Danish Pavlova

Honey Im Home

2009-01-30T03:26:00.000-08:00

So I have offically been back in New Zealand for nearly 3 weeks now..it could be more. The main things that have been happening is that Ive been MELTING and catching up with everyone and getting shocked at the yellow thing in the sky, I think its called the sun?

Leaving Danmark was the hardest thing of the whole year. Packing was the major mission and ended up taking way longer then I expected. Had to get my brother to help me close my suitcase because it was so overflowing! Was only about 5 kilos overweight so I think I did a pretty good job in packing up.

Spent my last day going to skole and saying goodbye to everyone and then me and my best mate hung in the bro for one last time. Came home started the major mission of packing and then had the "Last Supper" I had asked for Christmas food becasue personally I reacon Christmas is the best time for eating in the year and Dansk Jul Mad (Christmas food) is the best.

Left Tvis at 3am it pitch black darkness and a temperature of -7 so yeah just the average night. On my way to the car I slipped over and fell in black ice so yeah I know how to make an exit!! Checked in then Ange and I had the hard job of saying goodbye and walking up the stairs. Meeting up with the other Kiwi exchange students in Frankfurt was amazing so then it was just party the whole nearly 40 hour journey home!!

I miss my Dansk life but summer in NZ is amazing and I know I'l be back in 2010!! It really was the best year and I made friends for life, tried so many new different things, saw some amazing sights and laughed and pretty much just lived it up!!

Thanks Rotary for the coolest year EVER

DE SLUT!!

DANSK CHRISTMAS=THE BEST

2009-01-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Danmark is seriously the way Christmas is supposed to be celebrated. The only thing missing was the snow but we got frost yuuusss! which makes everything white so kinda like a white Christmas haha.
The major Christmas preparations started on the 23rd when we went and got our real live xmas tree!! It was standing in a forest and everything. We picked it out and then sawed it down. I got to saw a bit yay then we dragged it back to the car and brought it home and decorated it. Everyone was home for Christmas so the house was kind of full with 6 people. My older host sisters came home from KBH so we were all together which was nice.
The next day 24th aka Christmas Eve which is the major Christmas celebration day. Woke up and helped cook lunch the first meal of the day, we had EEL..it was um "interesting" then got changed into a DRESS woah and walked to church. We sung songs and he was talking about Christmas and other things. It is a little church and a lot of people were there. Came home and watch Disney Christmas Special with Anne, Mia and Rasmus (my sisters and bro) its tradition for them to watch it. Then we started cooking. The food was mega intense!! Seriously woah. Started eating at 8 and we had
-Duck
-Potatoes
-Brown Potatoes
- Salad
-Potato Chips
-Red Cabbage

and then for dessert this think kind of like rice pudding but much nicer and it has almonds in it and if you get a whole almond you get a prize. We had 3 almonds yay but Rasmus got 2 of them :( but I got a prize because I was searching so hard out haha like sifting through the whole bowel to try and find it. After eating we started getting the presents under the tree then we lit the candles!! on the tree..yes real candles on the tree! THEN THE BEST PART we went around the tree and danced and sung around it in danish and then we sung Last Christmas cause its the best Christmas song. Then we sat down and opened presents.

Next day aka Christmas Day we went to my host aunts and ate SO MUCH FOOD I’m talking 15 different courses sheesh, Christmas really is the time of eating. It was nice just hanging out with the family. Even though it didn’t know it was still amazing and just awesome hanging out with everyone.

I’m coming back in 2010 for Christmas!! well if I have enough money
Donations are welcome!!

Love Megs

The Gold Year

2008-12-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

Wish I could say I wrote this but I didnt, Got sent it from my exchange student mate. It pretty much sums up everythin.

"A year has past and now we stand on the brink of returning to a
world where we are surrounded by the paradox of everything and yet
nothing being the same. In one month we will reluctantly give our
hugs and, fighting the tears, say goodbye to people who were once just
names on a sheet of paper to return to people that we hugged and fought tears to say goodbye to before we ever left.

We will leave our best friends to return to our best friends. We will go back to the places we came from and go back to the same things we did last
summer and every summer before. We will come into town on that
same familiar road, and even though it has been months, it will
seem like only yesterday. As you walk into your old bedroom,
every emotion will pass through you as you reflect on the way your
life has changed and the person you have become.

You suddenly realize that the things that were most important to you a year ago
don't seem to matter so much anymore, and the things you hold
highest now, no one at home will completely understand. Who will
you call first? What will you do your first weekend home with your
friends? Where are you going to work? Who will be at the party
Saturday night? What has everyone been up to in the past few
months? Who from school will you keep in touch with? How long
before you actually start missing people barging in without
calling or knocking?

Then you start to realize how much things
have changed, and you realize the hardest part of being an exchange
student is balancing the two completely different worlds you now
live in, trying desperately to hold on to everything all the while
trying to figure out what you have to leave behind.

We now know the meaning of true friendship. We know who we have kept in touch
with over the past year and who we hold dearest to our hearts.
We've left our worlds to deal with the real world. We've had our
hearts broken, we've fell in love, we've helped our best friends
overcome eating disorders, depression, stress, and death. We've
lit candles at the grotto and we've stayed up all night on the
phone just to talk to a friend in need. There have been times
when we've felt so helpless being hours away from home when we
know our families or friends needed us the most, and there are
times when we know we have made a difference.

One month from now we will leave. One month from now we take down our pictures, and pack up our clothes. No more going next door to do nothing for
hours on end. We will leave our friends whose random e-mails and
phone calls will bring us to laughter and tears this summer, and
hopefully years to come. We will take our memories and dreams and
put them away for now, saving them for our return to this world.

One month from now we will arrive. One month from now we will
unpack our bags and have dinner with our families. We will drive
over to our best friend's house and do nothing for hours on end.
We will return to the same friends whose random emails and phone
calls have brought us to laughter and tears over the year. We
will unpack old dreams and memories that have been put away for
the past year.

In One month we will dig deep inside to find the
strength and conviction to adjust to change and still keep each
other close. And somehow, in some way, we will find our place
between these two worlds.

In One month. Are you ready?"

Christmas is COMING!!!

