Christmas

Well it's Christmas already!!! Merry Christmas!!!!
Christmas in Denmark is a month long holiday, not just two days like it is in the States. They are intense. You get presents every Sunday until Christmas, there are about six different types of "Julekalender" or Chirstmas Calander. And then they celebrate on the 24th at night.
It's so intense. They eat dinner and there are rules to what you can and can't have. Once you're done eating (which is like an hour or hour and a half event) you then sing and dance around the tree....
Yes, like in the movie How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Once you're done with that you open all your presents.
And they don't do anything in the morning of the 25th.... It's very different but I really liked it...
Hope you all have a wonferful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Glædelig Jul og Nytår!!!

My City

I know that some people might think I'm weird when I refer to Copenhagen as 'my city'. And I know that it's thousands of peoples city but my Copenhagen is different from everyone elses. It is mine and it is special to me. It is the tiny corners of coffee shops, curled up with hot chocolate and a book, watching the people pass the window. It is the sounds of bikes on the side walk and buses passing. It is the smell of sugar and smoke that collide perfectly to make my city smell adverturous, wonderful and special. It is the fountian that I sit at with my best friends under the dark, stary sky as we talk and listen to the street performers. It is not needing a map because even if I get lost, I can look up and us a building as a reference. It is finding the small places, like a book store that sells English books. It is the unexpected happening yet not finding anything wrong with it. Everything in my city has a special sound, a special look to it. My city has a song that is only mine. And it is Mine.

Holiday Season

So it's the beginning of the holiday season being away from home. Thanksgiving was on Thursday and it was tough being away from home and my family but I got to skype with them so it wasn't all too bad. I'm not sure what it's gonna be like at Christmas but I can only hope that it's not to hard to be away from my family...

Moving...

So, I changed host families yesterday.. That is a pain in the butt!! I had to pack my entire life into my suitcases and lug it across three towns and then unpack it again. Ugh! I have to much stuff. haha! I'll have to send some of it home...

Imagine Dragons!!!

So last night I went with some exchange students to go see the group Imagine Dragons! I didn't really know what to expect seeing as they are quieter and nothing like Macklemore. But it was actually really really fun. They were so amazing and it was actually a really comfortable concert. They were handing out water to the people who were standing closer to the stage so we wouldn't pass out. It was really nice.

G2G in Holbæk

So this past weekend we had a G2G (get together) in Holbæk, a town about 2 hours by train from mine. It was for Halloween but it was also about saying goodbye to the Oldies (Exchange students that came in the winter last year and are leaving soon). So, once me and my friend from Taiwan ran to catch the regional train to Holbæk we sat back and waited to get there. Once we got off the train in Holbæk, we met a bunch of exchange. It was so amazing to see all of them again after 3 months. So we waited for the bus then about 25 of us crammed into a bus to get to the high school we were sleeping at. that was all on Friday. On Saturday we went into Holbæk and roamed around (and my friend from Taiwan, different one, tried to kill me by feeding me wasabi). That night we had a Halloween party. It was so fun because a lot of the exchange students have never had Halloween before. After that there was a dance that went all night. We had to go home the next day :( it was so sad

Whoa...

Whoa... it's been over a month since I updated my blog last... Gosh I'm sorry. Let me catch you up on the happenings..

• I went over to Sweden around Oct. 19th... to be honest, it looked just like my home state. It was green with rolling hills and corn.... Really Sweden... Really. -_-# but it was fun anyway. It was really pretty and we went hiking which was interesting. And they have cheap candy! ;)
• Tivoli opened again for Halloween so me and my family went with some of THEIR family there. It was really fun. Even though we didn't spend any money on riding any rides it was just fun to be there with them. I really love them. They are now my family, no longer just a host family. 
• We had a week long break in the school year for fall and my family went to Germany! It was so much fun. We all (all seven of us) piled into their car and drove to Germany. We went to H.C. Anderson's house on the way which was really cool. In Germany we stayed in Hamburg which was really cool, except it rained the day we went out to explore but that's okay. We saw St. Nikolia's church that was bombed during WWII and it was so cool. If you ever go to Hamburg I would definatly suggest going there. 

