Alvin Bursøe

2009-10 Inbound from Denmark

Hometown: Velje, Denmark

Sponsor: Børkop Rotary Club, District 1460, Denmark

Host: South Jacksonville Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, Florida

Bio

Alvin's Bio

My name is Alvin Olid Bursoe and I came to the USA from Vejle, Denmark. I am 16 years old and will turn 17 on April the 24th. I am currently a junior at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts where I am studying Vocal and Theatre. I wanted to become a RYE student because one of my biggest dreams is to be an actor, I always wanted to go the U.S.A. and act and become better at English, and Rotary has given me the possibility to act in English and to become stronger in language.

My parents and my 12 year old sister named Selma are hosting a Rotary Exchange student named Milly from California this year. My first host family is Rod Hindman and Vicki-Lynne Gloger. We live with 4 dogs. My exchange sisters are married, one lives here and one lives in Washington DC. They each have 2 children so I am an uncle! I also have an exchange brother who lives in Berlin. He and his wife visited us in September.

September 21 Journal

I have a lot of homework so I have not had a lot of time but so far on weekends I have gone to a birthday party, shopping mall, Adventure Landing, and two concerts, one with a chorus and another with some of my friends. I have gone to a football game, I have been visiting with my grandparents, I lived for a weekend with Bill Jaycox’s family and I lived for a week with my Philippine family. I am going to visit my sister and her family in Washington DC in October with my host parents and we are going to visit San Antonio, Texas in November.

I enjoy my school a lot, all the people in it, my family, all the stuff I have been doing so far and other new experiences. I like going to the movies, the theatre, concerts, doing exercise and meeting new people.

November 2 Journal

September Month:

Since I wrote last time a lot of things have happened. I have been to a professional Jaguars game with my Grandpa and host-dad (Zaydee and Rod) which was a great experience even though the Jaguars lost. I have also been to a concert with Earth Wind and Fire and it was just an amazing experience because I have always wondered how it would be to see an old group of that caliber, and despite the fact that the group has been performing more than 40 years they are still doing a really good job. I have also seen a great play at my school where some of my senior mates played the lead characters. I went with my host-family and some of my friends were there.

With friends and family I’m having a really good time here in Jacksonville. It’s still hard to get American friends and many times I’m taking the initiative, but slowly it's beginning to help and at least I’m having a great time at school which I think is very important for a good year….Yeaahh my school rocks, it is an amazing school!

I have also been to the Rocky Horror Picture Show with my host-family and my friend “Pablo J. Milla” (P.J.) from my Art school. We all went together to the Rocky Horror Picture Show which is an event in downtown Jacksonville, where you dress up as characters from this old cult movie, and then you go and see the movie dressed up, and it is really just a whole lot of fun.

9-11 of October

This weekend I went to Washington D.C. with my family which was a great experience. I met my two nephews, my new sister and her husband and together with them and my family we visited a lot of special parts of Washington D.C.: for example The Smithsonian, the Washington monument, and the monument of Abraham Lincoln. It was just a really good trip and a beautiful experience which I will never forget.

16 of October

This Friday I had a performance with my vocal chorus in my school and it was just really fun, because I have never really sang in a chorus before so it was something really special with the first performance.

23-25 of October

This last weekend I also went to St. Augustine with almost everybody from my Rotary district 6970 and I had a really great time. I stayed with a boy from Brazil named Vinicius in a Rotarian’s home. The two people (Michele and Guy) were extremely kind to take care of us and were two people who I got to like really much. Without a doubt I do think that they were fantastic host-parents even though we only were in St. Augustine a weekend.

In St. Augustine which is the oldest city in America, we saw an alligator farm, we saw an old fort, we went to the beach, we went to sail on a boat, and we got to see the city.

So with some great host-parents (thank you Michele and Guy), great students (everybody in district 6970), a great city (St. Augustine), and some great Rotarians who put all this together for us (THANK YOU SO MUCH!), it could of course only become a GREAT trip!

30-31 of October.

This weekend I had a Halloween party where 20 exchange students came. We had a great time swimming in the pool and a lot of kids from all around the world gathered in one hot tub, and 12 students stayed over for the night so it was a great success and it could not have been done without my lovely, sweet and a bit twisted host-parents (Vicki-lynne and Rod).

