Over (t)here in Denmark

Yesterday for the Rotary meeting, we went to a large cow-farm on the outskirts of Hillerød. First we saw the younger ones, old enough to be away from their mothers, and so adorable! Big, brown eyes and wet noses, all too frightened to come too near but too curious to stay away. When you walked into the room where they were, they'd all freeze and look at you with their heads all cocked the same way. I had fun walking in and out of the room, watching them watch me, before Niels Erik called me away. There were cats everywhere in the barns where we were. I saw the room where the cows were herded in, around 20 at a time, and were fed while the workers attached these sucker-apparatus' to the udders. It smelled . . . milky. Milky and sterilized. I didn't really like it. Then we looked in the enormous barn where all of them slept and ate. It smelled so terrible I had to breathe through my mouth the whole time, but the cows were sweet. One of the Rotarians had brought a camera, and he says, "Here, let me take your picture with the other cows." Ha. Ha. Ha.

Then we got to see the pregnant mothers and the newborns! One calf had only been born three hours before we arrived, and he was trying to get the hang of standing on his stick-like legs and milking his mother at the same time. So cute! Of course my camera would run out of batteries minutes before we reached the newborns. Then we went to the house to eat dinner, and the two women who were serving us (one of which I assumed was the woman of the house) noticed I was the only American girl surrounded by Danish-speaking men, and invited me to sit with them in the adjoining room to talk.

I have play rehearsal again on Sunday for six hours, and we're painting the backdrops next week. The play is Wednesday. I play a deer. I'm not kidding. I have to run off of the stage while Jonas pretends to shoot me, and I have to be hit, fall, and die in the midst of the audience. How humiliating.

The Thanksgiving dinner for Rotary exchange students in District 1470 is Thursday night, and Chia Ling and I have been brainstorming things we could perform, because all of the students are supposed to present something.

The family in Fredensborg, the Rydzys, finally accepted, but they don't want me moving in until the 29th, and the Olsen's really only wanted me until the 1st of November, so they've already put up with me two weeks more than they said they would. I'm putting it this way because that's how I feel now. "Well, WE only said we'd keep her until November 1st!" "But WE don't want her until November 29th!" I'm going to stay with the Espersen's for a couple weeks, which isn't so bad because their grand-daughters are adorable, and come to visit often.

I recieved a brochure about Euro-Bus Tour 2004 in the mail yesterday, and I found out two things. 1) this tour is going to be absolutely amazing (Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, Holland) and 2) that the price is incredible. Maybe I should plan on just not buying anything for the rest of my exchange, and that might take care of half the price.

Saturday was a large fencing event in Copenhagen, and it consisted of a reenactment of the battle of Waterloo in the morning and a tournament in the afternoon. I won half and lost half during the afternoon, which is better than I expected to do. Yesterday was spent trying to clean up and clear out my room, and begin to pack some of the stuff I never use or need right now, because I'm pretty sure I move at the end of this week.

My class, and possibly most of the school, is divided into small groups and is working on a research project. No regular classes this week, all we're going to be doing is researching globalization, pros and cons. The teacher asked me to try and write an essay, too, but told me it could be in English. Finally an actual assignment!

Last night instead of the regular Rotary meeting, the three Rotary clubs met downtown to see a local comedy play, and Niels Erik and Ulla brought me along. It lasted for about two hours, and it was a bunch of small individual skits performed, not one long play. Some I understood, some I didn't, but I really enjoyed the ones that I could. Afterwards, they drove me home and gave me money for another month-long train pass, which is great because I hadn't expected another one. They're expensive and I thought that the reason I'd gotten one for the first couple months was because I had language school in Copenhagen. I showed Niels Erik the receipt for the ticket I had bought for Holbæk and he reimbursed me, and then Ulla gave me three hundred kroner, making me promise that I'd only spend it on boots. So now I'm financially stable for once in my life over here.

Sunday night I go to a play with my drama class, and I only have one more week with the Olsen's before I move to the next family.

I honestly don't understand how kids my age over here handle it. Last year, I was excellent at French. Now I'm forgetting my French and replacing it with Danish, because one language at a time is enough for me. But the students here are fluent in Danish and English, and are learning German, French, and Spanish on top of those. Unbelievable.

Went shopping in Copenhagen yesterday afternoon with a girl named Benedicte, but restrained myself from buying anything. Christmas is going to sneak up on me if I'm not careful with money, and I want to be able to send home some presents.