First of all, sorry for the delayed post. I had an exhausting weekend with a combined 10 hours of sleep from Friday and Saturday that culminated in waking up sick and unable to breathe on Sunday. Then I (surprisingly) actually had work to do for class this week, so time got away from me. Luckily tomorrow is Wednesday (= no class), so I have a mellower night.
Last week was a mashup of experiences that I tried to write down along the way in order to broadcast them here, but I'm not sure if I'll remember them all. Most amusing to me, I learned why I will never become a photojournalist when Anders Clausen, my teacher, articulated that "one of the greatest skills of a photojournalist is patience." Ha, I said to myself as I instantly quoted him in my journal. Seeing as how I am one of the most impatient people in the world, this amused me. At least my subject matter for my three-picture story/photo essay is pretty cool: a half-Iranian guy who grew up in Jutland (the mainland part of Denmark; Copenhagen is on Sealand, the largest island of Denmark) but now lives in Malmo, Sweden with his wife and one-and-a-half-year-old son and another on the way. He used to be a professional cyclist but now works in this bike shop called Pedal Ateletan, where I take pictures of him. He speaks basically perfect English, and obviously Danish, plus some Persian and German and French (I think), and is pretty knowledgable about a lot of things so it makes for good conversation. He and the other person who work there full time, plus their apprentice (they have a boss but he got in this bad bike accident a couple years back and now isn't totally mentally stable and freaks out apparently if there are too many people around, so I can't take pictures when he's there and have never actually met him) aren't really that busy or do a lot, so the atmosphere isn't the best for dynamic picture taking. But it's been fun hanging out there, plus I've gotten some free pastries and coffee out of the gig. Sounds good to me. Moral of the story: I'm good at eating and talking, not so much taking pictures.
On to other highlights of my week...I invested in fur. A white, rabit fur hat to be exact. It is fabulous and the softest thing in the world. Fur is pretty big in Copenhagen. You see fur coats, fur hats, fur scarves, gloves, hoods, etc, on a daily basis. It's not really a must have, but definitely something uniquely Denmark that I can take back to the States (though I don't know when it will ever be as cold at home as it is here, so it might become an obsolete item when I return).
I developed the bad habit of eating Nutella off of a spoon. I don't know how they make that stuff so good, but last week I started eating it all the time. I would dip cookies in it, eat it off a spoon, put it on bagels, put it on bread. I swear it goes with everything. I've since realized that eating that much chocolatey goo on a daily basis probably isn't that good for you, and have cut back. But having no self-restraint tasted great there for a while.
I ate the best oranges I think I have ever had. The second I dug my thumb into the peel, juice would squirt out at me and start running down the sides of the orange. Plus there were no seeds for some reason. It was the sweetest, tangiest, most delicious orangey taste in the world. The dried out, impossible to chew, ugly oranges at home are like mold compared to what I ate last week.
I went to an all-you-can-eat brunch on Sunday afternoon and didn't leave for three hours. While the price was pretty steep at 129 kroner (about $25), it was like paying for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There was sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, potatoes, pasta salad, chicken, soup, homemade bread, granola, yogurt, juice, tea, coffee, veggies, and more that I can't even remember. And you could get up and go through the buffet line as many times as you wanted. The place was called Cafe Castro in the neighborhood of Norrebro. There were fake palm trees inside that I desperately wished were real. Speaking of palm trees, I found myself daydreaming during European Storytelling yesterday of screwing the whole travel around Europe on your own and have a wonderful adventure saga during my travel break and flying to Palm Springs for two weeks instead. The weather here is seriously starting to depress me and if it snows one more time and/or if I don't see the sun in the next 24 hours, I might punch someone in the face. Needless to say, I am not flying back to the States to wonderfully sunny Palm Springs during my travel break. I am having my European adventure (part 1. Part 2 comes in May).
The first week I will be traveling to Russia- Moscow and St.Petersburg- on a DIS sponsored trip. I have to take a corresponding class called Russia Past and Present that's only one credit where we learn about Russian history and language. It's only met twice so far by I'm really enjoying it. Russia is a pretty fascinating place and my teacher is incredibly enthusiastic about it. He's Danish but Russia is his passion. He speaks fluent Russian, used to live there, and has been on this DIS trip maybe 15 times. We will be there for a week and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I get to see Swan Lake in St. Petersburg too so that's a major bonus! The second week I'll be visiting Cherin! (Erin, but I like to call her Cherin because putting a Ch in front of people's names is just more fun) I fly to Geneva on April 4, stay with her a couple days, and then we'll be flying together to Budapest. I've heard really good things about Budapest so I'm pumped. Planning for the trip was slightly stressful though. I found myself opening about 20 tabs on Internet Explorer so I could compare airline prices across multiple sites. Plus not all the websites list prices in USD. So you have to try and convert in your head. Then you think you've found the lowest price and wonder if you should just buy now or wait and see if it gets lower. You decide to buy now, but have to tack on $10 for baggage check, which makes it more expensive than the price listed on the other website that wasn't making you pay for baggage check. But then that website stops working. So you go back to the original. Ahh, exhausting. You get the point. All in all, flying from Copenhagen to Geneva, Geneva to Budapest, and Budapest back to Copenhagen, plus a hostel in Budapest for four nights, is going to cost me about $430. I'm staying with Erin at her homestay, so I'm saving money on lodging there. Not too bad.
Perhaps the biggest event of this past weekend was the wedding I attended. Talk about a cultural experience. It was pretty much family time 24/7 last week and into the weekend. Several people were here from out of town and all the wedding planning was done by extended family in about a two or three-week span. So it was pretty hectic. Plus we kept having tea and pastries in the afternoons because the family was always around. Not good for my eating habits. The story: Michael is my hostparents' nephew. He's equally both their nephews. My hostdad is one of nine kids (I think it's nine. Eight or nine), my hostmom is one of four. One of my hostdad's older brothers and my hostmom's oldest sister are married. Michael is their son. Hence, he is both Aksel's nephew and Helle's nephew. So, Helle and Aksel have some family friends who had a Phillipine girl come live with them as an au pair about a year-and-a-half ago. Her name is Gemma. Super sweet...she and Michael are over a lot so I have spent a decent amount of time with both of them since I've been here. But anyways, Gemma started cleaning Helle and Aksel's house once a week a while back, maybe right after she got here. Since Michael is around a lot, they eventually met, started talking, the rest is history (you know how these things work). So it was their wedding I attended on Saturday. And if they hadn't gotten married before March 1, Gemma was going to have to go back to the Phillipines. So anyways, it was a huge family effort/affair that I got to be a part of, which was pretty cool. Michael's dad is a baker so he made the cake from scratch (it was amazing), Gemma made homemade spring rolls (also amazing), Nils (father of the family Gemma was staying with) made homemade rolls (everyone knows how much I love bread, so obviously, those were amazing as well), you get the idea. They got married at City Hall downtown, which is a great old building that I loved, and had some sort of art exhibit on the first floor, which was great. After the ceremony, we headed to the reception area to set up. Note: this means I arrived at the reception at 11:30 a.m., after having gone to bed at 2 a.m., waking up at 7:30 to meet Dean (Iranian cyclist man) for breakfast/photographing him eating breakfast by 9, and walking to City Hall by about 10:15.
Ok so onward...people started arriving around noon to the reception. I obviously didn't know anyone and don't speak Danish. But some of Gemma's cousins and a sister who lives in Norway came for the wedding, so I wasn't the only one who didn't speak Danish or didn't know anybody. What proceeded was nine hours of food, food, and more food. We ate lunch, convened in a different room for coffee and cake, then reconvened later for dinner. I should add that drinking was heavily involved, although I refrained (at least until five). Still not used to alcohol with meals. The whole day though was a great cultural merging that was pretty incredible to observe as an outsider. I'm sure Mr. Sweeney, my high school anthropology teacher, would have loved looking at it through his "anthropological lens." Just picture it: Gemma speaks limited English and has been in Denmark less than two years. Michael is Danish, speaks great English, but still, it's obviously not his or his family's first language. Gemma has barely any family around, and is getting married in a foreign country without her parents or her two kids who are still in the Phillipines. When Michael made toasts, he would say them in Danish first and then translate to English so everyone could understand. And when his mom and a few others made their speeches, they were in a heartfelt broken English but moving nonetheless. Imagine trying to write a wedding speech, with all it's emotion and sentiment, in a language that isn't native to you. Later during the reception, Gemma realized she missed a call from her mom (from the Phillipines), which led to tears and sadness, but consolation from her new husband. I guess love conqers all. Needless to say, the whole thing was extremely fascinating to watch. And I haven't even mentioned the Danish wedding traditions.
First of all, if everyone starts banging on their plates with their fork and knife, the bride and groom have to kiss. If they start stomping their feet, the bride and groom have to kiss under the table. If they start pounding the table (or some other sort of clinking, clonking, making noise, I can't totally remember), the bride and groom have to get on top of chairs and kiss. If the bride leaves the room at any point, all the women in the room get up and kiss the groom, and if the groom leaves the room, all the men get up and kiss the bride (on the lips). I think Gemma was a little surprised when this happened to her. Also, the bride and groom dance the wedding waltz and everyone surrounds them, clapping to the beat. As they keep dancing, we keep moving closer and closer towards them until they can't move anymore. Then a bunch of the guys pick up the groom, take his shoes off, and cut off the tops of his socks. Uhhhhhhhhh, what??? This was definitely the most bizarre and when I inquired, I received no logical explanation as to why this happens.
