A week of birthdays, and my first high school game!

Hey everyone!

It's been some days since I last wrote a blog entry. I have had a busy few weeks lately, and couldn't find the time to blog. I'll try to write an entry about every week, if possible.

A lot has happened since last time. As I finished my last entry, my birthday was only a few minutes away. I had an awesome birthday here. We celebrated it by going out to eat mexican food at a nearby restaurant. It was so delicious! I hadn't tried enchiladas before, which is burritos in melted cheese. That certainly won't be the last time haha!

In Denmark there's a saying that the weather on your birthday reflects your behavior of the past year. It rained, which would mean that I have behaved badly. But because rain is rare, it is quite cherished here in Arizona. So perhaps rain on your birthday is a great thing in Arizona? That must be why the only time it has rained here in the past 3 and half weeks has been on my birthday. No doubt. I see lightning 2-3 days a week here though. Without rain.

They gave me some presents aswell, a t-shirt with the words "Hot stuff - Arizona" on it, and a game of Scrabble, because board games are quite big in this family. (I apologize, I didn't get to rotate the pictures before they were uploaded)

So next day in school, I'm all over all the birthday stuff. Or so I thought. Almost right after the bell has rung, I hear "Happy birthday" being sung from the classroom door. My initial reaction was "Wow, it is someone else's birthday today, right after my own?". Nope. Some of my schoolmates had planned a celebration but couldn't find me after school, so my birthday was celebrated on the 17th aswell! They gave me cupcakes and cookies, and this huge happy-birthday-balloon. Those of you that know what it's like to walk the crowded halls of Westwood (there's 3,000 students) will know just how crowded it can get. I can tell you, having a balloon strapped to your backpack just makes it a whole lot more "interesting". They sung happy birthday for me at lunch, which was quite neat. I sit outside with my classmates during lunch, so quite a lot of students noticed all the singing and stuff going on!

Also during that week, I got my first real taste of the school spirit that exists in America, at a pep assembly. What happens is half the school (they do two of them because they can't fit everyone in the gym at once) fills up the gym, and sits in sections according to their year in school, so we were divided as Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students). So I sat with all the other juniors. We had our own chants, which we tried to yell out louder than the other groups. There were cheerleaders, speakers and the marching band playing. It would have been better if they had fixed the sound system so you could hear what was said clearly, but it was quite neat nonetheless!

I wasn't the only one in the family to have my birthday that week. My new Grandma had her 90th birthday on that Saturday, so we had family flying in from across the States, which was so cool, because I had only talked to or heard of these family members, so it was nice to meet them. Earlier that day I was at an EF-orientation with some of the other exchange students in the Phoenix-area. One of my former classmates is here too, so it was great to meet him and hang out with him, sharing our experiences so far.

On that Sunday we had a bowling event for all the exchange students at Westwood. We're 10-12 exchange students, so there's some events arranged for us from time to time so we can hang out together and have fun, together with a few of the "actual" students from Westwood. Now the great part of this is that these half-dozen students from Westwood in charge of arranging these things are all in the IB-program, so they're my every-day classmates aswell. In terms of bowling, I dominated. It must've been the quesadillas (I'm trying out a bunch of new food over here, most of it is Mexican, since Arizonan food is influenced by the Mexican neighbors to the south. And I'm liking it!) I had. Although I lost the the first game by a point, I got a turkey in the second game, which is three strikes, in a row. I was the only one to top 100 points, getting 118.

This Thursday was quite special. It meant the first high school football game for me. Going against the Dobson Mustangs, where one of my older hostbrothers teaches, I was told their team wasn't quite good, but I still didn't know what to expect. I think a 42-0 win for us pretty much answers any questions about how good (or well, bad) they were. I was on the field for a few plays, but I'm still spending most of my time on the sideline as I try to adjust to a new playbook (new tactics), but Coach is putting me out there more and more in practice, the more I learn. I'm hoping that will turn over to our games too. I started on our kickoff coverage, played one down as a receiver (which would've been a series had we not thrown an interception), and got the last series of the game as safety. Keeping the shutout as a safety was awesome, they were around only 10 yards from scoring at the very end of the game. But not only the game itself was special, just the setting, with cheerleaders, crowds sitting in stands and a speaker announcing the names of players that made big plays.

 I'm second from right, on the kickoff unit here.

I'm partly covered by the referee, but I'm the player on the field closest to the camera, lining up on my only play as a receiver.

