fugløs. I have been meaning to do this all year and it has not happened yet.

4)I have planned a trip with Ivan over the last few months. I would really like to tour through Europe before going home in the summer. This has a lot of complications and I might have to drop out of AFS in order to do this. AFS is who told me that I should drop out of AFS to do this.

5)I would very much like to have a birthday party. I want to rent out a club or bar and just have a ton of friends come and have a good time. (Note that I need to talk with family about my birthday regarding presents)

6)I want to be in a little bit better shape. I have a friend who likes to jog and I have handball, so I guess I should try harder and see where it gets me.

7)I am in the process and would like to follow through with going to language school during the week days instead of gymnasium. I have been pushing my AFS contact about it because she wanted to talk to my school teachers about it and I don't think that it matters to them too much, I still don't understand classes anyway.

Anyway, I was going to make 10 goals, but those are enough for now. I really hope that all those things get done. I have not really taken advantage of my stay here in many ways. Of coarse I would like to become a Profit on Bassoon... but other then that, this is my year in Europe and unless I move back here to live I need to see as much as I can.

Hey again

2009-02-15T23:17:00.001+01:00

I'm just proud to say I am now tracking everyone with my flag counter to see where people are from who are browsing my blog. Happy reading everyone

JEG HADER MIN CYCLE

2009-02-15T19:27:00.003+01:00

I hate my bike.

Everything about my bike screams at me to take a large hammer and make it flat on the ground. Every two days or so since I have been here there has been something wrong with it. Following the discovery of what is wrong with it, it can take up to a week to fix, I guess that is a mix between laziness and frustration. My bike is my life here, and if I do not have it I do not leave the house, purely because it takes too long to go anywhere without it.

Current problem with my bike:

The pedal and the crank shaft on the pedal system fell apart... which means the bike will go to the shop until new pedals and gears are put on. Most people do not have this type of problem, in fact, I think that this bike has to be the worst constructed thing on earth. The handle bars are to far back so I can not ride it without hands, the gears have been falling apart since day one, the chain is getting rusty(my fault I guess), and I have had 7 flat tires. Good God, I can't take it anymore.

A little info on Danish names.

Danish names are funny things that look like American names only they sound like you are choking when you say them.

Søren (I can't describe the Ø sound, its like a really short u deep in your throat)

Mads (Mess)

Anne (Anna)

Frederick Alberto Rasmussen Sousa de Almeida (I just grunt when I say Frederick (Frelick))

Basic rules to saying words.

D's sound like L's when in the end of a word

All words are shortened when said

Half of all Danish words are English or spelled the same

Never try to say a word like it would be said in English

Basic rules in school

Always be prepared to answer a question with opinion.

Racism is allowed, but will start a heated argument between social classes whether Muslims should be allowed to be in Denmark.

Cussing strengthens your argument at times, but is commonly used when making a joke.

Make sure you remember your power cord for you PC, if you forget it you will be out of power by the time you need to use your computer for class.

Teachers will throw you out of the classroom.

If you miss too many days of class then the headmaster will threaten you with taking away the money the government pays you to go to school.

Don't drink alcohol during classes.

Basic rules in the most houses

Take off your shoes in all houses in the front entrance.

Dinner is a family meal and is only to be missed with prior permission.

You eat all the food you take

Showers are to be short.

Basic rules in my house

Same as above plus:

Keep doors closed and lights off in rooms not being used.

TV is turned off when you walk away.

Sound is not liked when too loud.

Each night there is family time where it is recommended to attend (pray, eat a dessert, drink schnapps, drink coffee)

No bed time, but you are responsible for getting up in the morning and attending class, skipping will result in getting yelled at.

Church on Sundays is recommended.

That's all I got for now. I know you folks don't like to hear about alcohol in my posts, but it is a very important part of Danish traditions.

2009-02-11T15:06:00.000+01:00

I don't know what to say people. Hjælp mig skrive!

Winter Holiday

2009-02-07T11:22:00.004+01:00

Once again I enter winter holiday. That is right folks, I get to have another. This one, unlike Christmas, is only one week long. We have only had one true snow this year where I built the snowman shown in the image to the left. He is a very good snowman though and he still lives right outside my window although he only is a base.

Back to winter holiday chat. I have not decided quite yet what to do with my time. Most people including my brother Boris have all taken leave to go out on skiing trips all week long in a few different countries, unfortunately I did not hear about these trips and so I am one of the few people remaining at home. I think I will practice bassoon all week as there is nothing else I can do.

I have however gone ice skating, as I am not sure I have mentioned yet. I basically taught other AFS students how to skate and I am very bad at it now. Here when they mention going ice skating it means outside. I have not seen an ice hockey rink nor have I heard of a club or team. The ice is never zambonied and it is very difficult to skate on, to the point where I almost fell. I plan on going again soon though.

Now I am afraid I must return to my first viewing of Sweeney Todd. I must say that I is looking pretty good so far although the rate at which the movie is loading is quite slow. I strongly suggest renting it if you like the darker and richer types of pictures like Edward Scissorhands.

Superbowl Night

2009-02-02T14:52:00.002+01:00

Superbowl kick off was at 12:30 at night.

After a long weekend of AFS camp in a small town I don't know the name of, I came home with Jennifer Moore to watch the superbowl. Steelers vs Cardinals, definitely I rooted for the Steelers which was a good choice because with 22 seconds left on the clock in the 4th quarter their fate had been decided as a victory.

The game ended at about 4:15 in the morning with school starting in 3 hours.

I did not attend, and got in a little trouble for that because it was my choice to stay up that late and I was told that I needed to go to school by mor.

Can people tell that I am getting really bad at writing english??? Because I really feel like this is a challenge to write and my spelling is really really bad now.

Thank you Darcy for the package I picked up today!!! I love the new shirt and coat! I also love candy.

Well, thats just what I have been doing, nothing to big really. I will go to this week of school and hopefully I won't die, because it is a really difficult week and we meet every day except friday at 7 55 which is ssooooo early it feels.

-Vi Ses min venner!

Fun Stuff I Do

2009-01-23T17:20:00.003+01:00

Music I have made

Life in Denmark... is like life at home but friends live to far away to visit so instead we just throw lots of parties all the time.

Life in Denmark... is slow and relaxing

Life in Denmark... costs a lot because it is quality over quantity

Yep

Life in Denmark... different

2nd Half of mini-stay

2009-01-20T09:22:00.002+01:00

I really liked my stay with the Korsgaard family. We had many many laughs together and I liked they way they live. It was not painfully hard to say goodbye, but that is because I will probably go back at some point in time... yes, I love that family that much.

Friday I went to work with Flemming who was the Father in the family. He is a partial owner of a company that works on building houses and other things. While I was working I built 2 windows for a house as well as going with another guy to a zinc dipping place for dipping an old ladder into zinc to make it new looking. It was a fun day and I got to reapply some of the work that I use in Canada and New Orleans.

One of the best parts of the stay was having breakfast saturday morning. Mathias and myself sat down to have a very large breakfast in front of the TV. I enjoyed this very much as we had bacon, eggs, and toast. I had butter and cinnamon sugar on my toast, just like when I was a little kid!

AFS also planned a day in Køpenhavn (Copenhagen) which was a lot of fun. The best part was going ice skating in the square. The skates where very dull and the ice choppy, but it was still a lot of fun to get out on the ice, and it was outside too! I must admit... it was very very cold.

First half of my Mini-Stay

2009-01-15T15:41:00.002+01:00

What is a mini-stay you might be asking yourself.

A mini-stay is where another family on another region of Denmark chooses to take you as a member of their family for a week and you learn different way of living. This is a very helpful way to experience more during the exchange. Everyone gets to do this although the dates are different for everyone.

I am half way through my mini-stay with the Korsgaard Family. They are very nice people and have a lot in common with our family, meaning the Shriver/Foster family. I like that they are very interested and seem to like the USA. My temporary "mor" is a flight attendant and travels all over the world and loves picking up food... maybe, I made up the food part, but when I got here they had a large container of Jif peanut butter, chunky. I love Jif, and I have had quite a few sandwiches.

I went to school with both of my temporary siblings so far. It was a lot of fun today to go with Amanda where I saw what a lower level school is like, 9th grade. I talked with a lot of the students and also got to teach a lesson for another class instead of going to German class. Mathias's class was also good but it is more what I am used to here. I didn't talk with any of the kids in his class, thats what happens when people get older I think.

We have big plans for the weekend which I am excited for. Possibly going to a movie theater or swimming pool. I am also going to København ( dansk (danish for danish) for Copenhagen)! I will post again before I leave. There is also a Miami Hockey game airing live online at 11pm my time on Saturday which I am really excited for. I am so happy here! Whoo Hoo! They are really really nice!!!

Love you all,

Especially you Java(post me sometime dogg)

Peace

2009-01-10T17:08:00.002+01:00

It is hard to sum up a trip that lasted that long. It was full of a lot of fun happy times but a few sad times also. Never the less it was a really good trip.

I visited my real family that lives there and am so happy that I got to see some familiar faces. Mike was just great to hang out with. We saw the whole city together. We also went to Windsor Castle together which was a blast! I loved listening to the history of it.

