Beginning of Summer

School is (almost) over. The fortunate seniors’ last school day was May 18th, the day of prom, while us underclassmen still have half a week of exams to go before enjoying the sunshine outside. It is going to be great to be done with school and have plenty of spare time to do whatever. I am planning on making the beach my home the next weeks.

Friday was the Seniors’ graduation at the school. It was weird seeing everyone in their cap and gowns knowing that they won’t be attending SAHS next year. I am sure they are all relieved to be done and ready to go to college or on exchange next year. Congratulations everybody! We celebrated Orion Saturday with a party at our house, which was a lot of fun. Brennan, Julien, Will, and I went kayaking while the sun was going down. I still can’t believe how beautiful St. Augustine is!

Prom here was so much fun. I met up downtown with a quite large group and we made sure to take a bunch of pictures before eating at Yamato. Prom was very much like homecoming except that prom was only for seniors and juniors, which made it that much more fun (no offense freshman and sophomores). I have finally become used to the American style of dancing, which took quite a while.

I almost stepped back into another time in my exchange when I went with the Paxtons (my first host family) to North Carolina. It was an absolutely amazing weekend consisting of lots of relaxation, playing pool, jet skiing, tubing, and homemade ice cream. It was really nice spending a long weekend with everyone again. The lake is such a beautiful place. I really want to go back and visit!

Julien and I celebrated both our birthdays with a party at the fountain of youth. Balazs brought water balloons to the party so we all ended up being soaked. It was lots of fun!

Our final exchange student get together was in Fernandina beach. It was great to see all the other exchange students again. Throughout the year, we have all become one big family. Miri (a girl from Japan) and I stayed at the same host family from Saturday to Sunday. Great experience to tell a new family about how it is to host and maybe create the possibility for them wanting to host in the future. The two younger girls in the family were so nice! Besides from all meeting up one last time, the purpose of the weekend was to prepare us for going back to our countries. It was weird already having to talk about that – the feelings regarding that subject are so complex. I am trying just to live in the moment and enjoy my time in Florida. It was quite hard leaving the weekend, since we had to say goodbye to those, who are not going on the West Coast trip.

Birthday, BVI, and Beauty and the Beast

I had never thought that I would be spending several hours everyday rehearsing being a spoon. No, it is not some weird special kind of obsession. I was so fortunately to pass the audition in order to be participating in the musical, Beauty and the Beast. It is hard work, but spending everyday at school ‘till after dinnertime suddenly becomes fun when you are with a bunch of people working towards the one big night: The premiere on May 3^rd. The cast is on about 60 people, so it is a big show that we are putting on. We slept at the school last weekend to rehearse until 2am. Going to bed? No way, we played dodge ball in the gym instead. Dodge ball is so much more fun here. No one even knows what handball is and we played with volleyballs, so no need to fear getting injured.

During the spring break I saw some of the most beautiful sceneries I have ever seen in my life. My family and I went to the British Virgin Islands where we lived on a 44ft catamaran. We flew in to St. Thomas (which was actually previously owned by Denmark). I got really excited when I saw three flags standing beside each other: the American, the Danish and the Virgin Islands.
I’ve always thought that those picture perfect postcards you see have been photoshop’ed in one way or another, but I have now witnessed it myself: Yes, water can really be that clear and blue. Not only the surroundings were like taken out of a movie. The whole vacation was. I enjoyed every single bit of it. The snorkeling in Hawaii suddenly looked average compared to the BVI. Many hours were spent just relaxing on the boat, listening to music, and reading.

My birthday here in America was a very big experience, especially since it was during the musical lock-in at my school. Some of my friends almost tricked me into believing that I had got in trouble before singing Happy Birthday with the entire cast. My mom had made a beautiful birthday cake with red sugar, so it looked like the Danish flag.
The day after Brennan and I went to the Floridian (a really good restaurant in St. Augustine) with many of our friends to celebrate our birthdays – hers being the 22^nd. It’s a weird feeling sitting in the hot tub in April as if it’s the most common thing in the world.

There is only one thing that I haven’t learned yet here though. I keep forgetting to bring my bikini when I go places. 

Seeing the World!

The fact that it has been more than a month since I’ve written a blog post illustrates perfectly what is going on in my life: A lot.

