Back in the country with hills

I am not afraid to admit that I’ve been crying - just a bit. It happens when I'm alone, realizing what has changed in me since I got left. Coming back to my old room was the strangest feeling I've had for years. Everything was just as I had left. And it bugged me. It bugged me so much. Why, why were everything the same in my room? Because I know I've changed, why hasn't it?. 

My parents don't think I've changed. They don't even think I've gotten bigger. Oh well, who can expect me to get taller? Everything except in my room has changed. I can't say it in a positive or a negative way, it has just changed. Some things has happened within my family I can't discuss, but it won't be the same as when I left. 

I feel like my room doesn't fit me anymore. I've grown out of it. 

It’s been such a long plane ride home, a lot longer than I thought the flight was in August. It might have been because of the thoughts of leaving this beautiful country called Canada, and these beautiful people – inside and out. This is a goodbye for many from me, and I’m so terribly sad about that. And there are of course some things I want to say after staying in Canada for a year.

Thank you, LCCVI’s music department and all it's teachers for being awesome.

Thank you, Aria and Myriam, for being the support in my first three months in Canada. You guys were experiencing the same things, and we had so much fun. Remember Stratford and the Halloween things? I’ve missed you the rest of the time I’ve been in Canada, but thank god all of us live in Europe.

Thank you, Tom and Stephen for giving me rides from Oil Springs to Petrolia in what looked like everyday the second semester. These guys are awesome people, actually so cool that I do not have words for it. Not only have they been good drivers (without accidents) they are good friends and extremely nice. Stephen and Tom are true bro skis.

Thank you Rachel, for singing with me, being funny, giving me a necklace I will carry with me, and being a friend. And for being exactly who you are!

Thank you Kyla, for being the first person to ask me to go home with you after school and taking me to homecoming. You have been awesome, and you still are, and I love yoouu! And to Amber; all of these things said above counts for you too.

Thank you, Lukas, for being an awesome partner in Badminton even though we might not have done thaaat well. By the way, you are pretty awesome at the piano! Dark Horse!

Thank you Brendon, for trying to make me teach you German and for some good running in the winter evenings. It’s been a pleasure!

To Chris Jamieson, who ALWAYS makes me smile!  Show me some an eagle who can fly!

Madison, Jenn - you guys... you guys are amazing.

Xavier, Andres  - awesome exchange students living nearby. ‘Nough said.

Thank you Marisa, for a good laugh every day the first semester. As I have said so many times, you are the happiest person I have ever met, we’ve shared so many laughs, and it’s been a pleasure to be roommate with you in New York. And of course Corinne too !

Madeleine and Amy; thank you for being Amy-roo and Maderoo. You are my favourite Aussies, I will miss you terribly when you are back in Australia. But the words would be: Let’s travel.

Elin, Laura, Annelien, Janina, Yuki, Rikako, Pierre, Elie, Reynaldo, Joel, Anne(s),  etc. Just because… YFU exchange students are awesome.

Thank you Lindsay, first of all for calling me a donut. For teaching me to skate, going to the movies with me, taking me to semi formal, going dog sledding with me, sharing our locker, having fun, acting crazy with a light saber, encouraging me to several activities, going to prom with me, getting lost outside of Brigden, going to strange parties,  and for realizing what a great friend is like. And for being there for me… always !

And my host parents... that's more personal than sharing on a blog.

There are many more I can say thank you to out there, and you know your names!

Words cannot describe the kindness of Canadians. I am so ever grateful for being so nice to me, for making me feel welcome. It is the best I could ask for.

I will miss being an exchange student in Canada. The privileges, the things you can get away with, the one good excuse “I’m an exchange student. I didn’t know,” and the people interested in cultures. But then again that might sound a bit selfish.

What I really hope this exchange has done for changing, is, that is has not only given me a life-time experience, but that I might have opened the eyes for some people – making them realize that the world is big! That I’m not the only one who has learned just a bit from this exchange, but maybe also my Canadian friends.

There is no such thing as “a” home for me anymore. I have two, and I can find more. And I will keep this world-travelling knowledge with me for the rest of my life.

When everything gets summed up; I wanted to say that I'm also happy I'm in Denmark again. I really have missed talking with my brother, my mother and father, my grandfather, my cousins, my friends, but I haven't seen many of them since I came back. A lot of them are on vacation.

This is the end of my blog. I will keep it up on the site for about a year, for other exchange students to read. I will copy everything down, and print it for my own sake. I hope it’s been an experience to read and follow my journey, cause that’s what is has been to me: A journey. A wonderful one.  As I say goodbye; I want to wish you the best of luck in the future. I truly hope if you are going on exchange in the future, that you make the most out of it as I did.