The saddest part was never having the feeling of christmas. I never felt the excitement or rush of christmas day. It all past very fast and I don't really remember what happened on that day. I think we ate and I know we sat around the christmas tree. Our tree was very small.

New years was exciting but I was surprised on how little the crowd shouted when it struck 12. The dull roar of the crowed really just stayed at the same volume although loud it was not too much screaming except for Boris, Ivan, and myself. Despite there being no ball drop, it was a fun New Years eve.

We got to visit a battleship near the end of our trip. It was a lot of fun and enjoyable although it was sooooo cold the whole day. It was cold everyday, but this day seemed colder then the rest. It was fun because they had a audio player that you could listen to, the same as at Windsor Castle. I enjoyed sitting and watching the history of the ship and hearing what sailors had to say about life on a ship.

We also made it to the London Zoo. Poor creatures must have been freezing. I was freezing at least. Cinci Zoo rocks during the summer compared to this zoo, but in the winter this one keeps animals and birds out. I don't know which I like better.

I was happy we all got christmas poppers at the restaurant we ate at, although I was the only one who wanted to wear the hat and people popped them at random times. Christmas sure was different, I miss our christmas.

I think my favorite thing by far was going to the Dominian Theater and watching We Will Rock You the musical. It was great and I love watching live performances. I knew all the queen songs they sang so I sung along and at the end it gave me that uplifting feeling deep inside. I was glad we got to go see that show. The actors were really good also.

To end our trip we went to Cornwall to visit Far's family. There is not much to say about it really. We went. But while we where there I saw some very inspirational sites. We went to Land's End. This is the furthest west you can go on the continent or something like that. I was dark by the end but I really got a few good pictures.

That was christmas in London. Any questions just write in my comments section and I'll be sure to respond to them.

Christmas and More

2008-12-21T19:55:00.002+01:00

Sorry about the last post being so incorrect in grammar. I really used to be bad at spelling and grammar and trust me this year is not helping.

I opened my presents today. Thank you to Deb and Merle for the wonderful calendar as well as the card. I really liked the pictures in it, but can't talk about it because others can't know the secrets the calendar contains.

Also thank you Mom, Dad, and Cam for all the wonderful stuff. The head phones are great and will stay on while I ride my bike. And the Jiff low fat peanut butter will be very nice on the home made bread here. I am very thankful for skittles as always, and the oreos. Those were both from Java.

I am aware there are still more packages coming my way. That you soooo much for everything to make my christmas nice.

I am going to London in two days, but will post more about it later on. I know that I am staying for 9 nights in London and will hope to visit family while there.

Can someone say SPISE!

2008-12-18T21:02:00.002+01:00

Today I made my first ever meal... complete.

Although it is a summer meal I thought ribs with sophies potatoes and a fruit salad would hit the spot. Thus the long process of making the ingredients started. Thats right, I had to make the things it said to mix. I made french onion dip as well as cream of chicken for the potatoes. I made Montgomery in sauce for the ribs.

Everything was finished, and the house smelled so good. I was amazed at what I tasted though. The meal was perfect. The potatoes were delicious and everybody thought so. The ribs tasted just like at home, and were cheaper in cost too!!! A lot!!! All together I learned a lot. I feel now more confident that I can do something write.

For more info on the meal, please visit me at my web site, or email me a kas8970@gmail.com

Tak

P.S. I don't have a web site.

2008-12-16T13:58:00.002+01:00

The Christmas Count Down 9-days

I am back, although I have not really been away.

I really miss violin music.

Way back when I was a really little kid up until a few years ago, life was always full of violin music. It seems like Cam was always practicing. Other then that there was also Papaw who played with Cam. It was always soooo boring to listen to it, but it is not the intensive listening that I miss. I miss the fact that even when not noticing it, violin music reached out to me. I think that music can do that to anyone, if they just accept it. I miss the music.

I am thankful for parties.

Parties are something very new in my life, and if taken responsibly can really improve ones social status. I have had the good, bad, and ugly of parties now, and I believe that it will prepare me to make wise decisions into the future. College, here I come, but I come with more knowledge then the other freshmen!

2008-12-13T22:29:00.002+01:00

Christmas Fest... lots of fun!

2008-12-13T20:37:00.002+01:00

The December Count Down 12-days

As Christmas quickly approaches I find myself really thinking about what people want. Never before has it been so difficult to think of things, and with the addition of 6 more people to think about, it makes it even more difficult. I find myself looking at candy as an easy way out, but I really do not know what they want. I have not given them a list, as they have not asked me what I want, but in return I have no lists from any of them. For all I know they are not expecting any presents out of me at all. This challenge is added to the difficulty of finding things DANISH enough to be sent home. Everything here seems to be about USA. Shirts are all in english and stuff like that.

That was just a short rant for the day on shopping. I hope everyone reading this is having very good luck with their own shopping.

2008-12-12T16:06:00.001+01:00

A little danish, a little english, and a lot of layers of your favorite instruments!

2008-12-11T11:53:00.003+01:00

The Christmas Countdown 14-days

I really miss family sharing.

This might not make sense so I will explain a bit more about what I mean. At home if I am going out during the winter I would take a pair of gloves which the family owns, a hat maybe personal but wearable by anyone, a scarf which would be dads, and maybe even Cam's big rubber boots if I am shoveling snow. Here we don't have an overflow of supplies which can be shared. I have my pair of gloves which I don't expect anybody to use, and then everyone else has their pair of gloves. Also this goes with such things as borrowing a cell phone, which would never happen no matter what the circumstances other then for a single call or text. People have possession of things within the house to a greater degree.

I am thankful for having a new cell phone.

After my cell phone died last week I was afraid I would have to go out and spend 2000 kroner on a new phone, but as it was I got to borrow a brand new one from far. This one is in much better condition and I will take more care of it then the last one which seemed like it was used for 3 or 4 years before me. I can now arrange plans while on the train or the bus and a cell phone makes me a lot more comfortable going somewhere. If I get lost without my cell phone, then I have problems that will happen, but now that I have my cell phone things will go back to normal.

Also. Soon is coming a great new song to all of you. It will be in danish and recorded with guitar, vocals, bassoon, and piano... I hope. Wish me luck! Hope to post that video soon. (I read what I just wrote, and I will leave it as is, I think it shows how my english is changing. HAHA)

2008-12-10T10:59:00.002+01:00

The December Count Down 15-days

I really miss having a bath tub.

Strange as it might seem I used to take a lot of baths where I could relax and read or even sometimes watch a movie. Now I only have a shower. There is very little wrong with the shower, but I never feel very comfortable while taking showers here. Sometimes I just wait until gym class to take a shower, but most the time I take a quick 5 to 8 minute shower in the morning before going to school. My shower time is no longer really for comfort as much as pure hygiene and thats no fun. That is why I miss my shower and bath tub, not to mention bath beads. haha

I am thankful for my guitar here.

I do not know what I would be doing with all my time if I did not have a guitar right now. I record and play songs all the time. Sometimes I think it annoys the family, but for the most part it makes my life a lot more interesting. I have become the master of social online projects like blogtv, facebook, myspace, and this blogger. It seems like no matter what social network people are in they can find me. Aim, Msn, Skype, but not yahoo for me. I have slowly navigated away from talking about it, but I am really glad for my guitar here.

2008-12-08T22:33:00.002+01:00

The December Count Down 17-days

I really miss the feel of my bed.

It might not be the biggest deal in the world, but my bed here is short and small compared to at home. In some ways I like my bed here, but it is always a reality when nothing feels better then sleeping in your own bed. I imagine the feeling of the first day home will feel really really nice. Sinking back into my own scent and feel. I also really hope that in college I don't have to sleep on plastic. That will be bad... but has nothing to do with Denmark! Så!

I am thankful for Boris. HAHA

Boris and myself get along really well. He has never acted annoyed by me and it really is comforting knowing that we have no hard feelings against each other. We do not hang out very often, but what brothers do? But the fact that he exists and can help me out if I need it is really nice. Brothers are nice.

2008-12-07T19:34:00.002+01:00

The December Count Down 18-days

sorry for not posting yesterday... long day of practice

I really miss familiar birds.

One of the first things that I discovered when I arrived is that I had never heard these bird calls ever before. It was kind of a shock when I thought about it. The American Robin was no longer a common, or even known, bird. I miss falling asleep to the crickets and waking to the birds. I only see crows here. The crows are huge about 4 times the size of our crows and their beaks are also that much bigger. I was actually afraid of them. No worries though, they seem more afraid of me then I am of them.

I am thankful for hot drinks.

Here it seems like each day begins and ends with hot drinks, including many hot drinks in between. I have begun drinking coffee because I thought it would be good to mix it up between coffee and hot chocolate. The oddest thing is that the tastes of things no longer bother me at all. I can change the taste of something in my head if I don't like it to pull out a taste within that I do like. That is how I started liking coffee. Coffee is also easier to make then hot coco because we own a coffee maker that you only have to press go and in 20 seconds its in your cup. Yay!!! Warm things are good.

2008-12-07T17:36:00.002+01:00

Is christmas blogging really worth this pain...

My fingers hurt

2008-12-05T18:09:00.001+01:00

Christmas is coming soon!

