Hey everyone! I'm still working on the Berlin posts (they will all get posted!) but I wanted to tell about what I'm doing right now - I'm in Denmark with my host parents! A while back, my oldest host sister and my host mom asked me if there was anywhere I wanted to go in Europe. I had just been thinking about Denmark, and how I didn't know really anything about what was there. So I blurted out "Denmark", and then added on "or the Netherlands" since I've wanted to visit there for a long time (my Oma and Opa from my dad's side are from there). And honestly, I don't regret it one bit! Denmark is beautiful! I managed to find internet here (we're visiting family of my host father, and we're also traveling around Denmark), so I thought I'd make a post about what's going on! I'm just going to focus on the words, something always seems to go wrong/malfunction when I add pictures (I'll try and make another post later that focuses solely on pictures). This is probably going to be short and sweet in comparison to my other posts, since it is for the most part directly from my Denmark travel journal, kept in the notepad app on my phone.
The first day in the afternoon we set out on a 4 and a half hour journey from Hamburg to a place with my host fathers sister in North Judland, Denmark. It was late by the time we got there, so after staying up a little bit, talking with my host parents and my host fathers sister's boyfriend (she wasn't home yet, I met her the next day), I crashed into bed.
The second day, we went to the northernmost point in Denmark, where we saw where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea meet. Beautiful! You could see the differences between the two seas - one was darker and wilder, the other lighter and calmer - and you could clearly see the point where they meet up, which was really cool. I don't know if my photos of it really caught the essence of it. We also got to wander through a little bit of the Danish towns nearby, which was nice... the architecture of the houses is unique, a specific style. A lot of houses are small, cute, and yellow, with reddish brown or grass roofs perched on top. We got lunch at a bakery/cafe (many different types of brotchen, all sehr lecker ((very yummy)), and a cinnamon bun like thing with a center of vanilla pudding ((also lecker!))), and continued on to Sand Dunes, which was amazing! It wasn't something I had expected to see in Denmark, but there it was! Spectacular, and I'm not going to lie - it made for a lot of good photos. My host parents and I had a lot of fun there. If I lived near it, I would visit it as often as possible! After that, we headed back to my host aunt's (I guess that is what she technically is, and its a lot easier to write) house, where we had an amazing traditional Danish meal. The Kartoffeln (potatoes) were in a traditional Danish sugar dressing that I need a recipe for (I'm a potato lover), and there was delicious meat (but I honestly couldn't tell you what animal it's from) with gravy. There was also Rotkohl (red cabbage, prepared specially... tastes good) and another veggie salad. All extremely good! After that, we had dessert, which consisted of chocolates and other foods from all over the world (some of the chocolate was from Australia, some from Denmark) . My host parents are from Poland (but now live in Germany), as is my host dad's sister, my host father's sister's boyfriend is from Denmark, and of course, I'm from Canada. It was cool, because it made for 4 languages circling around one table among 5 people (Polish, Danish, German, and English). All in all, it was pretty fun! After that, I took a much needed shower (the sand from the dunes was everywhere!), and went to bed.
On the third day (yesterday), I, my host parents, and my host fathers sister got into the car and went to a small fishing town. My host parents went for a walk with their dog while me and my host aunt (I don't know if that's actually what I should call her, but it is easier for writing, and probably for reading too) went inside a museum which has the world's longest wooden boat in it (which we got to go into!!). That was really interesting! After that, we all drove to a city. I don't know what it's what it's actually called, but I think it was Aalhus. Anyways, my host aunt's daughter is going to university there, so we got to meet up with her, and she showed us around the city a little bit, which is really beautiful. I saw a lot, but didn't take any pictures (I have absolutely no regrets though, because I had a great evening, and was too busy talking with my host cousin to be able to take photos). After that, my host parents, host aunt and I all got into the car and went back to my host aunt's house where we had a delicious meal, and then went to bed. And now we are caught up to today! Nothing has happened yet today, since I woke up and started writing this at 5:30 in the morning. I am naturally an early riser - even if I stay up very late I normally have trouble sleeping in past 7:30, normally waking up at 6:30. Today is time change day in Germany/Denmark, which makes my normal 6:30 wake up into a 5:30 wake up. I don't mind it, though. I think today is set to be a drive back home to Hamburg, but maybe we will do something else... I don't really know (but I like that... it's made Denmark into one great big pleasant surprise, since I didn't know anything about it before coming). If anything other than a drive back home happens, I'll be sure to write about it!
