Over (t)here in Denmark

My current stats:
Number of Months in Denmark: 10 months
Number of Months left in Denmark: 1 month
Days until Euro-Tour: 0
Packing status: Completed
Emotion status: Nervous

That's right, I said nervous! My brain is telling me "You're going around Europe tomorrow, for God's sake, be happy!" But I can't. I just a bad stomach ache if I think too much about it. Oh, don't worry, tomorrow morning when I see all my fellow exchange students, my attitude will change, and I'll be pumped-up and ready for this tour.

First stop: Berlin, Germany. I'll keep you updated via audblog as often as I can. Wish me luck, and I'll be back on the seventh of June!

Oh, and Anna is here! She's my twenty-year-old host sister, living and studying nature in Norway. I met her for the first time this morning, but we felt like we knew each other already. She's only visiting for a couple days, and I think she heads north again on Friday, the same day I depart. Anna is very, very fun. Her and I share the traveling bug, and we've been talking about the places we've seen and the places we wish to go. Anna's wish list: to work at a vineyard in Southern France and to bungee jump over Niagara Falls. My wish list: to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef and learn the art of meditation and zen in Tibetan temple or similar location.

Yes, the mailman did have my check! And after a whole big hassle with three different banks and exchanging to Danish kroner, I finally got my 500 euros. And this afternoon I went to visit the Espersen's to get my monthly allowance, and he gave me an extra 120 euros for the trip! Now I'm just giddy as a schoolgirl!

Yesterday evening my host mother Elin and I met Elin's friend Kiersten and my friend Jill in Copenhagen to go on a "women's run." There were 6,000 women running, and after we got our numbers, we were divided into groups and each group started about ten minutes after each other. Jill and I had signed up to do the run in over forty minutes, but we finished all five kilmeters in about 35 minutes! We felt the burn, believe me. We paused to walk and catch our breath only three times, and we ran the whole last kilometer. The end was great- we got really nifty gift bags and t-shirts. Jill and I kept our numbers to put on the backs of our Rotary jackets.

Hmph. Some last day of school. Nothing happened! I went to school, had my classmates sign in a memory book I had brought, and that was it! Last days are a lot more fun in Alaska. Yearbook-signing and parties and teachers letting you socialize in class ... I was out of school before nine o'clock. Which was fine- I've got lots to do before Friday.

It's noon, three days before Euro-Tour, and I am not ready. I have no money, and the check that my parents sent a week ago hasn't arrived. I'm in my room trying to begin to think about packing, while waiting for the mailman.

I despise Danish television, even if 75% of it is actually old American reruns, like Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210, and Sex in the City. I learned that they only just started having/using commercials in the last couple years, and Danish commercials are really bad. Most of them are about food or real estate agencies, with bad Danish actors in them.

A-ha! MAILMAN!

Go go gadget audioblogger! Don't ya'll love that little feature? I do. Like I said, I just call the number, record a post, and then poof! My own voice coming to you straight from wherever the heck I am at the moment.

Quickie post today - this weekend isn't going to be very exciting. Tomorrow and Tuesday are my last two days of school, and then I'll spend the rest of the week attempting to pack (emphasis on the word attempting), and getting some extra sleep-time before getting on that bus.

Fact: The Danish have no word for "porcupine." Just hedgehog. Fact: They've never heard of buses that are only used for taking children to school and back, without their parents. Fact: The Danish are candle-freaks. They love candles, especially around Christmastime. On the floor, the windowsills, the coffee tables, everywhere. Fact: Every single teenager in this country, and probably Sweden, too, owns a cell phone with texting abilities. I did have a cell phone, and I grew to love that little device. I was borrowing it from my first host mother, but she needed it back. Now I feel like I've lost a leg. I have no way of communicating with my friends when I'm out and about. Fact: When I leave, I will bring home with me at least three rolls of Danish toilet paper. This stuff is thick and luxurious, not like our crappy American generic toilet paper. Fact: Only five days until Euro-Tour, and counting ...

A long time ago in a far away land, all the knights of the kingdom were gathering to compete in a mighty tournament. The prince of a small kingdom had traveled many leagues to attend the tournament, and there he met the most beautiful lady. She was not royalty, she was in international market advertising, but he asked to see her again. She also fancied him, and they courted. Not so very long ago, he asked for her hand in marriage, and his kingdom has been joyfully rejoicing ever since.

