And now for the last post of this little group! (this could turn into two, its totally possible, it might get pretty long)

I will start with paperwork challenges. As you know, it takes a TON of work to live in another country. Add being a minor to that, and it seems almost impossible. Monday after school, I went to the Bornholm's Kommune to get my paperwork in the system. After waiting for thirty minutes, we were informed that we were in the wrong place. I needed to go to the police station. Wednesday during school, Claus picked me up and took me to the police station. There I gave them all of my paperwork, and had my fingerprints and picture taken. They also said that if I had submitted the form online it would have been much faster. The travel agent that helped us now seems rather uninformed, because she also told me to take money that I did not need. (Mom, I will bring back the sealed envelope unless you say differently) That being said, in about four months I get a card that means I can travel to other countries without my passport because I am a temporary resident of the US. I think I also get something in my passport. Honestly, I am not quite sure what happened. The next visit was after school on Wednesday. I think it was to get something registered, but I'm not completely sure. I originally thought we were going to get a bus card, so I didn't bring my passport. Thankfully, once we realized that I needed my passport, it was only a three minute drive back home to go grab it. Still not completely sure what we were doing there. Claus then went to get me a bus card, but was told that I needed something called and NEMID. So that is what I got today. Tomorrow we will attempt to get a bus card yet again, this time with a nemID. After that, I think the only thing I have to do is pick up the temporary residency thing in a couple months, although it is completely possible I'm not done.
   OK. That turned out longer than I expected. Lets move on to something more interesting. Extra curriculars!! The first day I was here, they talked to me about extra curricular activities. Claus emailed the music school in Roenne, and the director said he would talk to me about opportunities to play trumpet. I am joining a full symphony at the music school, and he waved the fee so I will be playing for free. He also so that maybe he could give me music theory lessons, or I could take private lessons with the trumpet teacher. I start the symphony on the ninth of September, and am super excited to be able to play trumpet again! He also mentioned another trumpet student that I should talk to, who just happened to be in my music class in Gymnasiet! I mentioned to him that I ride horses, and he also contacted the riding club in Nexoe the same day. I get to ride for the first time tomorrow, and I am super excited even if it is just a skill evaluation! The last thing is that I mentioned that I played chess, and he contacted the chess club of a neighboring town. It seems like a club full of old white guys, but I may as well go check it out anyway! Anyway, it looks like I will be almost as busy here as I was in Kansas.
     FOOD. Yes the food here is very good. It's probably a little weird to some of you, but it is still amazing. Breakfast: Yes, I am eating breakfast here. It is sort of expected. When I wake up, there could be a couple of things on the table (at least on week days. On weekends it is different) There could be fresh baked rolls from last night, butter and a number of condiments. There also could be muesli, which is kinda like oats but better, and yogurt to put on top (like milk on cereal). Sometimes Lismo gives Nikolai cheerios, but no one else seems to eat them. Nikolai is lactose intolerant, meaning that there are always two types of milk and yogurt on the table. Lunch: Lunch is rather normal I guess. She makes me lunch to take to school, usually a sandwich on rolls or something in between to pieces of rugbroed(rye bread, super dark, really good, can't find it anywhere besides Denmark). She also gives me a piece of fruit. Today, I had to go to Roenne to get my nemID, so she took me out to lunch. I had AMAZING Danish meatballs, potato salad and green salad. Over all, lunch really isn't that exciting. Dinner: Dinner involves meat. Every day. Claus and Lismo seem to split the cooking duties, and I have been helping out some. We have had fish soup like three times. Its just broth with carrots, shrimp and big pieces of salmon. Its actually not awful, and I ate it every time. We had chicken a couple of nights, once just baked with some spices (kinda bland) and once in this spicy Thai sauce with curry paste and bell peppers with rice that was really good. The first three days with Sebastien still here were interesting because they made all his favorite foods that seemed mostly to be meat and potatoes. So I had different versions of meat and potatoes for three days straight. We also had this beef stew over mashed potatoes with coffee in it of all things. It was really good. We had spaghetti with ground beef and red sauce. And lasagna with ground beef and red sauce. And one night we had pepperoni pizza, homemade. All of my lunches involve meat too. Two nights ago, we had bakes salmon that was really good. With potatoes. We eat a LOT of potatoes. Surprise anyone? Nope, didn't think so. With the Thai food we did have rice. And with the soup we just had bread. A lot of bread. They don't seem to eat many vegetables. We have had salad a couple times. And I eat fruit for snacks because they don't really eat crackers here. This family doesn't eat granola bars either, which has been a change because in the US granola bars were my breakfast every day. There is also no chocolate in the house. NO CHOCOLATE. I am dying very slowly of lack of chocolate. THANK YOU CHRIS FOR SENDING ME CHOCOLATE!!!!
Um.... I am going to a language camp on Jutland tomorrow. It lasts a week. Hopefully it will be super fun!! Oh, pictures of the house. ummm. NEW POST>I will post pics of the house tomorrow, after I run around and take them. Anyone who has a skype can skype me and I can take them on a tour! Its a little different than most American houses. Lots of windows.

