Intro Camp

The past week I have been in a town called Bjerringbrø, with all of the other exchange students that have arrived in Denmark this January, for an introduction camp. It was great to get to meet so many other exchange students from countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and South Africa.

Hockey! Red Team- Rød Hold!

Our days included around 6 hours of Danish lessons, as well as other activities and time to relax or talk to each other. We learnt a lot of Danish. After the past week I feel that I can understand more of the language, can gain some understanding from a piece of text, sound slightly less terrible with pronunciation and know the basis of the grammar and rules. It is going to take a lot of practice, but I finally feel like I am getting somewhere with this language! We even had the opportunity to write a post card to our host families in Danish, and to write a simple short story in Danish.

On Thursday we had the opportunity to have a day off Danish lessons and visit the second biggest city in Denmark, Århus. We began by visiting a small village called 'The Old Town', which is a collection of buildings and artefacts from all around Denmark that have been relocated to the village, all of which are 300-700 years old. The buildings are arranged in a way that replicates a 16th century Danish village, with the rooms also set up just as they would have been many years ago. I felt like I was in a fairytale or possibly the set of a movie, it was absolutely incredible to see!

After walking around the village, we were given a few hours to shop in the city centre; we felt almost frozen, so first off we went into a cafe to have a coffee and defrost! We spent the next few hours shopping. Going from the cold street into warm shops is a bit strange as there is a constant change of temperature, but it is something that you get used to. We decided to have a Kebab for lunch, which reminded me and one of the other girls of the Kebabs that we had at Schoolies, as they tasted just like the ones in Australia. We had a great afternoon shopping and I added to my growing collection of sweaters. One thing that I still find interesting and adorable is hearing toddlers and small children speaking Danish, as they walk through the shopping centre with their parents, mostly dressed in ski pants and jackets as it is so cold. 

I came home from the intro camp early today and have just re-packed my bags. Later tonight, my host family and I will begin the drive to Bad Gastein, Austria, for our skiing vacation! We will be driving through Germany, via the famous Autobahn (the highway with absolutely no speed limits!) and should arrive in Austria sometime tomorrow afternoon!