Buses, Bags, and Baggage (Eurotour)

G'day internets.

As of the fact that I have been in Denmark for nearly 6 months (!), I decided it's been enough time procrastinating, and It's now finally time to write this. Sorry all. It's been a rough, time consuming 60-or-so days between posts.

Now, those of you that are lucky to have little ol' me in their friends list on Facebook, will know that I've been tripping a whole lot lately! (This has nothing to do with my visit to Christiania... Danes'll get it)

The 'tripping' I'm referring to, is, of course, my EUROTOUR!

Let's dive right in.

After a night of not sleeping, myself and 3 other exchange students met the bus in Lolland as the last 4 students to complete the 56 names, faces, and stories that we would all get to know in the next 18 days.
Ready to rumble, we took the ferry from Denmark to Germany, and by nightfall, and the longest drive I've had since I left Australia, we arrived in Berlin!

Berlin was a fun and easy place to start. The wide boulevards, large trees and masses of fountains made it a great 'level one' so to speak. After dinner, we were left to our own devices until our curfew. Falling in with a bunch of North American Oldies, who I didn't really know, we managed to get completely lost and barely made it back for curfew.
Little did I know that this introduction would lead me to get to know some of the best people I have ever met. But on with the story.

Photo Credit to Cass - That fateful first day.

The next day in Berlin was spent sightseeing, getting lost (again) seeing the 5 billion bears that seem to inhabit this strange city, vandalising the Berlin wall, getting lost in the history of the Cold war, and meeting more bears...

We continued on the next day to the Czech Republic, and on our way to Prague, we stopped at a Concentration Camp: Terezinstadt. Way to give exchange students chills? Send them down into a morgue, tell them all about the many, many deaths that took place, the conditions of their living, and what they were forced to do.
Then, drive 30 minutes down the road to the nearest town, and have a big lunch. 
Guilt, embarrassment, and self -loathing are all on your emotional menu. 

"Work makes you free"

We arrived in Prague to an actual hotel this time (!) and began exploring. We visited so many beautiful landmarks, forged out of iron, copper and marble, and it just blew me away. Unfortunately I do not have an ear for Czech, so I don't remember the names all that well. All I can say is that Prague, the link between Eastern and Western Europe, is a marvel of a city and I will definitely return. One place that does stick in mind is the old bridge of Prague, covered in statues made of bronze and gold. You turn around as you are halfway across, and you see the ancient sites you had just come from, atop the hill with the sun hitting them perfectly. I am beginning to miss Prague now.

Beautiful friends in beautiful Prague

Not to mention that Prague, or Praha as you say in Czech (PraHA! Think - the Amanda show) was the cheapest city we would visit! Ice cream? One Aussie dollar. A pint of beer? $2.50. A new handbag? $20. It was insane! If I needed more stuff, this is where I'd be!

We also managed to meet a Cockatoo, (In the Cezch Republic?) and run into Czech celebrities in a music store without meaning to...  A little confusing, but we'll go with it!

We have no idea who these famous people are...

G'day Cocky!!

Next was Vienna! We arrived first at Schoenbrunn Palace, and I can only say: What a first impression. We climbed to the top of the hill rising above the palace and took in the view of Vienna. What a beautiful city!
After sitting in a bus for hours upon hours, it was only fitting that we spend a lot of time running around on the grass, rolling down the hill wrapped in our flags, taking as many photos as possible, and then realising we were about to miss our bus back to the hotel. How to solve this? Swap your flag with the giant Canadian next to you and sprint/fall down the hill representing eachother's countries! Canada - me - lost by a mile.

Aussies in Schoenbrunn!

As we continued our tour around Vienna, we found ourselves thinking: "Austria is like Germany's younger, nicer, better looking, more talented brother." We ate real Viennese Schnitzel, and got lost in a farmer's market. Being in a farmer's market full of fresh fruit and homemade cusine made me feel a twinge of homesickness for the Rusty's markets in Cairns… I really miss good, fresh fruit. 

We also explored the Vienna zoo whilst we were there! Let's just say the the tropical zone made me feel very much at home...

How to make an Aussie feel at home? Put her in a smelly, sweaty place.

