Celebrating Thanksgiving in Denmark!

(the first pic of the day! )

THANKSGIVING!

I decided that as Thanksgiving is an American holiday, I would share it with my friends and family here in Denmark! (And we celebrated it yesterday, Sunday, because we can't on Thursday) I asked everyone in my class to bring a dish to share. I had this plan in my head- Chicken, mashed potatoes (katoflermus) and Pumpkin pie. hahaha.. Chicken for everyone cost 400 kr ($80) and I couldn't find PUMPKIN to make PUMPKIN pie or the stuff to make Pecan pie. So we had chicken nuggets and this awesome green and blue cake with pink frosting that my host mom made! haha.. And you know? It was SO GOOD!

There were 12 kids from my class, 3 exchange students, and my family. And we had SO MUCH FOOD! And I bought/borrowed the supplies so everyone could make a paper Thanksgiving turkey. You know in elementary school how we make the "thankful turkey" where you write what you're grateful for on the feathers? yeah, I made everyone make one! haha.. I think everyone had a really nice time! I know I did!

'

And thank you Maria, Solvej and Bjarke, my stipper pals, and my class for a really wonderful Thanksgiving!

Taasinge Julemarket!

Lørdag (Saturday) -

SNOW! The first "snow".. I think it is one of the coolest feelings in the world when you wake up and look outside and BOOM! everything is white! I love it! It was more like hail though.. little tiny white balls.. not real snow, but it counts for something! Plus, I look at it in a positive way: If it's snowing, it's too cold to rain! Which is a HUGE bonus!






But Saturday, Francesca (Italy), Pablo (Colombia), Daiki (Japan) and me decided to go to a market on Taasinge! So we all took the train/bus to Svendborg to meet there. I got to the Svendborg station and Pablo and Francesca were already there. And I said "Francesca, where are we going on Taasinge?" and Francesca says "Oh, just to the center of town.." and I said "But Francesca, Taasinge is an island...." haha.. Ok, it was pretty funny. (I love you Francesca!)

So anyway.. we found out where the Julemarket (Christmas market) was on Taasinge. The bus driver told us we had to walk 3 kilometers or so from the bus stop. HAH! We walked for an hour.. in the "cold". And when we got there, it was THE SMALLEST market.. haha with older people and we were SO COOL, because we were exchange students! haha.. So after the market, we went back to Svendborg and met a girl we know named Ida who did exchange in Indiana (USA) last year and had PIZZA. It was SUCH a good day, really! So much fun! :) Despite walking for an hour.. haha.. it was good for us!

(I was so proud that we made it so being the dork that I am, i took a picture of the sign! haha..)

MY CLASS!

Hey a quickie!

A girl in my class just posted our class picture online! (it was taken the 2nd day of school way back in August) So now you can see! At schools in Denmark you stay with one class and go to different class rooms with different teachers.. but this is my class!
later gators-

francine

A busy week!

Hola!

I am slacking in my blogging! I just logged on an realized I haven't blogged in like a week एंड I've done quite a bit!
Lørdag (Saturday)- I met up with some other exchange students on Fyn- Pablo from Colombia, Veronica from Chile, and Francesca from Italy-in Svendborg, where Veronica lives. We went to the Naturama (where there ALL kinds of dead stuff animals). And then we met Veronica's host dad at Fotex (a grocery store) to buy food for the dinner we made! haha.. Pablo was SUPPOSED to (according to Veronica) bring a Colombian recipe.. but he didn't know/forgot so I suggested we make burritos. haha.. American style. I will upload pictures soon! (Veronica and Pablo have them)