On Friday the varsity team played their game, at Dobson. Varsity is the 1st team, I'm on Junior Varsity, which is the 2nd team. Their game went quite differently. One team did score 42, but it wasn't us. Dobson won that game 42-20. Still, I met a bunch of my friends there, and I had a lot of fun in the stands with them during the game and the rest of the night on our way home. I've been told that we might have quite a tough practice tomorrow, Monday, because varsity lost, even though we shutout our own opponent. We'll see. Our next game is at Red Mountain High. Because Westwood is the only school in Mesa to offer the IB program, some of my classmates come from the attendance area of Red Mountain, so they've promised me they'll come by and watch. Incase you're wondering, Red Mountain is 30 minutes away from Westwood. 

It hasn't quite sunk in yet that I've been here for a month already this coming Thursday. But I'm settling in, and getting more and more used to the differences here in Arizona. The 105/40+ degree heat every day is probably still something I'll never get used to. I'm getting used to attending a high school, and being enrolled in the IB. Most of my schooldays usually end with me doing homework untill I go to bed after I come home from football practices, but I'm getting used to that aswell. That is also the main reason why I haven't been blogging for some time. 

One of the biggest differences would probably be the religion of my hostfamily. They're mormon. What that means, is that we have a prayer as a family each morning, and every evening we have "scriptures and prayers", where we read chapters from their religious books, sing a hymn and have another prayer. It is quite nice to be gathered as a family for these things. But when the "rule" that the morning prayers must be done before anyone leaves the home is enforced at 6:50 on a Saturday, it's not quite as nice! That has only happened once, though. Sundays are special though. First of all, there's the 3-hours of Church. For the first few times, it hasn't been at all as bad as those 3-hours might suggest to anyone coming from a not-so-religious country. The first hour is one big meeting, called the "Sacrament meeting". After that, there are different meetings in different groups, called qourums, and Sunday school, which is bible-study, basically. It is a great opportunity to meet a lot of people, and so far everyone I've met around here, especially in Church, are so nice! It also makes me learn about a religion I knew quite little about. Mormons are Christians, and so in general their faith resembles that of Protestants. But there's some differences. Today, Sunday, we had three missionaires serving in the local area over for dinner, two guys from Utah and one from Boise, Idaho. Coincidentally, one of the men from Utah was great friends with part of my host dad's family from Utah. Missionary-work is an important part of the Mormon church. One of my other older hostbrothers is currently serving a mission in Colombia. A mission lasts 2 years. 

But as I mentioned, I'm settling in quite nicely here. There's still little everyday things to get used to. An example: One thing that I have rarely seen in Denmark, but is found everywhere in Arizona is drinking fountains. Understandable, because of the heat. But they are not the most effective thirst-quenchers, unless you are truly patient. Especially after practice. And seeing classmates my age driving around in huge trucks and cars is indeed a new thing aswell. There's a bunch of little every-day stuff like that. It's all part of experiencing new cultures from within! 

I hope to be able to keep you updated with a new entry mostly every week or so. 

Yours truly, Thomas. 

Been almost 2 weeks (What, it's my birthday already?)

Hello!

Having already been here for more than a week and a half, I would say I'm starting to settle in.

I have already had a few school days. The american school system is believed to be more disciplined than what we have in Denmark. Sure, there's discipline. And then there's all the time spent joking around, probably all because the schoolyear has barely begun. I'm loving the high school spirit and atmosphere, it's awesome. I have had a taste of that already, as Fridays' "dress code" is anything in orange and blue to showcase your inner Warrior! It's different in a bunch of ways from Denmark. Coming from a 400-student elementary school to a high school with 3,000 students enrolled is quite a jump too. I still have to bring out a map sometimes just to find my way around campus on my way to another class. The campus is that big. I have always been on time though, so far!

In terms of football, and speaking of Friday, we had our weekly scrimmage, which was my first. Even though I spent most of the night on scout teams, and I "fumbled" the only pass I caught (A fumble is when you lose the ball before being down on the ground. I was actually ruled down on the field. But on film, well.... I wasn't exactly down, no), it was still an awesome experience. I did pretty well on defense as a cornerback, with a few tackles and no completed passes against me. I even came on for a handful of plays against the Varsity offense (1st team). I got a few atta-boy's from the coaches, so overall I was pretty much pleased about it all. There were a few hundred spectators at the scrimmage too, which just made it all quite a special experience.

Since my last post where I mentioned how hard conditioning is, I have found that isn't really the case afterall. I just happened to have my first practice on the same day that the coaches decided to make conditioning extra strenous. It's not that bad. I have also received my jersey, that you can see here:

I play in #85 in the blue, above, and #5 when we have white jerseys on (haven't received that one yet).
Our first game is the 25th.