2008-12-05T11:49:00.003+01:00

The December Count Down 20-days

I really miss a valid shipping address.

How often when you are shopping online do you discover that the product can not be sent to your location. For most people this is almost never. Unfortunately it is not the same here in Denmark. It has become extremely difficult to shop online. When I shop I almost always find that it ships to USA only and if it is European sometimes it still does not ship to Denmark. In order to shop for products shipped to Denmark it is required that you enter the information in danish. This is a problem for my lack of danish vocabulary.

I am thankful for Min Først Jul.

Although I have had lots of christmas seasons, this is my first "Jul", which is danish for christmas. What I mean when I say this, is that I am happy that I will see a different tradition. We eat out on christmas day and have a small tree that is growing in the back yard that we will pack in a suitcase. This is so different, but I feel a lot better now that the christmas decor is coming out of the attic. I watched mor og far make christmas cookies and I enjoyed the smell and feelings it brought. This christmas will be an experience of a lifetime, something new, and something to be thankful for.

2008-12-04T23:18:00.003+01:00

The December Count Down 21-days

I really miss cars.

It is strange how large an impact cars have on my life. I never really thought of the comfort a car can give to somebody. Especially now that winter is here, I really miss getting in a car and having a little heat and protection from the harsh wind. Instead of traveling by car I travel on my bike. It has some pretty big problems as far as being a main method of transportation, including the fact that it seems I get a lot of flat tires. On the plus side it seems I get a lot more exercise by riding a bike everywhere. It makes me savour getting in a car, bus, or train. I also love getting on a bus and sitting in the comfortable seats as I travel. Remember this the next time you get in your car, it is a luxury.

I am thankful for Remoulade!!!

Remoulade is the 2nd most wonderful condiment in the whole wide world only to be topped by ketchup. I could put it on almost everything and surely will miss it when I return home. I will find a place in the US to buy it. It has a taste of its own and can fit into almost any meal.

2008-12-03T20:03:00.001+01:00

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-03T17:06:00.003+01:00

The December Count Down 22-days

Each day I will post one thing I miss from home and one thing that I am very thankful for here.

I really miss Grandma and Grandpa's house.

It is funny how sometimes certain smells can suddenly send you into a whirlwind away from reality. I went to a house the other day and it smelled exactly like Grandma's house. It was exciting and fun to think quickly about all the fun things there house holds in my memory. Easter egg hunts, especially when we were younger and there where a lot of us searching for eggs. Birthdays, and the most wonderful smell of sophies potatoes cooking in the oven. All the way back to pretending I was a cowboy or Indian riding on the horse as fast as I could while listening to Grandpa's record and picturing the movie Dances with Wolves. These are all great memories from their house, but my favorite memory about the house is every year at christmas. All the stockings, the food, and of course the people. Church the night before, and always a little party afterwards. How can life get any better then at those times when everyone is there.

I am thankful for handball.

It is great when you can begin a sport when you are a bit older. I might not be the best on the team, in fact I think I am the worst, but it is great to go out and play. Handball gives my nights a little more impact. Handball gives me some time to stop thinking and just receive instructions on what to do. It is easier to be told what to do then to think of what to do on your own, and trust me, I do a lot of thinking of what to do. If nothing else, I have learned to play a new game and am a little more physically fit because of it.

Thanksgiving i Danmark

2008-11-27T08:10:00.002+01:00

Here in Denmark there is no thanksgiving. So I ran around telling everybody to spread the word, we are thankful for. Now that it is actually thanksgiving day, I can report on the last week of my personal festivities.

Ten people from around the world gathered last sunday at Jennifer Moores house to embark on a voyage. They knew upon arrival that they could not turn back before trying all the typical american thanksgiving food, and I can assure you that there was a lot. 8 danes and 2 Americans were to eat: 24lbs of turkey, tons of mashed potatoes, home made stuffing, green bean casserole, "grandma's" spinach artichoke casserole, gravy, and last but not least, the cranberry sauce. Desert was served with pumpkin pie and chocolate bourbon pecan pie.

To make the holiday more like home we played christmas music lightly in the background, bearly audible over the holiday commotion. We found a football game... American football- and watched it, although it was not a very exciting game and I had to go home before the half time. It was lots of fun though.

Today we have an AFS meeting. This is another reason we had thanksgiving on Sunday and not today. We have to present differences between our countries and Denmark. I am focusing on transportation. Wish me luck this fine... but rainy... thanksgiving!

I am sorry for not having any pictures... I did take a lot, but I am unable to upload them because the internet is sooooo slow. So I suggest once again returning to Jennifer's blog if you want to see pictures from that day. I will try to upload some soon.

2008-11-20T10:35:00.003+01:00

We are a little under a month from Christmas and I am very excited. I got an email from my host parents explaining what we are doing this christmas on a day to day and hour by hour itinerary. If that tells anything about my host parents, they didn't come to me and explain it, just sent an email from one room to the next.

On December 23 Boris, Ivan, Tove, Kathja and her kids, and myself leave for London. Mor and Far leave the day before, and I don't know why we are leaving the next day, but that is what I have been told.

On December 24 we are eating at Covent Garden Grill. I think we are going to St. James Paddington church... if I translated it correctly, on the 25th and we are also going to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Overall I'm confused and trying to translate you guys on the exact things I am doing, while in reality I have no clue if I will be doing all this.

December 26 looks like we are going to zoo or something.

December 27 completely confuses me. At 19:30 we will attend "We Will Rock You". I don't know what that is at all, but I guess I will know once that I am there.

I am pretty sure we leave on the 31st of December. I hope to be writting a blog before that, and during, and after. :)

I am thinking of all of you this Christmas Season and wish I could spend this time at home by the fire and looking out across the snowy lawn. Maybe it will snow in London at Christmas time... a white Christmas would... be great.

2008-11-19T13:02:00.006+01:00

Welcome to the basics of Danish Geography 101. I will attempt to show you where I live and the cool places to go in case you are coming to visit Denmark. These pictures were taken from Google maps as a screen shot, so you can in fact go to google maps and see closer to my exact location.

In the picture we have the whole country of Denmark. Capitol city is København which is to the far right in the picture. You can also see Århus, one of the more popular cities for site seeing. I enjoyed my time in Århus and must say they have a great are museum. I think the museum is all modern art.

The country is divided into 3 different regions. Jylland is the peninsula where I live and is the largest, but not most populated, region. Fyn is the island which contain Odense. I go there once a week to study music at the Odense music hall. There is also Sjælland which is home to København. I am not sure what all these things are called in english other then København being Copenhagen, and Jylland being Jutland.

Then there is a closer picture here above. If you look very close to the center of Jylland you will se Vejen. This is the city closest to where I live. The exact town that I live in is Askov, and is pronounced Ask-ow. It is a long journey to go to Esbjerg or Kolding, and is typically taken by train on weekends.

Simple Editing

2008-11-18T08:31:00.003+01:00

I have very exciting news... which is really only exciting because now I can post a lot easier without my blog screwing up. I changed some settings and now I can write text next to the pictures. Perhaps you didn't know my ongoing struggle with writing text next to pictures... but trust me it has been very very annoying.

ALSO!!! I now have a stat counter which gives me the IP address of each computer which views my blog as well as the number of times you view. After entering the IP into the proper websites I can track down where the computer is located and using my brain discover who is actually viewing my site. That is correct... I am watching you.

As everyone is aware, or at least I am very aware, Christmas is very soon. I hope you guys all know that I think quite often of everyone back home and that nobody has been forgotten. I think of my family, and that includes everyone in the family. Especially when it comes to thinking of the christmas season and the smell and feel back home. I think of my friends and how you guys have probably forgotten all about me... how you guys won't post on this blog because you guys don't read it. I even think of my teachers, especially Ms Shahin. I don't know if you ever read any of the emails I sent you Ms Shahin, but you are now featured in my blog. Thanks guys, and if you have enough time please leave a comment by pressing the small comment link right below this post. Thank.

PS - I also think of all the new friends I have. I strongly suggest you check out these links Francine St. Laurent & Jennifer Moore. These are two other AFS students from USA in Denmark. Note that they don't come from Ohio, or at all the same background as me. Francine comes from Alaska and Jennifer.... comes from where ever, her family has moved while she has been away.

Good ole' fashion party!

2008-11-14T19:57:00.000+01:00

I thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures of todays café and post them for you to see what my fridays are like. In this particular friday Hanibal, the group in my school in charge of parties, rented a mechanical bull. It was a lot of fun to ride it and watch others ride it. My best time was 22.3 seconds... but it was very difficult to stay on really. I had the record for a small amount of time.

I hope you enjoy my short video. I also recorded the music, without layers, in class. This is a really rough cut, but we don't have the time to record a good version.

Handball

2008-11-12T12:26:00.000+01:00

I will attempt to explain a few things about handball in this next post. If you are completely confused on why I am posting about handball, it is because I am on two different handball teams here in Vejen. I play on a community team filled with great players, mostly above the age of 20. I also play on the school team. This just started for me and it seems like I am playing a lot now. I hope to improve soon because so far I have not been very good at shooting or passing... making me... worthless.

