Vacation Week

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-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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