Love You Grandma Mac.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
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.
Vi Ses,
Dillon
dillonrahkola@hotmail.com
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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
Friday, August 8, 2008
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
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