I will begin by explaining the ball. The ball looks like a soccer ball, but is much smaller, maybe the size of a kids soccer ball. It also is sewn together the same way. It is filled until hard with air but stays very light. The key difference between this ball and all other balls is the sap. Before you play, you apply sticky sap to your fingers and palm, this makes it so that when the ball hits your hand, it sticks. It does have some issues though. The sap tends to make the ball difficult to pass accurately. It sticks to your hand and makes it release towards the ground. The sap also is so strong that it pulls up your skin and creates blisters. All mine have healed now!

Each team has one goalie, a center person (who plays at the 7m line) , and 5 other players(who pass around the 9m line). The team on defense stays around the 7m line and usually play man to man defense while the offensive team tries to throw the ball into the net. The limit it the dark 6m line. You can not touch the ball within that area, thus when shooting you jump over the line and throw it before you touch the ground. Sounds easy eh, well... it's not. The defense is basically allowed to tackle you if you have the ball. Typically the offense pass the ball around and cross over while the center picks people to open a hole for the shot. This is the basic set up.

That was a very basic set up for explaining handball. To tell the truth, there are not many rules. Just run and pass and find an opening in the defense to run in and shoot. It is a lot like basketball though. You have to dribble, but can not double dribble. If somebody is running at you, you have to keep your feet planted and are not allowed to tie them up. Other then that, jump high and throw hard. It is fun, and will keep me in very good shape. Practice is once a week for the school for a few hours. It is also twice a week at night for the community team. I hope you could understand my explanation.

Ses, Kyle

Ja Tak

2008-11-10T21:26:00.000+01:00

I will video blog a little more in this blog. The video is just me showing some more pictures I have taken while here.

I also would to talk a little about all the suggestions I got from people who read my blog. Thanks a lot guys and gals!

Danish Teachers and Class Discussion

I think I have talked a little about this earlier in my blog but I will revisit the classroom. Being a teacher here in Denmark would be a rough job. I have a few teachers and for english and one of my spanish classes I have the same teacher. The teachers job is almost the same as at home, meaning they teach the class the materials given to them by the school. Many differences are present though. Teachers do not hold the power of giving detentions. If you are bad they will tell you to leave class. I have not seen anybody do the wrong thing though, other then a kid who drank a beer in class and the teacher gave him a look, but thats about all.

I do not have a favorite teacher, and I don't really talk to most of my teachers. I talk to my English/Spanish teacher every once and a while. Teachers also do not have their own rooms, so finding a teacher can be very difficult, and they can go home whenever they want, including during class, so it can be difficult to contact them about class. I have a teacher who every class writes five questions on the board and then leaves for an hour and comes backs and lets us leave.

I think school is easier here then at home, although it is really hard to tell. I try to do my work but it is very very difficult to translate and then do the work. Right now my favorite class is Biology... not because I know the material well, but I feel like it is the one class I really try to do work in, because we do reports and research often. I like the teacher and I have a few of my good friends in that class.

When I come back to America

That is such a long, yet short time away. I will be pursuing music of coarse. I hope that the knowledge of real life I am experiencing here will help me stay realistic in my journey. I have met a lot of very happy people here, and I have discovered why they are so happy, although it is not on a personal level.

I have thought a lot about maybe coming back and living here in Denmark some time in the future. This country could use more bassoon teachers... because although I have a lesson "almost" planned, it has taken this long to get one. WOW!

Comments One and All

2008-11-04T11:01:00.000+01:00

I realize I have not posted in a long time. Here is you chance to leave a comment on what you want in the next post!

Vacation Week

2008-10-20T13:29:00.000+02:00

Fall break, or as a lot of exchangers call it, potato week, was a lot of fun. I traveled and saw a whole bunch of friends during the trip. My family and I borrowed Mormor og Morfar's car and set off to see others in the family.First we went to Nyborg. Here we stayed with family for 3 nights and ate lots of food and of coarse drank our weight in tea and coffee. During this stay I met a few of my friends who I knew lived in Nyborg which was a lot of fun. Rebeca, Paublo and a few other exchange students went to the beach one of the days. It was very cold, but I was glad to go and spend time with my friends. I always miss the times that the other exchange students are away, I want to spend all my time with them. I missed going to a castle in Nyborg with the family while at the beach, but sometimes you have to trade one thing for another. Nyborg is a fairly large city on Fyn. It is popular for its sea port and hosts the bridge that goes onto Sjælland.

After that we traveled back home to drop off Boris for work and went up to ____ and visited other family. This was fun and we ate cake and ate a lot. We also went to the zoo type place. This zoo was very different from the zoos that I am used to thinking about. You could feed most of the animals... and as far as deer and non-deadly animals, there were not many cages. It seemed really dangerous as 30 or 40 bucks would stampeed across the path to go to another side of the park.

We also went to an art museum in Århus which was a lot of fun. We only had enough parking time for an hour and a half so I didn't get to see too much in the large (maybe 9 floors) complex. I really wish we had more time but I don't think my family were too into it. Maybe they have been there before???

Over all the break was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about Danish and also got to see my friends. The reason we call it potato week is because this time of the year used to be time to harvest potatos and that is why we get time off. Most Danes do not know this is the reason for the break and just think we are weird... it's okay though, they already think we are weird.

-The Daily Drive-

2008-10-17T23:23:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of things new and fun in Denmark. Little things I do every day are so different from what I do in The States. After the shock of it though, I forgot exactly how different things really are.

Transportation

Bikes are the main mode of transportation through the community. I ride my bike or walk everywhere because my family does not own a car. To get to school it only takes around 10 minutes, while to get to the town it takes 15 minutes. I live in the town of Askov, but Vejen has the closest facilities as in super markets and bus stations. Vejen also has a train station which is important. I have traveled lots of places, mainly by train, which tends to be expensive.

School

School has no defined beginning and end. I can not stress enough that the days are really relaxed and some days you only have two classes lasting one hour each. This is okay though... I think. The school has 4 short hallways and a common room. The school has somewhere around 400 students. Between each class we have a 10 minute break where people walk around and eat. We also have a 20 minute break around noon to eat again. I pack my lunch so I eat throughout the day during classes. Another interesting thing is that everybody has laptops in class... everyone.

After School

After school I go straight home as does everyone else. Once every two weeks we have a party after school on a friday. This is when I get most of my socializing done. For the most part nobody talks in class, this could account for the lack of socialization here. Once home I can do homework or relax.

Kolding and AFS Camp

2008-10-10T09:07:00.000+02:00

AFS had its fall camp last weekend. It was a weekend starting Friday after school and going until Sunday. The people who went to the event were people in our district and not everyone in Denmark. There were about 40 of us who met in Kolding (a town next to Kolding) for the event.

Through the camp we were devided into groups. Each group had responsibilities such as cleaning, this is because we were staying in a school and we had to clean up after meals and at the end of the camp. These groups also were the groups we studied with. The reason for the camp was to discuss good things and bad things for far on our journey. Then we discussed how to improve our stay. These group sessions were okay, but the main fun was just hanging out with the kids. We did a lot of dancing, and Saturday night the staff said we were allowed to stay up until 4 am... which I personally did not do. The meals were really good and I enjoyed the stay while I was away from home.

I love to Limbo!

Then on tuesday I went back to Kolding to go shopping with my exchange student friends. I was in need of a scarf and thought that it would be a lot of fun, which it was! Kolding is the 7th largest city in Denmark with a population of 55,596 people living within city limits. The town itself has grown as a seaport and has many industrial companies principally geared towards shipbuilding. Kolding is only a 30 minute train ride from Vejen, and the train ticket cost only 36 Kr. When we arrived we walked around some of the shops in the inner city, but eventually we boarded a bus and went to the mall. We ate pizza and I bought a scarf, so the day was well spent (you can see my scarf in the first picture).

Overall the last week was very fun. Upcoming events include vacation next week with the family car so we are traveling. I also plan on learning to knit the danish way (different from how we knit). I am learning the language quite well so far, but still have a ways to go before I am comfortable speaking. Grades are going well I think and I am attending classes regularly. Bassoon is going well and I do have a teacher although I am concerned about the cost. She gives longer lessons though, she said 2 hours or so... lol... yeah. I am still waiting for a camera from home to replace my now dead camera, one is coming soon. Piano is going well! Special Alert!!!! I am now in a music class in school. It is more like rock band class though. I play guitar and sing in a group of 6 of us, and the school sets us up with gigs. Fun stuff! I will get back to more posts later and give more information about the places I go.

TTYL

Kicking off the new month

2008-10-02T09:43:00.000+02:00

I will kick off the new month by describing the average day!!!!

School begins at 7:55 am and classes vary depending on the day
School lets out usually at 1 pm
The bike ride between school and home takes about 10 minutes depending on which way the wind is blowing... on average getting to school is easier then getting home again.
Once home I start boiling water in preparation for hot chocolate, I have not yet tried their coffee and don't think I want to start. I have been planning on asking them if they have tea, because that would be more healthy I think.
I study (play games) on the computer with my cup of coco. It is very nice.
I go to bed at about 11 pm each night, although I always am in bed at about 9 pm. Those 2 hours are spent talking with friends online. I have not yet mastered hanging out with them although I have tried.