The day after the party we had a fun time giving candy to trick or treaters, even though some of the small once started crying because my pirate skeleton costume was too scary for some of them. After we were sure that we wouldn’t have any more trick or treaters, my family surprised me with going to a haunted house which was a really nice experience.

Next weekend I’m going to Texas (San Antonio) with my family. September and October what a FABULOUS pair of months!

February 21 Journal

Friday 6th - Sunday 8th November (2009) – San Antonio:

Friday the 6th:

I went to San Antonio with my family and we had a great time. We arrived there with airplane at around 7:15 pm where we after took a taxi to our hotel, as we were driving through the city I looked around and thought about how this was the first time I have ever been in Texas. I don’t know by but for some reason I expected deserts and Clint Eastwood.

Well after we arrived at the hotel we went out to take a little trip along the “River-Walk” which is one of the things that San Antonio is famous for. It was an amazing feeling to walk down the sidewalks with all those light everywhere, and the way the lights lit up the river with different colors was truly an experience that everybody should have the opportunity to experience, at least once.

Saturday 7th:

Saturday we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and then we walked around in the city of San Antonio. We went to the Alamo, to a Mexican market, out to eat, and in the end of the day my mom told me that we were going to shop and just look around, and instead we went to the new Michael Jackson movie called “This is it”! And we had an amazing experience.

Sunday 8th:

Sunday we woke up and then we went to the Mexican market one more time, and I bought a “Devil - puppet doll” and after that we had good lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then we took a taxi back to the airport and then we went home.

Zoo:

Wednesday 11th November:

I went to the zoo with some other Exchange students from district 6970 and we had a great time. The trip was made by Rotex so for once it was also cool to hang out with them, and they had some games that they had made up for us but because it was raining a bit, people weren’t motivated and there weren’t really any really interesting animals to look at either at that time so we decided to go to the mall.

We drove over there with some of the young adults from Rotex and then we had some lunch and we just went around shopping. We went to look at clothes and we went to pet puppies, and then we had a lot of fun going up and down the escalators.

Weekend with Bobbie and Lee Mercier:

I spent the weekend with Lee Mercier who is a friend from my Rotary club, and his wife Bobbie. It was a very nice weekend

13th – 15th of November:

Friday 13th:

We went to the symphony with Jacksonville’s local orchestra, Sandy Patty and the concert choir from my school. It was a beautiful evening and the first time I have ever seen a symphony like that.

Saturday 14th:

I went to see where Lee’s office is located in downtown, then we went to a little market under one of the bridges in Jacksonville downtown, later we went to look at some visual art in an art museum, and we went to visit a college and look at campus before heading home. When we got home we turned on the TV and watched an American football game and after that we went out for something to eat.

Bobbie has an Italian background so we went to a very nice Italian restaurant, where they both knew some of the people who owned it.

When we came home we sat down and I got to watch “Chorus Line” for the first time, what a great movie.

Sunday 15th:

I went down for breakfast and shortly after that my parents came to pick me up, so I said bye to Lee and Bobbie and I then they lent me the movie “Cabaret” so that I could go home and watch it.

Friday 20th November:

I went to a play at my school at my school called “The two of us” starring Caiti Wiggins and Cole Marshal, and it was really good. Once again I got to experience the talent of “Douglas Anderson School of the Arts” and I am just very happy to go there since it is such a great school. After the play I went to dinner with my parents and then we went home afterwards.

Saturday 21st November:

We went to help with the Rotary gingerbread project. It was fun to see all the nice gingerbreads and to make some gingerbread houses yourself.

Thursday 26th November:

On Thanksgiving I had my mom’s sister (Aunt Candace) and her husband (Mr. Cope) coming over, plus my mom’s parents Bubbie and Zayde came over, and then a bunch of friends came to. We had a great time, and it was really interesting to try a big Thanksgiving meal, with the good company, the turkey, the gravy, the stuffing, the cranberry sauce, and all the other things that goes with the special holiday.

Saturday 28th November:

I went downtown to see the boat parade in Jacksonville. I went with my friend Krestian who is an Exchange student from Denmark like me, and my parents. We had a great time looking at the boats with all the lights on, and they ended the show with a whole lot fireworks which was some of the most beautiful fireworks I have seen in my life.

After the parade we went back to our hotel where my parents rented a room, so that we didn’t have to drive back late that night. One thing I didn’t like that night was that I caught a cold that lasted until the middle of December

One of the biggest things that happened for me was that I got a new brother, he is an exchange student like me except that he is from Slovakia not Denmark and his name is Erik.

