Danish Christmas vs American Christmas

Christmas in Denmark is full of veery traditional traditions, many of which are very different from an American Christmas, so I just thought I'd post something about all the differences!

-Advent is a really big deal here, so Christmas is a month long holiday. Danes have advent candles for every day and every Sunday, advent gifts, advent calendars and advent lottery calendars.

-They don't decorate their tree until right before Christmas, and when they do, Danes hang their flag all over it and light REAL CANDLES on it. The candles are only lit for a little while, but still just oh gosh living on the edge.

-Christmas food here is SO GOOD. On Christmas eve they eat flæskesteg, roast pork but so much better. It has the fat still on it, and that's cooked or roasted or something and salted so that it becomes this crunchy amazing delicious yummyness, and it's heartbreaking because you can't get that cut in the US because our pigs are too fat, so I'll have to leave flæskesteg here when I go home. And then they eat potatoes and caramelized potatoes, and grated cabbage and brun sovs, this delicious brown sauce. And then for desert they have ris alamande, rice pudding with almonds, and there's always a full almond hidden in the pudding, and whoever finds it wins a gift.

-For julefrokosts (Christmas lunches), they eat all these assorted things on pieces of rye (or white) bread. Curried herring, shrimp salad and eggs, this meat thing (possibly liverpaste?) with bacon, remoulade, and much, much more. There's also usually schnapps involved (one thing I won't particularly miss) and also of course more ris alamande.

-Also just for normal Christmas coziness Danes have æbelskiver, these round pancake things that you eat with jam and powdered sugar. They actually sell them at Trader Joe's so everyone go try some! And also they drink gløgg which is warm wine and cinnamon and raisins and all this stuff, I'm not really a fan of wine, which was good because we had non alcoholic gløgg which just tasted very cinnamoney and cozy so I actually liked it a lot. They also have a special Christmas beer, which is very sweet, it tastes more like root beer than real beer.

-And along the lines of alcohol, again it's just so different from the US. For our lunch on Christmas, there was beer and schnapps all over the table, free for the children to drink, too.

-Danes open their presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

-They dance around the Christmas tree before opening the presents, which is just a very old tradition and it was SO CUTE.

-Danes hang hearts as decorations everywhere.

-They watch Julekalendar, there's several different ones, that all air every day leading up to Christmas. My favorite (and I think most people's favorite) is Jul i Valhal, a show about two kids that go off to this secret world and are friends with the Nordic Gods.

-They only go to church (generally) on Christmas. I know a lot of Americans do this too, but most Americans that only go on Christmas usually go on Easter too, but from what I've heard I don't think many Danes go to church on Easter even. Religion seems like it's more of a cultural, rather than spiritual, thing in Denmark.

Well I think all my blogging about my Danish Christmas is finally done. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas back home and have a happy New Year.

Alicia

Jul i Danmark

Oh my gosh I have so much I want to blog about. I'm hitting the 5 month mark, and nearly halfway done with my exchange soon, and there's just been a lot of deep reflecting on how far I've come lately. SO MAYBE after I get through all my Christmas blogging (because oh my goodness Christmas is HUGE here) I'll post some deep exchange student posts too.

Okay well where to begin. Well like I said in my last blog post, Christmas is an entire month long celebration. So for the past 27 days I've been opening advent gifts and eating advent chocolate and scratching advent lottery calendars (I was one Christmas tree away from 1,000,000 kroner, ONE!) to get excited for Christmas.

And then last Thursday all the big Christmas stuff finally started. I had a julefrokost (Christmas lunch) with my old class, which was so nice. We ate a ton of traditional Danish food, and they got drunk under parental supervision (something I'm still getting used to) and we watched julekalendar, more specifically Jule i Valhal (a show that's played every day leading up to Christmas about 2 children that go off to this other world and are friends with the Nordic Gods) and ate ris alamande (rice pudding, ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT DENMARK, and there's chopped almonds in it, and the one that finds the whole almond gets a mantle gift). There were 2 mantle gifts, Rudolph antlers and a nose, and penis glasses. Yes penis glasses ohh Danish humor. Then we headed off to the school to have a school fest, and it was all very fun and hyggeligt.