Yes'm, It is very exciting living in Denmark. A tip for those going to other countries through any exchange program, don't expect to be treated like a tourist or guest for long. I was never a guest, and thus you do things for yourself. It is real life when you are abroad, and this does not mean it is exciting or full of activity.

Love all you guys reading my blog. I will soon post some fun pictures I plan to take at the school around my house place.

CYA

Kyle

Mandø Og Als

2008-09-24T12:18:00.000+02:00

This last weekend the family and myself went to two different places. We got to borrow the grandparents car and see a little of Denmarks finest sites. I was not sure really what to expect at first, but I thought that any time spent traveling with the family would be great for our relationship... thus we sat almost silently to our destinations, and I don't know why but they would not turn on the radio. :(

Mandø Island

Mandø island is a fun journey. This is because the only way to get there is by tractor. It is an island, but the water never gets deep around it. Over the years many tourists have had major damage to their cars while trying to go to this island, because the tide may come in and take the car away with it.

Lucky for us we stayed far away from the water below.

Mandø is one of the Danish Wadden Sea islands off the southwest coast of the Jutland. The Wadden Sea is a part of the North Sea. The island is only seven and a half kilometers square and has 62 people living on it. It is about 12 kilometers southwest of Ribe where I visited earlier to buy my bike. Mandø has a rich history and this is why it is a popular tourist attraction. During a flood in the early 17th century, everybody died due to a flood... wow... okay.

The enjoyment of this trip came from our many long meals and family times. Each time we ate we sat for an hour. We had home made bread, which is all we ever have, with cheese, jelly, peanut butter, butter, ham, and liverposti. Not all of that together of coarse. We sat and drank coffee, and for me hot chocolate. It was cold at times, but it was a very fun journey as I had said before. We returned late saturday night.

Before returning home we decided to stop and wait for the Starlings to come flying over. There were a lot of people all waiting, which is really strange. They call it a sun blackout. Cause there are so many Starlings, but none came and we went home.

Als Island

Going to Als Island the next day was a very different type of adventure. We were going to Danfoss Universe, a science park. You can click here to see a virtual map of the park in english. The highlight of the day however was riding around on segways. If you don't know what a segway is, it is a small vehicle with two wheels... ummm... they are just amazing, take my word for it. The park was filled with interactive science exibits, in fact, there was nothing you could even read in the whole park, just a lot of stuff to do. So Boris and myself ran around from one place to another acting like little kids, it was fun!

Danfoss is a large company that makes water pumps. This is why one of the main exibits was a large blue building with water running down the outside of it. It was neat and had ice, lava, and lightning inside, or at least videos of lava. I am not sure I learned anything while being there, it is not like our science museums where you read each exibit, but it was a lot of fun.

After the day had ended I felt like doing some poses. It was a good weekend and then I had to start school again. I am not so afraid of going to school anymore, if I make a mistake then I just ask and try to figure out what is going on, there is no point in stressing out about grades, when grades have no difference in my life right now. I am here to learn so much more then what they teach in class.

-In addition I would like to say that I am now taking language classes at the local language center and will start tonight at 6 until 8:10. I will have this class 2 times a week every monday and wednesday. This is not what many of the other AFSrs are doing, but I think this is the best for me. Many other AFS students are taking the class during the day instead of going to school, this gives them 16 hours of language a week compared to my 4 hours of language. This is okay, I will have a lot less stress because I will be going to school instead of having to catch up with school work later.

københavn extended

2008-09-17T17:07:00.000+02:00

So this was in Tivoli. It was a lot of fun just hanging out with the group in such an amazing place. This was right before the concert and we soon went over into the crowd.

When we first arrived there where a few people to meet us but mostly we walked to our hostel.

We basically rocked out before the concert. Most these people are the brazilians! YAY ^_^

I met so many new people on this trip. It was a good time!

København

2008-09-15T13:55:00.000+02:00

Hej friends and family!

Yesterday I came home from a trip out to Copenhagen. It was an exchange student trip planned by some Rotary students. I was fortunate enough to here word of the trip through a girl in Rotary who goes to Vejen Gymnasium og HF, the same school I go to. It was a very fun weekend and I learned a lot about being more comfortable with talking to strangers and with transportation. It is required to learn to talk to strangers.

While in København most of the exchange students went to a concert in Tivoli. Tivoli is an big park with roller coasters and other fun things almost directly in the center of København. The concert was Alphabeat, which I didn't know of before I decided to go. I think there music is pretty good though, and very european. I met a lot of new friends and met a few people from Canada and USA. I had a lot of fun while I was there and gained a lot of new experiences. I will list the new things that I learned from my trip.

1) How to get a train ticket to travel across the country.

2) Never rent a hostel called CPH Airport Hostel (it is hardly even a shelter)

3) How to ask directions from 500 people and still be lost even though they are saying the directions in english.

4) "Du taler engelisk?" and normally they will say "Yes I do"

5) Don't order any drinks ever... they cost more then the meal.

6) When you get on a train, find the section that says your destination or else your cabin of the train will go somewhere else. And find the section with the least amount of sleeping people. (this prevents them from waking up and yelling at you in Danish)

7) Rotary is bigger then AFS, so pay attention to their events as well and sneak in with their groups.

8) It's okay to meet random people who are on exchange and pretend you already know everything about them... exchange students are your best friends.

9) Latin Americans kiss on one cheek, Italians kiss on both, and everyone else... try not to kiss them or they freak out.

Maybe I should explain some of these learning experiences.

I left Friday morning after first period to go to the train station. I had my backpack with enough cloths to make it through the weekend. I felt like such a world traveler getting on a train in a place I now call my home town and going to the big city in a country that I consider myself a part of. It was really cool. So we traveled the two and a half hours on train to the city and met a few people there. We checked into a hostel called DanHostel. A very nice 19 story hotel. We had rented the whole room so it was not like more people would come in and sleep with us. I had reservations at another Hostel, but decided not to go after going there once. (It took an hour to get there by train then bus, then a half hour walk, and it was not a very nice building... with a cardboard sign) So I took the safe path and just stuck with the hotel that seemed safe and close to where we were hanging out.

The first night I had the concert with Alphabeat. After that I found one of my friends from Hungary who had been on the same soccer team as I was at introcamp. We decided to invite some girls and go walk the town. We walked for a few hours and then split up the group at about... 1 am. Thats when I went with 4 of the girls and we went to a club. It was a very boring club. The most exciting thing all night was a fight between a girl and guy where a lot of anger went into a really really hard slap. I just tried to get out of the way. So that was friday night.

Saturday was basically a long walking day. Some of the guys went to get breakfast and ended up at a really nice place. The only problem was there was no menu and there was no english speaking waiter. So although the buffet was easy enough to eat from, I really wish I had not gotten the 30 kr chocolate milk. I guess all drinks cost that much, including water, but still, that is 5 dollars for water or pop or milk with no refill ever. So it was a bit confusing to order food that day. Then we walked that night to and I met a nice girl from the States and talked with her while the group of 16 of us walked around all night. I split from the group and went home around 1 that night, so I got plenty of rest for the train ride home.

Over all it was just a lot of walking. It was a lot of fun though, and was cheaper then going to a big city in the USA.

If you have any question just write a comment... cause I still need more comments, and you don't have to sign up to post a comment! Sorry I can not post pictures from this weekend, my camera is doing some weird thing and won't turn on... BLAH. I will post pictures if I find some from facebook off my friends photos.

Cya

Trip So Far

2008-09-08T08:26:00.000+02:00

Photos!!!

Early on in the trip I visited the giant white statue people! I was with Gus and Tove my contacts from Børup. We went a lot of places together. Right after this we went to the other coast!

This is us on the beach. Tove and Gus. We were crawling around in old German bunkers and were talking about all the history from the war. It was very informational

Me and Boris - Event entitled Open By Night in Vejen. The stores stay open until 11 at night and everybody shops a lot.

This is my whole family. YAY! I am also working on my beard so that I can fit in better.

This is a group of my peers. Friday nights are always fun to go and meet new people, so this last friday I met these guys and tried to play pool. There were lots more I met and could not include in the picture.

Home is a word that is difficult to define. Home is not just a place, it is a feeling. Being able to say that you are at home is saying that you are comforted. I know that I can make it here, as long as I find a home. It has been hard settling down here, even though my bags are unpacked and my room smells like Kyle. Without routine or constant friends it is hard to know who you are and if you don't know who you are, then you will never find home. Can home be a friends house? I think that home can be anywhere that you know you can be yourself. I may have found my home and my comfort.

I had a lot of fun with Simone the other day watching videos. It was nice to get out from home, but still be able to relax. I think she had fun too. We walked around Bække where she lives and she taught me all of the fun activities to do in town. I also dominated her brother at Guitar Hero. I can say that with pride, ha.

On another note, I have not taken my first Danish lesson yet, very very disappointing. I want to take the class really really bad and all the other AFS students are taking it, and I don't know how to sign up for it. I ask all the time about it, but I still don't get information about how to sign up. I am also taking my first ever piano lesson today at 4. Also very exciting. I hope to have lots to tell everyone when the message me on Skype.

Facts and other things

2008-09-04T08:48:00.000+02:00

Welcome to KYLE-TOPIA

So I really don't have much news today. And thus I don't know why I am blogging. Here are some interesting facts that I have discovered while here.

