My Adventures In Denmark

Update of the officials and of the home situation. :)

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:20:33 GMT

Official name in Denmark: Am now known as 'Andy' to anyone over the age of 30.
Official nickname/what I am called in Denmark: Foreign kid.
Official weight: too much. But seriously, not bad compared to the other exchange students. hehehe...
Official height: 163cm, or roughly 5'3
Official lbs gained: *cough*
Official growth: around about a foot. (just kidding)
Offical favorite Danish food: potatoes
Offical favorite Danish candy: winegummies
Official temperature outside right now: in the twenties. wonderful. for the first time in about a month. hahaha.
Official language: Danish, generally.
Official fear: the fact that i have exactly 2 weeks left freaks me out.
Official thing missing: My exchange student friends who are already home. :(
Official time spent excercising today: Hmm...a few hours. I went to an amusement park!
Official second mother: Martin's mom. :D
Official favorite article of clothing: Isobel's white yoga pants
Official thing to do on weekends: Go out of Slagelse.
Official favorite cosmetic: de-shiny powder. this country is HUMID!
Official favourite shoes: my kawasakis (sneakers that they don't sell in Canada)
Official color of bedsheets: blue
Official hair color: Blonde
Official number of shoes: one. i need slops!
Official people missed: Caroline, Bertha, Claudio, Tess.
Official reason to cry: I'm going home in a skant 2 weeks!
Official cellphone number: still 45 5047 1394
Official eye color: browny-green
Official annoyance: nothing. i am content.
Official favorite Danish sentence: hmm...væk med dig. (go away, basically.)
Official favorite Danish word: kærlighed. It means love and sounds a lot prettier than it looks. hahaha.
Official number of host pets: 3 cats.
Official host pets: Knud and Ajka and Enzo. Wow, I actually remembered their names. hahah.
Official goodbye: Vi ses.

Annnnnd nowwwwww

What i've been up to the past few weeks.

Well, the week before last I spent a week on the west coast of Jutland, or the mainland. It's a big tourist area, mainly for Germans who love that the beaches are free and you can go topless if you so choose.

I spent the week there with a rotarian and his wife, Flemming and Vibeke, at their summer house. It was a small house, but very cute and very summerhouse-esque.

The town was called Blåvand, and the summerhouse was situated among a number of sanddunes, close enough to the beach to walk, but not so close as to have tourists tramping over the front lawn. (at least, that was how Flemming described it to me). (the irony of this was that there was no front lawn, and the car was parked inbetween to dunes....but it's the thought that counts, I suppose.)

After spending a lovely week with Flemming and Vibeke I spent a week with Wilhelm and Connie, two very successful hotel owners who had a beautiful house 8 km from Slagelse. As beautiful as the house was, the 8 km was rather inconvienent, but Wilhelm and Connie were really nice and drove me to Slagelse in the morning and back in the afternoons.

Then came the weekend I spent with the president of my rotary club, Steen, his wife Helle, and their 12 year old son Joarchim.

During the weekend I got the pleasure of seeing my rotary club president in a rather undignified position. We were at a garden party at some friends of his', and he was sitting in a lawn chair during dinner. He did so without realizing that his chair was slowly sinking lower and lower into the soft ground and ended up with his legs nearly up at his chest and he was unable to get out or move his chair.

It was probably in the top 10 funniest things I've ever seen in my life.

Also, their son Joarchim was a lot of fun...I've never had a little brother before, and he was a lot of fun. Hahaha.

And as of right now, I'm sitting in the house of my best Danish friend Martin, where I will be staying for the next week.

Things are good, I'm home in exactly 2 weeks and I couldn't be better. :D

See you soon

Angie

Den ny Lille Princesse!

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:04:31 GMT

In April I made an entry about Denmark's new little princess, the first girl since 1946. Well, yesterday (Canada Day!), she was baptized, and for the first time her name was released to the public.

The new princess, third in line to the throne of Denmark, is called Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe. Isabella is the spanish form of her mother Mary's middle name, Elizabeth. It's also the name of a queen of Denmark from the 16th Century. Henrietta was her maternal grandmother's name, Ingrid was her great grandmother's name, and Margrethe is the name of her paternal grandmother, and current queen of Denmark.

The princess.

The royal family. All in all a pretty good-looking bunch.

A normal summer day

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:00:27 GMT

Well, school's out here in Sunny Denmark. I use the term 'sunny' loosely as it's been raining on and off for two days now.

But anyways. I'm sure you're all wondering, 'just what does one do with one's self whilst not in school and not allowed to work?'

The answer is simple: eat kebab and hang out 'op i byen'....which means 'up in the town'. My most frequently used sentence with my host parents now a days is 'jeg skal op i byen'. (I'm going up in the town).

All the cool kids (i.e. me and my friends), like to hang out on the lawn in front of the church. It's really quite lovely on a sunny day when the grass is green and the birds are singing. We talk and sit and nap sometimes, and watch passersby.

I've had many people promise to take me to the beach when it gets warm, as we are about 20 minutes from it, but it's been too dreary lately for that, so I figure we'll go in July. I can't wait, I love the beach!

Other than that, I hang out at my friend Mikki's watching movies a lot, usually stupid ones, but occasionally we'll get a good one. Two new favourites of mine are Hooligans and The Boondock Saints, both of which you should all see and enjoy! Tomorrow I'm taking Fight Club, another favourite of mine down, and I'm going to get him to love it just as much as I do.

And I recently have started on the reading of books in Danish, which I'm quite enjoying. It's challenging, but very satisfying.

Just thought I'd let you all know what I occupy my time with.

Have a nice time doing summery things as well and it's officially 35 days until my triumphant return home on July 31. Possibly August 1, depending on time differences and the like.

Now some pictures!

Martin and I being goofy with a statue (block of rock with a hole in the middle...can that be considered a statue?)

Martin and I taking a little 'grandpa' on Caroline's leg (Grandpa is an expression the danes use to mean 'nap')

Europa tur! 3 fantastisk uger!

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:45:54 GMT

So, as most of you know, the reason I've been an absetee so long is that I have just been on a trip of some of the most fabulous places in Europe with 59 other exchange students from my island, Zealand.

This Eurotour was, hands down, the best part of my exchange.

First of all, the people were great. I had the greatest group of kids, I got along with everyone, and this was pretty much how everyone felt, we were all friends.

We also had the best chaperones, a guy named Tobias. He already knew most of the kids, having been there language school teacher, and even the ones he didn't know (like me), he got to know really quickly. He's one of the coolest people I've ever met, he speaks like 7 languages and is basically just a lot of fun and a really nice guy. The other chaperone was named Cemile, and she was quiet and slept a lot, but was nice.

Our tour guide was an older man named Per. He was, in a word, quite the character. He insisted we call him 'Papa', and constantly referred to himself in the third person. He made up a new nickname for us everyday. For example 'Papa wants all his sweet peaches back on the bus', 'Papa is very proud of his little frikadellers'.

Basically all the exchange students loved him. The girls competed to become his favourite, a much-coveted honour, as the favourite was granted use of the microphone, as well as given a little leniancy on certain things like the 'no one eats until it's all ready' sort of rules.

I was his favourite for the majority of the trip, due to a Henna-tattoo involving his name and a heart. Think the mom-heart type deal.

Anyways, on to the actual trip.

The first stop was Berlin. It poured rain in Denmark the day we left, but just after we crossed the border into Germany it got WARM.

Berlin was spent on a bus tour to see the main attractions, such as the wall, of course. After that we got some free time, and my friends and I chose to go and see the jewish war memorial, which was very cool. Most of the exchange students said Berlin was their least favourite city, but I quite liked it.

Second stop: Prague.

Or rather, second stop a prisoner of war camp just outside Prague. This was really interesting, but our tour guide had such a thick accent that I, fresh out of Denmark, had a lot of trouble understanding her, and therefore didn't get as much out of the tour as I would have liked to.

There's not much touristy stuff to do in Prague, so the day and a half we had there was spent taking advantage of the very low prices of food, clothing, and other things of the like.

We were all quite in love with Prague, the pricing and the overall prettyness of the city. My only dislike was the language, which was the only one of all the languages I came across that I couldn't even begin to understand. Danish helps with German and Dutch, and my 3 years of French (not to mention 16 years of reading the backs of cereal boxes in french), actually helped with French and Italian, but Czech was impossible.

The words, when you learn how to say them, are, however, quite fun to say. Smrtslini, the czech word for pie, is quite possibly my favourite word in the entire world. (I probably spelt it wrong, but yes, it does have 5 consonants in a row).

After Czech we were off to Vienna, where we saw the Hapsburgs summer home, the Hapsburgs being, of course, the Austrian royal family of which Marie Antoinette belonged to. I was thrilled to impart this knowledge upon my fellow exchange students, and some of them actually seemed interested, which is why I love exchange students.

Next was a long, long drive into Italy. Driving through northern Italy was so like the drive from Hinton to Jasper that I was nearly homesick, but of course, too busy to actually feel sadness.

We spent 3 nights in Italy, and got a much needed rest the second day, what with us just lazing about on the beach near our hotel. We stayed in a touristy town called Lido de Jesolo.

Our second full day in Italy we went to Venice. Venice was, by far, the biggest let down of the entire trip. It was not the romantic, beautiful city I'd been expecting, but rather a dirty, crumbling city with far, far too many tourists. Don't get me wrong, it was still beautiful, but it had none of the grandeur I'd been looking forward to. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

On the bright side, I rode in a Gondola, purchased some Venetian glass for a special person in Canada, and made friends with some pigeons.