Another special experience that I want to share with you is also football-related. All players have to participate in a fundraiser for the team, selling "pride cards". These are cards that give you free (as far as I know) access to games, and discounts to a bunch of restaurants and stores. All for 20$. The goal is that each player sells at least 12 cards, in which case they would get their team cleats (football boots/shoes) for free. If you don't sell 12, you have to pay for those cleats. Some of my teammates have sold more than 12, there's even one guy that has sold 30-40 cards. Well, I managed to sell 6.

To round off this blog entry, and as the title has kind of told you already, it is my birthday. Time flies! Well, since I was born in Denmark, I'm 16 already. But I'll have to wait another minute for it to be my birthday here in Arizona time aswell. The smart people have probably figured out it is then also time for me to go to bed.

Be back soon(er, hopefully, than this time) with more!

Football and school starting up!

Hey everybody!

Yesterday I was finally cleared for practicing with the football team. Some exchange students are apparently not allowed to play in games, I got told I was. So everything's sorted out in terms of football!

There is an Arizona law (I've been told it's a law) that states you have to attend three practices without pads before you can participate in contact drills. So while everyone else where running around in pads, I was just in a helmet and sleeveless shirt. Which wasn't too bad in some ways. The offense is a no-huddle offense (fast tempo for those of you that don't know), so their conditioning is hard. REALLY hard. And I thought the conditioning we did in Denmark was hard. We started out by running about 15-20 20-yard sprints. Non-stop. Next up, three suicide runs (A suicide run is crossing the field four times). And to round it off at least 10 minutes of pushing the 5-man sled around, alternating turns with 2 others. All that in 35-40/100+ degree heat. Oh, by the way, I got told that was an easy day. It didn't help me either that my helmet was tight enough around my head to almost give me headaches. They don't have any Riddell Revolution helmets over here, which is what I'm used to.

But other than those few things that I need to get used to, it was quite nice to be at a football practice in the US. There's coaches assigned to all the different positions, equipment personnel, all kinds of things I'm not used to in Denmark. It's a different thing over here. That being said, the players here aren't all as great as you'd think. The level is higher, no doubt, but the difference between football in the U.S. and in Denmark is not that huge in terms of skill. I'll be on the junior varsity team (2nd team) at first, but we'll see where I can go from there.

Also yesterday, I got my schedule sorted out and was registered for classes. I was planning to start in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program once I got back to Denmark. Well, that was untill I found out that my high school offers that program over here. So I'll be starting already. It's a 2 year program, so I might have just one year of high school in Denmark once I get back!

Today I was shown around school campus by some of the other IB students. A few IB students show the exchange students around campus each year. It was great to meet my future classmates and teachers and see some of my classrooms. School starts tomorrow (Wednesday), so I'm quite excited for that!

Not too long before I'll leave for football practice. I've been told conditioning will be even worse tonight.

See ya!

Arrived in Mesa!

Hi!

Last night at 6 p.m. local time, I landed in the airport in Phoenix, after a loooong day. Since I had to take an early-morning flight from Copenhagen, I took the train to the airport during the night, from home. I couldn't really sleep on the train, so for around 42 hours or so, I didn't get any sleep except for the times that I fell asleep on the plane to Phoenix. For about 8$ you could get DirecTV on the flight. 95 TV-programs. Live. Which was really awesome, I watched a lot of ESPN. The only bad part - because I fell asleep I missed some of it. Damn!

Anyhow, I took the train at about 11 p.m. and arrived in the airport in Kastrup, near Copenhagen at around 3 a.m., where I had to meet an EF-representative at 7. Long wait yeah, but my parents would rather get some sleep on a train during the night instead of driving. At 9 I finally departed on a plane for Newark, New Jersey. 8 and a half hours later I landed, and had to get through Customs and Immigration in Newark. I had been warned that it might be a rough phase to get through there. Simply put, it wasn't. I just had to hand in a few documents, give them my fingerprints and I was out of there after 15 minutes. Grabbed a little to eat in the airport, and I just waited the last hour or so before I could board the last flight, the one to Phoenix. 5 hours later I landed in Phoenix, where I was greeted by my new dad and sister, and this sign:

After I came home, I had dinner, before I went to bed. As sleepy as I were, I slept at 7:30 already!

Today I've visited the school, to get registered, and I was at the gym with my hostbrother, Vasa. Just a few hours ago, I tried to get to football practice aswell. I talked to coach, and he told me that I need a physical examination before I can participate in practice. The team has a scrimmage at practice later on though, which I'll go watch almost right after I'm done with this entry.

I'll be back with more soon!