1)Junk food is expensive because it is taxed for being bad for you

2)McDonalds has different health code regulations

3)School days have no pattern to them, every day is different

4)You can buy alcohol at 16 but can't drink until 18

5)Everything is about twice as expensive, except clothing which is four times!

Yesterday I went to the first band practice. I was very happy to see that we were in a room that was easy to find within the building, and very nice. I wasn't missing anything, and everything went very well upon arrival. When I received the music, I was also very happy. The music is at my level, and was a bit like high school music, without the cheesy titles. I had a good time and music is the same everywhere so I was very comfy there around all the other players. About half were missing though, so it was just a few of us. Fun fact, they were drinking beer while playing. haha, I don't think that would be good for an instrument.

At the moment I am sitting in a random house in Vejen. The internet was not working at school so once again we got permission to leave school, so I will begin studying soon. I am doing a research project on Bull Fighting in Spain and a connection to its culture. I am doing the project with emphasis on animal cruelty and if it is right to protect culture.

I am going to sign out now,

Cya

NEW NEW NEW

2008-09-03T09:19:00.000+02:00

School is so Crazy!

As you can see I have a totally new format for this blog. Welcome to new and improved DKShriver! A few of the new things include posting comments without needing an account and the new format of the page which i think is working out very well. I hope to see a lot more comments from people now that I have updated these features.

These photo's are of our school principal being a stud at a school party

Our school on the inside

Yesterday I had the most fun of my trip thus far. It was a really nice day, except for walking home in the rain. It was warm for most of the day and I went into Vejen with a friend from class named Simone. We went to the store and bought some stuff. After that we went to the library where she had some Swedish books on hold. She is Swedish by the way. After that I waited as she went to the eye doctor to have her eyes checked. Then we sat down and had a cup of tea and some bread at a shop in Vejen. I was so nervous and she was also nervous when we thought about it, because of the language barrier and just normal nerves going on, but once we started talking it just all flowed very well, and there were no silences the whole day.

When I think of Vejen I think of Oxford. It is very similar but very different. The shops are similar and I think the size might be only a little smaller. There is a train station in Vejen, and a bus stop, so whenever I need to travel I will park my bike at the post office and travel. It is a nice town, they keep it very clean, which is surprising with how many parties there are.

Plans for today

Today at 7 pm I am going to Kolding on the west coast to play in an orchastra. I will have more information to tell later on this subject. But it should be very fun.

CYA

Kyle

WOW

2008-09-01T12:49:00.000+02:00

Dad, you said you wanted to teach in a school like this... no dad, you don't. You would never feel like the students are paying attention to you, basically because they won't. You have no power over them, no detention slips or anything. Ha, ok, I thought I would through that out there.

This week is a really really strange week. It is called AT. I don't know what it means, but we learn one subject all week and then at the end of the week give a report. I have been torn out of my usual class because they are all doing german, so I am in my 2.C spanish class.

So tomorrow (Tuesday) I have a party. It will be fun although the next day of school will be really rough. I won't go into it, but I will have some pictures to post after I get a few cables for my camera, which my mother is sending. It will be fun, we are having it because our class has to put on a skit the next day during our wednesday assembly. I don't know what our skit will be yet, ha, I will figure it out.

Now I have decided to point out one fact about Denmark each blog I post. Today's random fact is that in our school there are no such things as detention. For example, a student in my class poured a bucket of water on our teachers head the 3rd day. She was really mad and left. The next day he was told to leave, so his displine was being sent home for a day. The only reason that is bad is that he got 3 class absences. This isn't bad though. Worse would be getting more absences then classes you miss. Well, that's the fact.

Kyle

RIBE

2008-08-29T17:56:00.001+02:00

So yesterday I went out with the AFS-Denmark contact from this location (not Tove). We went to go get a bike, but we did not find one. We drove a half hour to Ribe, the oldest city in Denmark, and there were no used bikes in any of the 3 stores we looked in. I think this is ok though and we are going out tomorrow to look in Vejen. While in Ribe, I ate a very nice meal at a small food place. It was very very good. I think it was

Ox meat. We ate outside and listened to her husband play jazz, which was ok, but the group was a wee bit out of tune. It was basically the most fun I had all week. I also visited the big church there which is in the picture... I did not take that picture by the way.

Tonight I am eating pizza and then we are going up town Vejen to go to an all night party thing. I don't know what it will be like, but it is a town party where everyone goes to different stalls and there is lots of beer to try. I will have a full report tomorrow night, because tomorrow during the day I am looking for the bike.

Please leave more comments peoples. I love you all and I want to here from you guys!

Kyle

This just in!

2008-08-28T10:01:00.000+02:00

Ok, I was told I am not a bad blogger : ) Well that is good. I forgot to say that the street light changes from red to red and yellow before it turns green. Isn't that just the coolest. So you can rev your engine and look cool right before you get to go. I love it! Sorry Francine for taking directly what you used as an example. Well, I have to get back to class.

2008-08-27T11:15:00.000+02:00

I have noticed I am really bad at blogging. I have not even used pictures yet. So I will though some in on this publish. I will begin learning how to make stuff work correctly as I try different stuff. That is the new kitten, it is really crazy.

Well I need to get going. I am currently in Danish class and will soon be going to sport class where we are playing fodbold (I think thats how it is spelled) Soccer. I am off for now. I will talk to you guys later.

Kyle

School Pictures and Other Stuff

2008-08-26T16:46:00.000+02:00

I bought a year book type of thing. It was only 40kr. Thats really cheap, but if it has personal pics I won't be in it because I was not on the class list. I think it will just be the normal pictures though of the classes. I also have updated facebook so that I have most of the pictures on it, other then the pictures I took on my camera... that doesn't make sense. The facebook pictures are just pictures from other people and from my web cam.

I am doing well. Ok, dinner will be soon. Cya

Spansk Klassen

2008-08-25T12:30:00.001+02:00

I am currently in spanish class. I feel like I have to write now, because I am so lost in class. We are talking about how the words go to be correct, but it is obviously all in Danish. After this class we have Danish, so I am not so excited for that either. I still do not have a grasp on how they talk. I like when we get to write and stuff like that, but I can not speak spanish nor danish... which makes me worthless to the conversations. I felt so stupid trying to talk about the weather in Ohio and saying it in Spanish. I didn't do very well, and I could not use my book as a reference as she told me to do. She said the words I was looking for and asking about were right in front of me, but I didn't know what to use because they had the translations into danish. I felt dumb.

Jeg forstår ikk'

2008-08-23T12:50:00.000+02:00

This weekend is not like last weekend. It is not full of parties or concerts. I am still not sure what I will do but hopefully I will get out of the house tonight after dinner. I am going to try to hang out with some guys from class, and I might watch a movie or something like that. That is at least what I will suggest to the people I ask to hang out.
Classes are going well, but it is hard because I don't know what is going on. I understand only a few words, and they are not typical words used in school. I will spend some time studying my spanish and danish today after lunch. I need to study spanish because they are at a slightly higher level of spanish then I am, and I also can not use our spanish book as a reference because it is translated from spanish to danish. That is why school is hard though.
There have not been any grades yet. I am not sure if there will be grades later or if it is all graded on final exams and stuff. The students here are paid for going to school based on how well their school grades are. So it is very important for them to get good grades, compared to me, who will not get paid. I wish I got paid though, that would be a lot of fun to be able to go out to shop with the money I got from school.
Today I was planning on going shopping, as I told everyone that I was. This did not occur. I got a phone call this morning saying that we were not going to go to Kolding. I wish we were, basically because I really need to go shopping to buy some different stuff. I still need hair cream and stuff. Oh well. One of my friends Rasmus, who goes to the business school down the street from the gymnasium, I am pretty sure got my a new phone. He said my phone would not do, and I agree because I really don't know how to use it it is so old. Rasmus is a tight guy. He knows everything around town and knows the best places and parties to go to. He works at the CC discotech in Vejen though, so he is never available to hang out during nights. It is good to have a friend like him though, he can get you places in this town. He knows people and things.
So now it is lunch time. I am not sure what we are eating, but my guess is a hard boiled egg, and some sort of pasta. I don't know why this is my guess. It might just be sandwhich's. It doesn't make a difference, I am hungry and will eat anything they put down in front of me. I try to stay away from the cabage though. I don't like the taste, but we often eat big heads of ... ok, I don't know what it is called. Its like broccoli but white. ... Somebody post a comment telling me what that is.

Peace

Må vi se håndbold? Plz?

2008-08-20T14:30:00.000+02:00

Today was a short day for some kids and a long day for others. I chose the safe road. More on this later in the blog.
Today began with an assembly of all the classes. This is where the AFS and other exchange students had to introduce themselves. It was a little nerve racking, but I have stopped being nervous, because I don't really care if I screw up or not. All I said was... Jeg hedder Kyle Shriver. Jeg kommer fra USA. Jeg år etton er gammel. It's much harder to say then to type or to listen to. I am not sure if I got it right, but yeah. That was the start of my day at 9am. Then I played vollyball in sport class.
Vollyball here is very different. The rules are get the ball over the net, and you can use your feet. It was fun, and I guess later in the year each class has a team and we play a big tournament to see who wins. I was not so bad.
Then after sport I was asked to go with the rest of the class to watch handball at a persons house. I agreed that I would go, because it seemed like a good way to spend time with some of the other classmates of mine. Then after thinking more about it I decided to go to class instead. It was english and ancient history I would have missed and in english they had asked if I would give a presentation about the US. So we went and picked up some stuff at the store and then I went to class. About 20 people were absent from class, leaving 6 of us to learn. This was just as well, and I got some good socializing in without getting in any trouble.
Now I am home, and waiting to see what the day might bring for me.
Cya.

