mandag den 28. november 2011

Another danish one - before the ending

This one will also be in Danish. Sorry to all of you who doesn’t understand it, but unfortunately people who doesn’t understand English also want to follow me ;-)
I actually just thank you guys for following my blog and talking (and talking, and talking, and talking) about this trip and what it have meant to me to be able to be here.
Actually it is just my thoughts and what I’m thinking in this moment. Here we go!  Tusind tak til alle jer der har fulgt med I min blog de seneste to måneder. Det har været så fedt at skrive, mest af alt fordi jeg så gerne vil fortælle folk om det jeg laver. Og det er rart at vide at folk rent faktisk også læser det og følger med i det. Det gør mit lille blødsødende jeg glad.
Det er lige pt. mandag aften, og om halvanden døgn er jeg på vej hjem. Det er vildt underligt at tænke på. De her to måneder er gået så stærkt. Det er helt tilbage i 9. klasse jeg fik at vide at jeg skulle til Seattle. Og jeg har ventet på det så længe, og nu er der kun halvandet døgn tilbage. Men det har været en tur med opture og nedture, og det var været en intet mindre end fantastisk tur! Jeg kom aldrig på efterskole, så jeg har aldrig prøvet at være så længe væk fra mors trygge arme, mad og vaskeevner. Og nu har jeg klaret mig selv, med hjælp fra min hostmom i to måneder. Jeg har været så taknemmelig for at have fået den her mulighed og at jeg har oplevet alt det jeg har. Det har været intet mindre end en fornøjelse at være sammen med min kære klasse og opleve alle de ting med dem. Jeg har fået så meget ud af de her to måneder, men jeg kunne nu sagtens have blevet her i længere tid. Jeg kunne have været her i et år, hvis min hjerne lige var indstillet på det.
Jeg glæder mig til at komme hjem til min familie og til de venner jeg har i lille Danmark. Men den her tur har ændret mig så meget og jeg ville ikke have været den foruden. Jeg har ondt af dem der ikke oplever noget som det her (eller ligesom mig, ikke oplever efterskole). Det er en fantastisk følelse at være af sted og opleve alle de nye ting, bo hos fremmede mennesker og tale et andet sprog. Det bliver underligt at komme hjem til Danmark igen, efter at have vænnet sig til alt det herovre og opbygget en hverdag, til trods for at jeg kun har været her i otte uger. Det er underligt at tænke på jeg kun skal sove i min nuværende seng to nætter mere og så aldrig mere. At det om to dage ikke længere er mit værelse, og at det hus jeg har boet i de seneste to måneder snart ikke længere er ”mit”. Det bliver underligt at det er helt tømt for mine ting når jeg går herfra onsdag morgen. Det bliver underligt at min adresse er dansk. Faktisk bliver det bare underligt.
Jeg vil aldrig glemme den her tur. Det har vendt min verden op og ned og det er helt underligt at skulle tilbage til sin gamle hverdag. Jeg savner det derhjemme, men inderst inde har jeg jo vidst at jeg ville komme tilbage dertil. Der her kommer jeg aldrig tilbage til. I hvert fald ikke minderne og oplevelserne. Jeg kommer højest sandsynlig aldrig til at se mine søde hostsisters fra Kina og Indonesien igen, og høre dem snakke kinesisk og indonesisk. Jeg kommer til at savne min hostmom, Evangeline, som jeg dog allerede har taget afsked med i lørdags. Det er mærkeligt at hun ikke skal aflevere mig på skolen på onsdag. Men jeg håber at kunne se hende igen, hun har jo trods alt været min ”mor” herovre. Hun har gjort mit ophold herovre så fantastisk og hun har været så venlig og skør og fantastisk. Hun kommer helt klart på listen over ting jeg kommer til at savne mest. Hun har givet mig oplevelser jeg ikke ville have kunnet få med klassen og det har været fedt at bo hos hende og lære hende at kende.  
Men der er en ting jeg aldrig vil glemme, som jeg nok kommer til at savne mest: Seattle. Det er underligt at jeg kommer til at savne byen mere end de mennesker jeg har mødt herovre. Seattle er efter mit hoved undervurderet. Det er så smuk en by med bjergene og skyerne, søerne og den natur der er rundt om. Alle vil til L.A. og N.Y. – jeg har ændret mening; jeg skal til Seattle! Det er fantastisk så stort et indtryk den by har gjort på mig. Det er jo næsten mit andet hjem.
I morgen er vores sidste dag, hvor vi har planer om at tage til Seattle. Det bliver underligt at skulle sige farvel til den fantastiske by. To måneder siden havde jeg kun forestillinger om hvordan byen måtte være og hvor fedt det må være. Nu sidder jeg med en følelse af at jeg efterlader det. Hvis jeg kunne blive, havde jeg gjort det. Uden tvivl!
Hvis det er muligt at forelske sig i en by, så har jeg gjort det. Seattle, you own my heart! Jeg vil vende tilbage til dig en dag. Jeg vil tilbage og se dig, genopleve dig, nyde at være til stede. Det syn der er fra Seattle og til Seattle, er noget af det flotteste. Det er ikke bare højhuse som i de andre storbyer, og det er ikke bare natur med ekstra meget natur. Seattle har faktisk det hele. Det er noget af det smukkeste jeg nogensinde har set, og jeg synes ellers selv jeg har set meget. Men Seattle har taget mig med storm.
Får jeg nogensinde muligheden for at komme tilbage hertil – så ville jeg gøre alt for at lade det ske!
My heart belongs to you. I really had the time of my life!
Seattle 2011 – two months that I would never in my life forget.