Me and Maja

Can't get over their humor

Me, Sofie, and Trine

Then on Sunday my host family and I cleaned the entire house and made candy in preparation for having Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day at our house. It also snowed, but unfortunately the snow didn't hold out for Christmas </3.

Wahhhh

Danes celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, so on Monday we got up and went to church (the first and probably last time I will go to church in Denmark, most Danes aren't very religious) fun fact, the church in my town is like, 800 years old, and it was a really pivotal part of a very bloody war between Denmark and Sweden in the 1500's, and so now there's a sword hanging in the church, and legend has it that if it ever falls the war will re-continue ooooo. Then my host grandparents, host uncle and cousins and host uncle's girlfriend all came over and we had a DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS DINNER. I'll post another blog about the differences between Denmark and the US's Christmases, so you can read about it there. Then we danced around the tree (very traditional and unique experience) and spent the next like, 3? hours opening allll the presents under the tree. After that, exhausted, we collapsed into bed.

Christmas decorations

 

They use hearts as decorations for Christmas which I find really cute.

Our 10 billion advent candles

Christmas tree with all our presents!

All the kids

Lucio, the exchange student from Argentina that I'm currently living with

Christmas table

They light real candles on the tree, but only for when we're dancing around it

My host cousins literally crawled under the tree looking for presents

Min sød værstfamilie

Then for Christmas Day, we had 26 guests over, which I thought would be impossible because we have a pretty small house, but it actually worked out really well. They were all my host dad's family, and get this, they're all half Oregonian! Half of them have lived in Seaside and my host cousin was looking at moving back to Oregon and it was so crazy, like a little piece of home. We also played pakkeleg, this crazy game where everyone brings a gift and puts it on the table, and then we pass around dice and whenever you roll a 6, you can take a gift. Once all the gifts have been taken, you take them from each other and it gets pretty intense. I won some body butter from the Body Shop which was basically perfect.

And then no, Christmas does not end with Christmas, so on the 26th we went over to my host grandparents (on my host mom's side, the ones we spent Christmas Eve with because my other host grandparents live in OREGON) and ate even MORE FOOD. Danes certainly win the most crazy about Christmas award like I can't even I loved it.

It was such a nice and HUGE Christmas and I'm actually really sad that my Danish Christmas is finally over. Today I'm gonna go into Copenhagen and buy some Danish Christmas stuff to take home so I can attempt to celebrate a Danish Christmas next year too!

Alicia

I hate coming up with names for my blog posts

Hey everyone!
Soo my mom said I should write a blog post for once, so here's a written blog post that won't take you 20 minutes to get through like my videos do.

A few weeks ago I thought it would be really great to make a Thanksgiving dinner for my host family, and since my host mom has Thursdays off from work, we were actually able to have in on Thanksgiving. Thankfully, since I'm a terrible cook, my host mom kind of took over the dinner, and made most of the food. I still made the pumpkin pies, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, but she made the turkey, sweet potatoes, salad, mud pie, and probably much much more that I actually can't remember right now. And it was so sweet, I love that she made a Thanksgiving dinner for me, that's actually one of the nicest things that anyone's really done for me, so tak for det Lene! And we had my oldie and host grandparents over and ate a lot and it was just really hyggeligt. I'd put some pictures up but we only got a picture of the table and some awkward selfies so really I won't waste your time.

Then last Monday I went to a Swedish House Mafia Concert in Copenhagen, which was so so fun just omg. I went with a ton of exchange students and we got squeezed to death in the mosh pit so then me and my Australian friend went up to the balcony to watch. Where we so luckily ended up standing next to this really questionable woman, who was dancing like I don't even know she was dancing so weird, and she was using quite a lot of space, and she was not having it when I came and stood next to her. So then I proceeded to be elbowed in the head and stepped on for the next couple hours, but you know what it was worth it so it's okay. The concert was so good, and so fun and just wee! Here's some pictures:

From left to right:

Patrick, Juan, Mimi, Cassidy, Ed, and me!

Danish flag

Then on Friday my host parents took me to the HC Andersen Christmas market in Odense, which was so cozy. Christmas in Denmark is a huge deal, they get really into advent, so it's like a month long holiday. They have advent candles that they light every day, and melt it down to the next number for the next day, advent calendars, advent lottery calendars, advent candles for every Sunday in their homes, not just in church, and advent gifts for every Sunday. There's not even a way to describe why Christmas is so great in Denmark, I tried to send a box home to capture a Danish Christmas for my mom, but I couldn't, because it's really it's just a feeling, kind of like hygge. 