So that was October... 

Laughing

Okay. So I was talking to my friend about people laughing in different countries:
Like Japan is www
Brazil is Huehuehue
Spanish is jaja
Danish is hæhæ

And We were just talking about it and she said, Why can't they just laugh normal...
Why can't then just laugh normal...

I love my friend but this is just somewhere where I have now become different.
Why can't they just laugh normal...
That is their normal. Who am I to tell someone else who grew up in a completely different culture than my own what is normal or not. It's not wrong for them to laugh the way they do. It has to do with their language and their culture.

In Thailand they put 555 for laughing. That's because the way you say 5 sounds like a person laughing.
In Spanish jaja j=h.
and the list goes on and on.

I think I can tell I've become different now because I can tell where the cultural boarder is. I know that we do think that are different. The difference in me is, I know it's not wrong and I know that what they are doing isn't "not normal".

MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO TODAY IS THE DAY (Or rather, yesterday was the day)!!! Let me just start out by saying that last night was some of the most fun I've had in a loooooong time. And needless to say, I currently have no voice... It was so amazing!! Let me fill you in.
So when me and Paloma got the København H, we sprinted through this huge train station to meet up with some other exchangers from other districts around Denmark. We had to catch a train but we were standing in the wrong place, so we had to run down the street to catch the right bus, which we did :) So once we got off the bus, we ran down the street so we could get in line for Macklemore. The line actually went pretty fast and before we knew it we were standing in the warehouse waiting for the concert to start. The concert started at 8 with a DJ playing a few songs, then the opening act, Chance the Rapper (from Chicago). He was pretty cool, but once he was done, we had to wait 30 minutes in a pack room for Macklemore to come on. But when he actually came on, it was crazy. He had this 3 minute intro before he actually even came on. It was the craziest intro ever. He came up from under the strange and there was fire and smoke and crazy loud bass. It was so great. After that song he started talking about how everyone here had a bike and that he went and rode around today. He also started commenting on fashion and pointed out that someone had a fur coat on (You know where this is going ;)) So he asked him to crowd surf it up to him and he wore it... While preforming THRIFT SHOP!!!  And everyone went crazy! We were all dancing like maniacs. After that he sang another song before talking about equality. He started talking about same sex marriage and then sang the song Same Love. I don't wanna sound sappy but when he sang that song live with so much emotion, I actually almost started crying. It was amazing. Then he preformed Can't Hold Us... Oh my gosh. That was insane!!!Everyone was going absolutely insane! It was so much fun. Then he performed a few more songs and was about to leave but we asked for an encore. Which he gave twice. When he was telling us that the management was telling him that he needed to end the concert, one of the people yelled "Screw the system!" (A few more choice words I won't mention) and he heard it. When he heard it he laughed and commented on it. So, he gave us one for song. Can't Hold Us. Again. This time even more crazy than the first which I didn't even know was possible. 

After the concert I went back to Paloma's house and stayed the night cause It was late. 

I seriously can't even believe that I saw Macklemore. Live... In Copenhagen. Seriously. How many people in the world can even say that... and I'm one of them... Oh my gosh. I can't even.

... I need a nap... :3

I'm a Dane Guys

Finally!!! After such a long fiasco with my Residence Permit, I can finally say I got it. I got it on Wednesday the 17th. Today my host mormor and morfar (grandma and grandpa on my mom's side) took me to get my CPR Number and Register me with the state and all that fun paper work. So, I got all that stuff now. I am officially a Dane guys! ahah :3

This thing is probably my most prized possetion at this point. It's by far one of the thing's I am most proud of. I don't even care that it is heavy or makes a lot of noise. It is a part of me just like an arm or a leg. And it is part of my year. And I wouldn't give it up for anything