One day left! (en dag tilbage)

Today we had our last day at school. It was weird, that it was our last day at Edmonds Community College. Wow! But it has been great to go to school. I actually wouldn’t mind study there again. But Seattle owns my heart, so of course I wouldn’t mind ;-)
After school Mette Bækgaard, Mette Bennekov and I took to Alderwood Mall for the last time this trip. And we said goodbye to this lovely mall that actually just stole our money. But I’d still wish I could take it with me to Denmark and exchange it with Herning Centret! No doubt!
After being in the mall, we went to Red Robin to have a real American dinner. With dessert! Mhh, it was really good. If I was hungry before eating, I sure wasn’t afterwards!
After eating at the restaurant, Bennekov’s hostmom took us to this place, with lights. It hard to explain exactly what it was, but you those light you put up at Christmas time. Yeah, that kind of lights and then they have created waterfalls, trees and all kinds of figures and colors, it was so beautiful to watch!
Now I’m sitting in my room talking with my mom on skype. And it’s weird to know that tomorrow is the last day over here. Tomorrow I have to start packing all my stuff, and I really don’t think that’s going to be good! I’m afraid that I would have too much in my bag. And I’m gonna miss Seattle. I wish I could be here for Christmas. I think that I could have been here for a year. I wanted to.
I’m going to enjoy these last hours in USA. I will at no point think about going home – I’ll just live in the moment, because that’s why I’m here!
Nik & Jay once said these clever words (and this one goes to all you danish people!):
En dag tilbage - lev mens du gør det, elsk mens du tør det!

The first goodbye

Well, this Saturday wasn’t all about me being tired and black Friday and using money. Something serious also happened.
My hostmom told me about a week or two ago that she was heading to Hawaii. But I didn’t quite get it before some days ago, when she told me that she was leaving Sunday the 27th. I was like NOOOOO! I’m going home the 30th and you’re not there! So I had my big goodbyes with her yesterday. I’m gonna miss her sooooo much! That Philippine lady made an impression on me, she sure did! And it is so weird that she’s gone and not going to drive me to school Wednesday before going to the airport. I hope to see her again. After all, she was my hostmom for two months; it can’t be true that this was it! Another reason why I have to come back to Seattle ;-)

#4 After every thankgiving - there comes a BLACK FRIDAY!

The school offered us in the beginning of the term, the opportunity to go to Portland, Oregon, to shop on Black Friday, because they have no taxes. Of course everybody wanted to go, because we didn’t only save money because it was black Friday, we also saved the taxes!
So we had to be ready to drive to Oregon 9 AM in the morning. Mostly everybody had big suitcases with them, and then I came with my normal bag. Yup, I was so ready to shop till I dropped. But first of all: driving in bus for 3 and a half hour! Weeee!
Obviously not the best part of the trip, but I just fell asleep, so I didn’t really care about that part.
When we arrived to Portland I was so tired from getting up so early, but we just had to shop. And I had my plans: Apple store! I’ve talked so much about buying an iPod and finally I did, so now I’m the happy owner of a small little baby, iPod nano! I’m glad that I waited until this trip to buy to, because I saved lots of money on it, compared to Danish price and the price in Seattle.
Then we just went from shop to shop and… well, used all of our money (actually I didn’t).
In the evening we went back to the hotel. Me and Mette Bækgaard shared room and then we changed to our pajamas. Or I did, Mette put on her one piece from H&M. we had been talking about it all day and nobody except from Mette Bækgaard, Mette Bennekov and I knew what we were talking about. And in the evening she just went out to the lobby in this one piece! Everybody just looked at her, really fun! But I think the real Black Friday was when all the shops opened at midnight, when people were just waiting in line and going crazy. That was also the time when all the stores had the big sales. But I think this is okay. Maybe overrated, but that's okay for me that there is no big croud of people.
But Bækgaard, Matias, Erik and I were at our room almost all evening. We were playing Ligretto, which is a game that Bækgaard had brought. And of course she won the game.
Besides playing Ligretto we did those things you shouldn’t do on a hotel: jump in the bed, playing with the elevators and all that. And then we came up with this idea that we had to watch a movie. But as on every other hotel, you would have to pay for that. So what to do? Find the wallet and go down to the reception and say that we have five dollars that we wanna spend on a movie. and when we came up to our room, we could use five dollars on everything for five dollars or less. It was like if a kid just got five dollars to candy from its mother. But we’d already decided what movie we wanted to watch, so we just pressed the ‘Order’ bottom (yeah, all we needed was room service!). As always I fell asleep to the movie. I always do that, so of course I did it this time too. But at least I woke up before the ending this time! And it was only 1:30 when the movie was over, and we weren’t that tired anymore. We just talked for some time – before going to the fitness room! Yes, we went to the fitness room 2 AM! It wasn’t fun going to bed at 3:30 at night, and then the alarm started 7 AM again. Man, I was so tired I didn’t wanna get up from bed. But Mette forced me, even though she had a hard time waking me up, and she had less sleep than I had!
And then we went for breakfast before going to this waterfall. It was 45 minutes away from the hotel, but it was an opportunity to sleep, so I did. No problem! And it was a beautiful fall. Mogen, Mette Bennekov and I hiked halfway up. We didn’t have time for more. Or the power to continue, so we just walked back to the bus. And when we came into the bus, guess what? I fell asleep again. We were going to spend the rest of the day shopping in Portland, and honestly I just wanted to sleep, no surprise. But I ended up using money on lots of stuff anyway, so I guess it wasn’t that bad after all. But when we came to the bus in the afternoon to drive home to college – I just didn’t want to be awake anymore, so I decided to sleep! I didn’t sleep as much as I could, but I slept for at least one hour.
My conclusion? Amazing trip to Portland, nothing less!