It's also been snowing a ton, which makes it feel so Christmasy! (and cold)

My advent gifts from my first host family.

My first advent gift, an advent lottery calendar and a cute little art project.

My giant Lindt advent calendar, so much nicer than the American ones!

I stayed in Odense Friday night and Saturday so that I could see my friend and tour around Odense. It's where HC Andersen was born, so that's really their main tourist attraction, so we went there and we went shopping a little and it was so nice.

HC Andersen's house, it's under construction right now so it's not that pretty.

Me and Jaidan on HC Andersen's street.

Cute little house

HC Andersen's street

Us in front of HC Andersen's house

Odense is so nestled

A church where some king died or is buried or something

Inside the church

In Denmark they don't decorate their trees until Christmas and wah.

So yeah, that's basically it, I've just been chilling (literally, it's so cold here) and hanging out and enjoying Christmas in Denmark. I hope everything's going well back home and remember that you're not currently living in an arctic tundra ;). (Although really I'm not either).

Alicia

Basically famous

Guys I'm in the newspaper!
http://www.e-pages.dk/bgmonline_ta/312/16

Moving and other various things

All of my stuff

Min Dansk Fødselsdag/Holbæk G2G

Hahahaha sorry that this video's so long! I had a lot to say.

Efterårsferie

So last week was Efterårsferie, or Fall Holidays, a wonderful concept that I hope to take home with me. It's a week long break for no apparent reason, but it was a much needed break from school. I don't think I've had one long weekend since I got here, so by the time Fall Break comes, we're all basically dying from so much school. So it is a trade-off to have 3 week long breaks throughout the year to make up for the lack of long weekends, and also I think the shorter summer break.

I started off the week by going to Copenhagen Culture Night on Friday. It's a night where you pay around 90 kr? something around there, although I don't remember the actual price, but yeah somewhere around $15, and then you get free admission to most of the museums and many other exciting cultural things across Copenhagen. I went with some Danish friends, and we met up with the Brazilians, and went to the Planetarium and the Zoo. Our thought process was that these are very expensive normally, so why not save as much money as we can and go to them for free? The entire night was so fun, Copenhagen was FULL of people, and all the stores stayed open so late, which is not normal for Denmark, normally everything is closed by around 6.

Then the next day was my host brother's 18th birthday party. We had a huge classy dinner and then just a normal crazy Danish party afterwards. I love how big of a deal 18th birthdays are here. There's not really a super important age where you get a huge party in the US. I mean there's Sweet 16's, but no one actually celebrates them. It's because you're legal for everything, drinking driving smoking, everything, when you turn 18 in Denmark. And gaining our legal rights is a little more spread out back home. But anyways, it was such a fun party and a comedian came and the dinner was so good I love Danish food.

Then I just spent Sunday and Monday night relaxing first with my oldie, Vitoria, and then one of my friends from the US, Cassidy. Both nights we just watched a ton of movies and relaxed and talked, and it was really nice.

I spent the rest of the week hanging out with my English class and exchange student friends, trying to see everyone and just being insanely busy. I went out to Holbæk, a city in Western Sjælland, and a class party, and spent a lot of time in Copenhagen, like always. It was just such a good week.

And then yesterday my host family got a PUPPY! Oh my god oh my god he's soo cute. He's a little 8 week old golden retriever ball of fur, and yeah I'm just so happy to finally have a dog again so weee!

And then next week I'm switching classes. I need to start participating in school more, and my current class's line is all science and math, which I don't care about in the US, so how am I supposed to force myself to do it when it's in Danish? My new class is the class I have English with, and their line is social studies, so I think it'll be a really good change for me. Stay posted for how I survive attempting to do my Danish homework!

I hope everything is going well back home, and sorry for this very poorly written blog post ;). I promise the next one will be better!

