9/4-15: The weekend I discovered a hidden talent

GRSPower

April er fløjet forbi hurtigere end jeg troede muligt. Formentligt fordi særligt weekender har været spækkede med fantastiske oplevelser som denne: en tur til smukke St. Marys og Cumberland Island. 

GRSP-weekenden i Camden County i den sydøstligste del af Georgia, var den sidste GRSP-weekend. 

Jeg fandt selv vejen derover i honda'en - nu med ny GRSP frontplade på, og god musik i højtalerne på turen igennem Ofeekanokee Swamp. 

Fredag kunne vi vælge imellem et tur på stranden ved Fernandina Beach, Florida, kajaktur langs kysten, eller at komme ud og skyde lerduer!

Jeg skulle naturligvis det sidste.. 

Efter et par forsøg med mindre held, begyndte jeg pludselig at få lidt tag på det, og inden vi sluttede af nåede jeg op på at ramme gennemsnitligt 3/4. 

Som dansker har man lidt et anerledes forhold til det med våben end her i Georgia, men jeg må indrømme at det altså var virkeligt sjovt at skyde lerduer! 

Eftermiddagen brugte vi på stranden inden vi alle mødtes til pizza, poolparty og lejrbål. 

Lørdag blev det til en tur tilbage på Cumberland Island hvor jeg tidligere var på backpacking tur (læs her og her). 

Denne gang lykkes det mig at komme fra øen uden et frygtelig solskolning - til gengæld fik vi set langt flere heste end sidst, og denne gang også føl :-) 

St. Marys er den hyggeligste lille by, og jeg boede ved Beverly og Tom Cyphers som var utroligt gæstfrie, og endda tilbød at mine forældre kunne komme forbi når de besøger Georgia. 

Camden weekenden var klart en af de bedste hele året, så det var en skam at blot 25 GRSPere var kommet. Men de af os som deltog havde en fantastisk weekend med nogle søde og meget dedikerede rotarianere. 

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April flew by faster than I thought possible. Probably because the weekends were all filled with amazing experiences like this one: A trip to beautiful St. Marys and Cumberland Island. 

The GRSP weekend in Camden County in the southeastern part of Georgia was the last GRSP weekend. 

I found my way over there in the Honda - with a new GRSP front plate, and good music as I took the scenic route through Ofeekanokee Swamp. 

Friday we had the choice between a beach day at Fernandina Beach, Fl., kayaking along the coast, or skeet shooting. 

I chose the latter, of course. 

After a few tries at first without hitting a single one, I all of sudden got a feel for it, and by the time we finished up I was making 3/4 almost every time. 

As a Dane you have a different relationship to guns and weapons than you do here in Georgia, but I must admit that it was a lot of fun shooting clay!

We spent the afternoon at the beach before we met up at night for pizza, pool party and bon fire.

Saturday was Cumberland Island-day where I have been backpacking earlier (read here and here). 

This time I managed to get back off the island without a terrible sunburn - instead we got to see a lot more horses, and also foal :-)

St. Marys is the cutest little town, and I stayed with Beverly and Tom Cyphers who showed great hospitality, and even invited my parents to stop by when they visit Georgia. 

The Camden weekend was definitely one of the best all year, so it was a shame that only 25 GRSPs had shown up. However those of us who came had so much fun with some sweet and dedicated rotarians. 

Fint besøg!

Det er vist meget heldigt at jeg ikke skal gå hele vejen på de næste par ture jeg har planlagt.. 

I eftermiddag tager jeg afsted, og jeg kommer først hjem igen om lige over to uger! 

I mellemtiden besøger jeg: Orlando, Daytona Beach, Savannah, Boston, New York, og Pelham (en lille by tæt på Valdosta). 

På mit første stop får jeg endda fint besøg! Thit og Angus - min søster og svoger - kommer nemlig hele vejen fra Frankrig for at besøge mig! De skal også besøge en masse andre venner, og skal således flyve rundt i næsten alle hjørner af USA. 

Vi skal i Disney i weekenden, og så tager vi en enkelt dag i Daytona Beach hvor der kan hygges på stranden og opleves lidt amerikansk "Spring-Break-fever" :-) 

Derefter fortsætter de sydpå for at besøge en ven i Miami - jeg rejser nordpå til Savannah. 

På tirsdag er det nemlig St. Patricks Day, og Savannah har den uofficielt 2. største fejring i hele landet. Den største holdes i New York. 

