Firstly, let me talk about the house I am staying in. As you well know, I am staying with Jakob and his family in Norre Aaby, in a lovely single storey house. The house is really well heated thanks to a series of heaters, and a lot of the house is made of wood like the floors, the ceilings, some of the walls, etc. A big difference between my house and Jakob's house is a dog callled Maggie. To be honest, when I arrived this was the most nerve-wracking thing as I am not used to dogs being around me 24/7. However, I have grown to really love her prescense around the house. Below is a couple of photos of the house, including the kitchen area, my bedroom and Maggie.
The house (this was taken at 7:30am, note the darkness)
The kitchen area
My room
Maggie
The food I have had so far has been absolutely delicious! For breakfast, I have generally had bread with Danish butter and these thin slices of chocolate called Guld Barre. I am going to bring home many packets of the stuff, it is so tasty! For lunch, I have had very nice sandwiches made by Inger. The dinners that I have had were particularly nice. On Tuesday night (because I slept through dinnertime on Monday night), we had a vegetable soup which was very warming and last night (Wednesday night) we had homemade hamburgers consisting of patties handmade from beef mince, lettuce, red onion and a couple of wonderful condiments (everyone loves a good condiment). I have also had a very nice cake thing that I can probably best describe as a Danish version of a cannolini, with a chocolate filling surrounded by a thick sugary coating (next time I have one I will take a photo of it). It was also very delicious. All I can further say about food is that I am looking forward to eating more of it!
Now I will answer the question that I think is on many people's lips (well certainly Dad's). What is school like? Yes, I am currently in my thrid day at Jakob's school, EUC Lillebaelt (there is a website in Danish if you are intrigued, just type it into Google), and I am really enjoying it. I have found that the school system in Denmark is very different to that of South Australia. Jakob is currently in his first year of gymnasium, which is the equivalent of high school. This is quite strange for me as I have been in high school since I was 12, whereas Jakob has only been in 'high school' since he was 16 (his current age). Also, every class has the same people in it, like primary school, which is quite good in a way as it means that everyone gets to know each other really well. Also, everyone has to do a set of subjects which means that they have no choice about what subjects they want to do. The subjects that Jakob along with his class does are Danish, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, Social Studies, English, Communications & IT plus a subject called Technology that they spend a whole day doing (I have been in the lesson and to be honest, it still does not make much sense). There are generally no free lessons as well. Another unusual thing is that most of the lessons all take place in the one room. Another thing that I find realy cool and different is that the rooms still have blackboards! I know, how awesome, bet you're jealous now. Plus the school times are also very different to that of school times in SA. The general rule is that school starts at 8:20am and finishes at 1:30pm, though on Wednesday school finishes at 3pm. Also, Jakob's friends are really, really nice and are great to be around at lunchtime in the refectory, which I have to say is better than the one at Pembroke. So overall, the school is awesome, and below is a picture of the school's exterior. 
The other thing that has been really different about Denmark is that it gets light quite late and it gets dark really early. The sun begins to set at around 3:30pm and by 5:00pm it's full on night time! The best thing about this though is that I am able to see the sunrise every morning and the sunset every night without having to wake up early (this is for the sunrise). Yesterday, I was treated to a special sunset with glorious rays (I really do love my sunrises and sunsets), and below is as good a picture as I could get of it.
Before I go, I'll fill you in on other things that have happened. Yesterday I got my bus and train pass allowing me to travel between Norre Aaby and Fredricia, near to where my school is. As part of it, I had to go get my photo taken which I must say, looks quite nice. Afterwards, Inger gave me a tour of Middelfart (where we got the pass) and it is a lovely city. This afternoon after school, I will be having a look around Norre Aaby and tomorrow, we are taking the train to Copenhagen for the weekend! I will fill you in on what I do there, but in the meantime stay safe.
Middlefart ? Is that between SqueekyStarterFart and LongStinkyFart ?
ReplyDeleteIf you're having trouble waking I could also sing that "Good Morning" song to you !
ReplyDeleteif it was middlefart, it might be, but instead it is middelfart
ReplyDeleteand no need to worry about my waking up patterns, i seem to be doing them well
nice job with the blog :) keep it up! :)
ReplyDelete