The tennis season at my high school started about a month ago. Compared to my tennis club in Denmark, it is far more intense here. We have practice 5 days a week, 2 hours each day. We play several games a week, where I usually play both a double and a single. So far the Yellow Jackets haven’t been doing too well, but it is so much fun anyways.
It has taken some time for me to get used to the weather conditions that we play in. Despite the fact that tennis started in January, I was overwhelmed by the heat during practice. The bugs are really annoying, but I guess it is something you get used to. I can’t wait to play more. Sports are a very good way to create new friendships.

I changed family more than a month ago now. I now live with the Mortons on Anastasia Island in St. Augustine. My new host mom and dad are Laurie and Tom, while I for the first time in my life have a brother, Orion. Besides that I have two other siblings, but they don’t live at home anymore.
It was a very mixed experience to move families as I had expected. It was of course very sad to leave the Paxtons, who I still consider as my family. It is incredible how much and how fast a new family can feel as your very own family. I have developed a new attitude towards moving: I am not changing families, but adding.
I must admit that I was kind of nervous the week up to moving. Even though I knew the Mortons very well, I was once again being ripped out of my comfort zone and had to adapt. I quickly realized that I really enjoy the adapting part. It is so interesting to see how families are different. I absolutely love it with my new family.

The last Rotary trip, where all the exchange students went together, was held in the Keys the last weekend of January. We had a lot of fun learning how to take better care of the oceans of the world at Sea Camp. Among many other activities we spent the most time snorkeling. The scenery surrounding the whole weekend was breathtaking. The turquoise water was visible from the dining hall and beautiful sunsets were the attraction for the photographers. (You automatically become a photographer when you get involved in the exchange program). Since it was only a 4 day trip, much of the time was spent in the bus with the other exchange students. The time was spent signing each other’s tee shirts with sharpies.

My family and I went to Miami in the middle of February, which I enjoyed very much. Miami was very different from St. Augustine. Spanish was being spoken everywhere, the sun was even stronger than in northern Florida and skyscrapers were blocking the view of the beach from the trafficked roads. I found myself in an environment entirely new to me when we went to the boat show. It was very interesting to see the mega yacht my new sister Isla works on from the inside. Looking at all the beautiful catamarans at the sail show made me, if even possible, more excited for our trip to the British Virgin Islands during spring break. Orion’s and my present for Valentine’s Day were tickets to the basketball game between Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. The game was much more high paced than the football games. The difference is much like the difference between soccer and handball. I prefer handball, and I prefer basketball too. The Miami Heat, whom Orion and I cheered for won. In addition to the fantastic experience seeing my first NBA game, I enjoy being able to say that I went to a basketball game with Bill Clinton, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne.

Hawaii. How do I express in words how much fun I had? The decision to go to the islands in the middle of the Pacific was, for my part, a very impulsive one. I did not really have the money, but I decided anyways to sign up for this adventure: When will a chance to go to Hawaii with students from all over the world ever occur again? My real parents luckily surprised me with the wonderful Christmas present by giving me the trip. Mahalo!
Everything started out just perfect (I hope irony works even though I am typing :p): Julien and I were supposed to get up at 4:30 am, but we somehow managed to set our alarms to 5:15 am and 4:30 pm. Tom saved us and woke us up just in time, so we rushed out of the door, heading for Hawaii. The rest of the vacation went just like a dream. During our week a blog was being updated about all our activities: http://belousa4hawaii2012.blogspot.com/. I especially liked the catamaran tour. Most of us lay in the net in the very front of the boat, where the waves within short intervals were hitting us. The cloudy, rainy sky above us didn’t matter since we were all laughing and wet. The only optional tour, the kayaking tour, was also a lot of fun. I had never heard of kayak surfing before, but suddenly I was the first one to go surfing on the waves with one of the tour guides. I don’t know if it was luck or skill, but I was one of the few whose fun moments being pushed by the waves didn’t result in swimming outside the kayak.
The atmosphere in Hawaii is something special. The cultures of Polynesia, Asia and United States are being melted into a very interesting mixture. I often got reminded of my trip to Japan. I would definitely like to go back!
I am sure I am not the only one who feels that the week went by way too fast, but once I think back on all the fun times, I realize how much we got to experience in a very short amount of  time. There is no better way to see Hawaii than with people from all over the world. Many new friendships developed during the week, while others got much stronger. I am sure I will visit either Belgium or the Netherlands to see Ludivine, Manon, and Jessica in the next couple of years. 

Is It Really Winter Already?

