Ruth Kjær Poulsen

2004-05 Inbound from Denmark

Date of Birth: January 14, 1987
Hometown: Fredericia, Denmark
Sponsor: Fredericia Vesterbro Rotary Club, District 1460, Denmark

Host: Daytona Beach West Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida USA
School: Spruce Creek High School

Ruth's Bio

Some Family Pictures from Ruth, at her parents' Silver Anniversary Celebration

Ruth arrived into Jacksonville after sharing flights with Nick and Fredrikke

August 31 Journal

The next 14 days I was really busy with seeing the city and most of all THE BEACHES! They are awesome! I love to be there - surfing and having fun! I went shopping together with Mellony - the malls are so big here! I saw the place where my host parents work and I tried a lot of different places to eat! There are so many choices - and especially a lot of different fast food restaurants! I met a ton of new people and everybody was so nice to me!

I started in Spruce Creek High School the 9th of August. It is much bigger than my old school in Denmark. There are about 2800 students! The first week was a little hard because the school system in U.S. is very different from the school system in Denmark. After each class you have to change classroom. In Denmark we stay in the same room all day and the teachers come to the students. It makes it much easier to get to know the students in your class because you are together with the same students all day. I did not know anybody the first days in Spruce Creek and everybody were so busy with finding their classes!

Now it is much better. I am getting used to the difference and I have met a lot of great people in my school.  I like my school now and I have already got a lot of friends there.

I started on Spruce Creek swim team just a few days ago. We swim an hour every day and it is really fun. I really like to be together with the others swimmers - everybody has more time for talking and making fun there than they have in school. It is great! It is not the easiest thing to make friends here in Daytona Beach but I get to know more and more people every day and that is wonderful - friends means a lot to me! 

This was all from now!

See ya - Ruth :)

October 7 Journal

Hurricanes!!! Yes this is definitely my subject for the last time here in Florida. I really love the weather here - sunshine everyday! GREAT! But the hurricanes are not cool! So far I have been through three hurricanes here and that is more than enough for me!

The first hurricane, Charley, came right through us and hit Daytona Beach. It was a really strong hurricane and it made a lot of damage in our city. During the hurricane we had a lot of fun playing games and jumping in the pool. We only lost power for about 12 hours but a lot of people did not have power for about a week. In my neighborhood we have a lot of beautiful trees. Many of them did not survive and they made a big mess. I do not live at the beach which I was very glad during the hurricane. A lot of the houses near the beach got destroyed and some people lost all they had. I really feel sorry for them.

The second hurricane, Frances, everybody was more prepared for. A lot of people evacuated but we stayed, which was the right decision because the traffic the next days was really bad! It was a strong but very slow hurricane and it was here for about 12 hours! All the neighbors came to our house and we had a hurricane party - it was great and we had a good time together.

The last hurricane (hopefully), Jeanne, was not that strong. We had a lot of fun skateboarding with a sail during it.

Because of all the hurricanes I have had a lot of days off from the school and everything has been closed for days. I was pretty excited during the hurricanes and sometimes a little scared - but we made it! The days after the hurricanes were not fun at all. Everybody was busy with cleaning up everything - It was Boring! It made me start thinking a little about home....

Now the hurricanes have past us and everything is great again! I really love to be here in Daytona Beach. I have got more used to my new life here and my family are still the BEST! They take so good care of me and I really feel that I am a part of the family now. I have so much fun with my new “little brothers” and it is awesome. In the school and at the swim team I have got a lot of good friends. I hang out with them and we have fun together! One night I went bowling in the dark with music and disco lights - It was so much fun! It is really important for me to be social so it is great to spend time together with new friends here.

My English was pretty good when I arrived but I had to concentrate a lot on it. Now it is natural for me to speak English and it is getting harder for me to speak Danish when I call my family or friends at home. I have also started thinking and dreaming in English! Heehee - that is weird!

I can't believe that I already have been here for over two months now! Everything goes so fast! But that’s just the way it is when you are having a good time!

Big Hugs,

Ruth

November 15 Journal

December 13 Journal

The past time I have been doing a lot of stuff! For the first time I have celebrated Thanksgiving! I really liked it! We had a big family dinner at my host family's house and it was really nice with a big turkey and everything. Because of the thanksgiving we had some days off from school and one of the days I went to SEA WORLD! It was awesome. I have been there one time before when I was 6 years old but that is a looooong time ago and I can’t really remember anything. I went there with some of my host family’s good friends. I saw dolphins, penguins, sharks, polar bears and of course killer whales! I also tried some of the rides. One of the roller coasters was soooo cool - KRAKEN! So if you ever come to Sea World you have to try that ride. It is the best roller coaster I have ever tried!