Exploring the city at night, I was surprised to see many tributes to Australia lurking about, cafes, bars, and an Australian ice cream shop! As the Danes say,  hvor fedt! (roughly: how cool).

Although… I didn’t see any sneaky Von Trapps lurking about. Tres dissappointed.

Unfortunate.

Next was Italy! We had a beautiful drive through the Alps to get there, and stopped to picnic by a mirror lake. There's some things you need to see once in your life… and this is definitely one of them.

Pretty Pretty!

After a 10 hour drive, we arrived in Lido di Jesolo, one of Europe's most popular beach holiday sites, to have to carry our suitcases up 6 stories because the previous bus broke them.

Bus 2, I'm coming for you.

The next day was Venice! Having already been there, it was nice to take a more relaxed role and let the others have all the wonderment of being there for the first time whilst I showed them all the best places I had vistied. I also had my first proper cappuccino since I had left my beloved coffee machine in Australia. Oh my, I had definitely missed that. Thank you, Italy.

Cute friends in cute Venice!

The next day, we had a free day in Lido to enjoy the beach! A day full of sun, surf, sand, and fantastic Italian food was on the agenda! A day when we could wake up late and not worry about schedules was awesome. I wish we had another day like that.

I'm in love.

We checked out of our hotel and began the drive to France, stopping for a morning in Verona, a city of love to take in the beautiful architecture, the statue of Juliet & her balcony, and the Roman auditorium. We found ourselves in another farmer's market and stuffed ourselves with fresh fruit cups. What did you expect? It's hard to get fresh, tropical fruit in Scandinavia. You can't blame us. I enjoyed my pineapple far too much.

FRESH FRUIT!! AAAAAAAHHHHH!!

We arrived in San Remo that afternoon in rush hour, and within one hour, we had pissed off the entire town. We are a long bus, and the roads in Italian towns are pretty narrow. Our hotel parking lot came off  the inside side of a road on an uphill angle, with a solid wall on the opposite side. It also had a tiny entrance ramp, framed by two walls. As you can guess, it took a LONG TIME to get into that tiny space, and by the time we were halfway into our 100-point turn, we were holding up both lanes of traffic, with angry italian men violently gesturing at us on both sides. We remained here for 45 minutes navigating into our place. 

It. Was. Hilarious.

Needless to say, our leaders bought our driver a well-deserved drink that night.

The next day was beautiful, beautiful Monaco on our way to Avignon.
We spent our time dipping our feet in the beautiful, but COLD Mediterranean sea, eating a far-too expensive lunch, and gaping at all the luxury cars and boats. Monaco really is a special place. I felt very inadequate walking around the harbour, that's for sure.

Monaco.... You can't afford the air here.

We arrived in Avignon that evening, to be greeted with the legendary French rudeness. With 4 people being sent home for breaking 2 of the D's in Lido, we had to cancel their rooms, and that annoyed the french to no end. Cancelling their rooms, they said, meant that the boys' building wasn't getting any breakfast. Also because "we had problems with the last group". Grr! Bus 2!
No, hang on, you can't do that. Commence argument. Except they didn't speak English, and our guides spoke no French. So, the poor, non-confrontational Canadians had to translate for both sides at warp speed. Needless to say, we got our breakfast.

After dinner at the bowling alley, we commenced argument  #2. Nikolaj, one of our leaders, had made a deal with the management that we would pay 5 euros per hour. They said yes.
So, after smashing out 4 games in one hour, we go up to pay and are told "okay, 5.40euro per game."
No, hang on, you can't do that.
"But that's the rules."
"We made a deal with you!"
"Sorry. Rules."
"Some of us didn't even bring that amount of money! 20 euros is insane! What happened to our agreement?!"
"Okay, we're calling the police."

Once again, all in French, via the Canadians. In the end, we were forced to pay 10.40 each. As we left, Nikolaj says to us: "Welcome to France, everyone. This is how they make money. Stubborn liars"
And in that moment, I agreed with him wholeheartedly.

That being said, Avignon by day was a beautiful place, and many of the other students on my bus, were totally by chance, able to meet up with fellow exchange students from their home districts! Not me though, no one from my district went on exchange to Croatia or Austria :(

Avignon really was quite pretty...

