Sleepless in York

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

““Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.”
- Lawrence K. Fish”

I’ve just finished packing my suitcase. I can’t believe that 2 months have gone by - it has gone so fast. I’ve had many good but also less good experiences, which I have learned a lot from. Through my time here I have learned to be more independent, improved my English, learned about cultural differences, created friendships and much more. 

One of the most important things, which I feel have contributed the most to my development of independency is the understanding of how people in other places and other social classes live. Of course I know that there aren’t many people in the world who live like we do - in little isolated Hellerup. But I really felt it on own body while living in my “working class” host family, who considered us as a job. I am sure, that I will learn to appreciate a lot of things back home much more in the future, which I normally maybe took for granted… Like when I complained about when my father rarely warmed up a pre-prepared meal - “because that certainly wasn’t healthy and didn’t taste good” Here in England I’ve had pre-prepared meals at least 4 times a week - and I’ve learned that it isn’t that bad and a lot of people get them. 

We weren’t invited into the host family’s living room and the door was always closed, so we only had our room… Although it was nice sitting in my room alone with Netflix and a cup of tea, it certainly wasn’t every evening for 2 months. Therefore I think I’ll be much more present in the family life back home - but also because I miss them a lot. 

While living here I’ve used every weekend in the city centre - strolling around, shopping, visiting cafés etc. both with friends and on my own. I’ve become much better just being on my own and enjoying my own company. My favourite activity has been visiting a very cozy and rustic cafe called “Coffee Culture” with a book or some homework. I think I’ll go into Copenhagen more often when I get home. Normally I used to only go in there to go shopping, eat at a restaurant or something - but when I have such a beautiful city only a 10 minutes train ride or 30 minutes biking from home I should definitely use it more often. 

Also I feel that my English has improved. Even though I don’t really see the difference clearly, I feel it has become much easier to write English and now I actually understand nearly everything even on an academic level in fx. Government + Politics. Even though there have been some disadvantages regarding this trip, I would say that it’s these “bumps in the road”, which are necessary for evolving independency and self-development. 
“What dosen’t kill you makes you stronger”, right? 

Well I’ll have to go to bed now cause my alarm goes off at 4.30 and we have a long day of traveling ahead of us… Goodnight!

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

Manchester! It was 5.45 when my alarm went off. Maria was sleeping like a baby with her earplugs, so I had to shake her a few times before she woke. We quietly got going with our morning routine and tied our trainers, cause today we would be walking the streets of Manchester! We got the bus into town, where we meet the other girls at the York Train Station. I had booked the train tickets 2 weeks ago, so all we had to do is print them at the Ticket Machine, and of course Cornelia had to get her Pumpkin Spice Latte before we could leave for Manchester. Even though it was early in the morning there was a good atmosphere, because we were all excited for our little trip. One and a half hour train ride later we were at Manchester Piccadilly - a huge train station. We were practically in the middle of Manchester. We only walked for 3 minutes before the first shops started to appear. It already seemed as a much bigger and more industrial city than York. We spend the first hours shopping. Walking up and down the main shoppingstreet and into the Arndale Centre. When we all have at least one bag on our arms and we can’t ignore the fact that all our stomaches are rumbling, we find a really trendy place called Bayan - bar & kitchen. We got delicious food and the waiters were really nice and serviceminded. at the picture of the food, it may look like i’m eating some kind of tomato meat stew with Prawns on top, but it is actually the most delicious king prawn & crab risotto 😃 When we were full and satisfied, we went back to the shoppingstreet ready to explore more of Manchester and were expecting more nice street with boutiques etc., but somehow it seemed like Market Street and the few that crossed was all there was. Further out it was more industrial areas and office buildings. Still we couldn’t believe that the Manchester we had set a whole day off for was just this, so we asked around but it all lead back to the same conclusion. Suddenly little York seemed way more interesting for us. We were much more into nice little old streets with cozy boutiques and cafés. Of course it was fun and interesting to experience and see Manchester, but to be honest it wasn’t a place I would come back. I think one of the things that made it feel kind of chaotic and not so personal was the extensive rebuilding going on everywhere. Most of the streets and squares were blocked and there was a lot of noise coming from the construction vehicles. We spend a little more time on shopping and sat down at Starbucks. A blueberry muffin and a cup of tea later I decided to go out into the streets again to get the most out of our short stay, while the other girls were a little depressed about it all, and just stayed at Starbucks. I spend a few hours just walking round and experiencing the city on my own. I watched some really good black rappers doing a street show, where a group of people came in dancing spontaneously. Later i walked in to different shops and bought some presents for my family. We got into the train at the other train station Manchester Victoria at 19.50 with tired bodies and sore legs. We were late home for dinner that night.

