November and Moving time

Hey!

So since last time I wrote, I went to Holbæk, more school, Rotary meetings, and have moved on to my second host family.

From October 29-31, I was in Holbæk, about an hour outside of Copenhagen, with all the other exchange students in Denmark! It was a wonderful reunion with some of my closest friends since August. On Friday I left school early (12 noon) in order to make the almost 6 hour trip. Upon arriving at the school we were staying at, I realized we were going to be sleeping in classrooms on the floor. It was a very uncomfortable floor, too! But I made it work. So I was just walking around at first saying hi to everybody that I had not seen in almost 3 months, including being tackled and twirl-hugged. :D Finally, the rest of my friends arrived and then we had a welcoming speech. The rest of the night we just hung out, talked, and just had a great time seeing each other again!

There was also a Halloween party on Sunday where everyone had to dress up in a costume. The person who had the most funny, creative, and/or scary costume won ten kroner to the little snack bar at the school. That same night we had a talent show which included traditional acts from exchange students from each different country as well as some fun games on stage. It was so so much fun!! I joined in on one and it was amusing to everyone not participating, but not to me!! haha, but it was still pretty fun. The next day, we had to once again say goodbye to our friends and take the train back home. While a couple friends took a one hour train back home, it took me about 6 hours again to return home! But I was with at least one other student the whole time, so I wasn't bored.

I have been to Rotary meetings almost every week on Monday evenings. We eat dinner and then sometimes there is a visitor or we go on a 'field trip.' Last Monday, we had a visit from the district governor. It was pretty exciting because he spoke about what is happening with the clubs and then he asked me a series of questions. That was fun! He asked me questions about Rotary rules, what the consequences are if one breaks a rule (and is caught :P), and what I think are the biggest differences between school in the US and Denmark are. Everyone laughed so hard when I answered the second question- Man skal flyver hjemme! (One will fly home!) hahahaha!! Everyone was also extremely impressed by the fact that I understood and answered very well almost every question he asked me. It is important that I attend meetings as often as possible, as my last host father keeps repeating to me! :P

So, I say my last host father because this past Sunday, I moved to my second host family! My last weekend with them was one of the most bittersweet moments I have ever experienced. Last Tuesday was my host grandfathers 80th birthday, so last weekend we celebrated by going to a holiday resort where we rented a little house. My whole host family plus the grandparents lived together in the house. On Friday, I rode up to the resort with my host mom, brother, and sister. When we arrived, we settled into our rooms and ate some lunch/snacks. Then we watched t.v. for a little bit before going over the the activity center. We played bowling there. There were two teams. Team one was bedstefar, Henry, Marianne, and Lærke (grandfather, host dad, host mom, host sister). Team two was me, Jeppe, Line, and Piste (me, host brother, host sister, grandmother). It was so so much fun and amusing to watch the two old people try to carry and roll the bowling balls!! :P I haven't bowled since I was about 5 years old, so I was horrible at first, but then I got a double strike!! Everyone cheered for me! It was very exciting and I had so much fun with my family! After the match was over, we went over to the restaurant for dinner. We ate pizza, salad, bread, and we made our own ice cream sundaes! It such a fun night!

The next day, me, Marianne, Lærke, and Line went to the spa. We put our swimsuits on and received robes to put on over. We also received towels to use after going in the hot tub. There was a long pool of warm water with rocks at the bottom where we walked through first. It was a nice massage for the feet. I went with Line and we went to this room called the dampbad. It was basically a couple rooms filled with so much steam that you couldn't see anything or breath and it was so incredibly hot! We sat in there for about 5 minutes, then went into this stall where you have to climb down a short ladder into a pool of ice cold water! After that, we went upstairs and out on this balcony where there was a hot tub. It was snowing and there was snow on the ground, so it was incredibly beautiful and so nice to soak in the hot tub. Afterward, Line and I met up with Marianne and Lærke and we grabbed some fruit, water, and some magazines and we laid on some lounge chairs to relax.

After we came back to the house, we started making food and setting the table because we were having many guests, extended family of my host family, over for lunch. Lunch was very fun with so many people over, even though I had a hard time following the conversations! It was kind of like dinner at the Montague household!! :D Except in Danish! xD After lunch, I took a long nap- I was exhausted from such a hard day... Later we dressed up in fancy clothes and walked over to the restaurant for a buffet dinner. After dinner, we went down to the arcade/bowling/billiards room and played pool for a while. We walked back to the house and spent more time with our guests, talking and just hygger os!

The next day, we had breakfast together for the last time and drove home. As soon as we arrived home, I had to finish packing all my possessions. That evening, I left my first host family's house and we drove to my new host family's house. We ate dinner there, my first and second host families and me. After dessert, I said my goodbyes to my host parents and sister, almost in tears. Even though I know I can still see them when I visit, it was very hard to say goodbye. They were the most amazing people I have ever met and they supported me so much during my first few months in Denmark.

My new family is the two parents, one son who lives at home, and 3 more sons who go to university in Copenhagen. They definitely aren't as outgoing as the Jørgensen family, but they are very nice and have let me take my time to settle in. And now I live almost 30 minutes closer to Skive, where I go to school! And my new host mom, Bodil, drives me to school in the morning because she works in Skive.

So, school. There isn't much to write about it except that it's not much fun. :/ When I am actually in class, it is hard to pay attention for a long time because I still don't understand that much yet. But once class is over, I can just go with my class to either lunch or a short break before the next class or before going home. Last night, I went to my first parent-teacher conference. I was able to choose a max of 5 teachers to talk to and we had 5 minutes with each teacher. I went in with my first host parents and the teacher said a few things about what they thought of my work and then my host parents and I could ask questions or give our own opinions or concerns. I was very nervous because I felt that my teachers would say how I don't seem to participate in class. But that is because they speak so fast and I don't understand anything! However, they seemed very understanding of my situation and actually are very impressed with my ability at speaking Danish. They also gave me some suggestions on how to participate better, so it was very helpful!

My upcoming plans for the rest of November include skyping with the family on Thanksgiving and attempting to make my own Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday or Sunday! I will write again shortly after the start of December.

Med venlighilsen,
Sarah :)