Euro Tour Information!

Hey super exciting news,

Yesterday the information for Euro Tour was released, including buses, dates, stops, and itinerary!  Here is the itinerary for you to see what I will be doing on the 18 day trip of a life time.

1st day: 

Departure early in the morning by our own bus from Denmark. The destination on the first day is Berlin, the world famous city where life is exiting, and where you can still experience both East and West Europe. 

2nd day: 

We shall spend the day in Berlin, seeing some of the famous sights, among others Brandenburger Tor, Kurfürstendam, Unter den Linden, Dedächtnisskirche, and what is left of the Berlin Wall. 

3rd day: 

After breakfast we will continue to Prague in The Czech Republic. On our  way there will be sightseeing at the concentration camp Theresienstadt. 

4th day: 

"The Golden City" Prague stands on 7 hills on the river Moldau. We shall go sightseeing to the old castle and the Royal Palace, Hradchin, the Teyn Church, St Veits Cathedral and "The Golden Street" Zlata Ulica. 

5th day: 

After breakfast the tour will continue through beautiful landscapes, and the border of Austria will be crossed before we arrive at the glorious capital Vienna, in which we shall stay overnight. Sightseeing in the afternoon. 

6th day: 

Among other things in Vienna we shall see the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace. There will also be time for you to be on your own and to experience the special atmosphere, listening to Viennese music. 

7th day: 

After breakfast we shall continue through small picturesque towns in southern Austria. The tour from Vienna will take us through a typical beautiful Austrian landscape. We will arrive at Lido di Jesolo in the evening. 

8th day: 

Lido di Jesolo is a beach area of paradisiacal beauty at the Adriatic cost of Italy. We will spend the day bathing and basking in the sun. Next morning we will make a trip to Venice. 

9th day: 

Venice, town of gondolas, is one of the absolute climaxes on the journey. We will go sightseeing in Venice, visit the Marcus Square, the Doge Palace and the Bridge of the Sighs. After the sightseeing we will go back to Lido di Jesolo, where we will have supper and stay over-night. 

10th day: 

Early in the morning we shall leave Lido di Jesolo and make a pause in Verona where you will have the opportunity of seeing the Arena and Juliet’s balcony, before we continue to the Riviera of Italy, where we shall arrive for a late dinner.

11th day: 

After breakfast we shall drive along the beautiful scenery of the Riviera. There will be time to stop over for a visit in the principality of Monaco, where we shall se the Royal Palace. After a colourful tour along the French Riviera we will arrive Avignon, the famous residence of the Popes in the 14th century. Overnight in Avignon. 

12th day: 

We shall spend the day in this very special atmosphere of Southern France. 

13th , 14th and 15th day: 

Our goal is Paris, the city of cities with its big boulevards and small bistros – the city of thousands pleasures. We shall stay in Paris for two days, and the time  will mainly be spent on sight- seeing. It  will be possible to see Louvre, the Triumphal Arch, the old as well the new one, The Eiffel Tower, the Notre Dame, the Sacre Coer, the Concorde Square, the Latin Quarter and the Centre Pompidou. 

16th day: 

We leave Paris and will arrive in Brussels in the beginning of the afternoon for sightseeing to the Grand-Place, Manneken Pis and Centre de la Bande Dessinée. 

17th day: 

After breakfast we arrive in Holland and will drive to Amsterdam for sightseeing and a canal trip. The last night on the tour will be in Arnhem. 

18th day: 

After breakfast we will drive from Arnhem via Hamburg and back to Denmark. Everybody is tired, but it is a pleasant fatigue after a tour through both ancient and modern Europe. 

I can't wait for this trip. It is really a great way to me to end off my amazing year. 

Oh and I shaved my beard.

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Jul i Tivoli :)

Hey,

So it officially feels like Christmas in Denmark now.  We (my host family and I) made the trip down to Copenhagen to visit a very old theme park called Tivoli.  The theme park during Christmas is very beautiful.  Lights on all the rides, trees, and when it gets dark at 4pm you have a lot of time to soak in the beautiful lights during the night.

We got up and were out the door by 8 and we were in Copenhagen by 11, ready to start our day.  We met up with other exchange students and I also randomly ran into people I knew.  Denmark is a pretty small country.

I went on all the rides I could with Frida, Frederik, and Nicole and it was lovely too see Caitlin and Elyse again.  I had the best time, and it was a great way to spend time with my host family.  Then we left for the long drive home where everyone fell asleep fairly quickly

Vi Ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

December 11, 2008 Update.

Hey everyone,

This is just a pointless update.  All i really wanted to say was "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH" because the legendary Bob Dylan is coming to Copenhagen on March 29th, 2009 and I have tickets!  Even though it is a long time to wait, I still am very, very excited!  

This will be the second time I have seen Dylan and concert and I am just as excited or even more excited then the first time.  I don't have too much information about it yet.  I don't know if there is an opening act, and I don't where I am staying after the concert, but I have a lot of time to sort that out thankfully.

I am lucky that he is making Denmark one of his stops on his "Neverending Tour" while I am living in the country!  I am so grateful.  I just hope the old guy doesn't croak before March 29th.  Fingers crossed everybody.  

