Quote I Found - Random Post

Yesterday, I was looking through a Facebook group called "You Know You're a Rotary Youth Exchange Student When..." and found something interesting. Here it is:


"'And you.. you think you know everything?'

How will you know what is a dream…if you never made one come true.

How will you know what is an adventure … If you have never been on one.

How will you know what is anguish … If you ever said to your family and friends “see you soon” with eyes full of tears.

How will you know what is despair … If you did not get to a place, alone, and understanding almost nothing.

How will you know what is strange … If you’ve never been away from home.

How will you know what is diversity … If ever you shared the same roof, with people around the world.

How will you know what is tolerance … If you should ever get used to something different, even you do not like.

How will you know what is autonomy … If you never had to make decisions for yourself.

How will you know what it is to grow … If you never stopped being a child, to start a new course.

How will you know what is impotence … If you had ever wanted to hug someone, but a screen prevented it.

How will you know what is distance … If viewing a map, you’ve never asked “How far I am?”

How will you know what is a language … If you never had to learn one, to make new friends.

How will you know what is patriotism … If ever shouted “I love my country” holding a flag in hand.

How will you know what is a party … If ever you traveled hours to go to one.

How will you know what is an opportunity … If you never took advantage of one.

How will you know what is pride … If you never feel proud of yourself when you realize what you’ve accomplished.

How will you know what is a friend … If the circumstances never showed who are the real ones.

How will you know what is the family … If you never had one who supported you unconditionally.

How will you know what is the money … If you never had to manage it for yourself.

How will you know what is imagination … If you never thought at the time to go home.

How will you know what is the world … If you’ve never been an 'Exchange Student'”

Some of these are so true right now...and others are sure to follow. Thought this was an interesting quote, and figured I would share it. 

Second Day of School...and my day in general

Ok, so now I have caught up to the present. Today, I had History and Physics...

I guess I'll start with history because it was the most...interesting (?) I guess... When everyone walked into class and sat down my teacher decided to write on the chalkboard.............

"AMERICANS ARE FAT AND STUPID"   is what was written. Naturally, the entire class laughed... (not gonna lie) including myself. After everyone had their laughs, our teacher then wrote on another section of the board.......
"DANES ARE..."   At this point, I was asked to stand up and think of something to write. As soon as I stood up, my teacher stood as well and crossed off the "FAT" in his first sentence... After about five minutes, I still couldn't think of anything to write about Danes...after all, I've only been here for 2 weeks! My teacher then proceeded to put a giant circle around "STUPID" in his first sentence... If only I had thought of something clever to write...eh, too bad...lost my chance. I didn't mind it anyway...all in good fun, right?
    Once my teacher's little joke was over, we were told what we would be studying in the coming weeks...the United States Presidential Election.........just what I want to learn about on exchange to learn about Denmark! }:[ After that, our teacher played horrible metal songs about American freedom going wrong and war all the time and then we had to think of good and bad aspects of the US...weirdest class period ever!!!
    Oh.......another thing about Gymnasium in general... Class periods are 90 minutes, breaks in between are 20, classes can be cancelled, and free periods do exist. There are also beanbag chairs in the library for people to sit and nap on! Also, my class is not separated through the day. The same people in every class.
    I had 2nd period off, but the people in my class were in German...I knew no one in the cafeteria and went to sit alone at a random table with my trusty Deathly Hallows book. Time well spent, in my opinion! Then, 3rd period was physics...certain words I recognized, but I have given up on translating the words in between, for now.
   I had a pretty short day today,as well, and got home around 1:45...then started to read again.

Tonight, I was invited to go bowling with most of the people in my class. It was a lot of fun and it was also my first time out of the house without any of my host family members. I surprised myself by getting four strikes in a row in the third game but time ran out in the middle of it... >:[  After that, we all went to a pub not far from there, and talked. And before any of you wonder if I was drinking, I wasn't...I had a few cokes.
  I've found it is nice to have people to talk to other than the same handful of people. Homesickness is fading and I am starting to settle in, which I am happy about. I miss everyone back home, of course. All my family and friends, and hope you are all having awesome summers...This is the last post for tonight. Signing off for now! Godnat.

SOCCER

Ok. I am happy to inform everyone that I have found a soccer team that I am likely to play with over the course of this year! The coaches spoke mostly Danish, but thank God for demonstrations. One of the coaches explained everything to me as well... This is a pretty short post because I've only been to one practice...never realized how much I missed playing...even for just 2 months! Only one more post tonight. Will be posted soon!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

Isn't it weird to think that I have started school on the 16th of August?!? It is to me...funny to see everyone complaining... School is great so far, actually! I was placed in the second year of Gymnasium, which would be like High School but it's only three years and I am placed with 17 and 18 year olds. AG is in her first year, and is like a freshman. I got to the school around 8:40...SO MUCH BETTER THAN 6:30!!! And everything was crazy! First years had "1" drawn on their cheeks in red lipstick as an identifier, i guess. Then their hands were ziptied together and they had to take their shoes off...To those at Smithtown School, Freshman Friday is nothing compared to this! They then went through a maze in the school going into each and every room. I am not exactly sure what ws in other rooms, but in my classroom, it was a youtube video of the greatest movie insults of all time...and pointing and laughing. This is the Gymnasium's way of welcoming all new students in first year. After the "tour", everyone moves into the cafeteria area and the first years sat in the center, while upperclassmen dropped oats and rice from the balconies onto their heads!!! The morning was crazy and fun at the same time.
Not too soon after the rice and oats, everyone had to start going to class. I had Danish first...and we talked about poetry...i think. After Danish I was supposed to have English, but it was CANCELLED, yes, CANCELLED! HOW CONVENIENT, because I could leave after that...by 11:30 I was in the town with some friends (Yeah Friends! I was surprised too!) and buying some paper and pens. I was home by about 12:45...awesome school day!
Unfortunately, it rained the rest of the day...but I enjoyed it! Writing yet another post! Will be finished soon!

