Rømø, Tønder, og Sønderborg

Yesterday morning my host parents and I packed up the car, and set out to visit my host father's parents in Tønder, a town near the border to Germany. We hopped in the car and started driving, and along the way we stopped at the highest natural point in Denmark!

They built a monument on top so you can go to the top and see out across Denmark. Unfortunately, it was rather a gloomy day, so you couldn't see very far.

After visiting the monument, we jumped back in the car and drove to an island called Rømø. It was a beautiful little island and we parked on the beach and ate lunch there.

Driving to Rømø

Rømø Beach

After we ate we took a long walk down the beach. There weren't that many people out, maybe because it was a bit cloudy, but it was very beautiful.

My Host Parents on Rømø

After a nice lunch on Rømø we hopped back in the car and drove to Tønder, where my host father's parents live.

For dinner, we drove across the border and ate in Germany! I had wiener schnitzel, and it was really good!

We drove back to my host grandparents' house and spent the night there. In the morning my host parents took me out to show me the town. My host father grew up here, so he knew a lot about it. It's a very old, beautiful city. Cars are not allowed to drive down a lot of the streets because they're the original cobblestone that was put in hundreds of years ago. My host father also told me there's laws that don't allow big alterations to the houses, so it all looks as it did when the town was first built- it's one of the oldest in Denmark.

The houses are situated very closely together, and they look very small. However, my host dad told me that all the houses have the narrowest side facing the street, because you had to pay more taxes if the front of your house was very wide. 

We went into one very old building, that's now a Christmas store, but was once a pharmacy. They still have the pharmacy sign hanging outside, and all of the architecture is still original, as well as some of the furniture.

It was a very beautiful building, and it's amazing to be inside a building that has so much history.

Tønder is also very famous for their viewing spot of a phenomena called "murmuration," in which a flock of starlings fly together in a mesmerizing, fluid pattern. There are often hundreds of thousands of birds flying together, and the Danes call it "sort sol," or "the black sun" because there are so many birds that you can't see the sun through them. Unfortunately, the day we went there were not so many birds. :( However, here are some pictures of "sort sol" in Tønder:

I really wish that I had been able to see it in person, I've always wanted to see a murmuration, but it nature had a different plan. Although we didn't see any that night we saw some on our drive and it wasn't as big of a flock, but it was still very beautiful.

After lunch we said goodbye to my host father's parents, and started driving to my host mother's father's house in Sønderborg, which is the town that she grew up in. It was really cool to see where my host parents grew up and have them tell me about their hometowns.

Sønderborg is also a very beautiful, old town. It's famous for its rich history regarding the war between Denmark and Germany. There are museums and battle sights that you're able to visit. The town itself was very beautiful, and I hope to go back to visit the actually city. The buildings are brightly colored and are right on the water, and it reminds me a little of pictures I've seen of Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

All in all it was a busy few days for me, but it was a great trip. I'm so grateful that I'm here and have such a great host family that takes me to see such beautiful, historic places like their hometowns.

Special thank you to Nicole Lee for donating to my GoFundMe. Without you, I would not have been able to experience what I did over the past few days. Thank you so much for your donation, it means the world to me.

Danish Word of the Day:

apotek- pharmacy

Djurs Sommerland

On Tuesday my host cousin, Annemette, brought me to the amusement park Djurs Sommerland where she and a lot of other students (including my host brother) work. I was so excited to go because I've heard so much about it from my host family and other classmates. My host family also knows that I love Halloween, for which they decorate the entire park, so I knew I was going to love it.

They use over 25,000 pumpkins to decorate the park, and it really felt like an American theme park.

Annemette and I went on several rides together and got lunch there, but they also allow you to bring your own food and cook it there! Many families brought sausages and grilled them while in the park, so the only expense was getting in. After lunch we went on some more rides and went into a witch's school.

We then went into a haunted house, got some Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream (Yes! It's available in Denmark!) and proceeded to head home.

Thank you so much to Annemette for bringing me to Djurs Sommerland, I'm so so happy I got to see it and spend more time with you! 