Man forventer omkring 4-500.000 mennesker rejser til Savannah under festlighederne. Havde helligdagen ramt en fredag, lørdag eller søndag, havde man regnet med op mod en million! 

Efter ca. et døgn i Savannah kører jeg igen sydpå til Jacksonville for at flyve til Boston. 

I Boston mødes jeg med Freja og Johan, som jeg tidligere har været i Washington DC med. Vi skal være i Boston i 1-2 dage, og herefter tager Freja og jeg bussen til New York, hvor vi tilbringer ca. 5 dage. 

Efter New York vender jeg for en kort stund tilbage til Valdosta, dog kun for at omarrangere min baggage til en GRSP weekend i Pelham, som bliver slutningen på min spring break. 

I USA tager de fleste unge mennesker til stranden for at holde spring break. Populære steder som Panama City Beach og Daytona Beach bliver fyldt med college studerende, som gerne fester hele ugen - tænk Sunny Beach i Bulgarien ;-) 

Jeg glæder mig enormt meget til at se Thit og Angus igen - det er næsten ikke til at forstå at det er over 7 måneder siden jeg så dem sidst, og at jeg har været HER i 7 måneder! Tiden går stærkt!

Jeg glæder mig også enormt meget til at begynde min lille rejse, som jeg startede med at planlægge helt tilbage omkring jul. 

Vil prøve at opdatere lidt på bloggen undervejs, men når der rejses skal der jo opleves, så jeg lover ikke noget :-) 

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I think it's a very good thing that I won't be walking the entire way on the next couple of trips I'm going on..

This afternoon I will be leaving and I won't come back until just over two weeks from now!

Meanwhile I'll be visiting: Orlando, Daytona Beach, Savannah, Boston, New York and Pelham (a small town close to Valdosta). 

On my first stop I will even be getting visitors! Thit and Angus - my sister and brother-in-law - will be coming all the way from France to visit me! They will also be visiting a lot of other friends and will therefore be flying almost all over the US during their short stay here.

We will spend the weekend in Disney and then go on to Daytona Beach, relax on the beach and get some of that American Spring-Break-fever!

After this they'll head south to visit a friend in Miami, and I'll be heading north to Savannah. 

Tuesday is St. Patricks Day, and Savannah has the unofficial 2nd largest celebration of the country. The biggest one is in New York. 

They are expecting around 4-500,000 people in Savannah during the festivities. Had the holiday been on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, they would expect up to a million visitors!

After almost 24 hours in Savannah I'll head south again to Jacksonville where I'll jump on a plane to Boston.

In Boston I'll meet with Johan and Freja who I've been to Washington DC with earlier. We'll spend 1-2 days in Boston, before Freja and I will take the bus to New York where we'll spend 5 days. 

After New York I'll return for a brief stay in Valdosta only to repack my suitcase for a GRSP weekend in Pelham, which will be the end of my spring break. 

Here in the states, most young people go to the beach for spring break. Popular places are Panama City Beach and Daytona Beach, which fill up with college students who typically spend the week partying.. - For the Europeans out there: think Sunny Beach in Bulgaria ;-)

I am looking SO much forward to seeing Thit and Angus again - it's hard to believe that it's been more than 7 months since I last saw them, and that I have been HERE for 7 months! Time is passing so quickly!

I am also looking so much forward to beginning my trip , which I started planning already around Christmas. 

I will try to update the blog along the way, but when traveling you must experience, so I make no promises :-)

Ticking one off my bucket list..

I weekenden var der en lille drøm som gik i opfyldelse for mig - jeg var nemlig til NBA kamp i Atlanta!

Jeg har spillet basket siden jeg var 8 år gammel (tro det eller ej), og jeg har altid gerne villet ind og se en rigtig NBA kamp, og det stod højt på min liste da jeg fandt ud af at jeg skulle til Georgia i et år. 

Heldigvis var jeg ikke alene om at have dette ønske, og Nadine fra Schweiz som også var med i New Orleans, ville også rigtig gerne ind til en kamp. 

Billetterne var, som forventet, ikke billige - vi skulle nemlig ind og se to gode hold: Atlanta Hawks og Toronto Raptors, og vi ville også gerne sidde så vi faktisk kunne se noget og ikke helt oppe under taget. 

Inden kampen var vi på verdens største drive-in restaurant, The Varsity. Vi valgte dog at gå ind og spise, da vi faktisk havde taget toget (JA toget!) derhen. (Atlanta har rent faktisk offentlig transport - wow!). 

