Godag Fra Danmark Cobden Rotary!!, Another update of the amazing journey I m having here in Denmark so far. Since my last letter I have been lucky enough to go to Florence in Italy, Spend the day as a Viking, go to an army training base, Have a tour of the city hall and be served famous Danish pancakes that only famous people such as the queen are served! Experience a Danish Galla ball; participate in the spring concert a medina concert, run in the Copenhagen fun run and many more exciting things! In March my school class 2G took a study tour to Italy to experience Florence and Sienna. What an amazing week I had seeing some of the most amazing architecture and art in the world. I saw some of Michelangelo masterpieces like the statue of David. The famous painting The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli, Pizza della Signoria, Palazzo Veccio, The Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, The baptistery, Campanile, Ponte Vecchio and much more! It was a 24 hour drive from Denmark to Florence and a significant weather change. Leaving Denmark s cold winter jacket weather and arriving to Italy s summer weather ranging from 20-25 degrees was a nice surprise. We stayed in a beautiful Old Italian hotel walking distance from the centre of town. In the mornings we would gather and tour the tourist attractions and in the afternoons we would be free to experience the real side of Italy, there is nothing better than an Italian Pizza and Pasta in Italy!
On April the 20 th all of the Rotary exchange students in Denmark went to Jutland (Large Island on the left ) to meet up for a get together where we would spend the weekend role playing the Danish gods and being Vikings. Nearly 300 students spent the weekend making costumes, painting faces and learning how to be a Viking/god until the last day when we went out to the forest and played a huge game of real life role play, I have never experienced anything quite like it. There is a video on the weekend if you would like to see it on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33kaja2xyvo&feature=youtu.be
On Friday the 27 th of April I got to experience a Danish Galla ball. A Galla ball is quite similar to a Deb but the whole school participates. At my school the 3 rd year wore long dresses and the 2 nd and 1 st wore short. It was a very traditional night. It was a tradition for the boys to give their partners a rose and the girls would buy the boys a cigar. There were 5 old Danish ball dances we had to learn and preform on the night and the 3 rd year had a very spectacular entrances in Limo s, Ferrari s etc. After the Traditional dances and dinner we had a long night of Dancing to a famous Danish band called Jinga Ninja and a Dj. It was a great experience.
Last week my host Mum, sister and I were driving to an amusement park and on the way stumbled upon the Irish Cup day at the races, I couldn t resist to go in and see how it all works in Denmark. It was a lot of fun to check out how they do it on the other side of the world. This same week my Danish rotary planned a meeting at the Danish military training base. We got to hear about the training of the soldiers and guards of the queens palace s, see all of the machinery and even try some of it. I got to sit in an army tanker and try and shoot the missiles, (unloaded of course)
This past week I have been to a famous Danish singer s concert called Medina. She is quite like the Danish version of Lady Gaga but the Danes love her! The concert was at a Famous Danish amusement park called Tivoli and there were thousands of people there. Yesterday my host mum Jaenette took me to participate in the Copenhagen 5k woman s fun run. There were thousands of participants and a great environment. Denmark is a very health conscious country so everywhere you go there are running and bicycle tracks and they are always in use. Summer is well on the way in Denmark and we are starting to get some really nice weather. Only 3 days until my summer holidays start and I change to my second host family. My second host family have two children Lise and Johan. Lise is 18 and spend a year on exchange in Taiwan and Johan is 15 and loves sports. Both my host Parents Janne and Mogens are doctors. Janne is a breast surgeon and Mogens works at a university. They live in a town called Holte which is 10 minutes train ride from my current home in Copenhagen direction. This means I will ride my bike to the train station every morning, Take my bike on the train and then ride to school from the station.
They have planned many wonderful trips for me within my stay including a 2 week holiday in a summer house in Jutland, a trip to Sweden and more. I hope to only talk Danish in my second host family, although my Danish isn t great I can have a basic conversation and understand small parts of most conversations. Next Monday I am lucky enough to be going on my Euro trip!! 3 busses of exchange students, 17 days of traveling around the finest tourist attractions in Europe, I can t wait to tell you all about it! Below is the Map of our tour I can t wait to tell you all about my summer vacation and my Euro trip, hopefully we can Skype soon. Hope all is well in Cobden, Libby