Yes, that's right, I, Angie Volk, made friends with pigeons. Sort of. I'm still not a big fan but I let them sit on my arm which was huge progress.

Sadly, our time in Lido de Jesolo was too soon over, and we moved on to stay one night in San Remo, not an exciting town, just a one night stop.

The next day we travelled through to France. Or, more accurately, Monaco. Also known as my future home. Monaco is the most beautiful city/principality-type-thing I've ever seen, and I fell in love. We had a few hours in Monaco, and then moved on to our first french city, Avignon.

We stayed two nights in a youth hostel frighteningly similiar to the prisoner-of-war camp we visited in Czech. The food was bad, we had to rent blankets, and the water to shower with was cold.

Thankfully it was a beautiful town, so we were happy enough to be there. We travelled to see the Aquaducts one day, which were really nice.

After two nights we were once more on the road. Destination? Paris. The city most of the girls had been waiting for.

Paris is where we did the most touristy things. I saw Notre Dame, Arc de Triumph, The Louvre, and, of course, The Eiffel Tower.

These were all exactly what I'd been expecting, and I must say that I really enjoyed Paris. Our hotel, however, was in what can only be described as a bad side of town. Girls could not go out alone ever, and after dark we dared not venture out without a guy or two, preferably the biggest of the Brazilians.

We stayed 3 nights in Paris, and then we drove for ages to get to Brussels, Capital city of a country known for it's chocolates and it's beer. The chocolate was delicious.

We saw a statue of a little boy peeing that was supposedly word known and famous, and turned out to be about a foot high. I was not impressed. hahahaha.

After one short night in Belgium, it was off to the Netherlands, for my second time.

We had a canal tour around Amsterdam and I delighted in pointing out to my friends all the things I'd seen before. It was nice to be in a place where I knew my way around and could recognize things.

We didn't stay the night in the actual city of Amsterdam, rather, we were a ways outside the city in a town called Arnhem. It was not the best place for our last night on Eurotour, but we made the most of it and had a good time anyways.

The next day we returned to Denmark, really tired, really sad, but with a LOT of new experiences and friends.

Pictures:

eating some non-german food in Berlin
<---my roommates, and 3 of the coolest girls I've ever met. From left-to right. Isobel from South Africa, Tanya from Australia, me (ignore how blah I look, hahaha), and Tess from America.

The Hapsburg Castle

Us being silly in No-mans land between Czech Republic and Austria

Me, Leo from Brazil, Matt from Australia, and Tess on a Gondola in Venice (on my arm is the remains of my henna tattoo)

The eiffel tower at night

Beret. Because you can't go to France and not get a beret!

Påske ferie og min fødselsdag!

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:31:57 GMT

Hey all!

This will, unfortunately, not be very long as I'm on a library computer with a time limit, but just a quick update to let you all know how I'm doing!

So. As some of you know, I spent my easter vacation in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands.

I went with one of my closest exchange student buddies, Bertha from Ecuador.

In Amsterdam, I saw: Lots and lots and LOTS of flowers, mainly tulips but also Daffodils and other ones that I don't know the names of...Gardening is not my strongest suit!

I ate lunch along a canal, I visited the wolrd famous sex museum, as well as the Anne Frank museum.

I did not, unfortunately, go INSIDE the Anne Frank Museum, as there was a 2 hour line up, and it was very, VERY warm and we really did not want to wait for two hours in the blazing son.

Bertha and I wandered down the Red Light District, which is, I have to say, probably the craziest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

I met a lot of really interesting people in Amsterdam, most of them not Dutch. I met a group of French people, very nice french people, although they were not very impressed by my 7 words of Canadian French. Hahaha.

I also met 2 Canadian boys, twins who were backpacking across Europe. It was so nice to hear someone say 'eh', and sympathise with me while I whined about the lack of poutine.

I went home to Denmark a lot poorer, and with a killer Sunburn (yeah, that's right, I, Angela Volk, got a sunburn), but it was worth it after having one of the funnest weeks of my life!

ALSO

This past Saturday, April 28, was my birthday.

So, to celebrate the big 1-7, Friday night I went to a little town 10 minutes away from here to go to Bertha's school party, where I danced a lot, and made some new friends.

Saturday my host parents took me to see a glass museum, HolmeGaard, which was really cool, to see them making the glass and whatnot.

Saturday night I went to the movies with my Danish friends Martin and Emilie, and then went to Emilie's house afterwards.

Finally, Sunday, my host parents took me and two of my host sisters (Camilla and Mette), to Tivoli, the amusement park, where we spent several hours going on the rollar coasters and various other rides again and again.

All in all it was an extremely satisfying birthday!

ALSO:

The news that has been making headlines in Denmark the past week and a half:

Denmark has a new princess

April 21, the Australian crown princess Mary had her second royal baby, a little girl, the first princess born in Denmark since the Queen's youngest sister in 1946.

Her name hasn't been released, they're keeping it a secret until she is baptized, which I believe is happening May 3.

I just had to add that, as I LOVE the Danish Royal Family.

<---Bertha and I on the plane to start off our trip to Amsterdam!

<---eating lunch by a canal

<---the flowers, of course!

<---me at the sex museum

<---me rocking the big wooden shoes
<---this is the Dutch Royal Palace. Yeah, I didn't know they had monarch's either.

<---me being ridiculous with a some statues in Amsterdam. hahaha.

The Royal Family:

<---crown princess Mary, the new baby Princess, Crown Prince Fredrick, and Crown Prince Christian (18 months) (he looks happy, eh? hahah)

Anyways, time to go!

Angie

Louisiana (the one in Denmark, that is)

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:03:18 GMT

Last Thursday, I went with my art class to a musem.

It was the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, and is about an hour north of Copenhagen.

First of all, the museum is really, really gorgeous. It's right on the beach, and has a fabulous view. It's really modern buildings, and the lawn has art all over it

<---outside
<---part of the garden
<---part of the sculpture garden

As for the actual art, well, there was a special exibition when we went called 'Made in China', which featured all modern Chinese Art, which was rather interesting.

But, my very, very favourite part of the day was the fact that I saw paintings by Picasso, AND, one of my all time favourite paintings/works-of-art, Andy Warhol's Marilyn! (also Mao, by him, which is also pretty cool)

<---this is a poster, but it gives you the general idea of Picasso, anyways...

And:

Anyways, I realize this entry was mostly pictures, not much substance, but I wanted to write it before tomorrow, as tomorrow I'm gettng on a plane to spend my Easter holiday in Holland!

Expect pictures and stories when I return!

Love Angie

Ny familie!

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 12:35:13 GMT

Okay, so, I realize I do not update this enough, and I'm sorry, but I have been busy, what with moving to my third and last family and all!

Okay, so my last family. About them.

The parents are Inge and Søren (Soeren) Jestrup. They have 4 children, only one of whom lives at home.

Soeren is an ear nose and throat doctor (which I could use right now as I have a cold. Tragedy), and Inge is a midwife. They apparently work strange hours of the day and so I never really know when they're going to be home, which is fine by me, it just means I'll have to cook my own meals occasionally. If by 'cook' I mean 'I'll be eating toast'.

Anyways, on to my host siblings.

First of all, there is the host brother, Anders. He is in his twenties and lives in Copenhagen with his English girlfriend, JoAnne. I haven't met them yet, but apparently I will around Easter or so. Anders went on exchange to Australia when he was younger.

Next there are the twins, both girls, both 22 years old. They're named Mette and Pernille. I've met Mette, and I'll meet Pernille at Easter as well.

Funny story: Both the twins went on exchange to Canada the same year. Mette lived in Red Deer and Pernille lived in Westlock. That puts them, on their exchange year, a total of less than THREE HOURS away! Hahaha. They spent New Years and several other weekends together.

Lastly, there's Camilla, the only one of the kids who lives at home. She is 15 years old, and is going on exchange to Brazil in August.

So far she's really cool, we've bonded over our love of Friends.

Anyways, other new stuff.

So, I live about 15 minutes from school, by bike. Yes, that's right. Bike. I bike to school now. It's not so bad actually getting to school, it's pretty much downhill all the way, and I actually enjoy it a little bit. Going home, however, is another story. Let's just say that my legs are going to be very strong by ringette season again!

We had a little bit of trouble actually finding me a bike, as the one that I was going to use (my host sister Mette's), was about a foot too big for me, and I couldn't even get on it, let alone ride it. So for the time being, I'm using my host mom's, and I have to plead to Rotary tonight to see if they can find me one, otherwise...well, I'm out of luck.

Anyways...I'd write some more, but I'm on the computer at the library, and my time is about to run out, so I'd better post this before I lose it to cyberspace.

Love

Angie

200

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:39:08 GMT

That's how long I've been here, as of today. Just thought I'd share that with everyone.

Not much else is new...I know 3 people who have had birthdays this week....something in the water I guess. Hahaha.

I was at school all day and then I came home. And now I'm watching CSI, one of my favourite shows ever, despite how fake some people think it is. Hahaha. And I can hear my host brother and his EXTREMELY LOUD friends right next to me. But they're all okay guys. They have a fondness for bursting into my room unannounced and scaring the living daylights out of me, but other than that they're pretty nice.

Anyways,
Love

Angie

Winter! Really!

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:21:50 GMT

So we have winter here in Denmark. Sort of. Well, we did yesterday. Today all the snow is melted, but luckily I managed to get in all my winter fun yesterday!