2008-11-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Right so I think its safe to say its WINTER TIME!!! which means one thing and one thing only in my mind..SNOW!! o and christmas of course!!

The other weekend in town the Christmas Beer came out (kinda of like Summer Ale) but in Danmark its a big thing when new beers come out so this meant town was made to look like Christmas!! There was a snow machine so the ground was covered in fake snow and there was christmas decorations in all the pubs and then we all sung some christmas songs! It was only for that night though so town is back to normal.

Its getting very cold and dark also now which is a bit scary. You come home from at 5pm and its pitch black! which means you kind of just want to go to sleep but yeah I find things to keep me busy. We were supposed to have snow this weekend!! Everyone else got it! Apart from my side of Danmark  but its okay I’m sure more is going to come hooray.

December is the month of Christmas! and you get a present every Sunday woohoo!! But its not all about the presents people! Its about tradtions. Like you eat duck at Christmas Eve o and Christmas Eve is pretty much Christmas!! And you go to church..and basically eat a lot of food! So its going to be really interesting celebrating Christmas in Danmark im pumped!!

Better run I’m being domestic godess and cooking dinner tonight
Love Megs

P.S it was -5 down town on Friday PLUS with wind chill it was around -10!!

Epic last couple of months

2008-10-31T04:21:00.000-07:00

Alright so the last month has gone by a little to fast its a bit scary so I will just give a quick update to let everyone out there know I’m still alive and breathing.

I started the month in my new house which we all know about and the family is still going great, really feel like home here in my shire!!. I get on really well with everyone except milly..the cat. Maybe its because I have never been around cats before but she always comes and jumps on me and starts attacking me. Apart from that everything is smashing and I love living there.

I went to my councillors family weekend gathering. This is where all the brothers, sons, grandkids get together for a weekend of competitions and just all be together. I went on the Saturday because I had my school party on the Friday. The school party alone was an experience.
The weekend was really fun though just hanging out with the grandkids and taking part. Janus my councillors son was there and hes really awesome to talk to and he showed me how to saber a champagne bottle which I personally think is one the most important things you can learn to do haha. I got to look around the oldest town in Danmark and it was very cute but I like Holstebro best.

Madrid happened in the middle of the month and WOW. Class trips over here are very very different! It was a fantastic week though bonding with my class. Louise (My really good Dansk friend) and I were just laughing the whole time. I brought heaps because hey your only in Spain once arnt ya! The teachers were really relaxed and we would sightsee in the morning and then be free by lunch time. We also got our lunch and dinner money given to us so we had to look after ourselves. I saw many art museums and also a bull fighting arena and the best part! The real Madrid football stadium. Coming home was hard because in total it was about 12 hours all up travelling when you count the waiting around at the airport, flying, catching the train home. Everyone was very tired and most of the class was hung over on the journey home but was still a great trip!

I also headed to KBH for Elyse's 19th birthday. I surprised her in bed and jumped on her and gave her my presents to her. I wasn’t able to stay with her though so I stayed the weekend and my friend Tim's house. He lives in Hillerød, which is a town near KBH. It was a nice weekend being back "Home" because I go to Amager (that is where Elyse lives) so much I call it my 2nd home.

Last weekend I had my LAST EVER ROTARY GET TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this was where all the 156 exchange students living in Danmark got together for the weekend in Holbæk which is about 4 hours away. It was held by the Rotex exchange students so was very relaxed. We mostly just all hung out and catched up with everyone. There was so many Newbies- the people that arrived in summer I am called an Oldie. It was the last time the Winter Team will see everyone all together. Needless to say no sleep was had because you have to make the most of these opportunities! We carved pumpkins also because it was a Halloween Themed. On the last night we had a big party and all had to dress up. We also had performances and Ange and I performed the haka for the very last time. I made heaps of new friends from all over the world again, slept for about 4 hours the whole weekend, danced on the tables, did the haka in shorts for once! and the main thing lost my voice! Am only just getting it back now.

I only have about 10 weekends left so as you can imagine its all systems go!! I can rest when I get home!!

Its getting COLD 5 degrees yesterday and I was wearing sandals

Hope everyone’s great
Love
Megz

New Photos

2008-10-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

Trying to sleep on the floor of the train after for 10 hours!! on 2 hours sleep

At the Bull fighting arena

Me, Lousie, Susanne, Nanna

Palace

Me and my Rotary Blazer outside

the meeting house

Louise and I at our class picture (the theme was Childs Birthday party)

Last move for the year!!

2008-09-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

Last week was the last time I will move families in Danmark. After being in Danmark for nearly 8 months (woah!) it is amazing how much stuff and by stuff I really mean crap that you gain. I started packing uo 2 days before moving becasue I knew how long it would take me. After throwing out 3 bags of rubbish giving a pile of clothes to my host sis to keep I had narrowed my belongings down to

2 suitcases (that I came with)
3 backpacks
4 boxes
18 plastic bags filled

Yes so as you can see that is quite alot of to have but you have to remember I have been away for at least 8 Months in a colder climate and having to change my dress style. This time last year I would have been in Trackies and Jumper and shoes and the me today is wearing Jeans, Boots, Scarf and Black jacket! Of course my rungi side still comes in aka as soon as I get home from school I change into my football shorts but thats okay becasue so does my host bro.

My new family is mega awesome and nice. They have made me feel so much home allready and I have only been here for about a a week. My host parents are famous host mum presents a tv show and my host dad publishes one on the papers. I have a brother called Rasmus and me and him are the same age so I hitch a ride with him to skole most mornings. I offered to drive if he ever wanted us to die!!

New Address is
Megan Porter
c/o Venelbjerg
Engparken 97
Tvis
7500 Holstebro
Danmark

You may want to write that down and remeber it takes normally 2 weeks for parcels to arrive so you better send xmas pressies early this year :)

I did my Rotary Presentation at Rotary this week and it was my BIG one aka had to be in dansk!! So i managed to speak for 30 minutes all in Dansk and got a couple of laughs out of the members and ended with the haka. I was so happy that my presentation was over I could go really hard out in the haka.
The members all commented on how well I had done and all admired my blazer which is FULL of pins. Am getting a little worried about how it will last the jounrey back home becasue pins keep falling off.

