Daniel Spray

2008-09 Outbound to Denmark

Hometown: St. Petersburg, Florida

School: St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, St. Petersburg, Florida

Sponsor: Wesley Chapel Rotary Club, District 6950, Florida

Host: Haderslev Hertug Hans Rotary Club, District 1460, Denmark

Bio

Daniel's Bio

Hello everyone,

My name is Daniel Spray and I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I currently attend St. Petersburg Collegiate High School. I just turned 17 and am excited to have my 18th birthday in a foreign country! I was born in Lewes, Delaware and moved to Florida when I was 7 years old.

I have a few hobbies, some of which include: reading and learning American Sign Language. Other things that I really enjoy doing include spending time with my friends, who mean the world to me, and being very spontaneous! Working is something that really takes up much of my life because I am paying for this exchange with my own money, so I have to do a lot… and I mean a lot… of working!

Although I do not know which country I am going to, I know that whichever one it turns out to be, I will have the time of my life! I have always loved learning foreign languages, so this opportunity has intrigued me very much.

I just want to thank everyone who has made this opportunity possible, namely Rotary and my parents. However, without the support of family and friends, I don’t think I would have the guts to do this. I know that I am about to embark on a journey I will never forget and I can’t wait to share it with each and every one of you!

July 30 Journal

Hallo alle,

August 2nd, 2008. The day my life will change is looming ever nearer. I have so much I want to do, but with so little time to do it in. I find myself thinking of nothing but leaving for Denmark. There is so much preparing that goes into getting ready for a journey of this nature that sometimes it just seems like too much, but I know that in two days, I will begin to reap the benefits.

I have so many emotions running through my head all at the same time—it’s like a huge tidal wave! First and foremost of these emotions is excitement and anticipation. Ever since I found out my departure date, I have been counting down the days and marking them off on my calendar. 152 days, 151 days…40 days, 39 days… and now today, 2 days! It’s absolutely incomprehensible. I can’t even wrap my mind around the fact that this year of preparation has finally come to an end. My dream is no longer a dream—it’s a reality. I’m actually doing this! But this excitement and anticipation leads to stress. “What happens if I miss my flight?” “Will my host family like me?” “What happens when I don’t know how to say something?” I know I just need to calm down and relax, but in the midst of saying my goodbyes to everyone I know, I feel like I am saying goodbye to everything I know, too. And in a way I am.

Everyone keeps telling me to have and great time, enjoy every minute of it, etc…and then they throw in the part about “Oh yeah, by the way, don’t change a bit!” Seriously now! What do they want me to do, just live in a little observatory bubble while I am over there? I guess they are the type of people who would never make it as an exchange student. That’s a reason I want to go on this journey—I want to change; I want to be a better person; I want to become bicultural.

Anyway, enough of my rambling on! =) I look forward to keeping all of you informed about my adventures in the land of Denmark! Also, I want to say TUSIND TAK (a thousand thanks) to Rotary for allowing me to spend my year in Denmark. Because of you, my life will be forever changed.

Hej! Hej!

Daniel =)

August 6 Journal

Well, this is my first journal for my exchange year. I want to start off by thanking Rotary from the bottom of my heart for making this life-changing dream come true. I am truly enjoying every minute of it!

So far, in my 3 days of living in Denmark, my host family has been amazing! They are the most genuine people I have met. Anything I need, they will help me get it. They involve me in all of their family activities and already, I feel as if I am a part of their family.

On Monday morning at 11:00 (only 8 hours after arriving, mind you!), my host brother, Mathias, knocks on my bedroom door to wake me up to meet his two friends Benjamin and Jeppe. Jeppe will be arriving in Weston for his exchange year on the 10th of August. After we got acquainted, they very nonchalantly told me that we were going to Germany… to go shopping?!? That right there threw me off! All I could think of was “Wouldn’t that be like an American going to Canada to shop, when we have perfectly good stores in the States?” But once they explained to me that we are so close to the German border and everything in Germany is cheaper, it all made more sense. That made for a very interesting day, nonetheless—barely speaking Danish and then being sent to Germany—can you say “Sensory Overload!!” After we got back from Germany, Benjamin and Jeppe stayed to eat dinner with our family. Then there was the fodbald game, or as we say it in English: SOCCER!! Our team, SønderjyskE (and yes, the “E” is supposed to be capitalized) is the lowest paid team in Denmark and they played København FC, they highest paid team in Denmark. I have never seen anything like that before. Now I understand where the term “hooligan” comes from! Luckily for us, they tied 1-1 and nobody got hurt after the match!

