Danske Minder

Jeg sidder her i mit hus i Australien og tænker på et lille, koldt, hyggeligt land på den anden side af jorden. Et land at var mit hjem i et hele år; og jeg beholder utallige minder om. Danmark.

Udsigten fra Mt Coolum

Brisbane by

Lige nu, føles det lidt langt væk. I 35graders varme er det svært at tro, at der var en tid jeg boede i minus grader, med sne over det hele, som et billede af en eventyrbog. Mens det er langt væk, minderne er tæt på mit hjerte og på mine tanker.

Jeg tænker tit på danmark. Hver gang jeg se en ting at minde mig på danmark; min lille havfru figur at sidde på vindueskarmen, mine danske figurer, kronprinsesse Mary på et blad, tøj jeg købt i H&M. Nogle gang, har jeg bare lyst til at kigge på billeder fra sidste år, og nyde igen lykken at mit ophold gav mig.

 

Mine hjemmelavede flødeboller.

  

  

Hver gang i mellem jeg drømme på dansk. Og nogle gang, tænker jeg på dansk bare for sjovt. Men er det desværre ikke så tit at jeg får muligheden at snakke på dansk.

Jeg glæder mig virkelig meget at få besøge fra nogle af min danske venner snart! Emilie S fra min klasse har rejste rund australien i et par måneder og skal holder jul hos mig og min familie. Vi glæder os rigtig meget at vise hende en australske jul, som jeg var vidste en dansk jul sidste år. Jeg glæder mig også at se flere af mine danske venner at jeg ved skal besøge snart. Jeg er også spænd på at se hvem skal rejse herned i det kommende år.

Jeg mødte med Emilie D, en dansk pige som er i Brisbane på en rotary udvekslings fra Danmark. Vi spist frokost sammen og bagefter kiggede på Brisbane fra Mt Cootha- et stort bjerg med et flotte udsigt af hele byen. Da jeg kørte os hjem, hørte vi danske musik i bilen. Vi havde Medina (og nogle andre) højt og sang med. Det var bare helt vildt sjovt og hyggeligt.

Lige nu, har jeg været op til 3 eksamener og skal op til min sidste næste uge. Det har været et travlt år, jeg glæder mig at blive snart færdig med min første år af universitet. Jeg nyder min kursus (jura og virksomhedsledelse), især mine jura fag. Jeg er ikke helt sikkert på hvilken job jeg skal søge på efter jeg er færdig med at læse, men har jeg en masse af tid at finde ud, fordi jeg har stadig 4,5 år tilbage.

 

Min 'Law Ball' med mine veninde Brooke- som gala til alle jura elever.

 

  

Universitetselever får 3 måneder sommerferie fra sidste af november til starten af marts. Jeg glæder mig rigtig meget!!! Jeg skal brug tiden på at arbejde, og tjene en masse af penge, så jeg har nok til tiderne hvor jeg har det travlt på universitet og har ikke tid til at arbejde så meget. Men selvfølgelig skal jeg også nyder sommeren på strand, slapper af, med venner og familie, og laver ting at jeg har ikke haft tid til.

Mig på arbejde.

  

  

Jeg tænker tilbage til dette årstid et år siden. Bladene var alt i muligt flotte farver; brun, gul, orange, rød. De sad på jorden som et stort tæppe. Næsten hver dag var der regnvejret, og mens det var træls, var det også rigtig hyggeligt. Stearinlys og vinterjakker kom ud af skabet. Alle lovede mig, at jul i danmark skulle være simpelthen de bedste tid af året; og så var det.

 

Min yndlings strand- King's Beach 

I starten a december, skal jeg brug to uge på at arbejde frivillig på min universitet. Jeg er blevet valgt fra en masse af ansøgere, at bliver en del af et hold som skal være 'mentors' til 200 'high school' (gymnasiet) elever fra hele Queensland. Eleverne skal bo på universitet i en uge, og så skal vi viser dem rund, underviser, kører aktiviteter, fortælle dem om universitetslivet, passe på dem og hjælpe dem med at finde ud hvad de har lyst til at gøre i fremtiden. Jeg synes det skal blive et sjovt oplevelse!

