#afsnz2015

[lostindenmark]

Dublin part 2

A couple of weeks ago I traveled back to Ireland to visit some of my favourite people. Friday morning I caught the train to Copenhagen and spent about an hour having a quick look around the city, before taking another train to Copenhagen airport. In the afternoon I caught a flight to Dublin where I met my friends for the second time this year. It was so good to see them again and I’m so lucky I got the chance to go a second time because it’s always such fun with them. We spent Friday night catching up and then the next morning Martha’s aunties arrived to stay for the weekend also. They were also staying with us last time and are such a laugh, so it was really nice to be able to see them again. For lunch we drove to a hotel called Carton House, which is also where the Irish rugby team train. It was such a nice place although very posh, and the grounds were beautiful. Once we were home we spent the rest of the night chilling and watching Britains Got Talent. The next day we drove through the mountains to Glendalough and Wicklow, were we spent a good couple of hours exploring and walking through the mountains. The mountains in Dublin are very different to what I know as mountains, and look more like hills, but they were stunning. Parts were covered in little yellow flowers and the sun was shining which made it even better. After looking around we went for a late lunch at a cafe up there, which turned into dinner as well after we met one of the aunties daughters and her friend. We spent the rest of the night chatting and got home just after the sun had set. 

This time I got to see a lot of the country side, rather than the city which I saw last time, and I’m really glad I did because it was so pretty and different.

Carton House (Mary, Rita, Martha)

Carton House

Glendalough

Glendalough

Glendalough

Glendalough 

[lostindenmark]

11.05.16

I now have less than 50 days until I have to hop on a plane and come home to New Zealand. I still can’t believe how quick this year has actually gone, it felt like I left ages ago but at the same time only yesterday. The last month has been a busy one, but also a really good one. At the start of the month I stayed with my contact family for the weekend and we went shopping, and had lunch in Esbjerg. The following Tuesday 3 exchange students living in nordsjælland came to live in tønder for a week. On Wednesday they came to class with us and after school we showed them one of the few thing in tønder, the art museum. On Thursday we decided to go shopping and spent a while looking in town before heading to a cafe for nachos and fries. Friday was spent at school again and then on Saturday we all went bowling, which a couple of the girls had never done before so it was hilarious, then afterwards had coffee and cake. A big thing that happened this month was changing host families.I didn’t have a big dramatic fight with my old host family or anything, we just weren’t getting along as good as we could have. I think everyone was just a little bit sick of each other and I felt like I wasn’t having as good of a time that I should have. So my new home is now in a very small town called Brøns, the next town up from where I used to live. I’m living with my contact family and everything is just so much more me. It’s hard to explain but everything’s just a lot easier and more realaxed, and I’m really happy living with them. One Friday all the schools had a day off so Hannah (NZ) came across from Holbæk, to come stay Friday night. I met her on the train and we took it the whole way down to Germany to do a bit of shopping. We came home and made pizza for dinner before we ended up watching “Hairspray” before bed. Saturday morning we were up early and on the train to Ribe. We had a little look in the Viking museum then in the shops before ending up sitting by the river talking, and mostly choosing which of the cute houses on the other side were ours.  A few days later I was on a train to Hamburg with the other exchange students and all the classes in 1.g that have German. We spent the day in Hamburg and while the students were doing a project me and the other exchange students looked around the city and went shopping. It was such a nice day and even though it was short, we got to see a lot of the city. A day later I was back on a train heading to Copenhagen airport where I caught a flight back to Ireland. I stayed with my family and friends over there until the following Monday and it was such a nice little break. I always have the best time with them and was so lucky I could go back a second time. I’ll do another blog post sometime soon about what I did there purely because I have way to many photos to choose from for this blog! Earlier that week, along with the other exchange students at my school, we had our last danish lesson with our teacher Maj-Britt. Our lessons were always so fun and as well as learning danish it was also just a time to talk about anything. It definitely feels like there’s something missing in my week now, and has only made me realise even more how little time I have left here. Another thing I have to talk about is the weather during the last month. What the heck. We have had everything from hail, to rain, to snow, to sun, sometimes all in one day. Finally the weather is becoming really nice, were getting a lot of sun and finally can sit outside in t-shirts, have barbecues and eat outside. 

