Times They Are A-Changing.

Okay, the title wasn't meant to be a reference to Bob Dylan in any way. It just happened to be the words that popped into mind.

I (and Holly!) really should be better at updating this thing. I guess we're just equally busy. Anyhow, I should get started writing something which might actually be relevant to someone out there.

I'm a perfectionist, or so I've been told. Apparently perfectionists have a very black and white way of seeing the world, there are no shades in between. There's just black and white. Either good or bad, strong or weak. You get the point, I'm sure. This black and white picture has caused me to get diagnosed with stress (again) so I've been given some exercises to soften the picture, get some colors thrown in there.

1. Start with the "fun" homework. 

Since when has homework been fun, you might ask. You know, I was thinking the same thing when I first heard it! By fun I mean the homework that seems the easiest to overcome or the most interesting. I've always done it the other way around, starting with the yucky homework first just to get it over with. Apparently that's not very motivating at all. Starting with the easiest gets the process going, making the workload seem more manageable in the long run.

2. By the end of every day, mention three things that have been positive.

There's no incident too insignificant to be mentioned. Even if the whole day just felt like one big failure there will have been at least three positive moments. At first I thought this exercise would've been the easiest, I mean three things didn't seem like much so it should be easy. It hasn't been. It's incredibly hard to think of three positive things in the midst of all the negative and the first time I did it, I felt ridiculous. That's the perfectionist speaking. By the end of the day I draw a conclusion; has the day been good or has it been bad? There's no in between. So drawing the conclusion "this has been a bad day" and still having to find three positives things about it challenges my way of thinking. Suddenly the day went from being all bad to being bad including a few positive elements. It went from a black and white picture to being in color. 

These are baby steps, but I'm getting closer to getting better every day. There's light at the end of the tunnel, I've realized that now!

I know this update doesn't do the past five months or so justice, but a short update is better than no update, right?

Fall has come to Denmark

It's finally here.

258 days later.
18 profile picture changes.
Graduation.
Job changes.
School changes.
Friendship changes.
Personality changes.

Joking becoming reality.

It started as a joke.
"Yeah, I'll come to see you once I turn 18."

"See ya later."

"Yeah, I'll come to Denmark."

"Yeah, when are you free?"

"I'm working on buying my tickets."

"I got them!"

"I'll be there June 19th at 5:10"

"My flight is delayed."

"Hi!"

And there I was, walking through the doors in Billund Airport to meet up with Nanna and her mother. It's been almost a year since I saw her last. We've both had our ups and downs while we were separated but it worked out. Here we are. I'm in Denmark and we're able to hang out once again. It's so lovely to be back with your best friend after what seemed like such a long time. We're heading out to London this week! We'll keep you posted.


Forever,
Holly

Time is coming close.

In ten days, I will be crossing the ocean to DENMARK.

I don't think you understand how exciting that really is. 

Me, who has lived in America forever and only gone to Mexico. I've seen an ocean once in my lifetime. I've been in a plane once. Now, I'm flying alone. I'm going to make it I know.

10 days.
I haven't started packing.
I don't even have my luggage... I just bought it today.



I'm way more organized than what I'm portraying right now.


It's going to be weird leaving America on a Monday and getting to Denmark on a Tuesday. Dear God, don't let me have too much jet lag. Thank you. It's going to be weird not being able to text. It's going to be weird all the way around.

The awesome will outweigh the weird!

I'm pretty stoked I don't have to take any toiletries. That always takes up SO MUCH room. Stupid towels... Why don't they make body dryers like hand dryers? The Capital had those in The Hunger Games. Why don't we?

I've practically spent all day on my laptop today. I'm going to finish this so I can go do something useful. See you in ten days Denmark.

(And by Denmark I mean Nanna.)

Starting Over - Again

A few weeks ago I made a decision. A quite radical one, to be honest.
I'm no longer an IB student. Instead I'm now, what we in Denmark refer to as, an STX student. This has led to transfer of schools, no more English in my every day life, and new people once again(!). I don't know what exactly triggered this idea but I ended up doing it, nonetheless. It honestly just feels more right this way.