So at 9 p.m. I was still at the reception, helping clean and bring things to the car. I had probably had a few too many hard ciders (their striking similarity to Hansen's soda made them a little too easy to down) to be doing heavy lifting in heels down flights of stairs at this point, but I'm still alive. After the car was loaded up, I ended up going out with two of the kids from the family Gemma had been staying with. They are fairly close to my age, a brother and sister, and I pretty much hung out with them mostly at the wedding. We had a lot of fun, but by 2 a.m., exhaustion + too much alcohol had gotten the best of me, and I just had to go home. My night owl habits of the past month finally caught up to me when I woke up Sunday with a stuffed up nose.
I've since been trying to take it easy, because next week is my long study tour to London! And I definitely don't want to be sick for that. I'm still trying to put together a sort of slide show of my week so you can see all the places I see on a regular basis. Hopefully it will be up before I leave for London. I think my friends and I are coming to our first culminating bout of culture shock and are ready to go somewhere else for a bit. One of my friends had her iPhone and other items stolen on Friday, I had my scarf stolen Saturday, another friend got yelled at in Danish and then (softly) punched in the stomach on her way to catch the train on Sunday (WTF, people are so weird), we're all getting sick...we're ready for a refresher. A week in a new place. I will refrain from writing more because I'm sure this post is getting a little daunting.
Hej hej
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
One Long Week
Wow, I feel like this past week lasted forever. I think I was really thrown off when I went out on Tuesday (we don't have class on Wednesdays)and didn't get home until 6:30 the next morning. That definitely disoriented my week. I'm going to make this post a series of observations I've made and experiences I've had because I don't have a coherent theme in mind.
- I finally got myself to the gym for the first time and it felt so good to just sweat. The gym is called Fitness World and it's a chain around Copenhagen. The one near my house is about a mile away so I ride my hostmom's bike there and back. I know Portland has been compared to Copenhagen a lot because if its similar bike culture, environmentally conscious attitudes, etc, but I don't think we could ever achieve the same bike-friendly atmosphere as Copenhagen because Portland is just too hilly. Copenhagen is extremely flat for the most part, and it has bike lanes and even bike traffic signals all over the city. I didn't realize until I started riding the bike to the gym that they even have bike traffic lights- how cool is that? Another thing is, at the gym, none of the girls really wear athletic shorts or even athletic clothes in general. Every woman I've seen on a treadmill or eliptical is wearing long spandex (I'd be so hot!) and they also don't exactly have running shoes or workout shoes, just regular tennis shoes. And while I'm talking about athletics, in Denmark, if you want to participate in a sport, you have to join a club team. There are no sports teams associated with schools or any high school sports teams. My recent experiences at the gym combined with this team sports fact made me realize how integral team sports are to the American high school experience. High school sports teams are a huge rallying point for school spirit, determine social hierarchy, get people into college, and have an entire community rooting for them. I just never really thought about how unique it is that we have that experience.
- I visited the oldest patisserie in Copenhagen this week called La Glace. It is right by my school and has all these adorable old women in green aprons working there, making homemade pastries and cakes. A cup of coffee is the equivalent of 10 dollars. I got what looked like a chocolate frosting ball filled with a thick cream. Oh my god it was so flaky and delicious. I devoured even more pastries this weekend because today was the holiday Fastelavn (I'm not even going to try to tell you how to pronounce that- it's almost like "festalaun") that is kind of like Halloween in that kids dress up. But the day is centered around the activity of beating a barrel full of candy (though historically the barrel had a black cat in it and the goal was to beat the barrell until the cat fell out or died or something and whoever does that is King of Fastelavn. so weird) until the barrel breaks and all the candy falls out. The Fastelavnsbolle are the traditional pastry made only during Fastelavn and are usually covered in frosting and have a whipped cream inside. Amazing.
- I started my photojournalism semester-long assignment this week. We had to find someone we don't know to take pictures of for the whole semester and create what is called a three-picture story or photo essay. On Monday, after wandering around for almost two hours in the freezing cold, I finally got a guy who works at a bike shop to say yes to being photographed. I returned on Thursday to take pictures and it was great. He actually wasn't doing anything that exciting, so the pictures aren't amazing, but he's a really cool guy who was easy to talk to and I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know a Danish person pretty well. He's actually half Iranian and lives in Sweden with his girlfriend of ten years and their one and a half-year-old son. And he reads more online American news media than a lot of Americans I know. He's really well informed and speaks, in addition to Danish, English, German, some French and some Persian. So impressive. He used to race bikes professionally and now just works at this shop.
- I literally can't do homework here. I had to write a three page paper, double spaced, this weekend, and it took me two whole days. That's ridiculous. Because I'm never busy and don't have anything to do most of the time, it's really hard to be focused when I need to be. My life at home is so much busier than it is here. On one hand, it's nice to have the break while on the other, I don't know what to do with myself. It's definitely an American thing to be busy and stressed all the time, but I have to say, I think my hummingbird personality runs better on that. Though I'm not complaining about a life full of tea, pastries, and taking naps!
