So my blog readers, I have a confession to make. I have nothing interesting to blog about yet. Time has passed, Rotary meetings have been attended to, I have read my books on Denmark, and I have sort-of, kind of, maybe been working on learning Danish.
I have after all read The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell. That book was full of insights into how Denmark might be seen from a foreigner's perspective. I've also read Courage and Defiance, a book about the German occupation of Denmark in WWII. This coupled with my following of a handful of Danish YouTubers has led to a very basic understanding on what Denmark is like, but if I were to be honest with you blog readers, I would say that I am much more anxious to write from personal experience.
This blog may be especially important during the first three months that I am on my exchange, seeing as it is during the end of that period that I am told, that most exchange students experience the worst bouts of homesickness. Despite the warnings however, I fail to see why a mere quarter of the way through my exchange, I would be feeling homesick. After all, a quarter is halfway to halfway, and only three quarters away from coming home.
Now that school is done, I feel a sort of expectance from myself to really sink my teeth into preparing for exchange, and perhaps I will do just that. After all it was only today that I managed to wrap up my writer's craft elearning course, thus officially ending my school year. That being said, I have a meeting to arrange, at least one meeting, with a nice lady who lives in town and speaks Danish, and that would definitely be worth writing another post.
All told, I suppose there isn't anything wrong per se. Mostly, I am just busy. And also not busy. I can only do as much as I can do, and if I am doing less I must strive to do more. There it is.
As for my Danish, I'd have to rather amusingly put in that I had a dream wherein I was dreaming in Danish. If only, in Danish place names, but the point still stands. It's a good sign. The emails I've received, from Denmark, have been brief and to the point. They seem terribly strict when it comes to the language, however I welcome this particular challenge. Seeing as I could probably carry on a halfway comprehensible conversation in broken Danish before having even left Canada, I am most curious to see what kind of language camp they have planned. To give you an idea of where I'm at, here's a few sentences.
"Hej, mit navn er Callum Arnold. Jeg behover til spiser en rød æble og tager bilet til Halsnæs. Vil du tager mig med de til ser byningerne?"
Which translates roughly, by my understanding to...
"Hi, my name is Callum Arnold. I need to eat a red apple and take the car to Halsnæs. Will you take me with you to see the buildings?"
And according to Google Translate;
Hello, my name is Callum Arnold. I need to eat a red apple and take the car to Halsnæs. Will you take me with them to see the towns?
Whoops. I mean, I guess it's not as embarrassing as mistakenly asking your host mom for her underwear (That happened to somebody!) or accidentally expressing your admiration for a reproductive organ to a room full of people (That also happened apparently!). But yes, obviously I still need lots of practice, and it's really quite imperative that I get some hands-on experience with the language.
And actually, having done a bit of experimentation, it would seem that I wasn't so far off, and Google Translate really is just broken.
Byer = Cities OR towns
Bygninger = Buildings
Bygningerne - Buildings TOO
Lots of people have been remarking on how Danish is a really hard language to learn.
I'm undecided as to the verdict on this particular issue, but I am ready to learn!
-Callum Arnold
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