G2G in Holbæk

Hej!

This last weekend, we have our really awaited gathering with almost all the exchange students here in Denmark, from all the districts. We were reunited on a school in the city of Holbæk, located 1h from Copenhagen.

This gathering was very special for all of us, because we had the chance not only to meet all our 35 newbies, but also to see old friends that we met back then at Introcamp and haven't seen since then! So of course we had to take a group picture :) 

When our train is late we just smile for a picture!

We were already on a G2G mood on the train on our way to Holbæk, given that many other exchange students (some coming from Frederikshavn, a town 3h30min from Vejle) were already on the train, so during the trip we'd walk through the train looking for them to talk a bit! When we arrived in Høje Taastrup to change trains, we had the unpleasant surprise that our train was 28mins late, and we were about 50 people signed for that one, so some went on another train and some waited until the delayed one came, but we dealed with it with the best humour possible, of course! 

It was certainly a mess when everyone got to the school, but it was also amazing to see everyone again on that moment, and many of us were exhausted, though that has not kept some from talking all night long, for some people's despair hahahah

Some of our amazing Aussie newbies 

Some of our costumes

Brazil, Australia and the US

On Saturday, we got the chance to walk to the city center and take a look at the shops and but stuff, and right after lunch, there were some activities like football and barrel painting (later on I'll tell what for). But the most awaited event happened on Saturday night: a party called "fastelavn", which can be said as a Danish Halloween! This way, everyone had to dress up as something, and I did as Luigi! It was lacking a moustache but oh well...

There were many great ideas and some people didn't dress up, but generally everyone tried to at least put something funny up! The first activity was something that goes like this: everyone was divided into 5 lines, and everyone had to hit one of those barrels with a bat, in order to break them and unleash all the candy that was placed inside them. Everytime that some of them broke, people would run crazy to the candy line and store them somewhere at their costume hahah After we were all done with that, we went to have dinner and after that, it was our time to entertain ourselves. There was some sort of talent show, where some people went up on the stage to present something to the audience.  Some of them were Declan from the US singing and playing guitar, Montana from Australia playing the piano and  Meghan from NZ singing a Halsey song, and also groups like the Brazilians dancing funk (I just stood and watched hahahah), the Aussies teaching a dance called nutbush and the Latinos just dancing something and then a flashmob where a lot of us went to the stage to dance Macarena with them hahahahah

When the show was over, the eating area turned into a dance floor, complete with a DJ (he's been doing this job on the G2G for 30 years), and many of us spent a lot of time dancing to many great songs, and thus we all have sore voices and aching legs, me included while I write this on a Wednesday morning :P The party continued for a lot of time and many of us talked until late in the night, because it was just so great having everyone's company at that time :D that resulted on everyone being tired at school Monday morning but it was surely worth it!

Snowy weather on Holbæk station

Finally, on Sunday morning, we had to wake up early to get our stuff ready and have breakfast, and right after we ate, some farewell songs were put on, and with that, many just broke down in tears... Everywhere you looked, people were hugging and crying and wondering if they could see each other again, because for many of us it'd be the last chance we had to be together before us, the summer team, returns home in 4 months, and many of our old and new friends don't live quite close...  After all the goodbyes, pictures together and all of this, we had to hurry up to catch a bus to the station and go back home! We were again around 50 people to go on the same train to Høje Taastrup, so some people almost were left behing, as the train doors closed right after the last person boarded... In Taastrup, we all divided on our carriages bound to our homes, putting an end to one of the best weekends of those last 7 months! And to every exchange student reading this, I want to thank you and everyone for making this weekend the best possible, you guys are awesome ;)

Someone was tired of walking!

By the way, it's been 7 months already, and I can't stand how fast time's going, and I know it won't slow down... There are so many excited things going to happen though, so I can't help but to be excited for what shall come!

Vi ses :D

6 months, already?

It's been almost a month since the last post, and many things have happened since then... For example, now I'm on the second half of my exchange, and it's incredible how fast time has passed, and how it's still passing... I still didn't realise straight that we're in the middle of February already!