I'll try and post the photos later on - but for now, that's all for this post!
I hope you are all doing well, and I'll hopefully talk to you soon!
-Jason
The first day in the afternoon we set out on a 4 and a half hour journey from Hamburg to a place with my host fathers sister in North Judland, Denmark. It was late by the time we got there, so after staying up a little bit, talking with my host parents and my host fathers sister's boyfriend (she wasn't home yet, I met her the next day), I crashed into bed.
The second day, we went to the northernmost point in Denmark, where we saw where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea meet. Beautiful! You could see the differences between the two seas - one was darker and wilder, the other lighter and calmer - and you could clearly see the point where they meet up, which was really cool. I don't know if my photos of it really caught the essence of it. We also got to wander through a little bit of the Danish towns nearby, which was nice... the architecture of the houses is unique, a specific style. A lot of houses are small, cute, and yellow, with reddish brown or grass roofs perched on top. We got lunch at a bakery/cafe (many different types of brotchen, all sehr lecker ((very yummy)), and a cinnamon bun like thing with a center of vanilla pudding ((also lecker!))), and continued on to Sand Dunes, which was amazing! It wasn't something I had expected to see in Denmark, but there it was! Spectacular, and I'm not going to lie - it made for a lot of good photos. My host parents and I had a lot of fun there. If I lived near it, I would visit it as often as possible! After that, we headed back to my host aunt's (I guess that is what she technically is, and its a lot easier to write) house, where we had an amazing traditional Danish meal. The Kartoffeln (potatoes) were in a traditional Danish sugar dressing that I need a recipe for (I'm a potato lover), and there was delicious meat (but I honestly couldn't tell you what animal it's from) with gravy. There was also Rotkohl (red cabbage, prepared specially... tastes good) and another veggie salad. All extremely good! After that, we had dessert, which consisted of chocolates and other foods from all over the world (some of the chocolate was from Australia, some from Denmark) . My host parents are from Poland (but now live in Germany), as is my host dad's sister, my host father's sister's boyfriend is from Denmark, and of course, I'm from Canada. It was cool, because it made for 4 languages circling around one table among 5 people (Polish, Danish, German, and English). All in all, it was pretty fun! After that, I took a much needed shower (the sand from the dunes was everywhere!), and went to bed.
On the third day (yesterday), I, my host parents, and my host fathers sister got into the car and went to a small fishing town. My host parents went for a walk with their dog while me and my host aunt (I don't know if that's actually what I should call her, but it is easier for writing, and probably for reading too) went inside a museum which has the world's longest wooden boat in it (which we got to go into!!). That was really interesting! After that, we all drove to a city. I don't know what it's what it's actually called, but I think it was Aalhus. Anyways, my host aunt's daughter is going to university there, so we got to meet up with her, and she showed us around the city a little bit, which is really beautiful. I saw a lot, but didn't take any pictures (I have absolutely no regrets though, because I had a great evening, and was too busy talking with my host cousin to be able to take photos). After that, my host parents, host aunt and I all got into the car and went back to my host aunt's house where we had a delicious meal, and then went to bed. And now we are caught up to today! Nothing has happened yet today, since I woke up and started writing this at 5:30 in the morning. I am naturally an early riser - even if I stay up very late I normally have trouble sleeping in past 7:30, normally waking up at 6:30. Today is time change day in Germany/Denmark, which makes my normal 6:30 wake up into a 5:30 wake up. I don't mind it, though. I think today is set to be a drive back home to Hamburg, but maybe we will do something else... I don't really know (but I like that... it's made Denmark into one great big pleasant surprise, since I didn't know anything about it before coming). If anything other than a drive back home happens, I'll be sure to write about it!
I'll try and post the photos later on - but for now, that's all for this post!
I hope you are all doing well, and I'll hopefully talk to you soon!
-Jason