Well I better head of
the sun is shining!! amazing
Hope everyone is smashing

Love Megz

Back to Skole

2008-08-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

I can safely say this will be the last time I start skole ever again...not including University.
Skole started back for me on the 13th August at 720...yes you did read the correctly it is 720am!! It really has to be illegal to wake up that early after nearly a 3 month holiday.

When school starts back in Danmark it is tradition for the 3rd years (me!!) to welcome in the 1st years who are called frogs for some strange reason. So most of the 3rd years lined up in the school and made a path for the 1st years to walk down. This is when it was worth getting up early! We clapped and threw paper and candy and stuck frog stickers on the 1st years as the made their way down the path of 3rd years.
Also at lunch time we steal all their chairs and pile them up in our eating area so the 1st years are made to come and get them and we are all cheering and clapping. Needless to say its awesome being a 3rd year.

My timetable is still having some problems at the moment meaning that this week I only have 7 classes. My host mum thinks this is a problem and wants to contact the skole where I see no problem is this but will try and sort out what classes I’m going to choose.

It feels weird being back at skole, I can understand more this year and the teachers ask me to answer questions which can be a bit daunting but I try my best and if all else fails I just use Dad's motto if in doubt bullshit your way out. Its amazing how just answering ja and nodding and smiling can impress the teachers. But I can understand most of the time about what people are saying to me. I just lack the words to reply now.

Today is actually my 7 months!! amazing yes and also a little freaky how a month went by so fast. My friend actually baked me a cake though and brought it Danish flags so we just finished celebrating. Cant believe I only have 5 months left seems unreal.

Summer is coming to an end :( and it only seems like yesterday that it was beginning
Vi Ses Snart
Megz

Summer Holiday Pics

2008-08-13T14:29:00.001-07:00

Thought you would all need an update on what I look like :) I know some of you are missing your "megan fix"

very top of dk!!!

Helen and I

Repping the Danskness

Min Whanau

Adding a touch of Kiwiness to our metro ride

The beloved sign we crashed into in Prague!!!

On the Berlin Wall

Prague

They breed rebels in NZ..Stepping on the grass in Austria

Venice!!!!

CanCan infront of Moulin Rouge

Casually hanging in Brussles

Eating a Kroket...or 2..or 3 for Dad :)

6 MONTHS!!!

2008-07-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

Okay firstly I am a little scared that 6 months has gone by so fast. It seems just like yesterday I was at Auckland airport waiting to leave New Zealand. Anywho on with the list some will be the same as it is taken from the 3 monther but yes.
So in 6 months I have

Flown halfway across the world
Got lost biking to school
Biked to school in darkness
Biked home in a storm and been blown off my bike
Crashed my bike x3
Climbed Danmarks highest point (100m)
Had an amazing Intro Camp
Learnt Dansk is quite hard to speak
Seen Les Miserables in Dansk
Turned 18
Seen more than 20 handball matches
Been to church
Casually gone to Sweden
Built a snowman
Seen so many churches and castles
Had no sleep at Rotary Get Togethers
Had Leticia come and visit me
Performed the Haka in 6 Different countries
Lived in a house with no lounge and no mum
Done a liquorice shot at 10am with my Councillor
Communal showered a number of times girls
Been to 7th, 9th and 10th grade
Seen a Confirmation
Been to Tårnby Gymnasium
Seen most of the attraction in København
Moved families
Learnt how much stuff you gain after living in a country for 4 months
Taken part in a Duathlon
Spent an unbelievable 18 Days on Eurotour
Wrote on Berlin Wall
Had the bus crash into a sign in Prague
Sung sound of music in Austria
Rode a mechanical bull in Italy
Kissed under the Eiffel Tower in Paris
Tried Belgium beer
Partied like an Exchange student in Holland
Got a 7 in a English Exam
Come home from town at 4am and the sun is up
Nearly killed my host brother on a theme park ride
Run a 5km beach marathon
Been to England
Got fined on the Underground
Seen Lion King
Had a heart examination
Had a brain examination
Fainted in 3 different countries
Seen the Black Seeds play in KBH
Canoed 20kms
Been to HC Andersons house
Visited Skagen the top of Danmark
Meet New Zealanders and Australians in Danmark that arn't on an Exchange!
Been to KBH 5 times! Thanks elyse
Dreamt in Dansk
Choked on a potato
Been camping Dansk style at the beach and not even swum in the ocean..damn you dangerous west coast
Taken sooooooooooo many photos not just of me either!
Met some amazing people
Had such an amazing time all ready dreading coming home

Bring on the next 6 months though! I'm living life to the fullest which is the way to go!!

Is now a bad time to say that we having around 25 or higher degrees :) but its only getting hot now!! I have spent most of the "summer" wearing my trackies which isnt right!

Vi Ses snart

Megz

What time is it...Summer time!!

2008-07-08T02:30:00.000-07:00

According to Danish people we are in summer..YEAH RIGHT!! I seem to keep missing this wonderful sunshine and warmth that they keep going on about. So far my summer has consisted of a couple of really nice hot days and about 30 overcast, rain, heavy wind days. Good thing I didnt come over for the weather!

My summer holidays are going awesome heaps of travelling happening and people coming to see me in the bro which always makes me happy. Last weekend I was invaded by two aussie girls which was fun because we got to head into town. Got about 2 hours sleep and then the next day I had to run a beach marathon. I use marathon very loosely it was a marathon but there was also a 5km run you could enter so I entered that. It was was still a mission because it was on the beach and this is the main fact it was about 7 degrees!! yeah so before you say o what 5km's easy! try running on beach in cold condidtions and also real poor fitness level. The best part was that we all got a medal at the end of it hooray!

I then headed over to England for a couple of days to stay with family friends. I cant explain how exciting it was to hear English again and be able to speak and have people understand me and just to see English!! Was very exciting. Had a real fun time over in England shopping and of course sightseaing and also catching up with my friend Tesha who lives in England for the year working. Together we went and saw Lion King which was brill the costumes were fantastic. We ran into some trouble riding the underground and trains because I was doing it without a ticket on my last day mainly because I may or may not have spent all my money on clothes... I mean tourist attractions!! So yes had to pay a couple of pounds maybe 30 to be exact but the main thing was that I got home!

