Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
A General Update
So its been quite awhile with quite a lot of things to update on. Last Friday was my 17th birthday and my only wish was that it be celebrated in a very "danish way". Haha it was was :)
I started the morning off with rolls, coffee, tea, and penut butter my host mom so graciously found awhile ago. I opened my gifts and everything I recieved was danish! I got a H.C Andersen fairytale collection, history of Denmark book (BOTH all in danish), scandanvian design candles, HC Andersen candle, gift card for jewerly, and a danish doll from my former host family. It was such a sweet morning. Then of course school, where I gave out flodeboller (spelt wrong due to lack of danish keys haha). And was sung the danish birthday song :)
Then in the evening, my host sister had some friends over and we got ready all together to go to the school's formal, aka the biggest party of the year. It was SO much fun and everyone was in such a good mood. We ate dinner in our class room with our teachers, had a nice meal, and then had awards etc. Following we danced the waltz and the lanciers. It was very enjoyable!
The rest of the evening resulted in jazz music, and hygge :)
The next day I celebrated with my host family and my close north american friends. They came over for layer cake and hot coca. Then after we vistited Tivoli to see all of the Christmas decorations and to take a side trip to talk to the Julemand about what we want for Christmas... haha in danish ;)
It was a really sweet birthday, filled with alot of hygge and alot of joy.
As of today, unfortuantly I've been sick THEE entire week. I've hardly left my bed. Haha, and I left the house once to the doctors office. Its such a miserable feeling only because you cand do anything, you dont feel like doing anything, and you literally cant. And the most unfortunate thing is when you feel so miserable you start to think the worst. I've thought so much just lying in bed. I think about missing home, and what the holidays are going to be like without me etc. etc. So thats been my state as of the past few days. Im staying positive because Im getting healthier but still... its been a bummer feeling so mierable after such a great weekend.
Anyways, I will get pictures up soon of Tivoli!
Peace && Love.
Megs (:
I started the morning off with rolls, coffee, tea, and penut butter my host mom so graciously found awhile ago. I opened my gifts and everything I recieved was danish! I got a H.C Andersen fairytale collection, history of Denmark book (BOTH all in danish), scandanvian design candles, HC Andersen candle, gift card for jewerly, and a danish doll from my former host family. It was such a sweet morning. Then of course school, where I gave out flodeboller (spelt wrong due to lack of danish keys haha). And was sung the danish birthday song :)
Then in the evening, my host sister had some friends over and we got ready all together to go to the school's formal, aka the biggest party of the year. It was SO much fun and everyone was in such a good mood. We ate dinner in our class room with our teachers, had a nice meal, and then had awards etc. Following we danced the waltz and the lanciers. It was very enjoyable!
The rest of the evening resulted in jazz music, and hygge :)
The next day I celebrated with my host family and my close north american friends. They came over for layer cake and hot coca. Then after we vistited Tivoli to see all of the Christmas decorations and to take a side trip to talk to the Julemand about what we want for Christmas... haha in danish ;)
It was a really sweet birthday, filled with alot of hygge and alot of joy.
As of today, unfortuantly I've been sick THEE entire week. I've hardly left my bed. Haha, and I left the house once to the doctors office. Its such a miserable feeling only because you cand do anything, you dont feel like doing anything, and you literally cant. And the most unfortunate thing is when you feel so miserable you start to think the worst. I've thought so much just lying in bed. I think about missing home, and what the holidays are going to be like without me etc. etc. So thats been my state as of the past few days. Im staying positive because Im getting healthier but still... its been a bummer feeling so mierable after such a great weekend.
Anyways, I will get pictures up soon of Tivoli!
Peace && Love.
Megs (:
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Update
Ok so sorry its been so long since I've written anything, its been kinda hectic lately!
So as of 2 Sundays ago I've moved into the Windfeld household, and I absolutly love living here :) I have a wonderful mom, Dorte, and a very kind father, Jens. Two amazing sisters Julie and Christine whom I enjoy living with very much! I only moved about 5 miles from my last home so the area is still familiar to me, and I really am grateful for that. At first I found it hard to move because it was like I finally got situated somewhere and then I had to uproot myself once again. However, I'm grateful for the opportunity to get closer to another family.
I will be living with them until late January, so we will be clebrating Thankgiving (TODAY WHOO HOO!), My birthday, Christmas, and New years together. I couldnt have chosen a better family to celebrate the most special days of the year with!
Unfortunatly the only thing is that 1/4 my exchange is complete, and there's no going back. Its an odd feeling to think that I've been here for about 4 months, its crazy, but its soooo amazingly worth it!
