Orientation Camp

Okay, the orientation camp at Orisen lasted 4 days and after that all 120 students spread out all over Japan (from Hokkaido in the North to Okinawa in the South).
At the camp there were a lot of Japanese lessons, general orientation, speeches and some unofficial chats about how to get the most out of the year.
At the camp I also got to meet my area rep(resentative), Sato-san (or she was Sato-sensei at the camp cos she acted as Japanese teacher). I became really good friends with my roommates, Kai, Jonathan and Sei whihc is always a good thing.

The Orisen looked like this:

Orisen saa saaledes ud:



OK, orienteringslejren varede 4 dage, og derefter spredte de 120 studenter sig ud over hele Japan (fra Hokkaido i nord til Okinawa i syd). Paa lejren var der en masse japansklektioner, generel orientering, taler og nogle uofficielle samtaler om at faa mest ud af aaret.
Paa lejren moedte jeg ogsaa min Area Rep(resentative): Sato-san (eller Sato-sensei var hun paa lejren, fordi hun var japansklaerer). Jeg blev rigtig gode venner med min vaerelseskammerater Kai, Jonathan og Sei, hvilket jo altid er godt.

It was a really nice center, everything was new and shiny. If you look at the map and find Lodging Building D, that was the tallest building at the center and I and some friends went up to the top and took some nice pictures of Tokyo City. Here are 2 of them:

Det var et rigtig flot center. Alting var nyt og skinnende. Hvis I kigger paa kortet og finder "Loding Building D" - det var den hoejeste bygning paa centeret, og jeg og nogle venner tog elevatoren op til toppen og tog nogle flotte billeder af Tokyo City. Her er to af dem:




On the camp we had Japanese lessons and we were divided into around 10 groups with one teacher and one assistant assigned to each group. My teacher was Sato-sensei and she was really really good. Here`s a picture of my group with Sato-sensei way to the right (and me in front of her).

Paa lejren havde vi somsagt japansklektioner, og vi blev inddelt i ca. 10 grupper med en laerer og en assistent til hver gruppe. Min laerer var Sato-sensei og hun var virkelig virkelig god. Her er et billede af min gruppe med Sato-sensei helt ude til hoejre (og mig foran hende).



A bit about the centre. The centre was the first place in Japan after the airport that we came to, so naturally we were all really amused about all the Japanese things around the centre. One of the days I took my camera and went on a little walk around the center to take some pictures of things that you would never find in Denmark.

Lidt om centeret. Centeret var det foerste sted i Japan - ud over lufthavnen - vi kom til, saa naturligvis var alle vilde med alle de japanske ting der var rundtomkring paa centeret. En af dagene tog jeg mit kamera og gik en lille tur rund omkring paa centeret og tog nogle billeder af alle de ting, man aldrig ville finde i Danmark.


First of all, the toilets! Foerst og fremmest toiletterne!


There were of course pissoirs - even though they were a bit oversized if you ask me.
Der var selvfoelgelig pissoiar, selvom de var lidt store, hvis I spoerger mig.


Next was so called `Western-style Toilets`. Even though they look a little western, notice the many buttons on the side of it. Kai, my roommate, told me he tried to push one of them and a small sensor slowly came out down near the water and all of sudden a thick beam of water came up from the toilet and hit the ceiling ... wtf!

Saa var der saakaldte `Western-style toiletter`. Selvom de ser lidt `western` ud, saa laeg maerke til de mange knapper paa siden. Kai - min vaerelseskammerat fortalt mig, han proevede at trykke paa en af knapperne, hvorefter der kom en lille sensor ud nede i toilettet, og pludselig skoed en tyk straale vand op fra toilettet og ramte loftet ... ?


Last but not least, there were of course Asian style toilets. At the orientation they made a big show out of showing how to use them. It was damn fun.

Sidst men ikke mindst var der asiatiske toiletter. Til orienteringen gjorde de et stort show ud af at vise, hvordan man brugte dem. Det var virkelig skaegt.