Saying hi to our newbies, Gabi and Rafa

To start, on the second week of January, 35 new exchange students arrived here to spend a year, and those are called the "winter team", because they've arrived in winter, opposed to us that arrived in summer; therefore, we're the "summer team". But the best thing about our relationship with the winter team is that we become "oldies" when they arrived, because we're here for more time than them, and thus, they become our "newbies", as they're the new people here. Because of that, I've been in Billund Airport twice to say hello to 2 Brazilians on Saturday (with two other Brazilian friends and oldies) and an Australian on Sunday, and everyone was glad that we were there and that we could be there on that moment, as it is important both for us and for our newbies :) 

Nyhavn

On the next weekend, on January 23th, it was the day that marked the exact midpoint of the exchange, and to celebrate, I did something necessary: went for the first time to Copenhagen, the capital and largest city of Denmark. As the city is located at the other side of the country, it's not always easy (and cheap) to go there. but thankfully I got to buy some cheaper than normal train tickets, so everything went better than expected! During all day, it was cold, cloudy and freezing temperatues, but anyway, with the company of an Indian friend who was willing to show me around, we walked 10km around the most important places and even walked a kilometer over a frozen lake :D

Some hot chocolate so we didn't freeze

Something impossible to do in Brazilian winter

Sunset in Fanø, with the bus driving
on the beach

Nothing remarkable happened during the first half of February, but while I write this text, I'm on the first days of our winter vacation, with my host famil on their vacation home, that's located on an island called Fanø. It is a very quiet place with lots of vacation homes, and that on summer, has almost more Germans and Danish people! And something interesting that happens here is that the beach's sand strip is so large that it's possible for cars to drive there, and the local bus line has some stretches that are driven on the beach!

Next month, on the first weekend, we'll finally have a gathering of all exchange students here in Denmark, called G2G, and it'll be the only time that all oldies and newbies from all districts will reunite before we return home! After this, on week 11 (two weeks after the G2G), I'll travel to Budapest with my class, and I'll stay there from Saturday to Thursday. I've said before that I was going to Istanbul, but due to a terrorist attack on a tourist area that killed 10 people, the school decided to change our destination, but at least it won't be any worse :) Also, in May, we'll have the Eurotour, which is a bus tour aound Europe, and I'll write about when we're closer to the date!

Next post, I'll talk about the G2G, but if something noteworthy happens before it, I'm surely writing it down here!

Daniel

Changing families

Something that  couldn't let aside is one of the most tense, but cool moments of the exchange: changing families. As said before, I only have two host families, opposed to the three that most have, because the other "possible" host families weren't totally able to have me over. But anyways, I love both my host families and maybe having two makes my ties with thm even stronger! 

The beginning of the road I used to live

Lion sculpture at the village's entrance

I've lived on my first host family from 21/08 até 08/01, and the dau I moved was also when 5 months were done! I lived at a farm, 6km/3,7mi north of Billund, and in the morning a 10-min bicycle ride was needed to reach the bus stop, a rather tiring experience but different at the same time, and it helped in waking up :D and as I only live with my mom in Brazil, it was quite amazing for me to live with a couple plus three kids out of their five, where one lives in Aalborg where he goes to uni and the other in New Zealand (!!!), and I tried to help all the time with daily chores and even with the special things that were done there, like stacking firewood for warming up the house, killing chickens, removing hair from pigs and cleaning their spaces (interpret it as you want), and even though all of that sounds a bit weird, it was really great to be a part of that, because I may not be able to do those things back in Brazil!

Now I'm living on a village called Givskud, located halfway between Give (where my Rotary club meets) and Jelling. Givskud has one of the most important zoos of the country, where you can drive in with your car right where the animals are, like a safari, and Jelling is one of the oldest cities in the country, with a church built around 1100. The family is a bit smaller, as it is a couple with three kids, one living at his own home with his wife, one living in Herning, where she goes to uni and the other living together with us. Now there's no need to ride a bike (phew), because the bus stop is only a 4-minute walk away! Another good thing is that my host dad is also my counsellor, so it's easier to talk about technical stuff as he is only some steps away!

