The Last Day! by Habib Qoriyshi

The Bluewater was great, lots of Danes and their hosts went. I got some good chicken, but not that good. While we were there we looked at some yachts that were docked by the restaurant. The restaurant was very nice and was right on the water. Afterwards, Zach (my host), Alexander, Seth, Suulut, Tanner, and I went to the Fuzzy Peach to get frozen yogurt. It was very good, I got many different flavors and toppings. I had a very good time in America, and I am going to miss everyone I met there very much. I want to move to America!




By Habib Qoriyshi 

Forth Fisher and Battlefield

We started driving from the school with the school bus. We drove out to the Forth Fisher and Battlefield. It was so anxious from the start. We started with walking around in aquarium. Most of you would think that it would be boring to walk around in an aquarium, but it was not like that. There were exciting things and beautiful fish. For example there were two men who jumped into the water and spoke to us from the aquarium. After the aquarium we went out to see the Battlefield. Before we could see the battlefield, we had to see a short movie about the American civil war.it was approximately 15 min long and then we went out to see the battlefield, where the Americans fought against each other. After that we went to a restaurant and ate very fatty food and after that we get back to school. At all it was an exciting ride.

Written by Wahed

Prejudice

Prejudice’s about American teens.
My intention is not to offend anyone and if you continue reading you will see that my prejudices were ashamed and proven wrong.
“American teens are fat.” That is what everyone tells you. I came to Wilmington expecting to see teens rolling down the street to go to the MacDonalds which would be on every single street corner.
I came to Wilmington thinking everyone would be totally conservative and going to church seven days a week.
Danish people goes to high school, Americans go to prison.
American teens are not that fat or Christian. They are just normal teens

Written by Christina

Surfing at the Beach

In the Land of Opportunities you can do a lot of things and in my case it was surfing.
Water sport has always interested me and I was really excited to try surfing! I have tried windsurfing before so I thought it would be easy for me to surf. I was wrong…

There are some similarities but it is still very different. You have to learn some basic rules like how to get up on the board and so on. For me it was really hard to catch a wave and stand up on the board and the truth is I was not on the board a lot, but it was unbelievable funny and defiantly not the last time I’m surfing at the beach!

My host Garion was a good teacher and I had a good time in the delightful water. In my opinion everybody should try surfing. Who knows you might like it as I did, and you may get interested in water sport. I had although a very nice day with surfing and good weather. Love it

Written by Henrik Rasmussen

My American Weekend

My weekend started out with a relaxing afternoon with my host, her friend and a Dane from my class.

We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, where 3 happy men sang and played on their drums and guitars. After an interesting dinner and some interesting music, we went to a party to experience what American parties are all about.

The next day we went to an outlet mall in Myrtle Beach. The weather was fantastic, the sun was up all day and there was not a single cloud in the sky.

To our surprise, we met some other Danes, who were also in America with their class.

Later on, I went home with my host and ate dinner with her and her mom. Afterwards, we got ready for another party where we met some of the other Danes.

My sunday started off with a delicious lunch; pancakes with syrup, bacon, scrambled eggs, bread and hash-brown.

This was another hot and sunny day and the plan was to go to the beach, but we decided to play laser game and drive in go-karts instead, because it was too windy. 

Our day ended at a fabulous Japanese restaurant called Hiro. The food got prepared in front of us and the cook made a show out of it, which was very fun to watch.

The day ended with a movie and refreshments at my host's house with about 10 other people.

/Karen Mallya Sørensen

Povler's grove hayride

Povler's grove hayride is a trip you can try every year at Halloween.
At first the trip was a little scary because we didn't know what would happen. We didn't go very far before the driver drove the wrong way. It was really scary because we didn't know what had happened. After changing wagon the trip really began.
There was a lot of scary stuff and they had made some scary remakes of Disney characters e.g. Rapunzel, but instead of her being saved by the beautiful prince, she strangled him with her golden hair.
During the tour someone jumped on the wagon. They were trying to scare us. At last there were two guys with a chainsaw who took one of the passengers. They dragged her out of the wagon and then they chopped her into pieces muhahahahahahahaha!
But all in all, in spite of going the wrong way in the beginning, the trip was scary, but also a lot of fun.