To be continued

Fortsaettes

Sakura

Here in Japan it`s the sakura season right now. Sakura is the cherryblossom Japan is famous for and it is pretty, indeed. These are a few picture from a quick walk the other day with my hostmum and dad. The bloom is not full yet but will be in a week or so (In Yokohama, anyway).

Her i Japan er det Sakura saeson nu. Sakura er kirsebaerblomstringen, som Japan er kendt for, og det er ogsaa rigtig flot. Her her nogle faa billeder fra en lille gaatur sammen med min vaertsforaeldre. Blomstringen er kun lige begyndt, men vil vaere paa sit hoejeste om en uge (I hvert fald i Yokohama).

First 2 weeks (final part)

Okay, now im gonna finish my first two weeks, no matter what...

After waiting for 4 hours in the airport, finally the two korean students arrived and we were ready to go. We went out of terminal 2 with all our baggage and got onto a bus which was to drive us to Tokyo.
The bus drive took about 60 minutes (there was a big traffic jam inside Tokyo city so we waited in line for 20 minutes and then took a longer way. I fell asleep during the during (along with almost everyone else) - and with only 3 hours of sleep that night I think it was appropriate.
Finally we arrived somewhere in Tokyo (no idea where) and we got off the bus. There we met up with at least 6 returnees (people who HAVE been on exchange) from YFU who were really anxious to ask us where we came from, where we were gonna live in Japan etc. etc.
It was around 8 degrees in Tokyo that day and it felt like summer to me (who just came from -12 degrees in Sweden). We waited some 5 minutes and got into around... 10 taxis (we were around 20 students there) and drove another minutes with taxi and finally ... we arrived at the Olympic Center!


Okay, nu vil jeg faerdiggoere mine to foerste uger ligemeget hvad...

Efter at have ventet 4 timer i lufthavnen, ankom de to studenter fra Korea, og vi var klar til at gaa. Vi gik uden for terminal 2 med al hvor baggage og steg paa en bus, som skulle koere os til Tokyo.
Busturen tog omkring 1 time (der var en stor trafikprop i Tokyo, saa vi sad i koe i 20 min. og tog derefter en omvej. Jeg faldt i soevn i loebet af turen (ligesom naesten alle andre) - med hvad kan man forvente med kun 3 timers soevn den nat?
Endelig ankom vi et eller andet sted i Tokyo (aner ikke hvor) og vi steg af bussen. Der blev vi moedt af 6 returnees (folk som HAR vaeret paa udveksling) fra YFU, som var enormt ivrige efter at hoere, hvor vi kom fra, hvor vi skulle bo i Japan osv. osv.
Det var omkring 8 grader i Tokyo den dag, og det foeltes som sommer for mig (som lige var kommet fra -12 grader i Sverige). Vi ventede ca. 5 minutter og fordelte os i ca... 10 taxaer (vi var ca. 20 mennesker) og koerte saa endnu 5 minutter med taxa, hvorefter vi endelig ankom til "The Olympic Centre"!



We arrived at the Olympic Centre and was told to follow some of the returnees (and of course bring our luggage). We walked into this really big building and got into the lift and went the 5th floor (the top) where we got out and walked just around the corner and entered a rather big conference hall. Everything looked really new (I will upload some pics in a minute) and clean.
There was tables and chairs for around 150 people and on the "scene" there was a huuge whiteboard projector thingy with a picture of all the tables and some abbrevations at each seat. The abbrevations was countries and we were to find our country and get seated. At the table was a letter and a namesign.
We then had to hand in our passport and travel insurance card (which the YFU poeple would keep safe). After that short introduction we had freetime for some 20 minutes and then we should return to the conference hall and be seated.
When we returned 20 minutes later the hall was filled with people (around 150 of which 120 of them were exchange students from all around the world).
Then there was a short introduction and we were divided in to groups of 4. The four of us were to share a small flat in the Lodging Buildings.
I was placed in Loding Building C, room no. 326 with a Korean guy and 2 German guys.