Driving 10 hours the next day, we arrived in PARIS!! Everyone in the bus freaked out when they saw the Eiffel tower, and the general thoughts going around was "We're here. We're FINALLY HERE!"

The first stop was most definitely the Eiffel tower, with about 56789876567 photos taken. We then ran down to the canal in order to make it on time for our canal tour. After noting where all the important places were, we were given our curfew and told to run along.
So run we did. We ran to Notre Dame, Sacre Coer, The Louvre, L'arc de Triomphe, The Napoleonic Gardens, and all along the Champs-Élysées. On foot.
By the time we came home to change for dinner, I had at least 89 blisters from my cute new sandals. I hate cobblestones!
Going out for dinner, we decided to go all-out and get a proper French dinner, complete with escargot. For the first time trying it, I loved it! I will return to you, escargot! Upon walking home, the Canadians found a Canadian bar/restaurant complete with poutine and hockey sticks for door handles and dragged us inside to try the infamous poutine. Mother, forgive me for I have sinned. Hot chips doused in cheese and gravy?
So bad, but yet so, SO good.

Again, Mum, I'm sorry.

What other photo did you expect?

The next day was DISNEYLAND!
We set off super early to avoid crowds. It was worth it, because I managed to ride my favourite rollercoaster of all time, Space Mountain, twice before I was put off by the queue. We went on many, many rides, ate far too much,  bought overpriced merchandise, took photos with characters, and I realised I had caught the flu all before 5pm. That night, too exhausted to go out, we all fell asleep super early.

She was looking for some puppies...

Brussels was the next stop, and waiting for me was my old friend from my home district, and fellow exchange student, Kacy! How good is that? Old friends reunited in Europe during the best year of their lives, and to have my own personal tourguide to show me all the great places in Brussells? Wonderful! We ate Belgian waffles, Belgian frites, of course tried the legendary Belgian beer, and he showed me all the French he'd learned. (He's very good!)
The day was not complete without buying far too much chocolate!
Our goodbyes were very sad, with promises to visit eachother exchanged. I miss that kid.

Reunion!

Amsterdam, the last stop, was a little dissappointing. We were told that we were strictly NOT ALLOWED to walk around alone, and were ushered from our canal tour straight to a souvenir shop.
Want to find a bathroom? NO. Want to go buy some water? NO.
That was really disheartening, to think that our old tourguide didn't trust us enough to not run away and buy marijuana the second that we were given the chance. We're not stupid. 4 people were already sent back to Denmark for that.
But honestly, what's the point of taking us to Amsterdam if we can't experience it ourselves? After exploring every city we had visited in the best way: by wandering around in our own time, we were all very disappointed.
Let us go, or don't take us there at all, was the consensus.

Disappointed at our Amsterdam prospects...

After arriving in Arnheim, the town in which we were staying, we all gathered together after dinner to watch a video that a few members of the group had put together. Tears flowed, hugs were given, notebooks were signed. The video really highlighted the great friendships and experiences we made on the trip, and we realised how much we would really miss eachother.

The next day, I said the second hardest goodbye of my life, to some people who I will maybe never see again, as they have already started to go home. Goodbye, Oldies. You will be forever by this Newbie, that's for sure.

My Eurotour was a whirlwind of amazing experiences. I will never ever EVER forget those 3 weeks for as long as I live. To everyone who experienced it with me, thank you for making those 3 weeks the best of my life.

And to all of you that have been waiting so very patiently for this, I'm sorry it took so long, and I will try to be more frequent with the updates.

Never forget.

Vi ses,
Georgia.

Travellin'

Hello to all the people in the Internet that are STILL willing to read this silly blog... which hasn't been updated in over a month.
Yeah, I'm a bad person. I know this!
But my life has tres tres busy, because I am, of course, a woman in demand, being the foreign type in the new land that needs THOROUGH exploring. So this is what I have been doing!

For example:
Several tidings ago, I was in Odense with my niglets (read: exchange friends) for a weekend of resto-relaxo hyggeligt catchings up. After months of learning the native tongue of Planet Denmark, attempting to understand their culture, and eating their strange foods, it was comforting (and slightly horrific when we realise how bad our accents are becoming) to hang out, bag out a certain redheaded Prime Minister, and indulge in Vegemite without being judged by suspicious natives.

