Over (t)here in Denmark

Happy Halloween.
Mine's not as happy as it would be if I was back home, but that might be because at home I'd be stuffing my face with bite-size Butterfinger and Reese's Pieces and M&M's, all for free. My host family felt my sorrow, and are letting me cook dinner for them tonight, sort of as a way to celebrate Halloween, so I'm making spaghetti with spaghetti sauce, and garlic bread and corn.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my counselor Niels Erik and his wife Ulla at the mall to watch Niels Erik play the accordian with his folk band. Tomorrow night I'm at Chia Ling's, and Sunday I have a six-hour play rehearsal.

I was in the local newspaper, and I wanted to get a couple more copies so that I could send more than one home, but all copies for this week were sold out. There were more than a few typos in the article, the most important one being that it says that I'm 18. I didn't say I was 18. Do I look 18?

Thanks to two nights and three days of hell-raising partying and all around fun, I sound like Al Pacino. I think it came to a grand total of five hours of sleep in three days. You haven't really lived until you see six or seven teenage Brazilian boys performing a war dance in their boxers. It's Monday, and my 100th day in the land of cheese, rye bread, and Tuborg.

I'll spare you the moment-by-moment plot, but my week-end was very entertaining. It had been planned by Danish rebounds, and they weren't much older than we were. It was held at a local high school, and the commons were transformed into a cafeteria/dance floor, and some classrooms were the sleeping rooms. There weren't many planned activities besides mealtimes, and we basically had free reign all week-end. Friday evening was spent saying "Hi! So good to see you again!" over and over, and Saturday we checked out Holbæk. The group I hung out with were Mike, Jeni, Crystal, Alison, Eva (Eva was a girl I hadn't met in Lyngby. She's from Texas and has these wicked dreads.), Ang, and Jill.

Later that afternoon, you could carve a pumpkin if you wanted, and I thought of my two sisters as I carved a bat. My sisters and I have carved our Halloween pumpkins together for as long as I can remember (Jen, Steph, I love you guys.). That evening, we changed into our costumes, and it was a riot seeing what people had chosen to dress up as. There was a Pippi Longstockings, quite a few witches and fairies, a sumo-wrestler, a Harry Potter (I was surprised there was only one), a couple cowboys and cowgirls, a toilet, and much more. I wasn't the only pirate, but I was told I looked the most convincing, sans eye-patch or fake sword or hook.

A fair few Rotarians from Holbæk came that evening to join in the entertainment, so I was a little embarrassed when a gang of girls came out dressed as naughty nurses, but the Rotarians must have been around exchange students before, because they didn't bat an eye.

We had an excellent dinner, then the entertainment began. Anyone was allowed to perform, and Ang from Chicago (dressed as Al Capone) brought down the house as the opening number, with a performance of "Fever" on the trumpet. There were jokes told and duets sang and some rugby maneuvers performed. All of the USA girls executed a wonderful rendition of "California Girls," and quite a few people teared up when a boy named Pat from Canada sang "Longest Summer," with his friend Ben on the acoustic guitar.
Then the tables were cleared away and most people went to change out of their costumes for the "discotek"(dance party). We couldn't really go all out on the dancing for some time, because the Rotarians were still there and we didn't want to deafen them with Eminem. But around midnight the last of them took their leave and a really great band came to play for us. There were lights and a smoke-machine and ear-pounding music, and we had ourselves a right good time. Even though the leaders of this little get-together had stressed from the kick-off that there was to be no alchohol whatsoever, by around 3 am Saturday night, even a couple of them were tipsy. No, I did not join in the drinking, and no, neither did the clique of friends I had stuck with over the week-end. I think I must have crawled into my sleeping bag around 6 am, and we were to be woken at 8. I woke up with no voice at all, but it's slowly been coming back, but really hoarse.

Sunday was a clean-up, pack-up, and say-goodbye day. The thing with exchange is, there are two times you can arrive, in January and in July. Half of the people there we weren't going to see again, because they will leave in December, and we'll meet a bunch of new people in March at the next get-together. So those who were leaving soon were at least tearing up, if not sobbing. I was dry-eyed until I saw the older Australian guys crying and hugging, then I couldn't help it. If seeing an eighteen-year-old boy sniffling doesn't get you to tear up, I don't know what will.

Now I'm looking forward to February, when my mom is going to come and visit me. And next month I'll be moving to a new family. The family that I will most likely move to has two boys, 12 and 14. I have always had two sisters, both back home and for my first family here. I've never had brothers, so I'm nervous.

Danish word of the day: pokkers = darn.

7000 miles away from home, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd groan at the sight of a package waiting on the front steps for me. My American Literature correspondence class has come, and it must be completed by March. That gives me a little over four months. It won't be easy, it won't be fun, but I can do it and I will do it, only because I will die of mortification if I have to graduate in 2006.

A man from the local newspaper called me yesterday and asked if I would like to do an interview about Halloween in America.

I have drama as one of my classes in school, and right now we are working on a play that we will be performing for the school. In Danish. That means not only must I memorize my lines in Danish, but I must remember when to say my lines in Danish. My teacher gave me a small part, but still, this isn't going to be easy.