Am heading to København today to see a New Zealand band play and then my family comes over tommorow to do the sightseaing things with me. It should be fun especially becasue my host bro Rasmus is home from America. He's pretty cool but has a bit of an American accent but I am willing to look past that.

I have to finish packing actually!

O yes I dreamed in Danish the other night! Unfortuantly it was only a sentance but that has to count for something ay??

Hope the weathers not to lame!!

Love Megz

18 days+ 40 crazy exchange students+ 8 differnt countries= One awesome as Eurotour!

2008-06-15T04:31:00.000-07:00

Okay words cannot explain how unbelievably awesome Eurotour, when you spend 18 days on a bus with crazy exchange students of course alot of things are going to happen. I had the time of my life on Eurotour and I made "friends for life" no but seriously I made friends with people from Brazil, America( a couple of them were very nice), Argentina, Mexico, Lithuania, Canada, Italy even some of the Australians!! Together we travelled around Europe on our "special" bus in total travelling around 4000 kilometeres with broken toilet and air conditioning that didn't work half the time and of course a very unique bus driver...

Eurotour for me started at the crack of dawn pretty much! I had to wake up at 5am..yes 5am!! and then drive for 2 hours to the place where I was getting picked up. I get on the bus and people were excited and luckily all tired so we could all sleep. I spent most of the trip talking to Helen (Kiwi friend) and also floating around the bus talking to the other people. Driving from basically the top of Danmark to Berlin takes about 13 hours then you have to add on an extra hour for when certain bus drivers get lost trying to find the hostel!

1st day of tour we spent in Berlin, we got dropped on in the centre and then our so called tour guides just said okay be back at the bus in 3 hours and walked off. So it was a bit confusing but also nice being able to explore Berlin on our own. We then got taken to the Berlin Wall and I wrote on it! Which was my main goal for Berlin.

Prague was our next destination and we stayed in a wait for it...4 star hotel!! Prague was all about the beautiful buildings, bridges and river running through it. Prague is apparently very cheap to buy things but I was so busy sightseeing I didn't actually make it to the shops. I must be growing up!! In Prague 4 american girls were lucky enough to see Channing Tatum ( a movie star and he is very hot!!) Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to bump into him so had to make do with looking at their photos of him. It was in Prague were our bus driver actually crashed the bus into a sign when he was attempting to do what felt like a 200 point turn. We caused a mini traffic jam behind us and cars even started honking! We then drove around for 1 hour trying to find a parking place.

After our time in Prague we left the 4 star hotel and headed to the hills of music! Austria. Where we actually stayed in the middle of now where! There were only hills all around us and grass and yes we were miles away from anywhere!! The hotel was "quaint" aka small and smelly but it was nice being in Austria. That night me helen and marg (and aussie) went for our usual run in every country and we sung sound of music which is compulsory if you are ever in Austria. The next day we went sight seeing and saw the opera, parliament, churches and lots more. Austria was a bit like Prague just cleaner. In Austria we crashed AGAIN!! This time into a tram! Luckily no one was hurt though. We also got to go to the opera in Austria. We organised it all ourselves because our guides didn’t want us going, it was a nice evening out at the opera though.

We then headed to Italy!!! My favourite country. This was all about sun, beach, sleep and relaxing and partying like an exchange student with the other buses. We met up with Bus one the first night and then the 3rd night Bus 3. Because we were on the beach we didn’t have any set things for us to do so we could just take it easy and work on our tans. After living in Danmark for a couple of months we were all pasty!! We headed to Venice one day and that was really nice just walking the streets of Venice and getting lost. In Italy I rode a mechanical bull!! Was so much fun. There was some English rugby boys in Lido de Jeslo at the same time as us and they had made me a bet that I wouldn’t be able to stay on for more then a minute but I did. It was sad to leave the land of Gelato and Sun but I will defiantly be back there soon.

Monaco was a surprise, I didn’t know that it was that small and built up with so many high rise buildings. We were only there for a couple of hours but I still go to appreciate the beauty of it all. We parked at the top so then had to run all the way pretty much to the bottom. There was stairs so running down was okay, it was the coming up which the difficult part.

France was both good and bad. I loved Avingnon with its old castles and unfinished bridges and yet Paris did nothing for me. In Avingnon I went around with the guys and also the Brazilians, which was a change from Helen and the Americans. I could tell it was going to be good because the first thing we found was a fruit salad stall that was giving it away for free!! I then had to do the haka because the guy in charge of the stall found out I was from New Zealand. We spent the day just taking it easy in Avingnon and looking around because I was with guys I didn’t get to do any shopping!! That night after dinner our beloved bus driver blocked the road "trying" to do a u-turn.
We arrived in Paris and met up with Bus 1 again and then had to rush to get ready because we were meting up with them under the Eiffel Tower. Now I have seen the Eiffel Tower before and it is nothing compared to what it looks like at night!! Personally I think you shouldn’t be able to look at it during the day, only at night because it is so amazing! So we partied under the Eiffel Tower me and Ange did the haka again and in total just had a really nice night. During the day times did the usual sight seeing and taking it easy everyone was running low on energy by this stage. One thing, which made me very happy, was that I saw the Moulin rouge! Well the outside of the Moulin rouge it cost's to much to actually go in!! But I still did the cancan outside the Moulin rouge.

After Paris we headed to Brussels, the land of chocolate mmm. We only got a couple of hours to sightsee in Brussels because we got there late. But I got to see the main thing there is to see in Brussels the pissing statue of a boy. That night we went out to this pub, which had about 1000 different, flavours of beer it was amazing! The only chocolate I actually ate was the free samples that was given out in the chocolate stores so that was pretty impressive I thought!. Belgium was a really nice country and I wish we got more time to explore it.