Intro Camp

SO! My class went on an Intro Camping trip. First we biked 10 km (about 6miles) to the cabin. Okay, let's just stop there for a moment. So everyone tells me, "Oh, Denmark's so flat!" I call BS! I'm pretty positive that it was uphill the ENTIRE time. Plus wind. I think I might have died a little bit.
Anyway. Camping was so fun. I absolutely adore my class. They are so nice. If I was sitting alone, they would have a flashmob of people come and sit by me. And if I was sitting with them and they were speaking Danish, someone would say that they should speak English so I can part take in some of the conversations too. They are so sweet.
One of my close friends, Dina, got so excited because I could argue (well say yes and no) in Danish. HAHA!!
Okay so they are so laid back. There were two big rooms with like 12 ish beds in them each. And they are so cool about it that boys and girls where in the same rooms. None shared beds! But they are so cool about it. And I've gotta give Danish kids some credit. They know how to behave and follow rules.
OH! We played this game called Pandora's Box, where everyone writes annonymous questions to people in the class. And I got "Samantha, do you thing Danish boys are Sexy?" Of course that would the question for the exchange student.... so I said, "Better than American boys," and I got cheered by my entire class for a good two minutes. haha Good times

Tivoli!!

Okay so, Tivoli is probably the best place on this Earth. It's like Disneyland but cleaner and more fun!! AHH! It's so great. It's got these amazing rides. Like this one

When you are at the top, you can literally see all of Copenhagen!!
And then this one.

It goes super fast and you spin in a circle while going around the giant cirlce. '
And...

It goes up 65 meters and then just drops Straight down.
and..

This one is having it's 100 birthday next year
By far the coolest place ever!!!

Well...

Well... me and Paloma got on the wrong bus and ended up in Copenhagen instead of Nærum (which is the opposite direction). So instead of going to school we walked around Copenhagen because it was already noon. Haha. Always interesting living in Denmark

School...

Going back to school after an amazing Introcamp week is one of the saddest things ever....

Math...

I think I love my math teacher. I am, sitting alone at a table cause I got here an hour early so no one in my class is here yet. And he walks by and saw me, so he stopped and asked if everything was okay. And then told me if I had any problems I could talk to him. I think I might like math here

California...

When you get asked if you've ever seen a celebraty cause you go to California...

HAHA

*Le class being slightly noisy*
"Samantha, is your class back in America like this or are they quieter?"
*Le me trying not to laugh. So I just smile*
"No, They're worse. They're WAY worse."

School...

Alright, so I noticed some fun things at school I had to write down...

First: Phones in school. Completely different from back home. First things first. Everyone has iPhones. And I mean everyone. I'm not just exagerating. EVERYONE! There's like 2 people out of the 28 of us that (Me not included, cause I get one, SCORE) don't have one. Okay, now that that's out of the way, the real issue. When your phone rings (Vibrate or otherwise) teachers totally don't care. They just continue on with the lesson like nothing ever happened. They're so chill! I've seen people answer their texts in the middle of class, nothing about it.
Second: Dress code. What dress code? There is none. It's awesome! You wear what you want and no one bothers. Hats, spaghetti straps, shorts, anything. But a lot of the girls take it to far. I've seen booty shorts, see-through shirts with just bra all out there, and there's girls in my class who wear low cut shirts/tank tops with their whole bra out. As for me, I'll just stick with hats and spaghetti strap dresses.
Thrid: Food in class. If you're hungry, eat it. Simple as that.
Fourth: My teachers (Minus English) have all given up on me understanding anything at this point. I count on whomever happens to be next to me at that point to help. And no matter who it is in my class, they do. They are super nice. My math teacher is actually my favorite. After he tells us to do something, he comes over to make sure I understand what's happening.
Fifth: Scheduale. So Americans, I'm about the blow your mind. They don't have a scheduale. Okay, I'll give you a moment to grasp that... In America they give you a paper scheduale and say "Here's your scheduale, it never changes and time is exact." Not here. You have to go on the computer and check every morning. Sometimes it starts at 8, others at 9, and still others at 10. And it changes every day you have different classes. only 4 a day. A 'long day' is when you get out at 15.35 (3:35) and a 'short day' is when you get out at 13.35 (1:35). And they sometimes let out class early, so you can chill before your next class. And if the teacher is gone. You don't have that class. No sub teacher. And if you don't show up, no one cares.
Sixth: Swearing. Not a problem. Not a single bother given about swearing. Teachers swear in class all the time. No one cares.
Seventh: No clocks in any of the rooms.
Eighth: Instead of raising your hand, you put up your pointer finger. That's it.
Ninth: And when every class is done. The teacher says 'Tak for i dag' whick means 'Thanks for today'. They always thank you for being there.
Tenth: Finally. My class. Where to start. Well, there's 28 of us...
There's Olive,
August (Who looks just like Trestan)
2 Emels (One looks just like Hunter S.)
Kristen
Joeanna
Joesophie (Who looks just like Sydney)
Dina (She's super cool. Rides a motorbike)
Ida
Nathalie (My best friend)
Lucas
Sara and Sarah
Max
Isabella
Sofie (She can bark like a dog. And it sounds real)
Rose
Camilla (Who looks just like Nicole B.)
Rusmus (He had blue hair)
And there are others but I can't think of their names. You'd be surprised how hard my name is. It comes out Samnta. My class is all super nice. One girl said they were all super happy I am in their class. They take care or me and help me with school and include me. I love it.
Well that's it for now!
Hej Hej!!