First of all, my host sister Camilla and I took the dog for a walk, and then we came home and played with him in the backyard. We had a snowball fight, and then we got the little sled, tied Diesel to it, and let him pull us around the yard. Lots of fun.

I made a snowman! Woman. Thing. I'm not entirely certain whether or not it was a girl snowman or a boy snowman, as it had a flower in it's hair. Anyways, I named it Rocky, and it was approximately 1 foot high.

After this, we went inside and hung out for a while, and then a few hours later we took Diesel for another walk (he's a Lab/Malamut cross, he needs a lot of walks.), and we went behind my school. There was this ice pond thing, and I walked on the ice to try to persuade Diesel to come onto it. Camilla was like 'oh, you're going to fall, you're going to fall!'....I, being stubborn and sure of myself said 'No I'm not, see, I can jump!'. And jump I did. And then I heard a crack, and the next thing I knew I was knee high in COLD water, and Camilla was laughing at me really, really hard. But it was funny, so I can understand the laughter.

On the cold, soggy walk home, I ran into my friends Martin and Emilie, who had just been at my house looking for me, so we went and ordered pizza and sat in my room and watched TV. Emilie stayed the night, and it was nice.

Now my photo documentation of this snowy day:

Diesel the snow dog!
Rocky! (the flower on it's head I picked out of the ground.)
Flowers growing in the middle of the snow. Yes, strange, I know.

Changes

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:44:47 GMT

Hello everyone!

Monday I had an extremely interesting day.

First of all, after school (which ended at 12...), I hung out with Angie and Camilla. We drove to a town 10 minutes away to get delicious-almost-as-good-as-subway-but-not-quite sandwiches, and then we went back home and watched a movie. At 5:00, we did our makeup and made our hair all pretty, and then went for a drive. We took a ton of pictures, really girly and lame, but still so much fun. It's nice to have a girls night sometimes.

Anyways, later on Camilla wanted to show us where she and Kasper take Diesel for a walk so we drove to this dog training area for the military and when we got there Camilla decided it was too cold out to walk there, so she drove down into the field. We were only there for a few minutes and when we tried to leave we realized that we were STUCK!!! Camilla's car had sunk into the ground because it was so muddy!

Camilla was worried that she would get into trouble with her dad if she called him and told him she was stuck, because she was skipping English class, (though we justified this by speaking English all night). So instead, Angie and I got out of the car and pushed and pulled for an hour. The car did not move. Not an inch. We even tried using pieces of wood to create the 'leverage' thing my science teachers are always going on about....no movement, the front wheels were in at least 4 inches of mud.

Finally, we called Camilla's Uncle Alex, and he came and hauled us out. Phew, big sigh, adventure over. Except for the slightly-angry host dad when we got home. Angry because we'd missed dinner, that is. But all is better now, peace has been restored in the Aagaard-Hansen house. (I dare you to try to pronunce Aagaard. Hahaha.)

Anyways, other than that...not much else is new. Next weekend is Christian my host brother's 18th birthday, my friend Martin's 17th birthday, my friend Sandra's 18th, and my friend Jon's 19. So needless to say, it's going to be a busy weekend!

In other news:

As of yesterday, I have officially been in Denmark 6 months. It feels like 3. But, thinking back on everything I've done, I guess it has to be 6....

So what have I done...well, I've dyed my hair WAY too many times...I've cut half of it off. I've grown an inch, I swear! (that may be wishful thinking though), I've gained weight, as much as I hate to admit it.

I've made a ton of new friends. I've said good-bye to too many of them as they returned home just a couple weeks ago. I've acquired 2 new moms, 2 new dads, 3 new brothers, and 2 new sisters. Plus one brother I've never met. I've got 2 more dogs, and 3 cats.

I've been to Copenhagen, number 3 on the top shopping destinations in the world, more times than I can count. I've walked along the same street that Hans Christian Andersen did when he was writing, I've taken a picture with his lego-self.

I've been to Christiania and walked around, I've been in an art museum (and I didn't die of boredom.). I've rowed a viking ship, I've seen the tombs of nearly every single Danish monarch dating from 1000 years ago. I've seen where the Queen lives, and the crown prince and princess.

I can now say that I know way, way too much about the Danish royal family. I love them.

I've seen several Danish movies. Very funny.

I've eaten some very, very strange food. Salted licorice....(don't worry, I'll bring some back for everyone to try!), UFM (unidentifiable floating meat).

I've learned that the Danish word for a danish (the pastry), is ridiculously long, impossible to spell, and there's no way anyone back home will be able to pronounce it, so I'm not even going to write it down. That and I can't spell it. Hahaha.

I've been to Legoland. I've been to a famous glass blowing factory, and the ruins of old Danish castles (which, incidentally, aren't very impressive.)

I've learned the language Danish. Sort of. I've discovered that Danes understand me better when I slur all the words together so they sound like one big word, and speak fast. For example: Det var så lidt will not be understood. Devasålit will be.

Confusing, I know.

I've changed. A lot. I didn't realize it, but thinking back on how I acted and how I felt about things when I got here, I have changed. Maybe not as much as some people, but still, I've changed.

Anyways, I'm going to bed, but here's a little collage so you can see the many looks I've gone through this year: ( sorry it's so small! The website's being silly.Here's the link to a larger one: http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n281/angiela77/manylooksofme.jpg)

The Left hand pictures are what I look like now (as of Monday), and gradually moving to the right they get older and older. Generally. Big difference, eh?

Anyways, bedtime.

Love

Angie

Pangs

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 13:27:09 GMT

I've recently realized there are a lot of things about Canada that I miss, a lot.

Obviously, Frasier tops that list, followed by my friends and family. But here's my list of other things that I miss (and yes, most of it IS food.)

Peanut Butter (i'd kill for a peanut butter sandwich right now)
Good white bread (see above)
Unhealthy, sweetened Ice tea (the stuff here isn't that bad, but it's not that great either)
Real chocolate milk (all they have here is Kakao, which is disgusting)
SPCA (I miss you guys!)
understanding stuff in school (we take it for granted. Really.)
the ability to spell (yeah...)
the ability to remember words (my adjective list is seriously small.)
Captain Crunch (delicious!)
Lucky Charms (see above)
Any other sweet breakfast cereal (see above)
instant oatmeal (see above)
chocolate chips (I got some for christmas and made cookies and they were delicious)
hershey's kisses (Yummy!)
eggnog (a little seasonal, but Christmas just wasn't the same...)
pumpkin pie (see above)
apple pie (they don't have pie here. At all.)
Tim Hortons (I miss decent hot chocolate!)
Wendy's (best chicken nuggets. Ever.)
Mountain Dew (We have faxe kondi here, but it's just not the same)
Taquitos (words cannot describe)
The cookies from my school cafeteria (see above)
the subs from my school cafeteria (see above)
Good chinese food (Royal Garden ginger beef...mmm.)
sour skittles (the don't really do sour here...)
sour patch kids (see above)
cherry blasters (see above)
tootsie rolls (these are the most delicious things ever)
magazines in english that don't cost 10 dollars (I'm serious. ten dollars for a magazine.)
haircuts for under 40 dollars (The cheapest place in town is $45)
Subway (delicious!)
my desk (which my sister has apparently taken. Agh.)
my bed. (lovely, lovely bed...comfy and lovely...)
my room in general (very very lovely and cozy.)
my house (beautiful and lovely)
snow (sort of)
Mr. Big. (the chocolate bar)
Fruitopia Rasberry Kiwi juice (delicious!)

I think that's about it. Well, that's not EVERYTHING, but it's a fair list.

And if anyone wants to send me a letter, my address is:

Angie Volk
c/o Aagaard-Hansen
Tordenskjoldsgade 6
4200 Slagelse
Sjaelland
Denmark

Anyways, love

Angie

Grease - Danish style!

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:20:11 GMT

Hello one and all. I've been told by a little birdy that I don't update my blog enough, and I'm sorry. But not much interesting has been happening, due to the fact that I've settled into a little routine, almost. But anyways, I have something to write about now.

So last night I saw the school's production of 'Grease', as in the musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Now, it was, of course, in Danish. The songs, however, were English. Which made for a very confusing for me. But it was still good.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Top 5 Differences Between English 'Grease' and Danish 'Grease'

5) It's in Danish (obviously!)
4) There are two acts
3)They mix up the scenes and songs
2) The scenes in which they smoke, they smoke a real cigarette
1) The ENTIRE school shows up to watch it. (This may have had something to do with the party afterwards, but still...the ENTIRE school!)

__________________________________________________________________________

After Grease was over, there was a school party, but we weren't really in a party mood, so Caroline, my friend Emilie and I bought a ton of junk food, and the we sat on my bed and watched Pride and Prejudice and just had a really nice night lazing at home.

Other than that, the past few weeks have been fairly boring...I got my hair cut, to my shoulders (SHORT!)....that's sort of exciting. No pictures though, because I have once again forgotten to get batteries. Oops. More pictures soon, I promise!

Soooo....what else to say.

Well, we have no snow...it melted very soon after falling. Oh well. I got in at least 3 good snowballs.

As I have not much to write about, I think I'll answer the TOP FIVE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

5) What's the food like?
Well, it's almost the same as what we eat in Canada. Generally less spicy (though not with the family I'm with now), and more fatty...but it tastes really good.

Sidenote: Danish people are ADDICTED to potatoes. I swear, I've eaten more potatoes in 6 months here than I ever have in my entire life. When I go home, I'm either going to want to eat just potatoes, or never want to touch a potatoe again.

4) What are the people like?
Well, though they are generally good people, the Danes are reserved. Very few of them will go up to a stranger to start a conversation, so it's up to me to make the friends. Not that I have any problems with that.

