Frederik Korsgaard

2006-07 Inbound from Denmark

Hometown: Middlefart, Denmark

Sponsor: Faaborg Rotary Club, District 1460, Denmark

Host: Jacksonville Riverside Rotary Club, District 6970, USA

School: Paxon School for Advanced Studies

Bio

Frederik's Bio

I wanted to be an exchange student because I think it is the most exciting and learning full experience you can have. I am sure I will remember this year whole my life.

USA is very different to Denmark because Denmark is so little. We only have a population of 5.3 million in habitants and an area of 43.000km² so it is going to be very exciting to try something so different.

I like tennis, music and I LOVE SURFING. Aloha. I am very lucky to go to Florida, I think I am going to have a wonderful time here.

October 27 Journal and Pictures

Bless God that my ride isn’t over because this is what life is really about and I tend to enjoy my ride to the fullest. Here is a recap of what has been going on in my first two months of exchange.

07/25/06 – Arrival in Jacksonville. It was nice to talk to my host Mom in Washington just before we got on the plane to Jax. She sounded so nice that all my nervousness about meeting all the new people vanished. It was very weird to meet all the new people in the airport and it took several weeks before I actually knew who all the people in the airport were. I was very tired but so excited by the time I arrived so I really felt like a smiling mummy. But everybody was so nice to me that all I could do when I arrived and finally lay down in a new bed in a new house, in a new country, was to smile and feel so lucky that all my dreams were come true - I was now a real Rotary Exchange student, the journey had begun.

08/07/06 – First day of school. Starting in a new school in your own country can be scary enough, but starting in an American High School you only have seen in TV, in another country with people speaking another language than your native one, seems really scary. But only until you realize that being an “exotic” and freckled Viking with a European accent is best friend, ‘cause as some as you open your mouth and starts speaking you have a million pals, and they all wanna talk to you and hear what you have to say.

09/07/06 – Football! Being new in a school it’s really good to get to know as many as possible and to get involved. That was why though I didn’t know the rules at all; I decided to own the most American sport Football. The first week was so confusing and all I did was say: “Hey coach! What do I do now?” After surviving the first week I started to play as receiver and get into the rules more and more, and getting more and more friends on the team, everything was so exciting and so fun. It always made me able to talk football talk with everybody. I really felt I was one step away from being a “tourist” and one step closer to becoming an American. I love football – Soccer’s never gonna be the same! GO PAXON EAGLES!

11-13 august – Orientation weekend. After a little less than three weeks here it was time for the Rotary Orientation weekend, time to meet everybody that was the reason we all was here, hear some valuable information about our upcoming year, but also time to meet all the other exchange students. The weekend was held at Camp Montgomery, a really nice place with woods all around and a really nice lake we all swam in. The weekend was a really good mix of information and free time to get to know all the other exchange students. It was really nice to talk to people from all over the world that all knew how it was like to be an exchange student. We also did team building with a lot of fun activities including climbing high ropes. All in all a monster fun weekend and what makes Rotary’s exchange program so unique is that you not only get to know about America, but through all the other exchange students you learn about people from all over the world, and get friends for a life time that more than anyone else is able to understand what being an exchange student in US means.

Football

Gator

Lunch

November 10 Journal and Pictures

Do you know how it feels to be a boy being invited to the coolest place in South Carolina, with the most awesome people, going hunting with your own gun, hunting for your very first deer? Oh My God. For me that was the most exciting weekend I have had in a long time. A weekend I will never ever forget.

Everything started out with my host parents and me going to an event about a program that was helping the poor people in Jacksonville get a better life. During that event we met some of my host parents' friends, and after talking a little my host mom Kate said to him: “If you sometime go hunting, would you like to take Fred with you?” He thought about it for a moment and responded: “Well, actually I am going hunting this weekend at my Dad’s place in South Carolina, leaving tomorrow. We can only shoot does but would you like to go?” Ooooooooooooh yeaaaaaaarh! I would love to go sir thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Jeff’s dad’s place called “Bitter End Plantation” was a humongous area of 2000 acres, with woods all over the place. And after we drove into their area we had to drive for 2 miles before we come to the range, which consisted of a real hunter's house with stuffed animals everywhere and room and beds enough for over 10 men, plus a lake with bass. Man I so in paradise J

After being introduced to his dad and the other guys, friends of the dad, really nice people, we sat down and talked a little about hunting. I tolled them, as it was that I had been with my dad hunting before several times but never carried my own rifle or shot my own deer. “Then we need to get Fred his first deer!” said Jeff’s brother who was also there. I could nothing but smile the biggest of smiles and start feeling my heart go faster. I was so, so excited ... this was one of my biggest dreams, could this be true?