Last weekend I went to Disney World with all the other exchange students. It was a blast! We spend three days there and saw all four parks - Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and MGM studios. We were about 50 exchange students together from all over the state and we had a lot of fun together. During the weekend we tried a ton of cool rides and roller coasters. My favorite was Tower of Terror in MGM! I met a lot of the Disney figures and I even got to kiss Mickey Mouse!!! Heehee! We saw two Christmas parades with all the Disney figures and Santa Claus - it was so cute! The big firework show Friday night in Epcot was amazing! It was three unforgettable days with a lot of experience and FUN!!! I want to thank Rotary again for this wonderful trip! I will never forget it!

It is unbelievable that I have already been here for 5 months now. The time runs so fast and that is a good sign of course. I have got so many good friends in the school and during sports. I love them! All the exchange students in the district are awesome too. When we come together we are like one big family! Heehee! (Scandinavian power!!) ...and then there is my host family! They are the BEST ever!!!

Merry Christmas to everybody!

Ruth - the happy exchange student!

Ruth's new look	Thanksgiving dinner	Swallowed at Disney	Kisses for Mickey
Scandinavians at Magic Kingdom	At the Jaguars' game	Ready for the pros!

February 10 Journal

Wow! Times just runs! Christmas, New year, The trip to the Keys and even my birthday is over! It's unbelievable! Have so much to tell you. I will start with CHRISTMAS.

Christmas was a lot of fun here. Christmas Eve we went to my host mom's brother's house in Orlando. He made a wonderful dinner for us - salmon, steak and duck! In Denmark it is a tradition to eat duck the 24th of December so the duck was special made for me... ! After dinner we had a few presents and everybody got a stocking. My first stocking ever! It was filled with candy, perfume samples, pencils etc. The next morning I woke up with a video camera right in my face! My two host brothers were filming me while they were trying to get me up. It was now time for presents. Finally! In Denmark we get the presents Christmas eve but this year I had to wait to the 25th. I got so many awesome presents from my host family, my family at home and my friends. My Rotary Club gave me some money so I could buy my own Christmas present. I bought a new pair of running shoes that I use in Track now - they are great! After all the presents were opened and everybody were more than satisfied it was time for breakfast. Mel cooked pancakes, scrambled eggs, English muffins and bacon. Mmm... a real American breakfast! The rest of the day we spend having fun with our presents. That night we went to Mel’s parents house where we had a big dinner again. It was a different Christmas and very unique to see how the Americans celebrate it. I talked to my parents and siblings during Christmas. It was a little sad not to spend the Christmas with them this year. But I had a great time with my host family here and I didn’t really get homesick at all.

New Year's Eve I spend in Jacksonville. All the Exchange students from the district were invited to participate in the big Gator Bowl Parade that afternoon. I was standing on the big Rotary float with the Danish flag in my hands. I was so proud. The parade went around in Jacksonville and a lot of people came to watch the parade. Afterwards all the exchange students went down to The Landing and spent some time. Later that night we were invited to a New Year's Eve party at Helow’s House (members of Rotary). I really missed my friends in Denmark that night so it was great to hang out with my exchange student friends here. We danced, played music and had fun together.

Just two weeks ago I went to the Keys with all the Rotary exchange students from Florida. It was a blast. We left early Thursday morning and spent the most of the day driving down there. On the way we stopped at Dolphin Plus were we got to see dolphins and sea lions. In the evening we arrived to Sea Camp where we were going to spend the weekend. We stayed at the camp with American students from Michigan and the local area. Friday we got our snorkeling equipment and after noon we went out snorkeling. It was my first time snorkeling ever. I was very excited!!! The water was pretty cold so everybody was wearing wetsuits. It was still chilly when we jumped in but it was so cool to snorkel anyways. We saw a lot of colored fish and big corals. It's amazing what is under the water down there. I took some pictures with my underwater camera and hope it turns out good! After dinner we had a little party with music and sodas. Everybody danced like crazy that night and had a good time.

Next morning we went out snorkeling again. This time a different place. We didn’t see a lot of fish this time but a lot of corals. I saw a huge Spider crab! It was so cool! In the afternoon they divided us into groups and now it was time to study! Weeee...! My group had to make a presentation about marine life. We had a big conference that evening. All the different groups told each other what they have learned about their subject. It was interesting but very long. 3 hours later we were done and went to bed.

Sunday was the day to leave. We said goodbye to our new friends and all the Seacamp leaders. They really did a great job for us! We headed down to Key West where we had two hours of shopping. At 1.00 pm we started our long trip home. The Keys are great but maaaan they are far away! Anyways - we had a lot of fun in the bus and the long ride didn't seem that long when you are hanging out with Rotary Exchange students (Scandinavian Power!!! Hehe!). I got to Daytona Beach at midnight. Very tired after an unforgettable and awesome trip! Thank you again Rotary for this great trip you planned for us!

The 14th of January I had my big 18th birthday. I had a really good day. At Lunchtime that day one of my teachers had planned a little Pizza party for me at her office. It was so sweet of her. After school Mel took me to a Nail place and I had my first pedicure ever. Uhhh... It was so relaxing! In the evening I had some friends over for pizza and ice cream cake. I had made a Danish birthday cake for them too. We sang karaoke and had fun. I got a lot of nice presents and especially the one from my parents. A ski trip to Idaho with my Host family. We are leaving tomorrow morning and going to spend a week there - I'm so excited!!!!