Vi ankom til Olympic Centre" og nogle returnees bad os foelge efter dem (og medbringe vores baggage). Vi gik ind i den her enormt store bygning og klaemte os ind i en elevator, hvorefter vi koerte op til 5 sal (den oeverste). Derfra gik vi lige omkring hjoernet og kom en i en kaempe konferencesal med plads til mindst 200 mennesker. Alting saa helt nyt og rent ud (jeg laegger nogle billeder op om lidt).
Der var som sagt stole og borde til mindst 150 mennesker og oppe paa "scenen" var der et kaempe laerred som en projektor kastede et billede ned paa. Paa billedet var samtlige stole og borde i hele salen og nogle smaa forkortelser paa alle pladserne. Det var landeforkortelser, og vi blev beordret til at finde vores land og saette os ned. Paa bordet var der en konvolut og et navneskilt.
Nu skulle vi saa aflevere vores pas og rejseforsikringskort (som YFU folkene ville passe paa for os). Bagefter en kort introduktion havde vi 20 minutters "fritid" som - de kalde det - og vi skulle derfter vaende tilbage til salen og sidde paa vores plads.
Da vi kom tilbage var salen fyldt med mennesker (omkring 150 hvoraf 120 af dem var udvekslingsstudenter fra hele verden).
Saa var der endnu en kort introduktion, og vi blev inddelt i grupper af 4. Vi fire personer skulle dele en lille lejlighed i "the Lodging Buildings".
Jeg blev placeret i Loding Building C, rum nr. 326 sammen med en koreansk dreng, og 2 tyske drenge. (billede).


The schedule for the orientation camp looked like this:

Skamaet for orienteringslejeren saa saaledes ud:



If you look at the 14th on the right column, at 14:30 it says `arrival .......` that`s me.

Hvis I kigger paa d. 14. kl. 14:30 hvor der star "arrival....." - det er mig.


Oh well, I just discovered that I won`t be able to finihs this today either as there is sooo much to tell from the orientation camp, I`m gonna wrap this up now and continue another day.


Naa, jeg har lige indset, at jeg umuligt kan naa at skrive resten i dag, da der er sket saa meget paa den orienteringslejr, saa jeg vil slutte her og fortsaette en anden dag.

First 2 weeks (cont.)

Right, continuing the tale of me getting to Japan.

From Stockholm we flew to Kastrup (Copenhagen) where we were to change plane. In Copenhagen Tine, our group leader from YFU, left us. She wasn`t coming along to Tokyo, but before she left us she helped us check our bagage in. Of course all three suitcases were a bit too heavy but it was only a few kilo so that was okay. But I had my guitar as well which was 4 more kilo. The lady on the other side of the checkin desk wasn`t looking too happy and she asked us to let her weight our hand bags. Both Simon`s and Kathrine`s handbags were waaaay too heavy and they ended up having to hand a lot of things over to Tine, which she would bring to the YFU office.
After emptying their bags and giving Tine additional 10 kilo to carry, everything was okay and we checked in.
All because of my guitar ...

We said goodbye to Tine and once again stepped onto the escalator and waved and waved and waved...

In Kastrup airport we waited for some 2 hours and got onto the plain. There were almost only Japanese people around us when we were waiting to board, so we already felt like we were a little bit in Japan.

OK! Her fortsaettes eventyret om hvordan jeg kom fra Danmark til Japan.

Fra Stockholm Lufthavn floej vi til Kastrup i Koebenhavn hvor vi skulle skifte fly. I Koebenhavn forlod Tine (vores groupleader fra YFU) os - hun skulle ikke med til Tokyo. Men foer hun forlod os, hjalp hun os med at checke vores baggage ind. Selvfoelgelig var alle tre kufferter for tunge, men det var kun et par kilo, saa det var OK. Men jeg havde min guitar med hvilket var 4 ekstra kilo. Damen bag disken saa ikke for glad ud, og hun bad os veje vores haandbaggage. Baade Simons og Kathrines haandbaggage vejede aaaaalt for meget, og det endte med de blev noedt til at give en masse ting til Tine, som hun ville tage med tilbage til YFU kontoret i Danmark.
Efter at have toemte taskerne og givet Tine 10 kilo mere at slaebe paa, var alt i orden, og vi fik lov at checke ind.
Kun paa grund af min guitar...