Nordsjælland x Tønder - Chompoo (Thailand), Carol (Colombia), Rafael (Brazil), Ami (Japan), Earn (Thailand)

Tønder

Ribe with Hannah (NZ)

Ribe

Snow in April?

Hamburg

Hamburg

Dublin with Martha

Hej Hej!

[lostindenmark]

10.04.16

I’ve now been in Denmark for 8 months and it’s finally hitting me that time is running out. As my weekends are filling up I’m realising that these last two months are going to go quicker than ever. I’m starting to look forward to going home - its been a fricking long time, but I know nothing can prepare me for how hard it’s going to be saying goodbye. I’ve met so many amazing people, people from every country imaginable, people who even after hanging out with for just one day I call my best friends. If it wasn’t for them my exchange would be nothing. 

Since I last wrote on here a lot of exciting things have happened. Firstly it’s finally starting to get warmer, not warm enough to leave my coat behind yet but with longer days and more sun it’s definitely feeling like spring. I had my birthday on the 13th and although very chilled it was a nice day. Woke up to the fam singing happy birthday - a very danish tradition, had a nice breakfast then went to watch my host sisters handball game before coming home for cake and hot chocolate. Just a few days later I was of to London with my language school and it was by far the most exciting part of the last month. I’ve already written all about that so you can check that out if you want but it was a really great 5 days.  A day later I traveled to Holbæk to visit Kelly (America) as she was having her birthday party. It was a lot of fun and nice to meet some new people and catch up with some I hadn’t seen in a while. Caught the train home the next day and got back just in time for an easter lunch. We had a lot of traditional danish things then along with my two host brothers and host sister had a little easter egg hunt. The next weekend I went up to Esbjerg with Ami (Japan) and Earn (Thailand), two other exchange students at my school, and spent the day laughing, talking, shopping, and looking around the city before coming back to Ami’s house to have dinner. It was such a fun day and really nice to spend some time together outside of school.

Hej hej!

Rømø

Flag up for my birthday

London

Holbæk with Greta (Italy), Karolin (Germany) and Maria (Italy)

Day with Earn (Thailand) and Ami (Japan)

Another day with Earn and Ami

[lostindenmark]

London

During Easter break I was lucky enough to spend 4 days in London with my language school. We spent 17 hours between a bus and a ferry which was new for me, but actually not that bad. I still find it so crazy that we can just drive to other countries in a reasonable amount of time. We left on Saturday at around 4:30pm, drove through Germany and Belgium, then from the top of France took a ferry across to England. We then drove again to our hotel in Stratford, arriving at around 9:45 Sunday morning. Sunday was spent figuring out the underground, visiting the science and an art museum, and then after a long walk we had free time in the hotel. Me and earn spent a good half an hour in the Sainsbury’s opposite the hotel stocking up on some snacks, then spent the rest of the night talking and watching tv before getting dinner. The next morning we were up early to head into the city. First we went to the Tower of London, before taking tonnes of photos and eventually walking over Tower Bridge. It was amazing to be able to see such an iconic landmark, and I can confirm it is just as amazing as all the pictures. Later we took a bus to the London Eye, before walking across the bridge to Big Ben. Again it was so cool to see such popular landmarks that I’ve only ever seen in pictures, and it was all so pretty. Afterwards the groups split up, and while half of them went straight to shopping, us others continued on and saw Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Buckingham Palace (the Queen was home!!), then made our way back to Oxford Street where we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. That evening we were taken to Leicester Square where we were given free time. After eating dinner me, Earn and Alessandra looked around chinatown and M&M world, then took the underground back to the hotel. On Tuesday we drove a bit out of London to Windsor Castle. The castle was huge, and looked like something straight out of a fairy tale, definitely one of my favourite things from the whole trip. After a couple of hours we drove back to the center of London and went of a boat on the Themes. It was such nice weather, and the boat took us past all the main attractions including under Tower Bridge. We spent the evening at the Apollo Theater where we watched “Thriller Live” a Michael Jackson musical. The whole thing was so good, and the singing and dancing was amazing. For our last day we visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, and after climbing what felt like 10 million steps we reached the top which had an amazing 360 view over the whole city. The rest of the day was spent on Oxford Street, where we all had a bit of a shopping spree as we had to get rid of all our left over pounds. In the afternoon we made our way back to the hotel, then began the long trip back at about 7pm that evening. We got back to Denmark just over 12pm, and by 1 I was fast asleep at home. 