Erik is a great guy and we have had a lot of fun and become really close since he moved in.

Besides Erik I have a met another really nice guy Joe, who is actually my next door neighbor, he lives with his sister Jamie and his mom and dad.

Erik, Joe, Jamie, one of her friends, Vinny (Who is an exchange student from Brazil) and myself went to Dave & Busters and out bowling and I think that we had a great time.

Thursday 17th December:

I went to a Jaguar game with Christian, Erik, and my parents. It was fun to see another Jaguar game and I like being at the stadium and sharing the spirit with all of the fans. Plus since my mom works at Baptist she can get a little food menu which is just another cool bonus.

Tuesday 22nd December:

At 6 pm. We went to see a play at the Alhambra dinner theatre, the play we saw was called A Christmas Carol. I never been to a dinner theatre before so it was a nice experience and Erik and I were wearing our Rotary blazers with all our pins on.

24th and 25th December:

I had a great Christmas with some very nice gifts, and it was very interesting to wake up and get your gifts in the morning instead of in the evening.

We went out dressed as elves to hospitals to give out spirit and joy, and I have never I have never felt that good making people happy instead of just getting presents and eating during Christmas.

Thursday 31st December:

First that day all the students from district 6970 went to make and serve food for the people who needed it the most in downtown Jacksonville.

After that we went to a New Year party at a house out by the river. It was at Leandro’s (Exchange student from Argentina) host-family’s house and it was a party for all the students in district 6970. We slept there and we had an absolutely great time with a whole lot of fun.

January:

Erik and I spend the weekend at our friend Bill Learn (Inbound chairman for Rotary). It was a really fun weekend where we went to play Mini golf (Erik that little cheater won :D), we went to see Avatar in IMAX 3D movie theatre, and we just hung out playing videogames at Bills house.

The following weekend I went to Miami with my family, Erik and Vinny. In Miami we did a boat tour of Biscayne Bay, and we saw a lot of big mansions where famous and rich people live. We went to an antique car show and art show in south beach, where they close down the street and we got to walk all over the place.

The next day we went to Fort Lauderdale where we went to a car store where they had all sorts of very fancy and very expensive cars, after we went to the store we walked up and down the beach and watched the cruise ships leave, and we went swimming in the beautiful blue ocean. We finished the day at a water park with tropic looks.

The last weekend of January we went to New Orleans. We went to a formal party where we met more family and were dressed very nice.

One of the things we also did was going to the St. Louis cemetery, where we saw some voodoo that had taken place, I must say I haven’t seen a cemetery like that before, with so many different grave stones.

We also went to “Bourbon Street” three times while we were in New Orleans which was truly a BLAST! There were stuff going on everywhere and we had a really fun time exploring one of the craziest cultures in New Orleans but it was still a whole lot fun. The last time we wandered on “Bourbon Street” Erik, Pops and I were dressed in tuxedoes, pretending that we were security guards for our Ma and it is really fun to see how people think that you’re famous just because you’re being protected by three guys.

May 12 Journal

February – March:

I went to see a Harlem Globe Trotters Game and it was just amazingly funny. I mean the way the players just ran around on the field and acted like they were crazy, it was just hysterical they also had us (the audience) stay on track the whole time because there was always something going on, on the field. The whole audience was having a really good time and it was a great surprise and a really fine way to spend a Friday night.

I went to Dave n Buster’s as a little extra surprise for Erik’s (my brothers) birthday. That too was a great night because first we went to have a great Pizza at Mellow Mushrooms with the family, our great friend Bill Learn, and some of Erik’s friends from school. After the dinner we went to Dave n Buster’s and we played mechanical games until our hands fell off. After the Dave n Buster’s games we went to a hotel, because the following day we’re were all going to the District Assembly. We met a lot of friends we hadn’t seen for a long time and it turned out to be a lot of fun to show all these Rotary members way to their location, have a great lunch with your friends and family, and help American kids learn about the country and culture they are going to visit.

Me, my brother and our parents went to Goofy Golf and tex-mex with many exchange students from the district. The food at the Tex-mex place was very nice, and it was a whole lot of fun to afterwards go and play Mini-Golf which happened to turn into Goofy golf. Well if you mix a whole bunch of exchange students then it will equal to = a good amount of food, a crazy as well as goofy time, and a WHOLE LOT of fun!