This last week of fall break was full of blue skies and sunshine, and now that school has started up again, the clouds and the rain have returned.

Lolland was really fun. I love taking long train rides, and Rebecca and her host family were really nice. We met in Nykøbing and shopped around a little bit, then took a train to Maribo (pronouced My-a-boo) and walked to a really pretty church on a lake, then had dinner at an adorable little Italian cafe. From there, we went all the way to Nakskov, which is Rebecca's town. I must have spent almost five hours going there, and the same coming back.

Regular week this week, and Bent is taking me to the Rotary meeting this Thursday evening. There are two candidate families left for my second home, one lives in Fredensborg and one lives in Hornbak. Either way, I wouldn't be in Hillerød anymore, but Hornbak is about an hour away from my school, up north on the coast, so I'd much rather live in Fredensborg, closer to my school and to the town I know.

Last Thursday, I was going out with a couple friends, but when I got to the Copenhagen station where we were meeting, there must of have been fifteen people there. All exchange students in Denmark, friends that I made the first week here. They were in Copenhagen for the fall break, visiting. It was so great seeing them again, and I imagine that Holbæk will be much the same, and better.

The crown prince Frederik and his girlfriend, an Australian named Mary, are finally engaged. It's all over the headlines and the news, and everyone's really excited about it, except for most Danish teenage girls. Frederik is a popular hearthrob over here, and I must say I agree . . .

Last night was a such a mess. I don't want to go over the delicate details (don't worry, no alchohol was consumed) but Chia Ling and I missed every train we wanted to take, including the last one to our town, so we had to go halfway and then take a cab.

I miss ice cubes and microwaves. Very few people in Denmark have freezers and/or microwaves.

I woke up this morning to pouring rain, and my hopes of it clearing up before I had to go to school didn't come true. I was soaking wet by the time I got there.

Now that school is over for today, it's break, and I'm free for a whole week. Tonight my host family is going to dinner at a friend's house, and Anni always invites me to come along but makes sure I know that it's ok to say no. If I go, I expect I'll be pretty bored for several hours, plus I don't know the people they are going to see. My friends and I are going out in Copenhagen tonight. But before that, Anni is taking me to buy a sleeping bag, and then Anni, Maria, Katrine, and I are going to the mall for a little while, and I plan to walk out in some new shoes.

Tomorrow night is Chia Ling's birthday, and shes invited some friends over for a sleepover, which should be really fun.

Yesterday was the last day of language school, and instead of classes, Will, the Rotarian in charge of this language class for exchange students, came to talk with us. We wanted more classes, but he said there was nothing he could do. He wanted to know things like, what did we like about the class, what didn't we like, if we could change something what would we change, and so on. Then he handed out certificates one by one, shaking hands with the receiver and we all clapped for each person. I waited and waited and waited for him to call my name, and when he had no more envelopes in his hand and he said "Congratulations to all of you!" I didn't know what to say. No one really noticed I was empty-handed until I raised my hand. "Don't I get one, too?" I asked. Will didn't know why I didn't receive one. I had to give him my name and address and he said he'd talk to the man in charge of the certificate-making. Why does it seem these things always happen to me?

After that, there was a little party with food and drinks and music, but Jess, another American, knew I wanted to see the so-called American store. It's a store in Copenhagen full of, obviously, American food. We left early, and Jill came along, too. We took the train one stop further than Østerport, to Norreport, and walked down a pedestrian street. When we got there and I walked inside, I couldn't believe it. Oreos, Rice Roni, Hamburger Helper, ranch dressing, Cheerios . . . it was like a tiny little Fred Meyer's in the middle of Copenhagen. (This doesn't mean I wouldn't still like a surprise package of Oreos in the mail, guys.) I bought some chocolate chips so I could bake chocolate chip cookies someday next week. And then, on the way back to the station, we stopped in a cute vintage store and I found the perfect pirate shirt: white, with a really ruffle-y collar and sleeves, and old-fashioned button-loops. It has tiny silver sparkles on it, but I'm a female pirate, so it's all right.

My friend Rebecca from Lolland and I are trying to make a plan for me to take the train down there on Friday, spend the night, then the both of us would come back up and check out Copenhagen. Chia Ling and I have plans to shop together on Wednesday, and on days I don't have anything planned, I can shop independantly. And for rainy days, I now have new reading material. My dad sent me Gone with the Wind, and Under the Black Flag, a book about the golden age of piracy. My American Lit correspondence class should come in the mail soon.

Anni told me yesterday that she had emailed the people in charge of the Holbæk get-together, and told them I was coming, and that Niels Erik, my counselour, has sent them a check, so as soon as I finish putting together my pirate costume, I'm all set for Holbaek.

We're looking at mostly cloudy skies today with scattered showers for the rest of the week. It's starting to feel like Juneau over here in Denmark.