Hej hej!
Alicia

Change

One thing that obviously comes with the package of being an exchange student is that you're going to change so much during your year. It's said that you mature 8-11 years during your exchange, and I believe it. When I landed in Denmark, I pictured myself as this little ball of clay, a completely new person ready to absorb a new culture and adjust to it accordingly. And in many ways I have. I hated meat back home, and love it here. I was scared of being alone back in Oregon, but find myself desperately wanting time to myself as I go through my year. I can feel myself growing up so fast, and it's terrifying. Looking at who I was back in July, and who I am now, I am almost two completely different people.

I just pictured that I would naturally change while I was on exchange. But while I am naturally changing, there's a lot of changes that I have to physically make myself. It's really nice, I have this year off where I can reflect on who I am and who I want to be, and really work on moving myself in that direction. I'm so thankful to have this time to figure out who I am, despite how cheesy that sounds. It's also difficult in a lot of ways, because I have to change to adjust to the culture, and sometimes it's a battle trying to become a Dane while still holding onto who I am. I like who I am, and although I'll change and improve and grow up this year, I still want to hold onto me. And sometimes that's really hard, I'm always thinking "is this something that Alicia would do? Am I still me?" I want to go home an improved person, not a different person. And I can imagine that's a common thing that exchange students have to deal with.

Just wanted to share some deep and cheesy thoughts with you!

Alicia

Idek

The past few weeks I have been so incredibly busy. I always have so much to do, making it so that time just flies by. This Thursday will mark my 2nd month of being here, which absolutely terrifies me. Where is the time going? I feel like this year will just zoom by, and then I'll be back home wondering if it all actually happened. It still doesn't feel real that I'm in Denmark right now.

Last week was probably my best week since I arrived here, I was so busy I didn't even go to school! On Monday, my language school went to this Medieval themed town where they teach you about how people lived in Denmark in the 1300's. Despite it being absolutely freezing, it was such a fun day.

All of us minus Cassidy before we were properly garbed

Bahahahah

All of us minus Cassidy AFTER we were properly garbed

It was a weird day

We did archery and made necklaces and other interactive activities that were much better than sitting to school

After that I went home to attempt to get warm, which didn't really happen, and then I was off to Tivoli for a concert! It's called the Voice, and it happens every year. I think it's put on by a radio station, the kduk of Copenhagen. It was nice because all the rides at Tivoli were free, and the Voice had some pretty famous artists at it. Most of them are Danish, like Outlandish, L.O.C. and of course Medina, but Flo Rida was also there. Oh and it was POURING RAIN for the entire 6 hour concert! Here's some pictures:

L.O.C. performing

Troopers

Despite the awful soggyness of the evening, it was still a great night and I got to see a lot of my friends that don't live that close, so det var en godt aften.

Then on Wednesday my class took a biology field trip to go snorkeling and sailing. Snorkeling in Denmark? Yes in Denmark it was insanity. It was such a cool experience, slightly terrifying because the water was full of jellyfish, and seeing as I don't speak Danish I didn't get the memo that they wouldn't sting me, so there was some rather impressive water gymnastics as I tried to swim around while avoiding the jellyfish. I wish I had pictures of us all dressed up and ready to go, but I didn't want to get my camera wet sooo no there's no pictures :(.

Then on Thursday I had to get up bright and early to go to the immigration office in Copenhagen to do some stuff for my residence permit. We got there 5 minutes after it opened, and we were number 28 in line. THANKFULLY though there was a special booth to go and get my biometrics done, so I didn't actually have to wait in line. And then I just went home because I only had 3 classes that day and missed them all making myself a legal immigrant in this grand old country. Oh and because I finally have my residence permit, I can finally get my hypercard!!!!!!!!! It allows me to travel wherever I want within Copenhagen for only 300 kr a month, and I will never have to use a klipkort again. I would explain the whole public transportation system so that what I just said made sense, but it's complicated and confuses me so yeah I can't but getting my hypercard is gonna be really really good! 

Friday was my school's birthday, so instead of having classes we just did these really cool workshops. I was in pressphoto, so basically we just walked around and took pictures of all the other activities  There were several different dance classes, tree climbing, gourmet foods, as well as many others. It was just a really laid back day. 

After school, I went over to my classmate's house to have dinner and get ready for the school party we were headed to that night. Like I said in a previous post, I love my class. They're so nice and friendly, and I'm so happy that I'm actually making Danish friends so cheers! The entire weekend I was just crazy busy trying to hang out with my class and my English class and the kids in my town and my exchange student friends so it was crazy, but such an amazing weekend, I'm having the best time here. 