Min universitet i foråret- University of Queensland (UQ)

  

Sidste år lærte jeg virkelig mange ting; en var hvor vigtig familien er. Selvom at jeg har boede 1,5timer kørsel fra min familie, i år har jeg prøvede at brug godt tid med dem. Når jeg har tid, tager jeg hjem i weekenden (desværre kun omkring en gang hver to måneder), og når de har tid nogle gange de kommer ned og besøge mig i Brisbane (mindst en gang om måneder).

  

   

 

Ingen kan vide hvad fremtiden skal bringe. Jeg har virkelig meget idéer af ting jeg vil gerne i de kommende år, der er mange steder i verden at jeg har lyst til at se og oplevelser. Men desværre er min bankkonto ikke enig om mine rejsedrømme endnu. Vi skal bare vent og se, måske skal livet kalder mig tilbage til danmark en dag, forhåbentlig ikke alt for langt væk.

Så nu har jeg bevist til mig selv (og jer) at jeg kan stadig skriver på dansk. Jeg skulle også sige at jeg er rigtig glad for at følger med jeres liv på facebook og nettet.

Indtil næste gang,
Kærlig hilsen!

Final Blog Entry - Life After Exchange

So here I am writing my final blog entry about my exchange year. I have really enjoyed writing my blog over the year and being able to share my experiences, it has been amazing to hear just how many of you have been reading and appreciating it!

I have been back in Australia for around 2.5 months now. But honestly, it feels like longer than 2.5 months ago that I was in Denmark, so much has happened since I got back! I am starting to understand why some past exchange students say that at times their exchange year almost feels like a dream. I was surprised by how normal being back felt. I expected everything to look/feel different and for things to be different, but it all felt so natural and easy. In a lot of ways, it even felt like I had never been away.

I haven't experienced any reverse culture shock or difficulty in returning to the Australian way of life and to being back with my Australian family and friends. I have been so busy with new and exciting things. Four of my friends also travelled last year, with 2 having also been on exchange, so I am not the only one with lots of travelling stories to share.

 

 

For the first week back, I was still thinking in part English- part Danish, but after that it has become English only. I have only had the chance to speak Danish once since returning, with a Danish exchange student that I met up with. Other than that the only time I use Danish is when I read my Danish friends' posts on Facebook or write with anyone from Denmark.

  

I have been back to my sponsoring club, the Rotary Club of Caboolture and given a presentation about my exchange year, which they definitely enjoyed. I have also been to a Rotary de-briefing day where I got the chance to catch up with the other exchange students that went out last year. It was great to hear about their different stories and experiences.

After about 1.5 months of being back and living at home with my family, at the end of February I moved to Brisbane, to live with my aunt and uncle, so that I can go to university. I started at the University of Queensland, doing a double degree of Law and Business Management. It is all very exciting, and actually good to be using my brain again! But I am finding it a bit difficult getting back into the routine of studying and concentrating after a whole year off. Another thing that I find tricky is adjusting my body to be used to less sleep again, after a year of averaging 8-10 hours of sleep most nights. I am sure it won't take too long and I will be used to all of this again!

I am really enjoying living in Brisbane. Everything is so close, I can drive to the shops, gym and basically anywhere in under 5 minutes.

Toga Party to start the university year

While the Queensland weather can be quite unpredictable compared to the Danish weather (which can be annoying when a day changes from being 19'C and raining in the morning to 30'C and sunny by midday), I have been enjoying the sun. I always took the sun and warmth for granted before I left Australia, never appreciated the freedom and energy that they seem to give; this is one of the many things that being away for a year taught me to appreciate about Australia.

  

I had something very funny happen, I was waiting at the bus stop when a group of young people walked up talking another language, at first I didn't think anything of it, then I realised that I could understand what they were saying! They weren't speaking Danish, but I assume it was Norwegian or Swedish, because I could understand most of it. They were only chatting about hair and clothes, but still it was funny to be able to understand it when they had no idea that anyone around them could understand.

Caiden's Year 12 (Senior) Tie Ceremony

While I had an absolutely amazing time in Denmark and will treasure the memories and friends that I made forever, I am happy being back in Australia. It is exciting to be embarking on the next stage of my life and attempting the next set of challenges. It feels good to be able to apply the things that I learnt in Denmark about life and myself, to my life here in Australia.