But, for sure, the worst part about changing families is that it also means that my exchange is halfway done :/ though it also means that more doors will open to more experiences and I'm looking forward to them :D

Danish Christmas

When December arrives, it also means that Christmas is near. It is the season of gifts, family time and many more things... Even though in most places, including in here and back in Brazil, people worry about it when they have to buy gifts, it looks like it's Christmas here from the 1st of December:

In the very morning of that day, when I got to school, there was a huge table at the front where I could read "free hot chocolate and waffles", a loudspeakers playing Christmas music and the students making the food were wearing red caps! And later that day, we had a farewell event at Danish school where we ate Christmas food. Something that commonly happens during the month is something called julefrokost, or Christmas lunch, where we eat, per example, marinated herring with curry sauce, red cabbage, cookies like pebernødder and brunkager, made with spices like cinnamon and pepper, and we drink something called akvavit, a spirir common all over Scandinavia. Also, at the four Sundays before Christmas (the advent sundays), kids normally get a little gift from its "nisse", or elf, and this elf is also said to cause some little problems in the house, but also does some pleasantries to the little.. Speaking on presents, advent calendars are quite common here (on those, you receive a little gift every day on December until the 24th), and I've got one from each family, one with chocolates and the other with Lego. There are also TV shows called "Christmas calendars", where an episode is shown every day in the same fashion as the advent calendars.

Something that differs a lot from Brazilian and Danish Christmas is that in here a real tree is used, opposed to the plastic trees used in Brazil. The Danish dedicate themselves a lot to the tree and spend some good time decorating it and on Christmas Eve, they all dance around it before opening their gifts. And the tree is also important to the cities, where one or more is put in front of the City Hall or places with lots of people around. Vejle, per instance, had two of them, fully decorated! But it's not just the tree that is put up, but the main roads also receive some care with lights and stars, and it looks quite nice!

But without a doubt, the most important day is the 24th, where most traditions are celebrated, and they are quite different from Brazilian:  the day starts by going to church, where songs about Christmas are sung and where the local community gets together, and when the service is over they gather outisde the church to do some talking. When they're back home, lunch is eaten, and normally it is just some risengrød (rice porridge) with cinnamon and butter, and during the afternoon, dinner preparation starts, and it consists in roasted duck (it can be also goose or turkey), two types of potato (boiled and caramelised), red cabbage and the duck's filling, all covered in brun sovs. After, dessert comes in form of some risalamande  (there is some more information about those foods here), and all eat it paying some attention to see if they got the whole almond, and if yes, the present (at my family, it was a box of chocolates won by my host sister, who shared it with everyone!). After dinner and dessert, the party around the Christmas tree begins, that is, we sing some songs around it, and in our case, we sung the last song really loudly and jumped around the whole house until we were really tired...

So the best part came: the gifts! They are all put under the tree and opened one by one, so everyone sees what the other has got. Each one got at least 3 gifts,and I've got only Lego and some clothes, and it is quite common Christmas gifts (and the house was 8km far from Lego's HQ hahah). After everyone opened their gifts, we just relaxed and looked at what we've got, but next day would be the one where we would use them, because here the actual Christmas day is basically a relaxing day and when we eat what's left from dinner. When the 26th comes, the 2nd Christmas day is celebrated, and it is common to have a Christmas lunch on it, just like the ones celebrated during the month.

One of the nicest things is that everything is under some sort of "Christmas spirit" during the month, with radios playing seasonal sings, Christmas-related events on school and a lot of seasonal food, like roasted almonds sold in carts on the street or Christmas market at the town,

If you're curious and want to learn more, just leave a comment under the post :)

Happy New Year!!

Hej, allesammen!!

The first week of 2016 is already gone, as last year! I've been quite busy last month, with lots of plans and enjoying the Christmas season, that is, by the way, very different from the Brazilian, with many more traditions and specialities, and I hope to be able to tell more about it on another post. Back to New Year: I still can't believe how fast time went (been always saying it and probably won't stop hahahah), but now we're in 2016, and it means among other things that many amazing experiences are on their way, but also that pratically half of my exchange is gone (the exact day that marks the half is the 23rd)...

While it's hot in Brazil...

But as I cannot forget about traditions, New Years' day here is full of them. To start, it is an event normally celebrated among friends (opposed to Christmas, a family celebration), and something that many do is to watch the Queen's New Year speech, traditionally transmitted at 6 PM since the 70's. After, there is dinner, where it is common to eat fish or tenderloin, and when it's midnight, there's a toast with champagne and a cake called kransekage is eaten. It is made with almonds, sugar and egg whites. After, many fireworks are fired around, and it's common that every family buys some and shoots them around the same time, opposed to huge and concentrated showings like it is in Brazil.