The trip was honestly incredible and I still cant believe I actually got to see all the things I did. We were busy the whole time and it made the holiday really exciting. 

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

London Eye

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

In St. Paul’s Cathedral

From the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral

Hej hej!

[lostindenmark]

7.03.16

I swear as time goes on there feels like even less time between writing these posts. Each month goes quicker than the last and I have now been living in Denmark for 7 months. SEVEN. MONTHS. The past month has by far been the best, but also the worst of the seven. Won’t go on about the bad stuff so here’s the good..

At the start of last month I had an AFS camp with my region for a weekend and it was so much fun, like always with those guys. We spent the week laughing, talking, and pretty much just hanging out which was really nice. The weekend after the camp was the beginning of the winter holidays, and also when I was off to Dublin to visit some friends. Ireland was honestly amazing and too see my friends over 3 years later in their own country was pretty cool. I’ve already made a post about what I got up to there so I won’t go into much detail but all I will say is that it was a really good trip and I had so much fun. For the rest of the holidays I was between Aabenraa, Sønderborg and Århus. We went to Aabenraa so I could see where my host mum works and also to have a little look/shop in the city. A few days later we headed up to Århus to visit my host brother. We had brunch in his new flat then ventured out into the cold to see Den Gamle By (The Old City). It was a really nice day and so cool to see houses that had been taken from around Denmark in the olden days. We got home later that night and by 8 o’clock the next morning I was up and ready to drive to Sønderborg. I got to Sønderborg quite early so had a look around the mall before I met up with Ernesto (Venezuela), then later Leticia (Brazil), Ege (Turkey), Max (France), and Nevena (Serbia). We spent the day hanging out, laughing at stupid things, eating pizza, sitting on the beach, taking photos, and exploring a pretty boring castle. The whole day was really fun, and then later that night we met everyone again, plus Gokmen (Turkey), and spent some time by the water before going into “Bob’s”, a beer bar/club. We got back to Ernesto’s early the next morning and finally went to sleep after literally almost getting killed by his huge German Shepard. Basically to get to where we were sleeping we had to go upstairs, however the dog obviously didn’t recognise who we were and climbed the stairs, growling and staring straight at us, guarding Ernesto’s host family who were already asleep. Woke up later that morning and went into town, got milkshakes and cookies, then caught the train home. The winter break was full of fun, and I got to make so many more memories with such great people. School started back and since then not much has happened. Last weekend the school threw a party and as always it was great fun, full of people who had clearly drank way too much and people just having a great time. In the weekend we also spent an afternoon with my host mums mum and dad to celebrate mine and my host sisters birthdays which was nice. 

Region 2 winter camp

Tønder

Ribe

From the train to Copenhagen

Dublin

Den Gamle By

Den Gamle By

Sønderborg

Sønderborg with Nevena (Serbia), Max (France), Ernesto (Venezuela), Ege (Turkey) and Leticia (Brazil)

Sønderborg with Leticia and Nevena

Sne igen

Fakkelfest with Ami (Japan) and Earn (Thailand)

Hej Hej!

