It's been a pretty busy to months as you can probably tell by my inability to keep my blog updated :) In the middle of March I moved to my last host family. They are amazing! In my new family I have a host sister my age that goes to the gymnasium and she was also an exchange student in the States last year! It's amazing having someone who understands the deliciousness classic American food. It's even better telling the rest of the family about the food combinations we eat and seeing their surprised reactions. While I've been living here my host parents had their sølvbryllup (25th wedding anniversary). Sølvbryllups in Denmark are typically celebrated with family and friends gathering early in the morning to wake up the sølvbryllup couple by playing a trumpet or singing a song and then they receive coffee and breakfast after. My host family decided to pass up the trumpets, but there was a breakfast and coffee offered and about 20 or so people came. That evening my host parents had a dinner for just family with 40 or so guests. Big family. My host parents also invited my grandma and great aunt since they were visiting me. It was very nice and cosy.
My Grandma Maggie and Aunt June came for a visit the second week in April. It was great seeing them again. I showed them around Hjørring and introduced them to all of my families. My first mom, Mette, took us on a tour out to Lønstrup to eat and see the beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn't fantastic, but it was a fun time anyways. We also ate dinner with my first host family and played Mexican train! The last evening they were here, we ate dinner with my second host family. It was really such an awesome experience for me to show my great aunt and grandma my life for the past year and the amazing people that had been a part of it.
The week after my visit from the USA, we had påske ferie (easter break)! The weather was absolutely fantastic! It was 19-25ºC (65-70ºF) and sunny every single day of the break. I spent four days of my break down in Aalborg kicking it with exchange student friends and enjoying the amazingness of doing absolutely nothing. My host family came down on of the days, and we went to the Aalborg Zoo. We got to see the new polar bear cub. Soooo cute! The rest of my break I spent sitting outside on our patio soaking up the sun and attempting to get color in my pale, sun-deprieved skin.
At the beginning of April, I went to my last Rotary get together in Odense. It was a fun opportunity to meet all of the"newbies," the exchange students that came in January 2011, as well as see all of our old exchange student friends. This weekend was even more special because we also got to spend a fantastic three hours at a fitness center burning off 9 months worth of danish cake and food. As it was the last get together, I had to say goodbye to fellow exchange students that I will never see again. A solemn reminder of how short my time is in Denmark.
The last weekend of April I had an end of the season party with my handball team. It was a lot of fun. It was an awesome season and great experience. My coaches and teammates were absolutely amazing. They were always encouraging and helpful as I learned to play handball. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to play with the Lundergaard handball team.
Ok May in a nutshell. On the 4th of May I visited Aalborg University with all of the exchange students living in Rotary district 1440. We got to walk around and see the campus. There was also several international as well as Danish students that talked to us about what they studied at the university and what it was like to be a student at the university. Definitely a cool place to study. That coming weekend I went to the Lundergaard Revyen with my first family since my dad is an actor in the show. Revyen involves singing numbers as well as skits that satirize Danish culture. The best part is that they speak in Vendelbomål, which is a dialect belonging to Vendsyssel (region of Denmark north of Limfjord). Even though it was a little hard to understand, it was hilarious. This past wednesday, Esther, Alejandro, and I gave a presentation in Danish to the entire school about our experiences with the Danish culture the past year. It was a little nerve wracking, but it turned out fine and everybody loved it. On Thursday I went with my club president out to visit one of the biggest Danish farms in the country. It was insane. The guy who owned the farm managed over 800 acres, had around 300 dairy cows, produced milk and cheese, and he also lived in an old, Danish, Catholic cloister with his wife. They were super nice people and showed us around the farm and their house. It was super interesting to see. Yesterday, I spent the day in Århus with Esther and friends from the gymnasium at Mejlgade for Mangfoldighed. Basically one street in Århus, Mejlgade, had several stages set up with different kinds of music playing. The street was jam packed with people and stalls selling necklaces, T-shirts etc. It was awesome spending the day wandering around listening to music an entire day.
On Tuesday, 56 exchange students and I are taking on Europe. We leave early in the morning and head to Berlin. From Berlin we will also be visiting Prag, Vienna, Venice, Lido di Jesolo, Verona, Monaco, Avignon, Paris, Bruxelles and Amsterdam. Well I need to get packing so until next time stay classy San Diego.
