A year ago, standing in Sport's Authority

I really enjoy writing these posts, and I'm so glad you all enjoy reading them. I have decided to try and post at least once every two weeks so I can keep you updated in more detail about what has been happening in my life in the Faroe Islands.

Today is Sunday - in the Faroe Islands, this means you are required to do absolutely nothing - and the weather is horrible. I'm looking out the window right now and it's lightning, thundering, hailing, and now... snowing. You can't argue with Faroese weather, you just have to let it do it's thing. 

So I'm going to use this time to take a flashback to about a year ago today. A year ago today, I had just finished applying to be a Rotary Youth Exchange student. I didn't know where I wanted to go, and I didn't really care, as long as I got to go somewhere. Yet still, for some reason I found myself second guessing my country list - which was, if I can remember correctly, Faroe Islands, Estonia, South Africa, Argentina, and Denmark. I thought the period of time between finishing the last interview and receiving my acceptance/host country letter would be the hardest part. I remember constantly thinking about where I was going to end up, if I was even going to end up going anywhere at all. And then feeling confused because I didn't know which pictures I should envision in my head, or if I should even get my hopes up and envision anything at all. It was the weirdest feeling. I find a lot of those "weird feelings" associated with youth exchange. 

I remember distinctly when I found out that I was accepted, and where I was going. I was standing in a store called Sports Authority in Burnsville. I had my mom go outside to receive the call from the Northfield Youth Exchange officer, because I was too hysterical about the whole thing to hear anything for myself. For some reason I was pretending to be emotionless and completely interested in snow boats, even though my dad and sister probably knew I didn't give two hoots about the snow boats. My mom walked back in and the first thing I said to avoid humiliation was, "It was a no". And my mom said, with her eyes wide and a smile on her face, "No." 

I can't remember exactly what I thought in Sports Authority, but I can remember that the Faroe Islands was all I could think about that entire day. And all I could talk about. I wouldn't shut up. I emailed and Facebook messaged almost every family member and friend. We were having a kind of "Christmas weekend" in Minneapolis at the time. I'm sure my family wanted to be in the Christmas spirit, but I wouldn't shut up about the Faroe Islands. Excitement would be an understatement. 

So, the months went on and my excitement for my exchange year in the Faroes was slowly replaced with fear, nervousness and doubt. I would miss so much in one year. I specifically remember one night sitting on my parents bed, explaining to my mother that I didn't think it was a good idea for me to go on exchange next year because I was doubting myself. Sweet Jesus. That was probably the dumbest thing I have ever said. 

For about a month or two in March and April, I was so close to having my mom call Rotary to tell them that I wouldn't be going on exchange in August. I owe it to one Rotex student of whom I don't know the name, that said something at the first Rotary orientation. She said, "In the next few months, you're going to have doubts. You're going to wonder what the h*** you are doing. Just go. It's the best thing you will ever do".

To be honest I didn't agree with her at the time, that it was the best thing I will ever do. But, I listened to her and I got on the plane in August and now here I am in the Faroe Islands having the most amazing experience of my life. There are up's and down's, of course, but when I look at the overview of my year thus far and put everything together, I get teary eyed because I am so grateful that I never had my mom call Rotary.

So now I say to you - all the students that are applying exactly what that Rotex said to me. 

JUST GO. You have no idea what you are doing, I know. That's exactly why you have to go. 

~

On a lighter note that has nothing to do with Faroese culture or exchange - I tried sushi for the first time on Wednesday and to my surprise, I loved it. 

Katie 

Gleðilig Jól

Hi everyone ~ hope your week has gone great.

As promised, here is a post filled with what I have discovered about the Faroese Christmas. 

To no surprise and like every other aspect of the Faroese culture, Christmas is magical. Downtown Tórshavn is completely decked out in rows and rows of lights, just about everywhere. A giant Christmas tree stands in the middle of town, with a temporary ice skating rink across from it. Little "Christmas houses" are set up for decoration. They look like elf homes. This continues the fairy tale feel of the Faroes that I love so much, in Christmas form. I love it even more. 

The past three days it has been very cold and we have had a constant snowfall - just like Minnesota. Unfortunately, this is rare for the Faroes. It's usually raining and windy and rather warm. I was down in the center of town this evening to sell waffles, hot cocoa and cookies to raise money for my class and I brought my camera along to take pictures of the perfectly calm, white evening. I didn't get very many, because my camera died just shortly after getting there. I am hoping for just one more night like this one, and a camera with full battery! Here are some pictures I did get - 

Ein hugnaligt kvøld í Tórshavn - A "cozy" evening in Tórshavn

Selling waffles for 13e with classmate, Edit

The Christmas tree with my host sister, Sanna

The only picture I got of the town has a giant parking block in front of it. But, how magical is this place! 

I worked for one hour with Edit, and the only customers we got were my host family, her family and a man who we think took pity on us. Although, it was a fun night anyway!

Every year in SMS - the shopping center or "mall" in Tórshavn - there is a Christmas Town! I don't have any pictures of it, but I have a video to show you of this years Christmas Town. It is kind of like a small version of the Macy's 8th Floor Holiday Display. You can imagine my screeching excitement in the background of this video, because that is just what I did when I saw it in SMS for the first time.  

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=729784370383597&set=vb.213911545372076&type=2&theater

Something very different about the Faroese Christmas - it is celebrated in three days. They do all of the presents, family dinners, and basically everything that we do on Christmas day on Christmas eve. Christmas day is then referred to as Christmas number one, and is for relaxing and enjoying the gifts from the previous day. Christmas number two (the 26th) then becomes the day that all the young people (and old people) really celebrate Christmas. The 26th is the day of all the Christmas parties. I think the three-day Christmas reflects the Faroese culture very well - long, relaxing, not too fast, and a bit late. 