Three years ago in Sydney, Australia, the Olympics were held. Prince Frederik came to make an appearance, and at a private party met attractive Tasmanian Mary Donaldson. At the time she was in international market advertising. They continued to see each other, despite the distance between. On October 8, 2003, Frederik asked her to marry him, and believe me, Denmark has been going nuts. The wedding is tomorrow, and you would not believe the hype building up. Preparations for the wedding are being aired on every channel, you can buy anything with the Danish and Australian flag on it (candles, pillowcases, napkins). Even the milk cartons that usually have a cartoon cow on them now have two kissing cows with wedding rings on. People named Mary and Frederik get to go to the movies for free. It's been stark raving mad in this country for the past week and a half, I'm not joking.

The actual ceremony begins at four pm tomorrow, and afterwards they will drive through Copenhagen waving to the crowds, all the way up north to Fredensborg, to Fredensborg Slot (a mere five-minute walk from my previous house) to their new home. I'll be meeting up with a bunch of the other exchange students around noon so we can go (along with the rest of the population of Denmark) to Vor Frue Kirke (Our Lady's Church), near Nørreport, to get as close as we can. It's just typical that I don't have a camera.

Today I skipped school (I know! I know! I'm a horrible person! I considered not putting that down, but you might as well know the truth! It's not like anyone truly cares - I only have three more days anyway!) to go to Tivoli with Katrina, Maria, and their cousin Mette. The first thing we did was go on the new roller coaster, the Demon, a total of five times. Later, we tried the Golden Tower, the Mine, and other thrilling rides that require lots of screaming! What was great was that as I was getting off the Golden Tower, who should be standing there waiting for me than Allistair, Michael, and Tavinio! "You were screaming the loudest on that ride - are you all right?" I love these boys, I have to tell you. The three girls wanted something to eat, so I let them go while I stayed and talked with the boys in the sunshine. I hadn't seen them in ages, like seven weeks! We all decided that was much too long to go without seeing each other, so we're meeting in Copenhagen tomorrow for the wedding.

There is this very strange habit that many Danes seem to have, especially Danish women. Now that I think about it, all three of my host mothers do/did it. They say the word "ja" (yes) while inhaling. The other exchange students agree; it's very common, and it's very strange. You'll probably try to say it when you read this, and it takes some practice. It's not just gasping, it's actually saying "yeah" while breathing in. Difficult, weird, and Danish. Try it.

And Danes really like to speak over each other. Where I'm from, if someone speaks over you, you either A) stop and let them speak, or B) speak louder than they are in an attempt to get them to shut up until you are finished. In Denmark, both persons just keep speaking in normal tones, over each other, while still having a conversation, and still comprehending what the other is saying. It's fascinating to watch, really.

I recently read Jess's blog, and she had a post that described how whenever an exchange student is confronted with a problem, the most common solution is "the Rotary smile." For example, whenever someone bashes your country, you pull "the Rotary smile." When people ask how your host family is, and in fact they're horrible, you just do "the Rotary smile." You get the idea: we just let it go. I admit that that was my course of action in the beginning of my exchange, but I'm here to tell any exchange students out there, this is the wrong course of action. You should not have to just smile and nod and let things go. All right, when people put down your country and your president to your face (and it's happened to me many a time), it's best to just let them think what they want. You don't have to do the Rotary smile, but you don't have to stand there and take it. But if your host family is not treating you right, which was the case with my second host family, you have the right to do something about it. My second host family spoke to me very little, and didn't include me in their family. I was very lonely and depressed, and the only people I confided in were Ang, Jill, and Chia Ling. I finally went to my counselor in February, though I should have gone months earlier. I was able to switch to this family about three weeks early, which was great. My point is, if you happen to be an exchange student, you're inclined to use "the Rotary smile" when you shouldn't have to.

Oh, and a huge Happy Belated Mother's Day! A shout-out to my wonderful, beyond-cool, sweeter-than-sugar mum, who (though a little reluctantly) let me go on this wild trip even at my young, innocent age! I will always be grateful! Smooches 'n hugs 'n lots of love, Mom!

Sorry about the gaping chasm since the last post. I could say I've been busy ... but I really haven't. I just haven't been hit with inspiration lately.

When I arrived at school this morning, ready to take my English exam, I went up to the third floor where my class was already hard at work (I only have to take half of it--that's why I came late), and I checked the list of students taking the exams, and my name wasn't on it. I go down to the offices and hunt down Vibeke (another common Danish name, pronounced Vee-buh-kuh), the woman in charge of who gets to take exams and who doesn't, and I learn that (surprise, surprise): I'm not to take any official exams! This information would have been useful to me months ago, but I guess better late than never. By now I'm used to being the last to know things.

