I found it quite hard my first day as I was meeting new people, attending new classes and finding my way around a new school - all in Danish. I was really lucky to have a buddy who is helping me for the next few weeks to make sure I get to classes and understand the timetable etc. But I have to say this school couldn't be more different to Marsden. Firstly there is no uniform so naturally I had to wake up half and hour earlier to choose what I was going to wear, secondly there are boys which after going to an all girls school for six years is quite a big change! The atmosphere is really relaxed and in assemblies people just whip out their cellphones or laptops (usually going on facebook) and they don't even get in trouble. I found this quite amusing but I still couldn't pluck up the nerve to do the same as I was worried Mrs Field would miraculously appear standing over me telling me to put it away. The length and setup of their classes is different too, every night before school I have to check online when I start school and what classes I have as they can be cancelled just like that. I was lucky enough to start at 10am two days in a row and leave at 3! They have about 4 classes a day (one of which is an hour and a half long!) and then about 3 20 or so minute breaks.
The classes themselves are quite challenging for me especially as they are all in Danish. History and geography are especially difficult as they are like lectures so it is hard for me to even decipher what the topic of the lesson is! I have only had two days at school but in class I try to listen but usually end up drawing pictures or writing letters as I get so exhausted from trying to understand. The subjects I am taking except for geo and history are English (shouldn't be to bad!), French, sport, Maths and Danish (and no I don't expect to do so well in that subject for a few months!).
The canteen at my school is quick nice too, unlike Marsden's pro good healthy food stance, Fredericia Gymnasium has everything whether it is healthy or not, Sweets, bread, coke, hot food and really good brownie! Plus they have vending machines one of which is a hot drinks machine, I am still to indulge in what is my vice (coffee) but they're not too pricey so I will buy something sometime soon . .
The weekend before school started I went with my host Mum and Dad and Tasmanian exchange student Catherine on a little day trip to Germany. Yes I know, day trip to another country it sounds so wrong - especially when coming to New Zealand where it takes about a year to get anywhere! It was only an hours drive from Skaerbaek and as we approached the Danish-German border Catherine and I were so excited!
Catherine and I crossing the border!
Danish flags lining the road to the border.As we crossed the border we were just so excited. Another country in just an hour was so unusual. I noticed all of the German cars and smiled as I saw all of the new Audi's, Mercedes and BMW's . . I saw several of my favourite cars too, Mercedes 4WD (my dream, if anyone wants to buy me one feel free :)).
We were going to a city called Flensburg which is just about 10 minutes from the border. The main purpose of the trip was to buy alcohol and groceries as they are up to half the price in Germany. We went to a big dairy which had everything in it, chocolate, beer, wine, spirits, gummy bears etc. I saw some wine that you could taste and I looked at the abel and to my surprise it was a New Zealand white wine from Marlborough! I had to take a photo . .
Me and the Crystal Bay Sav . .
They had giant everything, including mentos.
Our small amount of shopping (both of the trolleys are ours!).After our big grocery shop we drove into the city and parked the car so we could have a walk through the main shopping street. But first we walked through what looked like an innocent old German street, but no it was a a little less innocent. This was a street where women sat in the windows selling themselves. It is normal for women to be yelled at whilst walking through this street as they are seen as 'competiton' so I was shaking in my boots (literally it was freezing!) but I was with my host mum Gitte and Catherine so we were all safe.
Prostitute Lane . . Quite pretty to be honest.
I think the women of the night were sleeping as we walked through undisturbed, thankfully! We then continued on a safer route down the pedestrian shopping street where there were lots of stunning old buildings and a few churches. There was a bitter wind and it must have been -10 or so with the wind chill so we thought a coffee would be a good idea. The closest place was a Mcafe but to be honest it was one nice Mcafe, it had armchairs which was awfully civilised.
After a hot coffee we headed back into the cold and went to the local Mall. Catherine and I wandered around for an hour or so by ourselves and we still could't believe we were in Germany! We discovered an amazing chocolate shop which had every type of chocolate you could imagine. I found a chocolate smart car!
That is all from me for now. I am off shopping tomorrow in Kolding as i have the day off school!
Have fun in summer New Zealanders . . . I did see the sun today which was nice.
Farvel!
No comments:
Post a Comment