After the match, Mathias, Benjamin, Jeppe and I all stayed up until 2AM talking and playing games—they have become my best friends over here!

Tuesday, Jeppe’s family threw a going away party for him and Mathias and I went. That was a lot of fun because I got to see how the Danish teenagers interacted with each other. There was not much difference from the American way, but there were some slight variations. At that party, I was able to make some very good friends that really want to help me with my Danish.

And today, my host father and I went to the Haderslev Kommune to register me for an insurance card that I need to have to go to school. After that, we went to a store to buy our dinner ingredients, but when we walked in, all I saw were aisles of shoes and clothes on the right and electronics on the left hand side. However, in the back, there was the food section. My host father told me that they have two main stores like this that everyone uses. They are both owned, not by big-wig millionaires, but the consumers themselves. And while it caught me off guard that you could buy anything and everything you needed in one store, it also boggled my host fathers mind that we have all different stores in the States! But as everyone over here loves to say: “Americans do everything opposite of the rest of the world!”

So, for now, this concludes my first journal. I have had so much fun these past few days and I am looking forward to having many more exciting adventures!

Vi ses og mojn!

Daniel :]

September 3 Journal

Ok, now where to start? I know everyone at home is breathing a sigh of relief to finally see my journal is up! Yes, I finally got around to it. There has been so much going on that I have had to start and stop and restart this journal so many times. As a pre-journal note, I would like to say that in the month that I have been here, I have already started to forget some of my English vocabulary and it freaks me out every time I can’t think of such a simple word, and yet it makes me happy too, knowing that I am becoming better in the language! So, I am apologizing now for any stupid mistakes in my grammar!

I believe that the last time I wrote, I was in my first week here! HA—that seems like forever and a day ago. As of today (September 3rd), I have been here for 1 month! I have now started school, which is a big joke! Imagine, if you can, walking into a class of 29 girls and 1 boy not knowing a word of their language! Yeah, well whatever scenario is playing out in your head now, that’s how I felt times 10! I have gotten used to my class now and am actually having a great time. Granted, with 29 girls, there are A LOT of hormones involved! J My schedule is a very good one. I am in the second year (there are 3 years in the high school) with an intensive focus on Spanish and English. My classes change everyday. On Mondays I have Psychology, Danish, Biology and English. Tuesdays, I have English, Gym, Biology, and History. Wednesdays are Religion, History, Ancient Greek History, and Spanish. Thursdays I have Ancient Greek History, Chemistry, and Danish. And on Fridays, I have Religion, English, Spanish and Psychology. Now, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get to miss my last 2 classes because I have to go and attend a language school down in the center of town. Those classes are some of the most helpful classes I could possibly take. I have learned so much since I have started there!

Now, my favorite part of the year (so far)! INTROCAMP!! That is our week-long camp in Bjerringbro (northern Denmark) where all 108 exchange students come together to socialize, go on outings, and create lifelong friendships. Oh, and I think we were supposed to learn some Danish while we were there! J And we did! Everyday that week, we had some 5 hours of Danish lessons and then 2 of the days, we went out on excursions of Viborg and Århus. Let me tell you—I had the time of my life just walking around these towns with my new found friends. On the 3rd day and the last day, we all met outside in the soccer field for bonfires. Now, when you typically go to bonfires, the highlight is usually making S’mores or roasting marshmallows, right? PSYCH! In Denmark, we make bread on a stick, which is SOOOO Danish because Danes eat bread with absolutely everything! A meal is not complete if there are not 2 loaves of bread on the table. Half of my body weight is now probably made up of pure dough! After we had to come home I talked to a lot of the other exchange students and we all just wanted to go back for another week of spending time with each other! J

If you would like, I could now give you a brief glimpse into what the near future holds for me in the beautiful country of Denmark. Next weekend, I am going to Copenhagen (the capital) to go to a concert with all of the exchange students! I am so excited to see them again! We are going to go to an amusement park and all that cool stuff! The week after next, my host dad is running a HUGE marathon in Berlin where we also have a vacation house, so we will be there for a long weekend then! I am really looking forward to seeing more of Germany. And, I might even get to go to Poland to see my BEST FRIEND Katie! That would be so exciting! Next month is my birthday (October 15th—my 18th, I can’t believe it!) so my host family is letting me invite some friends over the week before to celebrate because we are going to be back in Berlin at our house to have a week during our autumn holiday! I think for now, that is enough of my boasting! J