Odense is a tres pretty city, with much to see. We were in H.C Andersen's house,

Hot to trot!

We were in the park,

Not sure what's going on here...

and we ate wayyyy too much.

Before this, we ate pizza, and after this, we ate ice cream. And then nachos. And more ice cream.

I also found myself in Copenhagen for the ANZAC day ceremony, because I am a fantastic Australian.
Well, to be honest, the biggest draw for me was that I might, finally, get to meet the elusive expat Kronprinsesse Mary. My previous attempts of standing outside her house had, so far, proved fruitless. According to my secretive sources, she is often at the ceremony.
This is the ultimate chance, to send the photo I would take with her to everyone back in Australia, and win every bet ever. Simply because, Mary.

NSW or QLD in State of Origin? Mary photo.

Who's going to win the Melbourne cup? Mary photo.

Or other situations:
"What makes you think you're qualified for this job?" Mary photo.

"I can't grant you this home loan..." Mary photo. "Actually, we can grant you this with 0% interest and 50 years to pay it off if you require it..."

"Calculate the mass of the sun and then square it to the power of 79 and than take the potential circumference and apply it to this cake recipe..." Mary photo. A+.

The invite to the ceremony said to be there no later than 9.50am, for a 10.00am start. Oh, of course, this is Denmark. We cannot be late. WE CANNOT BE LATE.

So, when the train arrived at 9.40, minus one friend, we were forced to abandon her as we ran for our lives, and stripping ourselves of our dignity. WE CANNOT BE LATE.
But, upon collapsing in the front garden of the ambassador's house at 9.53am, we were greeted with a big, Aussie smile, and handed a welcome pamphlet.

"Sorry we're late! Oh no, tell us we can still get in!"
"It's all good, girls! No worries!"

Ahhhh, that sound. Yes, Aussies. 

Denmark, you've changed us. Worried about being late to an Australian thing? Psshh. We weren't even the last to arrive, and our friend made it too! (By the skin of her teeth).

After a gorgey-porgey ceremony, we were invited for nibbles. Little did we know that nibbles meant lamingtons, ANZAC biscuits and sausage rolls. Holy Crapola. Stuffing of the face is on the agenda.

We ate it ALL.

Not mention that the ambassador's house was schmicko as all get out. Possible dream job: ambassador to Denmark. Yes, that would be nice.

Pretty house; pretty girls.

We spent the rest of the day kickin' back in pretty, pretty Nyhavn, and were home in time for tea.

Back home in Lolland, it was time to rep it for my class in the school volleyball tournament. My singular beach volleyball lesson back home in mind, I happily signed up for it, in the hope that I would be useful to my class in something.

But... no.

We lost. Every match.
It was safe to say that I was not the only one that completely sucked, though.
With shattered dreams of joining the Brazilian beach volleyball squad one day, I retired to the showers and contemplated my utter defeat.

Next thing you know: bip bam boom, it's time to move.
One of the most equally heartbreaking and great things about rotary: 3 families, 3 months at a time. Last week, I found myself packing up my whole life, yet again. It was truly dreadful to leave the Petersens after 3 months with them... I felt like I finally had a proper home again, and as soon as that feeling sunk in, I was ripped up like a weed and replanted someplace else.

I guess it's a good thing if you and your family don't get along, but everything was peachy with mine... sigh.

My new family are super sweet to me. I have the type of mum that hugs me when I'm going to bed, and the type of dad that will help me with anything (like when I was freaking out about my Northside tickets that were lost in the mail). I have two sisters, an older and a younger, and a younger brother. It's like having a dynamic of my old family combined with the dynamic of my real family. Of course, this is just a parallel drawn to make some familiarity in the situation. I ride to school now, and the luxury of having the bike is just awesome. Not to mention the temperature's rising... time for shorts! (still gotta have at least a light jacket on though)

Anyway onto my biggest news:
EUROTOUR!
In three days, I will be bussin' it around Europe for 18 days with 50 or so other exchange students! Look out Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Lido di Jesolo, Venice, Verona, San Remo, Monaco, Avignon, Paris, Bruxelles, Amsterdam and Hamburg!!