Headed to Amsterdam the land of hash, red light district and the best thing of all croquets!!!! or however you spell them!. The first thing I did was rush off the bus and find myself a croquet stand. We then had a canal tour but the boat actually left without Marg and I so we had to chase it down the river. Finally got onto it and it was a mini sauna in there because it was a glass boat. They only gave us 1 hour in Amsterdam which is basically no time so that was annoying. On route to where we were staying ( unfortunately we didn’t get to stay in Amsterdam... luckily I had already seen red light district Thanks Dad!) our air-con broke down on the bus and it was one of the hottest days on tour! This meant that as soon as we pulled into a petrol station it was water fight time!! That night was our last night on tour so needless to say very little sleep was had!

Journey back to Danmark was sad because for some people this was the last time they would see each other because my oldies are going home soon. After spending 18 days with each other you get close and bond! Coming home was weird, It felt like I was coming back to New Zealand not Danmark. I have to get used to speaking Danish again, after only speaking it a couple of times on tour it got a little bad.

So that was basically Eurotour, nearly 1000 photos taken, only 4 hours of sleep most nights, lots of random conversations and memories forever!

Thanks to my friend Mark in Australia this was proof readed by him =)

New Family! New House! New York? well maybe not New York!

2008-05-16T13:47:00.001-07:00

Last week I moved families. It was hard enough packing everything up and I was only moving down the road, very worried what its going to be like in 8 months!! I had 9 EXTRA! bags however these were plastic bags but they were cramed to the top with "stuff"
It felt werid leaving the Krogh family however I see them around town and I will go back and visit.

The Biehl family (aka my new hosties for my next couple of months) picked me and all my luggage up luckily it all managed to fit in the car. I have told my 3rd Host Brother that by the time I move to his house we will need a pick up truck! So I arrived at my new house and unpacked everything and within an hour I had moved in. Im a pro at moving it to new houses and adapting. They had invited Rasmus (my host bro currently on exchange in usa) friends that live near us around to come and meet me. They were really cool and were talking to me and also inviteded me to a theme park the next day. It made Rainbows End look pathetic!! Well lets face it Rainbows End is kinda little! I did a 50m free fall no harness nothing just dropping from mid air was so awesome was on the mean as high afterwards!!

Have spent the week adjusting to having a mum around the house but I have bad news! There is a lounge but I am so used to not having one I havent actually used it yet! Im hoping when I come back from Eurotour I will be able to use it. Speaking of Eurotour I am getting picked up in 6 hours and I still have to pack. Mentally I have packed its just physically I am a bit behind!

My new address is
Skjernvej 85B
7500 Holstebro

Phone Number: 97413228

Please feel free to send me packages and letters!!

I shall think of everyone at Uni and Work while I am travelling round Europe! I will try and take some scenic photos but you never know!

Hej Hej! ( O my fmaily only speaks dansk to me, half the time I have to guess what they are saying. Brain hurts from thinking so much!)
Megz!!

Adventures in KBH!

2008-05-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

The little mermaid!

Tim and I

Elyse and I

Saying goodbye to Elyses Host bro

The Canal

Queens Castle

Hanging at the fountain with Tim

Kiwis at the mermaid!

Statue of Ice cream!

HUGE ice creams!!

Sun in Denmark!! It is Possible!!!!

2008-05-05T09:14:00.000-07:00

I didn't think it was possible but there has been SUN in Danmark for the last couple of days. For some strange reason the other Danes dont seem to be so excited as I am. I guess they get used to not seeing sun for about 6 months. They also can still wear jeans and jackets but me I'm repping it up Kiwi style with my shorts and singlets and jandals!! yea bro! The temperature can be a bit tricky though I think 14 degrees is the highest temperature at the moment which is basically summer right! Kay enough about the weather thats a bit grannyish!!

I've decided I'm not coming back to New Zealand I will just marry a dane and then live here for ever and ever! Who knew love could be so easy to find in a country (Don't worry family I haven't fallen in love with a Dane! I am talking about Danmark!) But I love living here and speaking bits of danish and being able to understand Danish..sometimes and just life in general is sweet as the only downer is Danish is so hard to pick up! Note to people planning on coming to live in Danmark, Danish is I think one of the hardest languages to lean but hey I might be a bit biased =)

Moving Day is very soon, in about 5 days I will be living in a house which 1. Has a lounge 2. Has a host mum and 3. Is closer to town and 4. Is smaller meaning I will see my family more but in saying that it will be very weird moving. I have to start packing up all my belongings again, by the end of the year I should be pro at packing up all my stuff! I seem to have gathered a whole lot of important things aka crap over the past 3 months but I will look at throwing some stuff out before I change familes.

I spent the weekend in Copenhagen spending time with Elyse and Tim. This time I actually got to see "sights" and the plus side was it was sunny! I went with Elyse to her skole on Fredag and her classmates are really nice and they talked to me. On Friday night I saw a "famous" person! His names Martin and he won X Factor kind of like NZ Idol but 10 times cooler. I was going to accidentally fall into him and land on his lips and kiss him but I didn't want to interrupt him because he looked like he was having a normal night. I saw P.S I love you with Elyse and some girls from her class.

Saturday was spent lying in the hammock trying to organise the plans for the day. I had to say goodbye to Elyse parents which was sad because I got on with them and they were so nice! But yeh so I said goodbye to them and then Elyse and I headed into KBH and picked up Tim and we went to the lil mermaid and I took pictures then we walked around taking more pictures then went back and lay in the sun at Elyses house. We had been invited to an 18th so we went at 11pm and it was held in a Kindergarten!! Pretty good for a party venue but I guess in New Zealand you wouldn't be able to because of OSH reasons or something.

Sunday I was "supposed" to be at handball by 8am (the whole reason for the trip was Frederikke was playing in KBH but I just tagged along) but HC said that I could come along later so it meant I got sun time and just chillaxed with Elyse. Headed over to the handball centre and then drove all the way home in the middle between 2 12 year olds (HCs gf 2 girls who also went to KBH) who were screaming and hitting each other!

I love being in Copenhagen it's just waaaaaaay different to being in Holstebro but I still love living in Holstebro.

Moving Day on Saturday thennnn
on the 17th of May Eurotour starts yeeeeaya!!!!