We also went to the Daytona Beach with the family where we stayed at the resort “Hilton Hotel” which was a very beautiful hotel, with a nice location, and a wonderful view. Erik and I got to walk around on our own and explore the new place and then we met our parents at 11 pm at the hotel. The next day we all went to go on Go carts! If was very nice to get the chance to speed around on the little track while you were trying to get past family members and strangers, and after the Go carts we started to head home.

I have been to a lot of extraordinary shows doing these past two months. First there was Extravaganza which is the big annual show presented by my brilliant school “Douglas Anderson School of the Arts”, and it was as always an incredible show with a lot of great performances covering all art areas. Then my second host-family which is great, paid for me and a friend to go in and see Hairspray performed by the Broadway tour cast which was a wonderful show, and Menopause a musical about women and their problems! It was very fun to go and see Menopause with Pablo because we were the only young guys watching the play, and I think that a lot of people in there were supposing that we went to the wrong place or so.

April:

I went to New York through the Rotary program together with Belo Travel. It was a “really…Really….REALLY – wonderful trip” and if I could do it all over again I would, because I’ve always wanted to go to New York (Manhattan/New York city), and now that Rotary made “another one” of my dreams come true with some help from my parents in Denmark, my parents here, and my second-host parents I just want to go back to “The big apple”. We did a lot of stuff too on those few days we were there, I mean we went to Times-square, Empire state building, The statue of liberty, central park, Broadway were we saw the spectacular “The Phantom of the Opera”, wall street, and many other great places. And when you let exchange student loose in a big city like New York, then even the city itself ends up having a blast.

Then it was my birthday the 24 of April and I really had a good one this year! Not only did I get presents from back home in Denmark which included candy and travels, I also got a some really nice gift cards from my dear friend Bill, and my second-host family, and then my first host-family gave me a lot of wonderful surprises such as horse riding on the beach, fun in a water park with my friend (Joe) and brother Erik, “Alice in wonderland” in the movie theatre, plain tickets, “Alvin Ailey” show tickets, and dinner at our local and great dinner theatre “Alhambra”. I can’t wait to get out and start on my gifts.

Then in the end of April I went together with my brother and my friend Bill (Uncle Bill) to hear Stephen Lang (the guy who plays the evil captain in Avatar) and movie maker Frank Space, speaking about their creative lives. And then afterwards we went to eat at Five Guys (amazing food or what?) with Uncle Bill and my brother! Great way to end the month!

August 2010

After an emotional goodbye with my Mom, Pops, and Uncle Bill at the airport it was time for me to get moving.
I had some great flights that went from Jacksonville to Chicago and from Chicago to Copenhagen.
When I arrived my parents, my sister and my uncles’ family were all waiting with flags from the three countries in the world that means the most to me; "Denmark", "Uruguay", and "U.S.A".
It was really shocking to back in Denmark and I was shaking when I saw my family standing and waiting at the airport.

It felt like it was a dream when I arrived, and honestly the whole day just felt so unreal. I had trouble remembering the language but luckily I was on a plain with a Danish girl called Trine who had been in the States for a month as an Exchange student, and so I practiced my Danish with her as we sad in the plain for 9 hours and it was great to refresh the language right before landing.

The second day we left Copenhagen to get back to my city Vejle, which ended up being more fun than I imagined, because when we arrived at our house I walked around and looked in all of the rooms because I needed to see how many things had changed, and as I opened the door to one of the bigger rooms a bunch (around 14) of my friends shouted surprise.

It was really great seeing so many friends gathered at one place and we had a lot of fun and they stayed for a few hours.

I think that the first days is when you have to get used to being back but I just accepted the fact that I had to go back to Denmark and that it would only turn in to arguments with friends and family if I came back with an attitude that said "I actually don't want to be here, I would much rather go back".
 
I've been back a month now and I’m starting to get use to it, I still write with the exchange students on Facebook and I hope that one day we'll all meet up again.

It's weird sleeping in your own bed again, being around the same people again, speaking the same language again, and even the smallest things like walking downtown or eat a familiar kind of food, might seem kind of odd now.

But I stay in touch and I Skype with my family and friends from America, and even though the whole year feels like one big dream there is all the prove I need in my heart to remind me of the best year of my life!
Thank you Rotary!