On Sunday night Grace P (who is also a Rotary exchange student from Australia) stayed over. On Monday, Grace and I went to the city of Århus, where we did some shopping and met up with some other exchange students from Australia and USA. It was quite a cold day, so we spent most of it inside shops, only going outside quickly to go into the next shop. Although I have been there a few times already, the beauty of some of the shopping streets in the city never fails to impress me. We walked down a street that I had not seen before, that had a small river/canal running through it; there was snow on each of the edges and seagulls were sitting on the snow. We caught the train back, which was my first time catching the train in Denmark. It is quite similar to in Australia, however it is over 3 times more expensive and the trains are much cleaner. It was nice sitting in the window seat, watching snowy fields, small villages, farms and windmills fly past.
It was great being on holidays having the time to sleep in and just relax, because until this week it hadn't really felt like I had had much time for that since I got here! I watched a couple of games of 'football' (soccer) on tv with my host siblings, helped cook dinner, went to gym with my host sister, passed the online test and filled out forms to upgrade to my Green Ps, showed my host family photos and told them about my life in Australia and watched a few movies with Danish subtitles with my host family, including Harry Potter.
On Thursday, my host family and I went to the beach. The beach we visited was on the west coast of Denmark (vestkysten), and further North than Viborg. The beach was called Blokhus, at a popular seaside tourist village. The sun was shining, so there were a fair few people on the beach, however it was still quite cold! There were really high sand dunes, with a long stretch of white sandy beach. The sand was quite firm, so at this particular beach cars are allowed to drive and park on the sand. There was no only 4wd's, but all types of cars; the special features that the cars have here for the snow and ice must work for sand as well. Because it is so cold, people don't really just sit around on the beach at this time of year and definitely don't swim, but it is common for people to go for walks along the beach. Seeing ice on the sand and snow in the sand dunes was quite a different sight to Australian beaches!
After the beach, we visited my host father's mother, in her apartment in the city of Aalborg. We drank tea and coffee, ate a type of Danish brown sugar cake, chatted (in Danish) and looked at family photo albums.
On Friday I spent the day with my Rotary counsellor Alice, her son Thomas and his girlfriend Josephine. We travelled to the seaside town of Ringkjøbing, which is south of Viborg. We visited Alice's mother who lives in an apartment in the town. While they prepared lunch, Thomas and Josephine showed me the town. The town was so pretty, with all tiny cobblestone streets, mostly old looking buildings, a harbour with many old boats and fishing houses, trees in the streets that were filled with hanging painted easter egg decorations and it was lightly snowing. After lunch, we drove to a nearby village at the beach. The village is full of holiday houses, well summer houses and has a few small shops and cafes near the beach. We visited Alice's summer house and took a walk on the beach. This beach had huge sand dunes, long stretches of soft white sand that many people were walking along. Cars are not allowed to drive on this beach, however I did see some people riding horses along the sand. There were a few big concrete structures on the beach, which are bunkers left over from World War II, when the Germans occupied Denmark and set up their defence on the coast line. After walking on the beach and through the village, we drove back and had afternoon tea with Alice's mother, before returning to Alice's house. That night we had lamb for dinner which is traditional in Denmark at Easter time.
Saturday afternoon, I went into a cafe in town and met up with my friend Charlotte T, from my class. We spent the afternoon drinking hot chocolate and chatting. The cafe we were in, called Morvilles, is very cosy and was quite nice to sit in.
On Sunday it was Easter, or Påske as it is said in Danish. After a bit of a sleep in, we woke up and got breakfast ready. We began breakfast by taking hard boiled eggs and painting them with special 'egg paints'. After painting your egg, which is called a 'påske æg' (easter egg), you give it to someone else, then everyone sits down and eats the egg they have been given. For breakfast we had so many different foods, including the eggs, blueberry pancakes, bread with chocolate pieces on it, fruit and pastries. At each of our places at the table there was a gift for Easter, I got one milk and one white chocolate Lindt bunny! I also gave each member of my host family chocolate, that I had wrapped in a ribbon and stuck a little Australian flag to.
After a day of just relaxing around the house, we went to have dinner with Eva's family for Easter. We went to Bedstemor and Bedstefar's (Eva's parents) house in the nearby town of Stoholm, Eva's brother and his 3 sons were also there. We had the traditional Easter dinner of lamb, then spent the night sitting and chatting. I was also shown a lot of family photos, some that date back to the 1800s, and are of relatives in the farms that we had driven past, that had been pointed out to me on the way there.
Monday was the last day of the holidays. I spent it just relaxing around the house and sitting in the sun. In the afternoon I decided to go for a run. As it was a sunny day and relatively warm at around 7 degrees, there were so many people out and about, walking, running and riding their bikes. As soon as there is a sunny day here, it is like everyone just evacuates their houses and goes for walks outside, around the town and lakes. I went part of the way around Søndersø (the Southern Lake) in the town. I sat on one of the lakeside chairs for a bit, enjoying the sun and the view. On the way back, I stopped to watch some swans, swimming near the edge of the lake. I enjoyed my Påske Ferie, but it is back to school now, for another 7 weeks. Then the summer holidays will begin, starting with Euro Tour, the trip around Europe with the other Rotary exchange students!
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