Anyways, more updates.
Today I will be going to a Rotary Thanksgiving meal with my family, my counselor Henrik, many other rotarians, and all the exchange students in this district. Im really looking forward to kinda/sorta celebrating thanksgiving, especially since Im away from my fam. during it.
Tuesday I will be going to the Paramore concert with a friend from Canada, and Im SUPER excited to finally see them (I havent even seen them in my own country!).
Friday is my 17th birthday and the schools formal gala. Im SO excited because we will have dinner with our class in a decorated room at the school, and then at the dance we do a traditional french dance (which Im TERRIBLE at may I add). So it should be alot of fun.
Saturday I will celebrate my birthday with my family and some friends, and in the evening go to Tivoli with some friends.
So everything is getting really exciting starting December, and the "hygge" is much needed right now due to the dreary danish weather, and short days of sun.
Anyways....
Sending all my love back home, Happy Thanksgiving, I love you all very much!
PEACE && LOVE (:
Megs
So as of 2 Sundays ago I've moved into the Windfeld household, and I absolutly love living here :) I have a wonderful mom, Dorte, and a very kind father, Jens. Two amazing sisters Julie and Christine whom I enjoy living with very much! I only moved about 5 miles from my last home so the area is still familiar to me, and I really am grateful for that. At first I found it hard to move because it was like I finally got situated somewhere and then I had to uproot myself once again. However, I'm grateful for the opportunity to get closer to another family.
I will be living with them until late January, so we will be clebrating Thankgiving (TODAY WHOO HOO!), My birthday, Christmas, and New years together. I couldnt have chosen a better family to celebrate the most special days of the year with!
Unfortunatly the only thing is that 1/4 my exchange is complete, and there's no going back. Its an odd feeling to think that I've been here for about 4 months, its crazy, but its soooo amazingly worth it!
Anyways, more updates.
Today I will be going to a Rotary Thanksgiving meal with my family, my counselor Henrik, many other rotarians, and all the exchange students in this district. Im really looking forward to kinda/sorta celebrating thanksgiving, especially since Im away from my fam. during it.
Tuesday I will be going to the Paramore concert with a friend from Canada, and Im SUPER excited to finally see them (I havent even seen them in my own country!).
Friday is my 17th birthday and the schools formal gala. Im SO excited because we will have dinner with our class in a decorated room at the school, and then at the dance we do a traditional french dance (which Im TERRIBLE at may I add). So it should be alot of fun.
Saturday I will celebrate my birthday with my family and some friends, and in the evening go to Tivoli with some friends.
So everything is getting really exciting starting December, and the "hygge" is much needed right now due to the dreary danish weather, and short days of sun.
Anyways....
Sending all my love back home, Happy Thanksgiving, I love you all very much!
PEACE && LOVE (:
Megs
P.S.
Above I posted some pics of my new room, I absolutly love it!
Monday, November 9, 2009
New set of eyes; same pair of shoes
I have gained a new pair of eyes by living in this country. I've learned how to view the world from a different viewpoint, and Im seeing things in a different way; more different then I ever have before. However, because I've recieved a new vision doesnt mean that I have to change the shoes Im walking in as well. I will still, and always will be, me. Because I've gained a new perspective on this crazy rollar coster we're on doesnt mean that Ive changed who I am as a person. I am still Megan Elizabeth Bender, and will be until my name is forgotten. I just wanted everyone to be aware of this fact. I have changed and I know I have but its for the better, to better me, and to better the world.
Another point I want to make is about my miserable and amazing weekend. Friday I slept all day, and felt bad for myself, so I watched the OC and (despite the fact its fictional) I felt much better about my issues. But when It rolled around to bed time I realized how useless it is to feel sorrow for myself.... really, how selfish can I get. So Saturday I enjoyed a nice day to the art museum Louisiana with my host sister and host mommy. I was SOOOOO INSPIRED by an art exhibit by a danish photographer named Jacob Holdt. He had traveled around the United States after being a drop out and not knowing what he was searching for had ended up in the states, hitch hiking and meeting people along the way. His philosophy on life was what hit me the most. The fact that he opened up his heart and his ears to people who needed it, he allowed himself to feel others pain in order to realive them of it. He meet some amazingly hurt people, people with more pain then I can even interpret. He said that on his journey he never once met an evil person (he met many KKK leaders and murders), they weren't evil just troubled. And throughout the exhibit each photograph had a story, and thats what I found so amazing, one second you would be laughing at the story and the next picture you were balling your eyes out. It was a beautiful exhibit. Jacob Holdt is now officially on my Denmark List as someone I would want to meet... even before the Queen hahah!