The Varsity er kendt for chilli cheese dogs (hotdogs med en slags "chilli" con carne på), og i øvrigt deres "frosted orange" som er en blanding af en slush-ice og en milkshake med appelsinsmag. 

Det var en fedtet omgang, og ikke umiddelbart min type mad, men nu har jeg prøvet det også :-) 

Kampen var desværre ikke alt for god set med Hawks-øjne, eftersom de tabte med omkring 30 point - til gengæld betød det at rigtigt mange udvandrede de sidste 5 minutter af 4. periode, og Nadine og jeg endte således på 10. række hvorfra sidste billede er taget. 

Vi havde indlogeret os hos nogle andre GRSPere på Georgia State University som ligger i Downtown Atlanta, og havde på den måde en god base for en fortsat god weekend :-) 

Hvis jeg lige hurtigt tæller så er to af de ting som jeg rigtigt gerne ville opleve, nu rent faktisk lykkedes i løbet af de sidste 2-3 uger, og det er uden tvivl blevet væsentligt nemmere at få disse oplevelser til at lykkes fordi jeg nu har adgang til en bil. Så det er altså virkelig fantastisk!

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This weekend a small dream of mine came true - I went to an NBA game in Atlanta!

I have played basketball since I was 8 years old (believe it or not), and I have always wanted to see a real NBA game, and it was on the top of my bucket list of things I wanted to do when I found out I was going to spend a year in Georgia. 

Luckily I wasn't the only one to have this wish, and Nadine from Switzerland, who was also on the trip to New Orleans, also really wanted to go see a game. 

The tickets were, as expected, not cheap as we were going to see two really good teams: The Atlanta Hawks and the Toronto Raptors, and we also wanted to have decent seats and not have to sit all the way up under the roof. 

Before the game we went to the world's largest drive-in restaurant, The Varsity. However we did chose to go inside to eat as we took the Marta there (woho! public transportation!). 

The Varsity is known for their chili cheese dogs and frosted orange, which some of you might know. If not, a chili cheese dog is a hotdog with a kind of chili con carne on top of it, and the frosted orange is a mix of a milkshake and a slushee with taste of an orange. 

It was a greasy experience, and probably not my preferred meal, but now I have tried it :-)

The NBA game was unfortunately not the best seen from an Atlanta Hawks viewpoint seeing as they lost by around 30 points - however, it did mean that a lot of people left the arena the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter, so Nadine and I ended up on the 10th row, which is where the last picture is taken from. 

We were staying with some other GRSPs at Georgia State University, which is right in downtown Atlanta, so we had a good base for a great weekend. 

If I just quickly count, two of the things I really wanted to experience coming over here, has actually happened within the last 2-3 weeks, and it has without a doubt made it a whole lot easier to actually get these experiences now that I have access to a car. Just to say, that is pretty amazing!

Alligator, jambalaya, gumbo, and crawfish étouffée

The famous St. Charles streetcar

Parade in Uptown

New Orleans food culture (alligator to the left!)

Back to Bourbon Street

Men først skulle tømmermændene fra fredagen lige gåes væk med en tur i en af New Orleans' parker - Audubon Park som byder på en golfbane i midten, og en zoo i enden. Vi sprang dog både golf og dyr over, og nøjedes med at nyde den friske luft, hvor vi i øvrigt stødte på nogle (for en dansker) meget sjove skilte til cyklister... Tænk sig hvis man kun måtte køre 10 mph på cykelstierne i Danmark! 

Vi tog en kombination af busser og streetcar hen til parken - turen langs St. Charles er en smuk måde at opleve lidt af byen på!

Herefter var vi en lille gåtur fra dagens første optog i Uptown/Carrolton hvor der i øvrigt også er mange smukke huse. 

Vi fik samlet et par perlekæder inden vi fortsatte turen tilbage mod French Quarter hvor vi havde fundet en restaurant som tilbød lidt forskellige lokale retter som f.eks. alligator, jambalaya, gumbo osv. 

Jeg fik naturligvis prøvet næsten det hele med alligator, rejer og gumbo til forret, og jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, red beans and rice samt alligator sausage til hovedret. - Der var IKKE plads til dessert! (før lidt senere hvor vi tog på Starbucks for at få varmen og se optog igennem vinduet - heraf billedet af en "cake pop med saltkaramel).