By Michelle Sørensen

Mayfaire:D

On a Saturday night Laney (my host), Arnela, Chloe(her host), Katie and I went to Mayfaire to watch a movie. We were all really hungry, but we decided to watch the movie first and then eat. We got to the theater and stood in line and we told the lady what movie we wanted to watch, but she said that it had been cancelled, so we had to change our plans and go eat. We decided to call some of the guys that we met earlier, so we could have dinner with them. When we called them, they kept hanging up and being rude, but in the end they told us where they were. We got to the restaurant and talked with the guys, but we decided to go eat somewhere else. We left and went to another restaurant and when we were done we decided to have a sleepover at Chloe's. So we went to Laney's house so we could pack and after that we got Chloe's dad to pick us up. When we got to Chloe's we changed and just sat down in the guestroom and started talking. We had a really good time talking and having fun but we all became really tired and went to bed.

It was Tuesday and our class was going to the aquerium near Wilmington. There was this albino aligator and lots of other cool animals. Then I went crazy in the gift shop. After this, we went to the Fort Fisher Battlefield. That was kind of boring though. The Battlefield was where a Fort was during the civil war. There was a battle between the north and south.
But here comes the best part: We went to Wall Mart to go shopping!
I got a new book, some candy, and ...... AN IPAD!
Then we went back to the school where our hosts should pick us up. My host had to do somthing private, so I went with someone else. We went to the beach, where we stayed for approximately half an hour, and then they dropped me off at Ginger's (my host).

By Monica Meineche

Water, fun and food

A Friday in Wilmington. The question is if this trip can get any better?
The answer: Definitely yes! After school we went to this fantastic beach, Johnni Murcer Pier, where my host (Kelsey) and I met Isabella, Marc, Wahed and their host.
It ended up with American football and some soccer, where my team won it all. After a few hours on the beach, Hannah suggested that we go to her place where there would be pizza and that we could jump in their pool, hot tub and in the disgusting river!
It was absolutely the best day of the entire first week but it turned out that the following week would be just as amazing!

By Henriette Buch

At the movies!

My host took me to the movie theater to watch a movie on Monday 17th. We went with Anine and her host and one of our hosts' friends. We came at 8pm and we were planning on watching this movie called Dream House, which is a scary movie. We bought the tickets and walked in, bought some candy and popcorn, found the theater where Dream House was going to play, but oops - it had already begun playing! We were an hour late! We watched Footloose instead of Dream House, which was an even better idea! It was funny, making me happy and I wanted to dance all over the place! I enjoyed my buttered up popcorn too, though! Popcorn with butter is heaven!

After the movie we danced our way home.

Written by Arnela :)

Jungle Rapids

Sunday night Maddie (my host), her 2 friends and myself decided to go to Jungle Rapids. At the Jungle Rapids you can do lots of different things, but we just wanted to try lasertag and the gokarts. Lasertag is a game about shooting each other with laserguns while you run around in a dark room with obstacles that you can hide behind.
Everyone had to wear protective gear with battle names on them. Of course I chose something cool to represent my toughness, so I got the one with the name of a Norse god: Thor. After the game had begun I was running around trying to shoot everyone and not getting shot myself. I was a true natural at this game....at least I thought so at the time. When the game was finished and we got to see the highscores (I definitely expected to see my name at the top) who's at the very bottom?... me. Great.
Off to ride gokarts. That was so much fun and despite me being the only one without a driver's license out of the 4 of us, I didn't lose!
My class and my host have made this a really great trip and I'm just not quite ready to go home yet....


- Anine Th. Gabjerg.

The Holocaust Museum

The Holocaust museum

On Sunday in Washington we visited the holocaust museum. It was a very visual museum compared to other museums. We all got a little book with real fates of a person who lived during world war ll. In the museum, you start at the top, and on each floor you get to read a piece of your person’s life story. Starting at the top floor is the beginning, you learn the history of how it all began. The whole museum had gray and black colors on the walls and dimmed lights. It was cold and silent. You could feel everybody’s respect. Going down a floor, everything begins to be a lot worse. There were graphic pictures of what types of people got killed and how they were killed. There was a big model of the gas chambers, videos of deadly experiments on humans and pictures from the concentration camps of starved, sick and dead people. When you have seen the belongings, families and fates of most of the people in the concentrations camps, you go down a floor.  When you reach the place in your soul of anger and sorrow, it all lights up. You end up seeing the fates of those who got away, and hearing about all the rescuing teams that helped a lot of people escape. Ending the tour you read what happened to your person.  The tour ends in a remembrance hall where you can light a candle. 