Vi sagde farvek til Tine, og endnu engang stod vi paa rulletrappen og vinkede og vinkede og vinkede.

I Kastrup skulle vi vente ca. 2 timer foer vi kunne komme paa flyet. Der var naesten kun japanere omkring os, mens vi ventede paa at kunne komme til at boarde, saa vi foelte os allerede lidt i Japan.


It was a rahter big airplane. 2 rows in the right side, 3 in the middle and another 2 in the left side. On the back of all the chairs, their were a touchscreen with games, movies, music and a 2 cams installed in the outside of the plane.
We took off and were all excited.
Around 5 pm we got dinner on the plane, and afterwards all light was lowered and it was sleeping time. It was really hard to sleep, though. First of all I cant sleep properlly while sitting in a chair. Second, there was a lot of noise of people talking, movies running, the plane flying etc. etc.
Alltogether I got 3 hours of "sleep" - as opposed to Simon`s 1, and Kathrine`s 2.

Finally after 10 hours we could see Japan below us. We got breakfast 1 hour before we landed and after 11 hours of flight we landed in Narita airport, 30 km outside of Tokyo.

Det var et taemmeligt stort fly. 2 raekker i hoejre side, 3 i midten og endnu 2 i venstre side. Paa bagsiden af alle stolene var der smaa touchscreen skaerme med spil, film, musik, og adgang til 2 kameraer, som sad uden paa flyet.
Vi lettede og var alle tre spaendte.
Omkring kl. 17 fik vi aftensmad paa flyet, og bagefter blev alle lys daempet, og det var sovetid. Det var virkelig svaert at sove. For det foerste kan jeg ikke sove i en stol. For det andet var der en masse stoej fra folk, der snakkede, film der koerte, flyet der floej etc. etc.
Alt i alt fik jeg "sovet" tre timer - til sammenligning fik Simon sovet 1　og Kathrine 2.

Endelig efter 10 timers flyvning, kunne vi se Japan under os. Vi fik morgenmad paa flyet omkring en time foer vi landede, og efter 11 timers flyvning landede vi i Narita Airport - 30 km uden for Tokyo.



After getting our luggage we went to the exit and was met by a woman from YFU Japan. She asked if any of us needed to exchange money, and both and Simon had some US$, so off we went. When we were in Sweden this woman from YFU Sweden, Marlin, told us that if we had any Swedish or Danish money which we would like to exchange to Japanese Yen, then we should exchange them to american dollars in Stockholm and again to Japanese yen when we arrived in Tokyo - that way we would get the most out of our money. So that`s what we did.

After getting some Yen the YFU woman showed us a place to wait with all our baggage. Apparently we were gonna wait for some of the Swedish students to arrive.

--- I forgot to tell. Us Danes, the Norwegian and Swedish students weren`t gonna fly together. Danes seperately, Norwegian seperately, and the Swedish were divided up into several groups. Some were gonna fly from Stockholm to London and then to Tokyo. Some was gonna fly to Wien and 1 to Paris.
It was really really stupid - why couln`t we all just fly together?

Anyway, finally some of the Swedes arrived together with the 2 from Norway and we had some Lunch.
We three Danes landed around 10 am in the morning and we had to wait in the airport till 2 pm ... It was a long time to wait, indeed.



Here is Me and Kathrine (and some Swedes in the background) waiting... I`m drinking Japanese coffee - tastes of nuts. Oh yeah! I totally forgot: On that picture im still wearing my scarff, that`s because I through the entire course in Sweden had had problems with my throat and it was getting worse and worse and one minute wouldn`t pass without me coughing at least once. It was awfull (and with the -12 degrees in Sweden it wasnt getting any better). When we arrived in Tokyo I felt so bad that I just had to get something hot to drink, so that`s why I ended up buying that Japanese Coffee...


