Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Two weeks and counting...

So I know it's been a super duper long time since I've posted last, and honestly I've kinda been putting it off! Soooo much has happened in the last two months. I had my goodbye party, I flew internationally for the first time, I arrived in Denmark, I've started school, and started my new life here. I'll try to remember every awesome detail for you though!

The Friday before I left, I had my goodbye party, it was so much fun and extremely sad at the same time! We ate lots of food, played frisbee and had a fire. It was great to just relax and talk, not necessarily just about exchange but other things too.

Miss you guys!! ):

The following week was crazy! Of course the procrastinator in my put of major packing until just a few days before I left. Saturday I finally made a list, Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday I started piling things into the living room, and Thursday I was finally packing bags! I finished packing around 9 o'clock that night, which was much earlier than I expected. I sat on the floor with my bags and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing I could start relaxing, that the craziness was over! Sleeping that night was basically impossible; my nerves were finally starting to catch up with me.

The morning of my flight was the weirdest thing ever. My family went out for breakfast and it was the most normal thing in the world. It was weird knowing the next time they at breakfast I wouldn't be there. The hour drive to Sea-Tac was really quiet, it seemed to go by in 5 minutes. I got all checked in at the airport and sat with my parents for about an hour. Saying goodbye to my family was probably the hardest thing I've done on this trip so far. I saw my Dad cry for the fourth time in my life. Just thinking about it right now makes me get a bit homesick... When I finally got to my gate, I was surprised to find two other exchange students from Alaska going to Denmark! This really helped the wait go by really fast as we talked and talked and talked and talked. My flight boarded at 11:45, but we ended up sitting on the runway for almost an hour and didn't take off till nearly 1. The nine hour flight was not very fun. The food wasn't good, I was shmooshed between two people, but I think I collectively slept for about 4 hours. The airport in Amsterdam was huge! In order to get through to my next flight, I had to go through security...AGAIN! Which was just overall kind of annoying, not really that big of deal I suppose. I had a 3 hour layover, so I took the opportunity to freshen up. The flight to Aalborg, while only an hour, seemed to take FOREVER! But I finally arrived. (:


Second host family, me, first host family (minus Emil).

I arrived in Aalborg at 1:35 in the afternoon, which was an amazing time of 4:35 am back home! Needless to say I went to bed at 8:30 that night and slept for a solid 14 hours. The spent following week I walking around Støvring with my host sister, getting the lay of the land. I went shopping in Aalborg with my host sister and a friend of hers. I went and visited a viking museum with my host family, and saw some viking graves. (Super creepy...) Tried some Danish candy, including salty licorice! Which is quite yummy if I do say so myself...

I met with the school rektor (principal) on the Friday before school started and got to tour the school. The first thing I noticed was how clean and well taken care of everything is. There isn't gum all over the ground outside, chairs aren't half broken, the students actually take care of their school! So by the time Tuesday rolled around, I was so excited to start and meet my class. If you haven't talked to me already, you need to know, I LOVE THE DANISH SCHOOL SYSTEM! Even though we move from classroom to classroom, we still stay with the same classmates all day. My class was so welcoming and nice. At first I was a bit confused as to why no one was really speaking to me, but as time went on, I found out it was because they were worried about their English not being "good enough." I keep telling them not to worry and that I can understand them just fine. (: My host sister is in the same class as me, so she translates every now and then so I can kinda understand what's going on. Getting used to having my schedule change every day, is going to take some getting used to.

So, if you couldn't tell, I'm doing super duper well! I love it here and I know I'm going to have the best year of my life. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me...

Vi ses!
Kelsea Jo <3

4 comments:

  1. Hej! :D

    You actually like lakrids? YEHAAAW, finally a foreigner loves lakrids. :D

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  2. Haha my host sister said the same thing!!

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  3. You actually like salt lakrids from the first taste?? Amazing! Enjoy salt lakrids, I ate so much of it, love it and miss it!!! Luckily I have some that a friend sent me for my birthday. I'm going to take it with me to SE Asia.

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  4. OMG YOU LIKE SALTY LIQUORICE!? I LOVE YOU!
    All of my American friends kept telling me how disgusting and repulsive it tasted.. And I'm so happy you like the Danish school system - I love it too haha, shameless I know :p But I just prefer to stay with one class, instead of constantly changing classmates like I did in the U.S. :3

    WEE NEED TO SKYPE SOON! :D

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