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

Busy Week of Traveling

Within the last week, I've been on two rather large trips. One, I had the pleasure of spending last Sunday with my host family down in Flensburg, Germany. It was awesome, beautiful scenery ( amazing how different it was, even being less than 30 minutes away from my home here) Wandered around the streets looking at all the different shops and stands. It was all beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. I bought myself a nice little white hat, haha. Or rather, Dennis bought it for me, I didn't have any Euros on me at the time. I still need to pay him back. Took lots of pictures, some with the family, so if you're wondering what they looked like as well, you can see all those pictures here-http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130970&id=587188838&l=61e7c20d2f

Then yesterday, an older couple from my Rotary took me on a tour of Copenhagen. It was filled with even more activity than usual, due to the upcoming Climate Conference. ( Obama is coming... ewwww) Lots of demonstrations around the streets, added security, extra tourists.
I saw the little mermaid statue, of course. The diamond building, the Queens palace, the giant library looking over the canals. Also spent a bit of time in Tivoli at night, which was also beautifully lit up for christmas. I hope all my pictures turned out okay, considering it was dark, and my flash is tempermental. I dont have those posted yet, but hopefully I will soon.
Did quite a bit of shopping. I mostly just looked around since I'm trying to save my money to get my hair done next week. But I did manage to get a little christmas shopping done. Ate lunch in a cute little cafe by the water. The couple who took me was very generous, Ill have to thank them again at Rotary on wednesday.
I think about half the trip was spent in the car though. It takes about three hours to get there, so we spent just under 6 hours in the car that day. I was supposed to go to school the next morning ( today ) but being out in the rain almost all day, I came down with a bit of a cold.

All in all, not a bad week =)

Danish Christmas

So, this last Wednesday was the Rotary Christmas party. Ate dinner ( duck is the traditional holiday meat I think) sang some Danish songs. We sang a song to the tune of 'Silent Night', except that the lyrics were much different and the beat was upbeat and happy. I felt like they had violated one of the most sacred songs we know lol.
Then the little kids started making a ring, and dancing around the christmas tree in the middle of the room. I had fully intended on sitting that one out, until my counselor dragged me ( almost literally) into the circle. I was also forced to sit on Santas lap for a bag of candy. Seems like the fricken paparazzi showed up when I did, at least three people took my picture. So much for forgetting that incident =P. For dessert we had these little pancake ball thingys, that you can dip in marmalade and sugar. Pretty tasty. Then we drove home, blasting Snow Patrol in the car and singing at the top of our lungs.

I suppose I'll take the time to jot down a few Jule ( Christmas) traditions. Dancing and singing around the Juletræ is one of them ( as I found out at the christmas party). Another one, is to take a bowl of rice pudding, and bury an almond somewhere in it. And as the family eats the pudding, whoever finds the almond in their bowl get a present. Of course, it has to be by chance, you cant go digging through the bowl trying to find it, haha.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but the Danes are HUGE on candles. They pull them out at the slightest occasions. But they're even more common around Christmas time. They have one large candle with measure marks on it ( like a ruler) and they burn a little bit of it each day of December. They also have 4 candles on the dinner table, and they light one each sunday of the month.
Speaking of Sundays of the month, they also have an 'advent calendar', where every sunday in december the kids get a present from their family. And since my host family is awesome, I was included in this. They bought Anna and I tickets to go see 2012. That may not seem like much to you Americans, but going to the movies is a pretty big deal here. It's extremely expensive. 90 kr per ticket, which is almost twenty american dollars.

Tomorrow we're going to spend the day down in Germany, see the towns, maybe get a little shopping done. I'm excited, I haven't been to Germany ( Tyskland) as of yet.

Vi ses!

New Hostfamily

So, as the title indicated, I have switched host families as of last weekend. And let me just say, I absolutely LOVE it here. This family is wonderful to me. My host parents, Dennis and Lena, have two children- Anna, who is 14, and Emil, who is 10. Both seem to be very interested in attaching themselves to my hips.
Dennis reminds me SO much of my dad. Intelligent, highly sarcastic. We get along very well. He was also an exchange student when he was younger, to Japan. We're interested in a lot of the same things, good literature, psychology, etc. He gave me a few books from his personal library to read, and I'm anxious to get started. We always seem to be able to find a good conversation topic.
Lena is a very sweet, motherly type, but also very bright. She is kind and laid back ( not to mention, a very good cook) This morning, she packed my lunch for me ( because she had ' extra time' ) and when I got home, she settled me into the tv room, and brought me home made pebbernødder, juice, and crackers to make it more ' hyggelig' for me. I feel so spoiled. By the way, for those of you who don't know what pebbernødder is, theyre traditional danish christmas treats, like little sugar and cinammon cookies. They taste a bit like teddy grahams haha, but I've grown to love them.
Anna loves Greenday, and Twilight ( like most girls these days) She's a good student, and has a good sense of humor. I think she wants to be an exchange student as well.
Emil reminds me a lot of my brother, Sam, who is very close to his age. I was accepted by him as soon as he found out I liked Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Not to mention my father being in the special forces, you should have seen his eyes pop. He likes to hang out in my room, see what I'm up to, and play the parachute game on my Ipod. And on weekends, you can be sure to hear the 'scratch scratch' of him searching through his lego box at 7 o'clock in the morning.
They also have a puppy, named Smut. ( To smut, or smutte, in danish means to leave quickly. Like if you have to be somewhere, maybe you're in a hurry, you can say ' Jeg smutte nu') Which fits him well, because he's a 6 month ball of energy. Always willing to play. Last night, he nudged open the door of my room while I was reading, took one of my flip flops, and ran back down the stairs. I had to chase him around for at least a few minutes trying to get it back. He's a quick little buggar.