I was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, standing outside school after a short day. The sun was shining from a cloudless sky. I looked around wondering what time of the year it would be in Denmark, if the weather was similar. Probably early June on a good day. This is not a memory from the beginning of the year. No, it was today, January 10^th. It will soon be warm enough to start going to the beach again. Sam and I are going to put our swimsuits in the trunk. Just in case we have time some day and the weather is good.
I must admit, that it was cold a week ago. For four days there was frost on the car in the morning when Sam and I were going to school. Julien and I joke about, that that was the winter we’ll get to experience this year. I know for sure by now, that I am not going to see snow this year. I am not going skiing either. But hey, I will be in Hawaii while my parents are skiing in Denmark!

Celebrating Christmas in Virginia with my family was absolutely fantastic. We went to Buschgardens (an amusement park), which was so much fun. Even though the place was packed with people, then lines for the rides weren’t very long at all. The lines for seeing Santa Claus and penguins were 45 minutes each, so we skipped that.
Here in United States Christmas is celebrated December 25^th in the morning. Our day began already at 6:00 am and was filled with family dinners, gift unwrapping and many memorable memories. I can not think of a more perfect Christmas here. I am now looking forward to Friday, where Maw-Maw will be coming to St. Augustine to watch us kids while Mom and Dad are out of town.

New Years Day I found myself sleeping for 15 hours straight. Leading up to that were three parties/sleepovers. Why do they call it a sleepover? You don’t really sleep. I really enjoyed meeting some of the outbounds of next year at the first party. A wonderful year is ahead of them – can’t help thinking back to when I was standing in the same situation a year ago. Krista (outbound going to Denmark next year), Andrea (girl from Denmark) and I got the chance to talk about Denmark for a long time – and where it was best to live, since Andrea was from Copenhagen. :p
Two days later Sam and I had a sleepover for all the inbounds from 6970. We went to the pool ignoring that it was the 30^th of December. We were maybe a little bit too optimistic with the weather – it soon turned too cold and we went home to get good Schnitzels made by Martin. Aly, Jignesh, Max and Martin stayed the night. We were after Saw 1 & 2, Pulp Fiction, and only 2 hours of sleep ready the next party: New Years Eve, which was for all the inbounds + Sam. ;) Since it was with Rotary, we had a service project at the Ronald McDonald House where we performed to cheer  some people up. J We spent the last 2 hours of 2011 in the hot tub waiting for the fireworks. Lovely end of an absolutely fantastic year!

I am right now in the middle of the exams ending the first semester at St. Augustine High. It is unbelievable that I am always halfway through my school year here. Unfortunately that also means that I am always halfway through my year, which is a really scary thought. I do my best to ignore that fact and just live in the moment.

The spring is going to be very eventful for me:

• ·         Tennis is starting the January 18^th – 2 hours every weekday. Since I got  here I have only played a couple of times with either my Dad or Julien. It is going to be nice to get back into shape (if I’ve ever been in shape??) and play more again.
• ·         January 22^nd is the day when I will be moving family and staying with the Mortons. My feelings can be compared to when I left Denmark: It will be hard to say goodbye to a fantastic family, but so exciting knowing that many fantastic experiences with new people are waiting. J
• ·         The Keys with all the other exchange students. J
• ·         I just bought a flight ticket with Julien. JAX àHNL. Going to Hawaii! Do I have to say more? :p 

This spring is going to be amazing!

My Wonderful Families

I have now realized, that I do not only have one family. Actually I have several.

Last weekend I spent four days with my biggest family. Rotary gave all us exchange students a wonderful long weekend in Disney. There is only one thing I can say when I have to describe that weekend: Wauw! Approximately a hundred exchange students from all over the world joining together in Disney for four days – that could only be amazing. And yes, it was. I feel I am almost friends with everyone. We share so much: We all have the desire to experience the world and build bridges between different cultures. We all know what it feels like to say goodbye to everyone you love, knowing that you are not going to see them again for a year. We can all share stories about the differences between our own cultures and the American. I feel all these things brings us very close together even though we have only known each other for four months. I must admit though, that those I hang out with are from either district 6970 or Europe.  It is unfortunately impossible to get to know everyone, so of course groups start to form.
This weekend was packed with experiences. It may be true what most American teenagers say about Disney: It is mostly made for kids. But! There are some really good rides too. Rock n Rollercoaster in Hollywood Studios  was my all time favorite. It was great fun to drive through the darkness while listening to Aerosmith! My group actually only tried two rides the first day: Rock n Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror, which was great fun.
It was amazing to see everyone again. It was only the inbounds in 6970 I had seen since the Orientation Weekend in the very beginning of my stay here. We spent a lot of time just hugging each other while a big parade passed us. We all had so many stories and experiences to share.
We started our day in Magic Kingdom very early the next day. I think I was one of the only ones who enjoyed getting up early to learn about physics in an amusement park. I thought it was so awesome! We got the chance to ride Space Mountain (which is very different here compared to the one in Paris) with the lights turned on in order to guess how much Potential Energy we started with in the beginning of the ride. How cool is that? Space Mountain is from 1975, so it was actually quite scary to see all the old mechanics in the ride.
The World Showcase in Epcot was so much fun for us exchange students. I was really excited to hear, that they had Norway. I got the chance to speak Norwegian with the staff and ride the ride “Maelstrom Adventure Cruise”, which featured Vikings, oil (ofc), trolls, and Sørlandet. They even had Norwegian candy!
Now I’m just looking forward to go to Sea Camp in the end of January and Hawaii! It is amazing to have one big family consisting of students from all over the world.
“We Put the World in Disney World”.

I didn’t only go to Disney with one of my families once, but actually twice. The chorus from St. Augustine High was so fortunate to be chosen for the 19^th time in a row to perform at Disney Candlelight in Epcot. I had barely unpacked my bag from my previous Disney trip before I started to pack it again to go singing at Candlelight with my chorus family. It was an amazing feeling to walk on stage with 200 others to perform 15 Christmas songs with professional singers and the Disney Orchestra. It had taken a lot of effort to come that far. Unlike most of the others I hadn’t heard most of the songs before, so I had to start from the very beginning with learning all the lyrics. It was all worth it, though. I didn’t only get the chance to perform at Disney. We also got paid with extra tickets, so the following day we went to Magic Kingdom just to have fun. I walked around with several different groups, which was a lot of fun. Most of my friends here in Florida are a part of SJCCA Chorus so it was wonderful to spend a whole day just walking around in Disney with them and having fun. I’m going to miss Disney!

I am at the moment sitting in Williamsburg in Virginia with my fantastic family. This is actually the second time I’ve been in Virginia. I got the chance to experience my first Thanksgiving here with my family. I must admit, that before I arrived in Florida all my knowledge about Thanksgiving was from the tv-show Friends. I was very disappointed when I realized that no one was going to put a turkey on their head. I soon accepted that fact though, when I realized how much good food I was going to eat. Thanksgiving is really cool!
I had never heard of Black Friday before I came here, and I must admit that I was a little scared when I was standing in the middle of it. People are crazy when there are huge sales that start at midnight! I have never seen lines that big. (Bilka when it’s worst is nothing compared to Black Friday.) By the entrance to Target we were handed maps of the store, so we could find the biggest sales. After the very exhausting shopping we went to IHOP at 3 am in the morning to get pancakes. Life is soo tough!
I have been so unfortunate to be sick the whole month of December. I have been coughing, coughing, and coughing… My family here has been taking very good care of me though. They have driven me to the minute clinic, made hot tea with honey in the middle of the night and given me a bunch of different medicine and vitamin C. My family here is fantastic. I have lived with the Paxton’s for more than 4 months and I feel totally as a part of my family. It’s not my “host family”, “host sister”, “host dad”, or “host mom”, but family, sister, dad, and mom. I even have a Christmas sock with my initial on hanging beside theirs. I cannot wait to spend my first American Christmas with my family here. It is going to amazing to experience a real American Christmas.

I do not want to leave my family out in Denmark. One thing I have not really talked about on my blog yet is being homesick. Before I came here, I have been told by several former exchange students that Christmas is the hardest time to be abroad. So many traditions that you are used to from home are not traditions in your host country. Even though I have been away from home for more than four months by now I must say that I have not been homesick yet. I have missed my home, my family, and my friends, but I would not call that being homesick. I have yet to experience the feeling of missing home so much, that I want to board a plan right away and leave. I do not miss home. Instead I smile when I think of my family, my friends, and Denmark. I have turned the “missing part” around and made it into something nice to think about. It is a wonderful feeling knowing that I not only have my wonderful family and friends here, but also everything that I had before I left the country. My family in Denmark has been fantastic and sent me Danish candy and nice messages. Today I skyped with one of my best friends for more than one and a half hour, simply because we had so much to tell each other. No, I am not home sick. I feel so fortunate to know that I still have everyone at home plus everyone in Florida.

I would like to wish everyone, all my families, a very wonderful Christmas  and a happy New Year.

I hope 2012 will be just as fantastic as 2011 has been.

