It's finally starting to feel real...

Up until this point, going to Denmark has felt like a far away dream. Up until this point my conversations followed the routine "I'm going to be an exchange student!" "Really? Where?" "Denmark!!" "Where in Denmark? When do you leave? What school will you go to? Who will you live with?" and it always ended with me saying, "I don't know." Well last Tuesday, that all changed when my district received my guarantee forms. Since I was on vacation, my district youth exchange chair was amazing enough to scan them all and e-mail them to me. It's no longer a dream.

In my previous post I let everyone know I'm going to district 1440. Now I know I'm being hosted by the Rebild Rotary Club. Rebild is a neat county that actually holds the the largest 4th of July celebration outside of the United States! How cool is that??? I'll be living in Støvring, Denmark, a small town of about 7,000 people. I've had a chance to e-mail back and forth with my first host family. I'll have a host sister about a year younger than me and a host brother who's just a few months older than my own brother!! (And of course I can't forget about my host cat, Sofus!)  They seem absolutely amazing and I really think I'm going to enjoy my time with them. My family lives about a 3 minute walk away from the school (Støvring Gymnasium) both my host sister and I will be attending. They told me that the school actually focuses on music quite a bit! I'm absolutely ecstatic about that, it couldn't be a better fit!!

The little flag with the "A" is Støvring. The red "X" is Copenhagen.

Here are the only pictures I could find of my school. My host family said they might be able to send me one!

So I finally can give my friends an actual answer when we have that conversation. I actually have an answer. It's not a dream anymore. There are actually people in Denmark who look forward to me coming now, and that just makes me want to fly over there tomorrow even more!

Where do I go from here? Well right now I'm waiting to receive my guarantee forms from my district. As soon as they come, I'll get my visa application sent off to the consulate in New York and then I'll buy my plane tickets. Everyone who said it starts happening fast is right. I found out that Denmark wants me there on the 6th or 7th of August. I have two weeks left at my job and four weeks total till I leave for Denmark. Oh my goodness!! My emotions range everywhere from excited to nervous to happy to sad. I love it.

Indtil næste gang mine venner!

Kelsea Jo

DISTRICT!!

So two weeks ago, I found out my district!! Finally!!! I'll be going to district 1440. 

As you can see, it's in northern Denmark. If you look on a globe you will see, I'll be really near to both Norway and Sweden. Since then I filled out my information to their online database. Hopefully I'll have access to that soon so I can start finding out more information!! I'm starting to get a wee bit nervous, but I know it will all work out in the long run...

Indtil næste gang mine venner!
Kelsea Jo

The Adventure Begins

I thought I would go ahead and take my first post to answer some questions that have come up since August from friends and family.

Why do you want to go abroad?

I guess I always answer this question with a question: why not? Why not take the opportunity to live in another country and learn about their ways? I’m already ahead in school, so why not take a year, just for me? Just to learn and have fun for my benefit. It seems to me like the opportunity of a life time. I get to go to Denmark for 10-11 months, live with three different families, go to school, and learn to live in a totally different way than I’m used to. May sound crazy to you, but sounds like fun to me!!

Why gap year?

Honestly, this was a recent idea for me. I had never thought of going on exchange until this past summer, and by that time my only option was gap year. Honestly though, I’m very happy I’m doing a gap year exchange. I’m already done with high school, so I don’t have to worry about credits or coming back and finishing up high school. I’ll most likely be in the second year of gymnasium, so I’ll actually be almost the exact same age as the kids in my class. If I had gone my Junior or Senior year, I would have been a year or two younger.

Why Denmark?

One of my main reasons for picking Denmark was I wanted a country that was different. I didn’t want to come back and say, “I went to Denmark.” And then have other people say, “Oh I’ve been there too!” I wanted to go somewhere different, a place that wasn’t in the news all the time. When I came back I wanted to be able to educate people about the place I went to. On top of that, I’ve always loved the Scandinavian countries. They’re so pretty and have a very rich history.

Will you miss me?

Of course I’ll miss all of my friends and family! I mean most of us are leaving for college anyways, but you guys will come back for Christmas and Spring Break. I won’t!!

What's the time difference?

Denmark is GMT +1 or 9 hours ahead of PST.

Will you go to school? Won’t that be boring and just feel like a 5^th year of high school?

Of course! I will most likely go to the second year of gymnasium which is almost equivalent to senior year of high school here. I don’t think it will feel like a fifth year of high school because since I am in running start, I am already used to adapting to different teaching styles and I don’t really feel like I’m in high school anyways. Plus I will probably be spending more time trying to figure out what their saying more than being upset I have to do homework.

Where will you live?

I will live with 3 host families. I’ll get to live with each family for about 3-4 months.

What language do they speak?

They speak Dansk (Danish) and English is the primary second language.

Do you speak Danish?

No I do not. I know a few basics, and hope to pick up a little bit before I leave. But I will go basically not knowing the language and hope to be fluent by the time I return home.

That’s about it for now I think. I will definitely answer some more when I get them; I just really wanted to get my first post up! Today was the day I officially found out I am going to Denmark. I cannot wait to continue on this adventure…

Indtil næste gang mine venner!

Kelsea Jo <3