And, thank you for have been following my blog. 

Goodbye Party

This will be my last blog entry before I leave Canada, and the next and final one will be written once I get back. Yesterday I had invited many of my friends to a goodbye-party to make sure I get the proper "goodbye" to them. To make sure it wasn't a sad goodbye, I invited them for a soccer match. Not just any soccer match, no, it was the unofficial soccer match between Canada and Denmark. Yes, when everybody arrived at my house we went to the soccer field outside of Oil Springs and played a good old game of soccer. It was a close match, but Denmark with the team captain being me, won. No surprise there, I mean, you cannot really brag about Denmark's soccer skills, but Canada is even worse ! Haha. We decided to stay there after the match a little longer and play a bit of Ultimate Frisbee, and again, Denmark won. A huge thanks goes to Tom Lynch for being the reason behind the points, and Adam being the reason behind most of the goals in soccer! And then also to Andrew for being a worthy team captain-rival.

Team Denmark discussing tactics :p 

Canada - Denmark 4 : 5

Ultimate Frisbee 

After the match we went back to my house, and my friend Chris "the native" lighted the campfire - of course. We just sat around the campfire; Rachel brought her guitar and sang Danish song (Danish artists, English lyrics) and I joined in with many of the songs since I knew most of them. I got presents from some even though I hadn't asked for any, and we ate S'mores and Spider Dogs. (See picture below if you are not certain what that is!) A few people had to go after a little time, but that was a shame since a surprise that I didn't even know of was coming up. Anyway, it was such a good atmosphere and just a nice feeling being amongst the friends I've made the last 10 months. I really couldn't have asked for more than this...

Rachel singing and Marisa and Corinne laughing too much 

Maddie doing whatever. She took the camera and this happens! 

Lol. Too many Canada-presents 

Spider dog 

The awesome people: Lindsay, Jenn, Maddie 

Marisa, me, Corinne

Yes, so it eventually got dark in Oil Springs. I saw some of my friends sneaking a bit around in the garden, but couldn't quite see what they were doing when both my host parents and the friends sneaking around shouted: "Hey guys, come over here!" They had lighted up a Candle, and many more were to come. The plan was to send them up in the air in the dark so that they would shine like starts until they eventually burned out up there. It was truly very, very magical moment and a very, very awesome thing to do. (If you have seen the movie Tangled, they do the same thing...) It was really funny, we had a woman (actually Stephen's mum) coming and asking if she was hallucinating "fire in the air." Clearly, she wasn't. My host parents had arranged this, it came as a complete surprise, and I love them so much (not only for doing this..!)

Katie and Tom lighting one 

Me, Kira, Katie, Tom  putting one up 

And it's in the air!

It looks like a red moon in the air. So beautiful.

We had some cake and stuff after this and slowly more and more people left and I said goodbye. I wasn't crying, but I was really, really sad. But at the same time; I have this feeling I'm going to see most of them again. Some people decided to stay over for the night and sleep in tents, we woke up 3 hours and go and I just said goodbye to the last couple of people before I started writing on this blog post. It has been hard to say goodbye, but it was mostly a "See Ya!"

Today I gotta finish packing, meet up with another exchange student and go to Stratford which is about two hours away, and go to my end-of-the-year-orientation. Tomorrow we'll all be celebrating Canada Day together (us exchange students) and Saturday I'll go home. 

Why do you weep?

What are these tears upon your face?

Soon you will see

All of your fears will pass away

Safe in my arms

You're only sleeping

What can you see

On the horizon?

Why do the white gulls call?

Across the sea

A pale moon rises

The ships have come to carry you home

And all will turn

To silver glass

A light on the water

All souls pass

Hope fades

Into the world of night

Through shadows falling

Out of memory and time

Don't say: “We have come now to the end”

White shores are calling

You and I will meet again

And you'll be here in my arms

Just sleeping

 -Annie Lennox-

A surprise trip to Canada's Wonderland

Dear Readers!
Monday I went for the last time to my school. No, not for writing a last-period exam as my other friends did, but to wait for them to get out. For what I wasn't sure; I thought we were going somewhere for my friend Maddie's 18th Birthday. So as I was sitting there in the cafeteria, thinking of the wonderful lunch times I've had there, when my friends started coming over after their exam. "Guess what, Bella and Maddie. You both got tricked. You both thought we were doing a surprise for each other, when in fact we're doing something for both of you."Yes, so I still had no idea what was going on. We started driving, and I realized we had been driving for quite some time - about two and a half hours actually. Then I saw a sign saying: "CANADA'S WONDERLAND." - And I got so happy and excited. My host mum had talked with my friends before and made sure I had enough money for spending with me.