Denmark is a European country, so fashion is very important. Boys here are much more into how they look and where they buy they're clothes, etc etc. Girls are as well, even more. I have seen more designer labels than I ever have in my entire life.

3) What are the schools like?
School is a lot different from home. First of all, no one is required to go to school past grade 9. At grade 9 you get to choose one of 5 options. These are: to go to grade 10, to go to business school, to go to the trade school, to go to gymnasium, or simply to quit school altogether and go to work, or not do anything.

For the schooling, Business school is specifically for those going into business. The trade school is for those going into a trade. The grade 10 is another grade for those who don't believe they're ready for gymnasium yet. It's similiar to repeating a grade, but not exactly the same. Gymnasium is the most common choice, and is for those either unsure of what they want, or for those who want to go to university.

I go to the gymnasium. The gymnasium has 3 years. What year you are in does not depend on your age, but rather on how many years of school you've had. See, in the first year you can have 16-18 year olds...this is because some kids go into school late, or some choose to do grade 10, or some even go on exchanges.

I am in the second year, and this is very unusual, as the average second year student is at least 17. I was put in the second year because they thought the other Angela (who is 18), and I were the same person, despite two last names, two host families, two addresses, two COUNTRIES, even. But anyways, we were put in the same class as one person.

Each students schedule (excluding exchange students), has between 8 and 10 subjects, each of which you generally have twice a week. Although this sounds bad, in reality you actually get a lot of spare time. The average Danish student in the second year of gymnasium gets an average of 3 spare periods a week. Sometimes more, occasionally less.

Another different thing about schooling here is that if your teacher is sick, they cancel the class and you get to go home, or sleep in. It's really great to wake up and get to go back to sleep because the teacher's sick. Hahaha.

Wow, that was a lot about school. I make myself sound like a nerd.

2) Have I been to Legoland/Tivoli/The Little Mermaid

People often ask me if I've seen the things that Denmark is most famous for...the answer is 'mostly'...

I have seen both Legoland and Tivoli, and posted blogs about both. I have not seen The Little Mermaid yet, but I promise you that when I do I will post pictures so everyone can see them.

Fun Facts: Slagelse (the town I live in), was a home to Hans Christian Andersen in his 30's and 40's, and in the middle of town there are painted footsteps showing the route he took everyday on his daily walk. Someday I'll post a picture of them up here as well.

And the number one most frequently asked question is:

1) Do you speak Danish yet?

That is a yes and at the same time a huge resounding 'no'....

I understand a lot of what is said to me (provided the speaker isn't speaking too quickly...Danes do that though. Speak quickly. I mean, you've all heard me speak, I'm a fast talker, but I have nothing, NOTHING on the Danes. Danish was a language invented for speed!).

Anyways, I understand a lot of what is said to me. The reason I don't speak it so well is simply because my vocabulary is so small, and my grammar horrible.

Actually, my pronunciation is pretty good for a foreigner (or so I'm told), and that's a big bonus point for me though. I think that together Caroline and I would be a great Danish speaker, because I have the accent and she knows the words.

But, I still have a long time left, and I am trying really hard. I do speak Danish with my host family, and one of my Danish friends. I even speak it with exchange student friends occasionally, though generally just to make the new ones (who can't understand), angry. Which is bad, but still very, very funny.

Anyways, it's late and I'm tired. I hope you found that if not fun and entertaining, at the very least informative. I apologize for the lack of funniness, the dramatic flair I usually use just isn't happening today!

Anyways

Love

Angie

Snow, and |\|00|35

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 21:42:33 GMT

Eh hem. *clears throat*

WE HAVE SNOW! REAL SNOW! SNOW THAT IS STICKING TO THE GROUND!

SEE????

Yes.

And now a picture of Caroline and I, in our snow apparel. Poor little American was cold. :(

A quote from Caroline: 'Unlike Angela, I was not born in the frozen tundra that is Canada, so I am not programmed to know what to do in extreme cold.'

Anyways, on to the real stuff that is not pictures.

So, we have real snow, and everyone is very excited and happy about that, especially me. I never knew I like snow so much, until I went through October, November, December and most of January without it. But I do. Like snow, that is. As long as it's not cold. The coldest it's been here is around -5°C so far, so it isn't 'cold' so much as 'chilly'....(though try telling that to the Danes who think I'm completely CRAZY for not wearing a big bulky winter jacket).

Anyways, enough Angie-ranting/raving about the snow.

So, the last of my 'oldies', Lucas has gone home. We weren't that close, because we didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. However, saying good-bye to him was still a little bit sad.

Anyways, then we got two new exchange students, Andrew and Robert.

Andrew (or Andy) is an Australian, and he's 16, turning 17 in February. He's really, REALLY tall, and skinny, and seems to be fairly nice. I haven't spent a lot of time with him yet, though.

Robert is my 'official' newbie, as he's in my Rotary Club. Therefore, I've spent more time with him. Robert (Bobby, Bobbers, Bobberino, as we're calling him [All names which he hates but will learn to love or at least accept] as we call him), is from New Zealand, and is 17, turning 18 in March. He's really cool, so far we get along really well.

Other than that, nothing else is new here....I've gotten my information about Eurotour, which is really exciting, and now I have to go, because my obsession of the month (the TV show HOUSE (you should watch it!)), is coming on, and I have to pay full attention.! Hahaha

Love

Angie
D
P.S. I would love an email or two (especially from my parents), if you can spare a minute. Thank you. :D

Elton was wrong...GOODBYE is the hardest word to say....

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:40:18 GMT

Today was really, really hard. One of my 'oldies' (an exchange student who has been here 6 months longer than I), named Roxie, is going home tomorrow, and I had to say goodbye to her today.

It was by far the very, very hardest thing I've had to do on exchange yet...It's way worse than saying good-bye to friends and family back home, because I don't know for sure when I'm going to see her again. IF I ever WILL even see her again.

Anyways, last Friday we all went to her host family's house for dinner, and then to my house for a bit, and then we went out in town a little bit, and it was a lot of fun.

Then today, it was Roxie's last 'Danish-for-foreigners-class', and I woke up late so only managed to make it to half of the class, but that was also really nice, we all drank tea and ate cookies, and signed this big Danish flag Roxie has, which was nice. Then, after lunch, we went and shared Roxie's last milkshake from Madison's, our favourite restaurant.

Then we went back to school so Roxie could say good-bye to her classmates, and I had to go home, so I hugged her and said good-bye, and I got all teary, which is SO unlike me, but it happened, and then she got teary, and Lucas got teary, and our Danish friend Lewis laughed at me. It was so nice. Not.

Anyways, just thought I would write about something not-fun for once.

Although I just have to remember, as the exchange students say, 'Det er ikke farvel, det er vi ses!' (It's not goodbye, it's see you later).

:D

So...Vi ses everyone!

That's Roxie, on the right, along with another dearly loved oldie who's leaving tomorrow, Katie Day from Nykøbing. She was our 'honourary oldie', as Roxie's best friend.

Elton was wrong...GOODBYE is the hardest word to say....

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:36:55 GMT

So...Vi ses everyone!

Glædelig Jule og Godt Nytår!

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 23:31:57 GMT

Okay, I’ve been trying to update my blog for a while now, but my computer is absolutely horrible and slow and it hates me a lot, so it’s been difficult.

So, the thing everyone wants to know about: Christmas.

I’ve made a little list of the most frequently asked questions, so that I can answer them all in a clear and concise manner, unlike the way most of my entries are, due to my scatterbrain.

Questions:

1. What are the decorations like?

2. What did you do to celebrate?

3. What is the food like?

4. What gifts did you get?

And now I shall answer these questions in a clear and concise manner.

What are the decorations like?

Well, the decorations are, inside, similar to the decorations you’ll find in most Canadian houses…a tree, various hanging things and little decorations that you put in places, just for decoration and show. However, outside is different. In Canada everyone has lights out and various things made of lights (I can’t remember what they’re called, though not for lack of trying!), but in Denmark, the only decorations outside are generally just on businesses, which makes for a pretty boring walk around town, and the complete LACK OF SNOW does not help. I’m serious, we have no snow. At all. It’s the first green Christmas/New Years that I can remember. And when I say green, I mean GREEN. As in the grass is still lush and vividly green, due to the excess amount of rain we receive.

What did you do to celebrate?

In short, a LOT. Danes absolutely LOVE Christmas time, and they use it as an excuse to get together several times to eat, drink and be merry.

Starting around the beginning of December, people start holding Julefrokosts, which means ‘Christmas lunches’. These, more often than not, are not lunches, but dinners that last until the wee hours of the morning. People generally attend at least one, usually two of them, with one for family and close friends, one for work, and a lot of classes in school hold their own Julefrokost’s as well.

My host mom’s sister Lone (pronounced Luna) and her husband Alex held the one for my family. This was a really nice time, because Lone and her Alex’s best friends happen to be John and Birgitte, Angie’s host parents, so Angie was there as well. We ate and ate, and then my host sister Camilla drove me, Kasper, Christian and Angie home, because we didn’t want to stay at the house until the wee hours of the morning, so Angie, Camilla and I all drank tea and watched Sex and the City.

!Funny Story Alert!

Now, at these Julefrokosts, everyone drinks a lot. The adults generally drink wine, beer, and Schnapps, a very Danish drink to have.