Kransekage

The Queen's speach

Now in this new year, there are a lot of stuff coming, like our Eurotour, a bus trip around 8 European countries for 16 days, with exchange students from my district and the neighbouring one; a class trip to Istanbul for a week, and maybe many more things that can come up :D 

But well, I'll try to write something about Christmas and something else important and it'll be posted here soon!

A taste of Danish Christmas

More Lego

Hej!!

Lately, nothing worth a whole new post happened apart from my normal routine, that's why I wasn't writing anything... But last Wednesday (25/11), I've been on a very special event and I'd like to share it here!

Snow-removing truck

Maybe some of you know that my host mom works at the Billund Airport, the second largest in the country, that is located on the same town as the worldwide HQ of Lego (and it's no coincidence that it happened). So, there was a Christmas event for the workers and their families, and we had the chance to shop on the Duty Free, walk around the tarmac, see the trucks that the airport owns, like the firetruck and snow remover (so the airport can keep going on snowstorms), among other things.

Ultramodern firetruck owned by BLL Airport

We could also join a "skattejagt", or treasure hunt, where we had to find clues around the airport, some related to the Christmas theme, so that, in the end, if our answers were right, we'd win a candy bag :D also, who had a number inside the bag got to win a free souvenir, and thankfully me and my host brothers got a number!

My souvenirs

Also, there were tables with some types of food (desserts actually) typical of Danish Christmas, as risalamande (rice pudding with whipped cream, vanilla and almonds with cherry sauce on top), an apple cake, berliner (a mini-donut filled with chocolate or jam) and æbleskiver (I've explained them on this post), apart from coffee and Gløgg, which is some warm wine mixed with spices and fruits.

Det var lækkert ;)

Long story short, it was a really different experience to go to such an event on an airport, go into the security zone (we even needed a bording pass for that), go on the tarmac, see their equipment and of course, eat that delicious (lækkert på dansk) food :D now I can't even wait for Christmas!

Vi ses :)

Birthday in Denmark / Three months!!

Halløj!!

It's been a while since I last posted something here, but now I have not only one, but two reasons to do it!!

Recado logo de manhã :)

Yesterday was my three month mark of living in this amazing country!! It's unbeliavable how time flies when you're having fun, and thinking that so many great things happened since I got here and that many others will happen in the next 8 months :D

Also, last friday (November 6th), it was my 17th birthday, and I can't put into words how much it was great to have the chance to enjoy it on the Danish way both on Friday and Saturday, and I'll tell why!

On Friday, I woke up early and went to school, like always (but not quite like in Brazil, where I normally skip school on my birthday), and I missed 1st class to buy some flødeboller, as it is part of the tradition to buy some, take them to school and give them to your classmates! At night, there was a dinner with my current and next host families (also my counsellor, which is also my next host dad), and we ate frikadeller, and it was my choice :)  And of course there were some gifts! My current h.f. gave me two boxes of Lego and two keychains with something Danish, together with a hoodie, a t-shirt and a pair of gloves from my next parents and the Rotary Club, and I'm very glad for those!!

On Saturday, there was a party, offered to me by Lone and Erik (my host parents), and I got to invite some friends, mostly other exchange students!! Not everyone made it but I was very happy for the ones who came! There were also two past exchange students from the Rotary club and Lone's sister, Dorte, with her little son!

On the party we ate (lots of) cake, like the kagemand, which is a cake shaped as a person and decorated with lots of candy, and according to the tradition, the birthday boy/girl cuts the cake's "head" while everyone screams, because the cake is being "killed"! After, we had some chocolate cake with a Brazilian flag made with M&M's on the top, and later some lagkage (layer cake), filled with chocolate and pineapples; it's not necessary to say that we ate a lot that night!! We also had some games and other stuff, and some even stayed over as they came from a little far :)

Some other Danish traditions followed over the course of the two days were, per example, eating little buns called "fødselsdagsboller" with hot cocoa on Friday afternoon and keeping a flag hoisted on the garden while the fest was going! And here (as it may be possible to see on the pictures), the national flag is largely used for celebrations, as it also means that! There are flags for cakes, spreading on the floor, holding, and many other situations!!