We had an absolute blast there; it was amazing and so much more exciting than Danish theme parks. There were so many more roller coasters, and I loved the cool snoopy theme at one of the places.
I'd say the highlight of the trip was when it got dark at about 9:30 pm and we went to the "Bohemeth," which was the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada's Wonderland. When we were at the top I could see all of Toronto around me with its beaming lights in the dark, and I yelled: "I love Canada!" while we came down. It was excellent and a moment to think back on.
There was also a really cool light show in the end that you can see pictures of. I love my friends, they are so awesome that they did this for me. I couldn't have wished for better friends here.

Jenn, me, Lindsay, Maddie at the Maple Leaf flower bed 

First ride on the Bohemeth... scary 

Bohemeth at night... even more scary 

Lindsay and I on a caricature... elves <3 

An amazing light show with sound effects, too

Canadian Snowbirds (airplane show from today) 

Passion,

is our passion,

in the moonlight,

on a joy ride

Easy living

killed the young dudes,

in the high boots!

Fascination

Fascination

It's just the way we feel!

--Alphabeat--

The very last day of school

"I'm going to miss you!"

"You gotta remember me!"

"Bella, you rock. Eh. "

"COME LIVE WITH ME!"

Yes, yesterday time had come to say goodbye to my friends at at school who I'm not going to see the next 9 days I've left here. As it is a tradition in Canada for an exchange student to get all your friends signatures/farewells written on a Canadian flag before you leave, I thought: "Okay, let's do this! Let's just keep this tradition going." It soon turned out to be a mission for me, and I started Monday this week and kept getting signatures all the way to wednesday, and I still do not fell that I'm done... It turned out that I've REALLY become friends with a lot of people. It's actually quite shocking. Anyway, when I have had my little goodbye-party and after the end-of-the-year-orientation with my exchange organization, I will be done with all the signatures. Some of the stuff written on the flag is really quite touching, and really... I had no idea how many friends I actually had here...

I love my friends

The day itself was really quite short. All the classes were only lasting for about half of what they were supposed to, so we were really just having fun and got a lot of candy from our teachers. Canadian teachers = Best teachers ever. Yummy! I also made some of my favourite teachers sign the flag, and I almost started crying... the whole thing about leaving is so extremely sad.

Anyway, today is Saint Hans Evening in Denmark also called "Sankt Hans Aften" = Burn-the-witch-day. Of course it's not a tradition in Canada, but I guess I've been to so many camp fire parties by now, that all together, I think they make one good fire. (Without a witch though...)
Here are some pictures from the last couple of days!

Campfire at Marisa's

Probably my last time at the bridge to the U.S. Lauren and Logan.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Creating memories

As many might think, I'm not really studying for my exam tomorrow. Nooo... well I do. A little bit. But I thought it might be funnier to write a blog entry. So here you go.

Happy Birthday Lukas my favourite (and only) brother! 20 years! What an old man!

Get your motor runnin'

Head out on the highway

Lookin' for adventure

And whatever comes our way

Yeah Darlin' go make it happen

Take the world in a love embrace

Fire all of your guns at once

And explode into space

Like a true nature's child

We were born, born to be wild

We can climb so high

I never wanna die

Born to be wild!

- Steppenwolf -

Last week of (normal) school

Dear, dear followers and other readers!
This week has been the last week of normal school. Next week will consist of 2 1/2 normal school days, and three exam days. I will only take one exam this semester, so that would mean I'm off school thursday, and have an english exam friday.

What I've noticed about this week has been the atmosphere of the school. Even though some people are stressing about exams, people (and especially those graduating) are looking forward to the summer holiday with a great amount of independence and enjoyment. Where I am heading off to my own country, others are working through the whole summer holiday. Others are going away with their family. It all really just depends. 

Anyway, every day has been a party and even though the exams are coming close, I'm enjoying every class. (Even english....)

I've been almost gone from my house the whole weekend (because Canadians like to PARTY...) It's kinda funny, because many of their parties usually consist of a camp fire and sleeping over in tents :-)  Usually people just sit at the camp fire, have S'mores, a little something to drink, play some games, and just... have fun. Not exactly party as in Denmark, but nice and very country-ish :-)

Thursday I got a really awesome hat and a card from my two friends Stephen and Marisa. They put stuff on it of what I've said and also our little jokes that we've shared during the year. They are awesome. I can't believe they did that for me! It's very, very nice of them, and I'm gonna miss 'em! 

This week I've been experiencing Canadian Bacon Burgers, sparklers, a birthday party, a racoon, a deer, belgian waffles, poutine, Wyoming (as a town in Ontario), Glencoe, The Lion King, best chocolate milk ever, and the amazing feeling of being amongst people that are absolutely amazing. 