torsdag den 24. november 2011

The day before THANKSGIVING!

Today is Wednesday, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving!
Yesterday I ate with Emilie, Anne Sofie, Kristine, Clara, Mette and Mette on this restaurant called “Olive Garden” and it was some of the best Italian food! It was really good. We got off from school early, but we made our homework until 6 PM, and then we moved to Olive Garden.
And it was raining! It was raining so terrible much and I was so afraid of getting my computer wet, that I took off my jacket, put on my bag, and then the jacket OUTSIDE me and my bag. It looked like I had the most gigantic ass in the whole America! But my computer didn’t get wet, that was the point. But my shoes and socks became so wet, that I could squeeze them and water could just fall down like a waterfall.
Everything on the menu just sounded good and I didn’t know what to order, because it all just sounded so good. I love Italian food (or food in general), and it had all the Italian specialties, so what to do? SPLIT!
I had some spaghetti with tomato sauce and some pizza. Me and Emilie just split and then we had soup and salad. If it wasn’t for the really ignoring bus-schedules I could easily have been there, waiting for the dessert, but the busses only go once in the hour after 7 PM, so we had no other chance to get home.
Mette Bennekov and I took our bus home and then I was at her place for an hour. And then I borrowed some dry socks. That just made my evening! And then her hostmom drove me home.
Today we were at the Mall, and I bought a new blazer. Uuups! I just love them so much. And I didn’t have one in blue, so actually it wasn’t that bad!
And there is less than a week until we go back to Denmark. I don’t wanna go home, I wanna stay. I hate the feeling that it is soon over. But I’m still glad I’m here now. It’s gonna be good to get home, but for now I’m just gonna enjoy my last days. My hostmom flights to Hawaii Sunday morning, so this is my last says with her. I’m gonna miss that Philippine woman!
But now it’s actually Thursday. It’s thanksgiving today! I don’t know what to expect of it. I think of it as 25th December. Just in November and with other kinds of food. And the amount of food.  But perhaps I shouldn’t compare that much to 25th December. After all, it’s Thanksgiving, not Christmas (YET!!!)
So in case you celebrate this holiday, happy thanksgiving to you. J
And now I wanna go to sleep! Goodnight!

onsdag den 23. november 2011

I DO like Mondays; Frappuchinos - this is your superior!

Mondays are usually bad. But over here, I love Mondays! But that’s because I have a Starbucks-date with Mette Bennekov every Monday after school. That’s one thing that I’m going to miss, because it is really just cozy!
And we took the bus from school and went to QFC to buy some things before going to Starbucks. And when we came to Starbucks there was Christmas music and of course we had to have all the holiday specials. First I had a Peppermint Mocha Frappuchino. And this is what I found out:
YOU LOST CARAMEL FRAPPUCHINO; YOU JUST MET YOUR SUPERIOR!!!!
It tasted like cold after eight chocolate, in this frappuchino! And I mean it, OMG! And all the Christmas music and we were just relaxing and talking and it really made me miss Denmark!  I missed Disney’s Christmas Show, my mom, everything! I was in totally Christmas-mood! And there is not long to Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I’m looking forward to it!
But after being at Starbucks for hours and after drinking TWO drinks, we split up. But only a couple of hours later Mette came to my place to sleep that night. We had so much fun, I won’t say more. We girls never kiss and tell! ;-)

tirsdag den 22. november 2011

Sunday = church!

After a great day in Seattle, my hostmom took me to church. I have never been to church in America before, but what I have heard, it was different from Denmark. So I got up a little early (not too much!) and then me and my hostmom drove to Mette Bækgaard’s place to pick her up, because she was going with us to church. She hadn’t been in church either, so we decided to go together. We went to the St. James Cathedral inside Seattle. It was weird that they had this big church in the middle of everything. But it was a beautiful church.
In USA people are Catholics, so it was not the same kind of church service than in Denmark, but it was fun to see how people prayed all the time and how people were just “chanting”. It was so weird, but a fun experience, that I absolutely will remember!
After church my hostmom took me and Mette to this Korean restaurant. I wasn’t hungry, but we went anyway and had these really weird Korean dishes and I’m sorry, but not all of it tasted that good. Well, I didn’t like it all. So all in all, a little weird day, that somehow turned out to be pretty fun J

Seattle from the air!

