New Families

Wow another blog post! And I didn't even put 3 months in between this and the last one this time! Just a quick update. Been a busy week or so. I've been a bit sick and missed a few days of school but I'm mostly better now. Last Tuesday was the Rotary "Thanksgiving" show which I played 3 times for. Shoutout to my fantastic partner Veronica for being the second half of a wonderful performance of "Train Song" by Feist and Ben Gibbard. I think we truly nailed it and can't wait to see what else we do together this year. Also my school gala happened last Friday. It was a big party and I got to eat together with my class. I even won "Years best male exchange student" in my class, an award that I will truly cherish the rest of my life. Other than a delightful dinner there was traditional Danish dance that we have been practicing in gym class for a couple weeks. It was a chaotic mess but it was a super awesome and incredibly fun chaotic mess. And through all this wonderful business I also changed to my second host family in Denmark. Though I am very sad to leave my first family who gave me an incredible introduction to Denmark and Danish ways, I am also extremely happy so far in my second family. I will have many more chances to see my first family again especially one of the host sisters who is in my class and who I see pretty much every day at school. Pictured below are all my new families. District 1470 exchange students, class 2m in Virum Gymnasium, and my first host family. Also an excellent picture from the performance.

Exchange Students in District 1470

Class 2m in Virum Gymnasium (Plus 2 not currently in the class and minus 3 who weren't in the picture)

First host family (Minus host sister Anne-Katherine)

Rotary performance with Veronica

Ahoy! Resurrection!

Hello once again everyone! I would like to begin this blog post with my sincere apologies for the lack of posts. It has actually been several months. The last thing I posted about was my experience at intro camp and now I am quite a bit more oriented and grounded in Denmark. Such a fantastic amount of things have happened that I can hardly think of where to start. I have been a terribly busy bee. Over the past few months I have become somewhat less of an outsider among my classmates, have been attending Danish language school, and have been reveling in my good fortune of being so close to Copenhagen. So much has happened in fact, that I find it difficult even to remember everything. I have been to Christiania, attended 2 concerts, participated in several school events (to the extent that was possible at least), and done a lot of walking and biking that has ultimately resulted in a somewhat tremendous loss of weight. Though I take very few pictures in an effort to experience the world around me without being tethered to a device I have a few pictures to upload here to give some of an idea of my day to day. I can go into no great detail of the past two months honestly because it is quite overwhelming but I am able to update about my recent movements. In the past month or so I have been playing a lot of music. The exchange students are putting on a performance this coming Tuesday for Thanksgiving in which I will actually be playing 3 times. Once as a soloist, once as a duet, and once as accompaniment. That has required a tremendous amount of time, energy, blood, sweat, and tears but I have enjoyed continuing to play a lot of music with friends and on my own. I am also involved in my school musical as a renaissance bassist for our production of Robin Hood with the movie of Robbie Williams. I am featured on a grand total of 3 songs but it has been so very worth it for me to get to know many of the other musicians and just generally really great Danish peers that I have. I feel  as thought deciding to be a part of the musical was the best decision I have made this year socially because it has led to spending many long hours with some of my classmates and many of other students at the gymnasium. There is currently two more showings of the musical tonight and tomorrow night and I will be quite sad when they are over since it has been such a positive experience. Other than that the exchange life has become fairly normalized. I've become accustomed to hearing Portuguese all the time, riding public transport everywhere, and having a flexible and rather inconstant school schedule. All things I never would have envisioned for myself when I started high school. For everyone that has been wondering because of a lack of blog posts, I am wonderfully happy here. I think Denmark was a perfect pick for me and this has truly been the best year of my life so far.  I could not be a happier chappy.

                                                    My bed, desk, and part of my room.                                                       

Part of my room.

My guitar in my room.

The view out of the window above my bed.

A picture of my first host house.

Another picture of my first host house

The kitchen in my first host house.

Holte Station.

Towards Copenhagen.

S-Train towards Copenhagen.

Entering the S-Train.

Inside the S-Train.

View out of the S-Train.

Nørreport Station in Copenhagen is frequented by exchange students.