Different.

I hear people saying they were the same when they got back from their exchange. But I don't want to be the same. I want to me different. 

Pin game

So they play this game ( don't know the name) where they have one person blind folded and the other has clothes pins all of them. The object is for the blind folded person to find all the clothes pins. But they by them in the most awkward places. Quite funny actually

Bathroom surprise

So they don't segregate bathrooms. I didn't know that. So I got quite a surprise when he walked into the bathroom

Not to sure

I saw this on the bus to school this morning. Actually I saw it a couple of times. Haha

Math

You think math is hard. Try learning it in Danish. Haha

Hazing. Denmark style

So. I went to the party with my school. And the 'upper class man' so to speak run around drunk with markers and mark on you. This happens to be the result... 

Jonas

Never seen that before. Ketchup on pasta. 

Well we're not in Kansas anymore toto

School.

Oh my god... school! You think you hated school in America... at least you know what the heck they're saying, so you can choose to not listen!! I listened, I just have no clue!! Gah! My head hurts... I need a nap...

Airport!!

So I'm sitting in the airport of Minneapolis, waiting to board my flight to Amsterdam... First things first... FINALLY!! Okay. Now that that is settled. I'm really excited and nervous to be going now. Now it's real. *sigh* time to be flexible an smell the roses 

Delay

So.... I didn't get to leave today... I didn't have my visa so I couldn't get on the plane. Julian went and so did Cameron. But I get to stay with my Doug and Sharon tonight an hopefully get out tomorrow morning. But it's an adventure. 

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent oh of shape. 

Count Down...

Okay, so I leave in 5 days... And I'm a little nervous. It's really strange that this is really happening. I can't believe that in just a few days, I will be halfway across the world with completely different people and language and culture around me...I don't know. It's real weird

Host Families

I just got all three of my host families, it's getting real!!

We are all born the same, we are taught to be different. What we know as right has been taught to us and is not the only way of living. There are many teachers in the world. I hope to learn from one and maybe even be one...

Defiantly the best school ever...
Naerum Gymnasium

Hej!!

Hello!! I am Samantha Leicht-Ruskey. I am 16 and I am going to be spending my junior year in Denmark for a year with the Rotary Youth Exchange program. My sponsoring district is 6250 and my host district is 1470. I am from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and I am originally from California. I have already had an amazing time meeting Inbounds and Rebounds. Not to mention that all of my fellow Outbounds are my best friends. I have the two most wonderful Outbound Coordinators in the world, Doug and Sharon Richmond. I have an amazing Rebound coordinator Bill Pritchard. I am super excited to be going to Denmark for a year. I have (I think) the best host family in the world. They are super great. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures as much as I enjoy writing and experiencing them. Thank you!!

~~Samantha
7/17/2013