The Sørensens

I forgot to to post this! I have heard from my second host family that I will be staying with, which is pretty rad. So here is the run down.

My host mom is Annette and she is a secretary in Brædstrup and her husband Ole is a carptender and runs his own company. They have 2 children, Anne 16, Frederik 13, and Frida 5. Anne is leaving to Austraila on exchange in late July so I won't be able to meet her. Frederik seems like a really awesome kid. He loves to play rugby at his local club and he is into rock climing. They have told me that sometimes his team goes to Sweden and Germany to climb! Frida is starting kindergarden this coming school year.

Their house is in Brædstrup, and Annette says they are "5 minutes from everything". Sounds just like Bracebridge! The bus station is very close, which is always good because that is the same bus I will be taking to school all year. They seem like an amazing family and I can't wait to meet them.

This past Wednesday, I got a package in the mail from my first host family! They wrote me a lovely postcard, and a nice "information guide" I guess, about their area in Denmark. Different sights and history about different places in Denmark. I have been reading it and it really neat! They mentioned in the postcard that, "Soon you will be able to see all of this yourself, instead of looking in this book", which is so true. Everytime I do research about Denmark or anything like that, I think to myself, "In a little more than a month, I will be living there!" It is so hard to believe that this is actually happening.

Much love,

Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Website

Hej!

I made a website in Communication Tech class and I want to share it. It was my final project for the class and it was done very fast and it is really plain. I plan on making another one if I end up getting a laptop.
http://www.downhaul.ca/Rahkola/Index.htm


Vi Snakkes Ved
(I think thats how you say it?)

Tons of love,

Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Royal Danish Consulate

Hey everybody.

I wrote a big long post telling you all about my visit to the Royal Danish Consulte in Toronto but I pressed a wrong button, and deleted it all. Now being kind of ticked off, I'll give you the consulate experience in a nut shell.

Mom and I went down early monday to apply for my student visa at the conulate. Hours were 9-12 so we had to leave at 7 to make it to Toronto on time. I handed in my passport, guarntee forms, and visa application that myself and my highschool in Denmark filled in. The consulate saves you a vist to Ottawa, so Toronto is the middle man in the visa-getting-situation for me. They throw it in the mail to the embassy in ottawa where they will send me back my visa in my passport (if all goes well) in 4-6 weeks, in time for my departure.

The consulte is on the 21 floor of a office building on Bloor and the office is shared with the Swedish and Norwegian consulate. It was neat to hear some Danes who came in and spoke Danish to the lady at the consulate. Its fun to think that in a bit more then a month that will be mostly all I will be hearing, so I better get used to it.

Next on the agenda, is getting assurance for the year, which I have heard takes longer then most people think. This weekend I have convinced my parents into allowing me to get a Macbook computer for my year away, which will also act as my computer for University. I should be ordering it this weekend.

Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Much love,

Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Departure Date

Hej!

Big news, my "official" (even though its not official) depature date is August 1st. I say it's not official yet because the fact that I don't have the ticket in my hand as I type this. I should be getting the ticket from Rotary's travel consultant, Colleen any day now. So here is the scoop.

Depart August 1st on Iceland Air from Toronto at 9:10 pm arriving in Reykjavik, Iceland at 6:25 am on the 2nd.
Departing at 7:45 am on Iceland Air arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark at 12:45 pm.
Departing at 2:45 pm on SAS (Scandinavian Airline Systems) arriving in Aarhus, Denmark at 3:30 pm.

It will be a very long, tiring stretch over two days. But TOTALLY worth it! I can't wait for this year to begin. Less then 2 months. Is is so real now! This is actually going to happen! In less then 2 months I will be in Denmark, with my family, soaking in Denmark. This is huge, and the best thing I will ever do.

OH, by the way, how cool is it that I'm landing in Iceland:) I think thats so rad. So when I land in Iceland, I have "basicly" been in Iceland and I will check it off as one of the countries I have been to!

But lets get serioud for a second. Many people know that I grew up loving the "Might Ducks" movies, and what is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Iceland?



Big bad Gunner Stahl from Mighty Ducks 2! The chances of me running into Gunner in the airport in Iceland, are very slim, but I have my fingers crossed! And remember kids, Iceland is covered with green and Greenland is covered with Ice. Learned that one from MD2 too. When the good looking trainer from Iceland went to get icecream with Coach Bombay. Wow, I'm such a nerd.

Tons of love,

Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

I Grew Some Balls

Last Friday, I preformed at my schools "Pure Madness" which is the end of the year coffee house. I only preformed in small coffee houses with 15 people. This was in front of the whole school and it was the most fun ever! It was such a rush to be playing a song and people enjoying it! I finally got the balls to go up in front of my school, and I hope I still can preform when I go to DK, because maybe if I preform at my school in DK, people would be interested in getting to know me? And I can make some new friends from it. Anyways, here is the video of me playing Pure Madness. I preformed an acoustic version of the "Arkells" - He's No Champagne Socialist. Enjoy:)

LOVEbounds

Hej!

This past weekend, I got a ride down to Barrie, to visit some of my fellow exchange students. Kohki an exchange student from Japan, who live in Kap. took a long 13 hr. train ride to Barrie to visit people in the area. I love Kohki and if he took a 13 hr. train ride to see everyone, the least I can do is take a 1 hr. ride to Barrie to see him.

I met him and the others at the mall food court to grab some lunch. The peope that joined me wher; Top, Kohki, Brian, and Celine. After lunch we went out to something I haven't done in a while ... glow in the dark mini putt. It was so much fun, it was a good time just to relax and mini put :P. I won, no big deal or anything.

After the mini putt we went across the street to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Kohki was dying to see it because he said that Indy wouldn't be coming to Kap for a couple more weeks, so we all went to see it. It was pretty good, I'm not going to lie. ***SPOILER ALERT!*** What is with all the aliens at the end. Really??? Like common aliens! I can't really believe that. Anyways it was still really good and I recommend anyone to see it.

After the movie we all went out for dinner at Moose Winooskis for a good Canadian meal. What is a Canadian meal? Who knows, but I think it was chicken wings and full racks of ribs because thats what all the inbounds got! While waiting for our meal, Top bet me that his Pens, would beat the Wings 10-1. God knows that would neer happened, so I took the bet and I won. By the time our meals were done, and devoured, we had to figure out whos birthday it was going to be tonight! Kohki didn't want to lie, and good for him! So Top stepped up to the plate, and got his free ice cream.

It was great to see everyone again, and who knows, that might be the last time I would see Kohki, because of how far Kap is from down here, so I needed to see him. I hope to see Top, Brian, and Celine very soon. Celine is havin a get together soon at her place and is inviting all the inbound and outbounds. I heard from Gillian that Raf told her instead of calling ourselves in and outbounds, lets just call our selves LOVEbounds, which I am going to do from now on. So I can't wait to get together with the LOVEbounds before I head out to DK.

Much love,

Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com

Here are some photos of our day. Photo cred: Celine.