My host dad had a little too much to drink, and so decided that he wanted to go home. Now, by this time Camilla and I and the rest of us had already left, so the car was gone, so my host dad decided to walk home. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, except that Lone and Alex’s house is in Solbjerg, a good 8-10km from Slagelse, where I live. When my host mom realized he was gone, she called my host sister, who drove to go help look for him. They eventually found him walking along the side of the road in Havrebjerg, 3km from Lone and Alex’s place.

Now, for the real celebrations. For Danes, Christmas is a 3-4 day affair, over which time you eat way, WAY too much food, and those drinking consume far too much alcohol. It is in general a good time though.

On December 24, what we Canadians call Christmas Eve, the Danes consider this Christmas, and so on the 24^th we all piled our gifts into the car and drove to Lone and Alex’s place, where we were going to have Christmas.

We ate a huge meal, and let me tell you, they have the strangest way of doing things. First off, you eat a first course of fish (which I don’t eat…they don’t get offended, the opposite, in fact. They find it charming and foreign of me not to like fish, the same way they think it’s adorable that I can’t stand Rugbrød [rye bread]. I love Danish people. Hahaha.)

After the fish, you wait like half an hour, and then they pass around meat and potatoes. By the end of meat and potatoes (and a suspicious looking red salad-type thing that I didn’t touch), I was full, and not in the mood for eating anything more. But, being me, after a half hour or so had passed, I started to eat the potatoes left on my plate, just because they were there, mostly. Lone noticed this, and suddenly jumped up and ran screaming to the kitchen yelling ‘Angie’s hungry, Angie’s hungry!’. Of course, I protested and insisted I wasn’t, but then Christian (my host brother, if you had forgotten), leaned over and said ‘No, we have meat and potatoes again’….the same dish was passed around three times!

By this time, I was stuffed, but then, of course, we had to have dessert. We had ‘Ris á la monde’ or something like that…Almond rice pudding, it translates to indirectly, anyways. Anyways, it’s not only a delicious dessert, it’s also a game. There is one whole almond in the pudding, and the person who gets the almond gets a prize! Christian won, and got two chocolate santas.

Now, after dinner, the fun began. First, we held hands and danced around a Christmas tree. Yes, that is right, I’m not joking. A Christmas Tree, and we danced around it. I’m kicking myself for having forgotten my camera, so that I could show you a picture, but I didn’t, so I’m very sorry.

Anyways, then we opened presents, and my host siblings and I left earlier than the adults, and we went home to watch Sex and the City, as usual.

The next day we sat around in our Pajamas all day, and at 4 we had a massive Christmas lunch, just my family. We then played the game we’d received as an advent present, it’s called ‘Buzz’ and it’s almost like Jeopardy, only with several different kinds of games. We had the music one, and I am rather good at it. Anyways, we played this all night, and then went to bed.

The next day, we went to my host mom’s mother and father’s house, for yet another Christmas lunch. This one wasn’t that exciting, nothing big happened, we just ate a lot of food and had a nice time.

That was the end of the Christmas celebrations, and they were fun and nice and all that jazz. Different though, and I think when I return to Canada, next Christmas we may have to start dancing around a tree…(Be afraid, family, be very afraid!)

What is the food like?

The food is nothing really strange, but it’s still not the same as what we have in Canada. I ate a huge variety of things, tasting some food for the first time. I’ll just make a short list of my favourites, and also what I think needs to be mentioned:

The Good

Duck: There were over 8 different kinds of meat at our Christmas dinner. No lie, over EIGHT. I didn’t even know there were that many kinds of meat! (Exaggeration, of course, but still!). My all time favourite, however, was the duck. Yes, it’s true, I LOVE duck. Which is so strange, I was very anti-eating duck before Denmark, and now I just love it.

Quiche: Another thing I love. Quiche, for those who don’t know, is sort of an egg pie. It’s delicious!

Ris á la monde: Like I said before, it’s like Almond rice pudding. Very, very jummy, particularily with cherry sauce on top. We also had Rice pudding (without almonds), a few days earlier. We ate that with butter, sugar, and cinnamon. It was even more delicious.

The Bad

Snaps (pronounced Shnapps): It’s just a different, rather potent, kind of alcohol, I guess. The Danes like to say that every foreign person who tastes snaps for the first time has his or her very own unique Snaps face. Let’s just say I wish I had a picture of mine.

Fish: What’s there to say? I don’t like fish, period. End of discussion. And that’s okay!

Rugbrød: Now, I don’t like the kind of rye bread we have at home, it’s too sour. Well, if you’re with me on that, imagine that same kind of bread, only TWO HUNDERED TIMES STRONGER. And then you have rugbrød. I can neither eat nor pronounce it. Hahaha.

The Just Plain Ugly

Herring: I know I just said that I don’t like fish, but this particular fish gets a category of it’s own…it’s salty and disgusting. Danes like it on rugbrød, which, combined, officially makes it my own personal least favourite food! (Yes, it takes the cake over that pumpkin soup, mummy!!)

Unidentifiable Red Salad Type Thing: It looked gross, it smelled gross, and no one knew the english word for it, so I stayed far, far away!

Anyways, I’m getting hungry, so enough about food!

What gifts did you get?

Well, from my dear family back home, I got a stuffed pig (another to add to my collection, I love them dearly!), chocolate chips (my family’s looking forward to cookies!), and a wicked cool hat that I love. Thank you, dear family!

I got a lot of love in the form of cards and monetary gifts from family and friends, which is very much appreciated. Any monetary gifts are being put into my bank account to pay for my Eurotrip, in case anyone was wondering. :-D

My host family gave me a little teddy bear wearing a Danish flag sweater, a lovely Winnie-the-Pooh stationary box (which is holding all the christmas cards I got!), and some slippers. They also got me a beautiful Pandora Charm bracelet, and Angie got the same thing, which we thought was funny.

I also got some very Danish things…a candle holder from Holme Gaard, a very, very famous glassmaker, porcelain ducks named Rufus and Rumle from a store called TricTrac (also very danish), and, from my Rotary club, some beautiful Royal Porcelain candle holders.

Anyways, moving on from that.

NEW YEARS!

Happy New Years everyone!

For my new years, my host mom insisted I was at home for dinner with my host brother, host sister and her boyfriend, my host sister’s friend, and SEVEN of my host brother’s friends. At first it was really awkward, with no one really speaking to me because of the english thing, but after they had a few drinks, they amazingly become far, far warmer towards me. And then they start with the interrogation.

They’re completely amazed that at 16 I can drive, (well, I can’t, but I could if I hadn’t had a few issues with the learner’s test…heheh.) but I’m not allowed to drink until 18, because here it is the exact opposite. They also just like to talk about where I live, they think the whole ‘mountain’ thing is cool, because they don’t see mountains very often. And the sheer size of Canada blows them away. When I told them the closest town to Hinton is 45 minutes away, one boy, Mixs, was like

‘That’s like going to Copenhagen! And there’s like 16 towns between here and there!’.

Anyways, after dinner, at 10 o’clock, my friend Martin came to pick me up, and we went my friend Nadia’s house, for a tiny little party. There were only 5 of us there, but it was really really nice, because the other four were my best Danish friends, and it was just really cozy. ‘Hyggeligt’ as the Danes will say.

Then this morning, I woke up at Nadia’s and walked home, where I sat and watched movies with Camilla (my host sister), pretty much all day. We saw Loser, The Wedding Singer, Little Nicky, and What Woman Want, all one after the other, because they were all on TV.

Anyways, I think I shall retire soon to bed, and I promise to answer every email you send me, it’s just taking me a while, so I’m very sorry!

Anyways, have a nice new year!

Love Angie

Copying. :P

Sun, 10 Dec 2006 21:57:32 GMT

I'm copying my friend in Mexico YVONNE...her journal is much more fun than mine, so to spice mine up, I'm borrowing one of her ideas...

http://yvonneinmexico.livejournal.com if you're interested! :D

Official name in Denmark:Angela Louise Volk Hansen (prounounced Angela Louisa Wolk Hansen...heheh)
Official nickname/what I am called in Denmark: Canada (how original...)
Official weight: 62 kg, or 136.69 lb
Official height: 163cm, or roughly 5'3
Official lbs gained: 5
Official growth: 2cm! I'm serious! I grew!
Offical favorite Danish food: Fransk Hotdog
Offical favorite Danish candy: cheap cheap chocolate (technically it's German, but it's still cheap!)
Official temperature outside right now: 5°C (and wet...as usual)
Official language: My pathetic Danish, or my terrible English, or my good Danglish...
Official fear: I agree with Yvonne, having to go home...
Official thing missing: Fruitloops...so strange, as I barely eat them at home, but I got such a bad craving for them today....
Official time spent excercising today: roughly an hour...we went for a walk in the woods
Official second mother: Dorte Hansen
Official favorite article of clothing: my(okay Roxie's), gorgeous black shirt...-sigh-
Official thing to do on weekends: Parties!
Official favorite cosmetic: Chapstick my parents sent me...they're fabulous people for doing so, by the way...
Official favourite shoes: My adorable white and black flats (okay, they give me huge blisters, but they're cute!
Official color of bedsheets: green with a strange design...but they're pretty!
Official hair color: Reddish...
Official number of shoes: 2 pairs I actually wear
Official people missed: Erhm...all of you! I swear!
Official reason to cry: I'm watching Pearl Harbour...
Official cellphone number: (sadly I had to look this up on my phone)...45 5047 1394
Official eye color: browny-green (with red hair they look more green! yay!
Official annoyance: RAIN!
Official favorite Danish sentence: Jeg elsker ikke dig... (I love not you...it's what I said before I learned how to say I don't like you [just kidding around, of course...] and it's funny.)
Official favorite Danish word: flusmækker (fly swatter) (it's fun to say)
Official number of host pets: 3! I'm in heaven!
Official host pets: Diesel the MASSIVE dog, KitKat and Pimp the kittens.
Official goodbye: Vi ses hvem jeg er hjem!