LEGOLAND

Ok, so this is really late and I apologize for that, but I've had a lot going on, lately, which is why there are going to be multiple posts tonight. This first post is about Legoland, where I went on the 11th of August. I HAD A GREAT TIME! It is a place where everyone can be a kid and LEGOS ARE EVERYWHERE, as can be expected. Here are some pictures!:

Me with three of the four Tennessee-ans...

Replica of City...made of legos, of course.

Smaller scale Skyscrapers

Movie Set!

Mount Rushmore was huge...and made of legos!!! If only I had that kind of time...

Now, Legoland is an amusement park, and therefore has rides like roller coasters and whatnot. It is different though from most amusement parks. Traditionally, most parks have a wide variety of rides, and so does Legoland. The difference is that all of the rides are lego themed and much more creative! Legoland prefers to avoid mainstream rides and attractions... There was one coaster that was ice themed, with  a penguin exhibit sort of thing integrated into the ride. At one point the coaster stopped dead with nowhere to go. I figured we would drop straight down which is what happened. The platform with the coaster dropped and the ride continued. There are a more pictures of course, but the take forever to upload, so they will go on facebook.
For all of my Harry Potter geeks out there (you know who you are!), I am pleased to inform you that I am now in possession of lego Ron Weasley and Rubeus Hagrid keychains!
That's all I have on Legoland! More pictures on Facebook! Off to write the next post...

Well...this is my second post. I am REALLY missing home right now...not great with dealing with it but I have an interesting few days ahead to get that off my mind. The quiet is a killer for me...unfortunately, the time that I used to enjoy is now filled with the sadness of not seeing everyone at home...in particular, my family. It's nighttime right now, which is, of course quiet time...figures, right? I know the homesickness will pass but it seems like forever from my perspective. I am determined, however, to push through and get over that.
Language is another contributor to my homesickness. Danish is a very difficult language and it takes time...key word being time... I learn new things everyday, including Danish, but it seems to be too much to take in. I am forgetting things (like I have been known to do) and remembering other things...I guess I am just overwhelmed.
While I am missing home and venting in this post, I DO NOT want anyone to think I am depressed or unhappy in any way! It's the daytime where I am able to forget my homesickness. Although returning home right now may seem like a good idea, I don't feel in my  heart that it would be the right thing for me to do. I know things will get better and that my feelings are just magnified by my confusion.
I think it is bad timing and the fact that I am not in school until 2 weeks into my exchange makes this more difficult. Basically, I am interacting with the same 3 or 4 people. This isn't bad and they're all awesome, but it isn't the kind of interaction I need to get the most out of this exchange.
Tomorrow, I am supposed to meet AG's biological father and her sister. I am not sure, however, what else we will be doing. Saturday is Legoland, like I said in my last post. And now, Tuesday, I am going to be on a train with my host family's neighbor exploring Denmark. The neighbor is a conductor, I guess, and it's less like exploring and more like seeing major Danish cities through a window. Which is fine because I will probably see more later in this exchange. What I'm not sure I like about Tuesday is that I have to be awake by 3:30AM! Not sure what is happening Wednesday, and Thursday..........School starts! Again, not sure what to expect, except that the first days will probably be difficult...what else is new? Wish me luck!
Sorry this post is so long again...and to bring anyone down...just venting.
To my family- I miss you all more than I can even say. Would love to see you guys!... :)Can't wait for skype this sunday with Mom, Dad, and Sam.
To my friends- miss you guys too!
Signing off again...Godnat.

First Post

Obviously, this is my first post on this blog, so it will be pretty long. So far, Denmark is great! This is the end of my 4th day here and I am still alive! I know everyone should be happy to know that. As expected, there are some distinct differences between the US and Denmark. First, I have discovered a Fanta soda flavor  exclusive to Denmark...It's called Exotic and the name fits it VERY well! Another discovery I've made is that     wall outlets have switches to save power...it only took about twenty minutes to figure that out (facepalm).

Outlets also have different shapes than do outlets in the US. It was hard to find a correct adapter to fit everything. There is daylight from 4:00AM to about 10:20PM in mid-summer!

This is about 9:00 PM.

In Denmark, if you don't have a bike, you can't go anywhere. Cars are only for long distances outside of town. The bike issued to me by rotary has a seat like a rock, which is uncomfortable, as can be imagined. 

AG, my host sister, just returned from her exchange to Australia about a month ago and has a heavy Aussie accent...I should have expected we would be going back and forth joking about accents and pronunciations! Some students from a community college in Tennessee are here for a different program. It's great to hear some American English spoken. I am going to Legoland with these students on Saturday. I don't really know what to expect, but I've been told it will be a day when I can act like a child...but I think I do a pretty good job of that all the time! 

I miss everyone back in the US and hope you are having wonderful summers, while it lasts. Hopefully the next post won't be so long, and awkward...(not a great chance of that...haha). Signing off for now...

Godnat (good night)