Nick Holmelund Melgaard

2004-05 Inbound from Denmark

Date of Birth: February 8, 1988
Hometown: Horsens, Denmark
Sponsor: Horsens Vitus Bering Rotary Club, District 1450, Denmark

Host: Bartram Trail Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida USA
School: Bartram Trail High School

Nick's Bio

Hey!

My name is Nick Holmelund Melgaard. I am from Denmark, which is just north of Germany. Sports are a big part of my life, my favorite sport is football. I intended to play for my school Bartram Trail High School, but I did not have enough time to do my homework for school, play football and experience USA, because that last part is very important to me – experience USA. My goals for this year are to meet new people, experience another country and its cultures and just enjoy that I have got this fantastic opportunity.

I am very lucky, because I am staying with a wonderful family. I have gotten three new “brothers”, but only one of them is not in college or on his way and that is Taylor, who goes to the same school as me, and I am really glad to have a friend like him. We live in part of Jacksonville that is called Fruit Cove and it is a nice place.

Warmly,

Nick

October 14 Journal

Hey everybody!

I've been in USA for more than two months now and they have been the best of my life. I'm staying with a wonderful family, that I love very much. My host brother and I have done tons of fun stuff together; we have spent a weekend on an air craft carrier in Charleston in South Carolina, we have fished, we have made turtle-races and much more.

My school, Bartram Trail High School, is pretty good. I have met many of my friends there.

We have all been unfortunate to experience four hurricanes in only two months, and they all did a lot of damage to other parts of Florida. We have been very lucky, we only lost power for two or three hours during Hurricane Frances, and the hurricanes made almost no damage on the trees and the house, so we got through them without any problems at all. During the last hurricane, Hurricane Jeanne, we had a hurricane party, and we invited almost 20 people from the church and from our youth group for dinner and lots of fun!

My host family is a member of a United Methodist Church, where I have met many very nice people and their youth group is just great. I have met some of my best friends there and the two youth ministers are really funny and extremely nice. I really enjoy when we have our youth meetings, they are just so much fun.

I like the weather here in Florida even though it can be very tough with all these hurricanes and the extremely hot climate. It is killing me every time I'm running, playing football or any other sport.

I have already experienced so many things, and I don't know where to start! I have been to one Jaguars game so far. They played Colts and they lost unfortunately, but it was really exciting to go to a game with 80000 other "crazy" fans and just enjoy the best athletes in the best sport in this world. I'm going to see Chiefs this weekend, so that should be just as fun, and hopefully they will win this time.

I went to Rock the Universe with my youth group, we went there early so that we could go to Islands of Adventure and have fun with all the roller coasters. When the concerts started we all went to Universal Studios and it was great!

USA is really not that different from Denmark and it has been very easy to adjust to a new country, a new culture, and a new language. But there are differences like all the fast food and all the fast food restaurants. My favorite is "Moe's", I'm in love with their Home wrecker. My host parents and I have been talking about starting a "Moe's" in Denmark so I taught them how to say: "Welcome to Moe's!" in Danish.

I'm having a GREAT time and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

~Nick

December 17 Journal

Hey,

I’m having a blast. This is by far the best year of my life and the best decision I have ever made. I wish everybody could try this – one year of fun, meeting new people, learning a new language, experience a new culture, developing your personality, and memories that you will never forget! So much is going on and it is almost impossible to keep up with it, but how great is that! I have no time to be bored something is going on all the time.

So what have I been doing? Well, I spent most of my time on the soccer fields. I made the soccer team at Bartram Trail High School in Jacksonville. We have a pretty good team, we expected more than we got in the beginning of the season, but we are on our way back and we should be back to our expected level again.

Two weeks ago all the exchange students went to Walt Disney World. It was one of the best trips I have ever been on. We arrived Thursday and got our hotel rooms in the All Star Movie Resort. We had a little pizza-party, where we could meet all the exchange students from other districts and catch up with all the exchange students from our district.

Friday we all went to Epcot early because they have these YES-programs, where you get in early and this guy (in my case Doug) tells you about how everything works and the purpose of the things in the park and science. The idea of a program like that is great, but we were all too excited about the park and we wanted to try everything instead of listening to Doug. Epcot was a great park though, and I had lots of fun. I was with Ruth, Ricki, Tibor, and Gregor (from another district).

Saturday we all went to Animal Kingdom. I was with Ruth and Ricki, but we were not that funned about that park and we got extremely wet, so we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. Magic Kingdom was a cool place, but it was way too crowded! We only tried like five rides, but it was worth the waiting - a good day with lots of fun.

Sunday we went to MGM Studios. I liked it a lot. I loved the Tower of Terror, but I liked Rock and Roller Coaster and Indiana Jones a lot too. It was altogether a wonderful trip, and I wish it never ended!

I experienced my first Thanksgiving. It was interesting, fun and I like the tradition. My host brothers came home from their colleges and my host mom’s parents visited us too. We had a lot of food and we were just relaxed and we were just hanging out around the house.

Have fun everybody! Happy Holidays!

~Nick

March 26 Journal

Hey,

What a great experience. I have said this many times, but I don't think I can emphasize this enough. This year is the best year of my life. I feel very lucky because I get to experience things that most people never have the chance to experience. I wish everyone could try this. It’s one year of fun, new opportunities, new friendships, and much more. Everyone changes throughout a year, but when you are an exchange student you change so much more, you become more mature, you learn how to handle difficult situations, you find out that the world is bigger than the city, the state, or the country you live in, you learn how to live in unfamiliar conditions and areas that are unknown and different, and most importantly you learn how to understand other cultures and other people.

So what have I been doing? Well, I haven't written a journal since Christmas, so I might as well start there. Christmas in America was a very special time for me. But, for an exchange student it is even more special. First of all, because it's in another country, and it's another culture, so therefore they have other traditions than those I am used to. Second of all, because we are away from our family and friends, that was definitely one of the times that I missed my family the most. Anyway, I had a great time. Christmas Eve I went to Daytona Beach with my host brother Taylor and Livi (Switzerland) to visit Ruth (Denmark). Ruth and I had decided that since we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve in Denmark we should do something special. We went to the beach! It was so cold that I had a really hard time staying in the ocean. It didn't really matter that it was cold, we still enjoyed our Christmas Eve together! I spent Christmas Day with my host family and my host mom’s parents in Astatula. It was a fun and interesting day – a Christmas I will never forget!

Ruth came to visit me between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. We once again had a lot of fun. New Year’s Eve, Rotary arranged for us to be in the Gator Bowl Parade. We got to follow the Rotary float, which was a special experience that I enjoyed a lot. At night, we all went to the Helow’s house, where we had a party. We had a great time at their house. They are wonderful people.

Sea Camp at the end of January was another trip that Rotary arranged for us. We went down to Big Pine Key and lived at Sea Camp. We made many new friendships, learned about water, and snorkeled. I love snorkeling. I want to go again soon.

I went on a ski trip with All Souls youth group. We went to Winterplace, West Virginia, what a great place! I went snowboarding for my first time, I absolutely loved it.

I am having a blast here in the U.S. It is going to be hard to leave! And to all next year’s exchange students – This will be the best year of your life, you will never regret this – never!

~Nick