Day One: Berlin
Day Two: Berlin
Day Three: Prague
Day Four: Prague
Day Five: Austria
Day Six: Austria
Day Seven: Austria
Day Eight: Italy
Day Nine: Italy
Day Ten: Italy
Day Eleven: Monaco
Day Twelve: France
Day Thirteen: France
Day Fourteen: France
Day Fifteen: France
Day Sixteen: Brussels
Day Seventeen: Amsterdam
Day Eighteen: Home time!!

Bring on Eurotour!!

Hope everyone is staying calm and getting nice and cold!

Vi Ses
Megz

3 MONTHS!!

2008-04-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

In the past 3 months I have:

Flown halfway across the world
Been sick in 3 different countries all in 24 hours
Learnt how hard Danish really is to speak
Cycled everywhere
Got lost biking to school
Biked to school in darkness
Biked home in a storm
Been blown off my bike
Crashed my bike
Been involved in a 3 bike pile up
Visited Diana in Silkeborg
Got lost in Silkeborg at night
Seen how the Danes really party
Been to Intro Camp
Lost mobile phone on the train going to Intro Camp
Got off at the wrong Train Station going to Intro Camp
Lost my memory card in my friends laptop
Learnt some more Danish
Met some amazing people
Seen Les Miserables all in Danish..even the songs!!
Turned 18 in Danmark
Had my kiwi friends come to the “Bro” and surprise me
Got free birthday champagne in the club
Got “non alcoholic” drinks brought for us
Walked 6km home in heels
Seen about 20 Handball matches
Been confused for a Brazilian
Been confused for a Londoner
Been to the “beach”
Been to church
Got sunburnt 3 times
Casually driven to Germany to buy alcohol and food
Gone to Copenhagen for the weekend
Casually gone to Sweden to meet up with other New Zealanders
Ridden my bike in the snow
Had a snow ball fight
Built snowmen (harder then it looks)
Become pro at catching trains
Visited 5 churches and surprisingly they were all different!
Gone into a Cave
Had Leticia pop across from UK to see me
Climbed one of the highest mountains in Denmark (100m)
Attended Rotary get together with 150 other exchange students
Been to “interesting” rotary meetings
Performed the Haka 2 times in a dress
Been yelled at 2 times in Danish by my teachers
Gotten 60% in an English grammar test
Met some nice Danish boys
Learnt that Danes don’t snack
Lived with a Danish family
Lived with no lounge
Lived withno host mum
Tried rødgrødmedfløde
Tried the “special” black bread
Done a liquorice shot (with my councillor) at 10am
Communal showered with the girls from my class
Had to explain who the Maoris are
Explained so many times that New Zealand is not part of Australia
Been able to converse in Danish

And most importantly taken LOADS! Of pictures and had an amazing time!!!

There has been other events but these are the ones that came to me

Raaah I'm a Viking!!!

2008-04-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Okay first of sorry for the delay in getting another post up, i've been busy having a life and not living on the interent...suprising as it may seem

Anywho on to the main event!!

Picture 150 exchange students from all over the world coming together for one weekend and throw in some music and food and cameras and what do you get? A weekend of photos being taken, friendships being made, no sleep all weekend and an overall fantastic weekend!! Its what we call in the business a Rotary get together.

This weekends theme was Vikings and was held in Roskilde which is knowen for its Viking museum and is situated on the island of Zealand (the one thats has Cobenhagen on it). The weekend started on Friday and so I spent most of my afternoon travelling there by my favourite mode of transport the train. Now before I set off I was under strict instruction not to lose my mobile phone this time so I was making sure I had it on me at all times.
When Angela and I got off in Roskilde we see the other exchange students plus the "oldies" these people were hugging and running around they have been here for more then 6 months so know each other really well.
Friday night we learnt some Dansih folk dance which was highly entertaining becasue they were quite "special" dances. We got to dance to normal music later in the night and everyone was just hanging out and talking. I stayed up late talking with Emmah and Ange and we stole some of Elyses food at 4am thinking she wouldnt mind.

Saturday Morning got woken up early for breakfast and we got told the plans for the day. We headed to the Viking Museum and got split into groups. We were doing lots of different activites all day. I started with making rope, it looks harder then it does and takes a long time to make! but I am the proud owner of some handmade rope now! We also learnt about the Viking ships and how they are made and also about the voyages that people take in the ships in todays day and age.

In the Evening we all got dressed up for Dinner and the Party. Felt weird getting dressed up and all we were doing was walking down the corridor. After Kai we had entertainment and the Australasia group (Ange, Helen, Tim, Eylse, Me and Emmah) performed Do you believe in Danish again. It is on you tube for thsoe who want to see it, choose the one where you can see 6 people. The dancing started once the live band arrived and was really fun danicng with everyone. When the band left we all mingled with different groups and making more friends. My group I was hanging with stayed up all night talking and spooning in the corridor to keep warm.

Sunday was goodbye time and for some of the oldies it would be the last time that they would see some of their friends so it was quite an emotional time and we were also all very tired. On the train home I kept falling asleep and then waking up having no idea where I was or even what island I was on making it very hard and thinking I had missed my stop to chnage trains. Luckily everything was okay and I got home in the end and got off the train to find I had lost my voice!
All in All awesome as weekend meetign all the exchange students, we have a bond which is hard to explain but you find yourslef clicking with most of the people.

Bring on Eurotour!!

Viking Weekend Photos

2008-04-16T07:49:00.001-07:00

Viking Ship

The morning after

200 kroner worth of ice cream!

Before Dance

Recent Photos

2008-04-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

On top of one of the highest mountains in Denmark....100m

Århus

Main living area in my house

My 1st path that I have shoveled, hopefully the last!

Neighbours front yard covered in snow

River that runs through the city

Jeg Elsker Sne!

2008-03-25T03:50:00.000-07:00

It snowed this weekend!! Very exciting mainly because it’s apparently "spring" now. Everyone else in my family didn’t seem excited about the snow and looked at me like I was extremely weird when I was dancing around outside in the snow. It started on Sunday and the snow is still here riding my bike through the snow and also in the snow is awesome and a little cold at the same time. It has been around -3 and 1 degrees most days! but because I am a tough person I can handle the cold!

I was hoping that it would snow extreme last night so we would get snowed it and school would be cancelled but unfortunately no such luck.
I found the time to build a snowman and have a snowball fight with Bente (HC’s girlfriend) 2 daughters. But you don’t have snowball fights anymore its more like who can throw the largest clump of snow, I thought I would have an advantage because I am older but these girls are pro’s at handball and they have intense throwing power!

Here’s to more snow hopefully, or warmer weather both will be very nice!
Hope everyone is having fun at school and work!
Megz

I just spent 2 months in a rainy country!

2008-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

NZ'ers repping it in an Australian bar- Corey is with the evil enemy AFS but we can forgive him

I'm pretty much Swedish as well as Danish now

Street photo of KBH- note no posing, i feel so old!

Elyse and I with Cobenhagen (KBH) in the backround

Today is my 2 month anniversary!! It is amazing to think that I have been in Danmark for 2 months allready. The scary thing is there is only 10 months to go but I am not thinking about that. 2 months ago me and Ange stepped off the plane at 5:30 to complete darkness and it was freezing cold, today at 5:30 it was bright and sunny but still cold but I have gotten used to it and can now wear a "light" jacket.

I have also gotten used to cycling on the right hand side of the road and cyling in high heel boots. Although the other day I was involved in a 3 bike pile up one of the many perks of cycling in Danmark, I was stuck in the middle and it just so happened to me who was throwen off the bike and it just had to be the day I was wearing shorts!

I am also getting used to catching the trains, I now longer don't get lost and also don't leave mobile phones behind. They can be very expensive though and also run late. For example on Friday I caught the train to Cobenhagen (capital of Danmark) my train was late into vejle where I was supposed to change trains so I actaully missed my connecting train! Luckily Ange waited for me so we just waited for another hour and then boarded our train. The same thing happend coming back on monday though and this time it was dark and cold and I had no Ange! This meant I got back to the bro 2 hours later then planned but I did have a whole train carriage to myself so I did dance up and down the aisles as you do!

I had a really awesome weekend in Cobenhagen. Ange and I stayed with Elyse and her host family is so nice!! They really welcomed us into their family. We went out into town on Friday night we told the boys that we would be there at 10 and we didnt get there till 1130 I had to keep making up excuses as they kept ringing us, so I was telling them of course we were on the train but really we were just taking more photos. Town was good we went into this Australian bar and New Zealand was playing cricket on the Tv so we "watched" that for a bit.

Saturday we went into town and looked around and I actually took some scenic photos, I feel so growen up!!

On Sunday we went across the bridge to Sweden! it only takes 25 minutes on the train from where we were staying so easy to travel internationaly. Sweden was really nice and different to Danmark and it was good to catch up with Julia and Alana (NZ girls) we had a look around Sweden and also shopped on a Sunday- In danmark shops close as 1:30 Saurdays and are closed on Sundays its very sad!! It was really awesome to catch up with Julia and swap stories becasue it is not that far away (well 4 and a half hours by train but hey whos counting!) I hope to go and see her again. We came home from Sweden and we were so sleep deprived mainly from Saturday night that we all fall asleep on the couch. It was so nice to lounge!! I made the most of hanging on the couches.

Was really fantastic to see Elyse and Ange again and spend time with them. Her host family described me as the crazy New Zelander funny that I seem to be getting that alot. They also said that my parents should send money to my Danish family to say they know what it feels like to live with me, now I'm not that bad am I!

Well I better head to bed, It's easter holidays over here but with family breakfasts it means I have to be up at 9am. My family is only speaking Dansk to me from now on, I have told them to do this because I really want to be able to speak more. I now speak Danglish a mixture of English and Danish words.

Hope New Zealand is getting nice and cold!!!

Vi Ses

Hej Hej!

Megz

Finally legal in the Bro

2008-03-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hej
Hvordan går det?
Hva så?
Jeg er Sulten!
Hej Hej!

Okay so I have been very busy with school work and trying to learn Danish so that’s why there has been a slight delay in getting a post up..sorry hayden!
It was my Birthday last week and I was really hoping for a snow storm or at least a little tiny bit of snow but all it did was rain so that was a nice change from the sun. Here in Denmark they go quite hard out with birthdays and put flags everywhere! The Danes love their flags.
I got woken up at 6:30am by my family creeping into my room and singing the Danish Birthday song and waving flags in my face. I then had a quick breakfast and has to run out of the house and bike to school in the rain.
For the evening I went bowling with my family and also out to dinner, this was a change to how I normally spend my birthday evenings but it was still fun.

Just got asked a question in German and I had no idea what we were talking about so I just said Nein, I didn’t know if she was speaking Danish or German though they keep flicking between the two languages!!

Anywho back to the story: My host dad told me that I should stay at home on Friday night, a rather unusual request to a teenage girl but he said he had his reasons so I didn’t question him. I had been txting my Kiwi friends in Denmark during the week asking what they were doing for the weekend and they all said they were busy. Friday evening rocks around and I'm sitting in the Dining Room and HC (host dad) comes in and opens the doors outside and BAM my kiwi friends are standing outside, they had come to the Bro to surprise me for the weekend.
We decided to hit the town NZ style and so we were all set to walk into town but it was raining..as usual so we just catch a taxi, it came 5 minutes after we had rung I was so amazed. We got into town at 12, which was to early so we sit in a cafe and order some "non-alcoholic" drinks of course! We get into one of the discoteks and the guy brought over this free bottle of champagne for us, being a Kiwi in a small Danish town does have its perks! We then went into a pub where we had drinks brought for us, of course they were cokes though.
At 4 we decided to head home and started our brief but long walk home.

It was an awesome weekend being able to show them around my town and speak Kiwi again and not have to worry about explaining words! This weekend I have my school party, where they sell alcohol at the school of course I will only be drinking coke though haha. Apparently I am going to Germany on Sunday, HC wants to pick up some cheap alcohol. Im looking forward to running across the boarder going I'm in Germany, I'm in Denmark, I'm in Germany, I'm in Denmark.
Next weekend Ange (nz friend in Fredericia) and I are heading to Cobenhagen to see Elyse, that’s going to be a sweet as weekend! because there are alot of Exchange students in Cobenhagen and also Julia (nz friend in Sweden) might head across the bridge to come see us.