Vi sluttede endnu en gang aftenen på en anden lille fantastisk jazz club, hvor vi faldt i snak med nogle venlige (og fulde) herrer som købte drinks til hele gruppen. Inden vi vendte hjem var vi lige forbi nogle af vores venner fra fredag som havde hotelværelse med balkon ud til Bourbon Street - på den måde fik vi også oplevet hvordan det er at kaste perlekæder, frem for at prøve at fange dem ;-P

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But first the hangover from Friday had to be "walked off" with a trip to one of New Orleans' parks - Audubon Park, which has a golf course on the middle and a zoo at the end. Vi skipped both the golf and the animals, and instead enjoyed the fresh air where we found some (to a Dane) very funny signs on biking restrictions... I can't imagine what it would be like if you could only go 10 mph on the Danish biking paths!

We took a combination of busses and streetcar to get to the park - the trip along St. Charles is a very beautiful way to see a bit of the city!

After the park we were just a short walk away from our first parade in Uptown/Carrolton where they also have a lot of pretty houses. 

We gathered a few beads and then headed back towards the French Quarter where we were going to have dinner at a restaurant that offered some local cuisine like alligator, jambalaya, gumbo etc.

I of course tried almost all of it with alligator, shrimp and gumbo as appetizers, and jambalaya, crawfish étouffée, red beans and rice and alligator sausage as my entree. - I did NOT have room for dessert! (until a bit later when we dropped by Starbucks to get warm and watch a parade through the windows - hence the picture of a cake pop with salted caramel). 

Once again we ended our evening at another amazing little jazz club where we got to talking to some friendly (and "tipsy") gentlemen who bought drinks for our entire group. Before heading back to the hostel we met up with some of our friends from Friday who had a hotel room with a balcony over Bourbon Street - that way we got to experience what it was like throwing the beads and not just trying to catch them ;-P

Post no. 100 and I got WHEELS!

Hvor er det fantastisk at kunne markere mit blogindlæg nr. 100 med at dele denne nyhed med jer:

Jeg har en bil! Jeg har en bil!! Jeg har en bil!!!

(og jeg kunne blive ved).. 

Før man har opholdt sig lidt her i det sydlige Georgia, hvor den eneste bus der findes er en skolebus, og hvor toget udelukkende bruges til transport af gods (og helst midt om natten eller midt i myldretiden), så har man altså ikke noget begreb om hvor stor en udfording transport transport kan være. 

Man tror næsten det er løgn, men så snart du forlader skolens område, så ser du ikke længere folk som går eller cykler - og flere vil formentligt dytte af dig hvis du prøvede at cykle i vejsiden (hvis de da ikke har for travlt med at SMS'e og køre bil på samme tid..)

Mine værtsforældre har været så søde og hjælpsomme til at køre mig rundt flere gange om ugen, men når man ikke er vant til at være afhængig af andre, så synes jeg det er svært ikke at få lidt dårlig samvittighed over hele tiden at skulle tage tid ud af deres kalender for at de kan køre for mig. 

Derfor er jeg enormt taknemmelig for at Angie Crawford, som er medlem af Valdosta Rotary, har ladet mig låne en af deres biler RESTEN AF SEMESTERET! 

Til at starte med lånte hun mig bilen til vores tur til Lake Sinclair, og efter at have vendt det med sin mand, fortalte hun at jeg kunne beholde bilen - Jeg havde muligvis min egen lille fest inde i hovedet da jeg fik beskeden... :-) 

Og jeg skal være hurtigt til at indrømme at "American Freedom" føles fuldstændig anerledes når du pludselig virkelig har friheden til at køre hvorhen du vil, hvornår du vil. 

Indlæg nr. 100 i tal

Det er 184 dage siden jeg forlod Danmark

Der er 93 dage til mit semester er slut

Bloggen har haft 3.194 besøg

Og så er der 2 dage til det er fredag ;-)

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It is absolutely amazing to be able to mark my 100th blog post with the announcement of this: 

I have a car! I have a car!! I have a car!!!

(and I could go on)..

Before spending a good bit of time in the southern part of Georgia, where the only busses are school busses, and the only trains are used for transporting goods (preferably in the middle of the night or during rush hour), you just can't imagine how much of a challenge transportation can be. 

If you are not American or have travelled here before, you probably won't believe it, but as soon as you leave campus, you just don't see people walking or biking - and a lot of drivers would probably honk at you if you tried riding your bike on the side of the road (that is if they notice you between driving and texting..) 

