4 Whole Months, 117 Days

So now I have been in Denmark for 4 months. 117 days.
That is a long time. 
But it really is a strange feeling, while it feels like a long time since I have been in Australia, my time here has raced by at an unnaturally fast pace. It certainly doesn't feel like it has been 4 months, but the calendar reminds me with a shock every time I see that we are now halfway through May. I am not complaining though, because at almost the same rate as time ticks by, I am ticking things off my mental to-do list, seeing and experiencing so many different things.

Arriving in Denmark, 4 months ago!

The Denmark that I am in now, seems completely different from when I first arrived. The most obvious being that the seasons have changed, the snow has melted and with its disappearance, life has been revealed underneath. It is not just the plants that come alive as the weather warms, the people do too. As soon as the sun emerges from behind the many clouds, the people emerge from indoors with smiles on their faces to make the most of the warmth, before it disappears again.

But there are other reasons that it feels different. For one, I have gotten used to life here, I no longer fear getting lost while walking somewhere in town.
I know a lot more people now, I have friends at school, and often see friendly faces that I know around town and say 'hej' (hello).
I know how the busses work, how school works, and I think my face no longer looks as confused all the time.

One main difference is probably the fact that I can now mostly understand what is going on around me. I can actually understand what the check-out-person in the shop or the bus driver is telling me, and even better I can respond in Danish, instead of just looking confused and saying 'umm I speak English'. I no longer go about my days no knowing what the people around me are saying, which is much better! Having a conversation with someone in Danish or understanding something is a great feeling.
I am also living with a different host family now than when I first arrived, so I am seeing another side to life in Denmark.

I can now participate in class sometimes. My class mates find it quite entertaining to hear me read Danish when we are doing group work. On Monday I did the same work as the whole class in geography, making a poster about Oil Production, in Danish.

On Tuesday evening I had my test at language school, which I passed. This means that after Summer I will start in level 2 of Danish and I am no longer in the 'beginner' class.

Wednesday was a busy day for me. In the first lesson at school I gave a presentation to another class about myself and Australia. My counsellor's daughter Katrine's class are learning about Australia in English, so she thought it would be good if I could come and tell them a bit. It went really well and the class was very interested, asking a lot of questions and wanting to chat about Australia with me. I have gotten quite used to giving presentations about this now, it is a good thing that I enjoy it! On Wednesday evening I went to give another presentation at the meeting of the Viborg Youth Social-Democratics Organisation, a group that my first host brother Claes is a part of. I spoke about the Australian government, politics, social systems and culture (some information I will admit I had to research a little). They enjoyed this, and liked being able to compare the Australia systems to the Danish systems, which are actually quite similar.

Thursday was my last day of school before my summer holidays begin! I will start back at school in mid-August, after almost a 3 month holiday which is crazy!

Now I am about to leave for my Euro Bus Tour, around Europe with 50 other Rotary Exchange Students in Denmark. I cannot even put my excitement for this into words. We will be travelling around Europe for 3 weeks, visiting 8 different countries and a number of exciting cities, including Prague, Venice and Paris! We will be travelling clockwise through Europe visiting the cities as shown on the map below.