I will tell you more about the ski trip when I get home....

Hope you all are doing great! I am definitely enjoying myself!

Take care.

Ruth

March 15 Journal

Daytona Beach is world famous for its car races. In the old days they had the races at the beach but now it is at the big Daytona Beach International Speedway. It was one of the first things my host dad showed me when I got here and he promised me that one day we would go there and watch a big race. The biggest race of the year is the Daytona 500. Thousands of people come to town for the race and it is really crowded everywhere. My host dad's dad owns a suite at the speedway so he invited me up there for the big race the 20th of February. It was very cool. Before the race started Glenn & I went down to the track and signed our names at the wall. The race started at two o' clock and we watched the race for four hours. Hang out in the suite and just chilled - I'm not kidding... It was a loooong race but a great experience. The cars were so fast! Weeeee!!!

I'm very busy with running track right now. I love it! We have practice every day after school and about two meets every week. I'm a distance runner and run the 800 m, 4*800 relay, 1 mile and 2 mile. This is definitely my favorite sport here in U.S. My friends at the track team are great too and we have so much fun at the meets. This Saturday we are going to run in Disney - I'm very exited about that! My track coach is really good and a lot better than my soccer coach who I got really tired of! Track rocks!!!

Last week was CRAZY here in Daytona Beach. It was Bike week and I'm telling you - there were bikers EVERYWHERE! About half a million people came to town during the week. Bill from my Rotary Club took me to the Daytona 200 this last Saturday. This time there were no cars only bikes! Fast ones!!! It was a nice sunny day and I enjoyed myself out there. After the race we walked around and looked at all the AWESOME bikes! I have never seen so many different bikes before. Different shapes, colors, speed, motors, designs etc. Definitely something for everyone! I so much want to buy the blue/green Kawasaki Ninja!!... That is a SWEET bike!

Just a little update from the sunshine state - Life is awesome here!

Ruth

Idaho
Daytona 500
Track

April 26 Journal

It's springtime! Awesome - I love it! I can't believe I've been here 9 months now. WAUW! At one point it went by so fast but at the other I feel I've been here forever. I am a part of everything here and that is what's going to make it so hard to leave! Especially my host family and my friends here.... AND the lovely sun shine I wake up to every single day! It's amazing! People from Florida don't understand what a present it is because they never have lived in Denmark where the weather often is crappy and rainy. I'm going to miss the great weather here sooooo much!

Spring Break was a great break for me. I really needed a break at that time. I went to a big track meet for the first three days. It was the Florida Relays at the University of Florida where I ran in a 4 * 1600 m relay. We were really unlucky with the weather because it rained a lot and almost all the events got canceled but I was lucky - I got to run my event. I did really good and got a new personal record. My record for the mile is now 5 min. 45. sec. and the 2 mile is 11 min. 33 sec. Track is the best thing I've ever done here! I have so much fun with the team and I have success in running too. Last Thursday I ran in the district meet where I qualified to regionals. I'm very happy and exited about that. Regionals is two days away so practice is hard every day - I'm working hard for it but it's definitely worth it!!!! I love it!!!

Easter morning I woke up for church. My host family don't go to church that often but at Easter Sunday they decided to go. I was really happy that morning - the Easter bunny had left my host brothers and I an Easter basket each with presents and candy. It was so sweet. After church we ate brunch together and painted eggs in spring colors. Hehe.... I taught them how to blow the eggs and now Glenn calls me the Danish egg blower! In the afternoon we went to Glenn's brothers house where we had an Easter hunt for the kids. I helped hiding the eggs - they were filled with candy or money. It was fun to see the kids go crazy finding the eggs. Later that day I left for a camp with my youth group called Break Out.

Break Out was the best week ever for me. I learned so much about myself and God. The theme for the week was how to be more selfless. It really opened my eyes. I realized how selfish we are in today's world. We always want everything and a little more. We spend a lot of time thinking about other people, singing and praying. It was a very special time - I can't describe it. At the camp they had go-carts, a water park, horses, canoes, a big gym etc. So there was lots of stuff to do. Wednesday we had a mission trip to Gainesville where everybody spent the day being selfless. My group went to a nursing home where we sang and talked to the old people there. They were so happy for our visit and it really touched me. I'll never forget Break Out! I love my youth group here. We meet every Wednesday night. I always have a great time there. If I'm sad about something or I think life is hard, it helps me and gets me in a good mood. We sing, hear about God and have fun together. It is good to have God with you as an exchange student because you WILL get homesick, culture shock and other difficulties and then it is always good to have God by your side.

Right now I'm so excited for the time my family comes. They will arrive the 14th of May and stay here for a week. I miss them and it's going to be great to see them again! After that I have the summer holiday to look forward to. Spend days at the beach and go on the big west coast trip with 90 other exchange students for two weeks in June. It's gonna be crazy cool!

All from now - have a good one!

Ruth