That was the amazing part of this weekend. The miserable came on Sunday. As I was getting home from a friends house and mass I arrived at the Holte train station to see that my bike... was GONE! I had paced madly around the train station trying to find it, but I ended up calling my host mom balling my eyes out. Someone had cut the chain on my bike and stole everything right from the bike rack. I never ever in my life thought it would be an issue, but it was enough to ruin my whole eveing. I feel terrible, but theres nothing anyone did wrong. Just people in this world who think that its okay to steal things... especially when it benefits them and they dont think about the one their taking from. It was tragic.
And once I got home I made my host family Tater Tot Hotdish, so that they could taste a bit of Minnesota. I was teary eyed, (not only from the onions) but being with my host family and just enjoying what I did have left and looking forward instead of back helped make the evening much nicer. They LOVED it, and I was so proud to say I even cooked something haha. So it was a cozy evening. And following we had an apple dessert my host mom made and some Hershey's Kisses to add an american twist to it ;) It was good fun.
Sooo... moral of this post is that in life we are al handed lemons, so we have to do the best we can with what we're handed. Its never fun and its never easy to deal with the difficult things in life, but the point is that IT WILL GET BETTER. If we dwell on past things or past motives we cant see the happiness in the moment we're in. Things could've been worse in my situation, but they weren't. It doesnt change that the bike was stolen but all I can do is look ahead. And in the case of the infleuntial things in life. I would love to take Jacob Holdt's philosophy on life as my own. We're all put on this earth, so lets all live together in it. Another's pain and suffering is my own pain and suffering, as well as other's joys. I find that then I will have a meaning to this life.
This weekend held too much emotion for me, but its okay, Im alive, and what didnt kill me made me stronger. I will always stay hopeful and look forward, not back.
I would like to think of myself like Holdt. Im a hitch hiker, in a foreign land, not knowing what Im searching for, but as long as Im open to the emotion and the adrenaline and the beauty, I will find what Im looking for. With my new set of eyes, and my same old trusty pair of shoes, Im off on the road, to figure out what Im searching for :)
Another point I want to make is about my miserable and amazing weekend. Friday I slept all day, and felt bad for myself, so I watched the OC and (despite the fact its fictional) I felt much better about my issues. But when It rolled around to bed time I realized how useless it is to feel sorrow for myself.... really, how selfish can I get. So Saturday I enjoyed a nice day to the art museum Louisiana with my host sister and host mommy. I was SOOOOO INSPIRED by an art exhibit by a danish photographer named Jacob Holdt. He had traveled around the United States after being a drop out and not knowing what he was searching for had ended up in the states, hitch hiking and meeting people along the way. His philosophy on life was what hit me the most. The fact that he opened up his heart and his ears to people who needed it, he allowed himself to feel others pain in order to realive them of it. He meet some amazingly hurt people, people with more pain then I can even interpret. He said that on his journey he never once met an evil person (he met many KKK leaders and murders), they weren't evil just troubled. And throughout the exhibit each photograph had a story, and thats what I found so amazing, one second you would be laughing at the story and the next picture you were balling your eyes out. It was a beautiful exhibit. Jacob Holdt is now officially on my Denmark List as someone I would want to meet... even before the Queen hahah!
That was the amazing part of this weekend. The miserable came on Sunday. As I was getting home from a friends house and mass I arrived at the Holte train station to see that my bike... was GONE! I had paced madly around the train station trying to find it, but I ended up calling my host mom balling my eyes out. Someone had cut the chain on my bike and stole everything right from the bike rack. I never ever in my life thought it would be an issue, but it was enough to ruin my whole eveing. I feel terrible, but theres nothing anyone did wrong. Just people in this world who think that its okay to steal things... especially when it benefits them and they dont think about the one their taking from. It was tragic.
And once I got home I made my host family Tater Tot Hotdish, so that they could taste a bit of Minnesota. I was teary eyed, (not only from the onions) but being with my host family and just enjoying what I did have left and looking forward instead of back helped make the evening much nicer. They LOVED it, and I was so proud to say I even cooked something haha. So it was a cozy evening. And following we had an apple dessert my host mom made and some Hershey's Kisses to add an american twist to it ;) It was good fun.