Another plus is that, since Løjt ( where I live now) is only ten minutes from where I go to school in Aabenraa, I get to sleep in an hour and a half longer than usual (6:30), and I only have to take one bus! It's a very nice change.

Things are going very well for me. Granted, of course it's still hard being away from home during the holidays, and I still miss certain people like crazy, but I'm in a much better mood more often. It's not that my last host family was bad or anything, they were very nice. But they were older, more introverted, and I tended to be ignored a lot. Spent a lot of time alone in my room because there was nothing else to do besides watch TV. Not to mention, with my seemingly constant lack of sleep, I was almost always tired, which dampened my spirits a bit too.

Next time, I will take a moment to jot down some Danish christmas traditions. They celebrate a bit differently than we do =)

Take care everyone


-Sydney

P.S. The way my name would be pronounced in Danish is " SOOHL-nee" The family teases me by calling me that sometimes. =)

Apologies for not writing for so long. I've had a really rough month for reasons that have little to nothing to do with my exchange.
Anywho, things with my exchange have been going well, I can't complain. Picking up on the danish ( slowly it seems) since I am in fact learning two different types of Danish. I hear proper Danish at school, and at home they speak a dialect called Sønderjysk. ( I think thats how its spelled) So its a bit hard for me, but I shall prevail, as always. My understanding is probably up to about.. ohh... 30-40 percent if I concentrate. It's sounding less like gibberish every day, which is definitely a plus.
It is also in fact, getting colder by the day. Apparently I dropped in just in time for the coldest autumn Denmark has had in nearly twenty years. That's me, just sharing a bit of the sunshine state with Scandinavia. The Autumn colors are beautiful though, I really really need to get better about taking pictures... my camera is more often than not out of battery.
I should be switching families some time this month. Although there was an unfortunate incident with my second host family that involved an old refridgerator and their house suffering severe fire damage. I'll find out soon whether I'll be going to them, or if we have to turn my third host family into my second. I suppose we'll see.

I promise to make an effort to write more frequently.

Ill just leave with a couple random things I've noticed about the Danes ( in case anyones interested)

1- They LOVE black licorice. You know how in the states its kinda hard to find on the off chance there was actually anyone looking for it ? Yeah, not here. You cant go into any store that sells some sort of snacks without finding it. 'Lakrids' they call it. Lakrids candies, Lakrids lollipops, I've even seen Lakrids ice cream syrup. Yum.

2- As far as fashion goes, leggings, skinny jeans, and scarves are all the rage. Perhaps thats just all over Europe, I'm not sure. Oh, they also have this strange trend where the girls thought it would be cool to have a dentist put a diamond in their right kanine tooth. I bet the look on my face was priceless the first time I saw it. " Wait a sec... did I just see a diamond in your tooth...?"

3- I'm pretty sure this one goes for all or most of Scandinavia. During a conversation, in addition to an occasional nod, or an 'mhmm', people like to take a sharp breath. Like a gasp. This confused the heck out of me for a while. I'd be telling my host father about something completely normal, and he'd gasp, with a straight look on his face. Uhh... I'm sorry, did I say something that surprised you...? Somehow they even manage to say ' yeah' while gasping. I dont know how in the world that becomes natural. I still cant do it if I try. Still catches me off guard. =)


Well there you go, Vi ses!

-Sydney

Had a great weekend with my third host family. My host sister Anna showed me around the nearby farm. It's kind of like a farm hotel haha. Quaint, cozy lil farm life experience for tourists. Kinda cool, climbing wall and horse rides for kids. Got to pet a goat, haha. Fed some chickens, rode horses with Anna. That was fun. =]

We went up to Ribe for the day, I got to watch the end of a Danish wedding. It was really cute, the bride and groom riding away in a black horse drawn carriage with the Danish flag waving overhead. I got pictures and stuff, which I have yet to upload. I'm pretty talented at procrastinating.

Had danish chinese food, that was interesting. Seeing blonde-haired, blue-eyed, danish-speaking girls in kimonos was pretty hysterical. Hard not to laugh at them, haha. I thought I ate quite a bit, but my host family ate nearly twice as much as I did, and I still could barely move. Surprised I was even able to walk out of there without help lol.

Went out to a field to watch a ' local phenomenon', something about half a trillion birds all gathering together at once. It was pretty cool, though I'm not sure it was worth standing out in the wind for an hour.

Det var en god weekend =]