Advents, advents, advents! A big part of Christmas in the Faroe Islands is all the advents. I didn't really know what an advent was before I got here. In a nut shell, it's something that you open or do every day in December until Christmas. Because of all the advents here, there are a lot of things to remember to do every day in December. 

• Advent candle. Sanna and I have each made an advent candle. We bought the candles in the store, and they have the numbers 1-24 down the side. We decorated them around the bottom and will light them each day so the number at the top corresponding to the day melts off.
• Advent calendar. Before I moved out of my first host families house, they gave me a Kinder Chocolate advent calendar! You open a little door every day and there is a little chocolate piece waiting inside. We also have about four or five advent calendars lying around the house, from people who have been selling them door to door. Ketty - the cat - even has an advent calendar with cat treats inside. 
• Advent TV program. This one is probably my favorite. Every night in December at 7:30, there is a Faroese Christmas program! It is one story for all of December, and the story continues each night. It's exciting for me, because I can understand everything that is going on! I love to watch it. It was originally a Norwegian Christmas advent, so the mouth doesn't exactly match the Faroese voice over, but I can over look that. One of my good friends in my class does the voice over for one of the characters - I didn't realize this until today!

Here is my advent candle. The santa clause on the side is starting to lose his head now.

I'll let you know more about my Faroese Christmas as the month of December progresses. For now, Gleðilig Jól! 

Alt tað besta,

Katie 

It's Been Awhile

Hello friends, family, acquaintances, and everyone in between - 

I apologize for being away from my blog for so long, and with that, I apologize for the length of this post. It has been over a month since I last updated you all on my happenings in the Faroe Islands, and so much has been going on - I hope I can remember it all to share with you.

First and foremost, I have switched host families ~

I moved from my first family in Hoyvík to my second family in Argir on November 17th. Switching host families was one of the only times in my life where I felt five vastly different emotions at once. Extreme gratefulness to my first host family, sadness for having to leave them, nervousness for having to learn everything over again with a new family, excitement to live in a new place, and happiness for getting to experience all these emotions at once. That is the best way I have to describe it. Needless to say, there were many overwhelmed tears. I was sitting in my new host families house, drinking tea, and my first host sisters and I were all crying. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really excited to be here it's just... hard!" I said, laughing and crying at the same time. I meant that 100%. I still don't know what was happening.

Remember in my first blog post, when I told you that I hope leaving the Faroe Islands will be harder than leaving America? I already know this will be true, and I am dreading the day that I get on the plane to go home. (Sorry Minnesotans, I still miss you buckets).

My first host sisters and I, the third day I was in the Faroe Islands. We have made many memories since then. They gave me this picture in a frame when I moved out, and I got a bit choked up. I was so blessed with this family!

So now, I am in Argir. Argir is on the opposite side of Tórshavn as Hoyvík. It is farther away from my school, but closer to downtown Tórshavn. My second host family is lovely. They have a daughter who is my age who is on exchange in Taiwan right now, so I am sleeping in her room. I also have another host sister, Sanna (13). My host parents are named Katrin and Eyðun. They are incredibly sweet people, and I am so excited to get to know them over the next three months, and spend Christmas with them! Katrin, Sanna and I have already enjoyed many relaxing afternoons at Kaffihusið, and hopefully more to come. They are also fantastic at speaking Faroese to me - which is going extremely well, by the way!

Here's what I have been up to ~

My class consumes most of my weekends with what is called a "flokksball". "Flokksball" directly translates to "class party". We have had many birthdays in our class in the last month, which means many "flokksball"s. I have been so lucky to land in such a great class. I get along with almost everyone, and they are extremely fun to be with. I enjoy every minute! They are extremely helpful in my learning Faroese, and I try to help them with English as well. They are so caring and are really some of my best friends in the Faroe Islands. 

We read The Hunger Games (Hungursleikirnir) in Faroese class, so when Catching Fire came out into the movie theater (two days before in America - HA), we all went to see the midnight premiere. That was SO fun. 13e took up about 1/5 of the theater, and we were definitely the loudest...

My class, 13e. I realized I had not put our class picture on my blog yet.

Faroese ~

The Faroese is coming along so much better than I could have ever imagined.

There are a few things I have discovered when learning a new language in a new country -

Almost all American's only speak one language. Yeah, ok, you take language classes like Spanish and French in school, but you don't really "speak" Spanish. You don't use the language. I think American's are extremely under privileged in that way. I have a friend who is Faroese, and went on exchange to Spain last year. She is fluent in Faroese, Danish, English, Spanish and German and she told me this once - "Yeah, sometimes if I am talking to my friends, we just start speaking a different language, because we can't express what we are trying to say as well in Faroese as we could in Danish". All Faroese people must learn Faroese (of course), Danish second, and English third. And they all speak, like really speak, these languages. This is one of the main reasons why I think everyone should have the experience of going on exchange. To learn to speak another language. Yes, it's hard, but it's an amazing thing to do. I didn't know the absolute beauty of it before going on exchange. I will be messaging all my classmates and Faroese friends on Facebook in Faroese, and then go to message someone from America and have to sit for a moment and think to make the transition back to English. It's the weirdest and best feeling in the world, in my opinion.

Ok, soleiðis.

That's all for now, but expect a new post soon about Christmas in the Faroe Islands - which, to no surprise, is MAGICAL.

Hope you all had a good November, and a delicious Thanksgiving! Talk to you later.
Katie