Yesterday I was involved in a 3-bike pile up! I was stuck in the middle and unfortunately it was me who ended up on the ground, and it was the day that I had worn shorts to school as well. But those are the dangers you face when everyone cycles everywhere and no one looks when they turn corners. I spoke at Rotary again this week, I decided to be brave and speak in Dansk and all the Rotarians were very impressed. A couple of weeks ago a Rotarian mistook me for Brazilian... I must look very Brazilian with my blonde hair and blue eyes!

Well I better go German is over and we playing Handball in Sport next woohoo! get to push people over and throw myself at the ground
Vi Ses

One month in Danmark!!!

2008-02-19T00:38:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was my one-month anniversary- I wasn't expecting flowers or balloons so that’s okay that you forgot to send some, or if you did I'm sure they are just lost in the post right.
After being in Danmark a month I think I am getting used to life over here there are still the simple things that make me really excited and some things that make me go "this country is so weird!"

The main things would have to be
School- There is still a lot of weird things about school. Mainly the whole no bell thing and also I'm still getting used to dressing up for school. I do have my rungi days where I just wear trackies and a top for example today. The teachers can get quite nasty when you forget to bring your book, this happened to me yesterday in History. I tried explaining that I didn’t see much point in bringing my text books when I couldn’t understand anything but she still insisted that I need to bring it everyday and then she spoke in Danish to me and apparently she was telling me off.

Food- No one really snacks so they just eat the three main meals and the food can taste either really good or really bad! luckily I haven’t had that many bad meals so far. Dessert is only served at special occasions and I have finally tasted rødgrødmedfløde ( I swear that’s the hardest Danish word, and everyone always trys to make me say it) but yes so picture strawberry jam and a bit of cream and that is basically rødgrødmedfløde not exactly what I was expecting but it was still good in a very weird way! On the weekends families have chocolate on their buns for breakfast. Most people don’t eat toast for breakfast they have these weird breakfast buns that kind of look like hamburger buns.

Discoteks- These are the Danish equivalent to New Zealand clubs. They are completely different over here, the boys buy you drinks ( not that I have been drinking of course) and the dance floor is in the centre and basically you sit on the couches surrounding the dance floor drinking your "raspberry and cokes" and then when a good song comes on you rush to the dance floor and dance with all the people. Also everyone comes together at discoteks like its okay for members of the "older" generation to be there dancing.

Transport- It is so easy to get around in Danmark. The main way of transportation in your hometown is by biking. This is a good way to get around and it also gives you freedom. When you want to travel to other places in Danmark and you go by train. The trains run on time and are usually comfortable. I have gotten used to riding trains now, the only bad thing is when you get off at the wrong station...

Then there are the little things like how everything is so expensive over here; you ride on the right not the left. Bikes have their own little bike paths, everyone looks and dresses much older then they are, you can buy alcohol in the supermarket and at little supermarkets.

So its been a busy past week, I got home from Language Camp on Sunday. I had been there for a whole week learning Danish with all the other Inbounders in Danmark. There was so many Australians there- I think there was 30 Australians, 15 Brazilians, 5 New Zealanders, 3 Argentineans and 2 South Africans. There were about 45 girls and only 7 boys!

My arrival to Language Camp was a bit stressful, I got off the train in Bjeniningbro and no one was there to pick me up so I realised I had got off at the wrong train station. I reach into my handbag to ring my councillor and ask for help when I realise I have left my mobile on the train, this means I am basically stranded in a strange town which I know nothing about, I have no way to contact anyone and I can't remember any mobile numbers. I do have one number and that is my district councillor’s number so I walk around the town trying to find a pay phone- all the shops are closed because it is Sunday. I finally find one and call him and he tells me I can just walk to the high school because it is in the area. However he neglected to tell me the way to the school so I find a taxi and he calls my district councillor and gets the name of the school and takes me to the school for free yay!

The week was real fun and I picked up on some Danish which is godt! The people were so nice and I took heaps of photos. Unfortunately my memory card is stuck is Helens (my roomie from New Zealand) laptop. She wanted to have my photos so she put it in her laptop. The laptop is being sent back to New Zealand because it has to be taken apart for some strange reason so I probably wont get my photos for about 2 or 3 months.
We had a party on the last night and that was awesome, we all dressed up real nice and had a banquet. The music started and we all started dancing, the Brazilians are awesome dancers! Was a real fun night I was dancing on the tables ( and yes I was sober)

It was sad leaving the camp because it was so godt to talk Kiwi again and not have to slow down when I was talking and just being able to talk and not having to think before speaking. I had to change trains and I had a one hour wait in this tiny as station that was just a room, I then went to sleep on the train and woke up thinking I had missed my stop so I jump up and run to the door but we pull away just as I get there but thankfully it wasn’t my stop.

I am settling back into life in "The Bro" and am speaking the Danish that I know, I used my knowledge on the train to talk to a guy. I said Hej Jeg hedder Megan, Jeg kommer fra New Zealand Hvad med dig? Then I asked Hvad er Klokken the Du er Single? and Hvor gammel du?
Which is basically Hi my name is Megan, I’m from New Zealand, what about you. Then I asked him what the time was and if he was single and how old he was. So I think I'm on my way to learning Danish.

I am going to the theatre on Friday to see Les Miserables, which is so awesome! Although it has just occurred to me that it will all be in Danish... But im sure i should be able to pick up the storyline.

Hope everyone has a godt week
Kys Kys
Megz

"The Bro"

2008-02-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

Bike roundabout- the road roundabout is above

Me in a Danish telephone box

River that runs through the town

Middle of town

Awesome cafe that I go to with the girls

Top end of town

Front of my school

Lunch area

How dark it is when I leave the house

Team Tvis and Holstebro Handball match

Me and the snow!!

The snow

My host sisters team playing handball

My House

What I wear to school

Photos- I shall take some photos of "The Bro" and put them up later

2008-02-05T01:02:00.000-08:00

View of Holstebro town from my Councellors apartment

Me and ET

Me and Friendly Cop

Me and Dora at Universal Studios