Hej hej,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Galla At Tørring Gymnasium

Hey,

This past Saturday at Tørring Gymnasium was our school's Galla. Galla is the equivalent to the high school prom, except it happens in the middle of the school year. With smaller schools like Tørring, the whole school is invited. With larger schools, only the third years get invited.

With most of my class there at Galla it is nice to see classmates out of the classroom, having a good time. I was with many friends and it was the first "real" school party I have attended so far this year. I went to a first year only party with my class, only because we were taking care of coat check, and the other school party I was away with Rotary at district camp.

It was a lot of fun to see all my friends dressed up looking sharp and enjoying themselves. Galla ended at 2am and we headed down to Tordenskoild (the local club). I crashed at a friends place and got back to Brædstrup the next morning. All in all a very enjoyable night.

Galla is much fancier then any semi-formal back home, and third years have galla dresses like out of Cinderella. It was pretty impressive. I convinced some of my friends to vote for me for 'Canadian Of The Year'. To make a long story short, I didn't win. I thought I would have that award in the bad because I am the only Canadian at gymnasium. Oh well. The photo below shows you one of the votes.

My class is having a "Julefrokost" (Christmas Party) next week and I am really excited for it! We are having it on a Thursday because we only have one class on Friday! Friday should be quite interesting.

Vi ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Moving Day.

Hey everyone,

I moved host families this week and everything is running very smoothly.  I moved on a Monday after school, and of course I pack up all of my things when I get home from school at 3:00, and I am moving at 6:00 (and I wanted to watch Friends at 5:00)  I made the 5:00 deadline and I was headed off to my next host family.

My new host family is really amazing.  I am having a really great time here and moving host families couldn't of been any easier.  I feel totally comfortable and I am really happy!

My host parents (Ole og Annette) built a room for their daughter to live in when she comes back from her exchange in Australia, and I will be living in her room for the time I will stay at their house.  This house has more of a younger children family type atmosphere that I am used to, growing up with Andie so things are a little like I am used to at home in Canada.

I now live close to a friend of mine from school named Mathais and we have been talking about hanging out when I move to Brædstrup for ages now so it will be fun to get to hang out with people from my class outside of school. 

Galla is tomorrow and I am sure I will have some pictures from Galla up as soon as I can get a hold of them.

Vi Ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

The Concert In Copenhagen!

Hey,

I went to go see Cancer Bats on Tuesday and I have to say that it was by far the most intimate and stellar show I have been too.  They opened up for a band called Funeral For A Friend and when Cancer Bats came on stage, not many people knew them.  I was one of the only guys singing along so the lead singer Liam would throw the mic in my face to sing along.  It was the most fun I have had at a concert.  I felt like it was just me and the band there.  It was too cool.  I met 3 out of the 4 band members after the show and we talked a bit and had a drink.  They are truly the nicest guys and take the time to pose pictures and sign autographs.  I bought their new album on vinyl at the merchandise table and got Liam (vocals) and Scott (guitar) to sign it.  Then Scott was nice enough to go back stage with the record and get the other guys in the band to sign it.  It was very unexpected but so kind of him.  I had such a blast.

The lead act was Funeral For A Friend and with me knowing none of their songs, and Caitlin and I being not such fans of them, I decided to get my camera out of my bag and see if I could get some photos.  I had no clue how to take photos of bands, with the lighting and all of that, so I don't think they turned out too great but I tried! 

Funeral For A Friend

Cancer Bats

Vi Ses,

Dillon Rahkola

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Going on my 4th month.

Hey everyone,

Here is just a quick update.  There are no "official" rotary get togethers or events coming up so there is no news in that department.  There is a ton of "unofficial" rotary get togethers with exchange students, mostly for celebrating birthday/an excuse to see everyone again.  Sadly our oldies are all going home early January, and December always being the crazy, busy month that it is, we are trying to have one last big get together before people leave.  That is happening in Odense soon so I am really looking forward to that.  I'm going to guess it will be a pretty emotional for the oldies, because it might be the last time they see each other, and the last time for the newbies to say good bye to people that we have grown so attached to.

Exciting news, tomorrow is the day that I have been waiting for, for such a long time.  Tomorrow I am catching a train down to København to see that concert of one of my favourite bands from Toronto, Cancer Bats.  I was talking to a well known concert photographer (Jess Baumung) from Toronto through e-mail and I was asking him some questions about how he first got into shooting shows and things like that.  He was nice enough to respond, and he just said that he started showing up to smaller shows with his camera, and they let him shoot, depending on the band and the venue of course.  I knew he was in Denmark shooting a wedding earlier in the year, so I told him I was living here and I'm from Muskoka.  I also told him that I was seeing Cancer Bats, who happen to be good friends of him.  He told me if they weren't in Europe he would of called them up to make sure I would have no problems taking some photos of them after the show, but because they are in Europe.  He also told me that the band are some of the most chill and laid back people he knows so, *fingers crossed* I will get to meet them and chat with them after the show.  If I do, I think they will be pretty shocked to think a kid from Muskoka is coming out to their show in København, Denmark! 

