The Snow Is the Limit

The snow is peacefully dropping from the Seattle sky, and instead of embracing this change of weather everyone seems to freak out. Everyone seems overwhelmed and schools shuts down and the buses stop driving. And the funny part is that only barely one inch of snow is lying on the ground. When we share a typical story about the danish winter, the Americans can't even comprehend that we are actually capable of managing to proceed with our everyday life in a normal manor. I had a conversation with an American on my bus ride home to day, and he said that to take your drivers license you don't even have to drive in an environment where the slippery roads of the winter were simulated to give you some sort idea how you exactly should manage a car during the winter time. No wonder why they freak out. Numerous accidents happens on the highway simply because no one knows how to deal with slippery roads. And us danes can sit back and laugh at the events. Everyone feels so powerless and they use the snow as an excuse for not going to work or school just because they can. So today when I was planing on going to Seattle to wander around for probably the last time I was impeded in doing so. Really the sky is NOT the limit - the snow is! At least if you are a citizen in the state of Washington.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

So yesterday many people from 2.y wen't to the AMC theater next to Alderwood Mall to see the new Harry Potter movie.

I have seen all the movies but in some weird way I have only read book number 5. The movie premiered last friday so of course the 4.10 showing (the one we wen't to) was completely sold out. Since we predicted this we showed up to stand in line about 2 hours before the movie started. So we were some of the first ones in line. And as the start of the movie approached the line became so long that they had to continue the line on the other side of the hall.  To experience the american way of watching movies we chose to see it on the huge, huge IMAX screen. It was pretty staggering and amazing. Everyone was really excited for the movie to start, and we made tactics to get the best spots in the auditorium, that involved running, running and more running. And we succeeded. We got some of the best spots.
 The movie started with the infamous tunes of Harry Potter. I personally thought that it was one of the best Harry Potter movies, but everyone who had read the book seemed to be rather disappointed. Even though Hogwarts and the rest of the Harry Potter universe didn't take part in the storyline it worked for me. The movie was a bit confusing though. I thought that this was one of the movies where you should have read the book to really understand the movie. The movie though was impressive with great actors, amazing footage, major chocks (which was enhanced by the extremely loud sound in the IMAX theater, that cannot be compared to a regular theater)  and some fun moments. So if i had to give it a judgement i would give it 4 out of 6 stars and call it a must see.
 It was another fun night with the people of 2.y

One Week Left

It is hard to comprehend that my time in Seattle is almost over. I have seven days left. Even though I'm excited to see my home and my family again I will be leaving Lynnwood and Seattle with mixed feelings. The time past very fast yet really slow. I can't really explain the feeling inside. It's just weird that we waited for this for one and a half year and now it's almost over. I will try my hardest to experience everything I haven't experienced yet, since I don't think I'm ever coming back. It feels so weird to have spent so much time in places and with people here and in a week they will all just turn in to memories. It will become a closed chapter in my life. The everyday life and routine will be restored and I'm not quiet sure how to feel about it. The thought of leaving feels so strange in my head. The first week i missed my parents and Denmark so much and two months felt like eternity. But now the ending is very near. I'm confused and can't really grasp the thought. But no matter what I managed to live in a very foreign country for two months with people i don't even know, dealing with everything my parents is used to deal with myself. This has been a great life experience and I'm proud that I have taken care of myself. I will call this the best way to gain independence.

Random Joys of the Everyday Life

During these last 5 weeks I have found a new love - Red Mango. I just wanted to partially dedicate this blog post to the best place on earth.

Next to the Apple Store is one of the world's wonders

 Since I love this place so much i thought I would just spent 5 minutes rambling about this piece of heaven.
 So Basically Red Mango a store that provides 4 different kinds of delicious frozen yoghurts and on top of your heavenly yoghurt can choose different fresh berries. It is hands down the best dessert/snack ever!
 Whenever i go to the local mall it just doesn't feel right if i haven't stopped by Red Mango to get my regular pomegranate yoghurt with strawberries on top. When I count all of the times I have been to Red Mango the expenses probably add up to about 80 dollars. But I think it is a reasonable price considering that you buy a piece of heaven. My new goal in life is probably to get this place to Denmark so i can have Red Mango every single day.