A little later that night after practicing safety with “my gun”, Jeff and I were climbing the stand with a deer in the field. Very quietly we sat down in the high stand’s chair and looked through our monocles at the deer; unluckily it was a buck so we had to be patient and wait. After about 15 min two does entered the field. My heart was pumping so crazy I thought it would spook the deer. I got me and my gun in the right place for a shot, I said to Jeff can I shoot, he said whenever you are comfortable. Shaking like crazy because of deer fever and trying to calm down myself I finally got to the right moment and pulled the trigger. Click. Was the only sound and the deer went into the woods. In an attempt not to spook the deer that were already there when we arrived the gun had not been loaded properly. Nothing I could do but reload properly and wait again. We waited and waited, and then suddenly came from the woods the exact same does as before. A little more calm this time I aimed at the deer through the gun’s monocles and shot. BANG and my deer jumped and went into the woods again. Was it hit at all?

Down on the ground again my body shaking with excitement we started looking for blood. Oh yes there was blood, and with hope in my stomach we started following the blood through the forest, until suddenly there laying on the soft forest ground my first deer ever. Thank you God for letting me have such an exciting moment on the peak of happiness and in company with so good people, those are the reason that you are holding your first deer. This experience and these people will be stuck in my heart the rest of my life.

Life is freaking awesome.

10/07/06 – homecoming dance

The homecoming dance, the first big school event of the year. I was very excited and didn’t really know what to expect, so it was nice that I met with a whole bunch of my friends and ate and hung out and then together went to the dance.

The dance was really cool, the whole school dancing real close up and down. The middle of the dance floor was so hot you needed a 5 min break for every 2 min dancing. It’s fun how Americans have a little dance they always do to a specific song. I danced so much my back was hurting on the way home.

10/11/06 – Rotary presentation

Prepared with laptop, pictures and my script I was stood ready to give my presentation about my home country Denmark. I was very nervous right before, but standing up there speaking I started to feel more comfortable and in the end making them all laugh - when a man asked if I was also going to try out for the soccer team and I said: “I don’t think so, after playing American football, it’s hard to go back” - it was a really good experience and a lot of them came up to me and said they enjoyed.

I think it is really cool that Rotary makes you stand up and speak because for sure it is not the last time you will be expected to stand up and speak in front of people and the more you do it the better you get, and in today’s world it’s really important to be able to speak in front of people.

20 – 22 Oct Daytona Beach

Second meeting with all the exchange students. It's really nice to be together again, and hear how everybody was doing and especially fun to hear how everybody was significantly better in English than when we all met each other for the first time a month and a half ago.

The program for the weekend was: Saturday, Kennedy Space Center and visit at the Iron Horse/Biketoberfest.

Sunday: Daytona NASCAR Racetrack.

Starting with the space center we saw the BIG building in which the space shuttle is kept when it is preparing for next launch, we saw one of the retired Apollo rockets hanging from the ceiling: very impressive. The space center combined telling a lot of very interesting information with IMAX and other little presentations. Really neat place.

I was glad there was an adult with us going into the Iron Horse, some of those bikers looked rather tough J. We met the owner of the Iron Horse that gave us all a free t-shirt. After that we were free to walk around the place. There was a show called the wall of death where the audience stood above a big round bowl where the three bikers in the bottom of the bowl on shift would drive on a bike faster and faster round and round the bowl until they would be vertical. People would then hold down one-dollar bills and the biker would without hands collect the bills. CRAZY. Sunday was NASCAR day. And we spend the time there looking around their museum of NASCAR racing and were taken on a tour around the humongous racetrack, and luckily we there was an amateur bike race so we got a little of how a race in there would look.

26 Oct – Last football game.

Ironically it was the last game; it was also my first varsity game, because I had had some troubles with paper work that was finally in order. I was going to play starting kick-off and kick-off return and second string punt return, so I was dying from excitement, and the night before I dreamed about my upcoming game, it was really big for me. A bad performance could mean that we would lose. The game was against our school rival Stanton, and though Paxon Golden Eagles isn’t the best high school in the nation, we beat them last year and this year we were playing ‘em on their homecoming game and the local TV station Comcast was there filming the whole game. What an opportunity to show everybody how Paxon plays ballgames.

After playing the first couple of plays I felt more comfortable and in second quarter I was on the field again for kick-off. Without thinking anything a lot I ran down my lane all the way across the field and tackled the guy with the ball who was running free and thereby saved a touchdown. Oh my goodness I felt so happy and high-fived everybody on the sideline while one of my friends yelled: “Oh my God, Denmark in a big play.” God how I love football.

The game was really, really exciting and very even, but very unluckily we lost in overtime when they scored a field goal, and thereby got 3 more points than us.

I have never ever in my life seen a locker room so quiet. Nobody was talking and some of the seniors that had now played their last football game were crying; it was really sad and everybody was very miserable. It was really sad to think of that from now on there would be no more games, no more practice, no more football with all my friends on the football team, it was like a family separation. But. One thing is sure - I will always remember my time playing football as some of the most fun and learningful times I have had. Thank you Paxon Eagles, you are always remembered.			With host parents in an Alabama cave
The deer hunter	Me at FSU	Apollo rocket	NASCAR
Speaking at Rotary	Southern food is delicious	Surfing!	Me (#35) in my last game

February 3 Journal

Oh my God I fully understand why Thanksgiving is some Americans' favorite holiday, break from school and work, and a time for all family to enjoy being with each other and of cause EAT.

