Now that the leaving date is creeping closer and closer, I have been getting a lot more information about where I am staying, my school and my host families in Denmark. It's been a while since I've updated so I'm going to start when my counsellor in my host club emailed me on the 30th of November. It was the first direct contact I'd had with anyone in DK regarding my exchange so even though it was a simple email with an introduction of her and saying they were excited to be hosting me, I was over the moon. Since then we have been emailing when I have some questions or when she has more information for me. She is so nice and I think I have been very lucky to have such good communication with her before my arrival. In an email later that morning she also informed me that I would be attending school at the Odder Gymnasium which I later found out is 10 km from my first host family's house.
On the 2nd of December I had the Pre-Departure briefing with my district which was reviewing rules, expectations, how to be an ambassador and also presenting our final presentations for some last bits of advice. This made it all feel very real right there because this was the last time I would be seeing everyone formally before we leave on the 12th of January. On the 3rd of December my Rotary profile was updated and had names and contact details of my first host family which, as you can expect, was very exciting. The next day I emailed them just introducing myself and asking them if they wanted to call on Skype or something else one day soon. Days went by with no reply and the anticipation was killing me because I got this information pretty late so I wanted to start forming a relationship with them before I leave. In the mean time, on the 7th of December my district had Auckland day. We had to meet at the Fire Station in central Auckland at 7:50 am which meant a 5:15 wake up for me. Such fun. At the Fire Station we got to go up in the fire truck crate where they rescue people as well as see their hazmat suits. We then went and saw the Mayor of Auckland, Phil Goff, which was quite interesting actually. As we all introduced ourselves and what country we were from or what country we were going to, he had something to say about all of the countries which was really cool. Then we went from the Mayor's Office to the Police Station. They showed us the police dogs and how they take down people and also showed us the Armed Offender Squad room with all of the different tools for knocking down doors and etc. That was a lot of fun. Lunch was scheduled after this and then we had our scavenger hunt. For this we were put in pairs of the countries and giving a list of places to go and questions we needed to answer. Each place we had to take a photo at and each question was worth a set amount of points. I personally thought we'd get lost because I'm never in the City but we manage to answer everything and get to the Ferry Building in plenty of time to get out ferry to Half Moon Bay. We had dinner at a Rotarian's house and watched a slideshow someone had composed for one of the inbound leaving in January. It was emotional but the whole day was just so much fun. Finally, on the 10th of December I got a response. This email got me even more excited to leave which I didn't even think was possible. My host Mum's name is Anne Marie and the Dad's name is Anders. Anne and Anders run two farms, one is a Christmas tree farm and the other farm sounds like one that grows crops. Anders is also a member of my host Rotary club so it will be great to be able to go frequently with him in the beginning which will form that strong Rotary connection which is really important for me. They have three children, two daughters and one son. Kirstine is their oldest child and is 20 years old. She studies literature in the University of Copenhagen so doesn't live at home. The middle child is their son, Johan, who is going to be 18 years old when I arrive. Their youngest child is Inge Marie and she is 16 years old. Currently she is on exchange with Rotary in Canada so she won't be at home when I stay with them. My host Mum also said that they are hosting another exchange student currently and will still be hosting her when I arrive. Her name is Antonia and she is from Germany. She is 17 years old and is doing her exchange through a programme at school not Rotary. They also have the cutest dog so for those that know me well will know the dog will be mine by the time I change families. Their house is also not far from the beach which is amazing so hopefully I can go sailing some time or even have a go at fishing as a first. So far it sounds like I'm going to be so busy when I arrive because my host family has already organised a trip for me to go with them to Germany 3 DAYS after I arrive. It sounds amazing and I'm really looking forward to it. On Sunday 16th December we are planning on calling and I'm very nervous but at the same time interested in finally talking to each other.
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