I promise to blog about it! It'll be huge, and it'll take forever, but I'LL DO IT!
I'm to excited to think right now!

Vi ses senere!

Georgia :D  

Denmark: the land of the unfunny Vikings.

Georgia here, reporting for duty.
Notice anything different? No?
Well why the hell not? Can't you see the new signs of elderlyness and maturity? The new wardrobe and the extra kilos from excess lagkage consumption?

Well if its not obvious enough now, you may remember in my last post I may have mentioned it was my birthday in a few hours. 

As Danish tradition dictates, I was awoken by my family who came into my room singing the Danish birthday song, which sounds nothing like the global 'happy birthday to you'.
It sounds a little something like this:
(This is lovely video about a bus driver who gets a little surprise)

So imagine this: you are sleeping - a wonderful dream filled with cascading images of vegemite and milo. The sound of the danish birthday song slowly seeps into your kaleidoscope of Aussie treats and suddenly you are aware you are not alone. Oh- you realise the date. Slowly you crack open your eyes, and are confronted with the image of three people, smiley, sleepy looking people, who are leaning over you and waving Danish flags in your face. It's a sort of ugh/not ugh situation.

This happens every year on your birthday in Denmark. The danes are nothing if not traditional! 

I turned 17!
Here's a photo of me revelling in my festivities
(aww, Georgia aren't you cute?) Yes. Yes I am.

So as the 17 years/149,019 hours/6,209 days settle upon my shoulders,  I look out the window and with my new found maturity...

Giggle at this sign.

Yes, it really says 'fart'. The word is everywhere!

A town in Fyn:

My favourite- the lift in Central Station Copenhagen:

And a coachline I would not like to be on!

Hehehehehe! Denmark is seriously one of the funniest sounding languages there is. Also, impossible to understand for people who are not very used to hearing it. 

Big Scandinavian brothers Sweden and Norway are always teasing the Danes about it.
Here is a Norwegian video teasing the Danes about their language:
(It's in English, chill out)

Some other funny Danish words I have come across:

Slut: finish/exit
Slutspurt: clearance sale
Fartpilot: cruise control
Bådfart: boat speed


Hehehe!
I will never be mature, that is certain.

Just touching base to update you with my very serious exchange of seriousness.

Until next time,
Vi ses,
Georgia

Snowdate (Part 2!)

So, blogspot's a son of a *bleep* and wouldn't let me post my excellent photos of the remainder of the time that I have had between Lalandia and here. So, without further ado, here is Snowdate part two/dos/due/deux!

Now, being trapped by the very unseasonal snow here doesn't mean I can't have fun!

I had my first day of snefri (literally snow free), which is when it is too snowy to go to school. Well, actually, a half snefri, but it was good all the same! We sat inside and had a real hygge (cozy) time watching Once Upon a Time with Dansk subtitles....

I can't express the joy her facial expression brings me...

I made my first snow angel!

Aaaand We built a snowman! His name is Esmereldo and he's still standing! (because the snow hasn't frigging stopped)

Our homie Esmereldo <3

We're also dating. Oops! I broke a D!

I played with my doggy Sofus and my kitty Maggie in the snow....

Snuggles with the sweetest cat in the universe...

He only loves me because I play a mean game of fetch...

I also owned (lost) at a snowball fight with my host family but no one was there to take pictures because we were all covered in snow, hehehe. 

What isn't so cool is the roads. They're really hard to drive on, which makes it terrifying being in a car with summer tyres and without power steering, being driven by a 19-year-old girl in a hurry. It takes a lot of courage to drive in these gross conditions, so hats off to her. 

If you're reading this, I trust you, Jose ;)

I know this is short and sweet, and besides, it was only going to be the tail end of part one. Also, it's my birthday in Australia, and nearly my birthday here, so you can't get mad. HA!

Until next time,
Vi ses,
Georgia, or dkfgdkgsdgjf as they say in Danish ;)

Snowdate

Planet Denmark is being a little beyotch lately.