/Camilla Steen

The Soccer Game

Tuesday evening I went to see my host, Gage, play a soccer match for his school team. When I got to the Hoggard Stadium I was met by his parents. We found our seats just when the players were announced.

The first difference I noticed between American and European soccer was the large number of players on each team. I wondered how they managed to get all players involved during the match. I figured it out when I saw them substituting four to five players each time. After ordinary time, 2x40 minutes, it was a draw 1-1. So I was getting ready to go, but apparently American school soccer goes to extra time in such a situation. So we had to wait for another twenty minutes. After the extra time they still had not found a winner, but instead of going to penalty shootout, they just call it a draw. Even though I found this kind of strange I still like American soccer (especially the enthusiastic soccer moms), and tonight I will be going to another match.

Written by Massi Peikar

The Japanese Steak House

The Japanese Steak House

One of the first days, my host family asked me what food I liked, and I said “Mexican and Sushi would be my favorites.” So the other day we all went to a Mexican restaurant and it was good, but today it was finally time for the Japanese steak house, which I had been looking so much forward to trying out.

We entered this little Japanese world with large grills in the middle of the tables. We started out with the soup, which was delicious. I had a little bit of sushi and we all ordered the hibachi steak.rd for this.

We saw that one of the chefs was joking around with his table, and we hoped we would get one like him, but we didn’t. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as entertaining with the food as the others.

At first I thought the food was quite expensive, but when I saw the amount of food we got, I was actually shocked. I usually eat a lot, but I was not just full, I was stuffed. I almost couldn’t walk.

It was probably one of the best meals I have ever had!

The National museum Of American History

We went to the museum in D.C and it was really big. We saw things from the slave era such

as quotes they had said on the walls. One that really stood out to me was, " All I ever wanted was to be free". I thought it to be really touching. Also we saw clothes from the wars and a real plane that was actually used during that time. Another thing that was really interesting was the information they had

on previous presidents and their first ladies, as well as Barrack and Michelle Obama. They would have pictures of them at important         events in a glass case next

to the actual dresses. The dresses were gorgeous. As our class ventured more around the museum, we came across more quotes. One said, " We go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and adventure." by Henry David Thoreau.

Also, " Oh Freedom! Oh Freedom! Oh Freedom over me! And before I'd be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my lord and be free." said by a traditional spiritual.

A special kind of sport

As you might figure reading the blogs, there are both similarities and differences between the Danish and the American school system. One main difference is that a normal public high school such as Hoggard High includes students with disabilities in their school program, in a special class though.

Today we played kickball with the students from this special education class. Kickball is a bit like baseball, where you just kick a large ball with your feet instead of hitting it with a bat, but the exact rules were irrelevant in our version, which was all about having a good time. We started with every ‘special student’ chosing a Danish partner, maybe two. Then the teacher separated us into two teams, and we started playing. Of course there will be different levels of disabilities when you gather all of the students with special needs in one class, and the amount of activity in the game also varied according to which student you had been given. The game didn’t really find a winner, but as mentioned previously; the purpose of the game was to give the students a good experience, which I think they had.

Written by Alexander, Habib and Louis.

An American haircut

Typically I am not a guy who finds different hair styles very interesting, so when I go to a barber shop I’ll just go with the usual. But in America the usual comes with a lot extra than just cutting the hair. Today my host and I went to this barber shop “Sports Clips” which not only had big flat screen TVs with Sunday Football attached to every single booth, but also offered covering your head in a steamed towel and giving you a massage after the haircut. Of course we both went for this so-called “Original MVP Haircut Experience” and it was so good. Still, the best was yet to come. After we had had our hairs cut, we went to pay, but the hairdresser told us that since this was our first time here, we got a hundred percent discount! So if anyone else is considering getting their hair cut in America, they should totally go to “Sports Clips”. Unfortunately I think it is for men only.

