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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