This and next week are going to be filled with getting all sorts of things done, including sending stuff home so I can fit everything into my suitcases (you would not believe how much more stuff I have accumulated), packing for Euro-Tour (which I'll get to in a second), getting school things taken care of (returning books, talking to a couple teachers about recommendations), and squeezing in all sorts of Denmark-goodness, like going to Tivoli with Katrine and Maria on Thursday and watching the wedding on Friday. What wedding? you might ask. Where have you been? I'd say right back. The Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (talk about Prince Charming), and Ms. Mary Donaldson of Australia are to be royally hitched this Friday.

The last day of school is Friday, May 21st, and that's the day Euro-Tour begins. I'm getting up at the crack of dawn because we have to drive me and my luggage to Ellebjerg Station in Copenhagen by 7 am. Ellebjerg is one of the departure stations for the Zealand Bus. There will be three buses in all for the exchange students in Denmark; one from Jutland, one from Fyn, and one from Zealand. The buses are two days apart, and my bus is the third to leave. There will be 54 students on my bus. I repeat, 54 students on one bus. I don't think I'm going to be getting much sleep for these 18 days. Our first stop is Berlin, and after that we're headed for Prague, Vienna, Paris, and much more. This is going to be crazy-go-nuts fun.

School is definitely winding down. Today was the last day for all third-years (Chia Ling rubs it in every chance she gets), and from here until the 21st of May (the last day of school), it's just practicing and preparing for the exams. Because I'm only planning on taking the English and Drama exams, I see no reason why I should be in school, too, so I'm going to see Mrs. Mynster tomorrow and see if I can wheedle my way out of the rest of the year. The chances of that happening are very, very slim, but it's worth a shot.

We played cricket today in our last gym class, and it was bunches of fun. Earlier in the year, we got to choose what sort of sport we wanted to do. You could choose volleyball and basketball, football and tennis, or aerobics and cricket. I'm not partial to any of the first four and didn't have a clue about cricket, but I like aerobics, so I went with that group, which turned out to be all girls. So for the whole year it's been just a group of girls every Wednesday, and it's been great. Today we had to dress all in white and wear white visors, and we set up a table outside where we had biscuits and tea while playing cricket. Now I mght not be fluent in Danish, but while Pernille (our gym teacher) was explaining all of this, I distinctly heard the words "British" and "snobs." So, there you have a genuine Danish evaluation of the Brits. If there happen to be any Brits reading this, please don't hate me, I didn't say it.

Wow, how fun was that? So so fun, that's how fun was that. I met Karina (other Alaskan in Denmark, but not an exchange student) and Caty (Michigan) in Helsingør today. Two very, very fun girls. They live way over there in Aalborg, but are visiting this island for the weekend. We went and checked out Kronborg, which was cool (even though if you've seen one castle in Denmark, you've basically seen them all). We took a tour down into the freezing cold casemates and saw Holger Danske, the statue of a giant viking who, legend has it, never lost a war, and if ever Denmark is attacked again, shall wake up and defend his country.

The SATs yesterday were pure torture. Afterwards my brain felt like it had been put through one of those janitor bucket squeegie things. But I survived, and I think I did all right. Last night it was my friend Maria's birthday par-tay, so I went and had fun with my Danish friends.

OK, Danish beds. What the heck? I haven't seen one spring mattress, just sofa-like mattress. They cover it with a sheet, then you only have a comforter over you, nothing else. And neither of them are tucked into the sides of your bed. I'm a real fidgeter when I'm asleep, so every morning I wake up all tangled up in both, or with both completely on the floor. And Danish pillows? They are all feather pillows. Those squashy things that deliver no support whatsoever. You have to fold them about four times to get any firmness, and in my opinion, you just shouldn't be able to fold a pillow four times.

Hey guys, this is going to be a pretty brief post, because right now we're experiencing thunder and lightning, which is a really big deal for me! We just don't get this kind of weather where I come from! When the lightning flashes in the sky, whoever is near me cracks up to see me get so scared and yet so excited at the same time. I've never seen such dark, angry clouds covering the sky like this! It's not very (OOH! THERE'S THE LIGHTNING AGAIN! one ... two ... three ... four ... and there's the thunder! Thrilling!) cold out, so the large window in my room is thrown open so I can see the sky!

Happy May Day! Post more later! OK, here we go again with the ... LIGHTNING!