I don't wanna close my eyes 

I don't wanna fall asleep 

'Cause I'd miss you, babe 

And I don't wanna miss a thing

-Aerosmith-

Magnifique!

Yo!

The last week was a bit depressing. I realized that I had a month left here; It might sound crazy. But I had not realized it before. So yea, a bit sad and depressed, but I guess I was fine.

I went to another prom this weekend. It was almost the same as the other one, except it was a lot smaller. An it wasn't for my school. And they day was about 10 degrees warmer. And people spoke half french/half english. And I met new people.

Today I shipped off winter clothing in a package. It'll probably be in Denmark in - I don't know - 4 months? Hahahha. But It was weird. It felt like packing. And packing... packing reminds me of going home. Wait! What am I talking about? I have two homes! Let's say: Packing reminds me of going back to Denmark.

School is going fine, you can feel it is coming to an end soon. It is getting very warm. So a thing to remember about Canada: 'Tis not only very cold in the winter, 'tis very warm in the summer. Today we (apparently) had a fire somewhere at the school, and we had to sit outdoors for about an hour waiting and waiting. (In music class, grrr, please do not interrupt favourite class.) Well, the sun was so warm and bright that I got a pretty bad sunburn in just that hour at about 9 o'clock in the morning.

We have about two weeks left before exams. Exams aren't going to be fun, but I'll survive.

This week has so far been great. Enjoying the sun (when it's not as warm as today), reading and writing poetry in school, painting, playing music, and hanging out with friends. It can't be better. Truly, everything is looking like summer now. And I'm waiting for it. I'm waiting to get home. No, I don't really want to go home, but I'm still waiting for it.

And I can feel it now. I've already started to clean up my room, organizing stuff, putting things I don't think I'll need in the still upright suitcase in the closet, and I'm getting prepared to make people sign my Canadian flag. That's the tradition for exchangees in Canada, and I will keep it. I'm planning a "Goodbye-party" the day before I leave to go to my end-of-the-year-orientation and take-off.

I will miss this place. More than you can ever imagine without having had the same experience as me.

Sail on Silver Girl, 
Sail on by 
Your time has come to shine 
All your dreams are on their way 

See how they shine 
If you need a friend 
I'm sailing right behind 
Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will ease your mind 
Like a bridge over troubled water 
I will ease your mind

- Simon & Garfunkel - 

Music Banquet

Dear all readers! Yesterday there was a month till I leave Canada. Today there is 29 days. It's absolutely unimaginable. I can't believe how much time I've spent here, and it's unthinkable to leave. I haven't packed anything yet, and because Canada Mail is being annoying at the moment with their strike (I do support strikes, though, so go and get them tigers!), I can't send anything home.

Anyway, yesterday I went to the Music Banquet of the school. Twas in the evening from 6-9 in the cafeteria. Everybody were dressed in pyjamas (do not ask me why) and everyone brought lots and lots of food for a big potluck dinner with pizza. Yummy! After eating this tremendous amount of food we danced crazily, played Guitar Hero, Twister, and other stuff. [Yes, the Music Department is awesome. ]

Then it was time for the Diplomas for the Music Executive-people. Since you have to get permission to get in to Music Exec the year before you are in it, I wasn't in it. But the whole Music Department (all music classes, all bands, and Jazz Attack) was invited. There was a lot of clapping, a lot of cheering, and a lot of saying 'Thank You's.' When the teacher's decided to make people sing and 'party' afterwards, they said that they needed a "Special someone" to finish the count to 42 as we did in New York. I was sitting on the side and hadn't really realized they were talking about me, when people started yelling behind me "Yeah! Bella!" or "Dude... Bella it's you." Haha, so I went up to the microphones and everybody who were in New York counted up to 41, where I finished with 42. Somehow - I don't know why - it has achieved the status of a joke here. Apparently I'm the only one who can say it exactly as I did in New York.
ANYWAY, it was kinda funny, but also such a moment you know you are going to keep with you forever. It marked the end of my music experience here in Canada, and it has been the greatest experience of them all. It's hard to say, but I was almost crying up there. Nobody noticed, ahah, so I was good. Aaah, all these wonderful people. They have no idea how much they've meant for me during this year.

Well, after this we sang karaoke and danced and I met some alumni's that came back from University (yes here it's University, not College) and we sang some Elton John with the Karaoke. After the whole thing we cleaned up and I was driven home with a friend.

Music Teachers! :D

Hahah Party in Cafeteria

I still have a bit more then two weeks of normal school left, and then it's exam time. And then I have a week till I have to go to Stratford and then after Stratford I'm off to Toronto Airport. I need more time.

Now there is only one thing to do, cause it gives me great memories: