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Published: July 17th 2009
vienna
beautiful palaceHello Australia!
Time is flying! I can’t believe I’m almost half way through my exchange already. The past two months in Denmark have been absolutely flat out. Summer has finally arrived so I’ve been soaking up as much sun as possible and trying to return my skin colour to anything but the pasty white it’s been for the past five months. My oldies are gradually returning to their home countries and the goodbyes have been tough, but I’m looking forward to meeting all my newbies in August. A lot has been happening here, including Eurotour, a trip to London and Edinburgh to visit my Dad, and then Roskilde Festival.
In May, I participated in the Rotary Eurotour. For 18 days, I travelled with 58 other exchange students from 10 different countries around Europe, stopping in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Lido Di Jesolo, Venice, San Remo, Avignon, Paris, Brussels and finally Amsterdam. The trip was unbelievable; the memories I have are going to last me a lifetime. The tour was a great mix of both educational and fun activities. Some memorable attractions we visited include the Berlin Wall, a concentration camp named ‘Terazin’ in the Czech Republic, the Prague Castle, the
lido di jesolo
prue and elisa Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna, Juliet’s balcony in Verona, and of course all the splendors Paris has to offer such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre. I was lucky enough to also have a day at the French Open whilst in Paris, where I saw Federer beat Haas in an exciting five-set match. My favourite city was without doubt Lido Di Jesolo, a small town in north-east Italy, just north of Venice. We spent three days here relaxing on the beach in 35 degree heat (a big change from the 15 degree maximums we had become accustomed to in Denmark!) and eating pizza and gelato in the open-air restaurants.
After a solid week of recovering from eurotour, it was back into Danish life with many farvel fests (farewell parties), visiting friends in other cities, and late night picnics. With only two hours of darkness every day and no school, Copenhagen turned into a party town!
On June 21, I travelled to London to visit my Dad, who was there on work. It was great to see him (even though it was just for two nights!). I even ran into one
of my friends from Perth on Oxford St! After London, I went to Edinburgh to stay with a friend for five nights. It was great to see her again, as I rarely get to spend time with her.
The day after I arrived back in Denmark, the famous Roskilde Festival started. With four days of warm-ups, then four days of solid music featuring over 175 bands and 75,000 people, it is one of the biggest music festivals in the world. Acts that played included Oasis, Coldplay, Kayne West, Lily Allen, Pete Doherty, Deadmau5, and our own home-grown Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I camped there with two of my exchange student friends also from Australia, and some Danish friends. I was even interviewed on national television!
Exchange is even better than I ever imagined. I’m on my second host family now and they’re absolutely fantastic. Thank you for this opportunity Rotary, I’m loving it.
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andrea jennison
non-member comment
wow
wow katie your trip sounds great!