Pretty regular week this week, with fencing tonight and Thursday, and ceramics on Wednesday. Saturday in Chia Ling's birthday, so we ("we" being the gang from language class, including Elexa from Canada, Claudia from Mexico, Shannon from Oregon, Neysa from Indiana, and the group we collectively call "the Brazilians;" Tamiris, Marialia, and Pricilla) are all going out to eat Friday night.

Since school starts so darn early in the fall here, they don't just have Christmas break and spring break, they also have fall break! We have all of next week off to recuperate and relax. But ChiaLing and I like to look at a week off as prime shopping-time! We're going to be shopping for mittens and boots, and I'll be looking for accessories for my Halloween costume.

October 24-26, there is going to be a get-together for all of the exchange students in the country, most of whom I know because we spent our first week here all together in Lyngby. My Rotary club has offered to pay for me to go, and it'll be great seeing everyone again. There's going to be a Halloween party, and we're supposed to dress up, and I've decided to go as a pirate. The majority of Denmark doesn't celebrate Halloween - they see it as they see Valentine's Day: a reason for the candy companies to make more money. When I first heard this, I knew they were right, but my family back home and I always carve pumpkins and go trick-or-treating! I was glad when I heard that there was to be a Halloween party in Holbæk; an excuse for me to dress up.

I might have mentioned this before, but let me reiterate. I love the loose class schedules in my school. Yesterday our Danish class was cancelled, so we got out early, and today math class started at nine instead of at eight. I shouldn't really complain, though, because I already get two afternoons a week off! But this is the last week of language class, but my classmates and I are trying to change that. We only recently got our books, and because class ends so soon, we've been having to do ten pages of homework in order to get through the book! Not only are we starting to profit from these classes, we like the excuse to get together twice a week. Tobias, one of our teachers, told us that last year the students all emailed William, the Rotary guy in charge of the school, asking him for more time, and he extended the class for another couple months. We decided to do the same, and we all emailed him. Hopefully he'll consent.

My presentation to my club went really well. They let me conduct it in English this time, but they said the presentation in May must be done in Danish, so you can tell I'll be looking forward to that. In May I will be presenting what I did this year.

Speaking of Danish, I think I can speak pretty well now. Using the vocabulary I've built up and the grammer I'm getting used to, if you give me a sentence, mostly likely I can repeat it in Danish. I proved this with my family on the phone yesterday morning.

It's already October, and the weather is getting colder and colder. The first thing I'm going to buy with my stipend, which I receive tomorrow, is some gloves. My hands keep freezing to my bike handles.

Actually getting to Odense was half the fun. I missed the train I was to take from Copenhagen at 9 am, because construction delayed my train from Hillerød to Copenhagen, but another one left in twenty minutes. Getting on, it reminded of getting on an airplane. Everyone was stowing bags in the overhead compartments, and finding their seats, which looked like the seats on an airplane. The trains I usually take, ones that don't go as far or as fast as these nicer ones, are more like buses. This train was clean and comfortable. I had reserved a seat on this train, and when I found the right wagon and then the correct seat, I found a lady who appeared to be saving that seat for another person. I tried to squeeze by her to the seat, which was a window-seat, but she grabbed my backpack and pulled me back into the aisle, jabbering angrily in Danish. I, just as angrily, said, "I speak English, and that is MY seat! Look at the number!" She did, and mumbled an apology. A little peeved, I took my seat and got out my CD player. The ride was enjoyable and, besides the small fuss about the seat, uneventful. I listened to music and watched the countryside fly by. One feature I like about this country are the enormous wind-mill-like structures, that use wind to make power. I had expected to go over the water separating Zealand from Fyn, but instead, we went under. Through a tunnel for a long, long time, then, out again into the bright sunlight. Looking behind, I could see the ocean, and the island I had just left. The train ride took an hour and a half. Arriving in Odense, it didn't take me long to find Jeni. The train station was part of this huge shopping mall, including a cinema, so we actually spent all day in the train station! We didn't know Odense, so it was better to stay near the train station, anyway. We ate and shopped, shopped and ate. Mostly window-shopped. Late-afternoon, we went to the cinema and saw Pirates again, because she hadn't seen it yet. At 7:30, we went back to the train platforms, me on one platform, her on another, two train tracks in-between, and we were talking across the gap. I fell asleep on the train back to Hillerød, and was putting my bike in the garage about half past ten.

On Sunday, my best friend Brittany called early in the morning, late at night in Juneau where she was, and we must have talked for two hours! Then, later that afternoon, my parents called, and we talked about credits and school-stuff. I'm going to be able to graduate with my class, with some work. They are sending over another correspondence class for me to do, American Literature.

My week so far has been all right, nothing to comment on except today when no one told me the class had changed from math to english, so I basically wandered around for twenty minutes before finding Mrs. Mynster. She looked up something on the computer, and told me the correct room, a room that I know I had passed at least twice. When I finally stumbled into the right room, The teacher, Eva Lene, said, "Where have you been?" Not in an angry way, more amused. "We had Adam, Maria, and Ghita out looking for you!" I said, "I was looking for you! I've been looking for twenty minutes now!" They all laughed, I found a seat, and Mette showed me where we were in the book and the class continued.

Tomorrow I have to give my presentation to my Rotary club.