Meeting my host family! - DAY 3

End of the AFS camp

The last day of the AFS camp has come. We packed our bags in the morning and shared our last tears. The volunteers gave an envelope to each one of us with everything we had to know. It was time for everyone meet their host families! Everyone was very nervous, exchanging phone numbers and facebook profiles, that would later be very useful for organizing meetings and parties with our new all around the world friends! 

The volunteers prepared a small goodbye party with music. Everyone was dancing and having fun. While we were dancing, some host families were arriving to get their students and it was really emotional to see them going away one by one. To each family that came and student that left we applauded and said goodbye to our friends. I saw one of my good friends Mohamed being picked up by his family and I could see the commotion in his eyes. It was truly a beautiful moment.

This camp was truly amazing. I arrived in Denmark not knowing anyone, and after that camp, I had friends from the whole world. It was very hard to say goodbye, but we knew we would all meet again shortly. The volunteers in the camp were absolutely fantastic, helped us with everything, answered every question, didn't judge. We felt we could trust them 100%! I leave some photos from this camp now... and I will never forget everyone that I met.

The Portuguese and Brasilian

Some of the AFS family

Me and my French friends

Me and Joana

The Brasilian guys with Anita from Italy

Our group with the Thailandese

Me and Ana 

Group sessions on the outside

The place where we stayed the night

Talking during a pause

Learning to dance with Mexican Juan

At the canteen

The last photo of the camp, just before entering the bus

Meeting my Danish family

We waited for the buses that would take us all to different places, in which our host families would pick us up. We were all separated into small groups and each one went to a different train station. In the train station that I was, I saw many families arriving, one by one, and I started getting more and more nervous because I knew mine could be there at any moment... 

And after a long time waiting and creating anxiety, one of the volunteers came next to me and told me "Your family is here!" You can't imagine how nervous I was, after talking to them by email for over 3 months and exchanging small videos and photos to talk about ourselves, they were finally there. I went to see them and my heart stopped. I heard all my friends clapping and applauding. I hugged my new family and said a quick goodbye to my other AFS family. It was extremely touching to see everyone waving goodbye, smiling and wishing good luck! 

I grabbed my bags and we started walking to the car to take me to my new home. They were exactly like the pictures and seemed equally nice! I have a father and a mother and 5 siblings, but 4 of them have already left home since they are older than 20 years old. So I'm living with my mom, my dad and my host sister, called Caroline, and she's 17 years old. My dad works in his own company, he's an engineer, and my mom is a nurse at an elderly institution that she also owns. 

Me and my host sister in the station

We had to drive home and it still was far so we had a lot of time to know each other. I told my host family about the camp, about what we learned and about all the friends that I made. We talked about differences between Denmark and Portugal, culture and traditions. They were very interested about how was my travel, they asked a lot of questions and I was very happy to answer them. I was so excited to finally meet them! They taught me about the danish geography. Denmark consists mostly of 3 big lands. The one next to the continent is Jutland, the middle one is Fyn and the right one, where Copenhagen is situated is called Sjaelland. It's a relatively small country.

We arrived at home, in Kolding (Jutland), and my host family presented me their property. We live in the countryside and it's really peaceful here. I was really surprised with the size of the terrain. It was a huge field full of grass and some cows. They also have chickens, little kittens, and a big backyard, where they grow apples and pears, between other fruits. There is a big house where we live, with many rooms, and there's also a house for guests, an office where my dad works and a place for the bikes and the animals. 

I dropped my stuff and they showed me the house inside. It's an old house from 1876, but it has been renewed and it's really modern. It has a lot of space on the inside. Then they showed me my room and I was amazed by how big it was. I used to sleep in the same room as my little brother in Portugal, so this was new for me. I have a bed, a secretary, a couch, cabinets and a wardrobe, and a lot of space. The room has a beautiful view to the outside garden, and it was just perfect. On top of the table, there was a paper and a chocolate. I felt really welcomed.

The paper on top of the table

I have to thank my host family for everything that they've done for me. They are extremely nice, loving and caring. I really think that I was very lucky to have this family and feel that I can trust them with anything. Everything yet has been phenomenal, I can't complain about anything. They are surely a second family to me and they will always be.

End of day 3

I went to bed early that night. We had dinner at 18:00 and talked about a lot of things in the living room after that. I was very tired from the camp so I went to my room early. The next day I would have my first day of school, in a Danish school. I took some time to reflect on what I wanted my experience to be and to calm down. I had put all my clothes in their place. I really had to prepare myself emotionally for all the changes that were about to happen in my life. But I felt ready. I lay down in my comfortable bed and as soon as I closed my eyes I fell asleep.