[lostindenmark]

Dublin

Almost a week ago I got back from what might have been the best holiday ever. Friday afternoon I took the train to Copenhagen airport and hung around there for a couple of hours, before taking a quick flight across to Ireland where I met my friends who I hadn’t seen in over 3 years. We drove to their house which was about 20 minutes out of Dublin, had dinner, then spent so long catching up that we didn’t get to bed until around 2 am. The next morning we got up earlish and had breakfast, before heading into the city. We caught a “hop on hop off” bus which took us around the city and showed us all the main attractions - Trinity College, Christchurch Cathedral, St Patrick’s Cathedral, The Government House. At the Guinness Storehouse we hopped off and spent pretty much the rest of the day just walking around the Guinness factory. We went from looking across the whole of Dublin in the Gravity Bar to watching the Ireland vs France rugby game in another bar, and all in all it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we met up with Martha’s other aunt Mary, and we all went for dinner. To show me “the real Dublin” we went to Temple Bar which was absolutely packed, and stayed until the live music was over. We then took the Lewis to the bus station, but ended up missing the bus so went to another pub before eventually getting the bus home. Once again we stayed up chatting about anything and everything. Sunday was super chilled, we woke up late and had breakfast then relaxed with coffee and cake in the conservatory. Later that afternoon two of Martha and Paul’s friends and their families came over for dinner, and we spent the night talking, laughing and eating. It was so nice because that’s exactly the type of thing we would do at home. Even after everyone went home the rest of us stayed up talking, again. Monday morning we woke up and headed to the airport for brunch before I had to catch my flight. After saying goodbye I spent an hour or so picking up a few things in duty free, then caught my flight, followed by a train before getting home later that night. The whole trip was really good, so good that we’ve already started planning the next one! It was great to be able to visit my friends again and see some of the beautiful country they live in.

O’Connell Street 

O’Connell Street

Christchurch Cathedral 

Government Houses 

Guinness Storehouse

Gravity Bar

Gravity Bar

Gravity Bar with Martha

The barrels Guinness used to be stored in 

Walking to Temple Bar

Hej Hej!

[lostindenmark]

05.02.16

6 months in and long past half way! This month has gone super quick but a lot has happened. School started again at the beginning of January which felt really weird. It was strange not to be starting a new school year with new books etc, but instead everything just went back to the way it was before Christmas. Earlier this month we also got a lot of snow, and although freezing, it made me really happy. We don’t actually get a lot of snow in the area of Denmark I live in so whenever we do it’s a chance to have some fun and make the most of it. The 15th of January, 161 days since arriving, marked the half way point of my exchange, and it was crazy to think that so much time had gone by. I’m still loving living here, and even though most things have become “normal” for me now I’m still doing enough new things to keep it exciting. From the 19th to the 26th, along with the 7 other exchange students in Tønder/Sønderborg, I lived in an area in North Sjælland with another host family. We all took the train Tuesday afternoon and the whole trip was loads of fun, it always is with those guys <3. I was in an area called Birkerød with the nicest family made up of a host mum Bente, host dad Peter, host sister Laura, and little host brother Mads. The next day the 8 of us exchange students, plus a few more who live in North Sjælland, had a tour of Copenhagen. Although I have been before and seen a lot of the things we did that day, it was still so much fun. On Thursday I went to school with my host sister in Lyngby, then afterwards we got sushi and looked around the city before going home. Friday was school again, and then in the afternoon we had a big shared dinner thing with the other exchange students and their families which was really great. Saturday morning we headed further north to Helsingør to see Kronborg castle. It was actually the castle where the tragedy of Hamlet was set, and was also the place where many wars between the Swedes and Danes took place. It’s so close to Sweden you can look across the water and see a Swedish city on the other side, and one time back when the Sweden and Denmark were fighting the water between froze and the Swedish walked across and attack the Danes. As well as being absolutely stunning, it was so interesting to learn about why the castle was the way it was and what happened there. Saturday evening was my host cousins birthday, so in the afternoon we went for coffee with the family then out for dinner afterwards. Sunday was pretty chilled, then in the afternoon I met up with Hannah (NZ) in Copenhagen and we just had a good chat and wander around the city. It was really strange to see someone again that I actually knew from home, but also super nice. On Monday was school again, followed by a lovely dinner then board games with the host fam. It was such a nice way to end my stay with them and the whole week was very hyggeligt. I got to see and do so much and they really became like my third family. Today I’m off to my halfway AFS camp with all the other exchange students from Southern Jylland & Fyn, and I honestly can’t wait to see them all again. So basically this month has been a month spent with exchange students and it’s been super fun! 