Lots of bikes at Nørreport Station.

In Copenhagen.

A nice statue in Copenhagen.

A street I walk down a lot near Nørreport Station.

Out in Copenhagen with some Danish friends after school.

A late night walk home.

In Christiania with my host family.

A delightful little message in my gymnasium.

Sebadoh at the Pumpehuset near Vesterport in Copenhagen.

Queen Machine!

Courtesy of Luiza Pons.

                                                                                

                                                         

                               

                         

Post Intro Camp And Essentially Sick

Welcome back! I apologize for missing several of the days I planned on posting here. I just spent a fantastic week in the town of Bjerringbro near Aarhus. I was attending the Rotary Exchange Student Intro Camp and taking Danish lessons for  about 6 hours everyday (except for Thursday when we got to go to Aarhus). It was an incredible adventure. Tons of loud music and dancing Brazilians. It was quite exhausting but I enjoyed the social parts. It was good to make tons of new friends from all over the world (pictured here). Apart from the Danish lessons (which are already proving to have been quite helpful) the 166 of us enjoyed extra activities and Danish food. I personally participated in Filipino stick fighting, talks about living in Denmark, a bonfire/climbing wall night (I didn't climb the wall), a free concert with a band called Velvet Volume, and a dance party (some of these are pictured here). The bonfire night was fun because I got to play my guitar for a fun crowd who especially seemed to enjoy Wonderwall by Oasis (pictured here). This night garnered me the nickname "Ed Sheeran" since I'm a red haired guitar player. The concert was very fun as well and it reminded me of seeing shows at clubs in Seattle (pictured here). The food was honestly not the best food ever but it was adequate and showed me a lot of good Danish food. So basically tons of bread. Other than that it was a magical 5 days with a wonderful group of people that I hope will become my lifelong friends. We have truly become a family (pictured here). On a less exciting note, I have now become essentially sick, though not enough to keep me from going to school. I feel physically awful and tired as hell and have resumed my schooling (though I don't mind the schooling). Enjoy the pictures of my week (full credit to the wonderful people that took the pictures) and I'll post again some time later!

First Day of School!!!

First day of school today!!! I really enjoyed it! I had 2 classes today with my new group "2m." We had religion (basically useless to me on account of having no interest in religion and it all being in Danish anyways) and math (already difficult but with the added challenge of it also all being in Danish). It was wonderful to meet all my new classmates as well and the two class mentors that the other exchange student in the class and I had were very helpful and certainly streamlined the experience. We also had a free hour and a half in between the classes to sit on the couch and really soak in the school experience which was nice I suppose. It's all very different from Port Townsend High School and I'm almost certain that there are more students in one hallway in Virum than there are in one whole class in PT. It's a whole new world and there is still a ton more to be experienced. On deck for tomorrow is music class, English, and Danish. Should all be a great time! Pictured here is a small blue elephant that I found in the backpack my host family is letting me use with the name "Tamica" written on the bottom in black pen. It will be my good luck charm for the rest of the year!

Adventures and "Maximum Swag"

Since the last post here many adventures have been had. I have been spending time exploring Copenhagen with a group of other exchange students that have become fast friends. We took a trip up the Church of Our Saviour (not recommended for those with a fear of heights), took a harbour tour of some of the city, ate Copenhagen Street Food, and had our own unique bonding experience with an eccentric man that was presumably from Christiania. The next day we went up the Round Tower of King Christian IV, ate lunch in King's Garden, and explored the contemporary art museum. All quite pleasant experiences and good practice using the trains. The next day I spent in Roskilde with my counselor. We went to the international market, watched some live music, and took a look at the Viking ships in the harbour. We had dinner as well and then I went home quite satisfied. I took a nice bike ride the following day with one of my host sisters and then it was today. I was quite busy. I rode my bike all on my own on the 20 minute route from my home to Virum Gymnasium for an exchange student orientation with some from the group I had explored Copenhagen with. After that I visited my friend I went to Bakken with on Wednesday to have some tea, talk about exchange, give her pins, and wish her good luck on her own upcoming adventure. A bit sad but definitely a good time. Finally today I attended a Rotary district meeting and I was able to meet a few more exchange students that I will be seeing more of as the year progresses. We talked about boring rules and asked questions of some of the exchange students that have been in Denmark for a while. Tiring yet productive and ultimately necessary. On deck for tomorrow is going back to Roskilde to see more Viking ships with the group I was in Copenhagen with and then the day after is my first day of school. I will post again on Wednesday with my first impressions of Danish gymnasium! Pictured here is me trying on some tasteful accessories outside the Round Tower. The caption it was posted with by my friend reads "Maximum swag." Full credit to photographer.