Well yeah sorry for this slightly frazzled post, in case you couldn't guess I'm a little sleep deprived.

Tak for reading my blog! (Læser min blog på dansk? Hmm I don't know)

Alicia

Just My Crazy Danish Life

Okay prepare yourselves for a very long and confusing post about what I've been up to the past month, both before and after Introcamp. Try not to get lost!

Several Fridays ago I had one of my busiest days since I came here. It started with us missing school to go to a sports day the next town over. All the classes competed in various activities such as handicapped soccer, beach volleyball, water polo, and many other activities that I didn't quite understand seeing as I have yet to learn this country's funny little language.

Me and the other exchange student at my school, an oldie from Brazil named Vitoria, had to leave a little early, though, as we were headed to a Danish wedding! Unfortunately, the facility we were at was completely across the town from the train station, so we took an hour long and slightly traumatizing nature walk through the city of Alberstlund, getting lost and having to ask for directions more than one time. I would also like to point out that we were only about 15 km outside of Copenhagen, and yet it was as if we were in the middle of the forest. Much nicer than the urban sprawl you'd  find outside of big cities in the US I must say.

Oh yeah and my class happened to win the sports day, so woohoo for 2w! They won last year, too, and apparently the prize was a free drink from the bar at Introfest. My school literally has class competitions for alcohol, let's just take a moment to acknowledge this. This year we won an ipod speaker I think, so that's a little more family friendly.

So back to the wedding. Although I've never been to a wedding in the US before, it was very similar to what I'd imagine an American wedding would be like. Ceremony in a church (although can you find 1000 year old churches in the US? Just thinking about what those walls have seen is so cool), with a reception at the married couple's house afterwards. Because umm, they were actually already married for several years, they had just never had a ceremony. Isn't that cute?

After the wedding I rushed home to beautify myself, and then went over to my classmate's house because we were going to have our Introfest that night. Introfest is the first of many school dances that we will have throughout the year. Me and several other girls had a very delicious dinner, and then headed over to the school. One major difference from dances back home and dances in Denmark is the alcohol, with the school selling (rather overpriced) beer to the students. At my school we also all got to draw on the first years, and the drawing sort of spread to us all, so I went home covered in Danish phrases that I have no idea what they mean, so I'm just going to hope for the best as to what had been written on me.

Rune, Maya, Trine and me

The next day I went to help my friend, Zoe, from the US make her host family mac and cheese. Making food is so hard here, what with the measurment conversions and different foods. Denmark has delicious cheese, but their cheddar could be improved, and as a result our mac and cheese turned out, well, completely flavorless. It was still so fun to just make American food though. Afterwards, Zoe came back to my house with me and spent the night, and then we headed to Introcamp the day afterwards.

Okay so now we're caught up to Introcamp, so I can just talk about what I've been up to the past 2 weeks. Which is not really that much, just trying to settle into my new life here. On Mondays and Wednesdays I go to language school with 4 other exchange students, two girls from Taiwan, a girl from New York, and a guy from Brazil. It's been really helpful and I've learned quite a lot of Danish! On Monday nights I also have Rotary, so Monday's a busy day for me! Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I have soccer practice. Yes, I am playing soccer and I'm oh so good at it too. Really I just joined the team to meet more people and try to avoid coming home morbidly obese. It's actually really fun, the practices are pretty laid back and all the girls on my team are so nice.

Our first day of language school.

From left to right, Cassidy (from New York), me, Kirsten (our teacher, she is so sweet and sincere and I love her), Carol from Taiwan and Ed from Brazil. Blanche, the other girl from Taiwan, hadn't arrived yet because of visa problems I think, but she's here now so it's all good in the hood.

Then last last Thursday, me and my oldie went into Copenhagen to go to Tivoli! It's so beautiful, but I didn't get a chance to go on any of the rides seeing as I'm dirt poor, but maybe some other day when I win the lottery.

Me at the entrance

Looks so fun!

So so beautiful

We came back later to see it at night

Omg just omg

We also ventured to the Little Mermaid. Heads up to anyone coming to Copenhagen she's pretty small and slightly anticlimactic, but if you're like me and don't expect anything that special then she's just great!