Jeg... dunno

2008-08-18T13:26:00.000+02:00

I have to ask... why do I not get any comments. If you have any question or whatever, I check often to see if I have received any comments on this blog. So yeah, please leave any comments you might have.
Today I will focus on the school, a normal day. The fun thing is that there is never a normal day. Like today I had a class at 9:10 and that was the beginning of the day letting out at about noon. But tomorrow I have a full 5 hours of class, which will not be much fun. I don't even know what classes I will have tomorrow. But back to school. In between classes we have 10 minutes and around 11 we have a 20 minute break for lunch and stuff. There is always music playing in the common room during breaks, so it is really fun. Today Tenacious D was playing, and I then thought... how really laid back the school system is here. If you know Tenacious D the song was =hergentally. I will code that so nobody get offended. So yeah... school is just, school. I don't understand a word of it, but I think it is about the same. But there is a lot more homework.
so, any questions?

kyle

Could be well in

2008-08-16T21:21:00.000+02:00

So I met this guy who works at a discotech in Vejen. He dreams of going to Baltimore and playing football there, so he was very nice to me. He got me in the club plus he got me in for free, big perk, and so on and so forth. This is all a good thing because now I text him and say, "what is there to do?" and he always knows where the party is at. So today I am going to a concert with Boris which I was informed about.
Last night was huge... I can not describe the school party. It is maybe 150 kids, most the kids from school, all in the school common room. There was a live band, and a lot of dancing. It was like, a movie. Tons of crazy people everywhere with there drinks in the air dancing like they just don't care... yeah. It was a fun night, but maybe a bit too intense for a every weekend activity.
Lots of love,
KAS

Social Time

2008-08-15T14:17:00.000+02:00

Tonight is the first school party. I have been invited to go to a get together before the party where I think we might eat and drink, but I am not sure. This is good though that I have been included into a group a little. It will be fun I am sure.
After school there was also a strange water fight. Everyone loaded up with water guns and buckets and bottles and started soaking each other. It was fun, and odd that it was so out of control. There was a lot of water in the school before we took it outside. I got pretty wet by some of the third year students and a few of the friends of Boris. Then I got powdered with flower... so it was a big mess, but not as bad as those we held down and sprayed some whipped cream all over them. I can claim that that was my idea, and we found it over by some pie eating games, so it was a lot of fun to make other people all gross. lol
I missed a class today... I didn't know that I had the class because I did not have it on my schedule this morning, but I guess sometime during the day the class was added. That is the odd thing about how this school works, I will just have to remember to go to class next time. Instead of going to class I was at Vejen signing up for my danish classes that I need to start taking. It's not a huge issue that I missed class, I just didn't know. There are no concequences here for anything so I will notify the teacher next time that I have that class that it was not on my schedule.
So I will start getting ready for the party, or something. Right now I do not know what I will do, I have been home for a while, but I have maybe 4 hours before I need to get ready. Oh well. I will do something, maybe clean my room.

Bye

Stuff

2008-08-14T13:26:00.000+02:00

So today I had english... which is not so easy because I can not read the danish instructions of what we are suppose to do in English. I also had ancient history (bore) and spanish. Spanish was fun, and we practiced some things, but I need to study it so that I will not be so bad at remembering how to say all the numbers, days of the week, months, time and so on. It is ok because most of my AFS friends speak spanish and little english, so I can just ask them. I use skype to talk to them every now and then.
I have my mac computer now. This is good because in school everything is done on computer and so I need to take it to school, very unlike in the USA schools were computers are usually not allowed. So yeah.

Here is some fun info on bathroom edicate in this house. The wash machine is in the bathroom. No belongings can be kept in the shower area, meaning I have to take all of my soap and shampoo out of the shower each time I shower. Then you must dry the shower area to prevent lime buildup. This is new for me, but it only takes an extra 5 mins per day. Danish people don't seem to have driers though, so it takes a long time for stuff to dry after washing, which reminds me I need to hang up some cloths because I have a load in right now, and it takes 2 days for a pair of jeans to dry. I thik this might be because of the humidity, but I am not sure.

Typical danish weather. It rains every day at least once. One second you might see sun and the next everything is gray. It is also typical to be caught in the rain and look around to see places it is not raining... which always makes you feel like you were picked as the odd one out because you get wet, other people are dry. When the rain does fall though it is really big. I soaks you in less then a minute. Other then that the temp is just about perfect. I really like this weather, minus a little of the rain, I kind of want to dry out sometime on this trip.

Friends! I kind of click with a few people, but I am not sure yet. Friday is a party, and I will be going if I get to the bank today. It is 50 dkk per person, which is not much. It will probably be out of control because Danes like to party as I think I have mentioned before.

I am going now to an AFS reunion thing I think in Kolding. I set up this keyboard for english so now it is confusing because i can not look down cause symbols are all different, I might change it back to danish later but that is when I know the language.

Peace,
ki_el

Klasse dag 1

2008-08-13T13:21:00.000+02:00

Ok, so I'm sure you are all interested in my first day of Danish school. If not, then you can just leave because I don't care about you either.
I had to sign up yesterday for my classes... well I got to choose a line. Which is a specific group of classes focusing on 1 general subject. None of the AFS students get to be in the same class, so I chose 2.a. This means second year subject a. There are only 5 different lines to chose from and since the other classes were either full or already had an AFS student in them I got languages. This may seem impossible, but that is because it basically is. Here are my coarses.
Spanish, English Literature, Danish Literature, French, German, and Sport.
Ok so here is the hard part, all these classes are taught in Danish. So it is like trying to figure out two languages at the same time, which is very difficult. I have homework to do also, I can not forget that. I have to come to class prepared to say a few lines in spanish... not so difficult since this is only 2nd year spanish.
Now school-------------------------------
I showed up, and went into a classroom. The room was two rows with spinny computer chairs. We all sat down and received a epic in Danish... and all I did was stare at it as the teacher explained to the class what we had to do with it. I don't think I will have to read it because I don't know Danish yet, and it's in old fashion danish. Then we got out spanish books, of which I received one. I opened it up and we sang some songs like, la coocuaracha and stuff. We also had to speak some. It was not bad and I could speak a little. Me llamo es.. and stuff. Then we went to P.E. called sport class. It was fun, but took out all of my remaining energy. After an hour of arobics we played hockey. My team got beat like, 4 times. We were not too good, but I made some semi-class-friends. This is good, or at least a start. Then school was over. It felt like only two classes... because it really was two classes. But the group stays together as a class through every activity. Which is good, cause I get lost a lot. Like on my way home, I rode the bike for about an hour trying to find where I was. It rained... and I got soaked........ not fun. But I made it home safe and now I know how to get home from school.
I still do not have my computer. As soon as it arives I will start my studies in Danish because I have some software for learning. Then I will be able to... maybe understand the class I am in. That is all for now.
CYA

iPod- short post

2008-08-10T10:48:00.000+02:00

hey. Yesterday I went to a pop rock concert and took in a little of the culture that way. It was fun. It was for Tove's oldest daughters birthday. Today is also a birthday. I count 18 chairs. This will be interesting because that is a lot of new people to meet. Wish me luck with that. I will return upstairs now to practice bassoon. I need to do this before the party because I will be weak and tired after the party. I hope everyone is having fun... I do not know who is reading the blog. Love you guys
Peace
KshrDK

Jeg kommer fra USA

2008-08-07T17:17:00.000+02:00

So there are a lot of things new. So many over the last two days that it is difficult to write everything down. I will begin with yesterday.
Yesterday I woke up at around noon. It was late but my body is still getting used to the time change (which is 6 hours later). I went down stairs and ate with Gustov (my temporary far(dad) until I move in with the other parents). We ate corn flakes, which seems to be the typical breakfast for most Danes. Tove(too-Vay) which is my contact here in Danmark has been instructing me in Danish. It is very difficult and even after 2 or 3 hours working with her each morning I do not feel like I am clicking with any of it. Then we decided to go to the West Coast. It is only a short drive, maybe 30 mins. When we arrived we walked on the beach and I noticed all of the large German bunkers. They were left since World War 2. They were everywhere for as far as I could see. None of them were in use, they had sand blown by the wind into them making them difficult to get into. But I went inside of a few of them as we walked through the dunes.
We ate a late lunch/early dinner. I thought that hot dogs would be the same... boy was I wrong. They were very long, and you did not put them inside the bun. You ate the two seperate. Then I had another hot dog, which was in a bun, and it came with a lot of stuff in it. Remoulade seems to be the main dipping/everything sauce. It is a little like mustard, but I am getting used to it. I had an ice cream, and after saying tak formel,(or however you spell it) which is what you say after somebody feeds you meaning thanks for the meal, we were off to go back home. Did I mention that the beach was cold so that I wore a sweater. I also went up a lighthouse. It was fun!
Today I went to the mall, on the east coast near the island of Fyn. It was also an experience. I thought I would find it easy to shop, but this was not so. The styles are so... out there. People wear wool things around there necks and the pants are worn in a different style, so I held off on buying stuff until I go to school and see what people wear. That will be soon. Also things are fairly expensive so I really am glad that this family is supporting me and when we eat they pay, as well as buying me a shirt today. Tak Tak!!! There is no such word as please here... just to stick that out there for you mom, so you can stop asking me to remember please.
Well, thats about enough for one blog post. It is 17:38.
Bye

