A Year Since I Graduated...

A video I made with recordings from my last week of school.

I'm finding it very hard to believe that it's been a year since I graduated from high school. It's gone so fast. I remember that this time last year I didn't even know anything about what I was going to do after school. 2011 was still a huge question mark for me! That scared me. I hated that. Although I love surprises, it's not a nice feeling waking up with absolutely no plans for the future. I definitely knew that I wanted to have a gap year in Denmark but I hadn't bought any tickets or looked into it seriously so that was still only a slight possibility. The tickets weren't bought until 2 weeks before I left!

"I wonder where I'll be this time next year?" was a question I remember thinking clearly, with great excitement. Would I still be in Bundaberg, would I go down to Brisbane, or would I travel to Denmark? 

Little did I know then that now I'd be living in Denmark and experience so much this year- and that I've already begun studying again- just in Danish!

Looking back at the video I made about my last week of school makes me think how incredibly different my life has changed. To think that my friends were all around me and now they're scattered all over Australia, and I'm up here on the other side of the planet! I took school for granted, and just the  simple fact that I could be with my friends everyday was something I didn't properly think about. The temperature was 30+ and just chilling out under D block and laughing non stop was how things used to be. Now all that is over a year old! But even though it's a year ago today, nothing whatsoever will take my memories away from all the great times we had together. Well maybe dementia :P But seriously, although the times are gone now, I will cherish every memory and I'm so pleased that I made this video. It's like a time-capsule where it shows exactly the way we were. 

An Autumn Update

Jesus Kristus! Is it already November!? Christmas is just around the corner which is getting me excited- I will actually have a cold Christmas this year!! For the last couple of weeks it has really been obvious that it's Autumn :) Beautiful reds, oranges and yellows are everywhere on the trees but the leaves are slowly starting to fall now. Daylight Saving time has also gone now so sunset is already at 4:30pm! I'm noticing too that it's getting harder to wake up in the mornings because it's dark. Temperature-wise, the last few weeks have been between 6 to 9 degrees but it's expected to go below zero already this weekend. I find it funny that my mother sends me photos of how in Bundaberg right now it's already reaching 30 degrees and the temperature of the water is 24 degrees!! That reminds me of the good ol' days...

I can feel Christmas is nearing! The shops and streets in Odense already have Christmas decorations hanging!

My Danish lessons are still a real pain the neck but I'm surviving! I feel like I've gone back to High School, only that the assignments have to be written in Danish! At the moment it's assignment after

assignment after

assignment after

assignment!!

I think I'm about to go crazy with all the Danish assignments I have to write up. It's one after another with no stop! I can definitely feel though that I'm improving greatly :D

I took this photo on my bike ride through the Danish countryside.

The other day I biked for an hour from the house I live in to get to a large shopping centre called Rosengårdscentret to buy Christmas presents for my family in Australia. It was a beautiful ride biking through the Danish country side between fields and small villages. The Autumn colours were so colourful! But why is there ALWAYS headwind no matter when I decide to bike long distances?? I don't get how that is always the case. Then magically the wind turns so my hour-long bike ride back home is ALSO against the wind! But it's alright, I don't mind a work-out ;)

So now I've packed all of the Christmas presents and ready to send them to my family in Australia! Hopefully they'll get them in time! It's going to be strange celebrating Christmas without them. The GREAT news is that they have booked tickets for a Eurotrip next year where I'll be reunited with my family in Rome, Italy!! This will be in May so it's still quite some time away but I can't wait :D

One last thing I'd like to share before I go- Today I visited the place where my parents met for the very first time! It's the café you can see above. It's a scary thought to think that I wouldn't be here today if my parents hadn't gone to that exact café at that exact time... Mindblowing stuff.

The Doctor Who Experience

This is what my dreams are often about;
me floating in a blue box above Denmark...

One word to describe the Doctor Who Experience: FAN-tastic! It was the best exhibition I have EVER been to! If you're not a Doctor Who fan, I suggest you leave my blog at once! Shame on you! This blog entry will be PACKED with photos from my enjoyable day out at the DWE! Geronimo!

So let's start from the very beginning! It was my Autumn holidays and I've been dreaming for a long time to visit the Doctor Who Experience. I know a lot of my Australian friends would love to go to it but because it's on the other side of the world it's pretty impractical (unless you own your own Tardis- but in that case the exhibition would be rather pointless...) so this was a real dream come true!

That's funny...
I don't remember anything being behind me when I took the photo ;)

It's difficult trying to explain to people in Denmark what Doctor Who is about. Telling them that it's about a time-travelling alien flying around in a police box with a screwdriver doesn't exactly help them understand it... Anyway! I found my way through the city of London alone pretty well, including the many different overground and underground trains to get there- and I made it all in one piece! I get so proud of myself sometimes :)

The authentic interior set of David Tennant's Tardis!

The first 30 minutes was a real experience! You were a part of the adventure, where the 11th Doctor talks to you and guides you through some big screens! The Tardis magically appears and you enter it where it really is bigger on the inside! It looked identical to the Tardis used in the current show! You then get to fly it and the floor actually moves around! It was amazing! Then Daleks come towards you, threatening to exterminate me and you also had to walk through the forest of the Weeping Angels! It was creepy but I loved every moment of it! The adventure was very well made and I smiled through the entire experience!

Here's a handful of the many great monsters I saw :D

Then came the big exhibition where you can get up close with many of the monsters! There were SO MANY to see and I could have spent a whole year there! There was also all of the 11 doctors' and the latest assistants' clothes on display, and a lot of small props used in the show too!

Probably my favourite monster- The Silence! They're deliciously creepy yet stylish at the same time ;P

My wallet certainly became lighter after I visited the Souvenir shop! As I left the Doctor Who Experience,  I imagined a camera tracking into a close-up of my face, with Vale Decem being played in the background and where I would take a brief pause until saying "I don't want to go!"

The Olympic Stadium for the 2012 London Olympics!

My trip to London wasn't just spent hanging around with Daleks and Sontarans (though I wish it was!)! I saw a few other things, such as the brand new Olympic Stadium which will be the centre of attention of the world next year! I'm looking forward to when the entire stadium's crowd vanishes, and then reappear again ;) 

I also got a photo with the Countdown at the famous Trafalgar Square! My English relatives also had a surprise for me- they had booked tickets for me to see the musical called Les Miserables at a theatre in London. That was certainly a different experience compared to taking a ride in the Tardis!! Pretty sure which one I preferred too ;)

I visited my wonderful English relatives and met some people I've never met before who are in fact family! My English relatives took me to the near-by "beach". I wrote beach in "" because technically it's more an inlet. I laughed so hard when I discovered this sign at the beach!! 

An award winning beach!!??! According to who? The tide was out, the sand was in fact quicksand-like mud and made the whole thing look filthy and grey and in the horizon you could see factories polluting the air! It wasn't exactly Noosa Heads!

So that was my Autumn holidays! It was a whole bunch of fun!