Here we are, early March, and Spring is in the air. The snow is gone, the temperature is hovering around 5 degrees and the early spring blooms can be found littering the ground with their little yellow and white flowers. This Aussie is happy. She can feel the Spring sun on her face when she goes outside and is looking forward to when she doesn't have to wear a parka to check the letterbox.

That is, until the 10th.

We woke up, on my host father's birthday, to this.

As annoying as a younger brother, but pretty as a postcard.

What the eff is this?! IT IS MARCH. Australia's getting it's annual cyclone hammering, and I'm waiting with baited breath for just a little heat. I thought my patience had paid off, but no. BUT NO. It didn't stop. Here we are, 10 days later with a goddamn mini blizzard!

I blame Siberia and Sweden. We don't want yo' sno'.

Anyway, on with the post.

SO! Last time I posted on this blog (nearly a month ago, sorrrrryyyyyyy), I was about to leave for Lalandia with my fellow exchange students.
Instead of commuting over hill and over dale to drag my lifeless body into a wild pit of lions in green and black blazers (sorry that was graphic), I just hopped into the car for half an hour after a nice long sleep-in. No 5:30am start for me! Muahaha.
So I arrived in Lalandia, Lalandia, lalalalala Lalandia-a... you can see the repetitive commercial here... (you'll have to copy and paste it into your URL browser)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGLxUcUcfUc

With an unknown 3 hours to spare. There were only 3 other students there out of 200, and all were from the USA. So I made some friends :)

Anyway, once all had arrived, we grabbed our bags and headed off to our rooms - which ended up being a good 20 minute walk away. This was probably the most annoying part of the Get2Gether, seeing as I was in the cabin at the very back of the complex. That put me about a kilometre away from freakin' everything.

Calm. Relax. Breathe.

Anyway, I met my roomies, who were all oldies except for little old me! Now, I must explain the Oldie/Newbie shebang that exists in exchange organizations. You see, we have two teams- Winter and a Summer. I am in in the Winter team, seeing as I arrived in Winter and I will leave in Winter. That makes me a Newbie. These Oldies had been here between 6-8 months, so they were all excited to meet me and get my badges, because, as they said: "You're a newbie!! You still have money, a tan, and good badges!"
Well, I DID have good badges. They cleaned me out, goddamn it. On the upside, I now have an abundance of metal and plastic objects covering my own blazer:

Not bad for a Newbie...

We were supposed to be only 8, which would leave a bed for everyone, but some Mexican girl (grr) decided to invite two friends, and so did this other Argentinian girl. So we had people sleeping here, there, and everywhere. That was no problem, I got a bed. But you try to get 12 girls ready for the day in one tiny bathroom! I took to waking up at 6 so I could shower before all the hot water was gone. GRR!
They also gave us a set amount of food to last us for two days of breakfast. fine for 8 girls. For 12 exchange student girls?! I don't think so. Needless to say, we left the house hungry and tired, after cold showers on the morning of the third day. 
But that didn't retract from an awesome weekend!

Now, no matter where you're from, if you're an exchange student in Denmark, you speak mostly English. So, all of our meetings were spoken in English. Now I know what you're thinking - why not Danish?? Well let me just express to you how freakin' difficult Danish is. It's up there with the most difficult languages. 4 years, they told me. 4 FREAKING YEARS TO LEARN IT PROPERLY. And my Danish lessons have just stopped until mid-July. I really need those!
So, that's why we had our meetings in English. Because no one would understand ;)

Anyway, the activities of Lalandia are endless. Where else can you spend time at the Waterpark in the morning, ice skate in the afternoon, bowl before dinner, fake ski, rock climb, use trick trampolines, let the kids go wild in a giant maze of fun and then get a choice of a wide selection of restaurants?!
Lalandia.
Every European family should come here in winter. It's a corner of Awesomeness and Bombdiggity.

I also met my twin! Well, my older, Colombian twin. Close enough.

Were we separated at birth, Mamma?

One of the things you learn to perfect is your ability to photobomb. What is photobombing, you ask? well see these examples:

A cute photo with our Danish teacher? I think not...

One does not simply 'take a selfie' without being photobombed...

Finally my turn! Jonty and I in the photobomb game...