I just wanted to take a moment to send out my never-ending thanks to Rotary for allowing me to come on this journey! I have experienced so much already just in my first month and I am ready for all the new challenges that await me in the coming months! Rotary Youth Exchange is the best program and I am so happy that I have embarked on this adventure! I would like to also thank my family and friends—here and back home in the States. I feel as if I already have 2 families and 2 homes! I love Denmark with everything in me, but I know that I always have all of you back home waiting for me to return!

October 5 Journal

A wise man once said: “Time flies when you are having fun!” And that’s what made him wise—for knowing this! I have been here in Denmark (the most AMAZING country in the world) for two months now, and when I try to sit back and recollect everything I have done and all the people I have met, it is absolutely impossible! There has been so much that’s been happening since I last wrote my journal and I will do my best to get it all down!

I last left off, if I remember correctly with my first few weeks of school. When I first started, I was totally lost and every little bit of Danish I thought I knew, well that went out the window! But now, 2 months into it, I have realized that if I pay really close attention, I can pretty much understand the lecture. Another wise man (or maybe an exchange student said it!) once said: “The Danish language is like taking a very hot potato and sticking it in your mouth and trying to talk like that!” Well I’ll be darned—whoever said that hit the nail right on the head! In Danish, the language is very guttural and to try and tell the difference between the letters, is still proving to be my only challenge! We have 3 extra vowels in our alphabet (æ, ø, and å) and the pronunciation between ø, å, and o is dependent on how far back in your throat your tongue is! So, in our language school, we still spend time going over the basic practice of distinguishing the difference between the 3 letters! At school, all the girls are very helpful in teaching me Danish. They will spend however long it takes teaching me how to say something until I get it correct! And, I learn more Danish from them than I do at our language school; but the school helps, too!

I know in my last journal that I mentioned that I was going to Berlin so my dad could run the big marathon and MAN—was that an amazing experience! My family has an apartment in Berlin and the marathon went right in front of our window, but we were outside cheering my dad on! We met him at every 12 kilometers (7.5 miles for all of you who are confused by the metric system!) and gave him a chocolate bar! But of course we didn’t run to the next station—NO! We took the underground! That was definitely an experience! In the marathon, there were 40,000 runners and just imagine with their family members going to meet them every 12 km too, just how packed the underground was! They don’t wait for everyone to get on before leaving either. If the time for the train to leave is 13:11, you better believe that the doors are closing at 13:10.59! Luckily, they run every 5 minutes, though! While we were there, I got to meet my host sister who is older, married and living in Aalborg. Her husband was running the marathon with my dad. They brought along my host cousin and he actually helped me to learn many Danish phrases that are very useful! We did a lot of talking that weekend and he is a really nice kid! I guess I should mention that he is 2 years old, too!! J

Since I have been in Denmark, the culture of the Danes has been rubbing off onto me and I have noticed changes in my personality. I am becoming a more carefree person. I am not so uptight if things change unexpectedly—I just take it as a new adventure and a new chance to experience something different. I am becoming more open-minded about other people. Like in American high schools, if there is a kid that sticks out and is different from the “average” or the “normal” they are either shunned and never thought of or made fun of constantly. But in Denmark, everyone is accepted—no matter what they believe in, how they act, where they come from, whatever! And that is something that I think everyone in the world could stand to learn.

I have come to the conclusion that making mental notes of things that I want to put in my journals will never work because as soon as I think of something new, the old reminder is gone! So, I am going to have to start carrying around a little notebook so I can jot down any significant things. I have also realized that merely writing my experiences down does not even come close to capturing the full effect of the actual event, which is why if there are any students reading this journal or anyone else’s journal and are intrigued by what you hear, I encourage you to check out the RYE program and maybe you can have the same life-changing experiences as all of us are having each and every day!

So, as always, I want to conclude with thanking Rotary and all the people that make this opportunity happen year after year! Without you, my life would not be changing for the better like it is now and I owe it all to you!

Until next time, I hope all is well in the Sunshine State!

Tusind tak til Rotary! Jeg er kærlig hvert minut jeg er i Danmark og ikke ville have den anden måde!