Fun Times and Anticipation

Updates from this point will most likely be posted biweekly due to the tremendous amount of things that appear to be happening. So much has happened I couldn't not post! It has been an incredible time so far and everyone I've met and spent time with has been so lovely, kind, and helpful. I couldn't have asked for a better place to exchange to. I spent some good quality time in Copenhagen the other day and I'm more than pumped to spend a great deal more time there. It's such a wonderful little place! The food has all been wonderful as well. Rød brød is quite tasty and licorice is bearable at worst! The bike riding is also quite enjoyable at my location and I'm glad to be getting back into it. Finally, I got to spend a good deal of the day today (Wednesday the 12th) with one of my new good friends that is the daughter of my second host family and that is also going to be on exchange in a bit longer than a week. It was wonderful to spend a good bit of time eating ice cream, watching TV, having dinner, and exploring Bakken (the oldest amusement park in the world) with her and her father (at dinner and Bakken). This is pictured below. It was a really wonderful time and I'm sad that one of the first people I got to spend good quality time with is leaving for the entire duration of my stay but the time today will go down as one of the best parts of my exchange I think. Bakken is pictured here.

Arrival and First Day in Denmark!

I survived my 10 hour flight and somehow also managed to make it through an entire day of jet lag in Holte, Denmark. The flight was fairly bearable as I had plenty of movies to watch and a lot to think about. I was glad to meet up with a group of other Rotary exchange students some of which I will be seeing a lot more in district meetings. My arrival (pictured here) was a very warm welcome and I was very excited to finally meet my parents Lars and Elsebeth, my sisters Ida and Anne-Katherine, and my counselor Charlotte. We drove home through some of Copenhagen and it was breathtaking. I can't wait to see more of the city! Holte is very nice as well and it will be an absolutely delightful place to spend a year. The room I'm in is quite nice and it was terribly generous of my host family to let me stay in it. I had a restful nights sleep and now had a very Danish first day. I ate tasty rye bread and open faced sandwiches, took a bike ride, and swam in the sound catching a glimpse of Sweden in the process. It has all been incredible so far and I can't believe how excited I am for school to start and for my year to really take off!

Going Away Party and No Sleep

Today is the day! Shippin' out soon from PT to Sea-Tac, Sea-Tac to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Copenhagen, and finally Copenhagen to Holte. The packing is all done, goodbyes are said, devices are charged, and I'm running on basically no sleep. There's been plenty to think about while tossing and turning in the later hours of the evening and the earlier ones of the next day. It's quite the feat to clear my mind to get some rest at this point since there is so much happening at once to think about. I had my fantastic going away party (that doubled as a going away party for my good friend that will be leaving for Italy soon) just the other day. It was an incredibly positive experience and a great outlet for seeing friends one last time before I head out. My friend going to Italy and I even got to play a set of acoustic music (pictured here) and it was very well received and tears were shed by many. Though it is a memory I will treasure forever, it is behind me now and I have much to start looking forward to in my soon to be home. 10 hour plane ride here I come!

The Date Approaches

As of now there are 8 days until I depart from SeaTac airport for a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam where I will then take another short flight to København. The packing begins, as does the slow yet steady realization that I will be living in another wonderful country for about a year. Unfortunately this means i'm also losing quite a bit of sleep in nervous and excited anticipation. Before I know it i'll be losing my mind on the flight there and before I know that i'll be sitting in a new home and experiencing the full brutal force of culture shock. I can hardly wait!