So after a weekend of new friends, fun and the first time wearing a bikini in two months, we parted ways, photobombed and badged out. 

And this ties into the beginning of this blog, early march with Spring in the air... nope. Whatup continuity! 

So, as I update this blog, it is the end of march, specifically two hours before my birthday (!!!!!) aaand the snow hasn't stopped. But the snow doesn't come without fun!

(Blogspot isn't letting me attach any more photos so I'm splitting this in half)

Intro Dansk 2013

"Where have you been!"
My conscience, which sounds a little bit more like Molly Weasley every day, shrieks inside my brain when I access this blog. 
I know, I said I'd update like 3 weeks ago. 

Unskyld, jeg kommer for sent.

See that? That was some legit Danish! Boom! That's the answer, Molly Weasley!
Ladies, Gents, and Ruffy, I introduce the more-improved-at-Danish-now-but-still-really-nervous-about-using-it-because-people-laugh-at-my-accent-Georgia. She is the result of a week of intense Danish training myself and about 45 other exchange students went through in the beginning of February. 

A few Sundays ago, I woke up at a time that isn't acknowledged by my body clock, and drove an hour to the nearest city to jump on a train. Two trains, 7 hours and pretty much the entire landmass of Denmark later, I finally arrived Randers, to catch bus to the place in which I would undertake willing brain torture. 

We were greeted by this... monstrous thing...

What is it?

Anyway, after gawking at that, and being introduced to our teachers, it was full steam ahead with the Danish lessons. Our teachers were all young, fun, and generally made it really easy to learn the language (Shout out to my teacher Vibe). I really enjoyed being in a room with people who understood exactly what we were all going through and the ability to share stories was thoroughly enjoyed. Helping us learn were two Norwegian guys... who were very, VERY enthusiastic about the Danish/Norwegian vowels. 

Their brainchild eventually became the theme song of IntroCamp 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f488uJAQgmw 
Seriously. Hit that link.

Our Danish class! 

During our stay we were given the privilege of being entertained by two awesome bands, (one of which I bought their album, and they took a photo with me!)

Squeeeeeeee!
Fair Enough, Martian! 

The Gang! (Size Matters)

We worked hard all week and had a fantastic time bonding. Thursday saw us in Aarhus being treated to a day of roaming around the city and indulging in some much-needed retail therapy. 

The shopping street in Aarhus.

Which, would be fine, if my card decided to be normal and accept the pin that it had been assigned.
But sometimes, life decides to give the Dane behind the counter at H&M even more reason to judge you more than she already was.

I HAVE MONEY! IT'S JUST INVISIBLE! 

My beautiful friends consoled me by taking me out for a very fattening crepe, and our favourite drink, FAXE KONDI! :D

We are the official unofficial Faxe Kondi reps.

The size of my ass is steadily growing but god, it's worth it.

Anyway, Sunday saw us depart from our dear new friends. It was merely a goodbye for now -  we all pinky promised to come visit. This weekend, we're all meeting up- this time on my side of Denmark for a Get-2-Gether with all the other exchange students in Denmark. Exciting stuff!

Sunday also saw me on a train, bound for Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen.

The capital of Denmark was a great experience. I was whirled around the city by my family, getting a look at about six or seven tour-worthy sites and of course, lunch. Amongst our sites were: Danish Secret Service, the changing of the guard at Amalienborg, Christiansborg, Langelinie, the Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) and many, many statues. Copenhagen is full of 'em. They're all this turquoisey colour. Gotta love it. But it was a kinda 'seen that! Seen that! Seen that! Ok let's go!' type of tour. I enjoyed seeing so much of the history, but I'm looking forward to the day where I can just stroll around and take it all in.

This is what happens when a cold Aussie is in a schmancy Copenhagen restaurant.

Speaking of lunch; I can't fit a whole lot in my stomach. It's a fact of my life. But Danish custom dictates that I must eat everything on my plate.
How the eff am I supposed to be able to do that when every plate I get is the diameter of a freakin' pizza box!? HOW!?
And yet, the Danes strut around in their tall, chiselled glory after their colossal meals as I lie on my stomach and whimper. This is the absolute height of unfairness.
And so, my ass grows at a steady rate. I can feel the extra distance between my bones and the outside world and I am terrified. I hope I can talk my club into paying for my gym membership.  