Efter at have fundet vores baggage gik vi mod udgangen, hvor vi moedte en kvinde fra YFU Japan. Hun spurgte om nogen af os havde brug for at veksle nogle penge, og baade mig og Simon havde nogle amerikanske dollars. Da vi var I sverige, fortalte den her kvinde fra YFU Sverige (Marlin) os, at hvis vi havdee nogle svenske eller danske penge, som vi ville veksle til japanske yen, skulle vi foerst veksle dem til amerikanske dollars i Sverige, og igen til japanske yen, naar vi ankom i Tokyo - paa den maade ville vi faa mest ud af vores penge. Saa saadan gjorde vi.

Efter vi havde faaet vores japanske yen, viste YFU damen os et sted, hvor vi kunne vente med alt vores baggage. Vi skulle aabenbart vente paa at nogle af de svenske studenter ankom.

--- Naa ja, jeg har helt glemt at fortaelle: Vi danskere, nordmaendene og svenskerne skulle ikke flyve sammen. Danskere for sig, nordmaend for sig, og svenskerne var delt op i en masse grupper. Nogle skulle flyve fra Stockholm via London til Tokyo. Andre skulle til Wien og en enkelt til Paris.
Det var virkelig aandsvagt, hvorfor kunne vi ikke bare flyve sammen allesammen?

Naa, endelig ankom nogle af svenskerne sammen med de to fra Norge, og vi fik os noget frokost.
Os tre danskere landede i lufthavnen omkring klokken 10 om morgenen, og vi skulle vente i lufghavnen til kl. 14 ... Det var en lang dag i lufthavnen.

Paa billedet ovenover er mig og Kathrine (og nogle svenskere i baggrunden) der venter... Jeg drikker japansk kaffe - det smager af noedder. Naa ja! Jeg har fuldstaendig glemt at fortaelle: Paa det billeder har jeg stadig mig halstoerklaede paa. Det er fordi jeg under hele kurset i Sverige havde problemer med min hals, og det blev bare vaerre og vaerre. Der gik ikke 1 minut, uden jeg hostede mindst 1 gang. Det var forfaerdeligt (og med -12 grader i Sverige blev det ikke bedre). Da vi ankom i Tokyo, havde jeg det saa daarligt, at jeg bare maatte have noget varmt at drikke, saa det var derfor jeg endte med at koebe japansk kaffe...



Right, that`s basically the way I came to Japan. Next I`m gonna tell about the orientation course at the Olympic Centre (Orisen) in Tokyo which lasted 4 days. But that`s gonna be in another post, cheers.

Okay, det var i grove traek saadan, jeg kom til Japan. Det naeste, jeg vil fortaelle om, er orienterings kurset paa "Olympic Centre" (Orisen) I tokyo, som varede 4 dage, men det bliver i en anden post, cheers.

First 2 weeks

Finally! Finally I arrived in Japan. I got to meet my host family and everything is fine.

Now I`m gonna tell the tale of me getting from Billund airport to Yokohama city. I will do it in both English and Danish but Ill try to keep the Danish version in Italic. Ok, here we go.

Endelig! Endelig kom jeg til Japan. Jeg moedte min vaertsfamilie og alting er godt.

Nu vil jeg fortaelle eventyret, om hvordan jeg kommer fra Billund lufthavn til Yokohama. Jeg vil goere det paa baade engelsk og dansk, men jeg vil proeve at holde det danske i kursiv. Ok, here we go.


Everything started off in Billund Airport (an hour from where I live) on the 9th of March - a thursday. We woke up 4am in the morning as we had to be in the airport 6:30 am if I remember correctly. I had two of my best friends (Anna and Soeren) to stay for the night, and they were coming along to the airport to say goodbye.
The night before I spent packing all my stuff, with Anna and Soeren helping me, and preparing the last things. We had just had this huge party the night before, so I wasnt feeling too well. I went to bed around 12 pm feeling pretty sick.

4am in the morning we woke up. Took shower, had breakfast and rechecked my luggage. Everything was ready.

Then we left. On the way we picked up another of my best friends (Thomas/Akuen) so we had to drive in two cars. 9 people all together.