First picture shows my host, Luke with a steamed towel around his head.

Second picture shows a model of the MVP Experience.

Meeting the American students

The 6-hour trip from Washington to Wilmington, North Carolina, only felt like minutes for some of us. Our first stop was at Ihop (the international house of pancakes).
Later when we got to the parking lot at the school, we were welcomed by some students from Hoggard High school. Then we got really nervous!
We met our hosts who were very curious about our culture, school, spare time and family. Some of us ate in a restaurant while others ate at home, where some had to say grace. Afterwards, some of us met with other students, and others went to bed early because of the jetlag.

By Michelle Sørensen, Monica Meineche & Henriette Buch

Sophia Bush sure recycles a lot. Yeah, you heard (read) me!

Yesterday I met Sophia Bush. 
And you probably think how did THAT happen?
Well here is a pretty awesome story about a girl, a basketball court and a car with a note written on it.

- When we went to see the Battleship, we ate our lunch (or whatever you call cola and chips) outside. The teacher Chris Garner told me the incredible news, One Three Hill is being recorded in Wilmington, NC, and you are looking at the outside basketball court right now. I went ballistic and took a Zillion pictures! Little did I know that thing was about to get even more cool because the next morning I told my host family about my passion for One Three Hill (google it!) and they told me that their/our neighbor, Greg, was a cameraman on the show. So my host mom said she would write him a note and put it on his car and I said that it would be cool. I didn’t hear more about it until later that afternoon when my host, Kenzie, told me that we were going to see the set of One Three Hill. I got so happy and couldn’t even wait.

We went to the set at around 6.00 pm and we tried to call Greg but he didn't answer. So we talked to some of the soundmen outside the café and they told us about these French girls who had been sitting in the café across the street, waiting to see a famous person for months. So when after five minutes we got to go inside I laughed a sweet laugher, thinking how cool I felt at that time.

When we got inside we stood for a few minutes and then we talked with a couple of people who all thought it was cool that I am a Dane (I am a viking, haha!). Suddenly, Sophia Bush walked past us. She was on the phone and drinking her coffee when she saw that some of the plastic cups had gone into the wrong trashcan so she picked them up and threw them into the right one. My heart was pounding so hard and I was shaking even before she was talking to me.

We watched them make a scene and experienced how many times they had to do just one scene to get it right.

When she had finished the scene she came to see us, and she shook my hand. I was so excited and I was shaking and it felt like my heart was about to pop out of my chest! She even let me take a picture with her and she talked to us for some minutes about how the international fans were some seasons behind the American. Then she left and we went to see the inside of Karen’s café.

After this awesome experience my host's mom, my host's little sister and my host went for an ice cream and it was so great and the perfect end of a great evening.

NHL

Saturday 4 of us went to a 'gold match' between Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes. The trip to Verizon Center was cool. There were Capital fans everywhere. But the game was even more amazing! The excitement from the crowed throughout the game was something you don't experience everyday. From were we sat we had a great overview.

The game ended 4-3 for Washington in OT (overtime) and when the Capitals player made the game-wining goal, the arena went crazy! I have never seen or experienced something like that. It was so amazing to be a part of that game, because through the whole game you had no idea who would win the game, it was so close! But luckily it ended up with a great win for The Washington Capitals. And a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the four of us!

First day of American high school!

Today, October 11, was our first day of school - John T. Hoggard high school! Our first class began at 8:30 and we were all very excited to see the school and how it all worked. This was indeed something we had been looking forward to all the week! At our first class, we got splitted into some different groups, where we were introduced to some students from the school council who was going to guide us around the school. The school was quite big, but it also has about 2,000 students which is a lot compared to our 600-700 students at Ikast Gymnasium. We saw all the long hallways, the football field, the gym and all the parking lots - a lot of students at this high school have their own car - very expensive cars. Going around the school the American students were very interested in us and they stared a lot at us, like our teacher Mr. Garner said, as we were zoo exhibits.