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

"I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness - just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.” My everyday life in York 7.30: my alarm is buzzing and it's time to get up! Maria is already in the shower. We coordinated it - she showers in the morning and I in the evening. We dress, do makeup etc. while listening to the playlist "Wake up happy" on Spotify. 8.00: we go down in the kitchen to make our obligatory morning microwave oatmeal with cut banana and honey on top of it. It fills us with energy and makes sure, that we don't get too hungry before lunch. 8.45: We knock on Sara's (our Norwegian student) door and all three of us walk to school together. It is a beautiful walk - we walk past a nice little lake and fields with cows and sheep. 9.15: First lesson starts. Today theatre studies with Garrett, my favourite teacher here. We are only 10 in the class, which means we get a lot of individual time and we've all become kind of close. At least much closer in comparison to my other classes. We're reading a play called Road - a northern English play from the 1980's with a lot of accent and swear words in it. It is really challenging, especially sometimes when I have to read a 3 pages monologue in front of the whole class. But it makes it is a good challenge for my English language and I feel safe reading to the class. No theatre lessons goes by without the whole group burst out laughing at least ten times - the teacher included. 12.50: First part of the school day is done (theatre studies, media studies and German) and we are now heading towards Tesco with the rest of the school. The funny thing is, all the Danes, me included, are gathered around the salad bar mixing up a healthy lunch, while all British students are picking which bag of chips or whether it is going to be a chocolate bar with peanut butter or Oreo for lunch. I know that not all are like this, and I am making a stereotypic analysis - but this definitely surrounds the majority of the British students. I just don't really get how they manage going through a whole day of school without anything solid or healthy in their systems... 14.05: We go back to our separate classes. Now I'm in Politics & Government - a lot of note taking! 16.30: The last drum rolling minutes are done and we are finally off. Most from of our class meet up just in front of school and shortly discuss our adventures of the day before we walk home. 17.00: Maria and I are home and exhausted after a long day, but our guilty conscience wins. We put on our running clothes and tie our matching pink running shoes before we head out the door. We run roughly 2 km to a little park, where we do a variety of training exercises and run back home. 18.30: We've showered and are now ready for our dinner, which is cooked earlier in the day and therefore is heated in the microwave. Rice with chicken in many different ways or a preprepared microwave pasta meal are the standard dishes here. I must say I miss my food back home - where everything is usually made from the bottom and includes a lot of vegetables. Not to mention the fact that we sit eating together as a family. Here it is just Maria and me - sometimes accompanied by the Norwegian Student living here. 19.00: Maria and I do our homework and often watch a movie or an episode of Suits together before heading to bed.

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

Selby Abbey and Castle Howard. Yesterday morning about 60 exchange students (mainly girls) met up at York College to go see Selby Abbey and Howard Castle. The guys from my class most certainly didn’t want to spend their Saturday walking round in "some old castle”. Me? I was actually exited to go! It eased my conscience that we were finally doing something really cultural for an entire day - and I really do like beautiful old castles and churches. Our first stop was Selby Abbey, an Anglican parish church in the town of Selby. The church was founded by Benedict of Auxerre in 1069 and has been home to monks, destroyed by fire and rebuilt by human hand. As you can see in the pictures, it is a beautiful church with the most amazing and detailed church windows i have ever seen. I find a special peace when I’m inside a church. I’m not exactly a strongly believing christian but it still gives me some kind of heeling and inner peace to be in a place like that. We didn’t have much time but i still got to see it all, sit at the altre and light a candle for my grandfather. We drove for another half an hour to get to Castle Howard. We checked it out on the internet in advance and it looked big, but the whole area was much bigger than i had imagined (1,000 acres) Castle Howard is a private residence built in 1699, and was the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years. We had 3,5 hours to ourselves which i spend with 3 Norwegian girls - Emilie, Taline and Henriette. The first hour and a half we walked round the castle - fascinated by all the beautiful rooms, paintings, panels, furniture etc. When the Castle was well explored we went outside to explore some of the 1,000 acres monumental landscape with extensive woodland walks, temples, lakes, gardens and fountains. It was a little chilly so we had to keep moving not to freeze. I was really impressed by it all but i bet, that it is even more beautiful in the summer when the rosegardens are actually filled with roses etc. When our hands were near the freezing point we bought some scones and sat down enjoying the amazing view before the buses drove us back to York.