Søndag (Sunday)-
Sunday we celebrated Mathias' birthday! Bjarke, Solvej, and Farmor (Anders' mom) came over at 14.00 (2 pm). My whole family was there and Pablo too because we hung out all weekend. We had Lagkage (pronounced lauww K) and hot chocolate!! Lagcake is Danish birthday cake and there are TONS of different kinds, but Lagcake in general the BEST CAKE EVER! And then around 18.00 (6 pm) we had dinner. It was so much fun everyone being there! haha.. but my head hurt so bad at the end because of SO much danish all day! You tire really easily when you are trying to understand.. and then try doing it for 6 hours non-stop. But it was such a good day! A good weekend! :) (this almost looks like the lagkage my host mom makes) Mandag og Onsdag (Monday and Wednesday)-
I have recently started spinning class too! Ok.. it is REALLY HARD but I feel SO good when I'm done! I haven't been exercising so I'm really excited to be going to spinning now! And the funny thing is.. I bike to spinning.. spin for an hour.. and bike home. In the rain.. gotta love biking! :)
But I am going every Monday and Wednesday and I really like it!

Tirsdag (Tuesday)-
My friend from school, Bolette and I took the train to Svendborg! We bummed around for a while and then had pizza (really really good pizza!!). And then we walked some more.. went into a Fotex (an everything store like Freds but MUCH smaller) and then took the train home again. It was SO nice! I really had a good time! I biked home and then went to Spejder (Scouts- girl scouts) next door to my house for 2 hours. And I was SO tired by the time I went to sleep!

So that's it for now! Today (Tirsdag or Thursday) we have an AFS exchange student dinner like we have once a month! So i'm really excited to be together with all my pals! Thanks for reading!
love francine

Saying Goodbye to Kyla

One more quick blog tonight..

I never got a chance to write about Kyla. On Thursday she left for South Africa - where she
was born-to visit family for 3 months before going home to Australia. Kyla had a get-together at her house on Tuesday night and me and 5 other exchangies spent the night. I had to say goodbye to her on Wednesday morning and it was probably one of the hardest things I've done yet. Even harder than saying goodbye to you guys at home in Alaska. I know it sounds crazy.. but the thing is: even though I miss my friends at home like crazy, I will be home in 9 months and I will see them again. I have no idea when I'll see Kyla again and that makes it even harder to let go. Kyla and I have spent so much time together since I got here and have become really close.. and I will miss her an insane amount.

To you Kyla- because I know you read this- I love you! and I'm thinking about you! Thank you for everything.. I miss you already!

The Czech Republic- last 4 days

Hey guys!

I hope you've already read my last two posts about our first 4 days in the Czech Republic! Now you can see what we did on days 5, 6, 7 and 8... our last 4 days in the Czech!

day 5

Alrighty.. on Wednesday we decided to see the Prague castle/church. It was a really nice day out- sunny and warm. It had been foggy all week so far so we didn't get to have a cool view over Prague. So we saw the Prague castle, which.. was SO COOL. It was amazing. SO old! and SO huge! "The Prague Castle is a castle in Prague where the Czech kings, Holy Roman Emperors and presidents of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic have had their offices. The Czech Crown Jewels are kept here. Prague Castle is one of the biggest castles in the world (according to Guinness Book of Records the biggest ancient castle) at about 570 meters in length and an average of about 130 meters wide." You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Castle and check out my pictures!

And it was REALLY cool because when we were at the Castle, where the President lives, there was an official visit from two people from Guinea, in Africa. SO! We got to see the official welcoming and watch the guards march and stuff.. and that was pretty exciting! My favorite thing was that the soldiers looked SO happy- so proud to be able to march.. haha and also like they could BARELY keep from laughing. It was awesome! :)



Then we walked down the Prague Castle stairs- I think Solvej called them the King's steps- and we got to see an amazing view of Prague. It was so cool! I can't even describe it.. maybe the pictures will help.. then we walked through Prague some more and then took a sweet boat tour!

and when it was dark we walked back up the King's steps and back to the car. A long day! We were all pretty tired from so much walking..