Everyday Life

I have pretty much adjusted to the everyday life of Seattle or in my case Lynnwood. The thing I have experienced is that I have so much extra time on hand, so I decided to finally start reading for pleasure again. I haven't really been reading much since attending "Herning Gymnasium". So I i bought to used books out of Barnes and Noble's website; they were only 2 dollars each!!! I finally got my books in the mail today. I bought Watermelon by Marian Keyes and Remember me? by Sophie Kinsella. I'm totally reading whatever Emma is recommending.

But I'm looking forward to making something useful out of my precious time. I have to do everything i haven't got time for back home when I'm given all this spare time. 

So this was just me sharing the joys of my everyday life. 

Halloween Weekend

So this weekend was the weekend where halloween arrived. And here is what went on

Halloween Dance

Friday night almost everyone from 2.y went to the halloween dance at the college. Even though it can't compare to a danish "gymnasie fest" it was still kind of fun. The school had definitely done a good job decorating the party venue to set the halloween mood among us students. Despite the non-alcoholic drinks and childish cupcakes we still managed to keep a high spirit and enjoy ourselves. In the first 30 minutes of the party the smoke alarm went on because of the smoke machine. Everyone had to move outside in the cold, cold weather and try to keep a positive and festive atmosphere. When the party moved inside again pretty much everyone, besides us danes, went crazy. I have never in my life seen people dance the way they did without a single drop of alcohol in their blood, but it was still fun to witness. Almost everyone had dressed up either scary or funny except me; I was supposed to be a little fairy and of course i forgot to bring my wings, but i guess that's just me being me.

Cruiseing 

View at the Husky's football Stadium

This was pretty much the view from our humble little cruise ship. Now i finally (or unfortunately) know why Seattle is called the rainy city. It rained all saturday and it wasn't the best way to spend a day in otherwise lovely downtown Seattle. We took a little boat trip at South Lake Union. We got to se a lot of floating houses, and Bill Gage's humble entertainment house with only 101 computers and 3 garages that each fits 10 cars. It's amazing how much one man can need. After that Cathrine, Steffen and I went to dinner, since we where the only ones who refused to pay 24 dollars for a modest hamburger and a n unlimited refill soda at Hard Rock Café. 

And Halloween It Is!

Then came sunday, halloween day. My family is not American so they didn't make a big deal out of halloween. But on my run with Steffen and Kåre (I'm to scared to run by myself, come on it's America) we saw a house that was swallowed up by all of the halloween decorations in front of it. That and some children trick and treating by our door was probably my whole halloween experience. But seeing how people decorate their houses for halloween I can only imagine how they will decorate their houses for christmas. I'm excited to be filled with a little christmas joy on my last days in Lynnwood. And only a month to go. I can't believe. Time sure does pass by faster than the speed of light. 

The Hoedown

Last Friday almost everyone from our class went to an event called the hoedown. It's basically a traditional american get together where you display square dance skills. Talk Time had arranged this event. Talk Time is occupied by arranging all kinds of event for international students in the area.  It was held at a big church in the town Bothell about 15 miles from Lynnwood. When we came there were led to different tables. Each table had their own leader to "take care" of everything. A band (professional or unprofessional was hard to tell) was playing some classic country songs to set the mood among the all the participants of this event. A pretty sloppy BBQ was served, but for only seven bucks you couldn't expect more, before the dancing part of the event. Then it came to the exciting part, the square dance. The claimed "experienced" dancers showed us how to dance, even though they actually messed it up. All 200 people at the event gathered in three big circles. The dancers had a failed attempt trying to make all of us do the same at the same time while doing it right. I was the only one in the class that didn't get a partner from within our class (typical) but i got a sweet girl from Japan, Jasmine, as partner. We quickly formed groups of eight for us to dance in so we could attempt to dance square dance the way it's supposed to be danced. Even though no one really was brilliant at it we had a lot of fun, partly because we messed up more than we did good. It was definitely a fun night with almost everyone from 2.y.