Later on, we got into some different groups which each had Danish and American students in it. Our assignment was to discuss the differences and similarities between America and Denmark. The American students were very friendly and nice to us and we talked and discussed many different topics. Political differences between America and Denmark and Danish history and culture as well as American history and culture were topics we spoke about. The drinking age was probably the most popular topic, since the American students were very surprised and excited about how we Danish students can walk into any grocery store and buy alcohol. Also the teachers at Hoggard high school have their own classrooms which Danish teachers don't have - something our teachers, Sune and Morten, were very jealous of!

All in all, our first day of school was a great experience. The American students were very nice and we both learned something about each others' cultures and differences in the way we live our lives. At 15:30 our hosts picked us up at Mr. Garner's classroom after a very exciting day!

Potomac Mills

… is the biggest mall we have ever seen! Much bigger than the ones we have in Denmark.

The first thing that happened when we had just arrived to the mall was that 2 women wanted to talk with us. They asked us if we wanted to be in a beauty contest because we looked pretty – what a confidence boost.
A thing we noticed about the mall was that it had a really funky smell and we certainly weren’t the only ones who noticed it. Our theory is that it was the food from the food chain Auntie Anne’s… Don’t go there! When it was time to go home, 9 of us girls decided to go together. Everything went well with taking a cab and going on the metro but then we got off. It was there everything went wrong. We thought that finding a bus was going to be a piece of cake but we failed. We felt hopelessly lost in DC. It was awful. Finally we found one of the right bus stops but it was blocked by a demonstration against the war in Afghanistan. Just our luck. Then after a long (and not clarifying) conversation with 2 police officers we decided to take a cab. As we turned around the first corner what did we see? The exact bus we were supposed to take and of course we drove behind it all the way to Georgetown. What a lovely ending to a lovely day.

- Michell la Cour and Anine Gasbjerg

NHL

Going to an american sports event is something else than going to a Danish one. The Washington vs. Carolina hockey game was definitely worth going to. It is insane watching 20,000 people, almost everyone in red Washington jerseys, standing in the arena, cheering for their team! The atmosphere is amazing, and there is enough of entertainment, so you will never get bored. Both on the way to the game and on the way home, the metro station was packed with hockey fans. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing a group of fans somewhere in the crowd. After the game, a lot of people went to sports bars to celebrate the Washington win in overtime, but since Marc and I aren't old enough, we went back to the hotel. Even on the way home everyone was very friendly, and happy to talk to each other. It is a big experience going to such a big event and being part of 20,000 amazing hockey fans!

Capitol, Washington D.C

Written by Arnela.

Who said that American history can’t be funny? Our guide proved everyone wrong! First we saw an introduction movie, and the woman introducing the movie was sooo funny. She had a really light voice and she told so many jokes! She could be a comedian!

Our guide around the museum was a big black guide, who was really interesting listening to! He was amazed by Habib’s shorts, and he even took a picture with him.

The building is really beautiful, probably because it’s all in marble, it’s really amazing!

The souvenir shop was really interesting. You can buy a copy of the Declaration of Independence in a roll, and other documents.

Cecilie and I were amazed by a statue of the first president on Hawaii – his name was Kamehameha, that just says it all!

Lots of Love Cecilie and Arnela.

A not so quick step travel to the States!

Written by Cecilie

Two words can be used to describe our trip to the US, excitement and waiting. At first we thought we were to leave at 5.00 am Friday 10.7. but Wednesday we got the news, “DSB has made a mistake and we are leaving at 2.00 am instead.” For some those three hours don’t seem as a great difference but for us it suddenly meant that we were to leave what felt like Thursday instead of Friday.So we all went to the bus station with our parents in the middle of the night and standing there, freezing, and were both relieved and nervous when the bus arrived. We were all very tired and tried to sleep but our busdriver, Hans Jørgen, had different plans. Telling us all about the new driveway all the way, we were quite relieved when we reached Frederica.

The rest of the travel was just a lot of waiting and the best airplane meal in the history of airplane meals. It was a risotto sort of thing with chicken and mushrooms, a salad, some wine vinegar to go with it, brie and bread and then this very crispy thing we don’t know what was. Too bad for the ones who slept through the meal. Right Arnela?

Lots of love, Cecilie and Arnela

Blogging Begins

Check this out if you want to know what the students from 2a at IBG are up to in the land of the free and home of the brave, October 2011.