So this Monday, after a few days in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, with my friends I went to school. Not just any school - Munkensdam School. This is the school I've been wanting to attend since the first time I had to consider what I wanted to do with my life. I went to my first class in 1.x (the name of my class) which, btw, is a class with higher levels of social studies and math. Who would've ever thought that I, of all people, would choose to take high level math classes?

Anyhow, the first person I met was my teacher who wanted me to make a small presentation of myself in front of my new class - no way I wanted to do that, so she let me sit down after a few minutes of me convincing her to let me do so. I'm surprised that even after being a student at six different school I'm still about to pass out whenever I have to meet all those new people. It really freaks me out to be put on the spot like that!

I got out of school by 1.20 p.m. and I thought the day had been a success. I was amazed how open-minded everyone had been and how welcome I had felt. It's not easy to transfer schools like that in the middle of a school year so I was so happy when I went home. Usually Danes aren't open-minded in any way. We tend to be quite selfish and, well, not so open-minded so it was really awesome to experience for once.

So, what's my point with all this? I don't really know. Maybe there isn't supposed to be a point with everything I write. Atleast I came with some kind of update here from Denmark! I'm a really bad blogger. Sorry.

The Hipster Movement

                In my class, FACS- also known as Family and Consumer Science- we moved from finances to fashion. Thank the Lord! Finances was "fun" and all but it sparked so much thought into the future, saving, spending, etc... The things that cause a senior in high school to cringe. Especially as the phrase, "you'll be getting out into the world and you'll need to know this stuff..." is said. Anyway, fashion. It's the area that I find a sort of "at home" feeling. I'm comfortable in how to dress and what to put together. My teacher has powerpoint presentations and lectures. (I wouldn't call it much of a lecture per say, more of a conversation.) As she began in the fashion of putting clothes together, matching, etc... She always tells a story. It's awesome; her family is quite entertaining. 


Here's how I learned about the "Hipster Movement":

"Okay, my sister...she's into this sort of...antique, vintage, thrift store stuff; the long sweaters with tights and the vegan Toms. You know, she's a "hipster". (Our faces then turned to the confused What? expressions.) You all look confused...Hipsters, they do the things that aren't necessarily cool and claim that  once something comes into style, 'I've been doing that for years now.' They try to bring the uncool to cool." Then... I got singled out.
"For example, Holly is most likely a hipster."
"Great..." I said.
"It's not a bad thing; it's actually quite cool. We're just not all capable of pulling off things that don't match or necessarily coagulate with one another."

          I got substantially confused. I'd just been called something I had no knowledge of whatsoever, and it had to do with fashion! I asked my boyfriend what the Hipster Movement was and he said...well, I'm not sure but you've gotta see this video.




          Now, that didn't help at all except to realize how they're made fun of. (The girl with the peacock feather in her hair, yeah I have one...) Since I still didn't have a clear picture, I, being the little researcher I am, went home and searched "The Hipster Movement".

"...they revelled in the irony of making something so nerdy so cool. They wanted to live sustainably and eat organic gluten-free grains. Above all, they wanted to be recognized for being different — to diverge from the mainstream and carve a cultural niche all for themselves. For this new generation, style wasn’t something you could buy in a department store, it became something you found in a thrift shop, or, ideally, made yourself. The way to be cool wasn’t to look like a television star: it was to look like as though you’d never seen television."
— Matt Granfield, HipsterMattic

           I'm so guilty. That's me. Then, I said, "I did this stuff before. I didn't know I was a part of such a so called "Movement"." Then it hit me, I bet they all say that...

      So in conclusion, I'm a part of a movement that I didn't know existed. I'm not too worried about it. If you catch me saying "deck" or "fin" to rate something's coolness, you know I've turned to the ultimate hipster dark side. I request you get me into an intervention as soon as possible. Mostly my current wonder on the whole movement is why it's such a big deal. This has been going on since the 70s and before. It's not like we discovered something new...Welcome to the selfish teenager generation of "We did it first! We're the best."

Guilty as charged. 

For a more clearly described hipster: click here.

LINKS and the season...

Here's what I'm currently into:

                                                                                                                                                 I just found this website called squishable.com because of David Carlile from my Advanced family. (Thanks!) I know these really have nothing to do with anything but in all reality, they one-up the pillow pets. Plus, they made me smile.