I spent my Thanksgiving with my host family’s family and friends, there were an incredible atmosphere, everybody working hard all day and then finally meeting up bringing all the D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S food. There was soooo much food, all a Danish kid could ever dream about.

There were:

- Hot fruit
- Corn fritters
- Squash casserole
- Sweet potatoes
- Mixed vegetables
- Turkey
- Cranberry sauce
- Venison
- Pumpkin pie
- Key Lime pie
- Apple pie
- Cool Whip
- Mashed potatoes
- Cream Corn
- Milk
- Tea
- Red wine
- Coffee
- Crackers and cheese

We all had a wonderful time and poor me, was sitting next to my host dad who has this thing about exchange students always gain 15 pounds so every time I finished my plate, he made me have some more and with a challenging look on his face say: “fifteen pounds!” I properly wasn’t very hard to convince on having some more but anyway I ended up having to go to the doctor because my stomach was hurting so much. Fortunately for me, my host’s a doc so I didn’t have to go far. And she saved me.

Manatees

Sometimes in life you come to experience things that just seems like a dream right after. I felt like that when my host parents Rob and Kate and I, 6 am a Saturday morning were on our way down Homosassa Spring in a river boat accompanied my about 15 other excited divers, all ready with their flippers and snorkels. In the water it took me I little while to get used to the thought pretty warm spring water and excited I started swimming around looking. It took about 5 minutes time of looking and then suddenly from a rather unclear river water came this humongous Manatee floating through the water towards me. I held my breath for a second, feeling how my heart rate was rising as it came really close to me and pressed it’s big kind of furry mouth against my mask, and looked at me with its big brown eyes. Holy Moly if women could look at you like that you would have a lower percentage of divorces. J Anyways, more came from out the water and suddenly I was surrounded by four manatees including the really cute little baby one. I could scratch ‘em on the belly and they would roll around like saying “oh a little on the back too, thanks.” It was so amazing. I was the first in the water and the last to leave.

Disney World

Wow, Disney world was cool. And being with all your exchange student friends the time there just seemed perfect. I especially enjoyed being at Epcot, ‘cause everybody was going crazy when they saw all the stuff from their home countries and showed and explained. Also I had a very cool experience in “Norway” where one of my friends Olof from Sweden and me got to speak with the people working there; though Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian are very much the same it was so amazing how we all could just speak in our native language and we all would understand each other.

Seacamp

Say "I had the time of my life" for that was what the weekend in Seacamp located in Big Pine Key (Florida Keys) was like. Rotary exchange students from three different districts in Florida all spend an expanded weekend in the keys. The main time was spent in the amazing Seacamp as part of the yearly International Weekend. The Camp was  really great fun and educational about use and abuse of our water in the world today. We got to do a lot of snorkeling on the coral reefs seeing all sorts of beautiful fish, coral etc. There was a dance one night and a lot of other activities. And to end it all we ended the Camp by having a big round table discussion where each group had to present about their topic. Really interesting because we all could share our point of views with examples on solutions and such from what was being done in our home countries. There was a really nice atmosphere and everybody was very sad to leave. I thank Rotary and Seacamp for making this weekend possible, it was so incredible.

May 14 Journal

Lots have happened since I wrote last, back in February. I have now moved from my 1st family to third and final.

At first I thought it would take a little time to adapt to a new family, but fortunately I felt very much at home already within a couple of days. Part of that has properly also been the kindness and welcoming of all my three different host families.

Living with the Shacters, my second host family, was really cool, first of all because the son of the family is one of my best friends from school, and second because all of my other best friends would always come over to hang out at their house which meant my social network very fast got both bigger and stronger. The Shacters took me to see the Amelia Island Car Show with so amazing many nice cars for sale, unbelievable one of them was sold for 1.5 million dollars. They also took me to an awesome concert with Guns and Roses, and to see Larry the Cable guy. Hah it took me like 15 minutes to get what that redneck was saying but once I got it down, I was laying on the floor in laughter. Git ‘er dun!

I am now moved on to my final and third host family, the Williams. They are the most wonderful people I ever saw, and have really made me feel welcome in the family. The Williams have three really cool kids. The middlest of them is 17 and is also one of my best friends from school, and he’s really kind to take me everywhere he goes. Man we have so much fun. J The whole family’s just made for having fun; just eating dinner with them’s a trip, jokes flying forth and back. I just love ‘em. They also brought me with them when they went skiing during spring break, we had an unforgettable time, and I can’t thank them enough.

My time here is really getting close to an end, my host families, friends, and this program has given me the time of my life. I will never ever forget this year. A year here in the sunny wonderful, redneckkees, part of Florida has taught me so much, and It’s a more open-minded, more tolerant for other cultures, more mature, and bolder Fred that returns to the land of the Vikings.

I want to thank everybody that has made this year possible for me, and thank everybody that has given me so many extraordinary experiences and fun times. I will never forget y’all. You will always be in my heart.

Sincerely
Frederik Korsgaard