I'll be doing a more detailed blog sometime soon...probably in the next few days...I have a lot to write about, but I'm lazy today, and so just did that.

Music huset, og Min nu familie! (The music house and my new family!)

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:08:40 GMT

Hello, one and all.

So, I'm sitting here in my new room in my new town, just below the pitter-patter of the feet of my new family. But I'll talk about them in a minute. Right now I have something else to talk about.

As some of you know, I haven't attended my rotary meetings as of late, because it conflicts with my hockey practice. However, they were sponsering a concert last Wednesday, and when my host-dad asked if I would like to go, well, of course I jumped at the chance to hear some good classical music and hang out with my lovely rotarians.

Seriously, though, I do enjoy classical music, to an extent, and my rotarians are nice enough to me. Though they tease me about my coffee drinking habits a little too much. (Mainly because I DO drink coffee here, only it's half milk with 8 sugar cubes...but it's still more than I drank at home!)

Anyways, when I found out my other exchange student friends Lucas and Roxie were going, that was good. It made me even more enthused. Then, when we arrived at the Musik hus (Music house), where the concert was to take place, we ran into our friend Bertha, another exchange student, from Ecuador, who lives in the town of Søro, which is about 10 minutes from Slagelse. We also met up with our friends from school, Martin and Mike. The six of us were the only people there under the age of 35, which was interesting, but not entirely unexpected.

We proceeded to take our seats, and a man came out and introduced the band, and then they got on stage and began to play. It was nice music, and reminded me of waltzing, or Pride and Prejudice, or both. It was lovely.

Then, a woman walked onstage in a ball gown, and began to sing! She had an absolutely stunning voice, with a vocal range that could rival Mariah Carey. She didn't sing all the time, but when she did, everytime her outfit changed...one song she'd have a wrap, gloves and dress, the next she'd have taken off the wrap and had a shrug on, then she took off the shrug and was left with dress and gloves. After intermission she changed dresses and did the same thing.

She sang in Danish, German, and even one song in English, or, at least, we think so. For the last song, she came out carrying a wine glass, pretending to be extremely drunk, got off the stage and proceeded to stun a few old rotary men by hitting an extremely high note while standing about 3 feet (1 m to my non-Canadian/American readers) away from them. At the end of the song, she splashed water all over the crowd, and it was, all in all, rather humorous.

So that was my night of culture in downtown Slagelse, and I enjoyed it very much!

___________________________________________________________________________________________

So now to the less entertaining half of my entry for the day.

Moving.

After procrastinating and procrastinating some more, I finally got everything packed Saturday, as my host-parents went to a birthday party, so I was home alone for the day. I have come to the conclusion that something in my bag has multiplied, because I definitely have far, far more stuff than I started out with this, and I haven't bought THAT much!

Or maybe I have.

But still! My bags were SO heavy. I may need to go through and wardrobe-smallify.

Anyways, enough of my bag whining.

After my parents got back from the birthday party, we all had a 'hyggeligt' (who-guh-lee). That's a word that can't be translated into any English word, but what it basically means is a 'cozy time'....only it's used as a noun, an adjective, and a verb. You can say 'let's have a hyggeligt, this was hyggeligt, let's hyggeligt' ....it's very Danish. It's the word that best describes their culture. But enough of your danish lesson for the day.

Anyways, what we did was have coffee and cake, and we talked, and played cards. Cribbage, to be exact. A game which they've never seen before, and which I introduced to my family. They really liked it, which was nice. I gave them a crib board as a parting gift.

Then they presented me with a sweater and a t-shirt, and a card with a beautiful message inside. I got a little teary eyed, as did they. It was all in all a very nice night, despite my damp eyes.

The next morning my host mom drove me to my new house at 11 Am.

My new host family is the Hansen family, and they live in Slagelse, about a 6 minute (I timed it) walk from my school, and a 10 minute walk from the center of town, where I go shopping. Too much.

But anyways. My new host family consists of my host parents, Dorte and Peder, my host sister Camilla, who lives on the top floor with her boyfriend Kasper, and my host brother Christian, who goes to an English school, so he is only home on the weekends.

Peder is a conductor on a train, so when we went to Copenhagen yesterday (more on that in a bit), we travelled in the first class compartment, where they give you free fruit, coffee, and tea! I also got to see where the driver of the train sits. Which, albeit pretty cool, was completely terrifying, as the driver was not assuring we didn't fly off the tracks at a million miles an hour and was, instead, doing a SUDOKU! But I managed to keep my cool, and sat back down and read my book for the remainder of the trip.

Camilla is 19, and is repeating her 3rd year of Gymnasium, so she can get better marks. I've been assigned to help her with her English, which is fine with me. Her boyfriend, Kasper, well, I'm unsure as to what he does, as I only saw him for 5 minutes or so, as he was heading out to do Kasperish things.

Christian, 17, is a former exchange student, he went to Oregon, USA last year, which is why he goes to an English school, to keep up his English. He's a very nice guy, sort of quiet, but still really nice. He slept most of yesterday, and left for school early this morning, so I haven't gotten a chance to really talk to him, but I'm sure next weekend I will.

Dorte is a homemaker in the wintertime, but in the summertime she runs the family's ice cream shop, down by the beach.

Interesting fact #1: Dorte, Camilla and Christian ALL have diabetes, so there is not a lot of sweet food in the house, which is good news for a rotary exchange student such as myself!

Interesting fact #2: The family has 3 animals. Two kittens who don't have names yet, but I've taken to calling them Kit-Kat and Twix, and I'm hoping they'll catch on. The 3rd is a MASSIVE 9-month-old German Sheperd, who is about the sweetest, softest, most adorable dog I've ever seen. (next to Fraiser, of course). I've completely fallen in love with him. Technically he's Camilla and Kasper's, but as they're rarely home, he's taken a liking to me (mainly because I let him climb all over me like a lap dog).

Anyways, the reason we went to Copenhagen yesterday was to see a football (soccer) match, one of Copenhagen's teams FCK (Football Club of Copenhagen. K because the Danish spelling of Copenhagen is København), against one from Randers (another city in Denmark). Peder is an avid FCK fan, so he knows everything about them. On their entire team, every player except 1 is Scandinavian. The one non-Danish, Norwegian or Swedish boy is none other than Atiba Hutchinson, a CANADIAN football (soccer) player! He's a first string forward, and he's REALLY good.

Anyways, the game was really fun, and FCK one, of course. They're number 1 in Denmark, and also fairly high ranked in the rest of Europe. They've recently beaten Manchester United! (As Martin explained it to me, that's a really really good team from England.)

So, that's all for today, folks. Tune in next time for more of Angie's fabulous adventures in Denmark!

Love Angie

P.S. If you notice my writing style has changed a bit (I'm not sure if it has or not), it's because I'm trying to use as much of my vocabulary as I can, in order to preserve it and not fail grade 11 and 12 english miserably. Hahaha.

English is a first language....

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 20:05:00 GMT

Sooo...........I don't complain about Denmark often, because there's nothing to complain about.

However.

I have something to say.

Being a foreign exchange student will KILL your english.

Seriously, complete and total annihilation.

I can't spell, I mix up my there, their, they're's, my grammar is horrible...I'm forgetting words left right and center.

I have trouble in english class sometimes.

I'm scared, because my danish isn't that good yet, so I may soon have to resort to crude sign language, grunts, and points.

Examples?

Okay. The other day, I forgot umbrella. I was shopping in Copenhagen with friends and I was like 'Hey guys, look at this cool...um...oh...what the heck do you call this?!??!!?'

In english class, the teacher will give us a simple english assignment, and the other Angela and I actually struggle on it. The teacher will come by and be like 'are you having DIFFICULTIES?!?!?'

And the best one I've had so far. I was talking online to my danish friend Martin, about Denmark and Canada.

Angie: I like the way both country's are run.

Martin: countries.

Angie: hvad? (danish for what)

Martin: You can't put an '...it shows possession.

Angie: -insert embarassed face here-

It was mortifying. Completely and totally. He hasn't let me live it down since.

Also:

The one that bugs me the most is how American I'm becoming. As you all know, my two best friends here are American.

I'm picking up American habits. The other day my host-dad said 'Angie, would you like some pop?' and I responded with an oh-so-not-Canadian 'What's pop? Oh, you mean soda!'

I also have an american accent. No one but myself and the other Angela really notices, but I hate it, and she teases me. I draw out my 'A's' too much...it bugs me. I can't stand the way I say my own name! It's horrible!

Anyways, just thought you all might get a few laughs out of my struggles. Nothing else new, same old same old.

Love Angie

Snow, Hair, and Cheerleading

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:11:27 GMT

Hi again, all.

2 updates in less than a week, I know, I know, amazing.

But so much has happened in the last two days that I HAVE to update, just because I think you may get a laugh or two out of it.

Okay.

YESTERDAY

Yesterday was the bad day to end all bad days.

First of all, I had to walk to school from the train station in the POURING RAIN. Apparently in fall/winter it rains. A LOT.

Anyways, I arrived at school soaked, but in one piece. And vowing to buy a coat.

Then I was informed by a classmate that the other Angela and I had both recieved letters in what we refer to as 'the pigeon hole', which is a little cubby hole that the classes recieve letters, reading materials, assignments, etc. in. Turns out they were letters saying that we missed too much school, except that we've hardly missed any.