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

“A Sunday well spend brings a week of content”.

It is sunday morning, I’ve just been out running and now Maria and I are discussing how to spend the day. Back home i’m working in a bakery every sunday, when i get home i am eating sunday dinner with my family and then it’s time for homework. Here I’m not really attached to anything - we can pretty much do anything. It is nice this way but i must admit that i really miss my family, friends and just my everyday life in Denmark. At the same time there are only 18 days left and we should enjoy it while it lasts.

The time has gone by so fast and I am already many experiences richer. I have seen almost every bit of the city centre with friends and on my own, tried several lovely cafes, restaurants etc, been out in York’s nightlife, been to an english houseparty as the only scandinavian, bonded and spend time with British and Norwegian girls etc. etc… And i look forward to many more!

When I think about it suddenly we don’t have much time left, and I already have many plans: Tomorrow 2.H from Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium is coming to visit York for one day and we’ve made plans to meet up with them, Saturday we are going to visit a beautiful old castle with the other exchange students as a part of the programme, the weekend after we are going to visit Manchester and then we also have to enjoy lovely York a little more before we are going home a few days later!

While writing Maria and I have come to the conclusion to go into the city, get a cup of coffee to go and walk the city walls. It is a 4,2 kilometres walk, but it’s a lovely weather outside and we’ve talked about it several times when walking by.

So i didn’t get to post this before we went into the city…

We started out walking round the city walls as planned whereupon we walked down along the river side, into a little park and ended up in a part of the city we hadn’t seen before with cosy shops and cafes. When we were cold and a little exhausted we went in to a small cafe called Coffee Culture. It was a snug and rustic cafe with a very friendly atmosphere. We got the best coffees, brownies and scones - just talking for hours.

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

"Vi er et yndigt land, vi står med brede bøge nær salten østerstrand..." og "Ja, vi elsker dette landet, som det stiger frem, furet, værbitt over vannet..." 

 These two national songs were shouted from each side of the football field Wednesday night when our class hopelessly tried to defend Denmark's honour and prove that the Norwegians were some helpless "fjeldaber". 

 We met at Energise (the local fitness centre) with almost everyone from our class and about 60 Norwegians at half past seven. During the match I met more really nice Norwegian girls whom I spoke to during the whole match and exchanged Facebook etc with. 

I had a lovely evening even though i was seen as a bit of a traitor to my class since I was standing on the Norwegian side when our boys lost to the Norwegians. 

 The match ended 3-2 so the mood wasn't good in the Danish group that night. But I really liked it either way - just that we got together with the Norwegians was really nice and the fact that we were going out instead of just sitting separately in each of our "homes".

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

“With peaks of joy and valleys of heartache, life is a roller coaster ride, the rise and fall of which defines our journey. It is both scary and exciting at the same time.”

― Sebastian Cole

Bip bip bip - it was 5.30 as my alarm woke me up. Maria and I got ready and walked to College. It was a beautiful morning and the sky was coloured in a wonderful combination of pink and blue. A lot of exchange students were gathered in the parking lot waiting to get into the buses. We leaved York College a quarter past 7 and arrived at Alton Towers around 10 after a beautiful bus ride through the countrysides of Northern England. 

 My classmates and I walked into the theme park together. Actually I had planned to spend the day together with a bigger group of Norwegians, whom i had spend the Bowling/Laser-tag night with, but they hadn’t arrived yet. It wasn’t long before my classmates and I realised, that we couldn’t all walk together - we were all at different levels in roller coaster riding.

