'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.