Being abroad is such a disorienting experience. In an act of drunken homesickness at 4:30 this morning, I wrote to my friends about how much I missed them and wished they were here to help me feel more grounded. I think my friend Maddie put it pretty well when she responded by saying that the one reason studying abroad helps you define yourself is because you are forced to look internally to be the person you want without any external familiarity. That just totally clicked with me. You are surrounded by a bunch of people you barely know in a city that's completely foreign, and it's easy to sort of lose a sense of yourself. It makes you really aware of the way you're behaving towards others and check yourself in terms of the way you're spending your time and who you're spending it with.
Ok, I'm off to bed before I get too deep and insightful. Haha. Thanks for reading! Oh and here's a link to the website for La Glace. Look at all the cakes!
- I finally got myself to the gym for the first time and it felt so good to just sweat. The gym is called Fitness World and it's a chain around Copenhagen. The one near my house is about a mile away so I ride my hostmom's bike there and back. I know Portland has been compared to Copenhagen a lot because if its similar bike culture, environmentally conscious attitudes, etc, but I don't think we could ever achieve the same bike-friendly atmosphere as Copenhagen because Portland is just too hilly. Copenhagen is extremely flat for the most part, and it has bike lanes and even bike traffic signals all over the city. I didn't realize until I started riding the bike to the gym that they even have bike traffic lights- how cool is that? Another thing is, at the gym, none of the girls really wear athletic shorts or even athletic clothes in general. Every woman I've seen on a treadmill or eliptical is wearing long spandex (I'd be so hot!) and they also don't exactly have running shoes or workout shoes, just regular tennis shoes. And while I'm talking about athletics, in Denmark, if you want to participate in a sport, you have to join a club team. There are no sports teams associated with schools or any high school sports teams. My recent experiences at the gym combined with this team sports fact made me realize how integral team sports are to the American high school experience. High school sports teams are a huge rallying point for school spirit, determine social hierarchy, get people into college, and have an entire community rooting for them. I just never really thought about how unique it is that we have that experience.
- I visited the oldest patisserie in Copenhagen this week called La Glace. It is right by my school and has all these adorable old women in green aprons working there, making homemade pastries and cakes. A cup of coffee is the equivalent of 10 dollars. I got what looked like a chocolate frosting ball filled with a thick cream. Oh my god it was so flaky and delicious. I devoured even more pastries this weekend because today was the holiday Fastelavn (I'm not even going to try to tell you how to pronounce that- it's almost like "festalaun") that is kind of like Halloween in that kids dress up. But the day is centered around the activity of beating a barrel full of candy (though historically the barrel had a black cat in it and the goal was to beat the barrell until the cat fell out or died or something and whoever does that is King of Fastelavn. so weird) until the barrel breaks and all the candy falls out. The Fastelavnsbolle are the traditional pastry made only during Fastelavn and are usually covered in frosting and have a whipped cream inside. Amazing.
- I started my photojournalism semester-long assignment this week. We had to find someone we don't know to take pictures of for the whole semester and create what is called a three-picture story or photo essay. On Monday, after wandering around for almost two hours in the freezing cold, I finally got a guy who works at a bike shop to say yes to being photographed. I returned on Thursday to take pictures and it was great. He actually wasn't doing anything that exciting, so the pictures aren't amazing, but he's a really cool guy who was easy to talk to and I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know a Danish person pretty well. He's actually half Iranian and lives in Sweden with his girlfriend of ten years and their one and a half-year-old son. And he reads more online American news media than a lot of Americans I know. He's really well informed and speaks, in addition to Danish, English, German, some French and some Persian. So impressive. He used to race bikes professionally and now just works at this shop.
- I literally can't do homework here. I had to write a three page paper, double spaced, this weekend, and it took me two whole days. That's ridiculous. Because I'm never busy and don't have anything to do most of the time, it's really hard to be focused when I need to be. My life at home is so much busier than it is here. On one hand, it's nice to have the break while on the other, I don't know what to do with myself. It's definitely an American thing to be busy and stressed all the time, but I have to say, I think my hummingbird personality runs better on that. Though I'm not complaining about a life full of tea, pastries, and taking naps!
Being abroad is such a disorienting experience. In an act of drunken homesickness at 4:30 this morning, I wrote to my friends about how much I missed them and wished they were here to help me feel more grounded. I think my friend Maddie put it pretty well when she responded by saying that the one reason studying abroad helps you define yourself is because you are forced to look internally to be the person you want without any external familiarity. That just totally clicked with me. You are surrounded by a bunch of people you barely know in a city that's completely foreign, and it's easy to sort of lose a sense of yourself. It makes you really aware of the way you're behaving towards others and check yourself in terms of the way you're spending your time and who you're spending it with.
