Okay, so, I really suck at this whole blogging thing. Sorry if there are any of you who actually follow this and are disappointed by my ' once every three month' posts.

Things have been going well, I switched families a while ago. I now live in a place called " Hellevad". sounds almost like Hell-ville. hahah. I like it. My family owns a gas station ( aka- free food for me) They also have a German Shepherd named Balto. My first day over there, we went on a walk with Balto, my host mom, and oldest host sister Signe. We went sledding down some hills in the forest, and I got pulled along the icy streets by a running Balto, often crashing into the snowbanks on the sides. So much fun =]

My mom and little brother are coming to visit me in May, and I'm really excited to show them around, how much I've learned, and the country that I've come to consider myself a part of.

My host mom , Anna, works as a teacher at an elementary school. I went with her one day, so her kids could meet a ' real english speaker', and the kids were so sweet. One little girl was confused when she saw me. She couldn't tell the difference between me and the other Danish girls. That made me pretty happy. Really though, they were adorable. At recess they dragged me all over the playground, telling me how much they loved my hair, my jacket, my boots. Wanted to know if I had a boyfriend, and his name, and where he lived ( keep in mind, these kids are like 8 ) One boy claimed he was in love with me, and another girl whispered that some other boy wanted to kiss me. One girl jumped on my back while I was about to leave, and asked why I wasn't her big sister.

Of course these kids didn't speak English at all, so I managed quite nicely with Danish. Honestly, I think I learned more there than I did at my Gymnasium. Hoping to go back and visit soon.

It's strange to think that I only have a few months left. We had our last Rotary exchange student get together in Copenhagen a few weeks ago, and saying goodbye seemed unreal. I mean, it was only a few months ago that we said goodbye to our oldies, and ' graduated' from newbie-hood. And now suddenly its our turn.

I thought I'd be excited to go home. And I am, I'm really looking forward to being with my family and my boyfriend again. But in some ways, going home kind of scares me. Now I have to go back and face everything that I could kind of turn away with a wave of the hand while over here. Things that could ' wait til I got back'.

As most of you probably know, I've moved over twenty times at this point. So I figured I'd have this whole ' leaving and saying goodbye' thing down. but you know, it never really gets easier. and in this ' move' I've had to change myself a lot more, for the better I hope, but leaving is more of a loss when you really invest yourself in it.

I know I'm going to miss this place. The fresh danish air, the crazy Danish people all of it. I know I'm going to be mulling around in the kitchen one day at home, and wish we had some rye bread ( the stuff that made me sick when I first got here). I know I'll be frustrated that I cant just hop on a bus anytime I feel like it and head to the nearest town for a kebab with my friends from school. I'll miss people being able to come up and talk to me just because I'm from another country, and that makes me interesting. The cobbled streets, the traffic lights hazed over by the misty rain. the spiraled building tops reaching up into the fog. The beautiful Danish countryside at night, with the windmills spinning peacefully, and the trillions of stars peppered across the horizon. Going running through the forest, mud and leaves giving way beneath my tennis shoes; the smell of pine calming my nerves.

There are wonderful things everywhere you go if you're willing to open yourself to them. I will always consider myself Danish, and Denmark will always be a part of me.

Not-So-Happy Holidays

Well, the Christmas and New year holidays have come and gone, and I in fact spent most of it on my back, in bed hacking my lungs out. I'd been sick for the week preceding Christmas, nothing too serious, just a cold. But then after Christmas it escalated to Pneumonia, at the same time I caught an Influenza virus, which lasted about a week and a half, dredging through New Years and the rest of my winter break. Had several doctors visits, and a couple hospital visits for x-rays and blood tests after seeing no recovery from the penicillin they gave me. I did, however, survive the ordeal, and I'm counting my blessings that I didn't become majorly ill until after Christmas.

Christmas itself, or, Jule as I should probably call it, was very 'hyggelit' ( cozy ) Now for those of you who don't know, the Danes celebrate Jule entirely on the evening of the 24th. We spent about two and a half hours eating dinner, which was followed by dancing and singing around the christmas tree. Then we broke into the presents. I was lucky enough to receive a full sized Danish flag, which I'd been hoping for. ( It's traditional for the exchange students to purchase their host countries flag to have friends and family sign so they can put it up on their wall when they return home) Also a scarf, and a danish version of my favorite comic book ' Calvin and Hobbes' ( yes!) My dear sister Anna got me some facial toner to match my cleanser... hahah. what a sweetheart. But hey, I needed it. A while later we ate the rice pudding with cherry sauce, everyone trying to find the almond in theirs to see if they won the prize. Turns out, it didnt really matter who got the almond, since the prize ended up being a multiplayer game.

I have to admit, it was pretty wierd waking up the morning of the 25th and treating it like any normal day. There are a lot of elements to our christmas that I prefer over the Danes. For example, putting the Christmas tree up a couple weeks in advance so that the whole house smells like pine. Going to sleep all excited, hardly able to wait for the following morning. Stockings, and such.

Speaking of Christmas trees... I have a story that illustrates my awful exchange student clumsiness. My siblings and I were decorating the tree, and Emil hands me a very fragile looking ornament. I asked if it was home made, because it looked like it had been made by a child. No sooner had Anna informed me that she had made it when she was little, that I go to put it on a branch, and it slips from my hands, shattering on the wooden floor.

I was mortified.

But they just could not stop laughing! They helped me clean it up, while I apologized over and over. Oh my gosh Im so sorry, im sorry, undskyld, im sorry, ah! They kept telling me it was okay, etc, etc. But the rest of the decorating period, they teased me about it. Here, you can put this one on, its made out of paper. Ah, don't give that one to Sydney, its a pretty one! Careful, don't drop it.

I can't blame them for their caution. I am pretty talented at breaking things. since my stay in Denmark I have broken two computers, a vase, and a christmas ornament.

Just call me Butterfingers I guess.

Things have pretty much returned to normal, got my Apple computer fixed in Germany. Thank goodness it was under warranty. Although, my Rotary oldie, Amy, has returned to her home in Australia last week. We miss her. Who am I going to waste all my money on kebabs with? There's a new student coming at the end of the month. Gotta get my Danish up to par if I'm going to be the one showing her how things work around here.

Well I think Ive drawn this out long enough.

Vi ses,

- Sydney