Everyone in 2nd year at school has Thursday and Friday off school for a Danish History essay.  It is a pretty big project so I guess the two days is much needed.  I don't have to do it, so I will be staying after the show in København until Thursday which is really nice.  Experiencing life in the big city for a change.  I will probably do some Christmas shopping and some shopping of my own.

This was a pointless update, but for some reason I felt the need to write something.  It has been a while since I wrote something so I thought I would be nice.  Also my hair is getting longer and longer ever since I found out that a simple "trim" would cost me -250 DKK (50 bucks).  I am going to the concert with my friend Caitlin from Aus so she is going to cut my hair for me before the show.  I hope it turns out okay!

I came here with short hair, and it is getting longer and longer.  I haven't had this long of hair since at least 2 years ago.  I'm not liking it.  I like it better short.  Oh and by the way, they don't have razors here in Denmark....  No I'm kidding they do, but with out the constant nagging of Mom to get me to shave, I don't anymore.  The girls dig it.

Love you all,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Holbæk Halloween Weekend

Hi eveybody,

This past weekend all 158 exchange students that are in Denmark got together in the city of Holbæk to have one big final get together before the "Winter Team '08" leave for the end of their exchange.

It was great to see everyone again, because most of them I haven't seen since Intro Camp back in August, and it was also great to meet new people, that have been in Denmark since Winter '08.  They are the "oldies" and we are the "newbies".  

This get together was run by returning exchange students from last year, returning to Denmark from their host country.  Everything was very relaxed and we were free to do what we pleased, unlike Intro Camp where if you were 2 minutes late you would be spoken to about it.  We weren't forced to participate in any activities, even though everyone was more then willing to try everything they had planned for us.  We had a floor hockey tournament.  I paired up with the guys from North America who I knew played hockey and we dominated as expected! I kind of felt bad when we would beat up poor South American girls who haven't seen a hockey stick before.  But that's what you have to do to win.  To quote Mighty Ducks 1 "It aint worth winning if you don't win big!"  Hahaha.

We had a DJ playing music until the wee hours of the morning for both of the nights and a live band playing on Saturday night.  Saturday night was a costume party and everyone got dressed accordingly.  I had a Santa Clause outfit, beard and all, and it was a great time.  

The weekend consisted of staying up until 4 in the morning every night and getting up at 9 for breakfast the next day, so as you could of guessed everyone including me, was pretty washed out by the end of the weekend.  Being amongst 158 exchange students that are going through or have gone through the same thing as you, it is a nice feeling because if you have a problem and you want to talk to it to someone, at least one person out of the 158 will know exactly what you are feeling.  

It was a lovely weekend with lovely people and amazing friends that I will always remember.  I don't know what I will do when all my oldies leave for their respected countries.  I think I will be lost with out them.  It is too weird to think about it.  

Vi ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Fall Break: Adventure Number Three aka. The Big One (Hamburg, Germany)

Hej,

Last Wednesday, my host family planned a trip to Hamburg, Germany.  Sorry I am just getting to write about it now.  It was really exciting that I got to see another part of Europe.  Just getting a taste of another European country was so exciting! 

We did many things when were there.  We stayed at a hotel in Hamburg from Wednesday, until Friday.  We didn't spend much time in the hotel, all we did was rested our heads there.  We were always out doing something through out the day.

We visited many places, which included a submarine, a canal tour, and one of the biggest miniature model museum in Europe.  We also walked around the city, diving into shops once in a while for a quick look, and ate at some great places.  We ate at an Italian restaurant in Germany haha.  We also had German sausages and drank some great German beer.  

Being in Denmark for a while, I have gotten used to the high prices of basically everything.  Coming to Germany I was so happy that I wouldn't have to spend at least $100 on a decent pair of shoes, so I made sure I got something that I needed, which was a pair of shoes.  When leaving Germany, we stopped at many stores along the way to pile in as much things as possible.  This means any sale, or any low priced item that costs double in Denmark, we bought.  By the end of the trip the trunk was full of just about everything.  From food for the house, clothing, bicycling gear for my host dad, and a pair of shoes for me, among many other things.

The old brick buildings in Hamburg were so amazing, and my host parents were great to show me everything I needed to see.  Luckily the language barrier from danish to german was not a problem for us at all.  My host mother comes from germany, my host father did an exchange in Switzerland as a teenager and still remembers and practices german, and my host brother studies german in school, so we had things pretty much covered.  It was really neat because we would have 3 languages going on at once.  My host mother might say something to someone in german, she would tell my host brother what they were talking about in danish and he would tell me in english.  People listening in to what we were saying must of been amazed that three languages were being thrown around.

All in all I had a great time, and I can't wait to see more of Germany on Euro Tour in May!

This coming weekend we have a get together in Holbæk, with every single exchange student living in Denmark at this moment.  All 158 of us.  It will be a crazy time, and I can't wait!

Vi ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Finally!

Good news,

It has taken nearly 3 months, but one of my favourite Canadian bands is playing in Copenhagen in November.  They are a hardcore rock band called Cancer Bats from Toronto and I can't wait to see them!  I have seen them once before at the Molson Amphitheater and they blew me away with their live performance.  It is just something else to look forward to!

