Autumn- Efterår

Autumn in Denmark, or Efterår in Danish, definitely deserves its own blog post.

 

It is such a beautiful time of year when the leaves on the trees turn to orange, yellow, red and brown before falling off and covering the ground.

 

 

I have also had a great time with my third host family in Autumn.

  

We have been to Randers Regnskov (Randers Rainforest), which is a zoo that has 3 large biospheres that imitate a rainforest environment so that they can have tropical animals living inside.

 

  

We have been to stay at their summer house in Mols, where we picked apples off the tree then took them and got them pressed to make fresh apple juice. 

 

  

We went for a walk along the coastline nearby, through some little paths lined by trees. 

 

  

We tried Danish Æblekage (Apple Cake) made with our freshly picked apples, which was just like an apple sauce with biscuits in it and cream on top. It tasted really good!

  

We went to the Kattegat Centre in Grenå, which is an Aquarium that has animals and shows what life is like in the Kattegat Sea, off the east coast of Denmark.

  

I went to watch Heidi ride at the local riding school. It was interesting to see that everything is inside. All of the horses are kept inside, then walked through to the indoor riding arenas through indoor hallways. In summer they can go outside more, and during the day the horses get let out for a certain amount of time, but in winter they never go outside, because it's so cold.

  

I went to a town in the north of Denmark called Hjørring, to visit Nanna, a Danish girl that was on exchange last year and went to my school in Australia. It was exciting for her to talk to an Aussie again and to show me the town that she lives in. It felt funny to be sitting together in Denmark talking about our school and the people back in Australia. We made pasta bake for dinner, something that she has missed since being back in Denmark, and we went to the movies to see White House Down.

  

The next day we went to Skagen, the very northern-most point of Denmark. We walked along the beach with her family, seeing old German bunkers from WW2. We walked all the way out along a sand point called Grenen, to the very tip of Denmark. You can see where the North Sea and the Kattegat Sea meet, the currents are different so the waves come from different directions and break on each other.

  

Nanna and I wore out St Columbans senior jerseys and took some photos. It really does make you realise just how small the world is, to be standing in Denmark with a girl from the same school as you in Australia!

  

I tried a new flavour of flødeboller with her family, white chocolate with a blueberry centre, so far this is my favourite flavour!

  

That night we made Australian food for Nanna's family. We made Chicken Parmigiana with Roast Pumpkin (something Danish people have never heard of!), honey carrots and roast potato. It tasted amazing, and Nanna was so happy to have it again as it had been her favourite in Australia.

The next day we met up with Sofie, a Danish girl who had also been to Australia on exchange and had been hosted by my Rotary Club. That was also exciting to talk to her again and catch up.

I have packed my bags for the second last time here in Denmark, ready to move to my 4th and final host family. I have really enjoyed living with this family so it is a bit sad to be moving, but at the same time it is also exciting to be moving in with a new host family and getting to know them.