Ok, I'm off to bed before I get too deep and insightful. Haha. Thanks for reading! Oh and here's a link to the website for La Glace. Look at all the cakes!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Warning: Attractive People Everywhere
The rumors are true. Everyone in Denmark looks good all the time. I mean all the time. Every time I step outside, my eyes can barely scan fast enought to catch all the wonderful fashion choices these Danes make, not to mention their flawless skin and almost unreal blonde hair. Granted, it would be an overstatement to say that every Dane is like this, but they sure as hell look better than any American I see on the street on a daily basis. Especially the men. Danish men have great style. They pull off tight jeans, sweaters, pea coats, and scarves while totally maintaining their masculinity and making them that much more attractive. I swear something's in the water here. They all look so great all the time. I'll have to take some stealth pictures one day and post them here for you all to gaze in awe at.
Last week went by pretty fast and was fairly busy- as evidenced by my failing to do my usual Sunday blog post. I only had two days of class because we don't have class on Wednesdays, and Thursday morning, we all left with our core courses for our short study tours to Western Denmark. My core course is Communication and Mass Media, and we traveled to Ebeltoft and Kolding for the weekend. It was my first time staying in hostels, and they really weren't bad. I actually think we spent more time on the bus over the three days than anywhere else, but at least that allowed for a lot of napping. Thursday we stopped to see the historic Jelling Stones (pronounced Yelling) which were really anticlimactic and the second of the two was contained inside a big white box because apparently it's crumbling from within, so we couldn't even look at it, which I thought was pretty funny. Thursday night we got to spend at the European Film College and meet Danish and international students who go there. Their campus looked like a really depressing prison in the middle of no where. But it was interesting to get to see an international college experience. Plus there is a huge theater on campus that shows movies every night, and we just happened to be there the night they showed Twilight: New Moon, so that made my weekend. Haha. Friday we traveled to Odense to visit the headquarters of TV2, one of two broadcasting companies in Denmark. My friend Charlotte and I were pretty confused the whole time because the guy presenting to us was trying to explain how TV2 is funded through advertising but is also a public service network. Maybe something was lost in translation, but after two hours of lecturing, we still weren't quite sure why they were a public service channel that's privately funded.
Later, we drove to Kolding (pronounced Kolling) and had the night on our own. We went out to one of the bars down the street from our hostel and had a great time. I won't elaborate too much to avoid self-incrimination, but I wasn't feeling too hot the next day and I almost lost my leather jacket. Luckily, I went back to the bar and my jacket was hanging on a hook on the front wall. I was pumped to say the least, except now it's permanently infused with the smell of cigarettes from spending the night in the bar. We went to the Trapholt museum on Saturday morning and the castle KoldingHus- I wish I could remember enough about their significance to repeat it here, but unfortunately, I don't. I wasn't being a very good cultural observer on Saturday. We got back to Copenhagen that evening around 5 and I told myself I wasn't going to go out, but of course, I ended up at The Happy Pig.
I've never been the kind of person who likes/wants to go out all the time...but it's so accessible and part of culture here for people my age that I find myself out every weekend, Friday and Saturday. I even almost went out last night too because of the superbowl. A couple bars near our school downtown were showing it, starting at midnight. I don't even care about the superbowl! I never watch it even at home. Long story short, I didn't end up going, but still. I think I'm going to have to cut back eventually, for the sake of my wallet and my liver. But for now, it's always pretty fun to go out, and a great way to meet people and check out different neighborhoods.
I think that's all for now. Classes are super easy and I find myself with nothing to do all the time. It's kind of nice. Now I'm just waiting for all the damn snow to melt. Even though I've significantly improved my cold weather wardrobe, it's exhausting to be this cold all the time. It hasn't been above 0 degrees celsius (so 32 degrees farenheit) since I've been here, and it's usually lower. Today it was -5. So lame. Everything just looks grey and depressing. On days when the sun comes out, I get so excited because the city just looks so much prettier. Maybe I'm suffering from seasonal whatever disorder. What's that called? Hmmm can't remember. Ok I'm signing off!
Hej hej
Last week went by pretty fast and was fairly busy- as evidenced by my failing to do my usual Sunday blog post. I only had two days of class because we don't have class on Wednesdays, and Thursday morning, we all left with our core courses for our short study tours to Western Denmark. My core course is Communication and Mass Media, and we traveled to Ebeltoft and Kolding for the weekend. It was my first time staying in hostels, and they really weren't bad. I actually think we spent more time on the bus over the three days than anywhere else, but at least that allowed for a lot of napping. Thursday we stopped to see the historic Jelling Stones (pronounced Yelling) which were really anticlimactic and the second of the two was contained inside a big white box because apparently it's crumbling from within, so we couldn't even look at it, which I thought was pretty funny. Thursday night we got to spend at the European Film College and meet Danish and international students who go there. Their campus looked like a really depressing prison in the middle of no where. But it was interesting to get to see an international college experience. Plus there is a huge theater on campus that shows movies every night, and we just happened to be there the night they showed Twilight: New Moon, so that made my weekend. Haha. Friday we traveled to Odense to visit the headquarters of TV2, one of two broadcasting companies in Denmark. My friend Charlotte and I were pretty confused the whole time because the guy presenting to us was trying to explain how TV2 is funded through advertising but is also a public service network. Maybe something was lost in translation, but after two hours of lecturing, we still weren't quite sure why they were a public service channel that's privately funded.