This day we had to get up early… again! Think I’ll soon be getting use to get up before 8. But no, I wanted to sleep at least 5 hours more, when my clock said 5:50 AM! A little too early to my taste, but today it was important to get up early.
Matias, Erik, Mogens, Nicolai, Mette, Mette and I had decided to take a water plane from Kenmore to Seattle! And our plane should leave 8:30 in the morning. And we had to get to Kenmore first, so of course that involved getting up way too early to catch the right busses! Mette, Mette, Mogens and I took the same busses, while the others took a cap. It was a big mess with all the tickets and to pay the right things, but we ended up in Kenmore anyway. And then we took the water planes to Seattle! If you don’t know what a water plane is, I can tell you that is it a plane, that instead of landing on ground, it lands on water, ergo water plane. And it was definitely 15 $ worth! You had the whole view and the mountains and the city and it was just in sunrise. It was beautiful and even though the flight only took about 5-10 minutes, it was so cool and I was so glad that I got up that early to get this experience!
When we came to Seattle we wanted to have some breakfast and we walked into downtown and found a place. And it was this kind of healthy place that didn’t have any soda. And all the costumers were all wearing their sports clothes and work out shoes and we just felt a little misplaced. Or I did with my waffles and syrup! But I’m not that into healthy things and all that, so I didn’t mind! ;-)
After that we met with Oliver, Sajan and Nevethan. It was really fun walking around with each other. We went lots of places, but at last we met to go to Theo’s chocolate factory. We took the bus from downtown Seattle to the more silent part of Seattle. And all the streets were so cozy, and there were small bookstores and all that. It was in every way great. And then we climbed this big man, I don’t know why, but it was this sculpture of a big man. And THEN we came to the chocolate factory. Unfortunately all tours were sold out from now and three weeks ahead, but then we just bought a lot of chocolate instead.
After being in Seattle we all headed home with the busses. My hostmom picked me up at the Transit Center, because we were going to watch hockey. We were going to watch Everett vs. Vancouver. I was looking forward to it, because we in our family enjoy hockey. But this was different. Normally I sit with all the fans and cheering. This time we sat in this lounge with lots of food, desserts and drinks. It was so weird, because I’m used to more normal games. But this was just luxurious and my hostmom told her that she often got tickets like this with food and good seats. Now I’m like why didn’t you tell me? But it was a fun experience, and Vancouver won. My hostmom was the only person cheering for them (okay, perhaps not, but almost everybody cheered for Everett).
When we came home from the game, we found out how to turn on the heat on my room. Now I don’t have to be cold anymore! That was nice, but I’d wish we had figured it out just a little before. But it’s better than nothing ;-)

Relax! - take it easy

Friday we go off at 11:20. Well, one half of the class did, after a tutoring class with only 15 students and me sleeping on a chair. I was so tired from being up at night to watch the midnight premiere on Breaking Dawn, that I just somehow fell asleep in class. Well, it was tutoring, but still… not the smoothest move I could do. But I became fresher from eating three Kitkat’s. Again, not a smooth move, but I was not tired anymore.
But Bækgaard, Bennekov and I had decided to eat lunch together at Bennekov’s place. We had a lot of different things and it was really good. We decided before leaving from school that we wanted to go to a spa or massages. But then we saw that there was this pool not that far away from Bennekov’s place, so we walked to this indoor pool to get the message that it was only for closed swim teams. Yaaay that just made us happy. Anyway, we still wanted to take a swim, so we took the bus all the way to Lynnwood to go swimming. But we were not allowed to take a swim there either. But we could be in the spa and the sauna. Actually we would have to be 18 to go to the sauna, but we did it anyway! And it was soooo good. I felt so good afterwards from all the hot water and hot air. And it was so relaxing.
So we didn’t do anything beside from relaxing that day. But we were also so tired, so perhaps that was okay. And we have to get up early Saturday too, because we have big plans in our minds.
And I can reveal this: it involves water planes and chocolate! ;-)

Midnight premiere!

Thursday November 17th. Chemistry and cinema was on my schedule.
Well. Actually I was supposed to do chemistry lab Friday… But I ‘switched’ and did it Thursday instead! And I’m so glad that I was a bad girl (uuh, yeah right!) and made it Thursday instead of Friday. I made my chemistry lab with Erik, and afterwards Ebru and Sajan had invited the entire class to Red Robin to celebrate their birthdays. I was looking forward to do something, the whole class together. So we had a long table to 30 persons and we were all just sitting really close to each other. We all ordered the food we wanted and then we all sang “Happy Birthday” for Sajan and Ebru. Everybody just talked and laughed. I wasn’t that hungry that day, but somehow I still managed to eat half a burger and half a salad (I shared with Mette Bækgaard) and lots of fries, and I was still hungry. Okay, not hungry, I was actually satisfied, but I didn’t mind eating a little more.
When we all were finished eating we split up boys and girls. All the girls, except from Emilie, was going to the cinema to watch the midnight premiere on the new twilight movie “Breaking Dawn part 1”. I was so excited about it, because I have read all the books in English and Danish, and I am a huge fan of the books. More than the movies, books are always better than the movies. I still remember watching the second movie in the twilight-saga, New Moon. It was with one of my friends back in Denmark, and we watched it three times one weekend. Yeah, and then I watched it the following Friday, we’re talking about being a big fan (and perhaps abnormality!). But anyway, we were going to watch this movie and I was so excited!
Normally in Denmark when you order tickets you get a seat, and you have to sit there when you watch the movie. In America, they just say that the one, who comes first, gets the best seat. So as you can imagine, we would have to be there early to get good seats. We came when it was about 9 PM, and the movie would begin 12:02 AM. Three hours of waiting. When we entered the room we had to be in, people had already chosen the best seats, but we found some seats almost in the middle of everything. And then we just had to wait… and wait… and wait… and wait just a little more! Three hours are a lot if you have to sit in a cinema. But we went to Starbucks and bought something to drink and then we just talked, until the movie began. I won’t tell you anything about the movie, but I can tell you that I cried like a little baby. Yes, I am an emotional person and if the characters are crying, so do I! And I was shaking when the climax of the movie came, and I was just about to lose myself, just because it was so good! I have to say this: the movie was better than the book right in that moment!
Well, our movie ended at 2:30 AM, and we had to go to school the next day. Auch! But Mette Bækgaard, Mette Bennekov and I took a cap to Bækgaard’s place and slept there for 4 hours, before getting up to go to school. But it was a really good day, despite of the lab and no sleeping ;-)

onsdag den 16. november 2011

Sushi? Yes please!

Today Emilie, Bækgaard, Bennekov and I made a trip to Northgate to shop ‘till we dropped. It was really fun, and we just went from one store to another. I didn’t buy that much. I bought a present for a friend back home, and then I bought some short leggings for myself for almost 4 dollars. In Denmark it would at least cost me 15 $, so I saved lots of money on it (but it would have been cheap anyway). But we had decided before going that we just had to eat sushi, because none of us, except Emilie had tried it before. I like in general Asian food. Especially I love spring rolls, they are my absolute favorite! I once ate at this Korean restaurant with my hostmom and one of my host sisters, and I did not like all the food they served; especially not the tofu (!!!!). But I’ve always liked fish in every kind of way, so perhaps sushi was what I was looking for. And so we decided to give it a try.
And from that, I can now tell you that sushi is my new thing! It was reeaaally good. But I also love the things they put inside, so it didn’t surprise me that I would like it, when it was all rolled together in one piece. But it was really just good, so now I’ve found out that sushi are my new spring rolls ;-)

søndag den 13. november 2011

Give it up for the Seattle Seahaaaaawks!

Today I felt really American. We were going to watch American football with Seattle Seahawks. And I was soooo excited. I have never before watched a NFL-game in real life, only on television, because of my big brother (who I miss!). Well, the game started 1 PM, but we have to be there some time before. There were a lot of fans in blue and green clothes and face paintings, and it was so wild! I bought a scarf with Seahawks, just to get the feeling of being a fan. Everybody was just talking to you, and they loved that I was a Dane, interested in American football. I wasn’t sure about all the rules, but I certainly became, talking to all the Americans. And of course we wished each other a good game. That was just something they did, because Americans are nice people.


A panoramapicture I took of the stadium
 
When I was standing on the tribune, I could see everything. The whole stadium was in front of me, and I was scared of falling down. We were at the cheap seats, on the top of the top tribunes, so of course there was a long way down. But it didn’t matter, because everybody just made the game so fun! All the fans were screaming and people were cheering for the Seahawks and screamed “Buuuh” every time Ravens had the ball. I had so much fun, and of course the Seahawks from Seattle won 22-17! GO SEAHAAAAWKS!!!!!
My big brother is going to hate me for now becoming a American football fan. Super bowl is now going to be a thing he is going to share with me ;-)


fredag den 11. november 2011

Bo-bo-bo-boeiiiiing! (#3)

Today is Veteran’s Day in the US. I don’t know what it is, but it’s a holiday, which means NO SCHOOL! Absolutely nothing to complain about.
And because there was no school today, we went on a trip to Boeing. It was a trip our school has planned for us, so it was obligated to go. And I was looking forward to it!

Anyway, we should be on EdCC 10:00 AM, and I have to take the bus from Mountlake Terrace where I live. I always get on the bus with Mogens, because we live one street from each other and have to wait for the bus at the same spot. I didn’t know when would be the best to take the bus, so I asked Mogens and he said that the bus went by at 9:20. I thought to myself, that’s fine, so I didn’t think about it again. I went down to the cross, where I’m supposed to take the bus every morning. But when I came to the place where I’m always waiting for the bus, the schedule said that the next bus was 9:37. It takes normally 20 minutes to go to school, so in the schedule it would work out, but our bus is ALWAYS – and I mean always – late, and it is at least ten minutes late. And then I stood there, no busses. I went over the road, to see when the bus went to Lynnwood Transit center (I can take the bus both ways, and then I just have to switch bus at the Transit Center). There was a bus 9:20, but again, I would have to switch bus. Then it hit me that Mogens perhaps thought it was Saturday, not Friday, because we always go on tours Saturday. I immediately called him, so he wouldn’t be late for the bus. And then he ran down to where I was standing. We take the bus 112 and we were waiting on that side of the road, which would take us to Transit Center. And then, behind the trees, we see the bus coming from the other direction – the one that drives to college. Our bus stops are both close to the cross road, and luckily for us, the bus had to hold still in it. We just looked at each other and then we just ran as fast as we could to reach the bus in time. We crossed the road (there was no time for walking over at the crosswalk), and people in cars were looking at us. After crossing the road, we had to cross the crossroad too. The bus was still holding still, so the others in the bus were looking at us. It must have looked fun, because we were passing some runners. They were just running for fun of course and then we came running like crazy to catch the bus. The bus started to drive and while running like idiots, Mogens waved to the bus driver to hold at our bus stop. And so he did. When we came into the bus we thanked the driver for pulling over to the right. One of the passengers on the bus also commented with “a little morning-exercise” and “morning-run”. Normally I run in the morning, but that’s just because Mogens is waiting for me. But this time, it was luck that our bus was late!

When we came to the school, (9:30 to be precisely) it was only us and Matias and Mette Bækgaard who was waiting. Matias, Mogens and Me then decided to get a cup of coffee. In the beginning we wanted to go to Starbucks, but we ended at Aloha Café, a local café that is mostly visited by the college students. While waiting for the coffee, Oliver came and then we went back to the school, with coffee (well, hot chocolate in my case) in our stomachs, and then we were heading Boeing!
I can tell you this about Boeing: it is huge! I mean, of course airplanes are big, but getting close to some of the different parts of the airplane makes you realize how amazingly big these airplanes actually are! And it is the world’s biggest building by volume! It is 13.385.378 m3 in volume! And if you can’t imagine it, just imagine five times six air planes in one building. 2.2 miles, if you wanna walk around the building (3.5 km)! Besides that, it is almost 400.000 m2! If you still can’t imagine it – just imagine it bigger than you started with and then a little bigger! It was really interesting, because our tour guide told the history behind Boeing and the building and gave us a lot of facts about it. It was amazing to see, a building holding airplanes inside like they were just small bikes. And people actually drove in bikes, because the distances between the different bays were so long. You could see how they build these airplanes, and it was amazing. Some of the employees were working with small parts, no bigger than a human hand. And then in the middle of everything there could be a wing. It is amazing how these sizes become one airplane!
And I don’t disagree. It was crazy, so big it was. I can’t even tell you. Unfortunately it is not allowed to take pictures inside the Boeing Everett Factory (the name of this gigantic building!), so I can’t show you the size of it. But big, bigger, biggest – and it actually is!
I can only say that I’m blown away!

tirsdag den 8. november 2011

LOL = Lots of lists! about me using money

Forget about what I said before about America makes you fat. Forget it; America takes your money instead! That’s right, I went to the Alderwood Mall today with Mette Bækgaard, and once again, my card was swiped from one store to the other and suddenly, I was broke again. I don’t regret that I’ve used my money on the things I’ve bought. I just regret using money I don’t have. And if I don’t have money, I would have to ask my parents, and then all the money I’m going to earn this Christmas, is going to be for my parents. Wee, my life!

But I had a list when I went over here, and it said:
- Winter coat (still not bought)
- New pair of converse All Stars (still not bought)
- A new sweater in wool (Desperate in need)
- IPhone (about to buy, in the end of the month, when my money is gone anyway…)
- Makeup from MAC
- A hoodie (perhaps with EdCC mark on.)
- Presents (F***!)
- A nice pair of stilettos, just to freak my mom out.
- Starbucks coffee cup (just because it’s nice)

And now to what I have actually bought:
- Sweater in wool, the only thing on my list that was necessary.
- Makeup from MAC and of course I bought way too much of it.
- Lots of clothes, I won’t fit when spring comes!
- Starbucks. And we are talking big money (perhaps 200$)
- General lots of food and my belly is the proof.
- Tickets to random cultural things, which my mom would appreciate.
- Halloween costume, which didn’t actually cost that much.
- Hair product
- Tickets to the movies. Three times!
- More food. I’m a hungry person.

Things I should used my money on instead: MY ORIGINAL LIST!

My account tells me that I should stop all the Starbucks, but I just can’t because it’s so nice and cozy and good and I love to spoil myself, and my stomach!
Well I can tell you this: I’m just going to use my old winter coat, that’s money saved (even though my mom would have paid it), I’m still looking for the RIGHT pair of All stars, because they don’t seem to have it anywhere I go. The stilettos are cruel, because either they’re ugly or the expensive. Presents: its Christmas when I come home, that must be okay for me to skip that part.
Hoodie from EdCC is almost checked. IPhone – mom said that if I didn’t have enough money I could perhaps borrow. (I love you, mom!) so I should just be happy. But I have to save some money, because I still have to buy the Christmas presents and that. And it’s funnier to buy an Iphone over here, than lots of clothes. But still. It’s hard not to buy stuff over here, it really is!
I guess ABBA was right: money, money, money, must be funny in a rich man’s world!
I hope you guys have a wonderful time. I’m going to bed now, because I’m so tired! See you ;-)

søndag den 6. november 2011

Michael Jackson: (B) EAT IT!

My English teacher will be proud of me now: no Danish!
My mom also started crying when she read my last post. To make sure that won’t happen, I wanna write my diary-kind-of-blog again. And the first thing I wanna say is that…

America makes you (me) fat! Or at least just fatter than you want to be.
Friday night I was hosting a horror-movie-night with Mette Bennekov, Mette Bækgaard, Matias, Nicolai, Mogens and Erik. This was how it went:
My hostmom can’t relax, and even though I said that we would buy our own food, clean up ourselves and all that, she still wanted to help and make food and help with the cleaning. So she of course made a lot of food, as usual. And I ate a lot of it! My first step towards fatness.
People came about 6:30 PM, just before our two really delicious pizzas from Pizza Hut arrived. We ate and ate and ate, and it didn’t take more than 15 minutes, then the pizza was gone! Of course we were 6 to eat it, but it was still fast. And then terror hit us. My hostmom wanted us to sing Karaoke! Yup, my hostmom wanted us to sound like Celine Dion, while we just sounded like cats in a fight. But we got along with it, and sang like crazy. I can tell you this: “Beat it”, “We Will Rock You” and “You were always on my mind” had never sounded more horrible! Perhaps, but American Idol would have sent us to hell, that’s for sure!
After “Beat it” hurting each other’s ears with the singing, we decided to start our horror night! We took blankets, popcorn and chips and made ourselves comfortable in the couch and the chairs (and the floor) and started watching “Bad Teacher”. Not that much horror, but it was a fine movie. I just don’t wanna watch it again. Then we went to the next movie “Black Hawk Down” or something like that. I didn’t pay any attention to it, and I don’t think anybody else did. Well, 10 minutes later we decided to switch to the next movie “Stripper Academy” and as the name might reveal there were a lot of naked women. I can tell you this about the movie: the horror in this movie was how terrible bad it was! THUMBS DOWN LIKE NEVER BEFORE! I have never in my life seen such a bad movie and if I ever hear somebody talking about showing that movie, I will kill myself! No plot, no characters and the man we think was the main character, who we never found out who was anyway, was always trying to get laid, and he never did. The one, who made that video, was absolutely not my favorite. Perhaps not sober either!
Then we finally reach the (first and only) horror movie of the night, “Halloween”. It was about a boy, named Michael, who was a psychopath and killed everybody in the world. And of course he wore a mask, like the booh-man in the horror movies always does. It wasn’t a horror movie like “Friday the 13th” or “The Grudge” or “Scream” – it was just blood and screaming and no light during the whole movie. There was more light coming from the credits when the movie was over, then from the rest of the movie. Disappointed? You bet!  
But even though our movies was the worst s**t in the world, it was a good evening. Not at least because it was in good company! And with a lot of candy, so this was the beginning of my fat-days.

Because after every Friday, there comes a Saturday. And this Saturday was spend with Bennekov and Bækgaard in Seattle. And of course we had to eat lunch at “Hard Rock Café” and it was so awesome! Our waitress (can you call it that, if it’s a male?) was singing along with the songs – and it was EVERY SONG! A shame that he wasn’t present during my hostmom’s Karaoke the night before.
We all ordered the same burger: Local Legendary! And what a burger! It was just as tall as my head! Okay, maybe not that tall, but it was really tall! And it was the best burger I have had in looooong time. Then Bennekov took a bite of this green thing on the top, which looked like some kind of pepper. I never knew what it was, but she said to me that I had to try it and I should do it from the middle of the green pepper thing. Now, you can imagine what happened now: I took a bite of this green thing. Spicy the first second? No. Spicy the next 45 minutes? YOU BET! My tongue was in pain. Nothing I did would make it stop hurting. Normally I can eat chili and jalapeños, but this thing was say too spicy, even for me! If you ever have the Local Legendary in Seattle’s Hard Rock Café, listen to me: don’t eat the green thing on top, unless you wanna die in pain!
Well, I was so full after that lunch, that I thought I would never have to eat again that day. I was of course wrong, because Bennekov and I just had to go to Starbucks. Just because we can! And we were starting get tired from the last night, mostly because of the no-sleeping-thing you always do when you’re having a sleepover. But that shouldn’t keep us from going to the pancake house for dinner! And it was a fluffy pancake with ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce and it was definitely heaven on earth! After that I once more decided not to eat more. But when I came home to my place with Bækgaard, I just had to have a brownie. If I wasn’t full that day, I don’t know when I am! It is just before I wanna compare it to the feeling you have, after eating everything you can 24th and 25th December! And I eat a lot those days, but this time… God, I was so full after eating!
And now I am wondering whether I should go upstairs and take a brownie... hmmm, what to do in situations like this? Eat just a little more… Okay then!

So if America doesn’t make you fat, I don’t know how to argument for my belly!

torsdag den 3. november 2011

A danish novel - by me!

Today, my blog will be Danish. First, I wanna apologize to my English teacher, because this blog is my assignment in English, but this is not one of my four “English-assignment-blogs” so this one I wanna write to all the ones who think my English sucks, or my grandparents, or just people who wanna read a novel (yes, today I will be writing a lot!). Another reason for the Danish blog today, is because I can’t express this good enough in English. Perhaps I could, but I want to do this in Danish. Here we go!

Tak til jer der følger med i min blog og læser i den. Det er fantastisk at få beskeder hjemmefra om hvordan folk synes det er spændende at høre om de ting jeg laver. For jeg laver så frygtelig meget. I starten mens jeg var herovre, skrev jeg dagbog hver aften. Jeg gør det ikke mere, det er der simpelthen ikke tid til! Jeg vil opleve herovre, og det gør jeg. Jeg lever livet som jeg aldrig har gjort det før. Jeg har kun to måneder (nu kun fire uger tilbage!) og jeg kan allerede mærke hvordan jeg føler tiden er løbet fra mig. Jeg føler ikke jeg har nået alt det jeg ville. Jeg føler allerede at tiden er gået og at jeg skal hjem. Og jeg er jo kun lige kommet.
Men det var ikke det jeg ville fortælle jer om. Jeg vil fortælle jer om hvordan jeg har det indeni, i disse øjeblikke (ja, vi skal være sentimentale nu).

Jeg gik ned til bussen i dag for at tage til Talk Time. Jeg havde min ene høretelefon i øret, og hørte noget John Mayer. Klokken var omkring halv seks, da jeg gik ned til bussen. Himlen var skyfri og jeg gik på 48th Avenue, op til mit busstoppested, som lå ved 236th Street, tre gader fra mit hus. Solen var på vej ned, og den varme rødorange farve skinnede stærkt på den iskolde blå himmel. Der kørte stort set ingen biler, og jeg kunne se træerne stod med deres efterårsblade og blafrede til den lille smule vind der stort set ikke var der. Man kunne skimte bjergene i baggrunden, et imponerende syn, jeg ville ønske jeg kunne have taget et billede af, men intet billede ville kunne beskrive det. Jeg gik helt stille og roligt, kiggede mig omkring på gaderne, hvor der ikke var en sjæl. Jeg følte jeg var den eneste i verden og jeg elskede det. det var øjeblikke som dem jeg ville ønske tiden frøs, og at jeg kunne gå i evigheder i dette vidunder. Man skal leve hvert øjeblik i sit liv, og på trods af at jeg intet lavede, følte jeg at jeg levede i præcis det øjeblik. Jeg havde lyst til at stoppe op, bare for at nyde det. Lukke øjnene og indånde den kolde luft. Og jeg havde gjort det, hvis det ikke var fordi verdenen skyndede på mig. Bussen var et kvarter forsinket, så jeg skulle jo have gjort det alligevel. Mit øjeblik glippede da jeg stod foran det triste busstoppested, hvor solens stråler ikke ramte. Jeg skulle have stoppet op, givet mig tid til at stå og mærke at jeg levede.
Det er dén følelse jeg kommer til at savne. I Danmark har jeg en masse skole, jeg har alle mine veninder, jeg har et fritidsjob, jeg har en masse sport jeg går til. Jeg har ikke tid til det i min verden. Og jeg ser ærlig talt de her otte uger som ferie fra det liv jeg normalt lever. Og jeg kunne blive her for altid. Bare for at have den følelse af at jeg lever. Og at jeg rent faktisk lever.

Stres og jag det er bare ikke mig! Jeg er typen der kan kigge ud i ingenting og bare slappe af og nyde. I slutningen af 1.g og starten af 2.g mediterede jeg. Men herovre er det bare om at finde udsigten, slukke telefonen og så bare lukke øjnene. Hvis du aldrig har gjort det før – gør det!
De sidste uger skal jeg nyde. Jeg vil nå det hele, koste hvad det vil. Jeg vil på ingen måde tage hjem, med følelsen af at jeg manglede noget. Jeg skal have noget ud af det her ophold, andet end skole og shopping i Alderwood Mall!

Jeg har opgivet at være sporty herovre. Det duer ikke, jeg løber kun en sjældent gang i mellem herovre. I stedet vil jeg gå en tur og så bare slappe af 100 %. Jeg behøver ikke være sammen med nogen 24/7, sådan er jeg slet ikke indrettet. Jeg skal have min alenetid, og det skal jeg bare. Tror det var derfor skæbnen ikke ville have mig på efterskole. Min alenetid ville forsvinde fra mig.
Jeg ville nå alting. Sende postkort, skrive breve og alt det der. Det har jeg ikke nået endnu. Jeg undskylder på forhånd, men min tid er løbet fra mig, og jeg orker ærlig talt ikke til at skrive det. Får I et postkort, er i heldige. Hæng det op på køleskabet!

Klokken er pt. 23:36 (11:36 PM). Otte timer bagud i forhold til Danmark (i skiftede til vintertid en uge før os, ellers er det ni timer jeg er bagud). Jeg sidder på min seng, for jeg skal ikke i skole før 12:30 PM i morgen. Jeg vil til at i seng, for jeg er træt og jeg vil gerne sove og få noget ud af min formiddag (den der løbetur jeg ikke kommer på, det der spabad min hostmom forbyder mig, nyde den udsigt jeg kommer til at savne).
Igen, tak for at læse det. Hvis du sprang direkte til slutningen: tak fordi du kiggede, men du gik glip af det tårevæddende øjeblik længere oppe, hvor jeg afslørede mine følelser.

Again in English. Thank you so much for reading this. You guys are the best of all!
See you soon – with more detail about my trip.