day 6

On Thursday we saw Karlstein Castle. Bjarke actually bought a book with facts about the Karlstein Castle so I will come back and add more later.. but the Karlstein castle was AMAZING. A real medieval castle! "Discover Karlstein castle one of Czech Republic's prized treasures. This high gothic castle was built in 1348 and overlooks the beautiful Karlstien village and valley. The castle was originally built by Czech King and Roman Emperor Charles IV with the impressive 60 meter high great tower for safekeeping of the royal treasures, especially Charles's collection of holy relics and the coronation jewels of the Roman Empire." You can actually get a 360º virtual tour through this link http://www.freshtourism.com/Countries/Czech_Republic/Karlstein_Castle_360deg;_Tour~250/Castle_360deg;_Tour~250/

and there are little shops all the way up to the Castle. But because we went in the "winter" there aren't very many stores.. But we ended up spending 5 hours walking up to Karlstein.. having a look around and getting a guided tour through the castle (no pictures allowed inside.. sorry!) shopping a little bit and walking back down. haha.. so we decided to go shopping again at Letnany! Then dinner for the 3rd time at this good restaurant we found! and bed time..

day 7

Friday! Friday we decided to go BACK to Prague to pick up the last things we wanted.. On our first day in Prague, Kyla and I had necklaces made of our names (which I love!!) and Kyla wanted to go back and get one for her sisters.. so we parked at the Yellow Market, down the street from downtown Prague and walked. We picked up our last minute things and then we walked back. We didn't have that much more to do so we pretty much relaxed! And Friday night we had a REALLY nice dinner! And I was made to try Escargot- snails. ummmmm surprisingly they were actually GOOD. I just couldn't get over that I had to pry them out of their shells! And I could just picture them crawling around in my head.. but they taste almost like steamers! Pretty good!

day 8

Our last day in the Czech! We woke up.. had some breakie and packed the car. Then we evaluated how much room we had left and how much MONEY we had left.. and went to this sweet store where everything is REALLY cheap and packed the car to the limit! haha.. and we were off on our way home! I slept for 5 of the 9 hours.. so again it didn't seem that long..

All in all it was SUCH a wonderful trip! And I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to go! Thanks again Bjarke, Solvej and Kyla! (kyla because she had to DEAL with me for a whole week.. hehe) And thank you to Solvej and Kyla who worked so hard taking pictures throughout the WHOLE trip.. hah Kyla took like 1,000,000,000 pictures of trees, no joke!Thank you guys for reading about my trip to Tjekkeit (the Czech Republic in Danish)! Keep reading for more updates about what i'm up to here in Denmark! love francine

The Czech Republic- day 3 & day 4

hi again!

Hopefully you have already read my last post about our first two days in the Czech Republic! Now you can read about what we did on days 3 & 4!

day 3

(not sure why i'm making this face.. haha)

On Monday, our 3rd day in the Czech, we went shopping at the Yellow Market! I was freaking out because I haven't shopped for clothes in two months.. holding out for the Czech because it is SO much cheaper. I don't think it's good to go that long without shopping.. holding it in is NOT GOOD FOR YOU. Just as Solvej, Bjarke and Kyla.. I was pretty much going insane! But the Yellow Market is SO COOL because it is REALLY cheap and it's huge! It was so much fun! And for lunch, we had the best pizza at this Italian restaurant there. Then we went to this big shopping center called Letnany!

AND! Kyla and Bjarke made this deal.. if Kyla cut off all her bracelets.. on BOTH arms.. he would buy her a really nice bracelet. AND SHE CUT THEM OFF! It was a big deal! It's the weirdest thing seeing Kyla's arms! haha..

Then we were at this "sports bar" restaurant (as Kyla calls it) for dinner. THAT was good!

day 4

Tuesday! We woke up.. had a hardy breakfast and took off to see this castle (Bjarke.. I can't remember what it was called??). Unfortunately, it was CLOSED. We soon found out that MOST of the tourist attractions were closed as of 31 October. haha.. GOOD TIMING! But we did take some fun pictures outside the castle!

Afterwards we drove back to Litoměřice to see the catacombs and the tower.. but guess what? they were closed! haha.. we had a good laugh about everything being closed.. we just found other things to do :) We shopped some in Litoměřice and went back to the hotel to relax for a while. And we ate at this other REALLY good restaurant (which we went back to 3 times!). Back at the hotel.. we went down to the sports bar and bowled! That was actually fun! I just got mad cause I really really sucked.. :( But we had fun!