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate it here, and I'm really glad to have so many people here making it all feel even more like home :)

Brazil, USA, Denmark, Canada, Chile and Italy all in the same picture

And last but not less, the video of the kagemand ceremony:

Tak for at læse den og hej hej!

*a candy made of marshmallow covered by a fine layer of chocolate

How the transports work

Hejsa!

The bus I normally ride

Today I will speak about how transports are like here! First, I will speak about the busses, then trains, cars, bicycles and, lastly, walking. On one of the last posts, I talked about the school, and that I always take a bus there. Here the local traffic companies (trafikselskaber) are responsible for the busses, and here it is called Sydtrafik. Each region has a different one, and this influences on how the busses look like, on prices and some other things. There are three ways to pay for your trip: buying it in the bus, using a Rejsekort or showing your Ungdomskort. But what are those?

Rejsekort: a prepaid card that can be used countrywide, both on trains and busses, and it gives you some discount over the normal ticket, according to the kind of card you have.

Ungdomskort: that's the one I have. It is a card which you pay 12 DKK (US$1,80 or 1,60€) per day to be able to travel without limits inside a certain area. So, if you want to visit your friend, and he/she lives in the same area as you, then you can visit he/she for free! And there’s more: to go to any other zone in the whole country, there’s a 50% discount on the ticket! (Update in Sep 2018: apparently, it doesn't work like that anymore; instead, everyone that fits in the "Ung" category = 16 to 25 year olds, get a 25% discount over the normal price, and the Ungdomskort is not anymore needed to get that discount, that applied to DSB's trains).

A good thing is that the busses are not normally delayed, and always follow their path; also, there’s an app called Rejseplanen, that has data of every bus and train the whole country; it is literally a saviour when you want to get back home or travel somewhere!

Apart from the busses, there are also trains, as mentioned before; there are railways all over the country and it’s possible to travel between every medium or large town using them without hassle. There are currently five train types running in Denmark, most operated by DSB, the former state-owned rail company and the largest one in the country. They are:

• InterCity, that runs between major cities and stops at every station.
• InterCityLyn, that’s like the first but stops less.
• Regional, which runs slowly, stops at every station and has less comfort.
• S-tog, the regional train at Copenhagen metro area.
• Finally, the trains operated by Arriva, a German train company.

Train routes in Denmark

It’s worth noting that, even that having a car here is expensive (the registration tax is up to 180% of its value and gas costs US$5,63 per gallon/1,34€ per litre), many people still buy and maintain cars and use them to commute, travel and even to come to school, because of how convenient it is and for them not to depend on trains, busses and bicycles. Because of that, many works like the Vejlefjord bridge were made and widened to bear the growing traffic of cars and trucks here.

The Lillebæltsbroen, linking Fredericia in Jutland with Middelfart in Funen.

We can’t forget about bicycles! Denmark, together with the Netherlands, are famous for their extensive use of bicycles and for making the necessary infrastructure for their good use. Here, many main roads have a special bicycle track parallel to them, and almost every main road on a city has a bike lane on the side. Many people use them to go to work or school, and in Copenhagen, almost half of the commuters in the city use the bike, 45% to be more exact.

The bicycle I use (with autumn on the background)

Rush hour in Copenhagen

Lastly, but not less important, here is very common to walk to places, not just small distances (less than a km/0,6mi). This may be one of the reasons why every medium to large sized city here has their main shopping point on a walking street, or gågade in Danish. It is there or around it that many things happen and where it’s possible to but a large array of stuff, like food (there’s always a market), clothes, personal items, and some others, and normally every gågade has a set of stores that are present in every city, maybe because of coincidence or because they like to be in the middle of everything!

I hope it was a good and informing article of how people get around in here :)

Vi ses!

Food in Denmark

Hej!

Pålægschokolade

One of the most important parts of living in another country is the food that is eaten there. Be it for one, three or twelve months, it's always odd to change your eating habits to another country's, where sometimes people can eat really different food.

I wouldn't say that the local cuisine is very different from Brazil's, but what's most different is how and when they eat.

Breakfast is different according to the day of the week: on weekdays, a faster meal is more common, like oats with some milk and sugar or bread with some butter or something else on top. On weekends there's more variety, like bread with some types of toppings, hard or soft boiled eggs, etc. One of those toppings is called pålægschokolade, which are thin slices of chocolate that are put on top of a buttered slice of bread, and it is only eaten in here!

