'At rejse er at leve'- November

On Saturday 16th November, my host family and I went to visit the town Odense. It is on the island of Fyn, the middle island of Denmark. We went there to visit the house of the famous writer Hans Christian Andersen (the writer of The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea etc.) and the museum that they have built about his life. There was a fresh produce market on in the street at the time.

  

It is a very old area, with little cobblestone streets and tiny houses. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, at the time that Hans Christian Andersen lived there, it was a very poor part of the town. In modern times it is a very historical and old area.

 

  

As part of the museum you could walk into the house that he was born in and grew up in. The doorways and ceilings are all very low, as people were much shorter 200 years ago.

  

  

 Inside the museum, there was so much information on his life, along with about how it was to live in Denmark around 200 years ago.

  

On Monday (18th Nov) morning the weather was pretty foggy. Then on Wednesday there was a thick layer of frost and ice over everything, it didn't reach above 0 degrees until around midday.

 

The town is beginning to feel very festive, as the decorations go up and shops begin to take on a Christmas theme.

  

 

On Friday night, 22nd November, I went to the movies to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire, with Kelsey, Signe (my host sister and one of Signe's friends. The movie was terrific!

  

On Saturday 23rd November, we had our final 'Goodbye Get Together' with all of the other exchange students in District 1440, as well as our counsellors and the district organisers. It was a great day of just catching up, signing flags, writing in books and playing silly activities.

  

Then came time to be awarded our certificates, saying that we have completed our year of exchange, such a strange feeling! Then one person from our group was awarded the 'Outstanding Student' award... me! I was so happy and grateful to be given this award, along with a bunch of flowers, certificate, letter, special pin for my blazer and some money. It was a little embarrassing to stand up there while they read out all of the reasons why I deserved it, but I am so honoured.

 

 

 

I am so glad that I have shared my exchange and Euro Tour with such an amazing group of people. We started as a group of nervous exchange students placed in District 1440 in Denmark, but since then we have become close friends and shared so many great memories together.

 

That night I had my school Julefrokost (Christmas Party/Dinner) with all of the 3rd years at my school. My class found a table so that we could all sit together. We ate typical Danish Christmas food, including stegtflesk (pork), rødkål (a type of stewed sweet red cabbage), tartletter (pastry cups with chicken, asparagus and a white sauce in them) and frikadeller (rissoles). After dinner there were some fun competitions and they awarded a number of different titles such as 'Female Babe', 'Best Dressed', 'Biggest Player' and 'Dumbest Blonde'. Then we all danced together, it was such a fun and hyggelig night with my class.

   

Tiden Flyver! -Late October/Early November

In addition to all of the pretty Autumn leaves, there is also a lot of Halloween decorations around at this time of year. It isn't a Danish tradition, but in the last few years Danes have picked up on the American tradition. A lot of people sit pumpkins and other Halloween decorations outside their houses or shops, some also carve the pumpkins and put candles inside them.

  

There is going to be a local election here soon, so on almost every light post there are signs. I went with my host family to hear a political debate with the different political parties.

On 31st November, I went to Kelsey's house. We made ANZAC biscuits, then drank them with a nice glass of Milo; very Australian! Her little host sister, Julie loved both the biscuits and Milo.

  

The weekend before last, I went to a Rotary get together in a town called Holbæk on the other side of Denmark, closer to Copenhagen. I made the most of the opportunity and spent the day in Copenhagen on the Friday, buying some souvenirs that I had wanted and just looking around. I really do like the city of Copenhagen.

 

  

Then I went to the get together. It was so great to see all of the exchange students again, some of which I hadn't seen since February and some of which I had never met before. The gathering included all of the Rotary exchange students living in Denmark, from all across the world and living in all different parts of Denmark.

 

 

On the Saturday night as part of the get together we had a Halloween party, which was a lot of fun.

  

My Rotary Club, Viborg-Asmild Rotary Klub, celebrated their 40 years jubilee this year so held a special meeting for it. They also made a book to commemorate the special occasion, complete with an article that I had written in Danish about my exchange year with the club in Viborg. I felt quite proud to see my exchange year in the book; an addition to the club's history that will always be there. 

 

  

I made Australian food for dinner once again, this time for my 4th host family to try. It was the typical meat pie, mushy peas, honey carrots & veges. They really enjoyed it, especially the mushy peas. By now I think I am an expert at making Australian food and have actually made it more times in Denmark over the past year than I did in the almost 18 years of living in Australia before this year.

  

On Friday afternoon, my host parents brought home some buns from the bakery in town and we all sat down and had afternoon tea together.

 

Like many Danish families, my host family likes to eat bread for breakfast on the weekends, with a range of different toppings. So on Friday afternoons, my host mum bakes bread rolls called boller (translates to balls), which is also something that a lot of Danish families make themselves or buy fresh from the bakery.

The weather is starting to get colder now with the days being around 7'C. On Monday morning it was below zero and there was ice over everything, on the seat of my bike, windshields, leaves, puddles and the grass.

  

On Tuesday night I went out to have dinner with my 3rd host family at an Italian restaurant called Pavarotti's. Jesper couldn't come because he was working in Copenhagen, but it was so nice to catch up with and see Heidi, Villads and Malthe. We had such a nice, 'hyggeligt' evening. I chose a tortellini pasta with a cream sauce, ham, mushrooms and cheese; it was delicious. Pizza is Malthe's favourite food, and he put none of it to waste, eating almost a whole pizza just to himself! 

  

It is getting close to Christmas and around town they are beginning to set up Christmas decorations.

  

Last night I had my first 'Christmas Dinner'- Julefrokost in Denmark. It was organised by the international club and held at our school. We all brought different food in so had a wide range of foods to eat. Kelsey and I made Party Pies and Baileys Balls, both of which were a big hit. There was also a lot of different Danish Christmas foods along with some sushi made by the exchange student from Japan, and also pasta and a type of mozzarella bread made by the 2 Italian girls. The food was delicious.

  

  

  

  

Afterwards, we played a game called 'pakkespil' which is a type of present game, where you have to roll a dice, when you roll a 6 you can take a gift either from the middle of the table or from someone. Then when the time is up, people win the gifts that they have at that time. I was lucky enough to win a Chocolate Advent calendar and a little box of chocolates.

 

  

 The time is definitely flying! I have been in Denmark for almost 10 months now, and have only 2 months left! I have a lot of things to look forward to in the next 2 months and plan to really make the most of the time I have left of my exchange, and then of course I am looking forward to seeing everyone back in Australia in January.