Tønder

Skærbæk

Skærbæk

Christiania

Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Nyhavn

Nyhavn

Nyhavn

NZ, Austria, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil

The Little Mermaid

Sushi med Laura

A squirrel!

Kronborg

Kronborg

Copenhagen

Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Venezuela, Austria, NZ

Hej Hej!

[tenmonthsinfrance-blog]

Blog #31 // 26.12.15 - 01.01.16

Saturday 26th December France doesn’t have any boxing day specials or anything that makes the day after Christmas special so we all got up early to go to Bruges. Its a smallish town somewhere in Belgium between Lille and Brussels and it very typical or the North and a huge tourist attraction. We had lunch and looked around the town and the Christmas markets that hadn’t been taken down yet before goin to find the canals. The town is called “La Venise du Nord” and I could definitely see why, it looked like what I would a image a cross between amsterdam and Italy to look like. Unfortunately because it was the middle of winter most of the boats were closed and the ones that were open had huge lines that no one wanted to wait in so we decided just to walk next to the canals. With only the littlest bit of exaggeration, every second shop in Belgium is a chocolate shop. We walked through a park while the sun was setting which was of course ridiculously pretty and then headed home, everyone having an early night because we were all tired from walking around all day.  

Monday 28th December

Caught the train from Tourcoing to Paris Disney in the morning and then successfully got the Metro to kind of near the Louvre to go and meet Grace (”the Louvre” is a terribly unspecific meeting place) and we found each other eventually walking down the Seine. The line was too long for the Louvre so we headed in the general direction of the Eiffel tower to take some typical touristy photos before walking over half of Paris to find a curry shop. We walked around for a bit longer and tried to buy fruit but after finding out one peach would cost 7.50 euros we decided against it. Found some melon though and ate it under the Eiffel tower and although it was winter the sun was shining and it turned out to be such a nice day. I had to slightly run to catch my metro after that because we took longer getting back to the Louvre than I thought we would but I ended up getting it just in time. Managed to not miss my train back to Tourcoing and my host Dad and sister picked me up from the station.

Thursday 31st December

Last day of 2015! Spent the day at Calais with my host family and had lunch with ones of their friends before walking along the beach. Happy to be near the sea wouldn’t really explain how I was feeling after not seeing it for 132 days (yes I had a countdown going hahaha) I literally ran barefoot through the sand the minute we got there, getting half my jeans wet when I went in the water and my host family gave me some very very strange looks but then Leonard joined me so it was fine. It was around 5 degrees and walking along a pebble road with feet that cold is incredibly painful but I had to keep up the “New Zealand girl who never complains about or feels the cold” We went to the ”white capes?” I think? and because it wasn’t too cloudy you could actually see the coast of England, 100% sure this is why people from Europe thing Australia is swimming distance away from New Zealand We got back home and I got ready before Lauren and her host dad picked me up to drop us off at a New Years party. I don’t remember all of it but I had fun.

Friday 1st December

Major regrets for not sleeping until 5am when my host parents came to get us at 9:30 but I had to time for a quick nap at home before walking to the Grandparents to wish them happy new year. I went to get Ruby from the train station that night and we looked around Lille for a bit before coming home.