Rugbrød: whole rye bread, one of those
foods you whether love or hate...

Lunch is the most different for us, because it's rarely made at home with the family, like it is in Brazil. Normally it's made of (once again) bread, most of times rugbrød, with meat, eggs, veggies, and some other things on top of it, and to drink there's juice, coffee, tea, milk, or some variation of that. It's worth telling that most people pass a layer of butter in the bread before topping it, both on lunch and breakfast.

Dinner is normally the only hot meal on the day and also the largest, and it can consist of both Danish dishes or worldwide food. Some examples of Danish dishes are:

• Hakkebøf - basically hamburgers that are not eaten between two buns, but in a plate with something else.

• Frikadeller - pork meatballs, that can be served with potatoes, rice, vegetables, pickes, etc.

• Flæskesteg - roast pork with crackling, served with boiled potatoes and red cabbage (rødkål). The sauce is called brun sovs, and it's made out of the meat's gravy thickened with flour and butter.

Hakkebøf

Flæskesteg

It's also noteworthy how the diet here can be healthy: most families eat vegetables like carrots, beets, peas, brocolli and cauliflower on the meals, bread made with whole flour (other than rugbrød), and also the large presence of organic food, with a strong control from the government to guarentee its procedence.  Those products are called "Økologisk", and are present in pratically every product category, and not all the time with a (very) higher price tag.

But, as no cuisine in the world has only savoury hot dishes, those are some sweets and desserts eaten here:

Koldskål

• Rødgrød med fløde - lots of Danes, at least once, ask the foreigners to say this name out loud, and normally we fail because it's REALLY complicated. It basically is a red berry pudding eaten with some cream and/or milk.

• Koldskål - small butter cookies in a plate with soured milk. It seems weird, and some other exchange students don't like the milk, but I guarantee that it is a welcome sour taste! It is normally served during summer and it's eaten cold.

• Risalamande - a rice pudding that is mixed with whipped cream and minced almonds, and then served with some red berry sauce. It's traditionally eaten at Christmas eve dinner.

Some more:

Drømmekage

Wienerbrød

Æbleskiver

• Drømmekage - white cake with a topping made with shredded coconut, brown sugar and butter to join it all; there's also a chocolate version. Fun fact: it literally means "dream cake", which is a suitable name for it!

• Æbleskiver - it means "apple slices" but they're actually batter balls cooked in a special pan and served with icing sugar and jam

• Wienerbrød - pastry made with multiple layers of dough with butter in between and filled with jam, cream or chocolate. Americans may know it as a "danish", but the ones in here are (of course) more authentic ;) 

There are lots of other facts about Danish food, and other plates that are not from here but were modified around here to please the locals! And while I write, I keep recalling some other food that could be added but this way, the post would be a tad too long, so if anyone is curious about it, feel free to write me :) 

Kan alle have en god uge!

(I wish that everyone has a good week!)

Changing seasons

Árvore em Børkop

It's been a little more than two months since I arrived here, so I wanted to show some changes that happened in the meanwhile! Maybe I'll speak a little too much about the weather, but something we learn here is that the weather is not something bad to talk about because of how much it can change!

Something special for someone who moves from a tropical to a temperate area is when the season changes: the sun goes away sooner or later, the leaves start to fall or grow back again, the temperatures go down or up slowly...

Here we're still in early autumn, but right when the season started, it was noticeable that the sun went away at 9PM instead of 10PM, and then at 8, and after that it's 7 and dark already. The same in the mornings: before, I'd leave with my bike when the sun was in the horizon, now it's not even there yet!

Aquela dor no coração quando a temp. máxima na semana será de 10ºC (com mín. menor que 5ºC)

And it's even funny to think how could I be cold in Brazil when the temperatures went 15º C/59ºF and below! When it's that "cold" here in this season, people would go outside, stay in the sun, eat outside, well, do everything to enjoy the day, and they don't even know how it is to live in temperatures above 30ºC/86ºF almost year round...

Those things are learned when you really jump into the place where this is common, and when you have the chance to live it for more than just a few days, and for me that's one of the great things about the Exchange, to change your concepts about things we'd never think about before we put our feet in here!

That's it for today :) vi ses!