I recently acquired a Pinterest. By recently, I mean about ten minutes ago. I don't know what I'm doing quite yet but I'll figure it out. I'd appreciate a follow if you even know what I'm talking about. If not, here's a link! Pinterest check it out! 


I've also got instagram. I'm in the cliche club of people where you take a picture of your coffee, add a tint to it, and it's "art". I really like the app though. 


Staying updated socially isn't a main priority in a busy schedule; but it sure is easier with an iPhone. 


Besides the busyness, it is my favorite season! Fall! Finally the months I've been waiting for; the times of wearing sweaters, boots, and scarves and not being worried about the heat being overbearing! I'm ready for Christmas and decorating the tree with bright lights, the scenery of snow (hopefully) and of course, turning the big 18! Legality, hello. I'm not sure why Americans are so infatuated with turning 18 and becoming a "legal adult". It isn't going to change much for me. The only difference will be that I'm going to be able to receive money my grandmother stored away for me. And, I'll be legal. But, that's no big deal to me really. 


I'm not much for a lot to say as of right now. Taking it's almost eleven and I should be heading to bed. I got church in the morning! It's been a while but a while it shall be.


-Holly Joy

Building bridges

Once in a while I get to thinking about my life. Some things just trigger this wondering about my future and where all this effort I'm putting in to my school is going to lead me to.

This time it was the so called "brigde builders". No I'm not referring to bridge builders in the words literal meaning. When we reach 8th grade in the Danish school system we have to visit a school of higher education for a about a week, in order to get some kind of idea as to what we want to spend the rest of our lives doing. This process of visiting schools and making desicions is called "bridge building" or being a "bridge builder". Now that I've given you some kind of definition to the words I'm going to get to the point!

This week is the bridge building week at my school. Usually we're about 800-1000 students mingling among each other, prepraring ourselves for three different kinds of education. You wouldn't think approximately 50 8th graders would make that big of a difference, but guess what? It does.

Today, I was sitting in my math class not really paying attention to the teacher (don't judge, I actually learned something in Mrs. Rob's last year, so I pretty much know what we're doing at this point). I ended up listening to the quiet conversations of the visitors. It made me think of myself when I was in their position. I was scared to death that the teacher would ask me a question or that the students would actually notice my presence.I had absolutely no idea as to what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't even know that I had the possibility of going to the US for a year.
Anyhow, as I was listening to them it dawned on me that I still don't have any idea where I'm headed with my life. The IB World School progam I'm currently enrolled in can be big advantage to graduate, except if I have to go to a Danish university.
The IB grade scale is different from the Danish one, making it very hard to get a good GPA. If I decide to study abroad (requiring an absolutely insane GPA) IB is considered a better education.

I now stand before the choice of transferring schools or have absolutely no social life for the next three years. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but you know where I'm going with this. It kinda feels like I'm in the bridge builder's positions again, I have to make a big decision regarding my future and for some reason it's just not going to be easy at all.

But thinking about my future isn't the only thing I'm doing at the moment.

Student council is a big thing at my school, at least compared to THS. Two or three representatives is chosen from each class and these people get together with the rest of the class representatives once in a while to make big decisions about the school's future. Again the Danish school system is different. We have more than the usual 4 classes, we have about 27 classes at my school containing somewhere between 25 and 32 students each. I was elected to the student council with two other great people from my class and I'll be in the student council until next summer. Once a month the student council gets together to discuss small or big issues about the school, we vote, and we just do cool stuff to make the school even more awesome than it already is.

I also applied to be a part of the school paper called "Spanskrøret" and I have absolutely no idea what the English translation for that is. I've been accepted and we're now planning our first meeting. Spanskrøret is published about four times a year and what exactly my role is, I don't know yet. I'm either going to write articles or I'm gonna end up correcting the other articles, making sure it's not full of with typos and other things like that.

I work anywhere between 4 and 15 hours a week. I like my job, but it can be tough at times. My position requires my full attention to customers and making sure the clothes isn't lying all over the floor or hanging in all the wrong places. It doesn't sound too bad, and it really isn't - most of the time anyway.

So that's a little insight in my life ATM. I hope it gives you some kind of explanation as to why I don't post blogs too often. My apologies!