Det hele startede i Billun Lufthavn (en time fra hvor jeg bor) d. 9. marts - en torsdag. Vi vaagnede klokken 4 om morgenen, da vi skulle vaere i lufthavnen kl 6:30 hvis jeg ikke tager meget fejl. 2 af min bedste venner (Anna og Soeren) blev og overnattede, og de skulle med til lufthavnen for at sige farvel.
Natten foer havde jeg brugt paa at pakke alt mig grej (Anna og Soeren hjalp til), og forberede de sidste ting. Jeg havde til den her kaempe fest natten foer, saa jeg havde det ikke forfaerdelig godt. Jeg gik i seng omkring kl. 12 med kvalme.

Kl. 4 om morgenen vaagnede vi altsaa. Tog brusebad, fik morgenmad og tjekkede alt min baggage igen. Alt var klart.

Saa tog vi afsted. Vi tog lige en til af mine bedste venner med paa vejen (Thomas/Akuen), saa vi blev noedt til at koere i to biler. 9 mennesker i alt.


We arrived at the airport where Simon and Kathrine (the two other danes im going to japan with) were already waiting. We had a little talk, some coffee etc. while waiting for our groupleader from YFU to arrive, Tine.

Finally she did and we got out tickets and checked out luggage in. Just before leaving, Thomas gave me a brand new copy of "Brave new world" and Anna and Soeren gave me a scrapbook with all the good times we`ve had together. I really really appreciate both of them!

Time to say goodbye...

We stepped on to the escelator and waved and waved and waved ... and our families were out of sight.


Vi ankom til lufthavnen, hvor Simon og Kathrine (de to danskere jeg sakl til Japan med) allerede stod og ventede. Vi snakkede lidt og fik en kop kaffe, mens vi ventede paa vores "group leader" fra YFU: Tine

Endelig kom hun og vi fik vores billetter og checkede vores bagage ind. Lige foer vi skulle til at gaa, gav Thomas mig en splinterny udgave af "Brave new world" og Anna og Soeren gav mig en scrapbook med alle de gode tider, vi har haft sammen. Jeg er virkelig glad for begge ting!

Tid til at sige farvel...

Vi stod paa rulletrappen og vinkede og vinkede og vinkede ... og vores familier var ude af syne.



Then we entered the plane and left Denmark. To the left is Simon just after we got on the plane. He`s very excited.
On the plane we got some breakfast and we got to talk a little more relaxed about the whole thing. Both Simon and Kathrine had made these awesome visitcards which I would never had thought of, but there ya go.

Saa kom vi op paa flyet og forlod Danmark. Her er Simon lige efter vi kom paa flyet. Han er meget spaendt.
Paa flyet fik vi morgenmad og vi fik chancen for at tale lidt mere afspaendt om det hele. Baade Simon og Kathrine havde lavet nogle supersmarte visitkort, som jeg aldrig ville have fundet paa, men hvad.

We arrived in Stockholm in Sweden and met two Norwegian YFU students who were going to Japan as well (Jimmy and Andrea). Then we got on a bus and drove to Brommasplan some 30 kilometres out of Stockholm and took a taxi from there to the place where the preparation course was to take place. It was -12 degrees.
When we got there, there were already some Swedish people and more to come. There were 3 rooms and I got to sleep with 4 Swedish people (Sandra, Kajsa, Gustav & Alex).

The next couple of days went like described in the last post I made, so I wont repeat all that. The entire course was in Swedish, so I certainly learnt a lot of Swedish those 4 days. Men det var jette bra!

One night we went to a Japanese resturant in Stockholm and got Tsukiyaki (I think) which is a Japanese dish where you get a lot of vegetables (yasai) and a huge bowl with some　sweet stuff in it and a gasblow thingy under it. Then you put all the yasai in the bowl and kinda fry it I guess. Afterwards you take up the Yasai you would like to eat, dip it in raw egg, and eat it. It was really nice but got a little too sweet in the end.