I hope you enjoy the pics! And come back tomorrow and read some more about our trip in the Czech Republic! love francine

The Czech Repbulic- day 1 & day 2

Hey Guys!

This past week, Bjarke, Solvej, Kyla and me went the the Czech Republic! It was such a cool experience and I/we had was SO much fun! So, I will try to recap this past week for you.. day by day.. I also want to say

Bjarke and Solvej- Thank you so much for taking me along!

day 1

The drive to the Czech Republic is about 10 hours. You can see on the map how we got there. We left Ringe at 12:30 am on Saturday morning. I ended up sleeping most of the way.. so I can't tell you what everyone else did.. hah. At one point we made a pit stop to use the toilet. I swear- it was an insane experience for me. First of all, we had to PAY to use the toilet!! Then.. i was looking at the toilet for like 5 minutes trying to figure out how I was supposed to flush it.. (sorry.. no pictures!) but I did discover that it was like a hand motion sensor. Right, ok then the toilet made this weird sound.. and this thing came out of the toilet seat and the seat started to spin! like to clean it! I was just standing there gapping, mouth-open STARING at the toilet. I washed my hands and got out of there. It was actually less amazing the next few times I used this weird toilet..

We arrived in Úštěk, the town where we lived, at about 9:30 am. We checked into our hotel and went to Litoměřice to walk around and look in shops. Then we went to this underground really cool restaurant in Litoměřice for dinner.

Read more about Úštěk at http://www.mesto-ustek.cz/English/index.html and Litoměřice at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litoměřice

these pictures are of me and kyla signing the restaurant's book..

In Litoměřice!

and back at the hotel in Úštěk ->

day 2

Sunday morning- Solvej told me that Sunday is the best day to explore Prague because the people are relaxed and everyone is taking it easy. It's an hour drive to Prague from Litoměřice. And Prague/Praha is SO BEAUTIFUL! We walked and walked for hours and saw so much´.. but it was really just a fration of Prague.

We got to see the famous Astronomical Clock! "According to the latest researches, the astronomical clock was constructed in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikulas of Kadan.The astrolabe mechanisms they have built over 600 years ago are still functional. 80 years later, the legendary master Hanus rebuild the clock and as legend has it, the Councillors had him blinded, so that he would not ever manage to build another instrument greater than the Orloj in Prague. The story also says that before he died, master Hanus deliberately damaged the clock so seriously (because he was mad about being blinded.. who wouldn't be?), that nobody could ever fix it again. He also cursed the instrument, so those who tried to repair it have either gone mad or died." (read more at http://www.prague.net/astronomical-clock)

We walked over the Charles Bridge, which is really beautiful! Unfortunately, they were working on preserving some statues so we didn't get to see some of them. But.. "Charles Bridge is a stone Gothic bridge that connects the Old Town and Malá Strana, where the Prague castle is (I will talk about the Prague castle later). It was actually called the Stone Bridge during the first several centuries. Its construction was commissioned by Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and began in 1357. In charge of the construction was architect Petr Parléř whose other works include the St. Vitus Cathedral at the Prague Castle."

(read more at http://www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/sightseeing/charles_bridge.html)

We saw the Town Square, which awed me just at how OLD it is! "The Old Town Square is one of two main squares in the city centre. With its ancient buildings and magnificent churches, this is one of the most beautiful historical sights in Europe. Dating back to the late 12th century, the Old Town Square started life as the central marketplace for Prague. Over the next few centuries, many buildings of Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic styles were erected around the market, each bringing with them stories of wealthy merchants and intrigue." It is just SO cool and i'm lucky that we got to see it in the day AND at night, when everything is lit up! (read more at ttp://www.pragueexperience.com/places.asp?PlaceID=594)

Then we walked the main walking streets with all the shops, etc. Kyla and I were both amazed at how OLD everything was. I mean- the U.S. and Australia are both very young countries.. ESPECIALLY in comparison to the Czech Republic! We walked up a trillion steps to have a view over the city, right where the Metronome is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Metronome). Then we went back to the hotel for dinner..

Please check up on my blog tomorrow to read more about my trip to the Czech Republic!

love francine