They'll pay it. 
They love me.

So!
After a day's reprieve back home to recharge batteries, we were off again! This time, by car. We covered almost all of Denmark in one day. 3 cities. 3 islands and 3 hours on the mainland.
This country is really freakin' tiny. Fun fact of the day: Denmark can fit 207 times into Australia. 

Excuse my paint skills. For your convenience.

Anyway, so after a ferry and a couple of road hours, we found ourselves in...
Odense: "O-en-se".
Odense was a city that was definitely clinging to the past. Their past, it seems, was its best asset. It came in the form of the lanky, awkward, world-famous author Hans Christian Andersen. In his museum (which was our only stop) you could be all personal and touchy-feely. The museum is built next to his childhood home. I for one, jumped in his bed, pretended to eat at his dinner table, and made conversation with his statue. It was quite thrilling. As you can probably tell, I like to live dangerously. All stupidity aside, it was actually a wonderful museum. His diaries, clothes, letters and possessions are on dispay there, along with what seemed like a copy of every translation of every book he's written. FYI- he's been translated into 150 languages. That makes him the most translated author of all time. I'm talking Siberian and Cherokee and Swahili here. 

But of course, my favourite part was imitating him as a statue.

Spot the difference

Over another bridge and onto the mainland, we were very quickly in Aarhus.

Aarhus: "Aar-hus"
Back in Aarhus for the second time in a week. I get places, lemme tell ya.
We arrived in the second largest city in Denmark just as the sun was saying "Yo, I'm gonna go say hi to your family, G."
Again, we stopped only once. This time it was the internationally-famous ARoS Art Gallery. I'm slipping into an alter-ego here, but this place is freaking dope! 
I got to see Andy Warhol's original Mazza Munroe, the giant scary-as-all-hell Boy statue, and a couple of other things that freaked me out. I made my mother very jealous.
Checkmate, sucka.
(She dragged us around Manhattan when I was 12 and made us go to about 45 different museums in two weeks. We wanted to play in the snow. I didn't appreciate it. Now, I gloat.)
However I think the most awesome of all of ARos was its rainbow panorama on top of the building. Now, I have a height phobia, so this wasn't easy for me, but the views we got made it so worth it.

Le view of le church through le panorama.

It was très cools.

So, as night was truly upon us, we left the big city and began our final leg onto Frederickshavn.

Frederickshavn: "Fle-ller-icks-haun" (bloody impossible to say.)

We got to Frederickshavn and I was absolutely starving. Well, I'm an exchange student. I'm always hungry. It's part of the parcel. 
But here's evil Denmark, saying, "Oh, have another potato. Lashings of brunsovs. Oooh look, a Fledeboller! Now try these chips, they're called Kim's and they're better than anything ever! Mmm, meat. Now cheese. Oooh let's fry it in butter!"
Needless to say, I feel extreme anger with myself whenever I look in the mirror.

But to my happiness, we went to an Asian restaurant. God, I love Asian food. It's delicious and relatively guilt-free. But, once again, we were given the gigantic portions. My host father ate his and then finished the rest of mine (three quarters remained and I was guiltily full)
Then it was off to bed. Finally.

Now, I need to describe this hotel they brought me to. It's called The Reef. It is 100% attempting to recreate a tropical environment, complete with indoor tropical beach/pool. It's minus degrees outside, and they've used coconut décor. I was in a constant giggle fit. They can't do this! It's silly! I'm from the reef! This is Scandinavia for Christ's sake!

We took a small trip up to the top of Denmark and I stood where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet. The most interesting thing about that, though, was seeing snow on the beach. Not something I've ever seen. I'd also never been that cold at the beach before. In hindsight  that was pretty disconcerting.

Anyway, we made our way home and now I've procrastinated this for three weeks. Oh well, I've done it now. Tomorrow I'm going crazy with a tonne of other students and shall report back soon. Hopefully, It'll be on time!
(that was my Molly Weasely conscience, swatting me with a rolled-up newspaper.)

Until Next time,
Vi Ses,
Georgia