The End of one Journey, but the Start of Another.

Just now I realise that I am exactly where I started about 11 months ago: I'm counting… Counting the days until I am going to leave a life to live another one. Drawing a black cross over each day passing on the calendar hanging over there on the wall, looking at that big red circle around the day; the day I will leave; leave a whole life I have built up behind, trying to solve the chaos in my head if I should laugh or cry about it. Faster than I had expected those 90 days suddenly turn into 60, those 60 quickly into 30, and before I even start to notice, I can count the remaining days with two hands; on my fingers; 10………9……..8……7……6…..5….4…3..2.1

I left home neither knowing what this year will bring, nor what I had expect. I left my friends, family and everything else, except a small bit of my life packed up neatly in two bags, with tears in my eyes, hoping everything would be exactly like I hoped it would be. After saying goodbye to the people I love, I sat in the plane struggling between fear, anticipation and excitement knowing this flight would take me to the other side of the world, away from everything I know and was familiar with and also facing the frightening fact, that the next time I would be on a very long flight was going to be a whole school year away. 

Well, it turned out to be everything I had hoped for, if not even more. Looking back at all the things I go to experience make me so thankful towards all the people who made it possible for me to leave, always stood up for me  and encouraged me to go and take my chance of spending a year abroad when I was struggling with my decisions. Thank you so much.

Most exchange students live with 3 host families, but I got to experience 4 lives that were all very different from each other. Each one of them was and is very special and unique in their own ways and I don't feel any regret. I have the feeling that in the last 11 months I have learnt so much. I have learnt how it feels to start a new life, starting off without knowing anybody, I learnt to appreciate everything I have more than I ever did, I learnt to make my own choice and fix my own mistakes, I learnt about a totally different lifestyle and culture, I learnt to take care of myself and be independent and I learnt that fitting in is not the easiest part of life, but you should never give up because once you find your way and feel like you belong, it is so worth it! Also, I learnt that even in hard times, don't let anything come in your way: Enjoy every second of the life you are living… Live it the way you want to… Don't waste your time worrying…and just enjoy traveling the world!!!

Although my exchange year was like a ride on a roller coaster, with its ups and downs, I obviously don't want to look back at the boring way up the hill where I was struggling, I will remember and look back at the awesome way down and the exciting loops it made. I will always remember the lovely people I have had the chance to meet, the amazing friendships I have made, all the new places I saw (and that was ALOT!!), the delicious (and sometimes not so delicious..) food I tried, the feeling of having 4 new families, and most of all I want to remember the person who this exchange made me become. Honestly, I don't want to leave all my new families and good friends behind, but what can I say? Home is wherever your family, friends and loved ones are and now I will have homes all around the world <3

I am so blessed to have had the chance to find myself and so much more! Thankyou to all my amazing friends and family (including my 4 new families!) who have made this year the best it can be! 

What Is Exchange? - by Beth Ferguson

Exchange is change. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all it's constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything.

Exchange is realizing that everything they told you beforehand is wrong, but also right in a way.

Exchange is going from thinking you know who you are, to having no idea who you are anymore to being someone new. But not entirely new. You are still the person you were before but you jumped into that ice cold lake. You know what it feels like to be on your own. Away from home, with no one you really know. And you find out that you can actually do it. 

Exchange is learning to trust. Trust people, who, at first, are only names on a piece of paper, trust that they want the best for you, that they care. Trust, that you have the strength to endure a year on your own, endure a year of being apart from everything that mattered to you before. Trust that you will have friends. Trust that everything's going to be alright. And it is seeing this trust being justified.

Exchange is thinking. All the time. About everything. Thinking about the strange people, the strange food, the strange language. About why you're here and not back home. About what it's going to be like once you come back home. About how your friends are going to react when you see them again. About who's hanging out where this weekend. At first who's inviting you at all. And in the end, where you're supposed to go, when you're invited to ten different things. About what everybody at home is doing. About how stupid this whole time-zone thing is. 

Thinking about what's right and what's wrong. About how stupid you were without meaning to be. About the point of all this. About the sense of life. About who you want to be, what you want to do. And about when that english essay is due, even though your marks don't count. About whether you should go home after school, or hang out at someone's place until midnight. Someone you didn't even know a few months ago. Thinking in a different language and a different way altogether. And about what that person just said… 

Exchange is people. Those incredibly strange people, who look at you like you're an alien. Those people who are too afraid to talk to you. And those people who actually talk to you. Those people, who know your name, even though you have never met them. Those people, who tell you who to stay away from. Those people who talk about you behind your back, those people who make fun of your country. All those people who have contributed to your year in some way. And those people who invited you into their homes, their lives. Who keep you sane. Who become your friends. 

Exchange is music. New music, weird music, cool music, music you will remember all your life as the soundtrack of your exchange. Music that will make you cry because all those lyrics express exactly how you feel, so far away. Music that makes you laugh and remember a moment when that song was put on repeat and you sang as loud as you could with your friends. Music that will make you feel like you could take on the whole world. And it is music you make. With the most amazing musicians you've ever met. It is site reading a thousand pages just to be part of the school band. 