Glædelig jul og godt nytår!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Life is Full of Experiences

These past months have been the most eventful of my life so far. When I look back on everything I’ve experienced I can’t help thinking – has it really been only 3 months? When I think back on when I full of anticipation stood in Copenhagen Airport it seems like ages ago.

A thing I haven’t talked about yet on my blog is religion. I go to church twice a week. Yes, friends in Denmark, twice a week and I enjoy it. My church here is nothing like church at home. We are a big youth group that worship together each Wednesday. The first 7 months our theme was, literally, “GoodSex”. Yes, church is very different here. The lyrics for the songs (all of them written after year 2000) are shown by a projector, while accompanied by a guitar. At the service on Sunday there are even drums and piano. I go to a non-denominational church.

I have spent two wonderful weekends with my exchange student friends. The fall weekend in St. Augustine was so much fun. It is really interesting suddenly to see your own city from a tourist’s perspective – that was exactly what I got the chance to do. We went on one of the many trolley tours, visited the alligator farm among all the other tourist stuff. I love spending time with all the exchange students. We in district 6970 have really gotten to know each other very well.
Last weekend a bunch of us helped out with the interviews of the maybe future Rotary exchange students. 36 applicants got interviewed during the 3 days. The interview process is much more challenging here than what I went through in order to become an exchange student in Denmark. I only had a 20 minute interview besides the home interview (which was more just information about the program and not an interview). Here the applicants went through 6 different rooms, each 15 minutes, and were tested on different areas. Our, the inbound’s, job was to either inform the parents, make the exchange students feel comfortable, or actually evaluate the students in one of the interview rooms. It was very exciting for me to be a part of the whole process, and get to meet the students of some soon will become exchange students. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that my two good friends, Orion and Aly, will be selected as two of the 25, who get the spots.

It is amazing how huge Halloween is here. Almost all the houses are decorated with “scary” things like pumpkins and spider web. Sam and I “found” some kids in the neighborhood and took them trick and treating – of course not so we had an excuse to go trick and treating. Even though we have Fastelavn in Denmark, 

Halloween here is somewhat different. The whole street was full of kids high on sugar going from door to door and parents were sitting outside the houses to give candy out. During the Halloween weekend I also got the opportunity to go to Warehouse 31. It’s a haunted house, which was really fun to experience. I was scared, but not too scared, haha. :p Great fun.

I continue to become more and more grateful, that I chose to be a part of the chorus program. We had our first performance a while ago. It went really well. I performed the Star Spangled Banner with all chorus students and 3 other songs with my class, Women’s chorus. It was amazing to be part of something sounding so beautiful. We have now started to rehearse our songs for Disney. I’m actually right now typing with my iPod plugged in, so I can memorize all the songs before Disney. There are quite a few! It is going to be such an amazing experience and I want to be prepared, so I can enjoy it and not worry about remembering everything, haha. Most of my friends are a part of the chorus family here at SJCCA (St. Johns County Center for the Arts), which is why Disney is going to be so amazing. The environment in SJCCA is fantastic. Last weekend I went to “The Drowsy Chaperone”, the fall musical that the musical theatre class performed. Some of my friends from chorus was a part of  it, so it was so much fun to watch it. I’ve got some very talentful friends!

Even though I’ve only been an exchange student for 3 months, I really feel that it has had a huge impact on me already. I wouldn’t say I was shy or anything, when I came here, but I am much more outgoing now. I guess you have to be outgoing when you go to a foreign country without knowing anyone. I feel I’m much more open minded. I talk with everyone and see different parts of the society. Last week I helped out with a project at church in downtown St. Augustine, where we fed almost 100 homeless.

Plans have gotten changed, when it comes to host families. I will be staying with the Paxton’s until January/February, so I will get the chance to experience Christmas in Virginia, which I’m really looking forward to. After that I will be moving in with the Mortons, who I already feel I know quite well. We will be going to the Virgin British Islands together!

Life is full of experiences – you just have to grab them. 

Am I an American?

