As I’m sitting down writing this, I’m waiting at the airport in Billund (Denmark for all the Americans out there who have no clue where that is).
I’m about to go to Paris for a week to visit my Great Aunt and Uncle. I would say that the only feelings I have right now are excitement… but I’d be lying. I am indescribably excited and can’t wait to spend a week in the city that I’ve always dreamed of. But, I am also starting to realize just how quickly my time in Denmark is going by. The last time I was at this airport, I was arriving from Florida, at the beginning of my exchange. The next time I board a flight here, I will be on my way “home”.
I have had these plans to go to Paris since I first came in August. Since then it’s always been “Oh yeah, I’m going to Paris… but I have a long time until then”. No longer can I say that. I’m leaving today; in only a few hours. I am obviously super excited, but I can’t get rid of the thought that my time here is slowly slipping past.
But… away with the dreary thoughts of going home…. IM GOING TO PARIS J
I’ll have to send in another update later on to tell you all how that went. For now, I’ll bore you all with the information about what I’ve done the past few weeks.
I am currently living with my 3rd host family. I moved in with them over 6 weeks ago and ever since I have had an amazing time with them. Leaving my 2nd family was possibly the hardest thing I’ve done on exchange. I cried more than I did leaving my real parents back in Florida (before you call me a heartless person, I knew I would be back with my family in Florida, but at the time there was no certainty on whether or not I would ever be back to live with my old host family).
After I got over the sadness of leaving the 3 people that I can now call family, I got over the sad emotions quite quickly, because my current host parents are amazing. Kjeld (host dad) and Merete (host mom) are absolutely two of the sweetest people and I am really happy I am with them. They love taking me out to see things on the weekends and all of their family is amazing. I have been to south Denmark and crossed the border into Germany with them, visited Århus, Silkeborg, Holstebro, and Horsens, seen plenty of museums (I realize it sounds boring visiting museums, but some were actually pretty cool. We went to one in Silkeborg called “Aqua” and I saw the cutest otters). Living with them can be described in one word “hyggeligt” which is something I can’t describe other than cozy (even though it’s so much better than that).
I have also been able to tour a tv news station where one of their sons works. We discovered that I could have a pretty successful career in TV journalism J I also went to visit another son of theirs in Horsens, where I was able to get some clothes from Pieces (aka Danish wonderland) because he works there. We already have plenty more plans (visiting their oldest son who lives in Odense where I can see H.C. Anderson’s house and the zoo there), visiting castles, and we will go to Copenhagen on the Queen’s birthday!
We also usually volunteer at the local movie theatre on Monday nights. We work at the counter helping with ticket sales and snacks. In exchange, we can see all the free movies we want. I even went to see the Hunger Games premiere (yes, I had to mention it being the fan that I am) on Thursday. It was an amazing movie (*cough cough* if you haven’t seen it, get your butt to the movie theatre right now) and I even got to see it almost 12 hours before Floridians (aka REBECCA SOLOMAN)… gotta love time changes and the fact that Danes aren’t huge on midnight premieres so films can come out at 6:30PM!
Aside from the normal life of school, hanging out with friends, and spending time with my host family, life has been pretty “average” (I say average even though my life isn’t quite the average for an American or Dane because I get some pretty cool perks being the exchange student; but, nonetheless, it’s average to me).
One thing I was able to do was give a speech to an “efterskole” (boarding school). I spoke (in English, as it was for their English class) about teen life in America. It was a great day for me.
Lately I’ve just been busy touring Denmark with my host parents, spending time with all of my great friends here, and going to the occasional Rotary meeting.
I’ll be in Paris until Saturday the 31st. After that I will have my week long Easter vacation from school (aka- I get a 2 week vacation, unlike my classmates who only have one). I already have plenty of plans for that, but I’ll get to those in a later post!
I better go get ready for my flight! I can’t wait to spend a week in Paris J
-McKenzie <3
