New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve I spent it with my friend Ellen and her family at their home in a town called Hadsten. They had decorated their dining room with fun NYE decorations, and had a lot of little confetti bombs that we used throughout the night.

We ate dinner together and went into their backyard to set off some fireworks. Many, many families set off their own fireworks as we did, so the sky was always filled with them (as well as the noise).

At about 11 we made our way to a place called Himmelbjerget, which is one of the tallest points in Denmark (147m or about 480ft tall). We parked at the bottom of the hill, and climbed our way up in the moonlight.

Himmelbjerget in Daytime

When we made it to the top, we realized we were the only people there. We sat on the top and waited for the clock to strike midnight. Since Denmark is so flat, when you're standing on a tall point you can see out really far, so we could see fireworks from maybe 8 or 10 towns. As it got closer to midnight more people came to watch the fireworks. When the clock struck 12, we all got up and jumped off a little ledge onto the ground.

Some other people brought fireworks with them and fired them from Himmelbjerget. The fireworks from the other towns went on for maybe another half hour after midnight.

Thank you so much to Ellen's family for bringing me with them to celebrate New Year's, it was truly an unforgettable night.

I would also like to say thank you to Michael Enslow for donating to my fundraiser. I really appreciate it, you made it possible for me to celebrate the New Year in Denmark which is amazing and something I will never ever forget.

Danish Word(s) of the Day:

Godt Nytår- Happy New Year

Christmas

We celebrated Christmas at our home, but had some of my host mom's family over. They arrived the day before Christmas Eve and we got them all settled in. I think there was a total of 13 people living in our house at once.

They celebrate Christmas on the 24th here, so on Christmas Eve we had a lot to do. We had Greenlandic fish for lunch; some whale, and some other dried fish that I was not familiar with. I tried it, however I was not the biggest fan.

However, our dinner was very good. We had duck and pork with two different kinds of potatoes and sauce, some red cabbage and chips.

I helped my host mom make some of the treats we had for Christmas as well- they use marzipan a lot. We had marzipan with nougat inside and these treats called havregrynskugler which is made from oats, butter, and sugar and is coated with coconut.

We had gone to pick out our tree about a week before Christmas Eve at a Christmas tree farm down the street. I got to cut it down, and we brought it back on a wheelbarrow and decorated it the night before Christmas Eve.

 After dinner we joined hands and danced around the Christmas tree singing Danish Christmas songs. Once we had finished, we sat down and opened the presents under the tree.

Thank you to Sally Hallenbeck for donating to my campaign. Your donation made it possible for me to spend Christmas in Denmark which is an opportunity I don't know I'll ever get again. Thank you so much.

Danish Word(s) of the Day:
Glædelig jul- Merry Christmas

Hunting

At the beginning of last month my Rotary Club took me and the other exchange student, Andrea, on a hunting trip with them. I was a little nervous because I wasn't exactly sure what this trip was going to entail, but I was excited for the opportunity to go.

We woke up pretty early and a Rotarian came and picked me up at my house. One of the other Rotarians owned a piece of farm land that they go hunting on, so we drove out there. Once everyone had arrived we ate some breakfast and got our gear on.

Andrea and I were paired up with another Rotarian and off we went! It was pretty muddy out so it was a bit hard to walk and my shoes kept getting stuck as we were walking, but we actually had really nice weather so it ended up working out well.

We went out hunting for maybe four hours or so, and ended up shooting a pheasant, and another smaller bird (but I'm not sure what it was).

After we were finished we walked back up to the house and had some really good, hot soup. A very good way to end a very good day.

Thank you to my Rotary Club for bringing Andrea and me along, I really had a good time and it was a really interesting experience.

Thank you also to Ana Hallenbeck for donating to my GoFundMe! I can't express my gratitude enough, you gave me the opportunity to have this once in a lifetime experience!

Danish Word of the Day:
Jagt- hunting

Thanksgiving

On the 25th of November I held a Thanksgiving dinner for my class. We had a bit of difficulty locating a turkey, but we ended up finding one at the local grocery store the day before.

There are 30 people in my class, so we had to get two.

We made the turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, mac & cheese, and had pumpkin pie and tiramisu for dessert.

It was so much fun being able to have the whole class together outside of school. They loved the food and were so happy about the event altogether. I'm so thankful I got to meet all of them and get to spend the next six months together with them.

I'm sorry I have not been updating my blog regularly for the past month or so, I've been very busy but I will make it a more of a priority in the future.

Thank you to Lauren Geuss for donating to my GoFundMe, without your donation I wouldn't have been able to share this American tradition with my class. I am truly grateful.

Danish Word of the Day:
taknemmelig- thankful