When do you know you are starting to become an American? Am I there yet? I have asked myself these questions quite a lot since I got here almost 2 months ago. The truth is … that I don’t know. But signs are starting to show me, that I’m on my way to become one:

There are more things to learn, than what I would have expected. The language was no problem, not even in the beginning, but there are so many terms, that I as a foreigner didn’t know. When I got here I would have been completely lost if someone said some of these sentences to me: “Do you want to go to Walmart or Publix?”, “Hey! Do you like Chick-fil-A?”, “Y’all”, “Will you be taking the FCAT while you are here?”, “Are you a Gators fan?”  and I could go on. Now I, of course, don’t even think about it when I use them.  English has become my first language in some way now. When I speak or write Danish it seems wrong, like as if the words didn’t come out right. It is a relief to start speaking English again. I have even started to calculate math in English inside my head now. Google Translate is not only being used on English àDanish because I don’t understand the English word, but also because I’ve forgotten it in Danish.

When I hear the word football it’s not the sport with the round ball, but the American style. I have now experienced my first college football game. My family and I went to Tennessee to visit UT (University of Tennessee). We spend an absolutely fabulous weekend up in the cold. I, if possible, had more trouble dealing with the cold weather, than the Floridians had. The temperature was around the 50s (10 degrees celcius). It doesn’t sound bad, but 4 rows from the top of the 8^th largest stadium in the world, that is really cold. Especially when it’s windy. It was fall break for the University so only around 80,000 were on the stands waiting for the Vols to beat Buffalo. They had an amazing band, who accompanied by a (awesome!) high school band put on a fantastic show in the half time.

“Are you excited about homecoming?” Before I wouldn’t have been able to answer more clever than, “What??”, now I know exactly what is being talked about. Homecoming is a big deal here in United States. The party Saturday night is like a prom, but less formal and for the whole school. In the days leading up to the weekend, you dress out. Each day as something different. The biggest football game of the year is the Friday before weekend starts. I yet have to experience the week before homecoming, but I have got the amazing opportunity to go to 3 homecomings in total. One last weekend at Palm Coast, one next week at Pedro, and then there’s the St. Augustine High School Homecoming. Last week was a fantastic experience. Max, an exchange student from Germany, had invited me to his homecoming in Palm Coast. Sam and I spend much time in different shoe- and dress stores to find the perfect outfit, while Aly was in charge of the make-up and hair. Max and I didn’t really know what to expect when we arrived on campus. We had been worried that we were dressed to formally, but it turned out be just perfect. All girls in nice dresses and most boys with tie. I had been warned before we went: People dance differently here, but I hadn’t taken it too seriously: “It can’t be that different”. Well, it was! Let’s just say, that you’re not facing your dance partner here. :p Max and I had such a great time, even though we didn’t know most of the songs and didn’t know how to dance, haha! Stupid foreigners. :p

Again, what characterizes an American? He/she obviously has American friends. I’m getting there. I’m so thankful that I didn’t have a language barrier when I came here – my English has made it so much easier for me to become good friends with some fantastic people here. I don’t know why, but it continues to surprise me how we are “exactly the same” as Daphne said in her presentation. I don’t know what I had expected: That all Americans were fat and had the same personality? Of course not! (I hope I didn’t offend someone. :p) I just think there would be at least something, where I could say: “Typical American”. To be honest, when it comes to personality I can’t find those specific things. We have all the types in my school, as there would be in any other school in Denmark. I know I’ve been so fortunate to meet so many nice people here. It has of course taken some effort and courage. I don’t think that I had ever texted or said: “So do you have any plans tomorrow” to someone I had only spoken to a couple of times before in Denmark. I had become immune though. It felt like no big deal just to ask to do things with people I barely knew. That has helped me to get to the point, where I actually know the people I’m asking really well.
I guess I’m not a fully American on this specific topic. I have friends in Denmark that I of course miss, but missing has not (yet hopefully) become a problem in my world, which I really appreciate. I also have much more than “just” American friends. The bond between us exchange student has shown to be much stronger than I had first anticipated. We do quite many things together and talk much. Not only because we’re in the same situation and have many things to talk about, but simply because they are all amazing people. All of us from 6970 are going to have a “Fall Weekend” in St Augustine in two weeks, which I am really looking forward to!

Things that before seemed different to me has now become daily life. Palm trees, alligators, thunderstorms? Ha! That’s not even new and exciting anymore. Okay, admitted. I am exaggerating  a bit. The thing about alligators is not completely true: I was so excited when I got a very dark, blurry picture of an alligator from very far away last weekend! Haha! But the other things are true. Palm trees are everywhere. I thought it was weird that there was no dress code for homecoming, because I’ve gotten so used to dress code. 70 degrees is suddenly cold (I am not(!) looking forward to when it gets cooler).

Conclusion? Hmm, I don’t think I can call myself American yet. But I’ve gained weight, so I’m getting there. :p Talk to y’all soon!