It took a lot of looking at bands websites for tour dates to find this show so I'm really excited and felt like sharing.

Bye!

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Fall Break: Adventure Number Two! (Tropical Zoo)

Hey everyone,

Adventure number two of the school break lead us to a Tropical Zoo in Randers, Denmark.  It was really cool to see a bunch of animals that I would never see in Denmark.

The tropical zoo was divided up into 3 parts; Asia, Africa, and South America.  It was cool to think when I am in Denmark, on a cold fall afternoon, my good friend Gillian who is in Brazil is feeling almost (but not quite) the same thing as I was.  How she is going on Rainforest Tours with her district, while I will never get to do that!  The Zoo in Randers is the closest thing I will get to that this year.  

Don't think I am complaining though!  I couldn't be happier!  I am truly having the time of my life here.

Click here for photos of the Randers Tropical Zoo

Cheers,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Fall Break: Adventure Number One! (Legoland)

Hey everyone,

So it is the first official day of Fall Break today and I did something that I have wanted to do ever since I heard I was going to Denmark.  This morning I went to Legoland!

I went to Legoland with my second host family Ole, Annette, Frida, and Frederik.  They have seasons passes so they go as often as possible and they seemed very excited to show me everything.  Frederik told me that he knew Legoland like the back of his hand, so he showed me everything that I needed to see.  

For people who don't know anything about Legoland, it is basically a huge family amusement park, with rides (roller coasters) and many objects, buildings, people, made out of Lego!  It is really cool to see, Mt. Rushmore with over 1 million lego pieces in it.  The detail is incredible and everything looks so real!  The cities and monuments that are made out of Lego look exactly like they do in person.  The town I am living in (Brædstrup) is actually in Legoland.  Brædstrup is known for producing solar energy, so Legoland built some buildings that you see while walking through my town, and also different solar panels being showing on roofs of houses in Brædstrup.  Its funny how when I tell different people in Denmark I live in Brædstrup, they usually have no idea where it is, yet it is being displayed in Legoland!

Overall it was a fun filled day filled with rides, and Lego, while getting to know my second host family better.  

If you don't know much about Lego, and your wondering why is Legoland in Denmark?  Well here is the answer, taken from the always trust full website, Wikipedia: "The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark. Christiansen began creating wooden toys in 1932; the company began calling itself "Lego" two years later in 1934. The company expanded to producing plastic toys in 1940. In 1949, Lego began producing the now-famous interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks." These bricks were based largely on the design of Kiddiecraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were released in the UK in 1947. The first Lego bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; however, these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart. The company name Lego was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well"."

And there you go.  A little bit about Lego.

Click here for photos of Legoland.

Skål,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Quick Thing.

Hey,

Just a quick thing I changed about my blog.  You no longer have to have an account or sign up or and of that silly-ness to post a comment on the blog.  

All you have to do is click on the 0 Comments button at the bottom of every blog post and you can leave an anonymous comment.  If you don't mind when you are leaving a comment just put your name at the bottom so I know who it is from!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention this.  This coming week, I have a full week off school.  So while you sucker heads are in school learning junk, I will be in Hamburg, Germany with my host family living the dream!  Be jealous, but don't get to jealous because I will take lots of pictures so you can feel like you were practically there with me!

Skål,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

So Much Fun Stuff In Denmark!

Hey everyone,

I haven’t updated in a while because I have been very busy doing many different things.  Ill start with 3 weeks ago, a bunch of exchange students got together and went to Copenhagen to spend the weekend together.  There was a lot happening in Copenhagen that weekend and we tried to do everything.  There was a concert at the famous “Tivoli Gardens” in downtown Copenhagen, there was a Australia vs New Zealand rugby match that was being played at the Southern Cross Bar in Copenhagen that many Aussies and Kiwis were excited to see, and a lot of partying and having a good time with people from around the world!  

We started the weekend off Friday afternoon by getting out of school early and catching a bus to Vejle, which has a train station, where we took a train from Vejle to Copenhagen.  It cost about 200 Kroner (40 dollars) but I had a train card that got me 25% off train tickets, which is always a good thing.  We got to Copenhagen and we went to a youth hostel where we would be crashing for the night. The girls got all dressed up, and then we all went to Tivoli to see the concert.  An extremely popular band in all of Europe were playing a show.  The band was a Danish band called Alphabeat, www.myspace.com/thisisalphabeat They put on a great show and it was an hour filled with very catchy pop music that I shockingly enjoyed.  After the show we ventured off to the streets of Copenhagen and enjoyed the rest of the night.

The next day we left the hostel at noon and caught a bus back to downtown Copenhagen where we would meet the other exchange students at the Southern Cross to watch the rugby match.  I have never sat down and watched a full rugby game, so this was a first for me, and watching it with some intense Aussies and Kiwis in the bar was very entertaining.  Australia made it close, but New Zealand came out on top like they usually do in these rugby matches.  It was very fun to watch.  We then caught a train to Slagelse where we would be spending the night at an exchange students house.  We woke up the next morning and made our way back to our respected towns.  It was really nice to see exchange students again.  These little “meetings” and “get togethers” are a nice way to spend a weekend away from home, and just enjoy being an exchange student with other exchange students!