Later, we drove to Kolding (pronounced Kolling) and had the night on our own. We went out to one of the bars down the street from our hostel and had a great time. I won't elaborate too much to avoid self-incrimination, but I wasn't feeling too hot the next day and I almost lost my leather jacket. Luckily, I went back to the bar and my jacket was hanging on a hook on the front wall. I was pumped to say the least, except now it's permanently infused with the smell of cigarettes from spending the night in the bar. We went to the Trapholt museum on Saturday morning and the castle KoldingHus- I wish I could remember enough about their significance to repeat it here, but unfortunately, I don't. I wasn't being a very good cultural observer on Saturday. We got back to Copenhagen that evening around 5 and I told myself I wasn't going to go out, but of course, I ended up at The Happy Pig.
I've never been the kind of person who likes/wants to go out all the time...but it's so accessible and part of culture here for people my age that I find myself out every weekend, Friday and Saturday. I even almost went out last night too because of the superbowl. A couple bars near our school downtown were showing it, starting at midnight. I don't even care about the superbowl! I never watch it even at home. Long story short, I didn't end up going, but still. I think I'm going to have to cut back eventually, for the sake of my wallet and my liver. But for now, it's always pretty fun to go out, and a great way to meet people and check out different neighborhoods.
I think that's all for now. Classes are super easy and I find myself with nothing to do all the time. It's kind of nice. Now I'm just waiting for all the damn snow to melt. Even though I've significantly improved my cold weather wardrobe, it's exhausting to be this cold all the time. It hasn't been above 0 degrees celsius (so 32 degrees farenheit) since I've been here, and it's usually lower. Today it was -5. So lame. Everything just looks grey and depressing. On days when the sun comes out, I get so excited because the city just looks so much prettier. Maybe I'm suffering from seasonal whatever disorder. What's that called? Hmmm can't remember. Ok I'm signing off!
Hej hej
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Oh, I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Post 2 of the night: Copenhagen nightlife. You'd think that snow storms and 10 degree weather would deter people from going out, but I have found that that's not the case. The hardest part is feeling motivated and brave enough to leave my warm house, but once I'm actually out, it's worth it. Danes don't start their evenings til around midnight, which means they end even later. Walking to the train station at 3:30 last night, there were people everywhere! And you don't have to worry about what time you're getting home because public transportation runs all night on weekends. It's like even the city is encouraging you to go out and drink.
Friday night, we met up at my friend's apartment to hang before going out. She lives in a neighborhood called Norrebro and we have to walk from her apartment to a main street to catch a bus that takes us closer to the city. We're swearing under our breath the whole time because we feel like our feet are going to freeze and fall off. This particular night, we just missed the bus and ended up having to wait for what seemed like FOREVER for another one. Meanwhile, a guy who was also waiting noticed us speaking English and asked if we were from the States. So our new best friend Robin, who just got back from touring with his band in Brazil and looks a little bit like Heath Ledger, tells us he's going to Bar 7 (mental note to go to Bar 7 if first bar doesn't work out) and gives us great directions to the bar we were trying to find after we get off the bus. Our destination was a bar called Barcelona. It was so much fun and had great music, lots of young people, and no short supply of very attractive guys. Unfortunately, the drinks were really expensive, so my friend Viv and I ordered the cheapest thing we could find: 5 shots for 100 kroner (about 20 bucks). The shots tasted like pure Robitussen, yummm. We left Barcelona for the next best thing: really cheap beer at 7-11. There are 7-11's everywhere here, and it's a frequent stop for beer and liquor at a price you won't find at any bar. With our Tubourgs (a type of beer) in tow, we ventured to Bar 7 in an attempt to find our new friend Heath Ledger. We found him, plus a bathroom, and didn't stay long. We walked down the street to a place called Viking where I couldn't breathe because there was so much smoke, but we stayed because I Wanna Dance With Somebody came on and we, well, wanted to dance (preferably with somebody, but it was just with each other). At this point, the night was pretty much over for us, but on the way to the trains, we stopped at McDonald's, where there are always a ton of people getting late-night munchies. Then we went our separate ways to go home.
