That summer, Anderson works as a candy striper at a local hospital and narrowly escapes being assaulted by a man who works in the morgue. Anderson slowly improves her grades and attends school more regularly in 10th and 11th grade. She notes that, “kids living in war zones should get extra credit for just showing up” (84). Her parents don’t notice that she is still struggling and is often high. She begins to write poetry, like her father once did, and to read books about history and foreign cultures. Both of her parents are floundering in their alcoholism, and Anderson realizes, “no matter how much I loved my parents / my love could not fix them” (89). If she wishes to save herself from her parents’ fate, she knows she must leave home.

She is accepted to a foreign exchange program in Denmark for her senior year of high school. After begging her parents for the money to go, Anderson travels to Denmark, meeting friends from all over the world and learning Danish. Throughout the memoir, each poem title is written in both English and Danish when referring to this year of travel or the Danish language.