We went to the office to get this sorted out, and we discovered the problem. Apparently we were still registered in classes that we dropped, in order to take other classes. So every time our class was in Biology or Religion or Ancient History, we were marked absent, even though we thought we'd dropped these classes. The office told us it was a mistake, and we were not to worry about it, so we didn't.

We finished school, and the other Angela and I went into town with an Australian exchange student named Roxie. I bought a coat, and a couple of scarfs, and then we went with Angela to get her hair cut.

After this I went home on the train, as I always do. However, on the train, they came around to check our train passes as they do occasionally. I presented mine and was told in rapid danish something about not computer and a post office and the next thing I knew, I was holding a ticket for 600 kr. in my hand. 600 kr is roughly $115, or an entire months allowance. So, needless to say, I was upset.

Then, because she'd been writing me a ticket, I missed my stop on the train. Luckily my friend Nic pointed this out to me, so I could get off at the next stop. Then I smiled pretty to get on the next bus, and walked home. In the rain.

I was past the point of steaming anger by the time I got home, and I was just plain sad. On the verge of tears, I waited until my host-mom got home. Luckily she understood why I'd been given a ticket, and told me that as it had been her and my host dad's fault, I wouldn't have to pay. Well, let me tell you, that made my day better instantly. I was still mad though, because the woman on the train had been extremely ignorant and unkind, completely ignoring the fact that I was an exchange student and not good at Danish.

I then went to hockey practice. I've always thought that running around for a couple hours does wonders for your temperment, and it didn't prove me wrong in this instance. I went home in a far better mood, albeit starving, and by 7:00 PM, I was laughing. And my thinking was this: After a day like that, how could tomorrow POSSIBLY be any worse?

TODAY

It almost was.

Oh, it started out fine.

It started out rather good, actually. I mean, I sat in History class for AGES, bored out of my mind, but that's fine.

And then we had Danish class, the one specifically for foreigners. In the middle of Danish class, it started to snow.

It had been lightly snowing all morning, but you could hardly tell it was snowing.

Now, however, it was massive, thick flakes falling from the skies. Of course, we all got excited. I, being a good Canadian, love snow, especially the first snow, as do the Americans. Well, okay, the other Angela wasn't too thrilled, but even she had to admit it was good.

Anyways, if us North Americans were happy, one of the Brazillians, Lucas, and the Australian, Roxie, were thrilled, as they'd only experienced one winter before, when they first arrived in Denmark.

The best reaction, however, was from the other Brazillian, Leo, and the Italian, Claudio. This was the first snow that they had ever seen!

We all jumped up and ran to go play outside, and it was a good 10 minutes before our teacher could get us all rounded up and back into the classroom.

I was so happy because of the snow...reminded me so much of home, but in a good way.

After lunch we were done with classes, so the other Angela, Caroline and I made a quick stop at a drugstore, bought hair dye, and then went to the hair-dresser, where I got my hair cut.

Drastically.

Okay, not DRASTICALLY, persay, so much as 'lots cut off'. My hair had been reaching..hmm..probably around the middle of my back. It now reaches just - JUST - below my shoulders. I also have real bangs and layers. I'm still undecided as to how I feel about this new haircut. It's short. Very short. Hahaha.

After that, Caroline, Angela and I went to my house to dye mine and Angela's hair, hers dark brown, mine black.

Sounds easy, and it should be.

However, things got complicated.

This being that halfway between the bus stop and my house I realized I'd forgotten the key to my house IN my house.

ENTER PANIC MODE

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, as my sister would be home from school in an hour.

However, it was snowing, the wind was blowing HARD, and it was FREEZING. We HAD to get in the house.

I made a quick call to my host parents to see if they had hidden a spare key somewhere. They hadn't. So we checked every door in the house, every groundfloor window, as well as all the doors to the garage.

Nothing.

Then Caroline noticed an upstairs window was open a crack. Unfortunately, this was high-up, and the roof leading up to it was steep.

Nevertheless, we decided we had to try. It was COLD.

So, Caroline being the lightest, she was elected to be the one to go up.

Have I mentioned that Angela was a teenager in America? She was. So we did some very professional cheerleading lifting of Caroline. It worked well, but we were not, however, counting on Caroline's fear of heights. Before she got a foot in the gutter to get up, she was begging for us to let her down. So down she came.

Now we had a problem. Caroline is skinny - very skinny - and small. Angela and I are not.

However, the freezing cold made us decide to try me.

They lifted me up, one supporting each foot. I got up, but then I didn't have anywhere to put my hands, and I couldn't get my foot in the gutter. However, they encouraged me, and, in my socks, I placed one foot in the gross, icky gutter. I managed to push myself up to an almost stand, leaning against the roof.

Now we ran into another problem.

The window wouldn't open.

It was only open 6 inches...not nearly enough for me to get through.

I knew I could open it further, but this required 2 hands, and I was using one of them to hold onto the window sill for dear life. Howver, I knew I had to risk it, and I let go.

I managed to get the window open, and I threw myself headfirst into the house. I could hear Caroline and Angela cheering as they ran around the house, and I let them into the house.

Feeling very accomplished with ourselves, myself with a newfound aspiration to become a cheerleader (hahaha), we dyed our hair without a hitch, and Caroline and Angela got themselves home in one piece.

That's all for now, hope you enjoyed my funny, (albeit slightly melodramatic), rendition of the past two days.

Love Angie

From left-right: me (last picture with long hair!), Claudio(Italian), Roxie(Australian), Caroline (Wisconsin, USA), Angela (New York, USA), Lucas(Brazil). Missing: Gustavo from Argentina, and Leo from Brazil (he's taking the picture)

Angela and my new hair!

SORRY SORRY SORRY

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:17:39 GMT

Hi all, once again it has been AGES since my last entry. I'm really getting extremely bad at updating, and for that I apoligize (apologise?) MOST sincerely.

Also, please excuse any spelling/grammatical mistakes I make, because in the past three weeks, as my Danish gets better my english starts to suck even more. For example, last night I was like lieing...no...lyeing. Then half an hour later I was like LYING! It was rather embarassing, as I was talking to a Danish boy and he was like...'yeah...I knew that.'

Anyways.

In the past...3 weeks, a lot has happened, so I expect that this shall be vague. If you want more details, feel free to email me at angievolk@hotmail.com. I love emails, and I respond to every single one. Generally quickly, although occasionally it takes a while. I try though, I really do.

Anyways.

So....the one you've all been waiting for.

I HAVE BEEN TO LEGOLAND!

Yes, indeed, I, Angela Louise Volk, have been to Legoland, the thing Denmark is best known for.

Trivia: Did you know that Lego stands for 'lege godt' which means 'play good'.

Anyways, about Legoland. It was really very cool, lots of famous things made of Lego. I saw the 'Miyajima Shrine', and the 'Golden Pavillion' in Lego. Which was fun, because I've seen them both in real life too. It was very exciting.

I had my picture taken with Hans Christian Anderson, (a lego version, of course), and if you tune in to 'Your Mountain Connection' in the near future, I'm sure you will see a photo of me with him. :-D

Anyways, that's about all I have to say about Legoland for now...

I also went to this place called Den Gamle By, which literally means 'The Old Town'. It's this place right smack in the middle of Århus, the second largest city in Denmark, and it's got all these really old houses and buildings they've brought in from different parts of Denmark. It's really, really cool. I bought postcards.

We visited my host mom's brother and their family, and they came to Legoland with us. There was a little cousin name Morton, who was 4. All day I was practicing my danish with him, and he understood most of what I said. I was so proud. By the end of the day, ve var venner (We were friends.)

The next weekend we took a roadtrip to Nykøbing Falster, to visit the best friends of my host parents. The entire family was extremely nice, although completely crazy.

Then this last weekend we had a rotary get-to-gether in Holbæk, an hour from my town. It had all the Rotary exchange students currently living in Denmark in attendance, totalling 163. Needless to say, it was crowded, loud, and fun.

I probably got around 6 hours of sleep the entire weekend, but it was worth it, seeing everyone from language camp. I also met a lot of the 'oldies' which was sad, because this weekend is the last time a lot of the oldies will see each other, so there were a lot of tears shed.

Anyways, that's about all I have to report. Like I said, it was vague, so if you want to know more, my email address is : angievolk@hotmail.com

Love Angie

All the exchange students currently in Denmark. You can't really see me, I'm in the back with the other 15 Canadians. :D

Denmark! Yay!

Sat, 07 Oct 2006 12:40:22 GMT

Hello all!

Since It's been AGES since my last entry, I figured I'd better get something up here before a crazy mob comes after me...hahaha.

Anyways, since my last entry, quite a lot has happened, so expect this to be either long or vague. I haven't quite decided which yet. It'll depend on how much my wrist hurts, I imagine. (I'm on a spare from school, so I'm writing this, not typing. As I haven't actually done much hand-writing in ages, I expect this will be rather painful.)

A couple weeks ago, September 22 to be precise, I went to Farmor's birthday party. Farmor quite literally means 'Father's mother'...Far is father, and Mor is mother. That's how Danish children refer to their grandparents, Farmor, Farfar, Morfar, and Mormor. It makes so much sense, I absolutely love it.