Last night we decided we DID NOT want to do the whole wandering from bar to bar in the snow thing, so made up our minds from the beginning to go to The Happy Pig and that's it. After stopping at 7-11 to buy a donut and a Kinder Egg (those awesome chocolate eggs with toys inside), we got there around midnight. Oh, and on the way there, we passed another club that was playing I Wanna Dance With Somebody which we all got very excited about and started dancing on the sidewalk. We had to stand in line for a bit at Happy Pig, which was only slightly miserable and definitely worth it once we got inside, though that was a little hard too. Viv's REAL Oregon ID is peeling because it's so old, so the bouncers initially weren't going to let her in because they said it looked fake. I, obviously, have the exact same ID (and mine is not peeling), so we had to use mine to convince them that hers was real and that we definitely were not trying to lie that we were 20 (which is how old you have to be to get in). We laughed and were slightly annoyed that the first time Viv used her real ID in Copenhagen, they thought it was fake (not to mention the fact that the bouncers legitimately thought we would even have fake IDs to show we're 20). Anyways, we got in, and it was a blast. There was great music and all young people. We met a really nice girl in the bathroom who is from Pennsylvania and has a Danish boyfriend so she's living here now and getting her masters. Highlight of the night was definitely when I requested, and the DJ played, Party in the USA. Before we knew it, it was 3 a.m. I got home around 4 and it had started to hardcore snow, so I ran from the train station to my house.
Next weekend, I'll be out of town on a study tour to Ebeltoft and Kolding in Western Denmark, so I'll post about my adventures and nights out there when I get back!
Friday night, we met up at my friend's apartment to hang before going out. She lives in a neighborhood called Norrebro and we have to walk from her apartment to a main street to catch a bus that takes us closer to the city. We're swearing under our breath the whole time because we feel like our feet are going to freeze and fall off. This particular night, we just missed the bus and ended up having to wait for what seemed like FOREVER for another one. Meanwhile, a guy who was also waiting noticed us speaking English and asked if we were from the States. So our new best friend Robin, who just got back from touring with his band in Brazil and looks a little bit like Heath Ledger, tells us he's going to Bar 7 (mental note to go to Bar 7 if first bar doesn't work out) and gives us great directions to the bar we were trying to find after we get off the bus. Our destination was a bar called Barcelona. It was so much fun and had great music, lots of young people, and no short supply of very attractive guys. Unfortunately, the drinks were really expensive, so my friend Viv and I ordered the cheapest thing we could find: 5 shots for 100 kroner (about 20 bucks). The shots tasted like pure Robitussen, yummm. We left Barcelona for the next best thing: really cheap beer at 7-11. There are 7-11's everywhere here, and it's a frequent stop for beer and liquor at a price you won't find at any bar. With our Tubourgs (a type of beer) in tow, we ventured to Bar 7 in an attempt to find our new friend Heath Ledger. We found him, plus a bathroom, and didn't stay long. We walked down the street to a place called Viking where I couldn't breathe because there was so much smoke, but we stayed because I Wanna Dance With Somebody came on and we, well, wanted to dance (preferably with somebody, but it was just with each other). At this point, the night was pretty much over for us, but on the way to the trains, we stopped at McDonald's, where there are always a ton of people getting late-night munchies. Then we went our separate ways to go home.
Last night we decided we DID NOT want to do the whole wandering from bar to bar in the snow thing, so made up our minds from the beginning to go to The Happy Pig and that's it. After stopping at 7-11 to buy a donut and a Kinder Egg (those awesome chocolate eggs with toys inside), we got there around midnight. Oh, and on the way there, we passed another club that was playing I Wanna Dance With Somebody which we all got very excited about and started dancing on the sidewalk. We had to stand in line for a bit at Happy Pig, which was only slightly miserable and definitely worth it once we got inside, though that was a little hard too. Viv's REAL Oregon ID is peeling because it's so old, so the bouncers initially weren't going to let her in because they said it looked fake. I, obviously, have the exact same ID (and mine is not peeling), so we had to use mine to convince them that hers was real and that we definitely were not trying to lie that we were 20 (which is how old you have to be to get in). We laughed and were slightly annoyed that the first time Viv used her real ID in Copenhagen, they thought it was fake (not to mention the fact that the bouncers legitimately thought we would even have fake IDs to show we're 20). Anyways, we got in, and it was a blast. There was great music and all young people. We met a really nice girl in the bathroom who is from Pennsylvania and has a Danish boyfriend so she's living here now and getting her masters. Highlight of the night was definitely when I requested, and the DJ played, Party in the USA. Before we knew it, it was 3 a.m. I got home around 4 and it had started to hardcore snow, so I ran from the train station to my house.
Next weekend, I'll be out of town on a study tour to Ebeltoft and Kolding in Western Denmark, so I'll post about my adventures and nights out there when I get back!