The weekend following was a really relaxing and enjoying weekend for myself.  I travelled down to Korsør to visit my Australian exchange friend I made while in Copenhagen the week prior.  Korsør is a beautiful town, right on the sea and has beautiful beaches and clear water.  The town is a harbour town, where ferrys would come from the island of Fyn, to Sjælland and arrive in Korsør.  Now they have a bridge that connects the two islands.  I stayed at my friend Caitlin’s house.  Caitlin happens to live right on the beach, with her house looking over the water.  It is an amazing sight to see.  I happened to not bring my camera so I am unfortunately unable to show you how beautiful the area is.  There is another exchange student get together this coming weekend, in the same area, so I will make sure to bring my camera and take many pictures to share with you.  It is truly beautiful.  

Now you are almost up to date, but this past weekend I went to district camp with everyone in my district.  It was great to not only see a lot of exchange students again, but to find out who lives close to you so you can get together.  It was very difficult to find out who lives close when we were at intro camp, because of the amount of people that where there (108).  This one was a lot smaller and less hectic.  We stayed at a scout camp just outside of Esbjerg.  It was very beautiful, there was a nice pond close by and a forest to explore.  It reminded me a lot of our camp back in Canada, where all of the out bounds met for the first time. It was really great.  There was a big question mark on what we were going to do at district camp, at least for me anyways.  I didn’t know what to expect.  We arrived around 5 pm Friday and we socialized for pretty much the rest of the night.  I brought my guitar, and we sang songs and just got to know each other.  It was really nice.  For Friday there was no plan, no schedule except for the dinner time.  There was no curfew, no time limits, everything was really relaxed and enjoyable.  Everything was on our own watches which is always great.  Saturday brought an 8 am breakfast and a friendly competition that started when everyone had some coffee in them and were waking up.  We had different stations and challenges to complete with our team. I was on Team 3, better known as Team Awesome.  The team name was chosen by yours truly.  Some challenges were easy, some were difficult, some need brains, some needed luck, but all were fun.  The that was probably the most talked about and the most loved (especially for the girls) was the station where the guys had to shave their legs.  We were the last team to be at this certain station, and I was told that every male before me shaved their legs with out a complaint.  I wanted to have nothing to do with this, and I made sure they knew this.  The other male in the group shaved a part of his legs, and now it was my turn.  Still refusing to have anything to do with this, another team member made a lovely suggestion, that I should shave my beard.  I had been working on this beard for about 3.5 weeks and I was pretty proud of it.  I have had a beard for longer then 3.5 weeks, but it has never been longer, and more full then it had been at the moment.  I wanted to be a team player, and help the team so I agreed.  They pull out a pink, cheap plastic 2 blade razor, and the girls started shaving my face.  I had to teach them how to shave, it was absolutely brutal.  I then have had enough, and said I would finish the job, and I did.  But as always, I needed to have some fun with this situation I was in, so of course like I always do, I kept the moustache.  People loved it, wanting to take pictures with the goofy Canadian with the moustache.  Then before dinner I shaved it off and I felt normal again.  That night we had a lovely dinner and a little party to finish off the weekend.  Sunday we took photos for the last time to remember the weekend that was, exchanged business cards, pins, phone numbers, and hugs, and we were off, back to our towns. 

School is going really good as well.  Im starting to understand words here and there.  I can understand maybe 4-5 sentences a day which isn’t a lot at all, but I’m getting better and learning and understanding more every day.  My classmates are very kind and have been very inviting and want me to be involved in as many things with them as possible.  In two weeks, our school has a week off.  For what reason?  I have no clue, but I am very excited!  My host father Kim mentioned yesterday that we might be travelling to Germany in the week off, which I am so happy about because I have never been to Germany.  I have also been told that there is another week off in February.  My second host family has mentioned that there is a possibility that we will be travelling to Sweden on a skiing trip, which is amazing!  I want to travel anywhere and everywhere so when I get told that we will be travelling to a different country I get super excited and anxious.  I can’t wait to go, but as of now the two possible trips aren’t set in stone by any means.

So as you can see the last three weeks, a lot has been going on, and I have had a blast doing it.  I have noticed that if I keep busy, which I have been doing, everything goes by so fast, its unbelievable.  I can’t believe that it has almost been two months.

Click here for pictures of district camp.

Skål,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Great Weekend.

Hey everyone,

This weekend was truly great!  Everyone I know here in Denmark, is going out of their way to show me a great time while I am here.  This friday, my class was assigned to be in charge of the coat check at the first school party of the year.  The party was for first years only, but because my class was in charge of coats,  I was lucky enough to be apart of it.  The school parties in Denmark are a heck of a lot better then the ones in Canada.  First off they serve alcohol, which was a big shock to me, and people actually come to these school parties!  At my school it is always difficult to get students to attend school events, other then semi-formal and prom.  The first years seemed like they had an amazing time.  Every class dressed up in a different theme, which was neat as well.  Guys from my class picked me up, to bring me to the party and we just hung around the school, socializing until the party was over at around midnight.  Then we moved down the street to the local disco (or club).  They insisted that I came, to experience Danish teenage culture.  It was pretty cool, especially because I have never been in a club before.  I left early (2am) and my host father was nice enough to stay up for me and pick me up.  It was a great way to meet new people, lets just hope they remember me at school on monday!