I would like to say once again a big thank you to everyone that made my exchange year possible and was a part of it, as well as a big thank you to everyone who read and followed by blog through the year.

G'Day Australia, It's Been a While

On Saturday 11th January, I began the reverse of the journey that I had embarked on one year earlier, which would this time take me 41 hours. I drove to Aalborg airport with my counsellor Alice, who was the one that had driven me home from the airport when I first arrived in Denmark. But this time, we were driving the other direction, her daughter Katrine was with us, we were speaking Danish and the European countryside outside the car window was familiar.

After a little confusion by the lady working in the airport, I was checked in to Sydney (when I should have been flying to Brisbane). When I explained to her that I was supposed to be flying to Brisbane, she said 'at least you will be in Australia, maybe you can call the people who will be waiting for you and get them to pick you up from the different airport', I then had to explain to her that wasn't really possible as there was a 12 hour drive between the two airports.

Then after saying goodbye to my counsellor and second host family who had come to the airport to say goodbye, I was off on the first part of the trip home.

We had a brief stop over in Copenhagen airport, where we got our tickets corrected and re-printed saying Brisbane.

We arrived in Bangkok at 6am (Bangkok time), for our 18 hour stop over. After running through the airport with another Brisbane girl, Elle who had the same problem as me, we finally had our bags and ourselves checked in to Brisbane. The stop over turned out to be quite nice actually as we got a hotel and could relax by the pool, have shower, lunch and a sleep. Before the next flight.

 

 

 

At the airport, we had some Thai food for dinner, before boarding the final flight. It was a strange feeling knowing that the next ground we would walk on would be Australian!

  

Although a lot of people tend to not, I really enjoy plane meals!

As we first caught sight of Brisbane while descending we all began to get quite excited and also nervous. The other people on the plane seemed a bit confused as to why we were so excited/nervous to be arriving in Australia, as we were talking in Australian accents. But as the plane touched down on the runway, we all remarked on things like how brown the grass was, how blue the sky was, how bright it was and how fast our hearts were beating. We were now in Australia once again and were about to see our families for the first time after one year; it was a strange and quite overwhelming feeling, not to mention that most of us had only slept for around 6 hours out of the past 45.

After going through security and baggage claim, we stopped, realising that just around the corner were our families. We stood there for a little while, put our blazers on, gathered some courage and all tried to convince someone else to walk out first. We ended up just walking out together.

For some reason, the tears came before I had even seen my family. Bryson was the first one to greet me, standing there looking all tall and grown up holding a bunch of red roses and wearing the Danish football tshirt that I had bought him. I think I scared him a little; the first time he had seen me in a year and I come out with tears down my face giving him a big hug.

 

After hugging Bryson I went to the rest of my family, hugging my mum who began crying when she saw me, dad, Caiden (who was a lot bigger overall) and then everyone else in turn. It was so nice to see them all again not just through a screen, being able to hug them and hear their voices clearly.

Caiden drove home from the airport, which was strange because he had gotten his Learner licence while I was away and I had never seen him drive on the roads before. My family had put up a welcome home sign for me, but other than that and a few new pieces of furniture and decorations the house was exactly as I remembered it. It was so nice to see my beautiful room again and especially my big comfortable bed.

I think I had been home for around 30 minutes before I couldn't resist it any longer, I grabbed my keys, told Caiden to jump in the car, and went for a drive. I cannot describe how good and free it felt to be driving again after 1 whole year, I must have looked like an idiot with the amount I was smiling.

 

The next day after waking up from an amazing sleep in my own bed, I walked out, said good morning to Bryson and started speaking to him. He was looking at me really strangely, it was then that I realised that I had just spoken to him in Danish. He thought this was a bit funny.

  

In my first week home I ate around 6 mangoes and countless amounts of Aussie fruit and vegetables, drove myself and my brothers to the beach (1 hour from my house) around 4 times, showed photos from my year (only getting up to June!), caught up with my friends and shared a lot of stories of our adventures in 2013, unpacked my suitcase and box that had arrived, went through my pile of mail and began enjoying all of the little Australian things that I had missed over the past year.