4 weeks to Christmas: Hygge

Hygge

When most of you read the title of this blog post, you're gonna wonder what it means. Hygge (hyu-guh) is an untranslatable Danish word. Imagine yourself sitting in your living room with your friends and family, huddled up in a blanket, watching television or playing cards in the warmth of your house, while it snows outside. The feeling you get is cozy or hyggelit. That's what hygge is.
Winter is a time of hygge for the Danes. They love lighting up the fireplace (or switching on the heaters), and sitting with their family. Even small things could be hyggelit; for example, a dinner with  a friend, or a movie outing, or a birthday. Hygge may seem good enough by itself, but it is often partnered with cake and candy, and that makes it absolutely great. I wouldn't be surprised if hygge was the reason behind Denmark being amongst the happiest countries in the world. Other
countries have been recently trying to adopt the practice of hygge as it results in inner happiness.

Early morning snow

First Snow

I experienced the first snowfall of my life last weekend, when temperatures reached -3^oC (the lowest temperature I have ever known), and the snow lasted for two days. Ideally, it doesn't snow before December where I live, and sometimes, it snows only after New Year. However, this year, the fields were covered in white, and the snowmen were out in everyone's backyards. It doesn't seem likely to snow again anytime soon, because the temperatures have increased again, but the feeling of holding a snowball in my hand was beautiful. There was just something amazing about waking up in the morning and seeing the streets covered with s

Snowman!

now, or the glow of the snow as the sun set, or having a snow fight with your siblings, or putting a carrot into the snowman to complete it. However, biking to school with frost all over the streets is not nearly as amazing; it's pretty annoying, as a matter of fact.

Almost all the trees have lost their leaves by now, and the landscape looks really bare and dry. Winter is obviously setting in, and the sudden snowfall made that more clear than ever. It is so great the finally know a real autumn and winter.

Language check: I'm beginning to speak fluently now, and my vocabulary increases by one or two worlds each day. I can understand much of what people say, and my friends at school have also started talking to me in Danish. My Danish writing is also steadily improving. It is a bit grammatically incorrect, but understandable. At least my use of Google Translate has tremendously reduced.

I'd like to thank all my readers for staying on and reading my blog every single time. I have a total of exactly 1160 page views on my blog now!

6 weeks to Christmas: First Presentation

Christmas is HUGE in Denmark. There's about 6 weeks left for Christmas, and everybody is already preparing for Christmas. Coming from a country where Christmas is hardly celebrated, I'm completely stoked!

Christmas play

Egeskov Castle

I also went shopping to the Egeskov Julemarked (Christmas market). It was in the premises of the Egeskov castle. There were countless amazing Christmas related things; from clothes, decorations and toys, to dry fruits, jams and drinks. However, it was extremely expensive, more expensive than Denmark already is. Coincidentally, we found a shop for spices, where I bought some Indian spices for a pretty decent price. One could feel the Christmas spirit in the middle of November at that Christmas market. There was a Christmas play going on, and the whole place was lined with hundreds of Christmas trees. It was simply beautiful, and I couldn't help but feel the Christmas spirit too.

We have been singing a lot of Danish Christmas carols in the school choir lately, and I think they are beautiful. Of course, I don't understand much, but they sound really nice and I thoroughly enjoy singing them. The songs are almost always stuck in my head.

First Presentation

Speaking at the school about India

I had to give the presentation on India for the first time on Friday at a school in front of three classes. Despite being really nervous, I reckon it went quite smoothly, and the students seemed to like and understand what I put in front of them. By the end of the year, I am expected to do it in Danish, but I did it in English at the school. It's really shocking how little I knew about Denmark before I came here and how little they know about India here. It was a great experience overall, and I realised, that the exchange program has helped me overcome my stage fright. I don't feel scared in front of large crowds any longer; I have changed a lot without realising it, in only three months.


Language check: I'm able to fluently read Danish aloud (I don't understand all of it, though) and I can also speak faster Danish now. I can type messages in Danish with ease and understand messages with a little effort. I am improving at Danish at a fast pace, and needless to say, everyone is quite impressed.

P.S. For people in my sponsor district (India - 3140) interested in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program - the last date to submit the application form is the 21st of November. You can find it here: Preliminary Form.

Month 3: New family

Adjusting into Denmark was never very hard, with really warm and helpful people everywhere around me. They made Denmark feel like a home to me. But after 3 months of living in this amazing country, I'm not gonna hesitate to say, "It's not like my home, it is my home." There are so many times when I miss India; my family, my house, my friends, the food... but leaving all that for a year is just a small sacrifice compared to what I've experienced in Denmark.

Shifting Host Families

Saying goodbye to my first family

My host families tried to make my shift as easy as possible. I packed everything into 4 bags, and we (my first host family and I) went to my second host family's house for dinner. Later, they left, and we went to sleep. When I woke up the next day, the realisation came upon me that I had really shifted. I live about a 15 minute bike ride away from school. My host family is really nice; they try to talk to me as much in Danish as possible so that I can learn the language quickly. I think that the most difficult thing about the first one week with a host family is that you don't know what to touch, what to use, or what to do. All in all, I'm really happy that I have such wonderful people as host families.

Ice skating!

Choir weekend
A day after I shifted to my second host family, we had a sleepover weekend at school for all the choir members! After school, we met in the choir room and sang some songs (including some Danish Christmas songs). We ate dinner together, later, and played some fun games. I was really tired by the end of the day, and we went to sleep in the school hall. The next morning, we ate breakfast, and resumed singing songs. We went back home at noon, after which I unpacked my bags.

Change of time
The Sunday before the last, the time on all the clocks was shifted back by an hour. It's something that's done every year. I think the reason behind it is that it is usually extremely dark when people leave home early for school or work. When I left for school today, the sun was already out, hence, it was brighter than usual.

Trick or treat?

I tried ice-skating for the first time yesterday. I reckon I was alright at it, although, I fell four times. I also carved a pumpkin (with plenty of help).

Language(s) check: I started French lessons a week back at school, and I realised, that it's even more difficult than I thought it would be, to learn two different languages at once, both of which have pronunciations very different from how they are written; while Danish words are pronounced sharply, French words are pronounced softly. While my Danish is improving at a steady pace, I have a feeling that my English is deteriorating. Kudos to my brain for thinking in 3 different languages!

I can speak English.
Jeg kan tale Dansk.
Je parle Français (not really).