Saturday was looking like it was going to be a relaxing day, filled with hanging around the house and watching the Danish Football match at 8pm.  So, thinking that this is the way the day was going to turn out, I slept in until 12pm.  My second host family (who are lovely people) called me and asked if they could take me out.  I was very excited because I have the cutest little host sister, that seems not to like me one bit, but I'm fine with that.  Hopefully she will warm up to me by the time I change host families.  And hopefully by that time I will be speaking decent danish so I can talk to her!  We went to the top of "Sky Mountain", which is just a big hill!  But its a huge thing in Denmark.  The view from the top is so beautiful, it looks right over a gorgeous lake where we were able to see the worlds oldest working steam boat pull off to pick up more passengers.  We walked down to the bottom of the "mountain" to see the steam boat.  It was incredible.  It is so old but still working beautifully.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home so I didn't get a chance to take any photos, which I would of liked to.  All in all it was a great day, getting to know my second host family who are so kind, and such a nice family.

Sunday my host family planned a trip out to the west coast of Denmark to see the North Sea which I was so excited for!  My host father Kim said, "If you are a true Danish Viking, you will go swimming in the ocean with me".  Thinking that he was kidding I agreed to his plan, but of course he pulls out his bathing suit, throws me a towel and sure enough when we got to the ocean we went swimming!  The west coast is very dangerous for swimming.  It has very tall waves and sometimes dumb tourists (Germans) get caught under and drown.  But this didn't scare a true viking like myself, so I ran straight in with out thinking twice.  It was cold.  Very cold, but after being in the water for 5 minutes, and my whole body went numb, it started to get warmer!  I was diving into the waves, and having a blast.  It is something that I will always remember.  

I thought this weekend was worthy enough for a blog update, so I hope you did too.  It was such a great weekend.  Here are some pictures of the west coast.  We also visited Denmark's very first windmill that was made in the country, which was neat!

Click here for pictures of the west coast!

Vi Ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Intro Camp '08

Hej!

This past week, I at a boarding school in Bjerringbro, Denmark, for Rotary's intro camp.  I was there with 108 amazing friends who arrived in August in Denmark and will be staying in Denmark with me for this year.  I shared a room with a guy from Calgary, and the room next to us was a guy from Edmonton, and a guy from Chilie.  To my count there was about 10 exchange students from Canada at this camp, and they were all very amazing people, and so kind.  We started talking right away about the things we miss back home.  For example; Kraft Dinner, Tim Hortons, hockey, hearing Oh Canada every morning at school and that sort of things.  Most Americans didn't know what Kraft Dinner was which I always think is amusing.

At intro camp, we mostly went to danish class, which was pretty overwhelming for me.  Half of the class seemed to have had language camp in their district, before this one so they were well ahead of the game.  For myself, this was my first danish lesson and they moved pretty fast.  I was mostly trying to take it all in, instead of memorizing things while the teacher is saying them.  I took many notes, that I will study and use in the future.  

Staying at the boarding school, it was easy to spend time with everyone at anytime.  With our free time, we met new people, handed out our information (e-mail addresses, mobile phone numbers) to each other.  There was a swimming pool with a sauna, billiards table, table tennis, and many other fun things too do to keep everyone busy.  We also had organized evening activities in groups, or with all of us.  We had a few camp fires, and fun things like that.  It was great.  

Some days we didn't have danish classes at all (thank God) and they bussed us all out on an excursion.  One day we visited the town of Viborg and looked at a beautiful church (pictures below).  My favourite day was when we all went to city of Århus which is Denmark's second biggest city.  We went to this amazing art museum called ARoS.  It is one of Northern Europe's biggest art museums.  It was truly amazing.  I was in awe.  It isn't your typical art museum, it is very hard to explain.  Unfortunately we didn't spend too much time in ARoS, and we adventured out to the walking streets of Århus to shop and explore.  It is such a beautiful city and I can't wait to go back.  

This friday, my class at Tørring Gymnasium is going to ARoS to see one of their exhibits, "Music To See", which was one of my favourites when I visited last week.  The exhibit shows many different music video's that are very unique and very beautiful.  They all make you think.  They show the 5 "best" video's done by the most "innovative and experimental image-makers within the contemporary music video genre.  It features; Michel Gondry, Chris Cunningham, Anton Corbijn, Spike Jonze, and Mark Romanek.  When I went with Rotary, I didn't get to see all of the videos, so I hope I will. 

All in all, I had a great week and made great friends.  It is amazing how friendly and open Rotary kids are.  It is very comforting knowing that some people are going through and feeling exactly the same thing you are going through.  It feels better knowing that, because sometimes, you have a feeling that you are the only one.  If you talk to many other exchange students, they will tell you this.  That they have the same feelings, doubts, and frustrations that you are going through, so it's nice to have people there to talk to your exchange to.

Click here for photos of our excursions at Intro Camp.

Vi Ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

P.S.- For those people having to go back to school... have a good year suckers!