My host parents have been so sweet and amazingly helpful with driving me around several times a week, but me not being used to have to depend on others, I somehow found it hard not to feel bad for having to take time our of their schedules to drive me around.

Which is why I am extremely grateful that Angie Crawford, who is a rotarian with Valdosta Rotary, has allowed me to borrow her car for THE REST OF THE SEMESTER! 

To start with she lent me the car for our trip to Lake Sinclair, but after having talked it over with her husband, she told me I could keep the car - I might have had my own little party inside my head when I got the message.. :-)

And I will be the first to admit that "American Freedom" has a very different feel to it when you actually have the freedom to go wherever you want, whenever you want.

Post no. 100 in numbers:

It's been 184 days since I left Denmark

I have 93 days left of this semester

The blog has had 3,194 visits

And there are two more days until Friday ;-)

25/1-15: Beautiful view and beautiful people @ Lake Sinclair

The view from our lake house

The boys sitting at the dock

Our three story weekend-home

Sunset over Lake Sinclair

Basak and Ozge made Turkish coffee and read our fortunes

My morning walk/run around the neighborhood

I sidste weekend var jeg på endnu en GRSP tur - denne gang havde vi selv planlagt det hele, og det eneste der var på programmet var hygge :-) 

Vi havde fundet et stort lake house ved Lake Sinclair som ligger mere eller mindre i midten af Georgia. På den måde var det en fair beliggenhed for alle at komme til, og det længste der skulle køres var 4 timer. 

Efter vores tur til Miami, havde jeg ikke de store forventninger til huset, og regnede lidt med at det sikkert både var alt for lille til os, og i øvrigt meget gammelt, men huset var super lækkert!

Der var massere af rum og massere af plads, massere af senge til os alle, og så var der jo en storslået udsigt ud over søen. 

Køreturen derop tog ca. 3,5 time, og foregik i øsende, silende regnvejr, men lørdag morgen var vejret heldigvis strålende!

Vi havde lavet fælles madplan for weekenden og der blev skiftet til at lave mad, rydde op, og så var der dem som var gode til at sørge for musikken ;-) 

Lørdag startede jeg dagen med at gå/løbe en lang tur rundt i området og nyde den friske luft og den flotte natur - det har vi altså ikke så meget af her i Valdosta! 

Resten af dagen blev brugt nede ved vandet på at lade som om vi kunne fange en fisk, og ellers bare snakke om lidt af hvert :-) 

Den største udfordring ved weekenden havde hidtil været at finde ud af at komme frem og tilbage, men det blev heldigvis løst da en meget venlig rotarianer tilbød at jeg kunne låne hendes bil - fedt! 

Derudover var det dejligt endelig at "være med" når der skete noget - de fleste af dem som bor tæt på Atlanta har mødtes en del gange i løbet af efteråret da de jo bor så tæt på hinanden, hvor vi ikke rigtigt har haft mulighed for at være med hernede fra Valdosta. 

Weekenden var en sådan success at vi allerede nu planlægger næste tur til slutningen af februar :-)

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Last weekend I went on another GRSP trip - this time we had planned everything ourselves, and the only thing on the schedule was to relax and have fun :-)

We had found a lake house by Lake Sinclair, which is situated more or less in the middle of Georgia, thereby reasonable driving distance for everybody - nobody had to drive for more than 4 hours. 

After our trip to Miami I was afraid to expect too much from the house, and I was afraid that the house was both way too small and probably also really old, but it turned out to be really nice!

There was plenty of rooms and plenty of room, plenty of beds for all of us, and an amazing view over the lake.

The drive was about 3.5 hours in constant rain, but fortunately it cleared up by Saturday morning and turned in to a beautiful weekend!

We had organized a meal plan for all of us, and everybody took turns either cooking or cleaning, and some were just really good at taking care of the music ;-)

Saturday I started with a walk/run in the neighborhood enjoying the fresh air and the beautiful nature - which we unfortunately don't have too much of here in Valdosta!

The rest of the day was spent down by the water front, pretending that we could actually catch a fish, and just talking about a bit of everything :-)

The biggest challenge of the weekend so far had been to find a way to get there and back, but luckily that was solved when a very nice rotarian offered me to borrow her car for the weekend - awesome! 

It was really nice to finally have a chance to "be part" of the action - most of the GRSPs who live close to Atlanta have met up several times last semester since they live close, but it has just not quite been possible for us down here in Valdosta to join them. 

The weekend was such a success that we are already planning our next weekend in the end of February :-)