And thank you to one of the donators to my GoFundMe:

Mike Block, thank you so much for donating! I would not be here without your support, I'm so thankful for your donation! 

Danish Word of the Day:

græskar- pumpkin

Distrikskonference

This weekend my Rotary District had our District Conference in Grenå. We left at around 7am and met with all the other exchange students and ate breakfast together and then went for a walk along the beach. It was a very beautiful beach, but it was very windy and cold and I hadn't brought a jacket because I didn't know we would be going outside.

After our walk along the beach we went and got waders and took them into the ocean to look for fish and crabs. It was super cold, but pretty fun.

After we went out in the ocean we looked to see what we had caught. We caught some crabs, a few fish, and a lot of shrimp.

We soon returned back inside and ate some lunch and went into a big classroom where a dance instructor had us do some warm ups, and then we learned some songs to preform for our Rotary representatives. It was a lot of fun; I think we have a really good district.

District 1440

Min Fødselsdag

Yesterday was my birthday! I was woken up by my family singing the Danish birthday song (at about 6:45am) and went downstairs to discover they made a very nice breakfast and had decorated their house with flags. On one of the plates there were some little presents for me and a card from my host family.

 I went to school and was my class sang to me (twice!). The Danish birthday songs, even though they are much longer than ours, are so much more fun. Thank you to all of my classmates who sang to me and wished me a happy birthday. You're all so sweet!

At lunch, I went to go eat with some of my friends and they had some little gifts waiting for me on the table. They gave me some sweet little plants (that are now living on my windowsill) and bought me a cake! Thank you SO much to all of my friends, you are so kind and thoughtful I love you so much!

After school I came home and my family had bought some cake from a local store and we enjoyed it in the sunshine. I've been told that in Denmark if there's good weather on your birthday then you've been a good person for the entire year...I must've done something right, because it was absolutely beautiful yesterday.

After cake we started making dinner. We had mashed potatoes(!!!) which I was so excited about because I LOVE them. My host mom made such a good dinner and I feel so lucky that I got to live with this family.

While dinner was being made, my host father was very busy in the backyard trying to start up the hot tub. They have one which requires a fire to be built, and it takes awhile for it to heat up.

It's definitely worth the effort. At around 9 o'clock we all went out into the hot tub under the stars. It was a beautiful night, with no clouds in the sky and the stars were very bright. From the tub could see the Big Dipper (though they call it something else in Danish) and there was even a shooting star at one point!

All in all, this was one of the best birthdays I've had, and I hope to remember it for the rest of my life. Thank you all who wished me a happy birthday, it was truly a great one.

Danish Word of the Day:

Fødselsdag- birthday

Last Day Being 16...

Tomorrow is my birthday! It's crazy to think that I've already been here a month and a half, time just flies by...

For my last day of being sixteen, I went on a walk with my family at the castle ruin called Kalø by our house. It has a really interesting history; it was founded in 1313 by a Danish King to counter the ongoing rebellions of the Jutlandic nobility and peasantry against the Crown. If you want to know more about the castle, you can read about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kal%C3%B8_Castle

It was a little cloudy, but very beautiful. It's about a five minute car drive from our house and is easily within walking or biking distance. We brought some dinner with us and sat on the beach to eat.

We brought along our dog, Ziggi, who ended up wandering off at one point and we had to go find him. There were a lot of cows near the ruins as well just wandering around.

Ziggi

This was the view while we were eating:

Not a bad way to spend my last day being 16, if you ask me.

Danish Word of the Day:

hav- sea

Food Festival

Today one of the Rotarians took Andrea and me to a food festival in Aarhus. It was full of little tents making all sorts of food and handing out samples. I had some really good sausages, tuna, granola (made of seaweed, insects, and chocolate), french onion flavored worms, and pickled herring.

Andrea and I also found this really good ice cream vendor, and I had some vanilla ice cream with nougats and caramel.

It was a really fun day, thank you to Erik and his family for bringing us, I had a lot of fun and ate a lot of good food! Also thank you Andrea for taking so many pictures.😊

Danish Word of the Day:

kål- cabbage