Exchange is uncomfortable. It's feeling out of place, like a fifth wheel. It's talking to people you don't like or don't understand. It's trying to be nice and happy all the time. It's bugs… and bears. It's cold, freezing cold. It's homesickness, it's awkward silence and it's feeling guilty because you didn't talk to someone at home. Or feeling guilty because you missed something because you were talking on Skype. 

Exchange is great. It's feeling the connection between you and your host family grow.. It's knowing in which cupboard Nutella is. It's meeting people from all over the world. It's having a place to stay in almost every country of the world. It's cooking food from your home country and not messing up. It's seeing beautiful landscapes that you never knew existed.

It's getting 5 new families. One of them being a huge group of the most awesome teenagers in the world and from all around the world! 

Exchange is exchange students. The most amazing people in the whole wide world! Those people from everywhere, that know exactly how you feel and those people who become your best friends even though you only see most of them 3 or 4 times during your year. The people, who take almost an hour to say goodbye too every time. Those people with their blazers full of pins. All over the world. 

Exchange is falling in love. With this amazing, wild, beautiful country. And with your home country.

Exchange is frustrating. Things you can't do, and things you don't understand. Things you say, that mean the exact opposite of what you mean.  

Exchange is understanding.

Exchange is unbelievable.

Exchange is nothing like you expected it to be, and everything you wanted it to be, but much, much better. 

Exchange is the best year of your life so far. Without a doubt. And it's also one of the hardest. Without a doubt. 

Exchange is something you will never forget, something that will always be apart of you. It is something no one back home will ever truly understand. 

Exchange is growing up, realizing that everybody is the same, no matter where they're from. That there are great people and mean people everywhere. And that is only depends on you, how good or bad your day is going to be. Or the whole year. It's realizing that you can be on your own, that you are an independent person. Finally. And it's trying to explain that to your parents. 

Exchange is dancing in the rain for no reason, crying without a reason, and laughing at the same time. It's a turmoil of every emotion possible.

Exchange is everything. And exchange is something you can't understand unless you've been through it.

Exchange is not a year in your life. It's a life in one year.

October and Early November fun :-)

Hej alle! 

A few weeks ago I moved to my 4th and final Host Family and said goodbye to the pig farm. I am very grateful to the Nielsen Family for being so kind to me for the last 3 months. I have really felt part of their family and I have enjoyed watching life on a real working farm. Now I live with my host mum, dad and sister (Benedikte) in the middle of nowhere! It is nice because I don't have to worry about traffic near my house and I get to spend more time at home with the family, doing many things like cooking, hunting, horse riding and much more! I have such a cute room, which I have decorated with flags, pictures and other memories that I have made this year. 

The day after I moved host families, I sat on a stinky bus with my 4 good Danish friends (Camilla, Kamila, Yin and Molly) down to Kiel, Germany, to visit our our good friend Flora! Neither the trip there, nor the trip back were comfortable or enjoyable - but it was worth the long trip, because it was four of the best days of my Exchange! It was so great to see Flora again, meet her family and see where she lives. We went to her school (which is right across the road!), went shopping in the city, got our hair cut and nails done, and celebrated a 10 year old birthday party of Flora's brother, Blum. 

 Hygge med mine bedste venner!  (Cozy and fun times with my best friends!)

 Riding the bikes into the city for some shopping and a nice lunch!

 Thrift/Second Hand shops - They are so much fun! 

 Sitting around the bonfire with my friends on a cold night! 

Getting our nails cleaned and coloured! 

After that nice little holiday, it was back to school for everyone. I haven't done anything really big lately, just nice events like bowling with a Rotarian and his family, and catching up with friends. 

Once a month, my school has an after school activity called 'Fredagscafe'  where the students can just sit around and talk, with music playing and they can buy drinks too. Last Friday it was Fredagscafe with open mic - anyone could perform if they wanted to - and my friend Camilla and I performed a song. I was playing guitar and we were both singing, which we love to do together! It was super fun and I think we did pretty well! 

My host dad loves to go hunting and last Sunday I went out hunting with my host dad, host sister and some other men. In the morning I stayed home and baked cakes and cooked lots of food for all the men who ate lunch at our house. My Host dad had an instrument called a hunting horn (like a bugle), but no one knew how to play it, so on Sunday I played the 'lunch time' tune and the 'beginning of the hunt' tune on the Hunting Horn. It was quite difficult to blow, but I was really thrilled when I achieved it and got great applause.

After lunch we all drove to a big forest and went hunting for birds and deer for about 4 hours. It was very interesting to see how the 'system' of hunting works and it was nice to meet some of my host family's friends as well.

 Baking 3 rye bread cakes - they tasted so good!

 My host sister, Benedikte, and I ready for hunting! 

 Me playing the lunch hunting tune on the Hunting Horn.

 The under 25's lunch table.

 Trying to look the part for hunting..

My host dad and I, and the ‘kill’ of the day. 

So that's the latest news! Hopefully this weekend I am going horse riding with my host mum and sister which is awesome, and I am super, super excited for CHRISTMAS soon!!!!!

:) Beth