PLEASE READ THE ONE BELOW THIS FIRST IT WILL MAKE MORE SENSE THANKS!!
And hi again!
    This one is going to be a pretty random combination. I will start with my host family, and how life is living with them. My host family is very nice! The older brother left last Tuesday, so he hasn't been here for a while. The mother's name is Lis Mona, or Lismo. She is very nice. She is a social worker who works with children and families on Bornholm. I believe she is the one who was most excited to have me here, because she got to spoil a daughter. Lismo speaks Greenlandic and Danish, but very little English. She is good for my Danish because she has to explain Danish in Danish instead of resorting to English. The entire family is very athletic. She has weeks where she goes "sugar free" which are interesting because she still eats meat every night, and doesn't eat that many fruits or vegetables. My father's name is Claus. Claus is also interesting. He tends to unexpected start speaking English, mostly when I am trying to tell a story or something, and it doesn't really work in Danish. I also have a little brother. He is thirteen. Nikolai reminds me a lot of my little sister. Plays goalie in soccer, looses his glasses a lot and sings in the shower. Yesterday, apparently he decided he was comfortable with me, because he began running around in boxers and a t-shirt. Lismo does my laundry, and currently packs my lunch, but I will be taking that over. Some pictures of them taken from facebook:

The person on the left is the older brother, Sebastien. He is currently in Mexico. Then comes Lismo, Nikolai and Claus. This was the night before Sebastien left, where we went to a town called Dueodde, got ice cream, and walked along  the beach. By this time it was too cold to stay for too long, but it was fun anyway!
The Sunday after I arrived we went to the beach closer to our house. It was nice and warm, and I was so tired I fell asleep instead of getting in the water. I also have a dog!!! Her name is lady and she is very sweet.

I need to go to bed, otherwise I would transfer over pictures of the house. This is a reminder for me and a preview for you: tomorrow I will post things about crazy paperwork stories, being in the wrong class, language camp, food, and extra curricular activities. I actually have tomorrow off of school, so YAY and I won't be as tired. Thanks for reading!! please comment below. it makes me feel all famous!!

Welcome to Denmark!

Hi Everyone!! Sorry this took me so long. Living in a foreign language is exhausting. I am going to put this post into multiple parts, because it will be easier for me to talk about everything that way.

School: So I will start with talking about school, since that is definitely very different. I'm going to Bornholm Gymnasiet, which is basically the only school past tenth grade on the island. It involves basically a stereotypical high school in America, but it also it connected to a campus that is similar to a vocational school. Students can choose either one. The stereotypical one is abbreviated STX. Nope, I have no clue what it stands for. If you google Campus Bornholm, that is the public website for all of the schools. Yes, there is an English version! STX is organized into three grades, first, second and third. I started in first grade. Each grade has separate classes that you stay with for all of your core classes. My current core classes are Math, Danish, English, Physics, a sciency thing that is currently biology, Biology and Samfund. Samfund is sort of like Danish culture, but it also involves politics. The teacher's basic explanation of Samfund is that it involves the economy, politics, and sociology of Denmark. It is like culture in the way that you can have a samfund of North America, or of the US, or of a specific town. Even a neighborhood is possible. This is the class where we have been discussing feminism and equality in Denmark. We did an income study between our parents, most of the men have less education but a higher income. We also have electives, where half of the grade has a choice of a set of electives, and we all have one of those at one time. I am in music and German. That is a basic overview of the workings of a Danish school.

         Now on to my experiences. The first day was hard. Really hard. I was definitely overwhelmed. They learned that I spoke some Danish, so they didn't give me anyone to help me, just treated me like everyone else. I ended up following the one person who talked to me to lunch. Thankfully, they were all new too so we all got lost together. I was not a happy person the first day. The second day went much better. We got a tour of the school, so I somewhat knew where things were, and I was able to concentrate more on what the teachers were saying instead of being in the right place at the right time. Since this was also the day where people talked to me, I was pretty happy. Wednesday was weird. We started the day with learning how to folk dance, then we learned a Danish song. After this we ate lunch, then went to third period. It was supposed to be 90 minutes long. NOPE. The presentation lasted 15 minutes. Today I made a friend who happened to ride the same bus as I did, so I didn't have to make the 45 minute bus trip alone. There was someone to go with me on Tuesday, and I was driven to school Monday. Thankfully the bus system isn't hard so I don't mind going by myself anymore. Thursday we performed the dance, then got introduced to more classes and teachers. Friday was the same, without the performance. Monday started with the hardest class, Danish. I hadn't met the teacher yet. When he walked in, I couldn't understand a word he said. Huh? Apparently he speaks Bornholmsk. Sorta a cross between Swedish and Danish, the slur some more. And he talked really fast. Needless to say, I will not be understanding much of that class. In Math I'm learning stuff I learned in seventh grade. So no progress but Danish will be made in that class. I'm learning a lot in physics and the other class that is currently physics. I also really like Samfund, even if I can't participate in the discussions. Overall, school is going pretty well, I'm making friends and learning a lot. Thanks for reading the whole thing! I promise that the next post (also tonight after I shower) will have things about my host family and house and extra curricular activities. Bye for now!

Hi everyone! I am officially in Denmark! I am currently sitting in my new room writing this blog post. In a couple of days, I will post pictures of my house and school and things like that. I learned that I have the introductory part of school starting Monday, and the normal part of school starting a week after that. I guess that does mean that I will be missing school for the language camp and the welcome party. My host family is amazing. Their English is very good, but we are all trying to only speak Danish if possible. The older boy is actually still here, but he will be leaving in a couple of days to do an exchange In Mexico. I have a younger brother who is a year younger than I am. He is an obsessive soccer fan and player. I told him I would yell at the refs for him (in Danish). He also talks really fast!!!!! The flights were fine. I didn't have any trouble getting to Bornholm at all. One last small comment. It is really hard to understand jokes in a foreign language. They make no sense.Wait no not done yet. I have been in Denmark for less than a day and my Danish is already improving!! Also, I am glad that they do not speak Bornholm's version of Danish. It is really hard to understand. It is also hard to understand Swedish accented Danish. Now a last comment. Hey Dad my guest mother is going to teach me how to make rugbroed!