Lots to say on a odd keyboard

2008-08-04T19:02:00.000+02:00

So, I do not know how to start. Orientation went very well, but took a lot of getting used to. I was afraid at first because I was not used to the food that they eat. There is a lot of fish, but it is too expensive to be served at the camp. So we ate all sorts of other foods, not so different from the USA.
The Danish people I have met like to smoke. And so do the Italians. Other than that there is not too many smokers that I have met. The Italians are very nice and it is fun to talk to them, it is sad that I left all the cultures behind at orientation.
I am spending time now with my contact adviser. She will take care of me since my host parents have gone to London on Vacation. It is very sad that I do not get time to spend with them, but I will soon. I met them at the train, Børis is very tall.
I hope that dinner starts soon, it is 19:15, and I have become very hungry. I wonder what will be for dinner. It could be anything. I think its about time though.
There are two dogs here, but one is blind.
I did a skit, I might talk about it later, but lets just say that the Danes like to flash and don't see always why I do not want to be naked in front of 150 people in a skit.

For now,
Ta

airport

2008-07-30T14:29:00.000+02:00

so I am here in the airport but once again I can't use this to write

Krazy Kanada

2008-07-27T21:59:00.000+02:00

Ok, so I have been up here in the Canadian outback for a while now. Tomorrow we leave to go home. It has rained almost everyday without even a rainbow to look at. But there is sooo much more that I have learned. I really hate dial up internet. You can wait and wait for hours and some things will never load. Even a text based page takes at least 10 mins to load. Facebook is impossible to scan around. Emails don't load. Even this page was difficult to get to, and this page is simply a text box with a few bottons and no layout or pictures! Crazy.

So I leave for Denmark in two days. I won't lie, I don't really know what to take. I could pack more clothes which is what will happen. Or I could take candy and try to find more gifts for my host family. I might do that as well. I know that I should take less than the max, because while I am over in Denmark I will buy stuff that I will want to take home with me.

So the boat outside is calling my name, not because the weather is nice, but because its broken and Merle, Dad, and myself have been working on it all day. I must say though that I don't really like butter on my sandwichs like they do throughout England and Canada and where ever else they butter bread.

See you soon, hopefully on a keyboard where the delete key isn't the size of a letter and the internet doesn't need to be sent with a man on horseback.

KMAN

NEW FAMILY

2008-07-10T22:24:00.000+02:00

I am very excited to announce that I just got an email about a family interested in taking me in for the year. The Fuglø family have 3 children and the only one who lives at home is my age. His name is Boris. They also own 2 cats and 2 rats. I find it funny that the two animals they own are naturally born to fight, and for the cat to win... Sorry I couldn't word that better.

But yes... a family.... how splendid.

I am going to send an email soon to ask more about them. I hope everything I say goes over well and that they are as excited as I am to meet me. I hope they like music... because they didn't say anything about it in their family activities.

PEACE,

KAS-owned

night night

2008-07-08T05:51:00.000+02:00

So I thought I would write about what I have done today.
Well, I'm still at Lakeside. I didnt do much except eat today. I went out to find friends... but I ended up just sitting down and swinging by myself. I hope to soon learn how to be a little less self concious in order to meet people better. I just want a friend up here to hang and talk with. Oh well... I guess thats what computers are for... and tv.
To add insult to injury ... well it was not a good social night all around. So its like... whatever. :/ Life kinda just goes that way.

So I really hope that I don't bore anyone with my posts. I don't have any addition to the Denmark peice yet... just waiting for everything to fit together better. It will all be better soon and I'll be able to meet lots of new people... and have a billion friends... and be a social buterfly... the thing I have wanted to be for so long. The center of some peoples universes.

So I'm about to peace out. Cause I have nothing but depressing words for yall today. See ya when I decide to post again.

Ta,
ShriverK

finaaaalllllllly!

2008-07-06T20:56:00.000+02:00

So I'm on a real computer now, which means I can type and it doesn't continue to screw up as often. The problem with blogging on my Ipod is that there is lag which means that the Ipod freezes over and over again and goes really slow. It also puts in extra words as you can see if you read the previous post. I can say what I need to over the ipod, but it takes a long time and if I do not have a computer in Denmark I don't think I will blog because I can't write complete thoughts or type fast enough.
And Now! I will attempt to add character to my letter.

I don't know why it won't let me make the font bigger or smaller. It has the ability. !

Everything is so bland now.

-=Lakeside=-

Yesterday I went fishing for walleye. I can say that it was the worst fishing day that I have experienced. I woke up at 5 a.m. and headed to tibbles to get on the boat. At 2 p.m. we started back home. I didn't catch a thing... and as far as I can tell I didn't even get a bite. Nor did I get much sun because I wore a sweatshirt and a hat.

Today I ate the fish. Trev cooked them up perfectly, and I ate until I could not eat anymore. They were very tasty. I can't say that I contributed to the cause but I did get to eat some.

Also I swam in the lake for a while and I played some tennis on the courts by the lake. I enjoyed the day thus far. Now everyone is leaving for home except Grandpa, my dad, and myself. It will be relaxing until I leave.

-=Current thoughts=-

So since this blog is about Denmark... I should probably write about Denmark. I don't know much of what to expect, and I have not recieved Email about any current matters. I have asked Cam to report any messages either phone or mail to me. I am only nervous that they will call while I am in Canada... because I am not aloud to leave the country before I go to Denmark for a certain amount of time.

I am not nervous of much. I am nervous about missing a plane and the travel aspect. I am nervous about ariving in New York and not knowing how to get to my hotel. I am nervous about landing in Copenhagen and not finding some of the staff I need to find, but not so nervous about that as much as New York. What if I don't know some information about the orientation in New York and can't find transportation to the meeting place? What if everyone has something that I don't have? What if I forget my tooth brush? Or even more important what if they don't let me take toothpaste on the plane? So many questions just about New York... I don't want to stop there before I go to Denmark.

Ok so enough about this.

KAS signing off!

2008-07-06T19:02:00.000+02:00

iI am in lakeside trying to witewire a peicwprice in my blog. its is really backed up right now. if you know what lag is then you would know exactly how annouingannoying it is to try to type this rifhtright noqnow. so imI'm not going to blog this right now. iI will say that thishas been a grwatgreat waleye lunch. the best fish iI have ever tasted. goodbye. kyle a sa 8970

Attempt

2008-07-05T00:10:00.000+02:00

this is from my ipodiPod. it is really acting up on me. attempt failed.

2008-07-02T18:33:00.000+02:00

Basically my last blog was erased! AHHHH :(

It was really good. But I'll just rewrite some stuff.

Rules

No driving
No drugs
Must attend school
No paid work
No hitch hiking
No interrailing (whatever that means)
No visits from home

Thats all of them that were posted. At orientation they basically told us that as long as we did what our host parents said and stayed out of jail that we would be fine.

KShriv

2008-07-02T18:26:00.000+02:00

So I'm going to write down the rules that I have read from the AFS guide.

And I will write them in RED! ;)

1) No driving

2) No drugs

3) Must attend school

4) No paid work

5) No hitch hiking

6) No interrailing... whatever that means

7) No visits from home

Well that is all of them. Basically they say no driving or hitch hiking and you will be ok. Just stay out of jail. Those are the rules of the game.

KShriv

2008-07-02T06:56:00.000+02:00

ok, late at night. Goodnight.

2008-06-30T17:54:00.000+02:00

June 30, 2008

Ok, so I am still in little Oxford, Ohio. I am getting everything ready and just learned a ton of stuff about my educational process there. I will be placed in a gymnasium, upper school for kids aged from 16-19. I won't have a uniform or anything like that. Also there are no grades... very cool. I will confirm that this is true later. I also found out some stuff that I need to take, like gym equipment and some recipes.

Its going to be a crazy and educational trip. Expensive though. It will cost 200$ american to go to a mandatory Danish language class. I'm not looking forward to that except it will force me to grasp the language better. The government just made it legal for the class to charge money, or else I would have gotten to take it for free.

Temperature doesn't get too cold. summer it ranges from the hottest of 95 degrees, to an average of 60 degrees. But in the winter it rains and sticks around 32 degrees.

No update on Bassoon teacher yet.

No update on Visa yet.

Nothing much yet.

I think I will post this as then go do some more house work. I need to finish reading a pamphlet and stuff.

Peace,

Shrive Dogg (Sweet '08)

Opening Ohio

2008-06-24T22:35:00.000+02:00

June 24, 2008

I am trying to learn how this works. I think that now I have to hit publish post.