Then that Saturday I went to an Innerwheel, which is like Rotary for women, function at the Opera house and Royal Library in Copenhagen. We took a tour of the Opera house which is actually so cool. I didn't really understand that much because of my lack of knowledge towards the Danish language, but apparently the hall itself is made out of maple just like violins and guitars and such, and so it's an instrument in itself! How snazzy. And then off to the Royal Library, which my momma should be happy about seeing as she's a librarian. I don't really know what to say about it, it was kinda just a library with people studying and books and stuff, but cool and modern nonetheless. 

Some snazzy artwork inside the Opera House.

Last Sunday I had my first violin lesson. My teacher is an American that my teacher back home knew and found for me, and so she's very good and I'm happy. I think I'm gonna start playing more violin again, and she also found a orchestra group thing that I can be in on Sundays and meet other musicians my age and stuff. So that's good!

Okay well I think I've overwhelmed you enough with my confusing and frazzled life for now, so vi ses snart!

Alicia

Introcamp

Sorry for my lack of posting the last couple weeks, I've just been so busy! Last week I went up to Bjerringbro in Jutland to go to an Introcamp with 150 other exchange students. Crazy experience, to say the least.

I started off the week with a 4 1/2 hour bus ride with all the other students in my district, district 1470. In these 4 1/2 hours, we proceeded to drive nearly across the country. Across the country! Denmark is so small! It was also nice to finally meet everyone else in my district, because now I have other exchange students to hang out with.

When we got there we found our rooms and then went to the Lecture Hall to go over the schedule for the week. My room had 4 other American girls in it, all of us having to share a bathroom and me having to sleep on the floor. Crowded room but I didn't mind. Going over the schedule, they told us that we'd have 6 hours of Danish lessons a day. Since I had already studied a ton of Danish, the classes were a little boring, but my teacher was attractive enough to make up for what I wasn't learning. Picture Ed Westwick and Chace Crawford combined guys.

There were several different evening experiences throughout the week, including pin trading (there were so many of us, so my blazer is now basically covered!) rock climbing, a concert by a Danish band who was quite good (and very attractive), going into town to spend all our money on candy, and a very depressing movie night highlighting a historical drama about a Danish Nazi resistance group that was executed during WWII.

Cassidy, Hailey, Mick and me wearing our blazers.

My blazer

Why yes I did organize my pins into a map of the world.

Why hello there.

One of the more awkward pictures from my year so far.

Everyone in Nick's room aka the party room.

The 5110 kids stocking up on candy!

We all hung our flags in the windows to show our somewhat overbearing national pride.

At the end of the week we took a day trip to Aarhus, the 2nd biggest city in Denmark. We started off the day with a tour of Aros, a very snazzy modern art museum. At the top there's this giant rainbow walkway with fantastic views of the city. Seeing as there were so many of us, the tours all ended at different times, so it was difficult to find each other to go frolic through the city afterwards. Or so I thought, seeing as everyone went straight to H&M aka the exchange student store, and we all just found each other there.

The rainbow walkway lets you take such amazing pictures of Aarhus.

Me and Hailey at the top of the museum.

My lunch.

The rainbow walkway from the outside.

On our last day, Saturday, all the classes had to do a skit. Our class decided to represent the different cultures in our class, so the Indian girl sang twinkle twinkle little star in a sassy Hindi accent, while the South Americans did one of their many dances, the Americans dressed up like rednecks and sang Big Green Tractor, and the Canadian (joined by 3 Americans including me) said some very interesting Canadian pick up lines (The cleanest of the jokes being, "If you were a maple tree I'd tap that"). The entire talent show was just a crazy experience, with many of the guys wearing bras and dancing to assorted pop songs such as Gangnam style, the new exchange student song.

After the talent show, we had a disco of sorts, which the South Americans completely took over. It was just Latin music and crazy dances, it seems like every single Latin song has a dance that goes along with it, so I spent the night attempting to copy the girls next to me. But honestly I cannot move my hips like a Latina, it's complicated alright. I literally felt like I had been transported to South America, a cultural experience to say the least.

Well this post has gotten pretty long, so I think I'll make another post soon about everything else I've been up to the past couple of weeks.

Thanks for reading!