Vi ankom til Stockholm i Sverige og moedte 2 norske YFU studenter, som ogsaa skulle til Japan: Jimmy og Andrea. Saa tog vi en bus og koerte til Brommasplan ca. 30 km fra Stockholm, og derfra tog vi en taxa til det sted, hvor forberedelseskurset skulle finde sted. Det var -12 grader.
Da vi kom der, var der allerede nogle svenskere og der kom flere. Der var 3 vaerelse, vi skulle fordele os paa, og jeg kom til at sove sammen med 4 svenskere (Sandra, Kajsa, Gustav og Alex).

De naeste var dage gik ligesom beskrevet i den sidste post, jeg har skrevet, saa jeg vil ikke gentage alt det. Hele kurset var paa svensk, saa jeg fik under alle omstaendigheder laert en masse svensk paa det 4 dage. Men det var jette bra!

En af dagene tog vi paa japansk restaurant i Stockholm om aftenen og fik Tsukiyaki (tror jeg), hvilket er en japansk ret, hvor man faar en masse groentsager (yasai) and en stor skaal med noget soedt vaeske i og et gasblus under. Saa putter man al yasai`en i og "frituresteger" det. Bagefter tager man det yasai, man vil have, og dypper det i raa aeg og spiser det. Det var rigtig laekkert, men det blev lidt for soedt til sidst.


Here are some pics from the course:

Her er nogle billeder fra kurset:



Top left is Kajsa(swe) and Kathrine(den)
Top right is Andrea(nor) and Alex(swe)
Bottom left is Andrea(nor) and me
Bottom right is Kathrine (den) and Simon(den)


Monday afternoon all the parents of the Swedish students came to the course and participated in the predeparture thing. It was basically just about YFU rules and how to make the year unforgettable.
After that the Swedish students went home with their parents and left us Danes and Andrea and Jimmy from Norway.
We had loads of fun that night. We played pictionary ... in Swedish! We always ended up drawing the wrong things cos we thought the words meant something else.


Anyway, tuesday morning we left Sweden. (Picture) - For verfication, look at the Stockholm sign in the background.



Now, I don`t feel like writing more right now, so I`ll continue the tale sometime later. Untill then, ja nee.


Mandag eftermiddag kom foraeldrende til alle svenskerne og deltog i den sidste del af kurset (predeparture). Det handlede mest om YFU regler og hvordan man fik mest ud af aaret.
Efter det tog de svenske studenter med deres foraeldre hjem og efterlod os 4 danskere med de to nordmaend and en enkelt svensker.
Vi havde det rigtig sjovt den aften. Vi spillede pictionary ... paa svensk! Vi endte altid med at tegne de forkerte ting, fordi vi troede ordene betoed noget andet end de egentlig gjorde.

Naa, tirsdag morgen forlod vi Sverige (billede) - for bevis, laeg maerke til STOCKHOLM banneret i baggrunden.

Nu har jeg ikke rigtig lyst til at skrive mere, saa jeg vil fortsaette dette spaendende eventyr senere. Indtil da, ja nee.

1 BD

Finally... 1 day left, less than 24 hours.

The plan is:

Thursday 9/3-06:

06:20 am - I'm gonna be in Billund Airport where someone called Tine will be. She's got my ticket so she'd better be there. She's gonna be with us (Simon, Kathrine and me - the 3 from YFU Denmark who's going to Japan) until monday where we will be leaving for Tokyo.
07:35 am - We will be leaving for Stockholm where there will be this intensive Japan course.
08:55 am - We should be landing in Stockholm and afterwards, finding our way to the Japan camp.
01:00 pm - The camp begins
02:30 pm - There will be a Japanese test - I'm kinda looking forward to that.

Well the next 3 days there will be language classes, a trip to Eastasian museum, a meeting with some Japanese exchange students and some pre-departure stuff (not sure what that is).

Monday 13/3-06:

Finally leaving for Japan.

11:10 am - The plane's leaving Stockholm
12:20 am - We'll be landing in Copenhagen (the 4 of us)
03:40 pm - The plane's leaving Copenhagen (without Tine)

Tuesday 14/3-06:

10:40 am (local time +8 gmt) - We'll be landing in Tokyo

In Tokyo we'll be participating in a week's course. I don't know anything about that really, but I guess it's gonna be language classes and the like.


Well, well, well - it's gonna be great after all.

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