Seattle Recap

I finally found motivation to do a blogpost. These first weeks have been kind of hectic physically and emotionally. It has been a little hard to get used to everything, but luckily I have amazing friends to make everything much better. I have finally settled down here in surburb Lynnwood and is really appreciating every second of my experience here.

My American Home


I live with YY, who has lived in America for 10 years, but originally is from China, and Jay, who also has lived here for about 10 years. He is originally from Malaysia. They have another student staying with them called Ruri, pronounced Luli, from Japan. She has been here for 2 weeks longer than me, and is going to be here until March 2011. We live in a small house in the surburb Lynnwood. I have about 10 min to school by buss, so I don't have to spend as much of my time on transportation as in Denmark.

My home in Lynnwood

My home in Lynnwood

My host family

They are all really nice people. But they don't have that much time on hand to take me around the area, so i haven't really explored the surroundings besides Alderwood mall. I have to depend on my friends and explore this new world together with them. But I don't mind. For me this whole experience is also about making even stronger bonds among everyone from the class. 

  YY and Jay are very busy doing their own things, so that makes it harder to incorporate being a host-family into their lives. But they sure are some nice people and they let me do pretty much what i want to. They understand what it's like to be young, they are only 26 and 29, and they know that both their and my time is limited. They don't have many boundarries but they do have one, I can't bring friends over, which i have a hard time finding understanding for. But in their house I will respect their rules.  

  They do cook very delicious food for me. Everything is pretty much Asian. I have been having a hard time eating without a knife though. But finally they have bought me one, so eating every dish won't be a challenge for me. 

 As long as they give me all my freedom and good me great food i won't complain. 

These are some pictures from around the house... 

The hall

The small kitchen

The living room

The huge television

My desk

My big bed

I have the bigger room in the house. Ruri didn't want to switch room when their last exchange student went back to Korea, and that's why i got it. It's really nice and seems twice as big as my room back home, so i have been pretty lucky.


Week 1 recap


The entire class went to Seattle to explore the surroundings. We all went to the Space Needle (the trademark of Seattle) and the infamous gum wall (another trademark of Seattle).

The Space Needle

 I was kind of nervous going up to the very top of the Space Needle. The elevator is on the outside of the building and is made of glass, so you could se everything while leaving the solid ground. Probably a beautiful sight for everyone else but me. But the sight from the top of the building was amazing. You could see all around Seattle in a 360° view.

Here are some pictures from downtown Seattle...

Downtown Seattle. View from Space Needle

View from Space Needle

Downtown

As mentioned we went to the gum wall. It was the most disgusting tourist attractions i have ever seen. It smelled nauseatingly bad and the thought of ten thousands of peoples spit splashed up on a random wall in post alley yukked me out (a creative word by me)

Cathrine and I in front of the gum wall

It was an interesting day, and i must admit that i have fallen in love with the feel and beauty of Seattle.

School Recap

Being in Seattle is almost like being on vacation. We have so much more spare time, and after school we can actually have a life that doesn't involve multiple hours of homework and school assignments. Even though we do have homework we can use the tutoring sessions in the morning to finish them, and give us self some extra time to spend in the afternoon. I really love the school here, since it allows me to finally have a little freedom. 

  Even though I like going to college here I think that they haven't been organizing this whole program very well. There are to many misunderstandings and there has been lacking to much communication between teachers prior to our trip. I hope that's something they can improved for next year's program. 

I look forward to the next few weeks to see where this experience will take me. 

Simone