<3

Love You Grandma Mac.

2 Weeks In!

Hej!

I'm two weeks into my exchange and I'm loving it.  My host family is amazing, and people at school couldn't be any nicer and more excepting.  On friday, the invited me to the bar after school, which I thought was super kind, because they could of easily just not of asked me at all, so I'm really happy about that!  They seem very interested in Canada, and they want to know about where I come from and everything, which is fun.  I have never seen so many beautiful girls in my class before in my life.  It is unreal.

Yesterday was a pretty full day for people in Sdr. Vissing.  Yesterday the town hosted what they called "Byfest" which is a town party/get together.  It was held at the local elementary school, where people in the town could play football (soccer) and have a few beers.  The towns football club, which my host brother and some of his friends are apart of, played another team in the area.  They came out on top 5-1 which was great.  Then later in the day they had a soccer tournament with different teams you made.  Our team won, and we got a free coca-cola. 

Later that night, in Silkeborg was a huge town party I guess you can say.  They had a band playing and I would say 1,500 + people were there parting.  The band was "Big Fat Snake" which is a popular Danish band, whom I have never heard of.  At around 11 pm they had a firework show set up.  It was the best firework show in Denmark, and they won a competition to show they firework display for everyone that night.  They fired off $55, 000 worth of fireworks and it was an amazing show.  Best show I have ever seen.  

Click here to view a photo album of last night.

Vi Ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Back To School.

Hey everyone,

I had my first day of school yesterday, and to be completely honest with you, it wasn't as bad as I thought is was going to be.  I kept thinking to myself that it was going to be a complete disaster, and it really wasn't.  The teachers were really nice, and the students even nicer.  A couple volunteered to help me around the school, gave me a tour and helped me translate some things the teacher said to the class, which I was very happy about.  A few people in the class introduced them selves which was really nice.  Knowing people actually cared about the new exchange student meant a lot.  Others continued on with their day which was understandable.  

The school is very different compared to school's in Canada.  You don't get to pick the courses you attend everyday.  You pick a class, that is more of a "stream" then anything.  You can pick ones focused on science, or math, or language and so on.  All can be very difficult for an exchange student, new to the language like myself.  The classes I attend change from day to day, which can get very confusing.  I just keep my schedule in my back pocket at all time, and check it every so often to know where my next class is.  This year, my classes are the following; Chemistry, Biology, Danish Politics, English, French, Greek Mythology, Danish, and Gym.  Gym and english will be my saviour this year.  I think this is a insane schedule for an exchange student, but I don't want to complain.  It's only my second day!  I'll start complaining and try to drop some courses a couple more months in to the school year.  I've been talking to some other exchange students from my district in Canada and they are in their schools, taking art, photography and things that aren't so heavy on the language, and I envy them.  I hope all of these classes will help me in my learning of the danish language.  As of now, I just need to sit there, trying not to fall asleep while the teacher talks about greek mythology in danish.

I had a little presentation at the rotary club this evening.  I just told a little bit about my self, in english (thank God).  I introduced my self, and told the rotarians where I am going to school and living in Danish, then switched over to english to tell more about myself.  It went fairly well.  This rotary meeting was a lot different then my previous meeting.  We were at a dinner room at a local Brædstrup hotel, it was very nice.  Not to much drinking this time, because each member had to keep track of what they drank and this time they had to pay for it them self, not rotary, so they eased up a lot this time.  Also many were driving home, and last time they were all on their bicycles.  Next wednesday, we are going out to a rotarians summer home for the night and going fishing and having the meeting there.  We are going on bicycles so I expect more relaxed atmosphere then tonight.  I met my 3rd host father, who was introduced as the newest member of the Rotary Club of Brædstrup, and he seems like a very nice man.

Now, I have to make an honest attempt on doing some french homework.  It will probably end with me pulling out my Danish phrase book and looking up "I don't understand" in Danish, so I have something to say to my french teacher tommrow.  I realized that 9 years of french, did me no good at all.  I was so lost.  The teacher just assumed that I was fluent at french, because I am Canadian and she said everyone in Canada is bilingual.  I had to explain that, that isn't true.  She wasn't to pleased.  What can you do.

Vi ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Not So Much Going On.

Hey,

So since my last post there hasn't been that much going on.  I start school in two days which is kind of exciting because I'm getting to meet new people.  On the other hand, I'm not to stoked on sitting through a whole day of school in a different language.  I will survive.  I'm going to my school tomorrow to get my classes and figure out where the heck all my classes are.  David says it is a small school, even smaller then my school back home, so I think I will be okay.

On September the 12th, I was invited to go to a concert with exchange students in Copenhagen.  I asked my host parents if it is alright if I go and they said of course.  I am seeing a popular Danish band called Alphabeat.  Like I said, they are popular in Denmark, and they play pop, light stuff.  That's not really my cup of tea, but I actually don't mind.  I'm always up for hearing different types of music, especially live.  I am really looking forward to it.  Here is there music video, of their first single off their new album.  So you know what I am talking about.

See you around,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Hej Fra Danmark!

Hej!