I'm kind of courageous when it comes to riding roller coasters. No roller coaster scares me - they just give me a satisfying adrenaline kick. I love it! So I ended up walking round with a group of my good boy friends from class. We tried every daring roller coaster and had an amazing day full of fun and excitement. 

We even tried one called Oblivion, which is a roller coaster riding up to a very tall point from where it holds you out for some seconds to enjoy the terrific view and then suddenly drops you straight down in a hole. Down here it turns you upside down and rides you back up again - all in an extreme speed. That was probably the best one if you asked me. We ended the day meeting up with the rest of our classmates and ate ice-cream and donuts in the sun before we drove back home. 

Even though we were really exhausted when we finally got home we were kind of hyped and filled with adrenaline from the rides. So after dinner Maria and I met up with our friends at a bar Downtown called Lucia. We had a fun night out experiencing and exploring Yorks nightlife and the differences to the Danish.

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

Leeds!

“What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is stroll about with our eyes open. Life swarms with innocent monsters.” ― Charles Baudelaire Saturday - equals shopping day! 

At 10 am my friends and I met up at the railstation. We started out with a coffee from Starbucks so that we were fit for fight - shoppiiing! The bus ride took about an hour and a half and they were spend gazing out on the beautiful nature of northern England. 

 From the minute we walked up the main shopping street we were in love. It kind of reminded me of a less modern and much smaller New York. Everything was bigger than York City Centre but it had still gotten the same charm if not more. We stared up at the one beautiful building after another. On many smaller streets all the shop entries and signs were matching and held in a glamorous old-fashioned style. 

The city was humming of life and we experienced street artists, musicians, demonstrations and lots of nice shopping possibilities in beautiful arcades - all this in a lovely sunny weather. When our arms were filled with shoppingbags and our feet hurt we sat down on a lovely little Mexican restaurant called Cielo Blanco. We sat under palm trees enjoying our burritos and listened to exotic Mexican music. When we were filled and satisfied we went to the last stores and got on a bus home. All very happy, but tired!

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

"A city isn’t so unlike a person. They both have the marks to show they have many stories to tell. They see many faces. They tear things down and make new again."

If you’re looking for a small, beautiful city with sights to see and a fascinating history, then head to York! The time is passing so fast! Tomorrow we've been here for a week already. The main reason to this must be, that we've spend every free hour in the centre of York. The whole weekend was spend on shopping, visiting the lovely little English cafés and restaurants, listening to the street musicians, visiting pubs, breathing in the chocolate flavoured air and generally just enjoying the many new impressions...

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Making the best of everything

“Happiness is not having the best of everything you want, it is making the best of everything you’ve got” 

- I found this quote on a wall in my new English home. The house is full of lovely quotes.

It wasn’t easy saying goodbye to my family. The last couple of days have been full of good moments with my friends and family. Because of my departure I’ve been spoiled with lovely dinners. You would say, that 2 months isn’t a long time compared to an exchange year, but it still is more than just a vacation.

So yesterday my class and I arrived at York College around 6 pm after a 2 hours flight to Manchester and a 2 hours bus drive. Here we were greeted by our host families. I must say, that I was pleased to have Maria by my side.

We arrived at a white terraced house. The only white one in that blog. Maria and I got the attic to our selves with our own bathroom. So that’s pretty nice. The house isn’t fancy, and it is more like a “hotel” than a family. We’ve got the impression, that we won’t be very included, but that’s just what it is. Like the quote says - make the best of everything. And we are lucky to have each other!

[sleeplessinyork-blog]

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” ― Anita Desai

In exactly one week my class and I are meeting up in Copenhagen Airport with our tummies filled to the edge with butterflies. We are all going to say goodbye to our families and our everyday lives for two months. And a couple hours flight later we are expected to be ready to greet new ones.

I mainly choose Gammel Hellerup Gymnasium 2 years ago because of this amazing opportunity. I feel really excited about everything regarding this trip! I don’t really know much about what will be meeting me, but that just makes it even more exciting. I’ve found that i’m gonna stay in the Burns family with my friend Maria. We actually thought, that we were going to stay in host families individually, but Maria and I got paired up. Gonna be half sisters for 2 months - and we love it!  

I can’t wait for all the new impressions and adventures waiting for me and my friends!

Well i’ll write much more in a week, when we’re finally there...