Abroad in Denmark: Introcamp & Food Cravings

I've been in Denmark a whole month now, well, actually a month and two days, but I'm not counting yet.
This country finds new and creative ways to surprise me every day, and I'm eating it up like the burgers I've been going out of my way to buy for the past several days. Yup, I've been craving junky, greasy foods lately, and Denmark is the last place you'd ever want to go to find those things. Most of the foods, (even the ones Danes consider "junky") are very healthy. Of course that shows in the people; in the states, you can walk outside of your house and pick out at least 10 very "unhealthy" looking people in a handful of minutes, but here, most people are very fit, and look like they have balanced diets, or at least mostly healthy ones. They don't use so much grease, or salt, and they don't eat Mexican food, so it's a little hard to deal. I'm glad that I get to try having more green in my meals, but you know, a girl has got to get a little grease on her fingers. I've been frequenting the McDonald's and a restaurant fittingly named, "The Burger". It's definitely not the same, even the McDonald's food breaks my heart, because it doesn't have that American touch.
That's another thing Danes don't do, most every food here, is served with a knife and a fork on the sides of your plate. I think I've been told by some that they do it to keep their hands clean, which is completely understandable, but very unusual for someone who comes from a place where hands are one of the most useful tools for eating food. Of course we don't use our hands for things like pasta, or mashed potatoes, but you will never see us use a knife and fork on a slice of pizza.
Rotary hosted all of the exchange students at Nøgaard's Højskole in Bjerringbro last week for our introcamp, and though there was a lot of work involved, I have to say it's the most fun I've had in Denmark yet. I roomed with two other girls from the states, and had the opportunity to meet so many fun people I wouldn't have otherwise known. It took about an hour with everyone in the same clearing to fill up everyone's blazers with pins, and pockets with business cards. To my surprise I found two other people from Texas, I thought I was the only one who understood how awful the lack of Whataburger, Dr. Pepper, and Tex-Mex was until then, and it was a bit more relieving, sharing the burden.
We had 6 hours of Danish lessons every day, (except Wednesday, our "excursion to Aarhus") and I think it was really just the basics that we learned, along with grammar and a handful of every day phrases where Danes use the word "ass" (røv). Then, in the evenings, they planned fun little activities for us to choose from, like Filipino stick fighting, dance classes, yoga, soccer (I think? Or was it hockey?) and some other stuff. I took a salsa class and a hip hop dancing workshop, because I lack talent with any kind of dancing, so I may as well turn the irony up on high. We also got to make bread over a fire, which is probably one of the most Danish things you can do.
Wednesday was when we had our trip to Aarhus, and I swear that city is the most gorgeous I've seen in person. We went to the Aros art museum, which was also entirely fascinating. I think it may be nearly equivalent to being the Eiffel tower of Denmark. It's a popular destination. The levels of the museum, we were told, were supposed to represent the 7 circles/levels of hell, and the rainbow panorama at the top represented heaven. It was so amazingly modern, and I had a great experience.
It was hard to say goodbye to all the friends I made there, because as an exchange student, there really isn't someone you can connect with better than another exchange student. You're in the same shoes, and that, times over a hundred, was amazing.
I'm actually going to visit some friends I made there in Copenhagen next weekend, I bought my train ticket already, and I'm actually really stoked for it. I'm also kind of proud of the fact that I was able to go and buy the ticket myself, and arrange the travel plan. As an Texan teen, that's not something that is normally my responsibility. Especially considering you don't usually take trains in Texas.
I'm learning to be responsible for myself, and thinking about it is kind of scary, but it's exciting to explore a new level of independence.
I miss certain things about Texas, like the food (you already know this because I haven't been able to shut up about it), and school electives/clubs like Choir, Theatre and Interact club, but I wouldn't trade being in Denmark for any of those things.
I also started Danish school (class?) this week, it's every Tuesday and Thursday from 14:45 to 17:00. It's kind of exhausting, but it's nice spending time with the exchange students who don't live in Odense (they live in surrounding areas and take the train/bus here), a lot of them aren't Rotary, so I have the chance to still meet more and more people. I love it, I think accents are actually super adorable, and it's just one of those things I guess. I forget I'm foreign sometimes, so talking to people who aren't from the States or Canada makes me so... I don't know, excited. I think its so cute for some reason, but that's just me being weird.
Until I have something else interesting to write about, vi ses! ;)
(Below are a few pictures I took in Aarhus, mainly of Aros)