Anyways, it was Farmor's 75th birthday. It was nice, we had a lunch at a little restaurant by the sea, then we went to her house and had drinks and conversation until dinner. Of course, no one really talked to me, so it was rather boring. I mostly played with the little cousin, Camille. She really likes me...I went to her third birthday party a few weeks ago, and she remembered me. We went to the park, and she told me the danish names for everything, and we went on the swings and slides. (As for her teaching me words...I tend not to believe a thing she says, because last time I saw her she tried to convince me that a banana was an 'æble', and I know for a fact that æble is apple.

Anyways, at around 11 we finally went home.

Then next day we headed into Copenhagen to visit my host-brother Jakob. We also went to Tivoli. I didn't go on any rides or anything, we just walked around mostly. We also watched a show about Hans Christian Andersons fairytales. I almost-sort-of-kind-of-but-not-really understood it! I got what they were talking about, anyways.

Then after that it was business as usual, back to school for another boring week of re-reading the bookds I've read 5474846131968456 times already.

On the brightside, I made Danish friends. Last Wednesday and Thursday after school I hung out after school with them. Then I was invited to a party last Friday.

The party was held by a crazy boy named Martin. He's a really nice guy. But completely nuts. I've decided he's actually like a male version of me, to tell the truth. Which is slightly terrifying for people who know both of us, but lots of fun for me and him!

Anyways, then it was again business as usual, but last night (Friday), I went to another party.

This one was at another exchange student (Lucas)'s house. It was smaller, there were only about 12 people there, but we were all friends, so it was so much fun.

Anyways, that's about all that's happened recently, so I'm going to go now.

Hej Hej, Vi Ses! (hi-hi vee sees)(bye bye see you later)

Angie

That's a statue-like thing in Tivoli...it was dark when I went, or else I'd have better pictures.

Hi!

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:08:37 GMT

Hi! Wow, it's been ten days since my last update...time just flies over here. The irony of that statement is that I have been doing a whole lot of...not too much, actually.

Basically just what I'd be doing in Canada, in that I go to school, hang out with my friends, and go to hockey practice.

A few subtle differences of course.

A) I don't get homework
B) I get half a day to hang out with my friends, and they're from 6 different countries and
C) Hockey practice here involves less equipment, less ice, less pain, and less English.

Anyways, I'm having a great time.

Last Friday, the other Angie, Caroline and I had a sleepover at Angie's house, at which we practiced drinking wine (clearly a part of Danish culture), watched 4 movies in a row (not so much Danish culture...), and dyed Caroline's hair.

My funny story of the week:

I call it 'Dying Caroline's Hair: A Short Story'

The day before, (Friday the 15 of September), Caroline bought some dye to use to dye her dreadlocks. She chose Henna dye, as it is more environmentally and aromatically friendly, yet still capable of dying hair. After debating between buying one or two jars of the henna, she chose to buy one, us being the poor exchange students that we are. (Hint hint mom and dad...)

Anyways, as we were dying her hair Saturday morning, halfway through we realized that there was definitely NOT going to be enough dye.

Enter panic mode.

We had two options:

A) Find some way into Slagelse from Solbjerg

or

B) Leave Caroline's hair half black and half browny-orangey-reddish

Needless to say, we opted for option 'A'.

Our first thought was to have the other Angie's host-father drive us. This plan was quickly shot down, as he was too busy working to help us, due to his impending work-deadline.

Next, we contemplated taking a bus. Unfortunately, the busses stopped running to Solbjerg at 12:00 PM, and it was now 12:15.

We then contemplated walking or biking to Løve (4 km away), then catching a bus from Løve. Being exchange students however, and quickly approaching the much-sought after 'fat exchange student' title, this was not very appealing either.

Luckily, the other Angie's dad came through at the last minute, with a ride for us from his friend Luna. Luna just so happens to be the sister of my next host mother, and completely crazy. But crazy in a good way. If that's possible.

Anyways, half an hour later, we were back in business, and shortly thereafter Caroline had beautiful ENTIRELY black dreadlocks.

My host brother Jakob picked Caroline and I up later, dropped Caroline off in Skælskør, then took me home.

I hung around the rest of Saturday, as my host parents were in Jutland (the part of Denmark that's attached to Germany) for a pharmacist's conference thing.

Sunday my counsellor wanted me at his house at two o'clock, so I went, figuring it would be a meeting or something.

I was wrong.

Apparently it was a party of some sort. Even today I am unclear exactly what (or who) it was for, but that's alright.

Oh dear...it's raining. Rather hard actually.

Sorry. Where was I?

Oh yes, the party.

Anyways, the brazillian exchange student Lucas was supposed to be there as well, but he didn't show up until 6:30, leaving me alone with 20 Danish people for FOUR HOURS. NONE of the spoke to me. They just kept making me sit in the corner of the couch and saying 'read, read!'. So I read my book for the majority of the time.

That was a fun night. If by 'fun' I mean 'excrutiatingly boring'. Oh well.

School is hum-drum, boring as usual. It will get better. At least, that's what I hear.

Anyways, time for another fun-filled evening at rotary. Woo. Yay.

Bye for now!

Angie

P.S...email me! angievolk@hotmail.com

That's me inside an old viking castle near Viborg, which is on Jutland.

and that is a GORGEOUS old cathedral in the town of Viborg (near where my language camp was)

Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:28:42 GMT

Blargh. I have so much to write and I really don't want to. I love you guys an all, and I want to keep you updated, but I am so very extremely tired right now. Oh well, I'll write for you anyways.

Wow, it's been awhile since my last update.

I've basically just been doing the same old same old. Going to school, doing a ridiculous amount of nothing, etc. etc.

BUT! I'm starting to make Danish friends! In English class on Friday, we had a rousing discussion about cultural stereotypes, which was a lot of fun. They actually wanted to know our (the other Angela and I) opinions. Then, they asked if we were going to the school party. Which we weren't. But it was nice that they were interested in knowing.

As for why we didn't attend this school party, the first 'ADK' party, it was because we had to go to a city calle 'Roskilde' for a Rotary weekend. There were 37 Rotary Exchange Students there, both 'oldies' (students who have been here for 7 months), and 'newbies' (students who have been here for 1 month, i.e. me) Wow...a month already, I can't believe it!

Anyways, we took the train Friday afternoon (after getting out of school at noon...), and Friday night we had dinner and then some 'team-building activities' in which they observed our group behaviour. I felt rather like a lab-rat, but it was fun.

Saturday morning we went to a massive cathedral in which all the past Danish kings are buried, as well as most of the queens.

That was pretty cool...it was absolutely gorgeous inside, they were restoring the outside, so I didn't get any pictures of it, unfortunately. But I did take lots of pictures of inside.

My favorite coffin was the one of Dharma (Darma...?), anyways, she was the mother of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, and grandmother to Anastacia. Saturday was the last day to see her memorial/coffin, because they were moving it to Russia, so she could be placed next to her family.

After that we wandered around Roskilde for a little while, did some stuff, nothing that interesting.

Then we went for a sail on a viking ship.

It was a lot of fun, except Angela and Caroline were flogged by the ropes whipping around...I took the pictures to prove it!

Then the Søren, who was showing us how to row the boat,(Yes, we had to do it ourselves) made me raise the sail. The only problem with that is, the sail is considerably larger than me. So I had to jump up to get the sail to raise, and even then someone else had to finish hoisting it for me.

And THEN, then, I fell backwards and got stuck between two benches. Literally stuck - I couldn't move whatsoever, as my arms were stuck and I was in such an awkward position I couldn't get myself back up. My 'friends' Angela and Caroline weren't helping me, they were too busy A) laughing and/or B) grabbing their cameras.

Finally, Søren grabbed my lifejacket and with no effort at all, pulled me up and placed me on my chair. I was impressed, as he wasn't that large a guy.

Later that night we had a 'banquet', and we got 'dressed up' (I wore jeans and a nice-ish shirt), and basically hung out. Angela, Caroline and I were walking around the school we were in to get away from the karaeoke (it was BAD), and we ran into some Hungarians.

They spoke very, very little English, and kept talking to us in Hungarian, which we obviously didn't understand. Then, they all insisted on having their pictures taken with me. Not 'us', but 'me'. So I have about 7 Hungarian boys in love with me now. Don't ask me why.

Anyways, Saturday night we got little sleep because the Brazilian partiers were so loud, and now it's Sunday night and I'm tired, so I'm ending it here.

Angie

Me, Caroline, and Angela aboard the viking ship. :D

Handball, Castles and Sleepovers

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 19:20:44 GMT

Exactly 4 weeks and 12 hours ago, I embarked on the biggest adventure of my life.

Wow. A whole month already. Seems like just last week I got off of the plane. But then I think of everything I've done so far, and, well, yeah, I guess it has been a month.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Top 10 Ways You Can Tell You're Fitting In In Denmark

10) People know what you're talking about when you say the name of your town, Løve.
9) You can navigate the busses AND the trains all by yourself
8) People sit next to you on the train and bus, without having to.
7) The kids in your classes no longer stare at you like you're some sort of weird alien lifeform
6) Danish driving no longer seems crazy and frightening (even though it still is)
5) The sound of a bell immediately makes you jump to the left (bicycles are about to run you over...)
4) A wooden building seems more rare to you than a brick one
3) A one hour car trip seems like it takes 16 days to arrive at your destination, whereas in Canada you could drive for 3 hours in the blink of an eye
2) The guy at the kabob restaurant knows you by name, and knows what you want before you tell him
1) and the number one way you can tell you're fitting in in Denmark?

When the aforementioned biker dings his bell and you don't jump back soon enough, he yells a profanity at you,

AND YOU UNDERSTAND HIM...or, at least, mostly understand. You get the jist of it, anyways.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anyways, no