It has almost been a week into my exchange to Denmark and I am loving every minute of it.  It seems like I have been here forever!  My host family is great!  They picked me up at the airport in Aarhus with my consular Hugo.  I have done so many things already!

My first full day in Denmark, happened to be Simon's (my host brother's) last full day before he left for his Rotary Exchange in Brazil.  He decided that he wanted to spent his last day at a local amusement park, "Djurs Sommerland", which could be compared to a larger, Centerville in Toronto.  It was a great time, even though I was very tired and had very little sleep.

The next day we packed the car and went to drop off Simon at the airport in Copenhagen.  He left with about 30 or so other exchange students from Denmark that were also going to Brazil.  Denmark usually does this because the fact that the country is so small, they can meet at one airpot and travel to their host country together.  I'm glad that I didn't have that experience, because I wanted the experience of traveling alone, because I have never done anything like that before.

After saying goodbye to Simon, my host family brought me to see different sights in Copenhagen.  The first thing that my host dad brought me to see was a "free town" called Christiania.  Hippies back many years ago, were fighting with the Danish government, I think the story goes, about paying taxes, so they started their own town called Christiania.  Christiania is a very popular tourist spot for people visiting Denmark, because of how unique this town is.  They freely sell and smoke weed in the streets and in the park.  They sell weed like someone would sell fruit or other things on the street.  They aren't afraid of getting caught or anything like that.  I think the Danish government and police have given up on trying to crack down on Christiania, and their use of weed.  There is a strict rule of using hard drugs in Christiania and they do not allow it.  It is not only frowned upon but if they see someone using this, they will kick that person out of Christiania for good.  They also kick out anyone who abuses booze, or becomes "junkies".  It was a very cool experience and very interesting to see something like this, just blocks away from other beautiful tourist spots.

That night I also got to visit the statue of the the little mermaid.  I found out that the statue was donated by Carlsberg, and now the neck of the little mermaid is filled with concrete because it has been knocked off twice by vandals!

We then dropped off my other host brother David, at the train station because he needed to work the next morning.  We continued to go to a family friends house where we stayed the night, just north of Copenhagen. 

We continued to visit many sites the next day.  My family asked if I was interested in architecture and old unique buildings.  I said yes of course and we headed out to Kronborg Castle.  It was such an amazing thing to see because we don't have castles in Canada!  The castle inspired William Shakespeare to write his play Hamlet.  The castle also is home of "Holger The Dane".  He sits slumbering, ready to be stirred into action the instant the Danish kingdom is threatened by an enemy.  So any of you planning on attacking Denmark anytime soon, be prepared to get a beat down from Holger The Dane, he means business.  

We walked the pedestrian zones, in Denmark to visit many different shops and see many different sites.  My host family also took me on a boat tour of the harbor in Copenhagen which I enjoyed!  We then drove back to Sdr. Vissing (the town I am living in) and we all went straight to bed, because of the long days.

I had my first Rotary meeting the other day as well.  I was told that it was a "fun" rotary meeting that they have only once in a while.  Everyone rode their bikes to a rotarians, hunting lodge I guess.  It was a small one room lodge that seemed like it was in the middle of no where.  There rotarians shared a few laughs and had more then a few drinks.  I was offered Diet Coke.  Hugo doesn't want me drinking.  I was introduced to the club.  Hugo went his way home and rotarians that also live in my town brought me home.  We made many pit stops on the way, because they rotarians "needed a break" .  I think it was just another excuse to pull out a Tuborg and have a drink.  Once Hugo was gone, they offered me a beer.  We made a few more stops on the way.  We stopped at a rotarians house and sat around the camp fire for a few hours, talking about whatever.  I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying.  Then we slowly made out way home.  It was a very interesting rotary meeting to say the least.  I'm curious to see if that is what all the meetings are like.  I was introduced to a man that lives close by that used to be the headmaster of the local public school.  He offered to help me learn Danish which I was very happy about.  I think I need all the help I can get.  My next rotary meeting is this Wednesday, and I am supposed to make a quick presentation about myself and where I come from, in english thank God.  It is just me talking, for a few minutes which doesn't scare me at all.  It should be quite fun.

Yesterday my host dad and David, went out for a canoe ride down a local river. I thought it would be a nice short canoe ride to see Denmark's beautiful nature and such.  It was very beautiful and very peaceful, but I soon came to realize that it wasn't going to be a short canoe ride.  3.5 hours later we arrived to our final destination.  With my arms nearly falling off, we hoped in the car and drove home.  

My host parents are very helpful with helping me learn the language.  They try to say things in both english and danish for me to understand.  I feel kind of bad for them because they will tell me a word, I will repeat it, and they will ask me the word again minutes later and I would have already forgotten it.  But I'm still trying.

The Olympic ceremonies have already started and they look amazing!  The family is sitting down and enjoying the ceremony, so I think I will join them.

I start school on Tuesday, I'm kind of nervous but I think everything will be alright.  

Below are links to three photo albums I have posted on facebook.  Click on them and you will find some pictures of my trip so far.  More updates in the near future.

Vi ses,

Dillon

dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46500&l=fd671&id=506871289

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46488&l=ab051&id=506871289

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46392&l=5621a&id=506871289