Sooo... moral of this post is that in life we are al handed lemons, so we have to do the best we can with what we're handed. Its never fun and its never easy to deal with the difficult things in life, but the point is that IT WILL GET BETTER. If we dwell on past things or past motives we cant see the happiness in the moment we're in. Things could've been worse in my situation, but they weren't. It doesnt change that the bike was stolen but all I can do is look ahead. And in the case of the infleuntial things in life. I would love to take Jacob Holdt's philosophy on life as my own. We're all put on this earth, so lets all live together in it. Another's pain and suffering is my own pain and suffering, as well as other's joys. I find that then I will have a meaning to this life.
This weekend held too much emotion for me, but its okay, Im alive, and what didnt kill me made me stronger. I will always stay hopeful and look forward, not back.
I would like to think of myself like Holdt. Im a hitch hiker, in a foreign land, not knowing what Im searching for, but as long as Im open to the emotion and the adrenaline and the beauty, I will find what Im looking for. With my new set of eyes, and my same old trusty pair of shoes, Im off on the road, to figure out what Im searching for :)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Halloween G2G in Holbæk :)
This weekend was another one of our fabulous get togethers with ALL of the exchange students in Denmark. We had to dress up for our dinner/dance, so here is some pictures of what it was like. I didnt have a whole ton of money to spend on a costume so I just used what I had and bought the little things, soooo I was "my own worst enemy" or edderkop pige (spider girl) hahaha. My friend Mika drew the spider web going from my chest to my shoulder and it turned out pretty amazing, it was a great time :) Heres some pics. from the weekend! Enjoy!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
In Theory
Today marks the reality that I have been in Denmark for 83 days.
WOW! So for 83 days I havent seen my family/friends/school/house/city etc.
Its so incredibly crazy to think that its been that long without those things above but these past 83 days have been so amazing. I wouldn't for a second take back those 83 days. Denmark is what I've been dreaming about my whole life, and that is my independence.
So far these 83 days have changed me alot I believe. I feel like I'm so much more mature and I can def. say that I feel like an adult now... not like a 16 yr. old. It is my belief that no matter who we are as a person, its INEVITABLE that we change. Change is such a feared thing in this life...
when really we should embrace it, go with it, and see what the outcome is. It would be so strange to say that I stayed the American Megan in Denmark. I feel like I'm not another person, but another personality of myself, the person I can easily be without so much care. I like who Im becoming here, and I appreciate every single second I spend in this country, because I know that when I return to my country that I will be American Megan... once again.
Im pretty sure this is how Darwin must have thought when he was philosophing about evolution- we must change in order to survive in the enviroment we are inhabiting.
Its science, its life, and Im witnessing it. If theres one thing I will greatly gain from this year abroad its my ability to accept change. Im learning now to accept things in a new and more relaxed way then before, and I like that about myself.
I love being challenged as a person, because if theres one thing I know for sure its that Im becoming a person I never imagined I'd become. Being an exchange student is an amazing and a once in a lifetime opportuinty to re create yourself and to grow into who your meant to be.
Im beyond thankful... truly I am
Sending all my love and best wishes to you all back home :)
Hej Hej!
Megs :)
WOW! So for 83 days I havent seen my family/friends/school/house/city etc.
Its so incredibly crazy to think that its been that long without those things above but these past 83 days have been so amazing. I wouldn't for a second take back those 83 days. Denmark is what I've been dreaming about my whole life, and that is my independence.
So far these 83 days have changed me alot I believe. I feel like I'm so much more mature and I can def. say that I feel like an adult now... not like a 16 yr. old. It is my belief that no matter who we are as a person, its INEVITABLE that we change. Change is such a feared thing in this life...
when really we should embrace it, go with it, and see what the outcome is. It would be so strange to say that I stayed the American Megan in Denmark. I feel like I'm not another person, but another personality of myself, the person I can easily be without so much care. I like who Im becoming here, and I appreciate every single second I spend in this country, because I know that when I return to my country that I will be American Megan... once again.
Im pretty sure this is how Darwin must have thought when he was philosophing about evolution- we must change in order to survive in the enviroment we are inhabiting.
Its science, its life, and Im witnessing it. If theres one thing I will greatly gain from this year abroad its my ability to accept change. Im learning now to accept things in a new and more relaxed way then before, and I like that about myself.
I love being challenged as a person, because if theres one thing I know for sure its that Im becoming a person I never imagined I'd become. Being an exchange student is an amazing and a once in a lifetime opportuinty to re create yourself and to grow into who your meant to be.
Im beyond thankful... truly I am
Sending all my love and best wishes to you all back home :)
Hej Hej!
Megs :)
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