Day Six

Today was my last day with Louise and I’m not ready to say goodbye to her tomorrow.  Back at home, amazing friendships aren’t formed so quickly, but after just under a week with Louise, she feels like my sister.  Louise and her family were so unbelievably kind to me.  Even though I was halfway around the world, they really made me feel like I was at home.  It’s funny that even though we live so far away from each other in very different countries, Louise and I found a lot in common and are extremely similar.  She’s like the Danish version of me!  I also really love Katy’s host, Helena, who happens to be Louise’s best friend.  Katy and I joke that Louise and Helena are the Danish version of us.  The four of us decided that Louise and Helena have to come visit us in the states this summer.  Honestly, the best part of this trip was making two amazing friends that I know will be in my life forever.  I’ve never had any experiences like this before where I stayed in the home of someone from another country and was completely immersed in their culture.  I think it’s something that everyone should do as it gives you a completely different perspective of the world and allows you to make lifelong friendships that are so incredibly unique.  The day began with me going to Herning Gymnasium where I attended a variety of classes.  My first class was social studies where we split up into groups and just got to talk with a group of younger Danish students that will be coming to Orange in two years from now.  Then, I had English where the Orange students gave presentations on the American dream and what our dreams are.  We also did a project where we wrote a blog post on a topic that was designated to us; mine was the difference between Herning Gymnasium and Orange High School.  Lastly, I had another English class in which we read and acted out a scene from Macbeth.  Later that night, we all returned to the school for a pot luck dinner which consisted of popular Danish dishes.  I wanted to be adventurous so I tried nearly everything and it was all really amazing.  Once we were done with dinner, Louise, Katy, Helena, a few others, and I went to this lake to walk around.  It was beautiful because the sun was setting right over the water so we took a ton of pictures.  Then we made a quick trip to McDonald's to get ice cream and this McDonald's was way nicer than any one I have ever seen.  While we were eating, Louise and Helena taught us some Danish words and phrases which was fun to learn.  When I got home, Louise’s mom surprised me with an adorable photo collage of pictures she took of me and Louise and a sweatshirt with the name of the city she lives in on it.  It was so sweet and thoughtful, just like everything else the family has done for me.  It’ll be very hard to say goodbye tomorrow to such amazing people, but I definitely plan on seeing them again in the near future.