Tak For Mad
Tak for mad (pronounced tak for "mel") is a key Danish phrase. Probably the one I've used most often since I arrived. It means, thank you for the meal, and it's considered very rude if you don't say it after every meal. Seeing as how consumption of food has become my new sport here, "tak for mad" is vital. On Friday, I had my usual cereal, bread, sausage, cheese, jam, peanut butter, butter, tea- breakfast. Then a snack of bread with butter, cheese, and sausage around 11. For a lunch I split a tomato, mozzarella, basil, sandwich and chicken pasta salad with a friend. We then ventured to our new favorite cafe, The Living Room, where I had a hot chocolate. Two hours later, after class, I found myself back at The Living Room, drinking a mocha espresso milkshake and eating chocolate cake. I don't even remember what was for dinner, but I bet there were potatoes and meat involved (Danish staples, at least in my family). Needless to say, I got enough motivation on Friday to go on my first run since I've been here and offset at least a quarter of the calories seeping into my body. I got a little lost on my way back though, plus it started to snow really hard and there was insane wind. I came back with ice in my hair. Don't know if that will be happening again anytime soon. I did recently join a gym called Fitness World, so hopefully that will allow me to continue my chocolate, cheese, and butter consumption.
Moving on from food...what happened this week?? It snowed a lot and I'm so over it. I've realized several things about snow:
1. It shouldn't last long. Maybe a day
2. It's only exciting if it doesn't happen often
3. Snow excitement is heightened if there's a prospect that its happening means staying home from school, baking cookies, and not being able to drive anywhere. Here, life just keeps on going, which pretty much just means you're freezing all the time.
So like I said, despite the two snow storms we had this week, life went on. I went to class, visited Odense-the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen (he's a big deal around here), discovered more cafes (including one called Cafe G, which Leah and I were very amused by given its proximity in name to Club G, which people jokingly use to refer to Gelman Library at GW), went out a couple times, etc, etc. Last night, we went to a club/bar called Den Glade Gris, which translates to The Happy Pig, and it was so much fun! Great music, two levels-one with a DJ and one with live music, mix of Danes, Americans, we even met two Spaniards on "holiday" as they said. We will definitely be returning there.
Also this week, I was chosen to be one of four students working on a student-produced newsletter called DIScoverCPH (DIS is my study abroad program). I'm excited to get to continue writing for a publication while I'm here, and that it's tied with an excuse to explore Copenhagen and find fun places to hang out. Oh, I realize that I haven't even given a run-down of my classes here! For the most part, they definitely aren't like classes at GW. A little easier and not as stimulating. But we do get to go on some really cool study tours, our first of which is this coming weekend. We will visit two places in Western Denmark. And then a couple weeks later, we get to spend a week in London studying media. I'm very excited. Here's what I'm taking:
Current Trends in News Media- my core course. It's interesting, though some of the concepts/theories I've already learned. Focusing on media in Europe is new though, plus this is the class I travel to London with, so I'm looking forward to it.
Photojournalism- I really like this class. My professor is an awesomely European guy who wears tight jeans and sweaters and black combat boots. This is my most stimulating and thought-provoking class so far. For our main project, we have to pick someone to photograph (someone we don't know and it can't be a student, faculty member, hostfamily member, anyone) for the entire semester. I'm still brainstorming ideas of what I could do, but I think this is a great opportunity to meet Danes and become involved with native life.
From Homer to Harry Potter: European Storytelling- so we don't actually get to read Homer or Harry Potter in this class, but we do get to talk about fairytales and storytelling all the time, which is pretty fun.
Political Rhetoric- really boring so far. Not looking forward to this. My professor is new, has never taught before, and you can tell he's a little nervous and unsure of himself. This bothers me because I like teachers who are confident and take control of the classroom...don't let kids bullshit them.
Hans Christian Andersen and the Danish Golden Age- this class is really similar to my storytelling one. We pretty much read fairytales and talk about them. My teacher is great- an American who has a pretty interesting story of coming to study in Copenhagen in high school, then returning during college, and now teaches at DIS. She's been here more than 20 years and speaks fluent Danish, which I think is really impressive
That's the low down. I wish I could say that everything is amazing, amazing, amazing and I'm having the time of my life, but it's not like that... At least not yet. I think that before you've studied abroad, you keep hearing about it as this total package: "STUDY ABROAD"- like signing up means instant new best friends who you gallivant around Europe with, drinking wine, taking epic photos, and having this transcendent life-changing experience. Hate to burst the bubble, but it's not really like that...at least not so glorified and idealized. Today, I woke up to a beautiful sunrise on the white snow, drank a cup of tea, made homemade bread with my hostmom, then met a friend for coffee after lunch. We proceeded to wander around the city, gaze at beautiful architecture, and chat with passing young Danish guys who were really eager to talk to us. Tonight, we're getting a drink with them and will probably stay out all night to watch the sun rise. Uhhhhh NO. Ok I guess that could have happened, but today, I woke up at 12:30 because I didn't get back til 4 last night. I then ate a bowl of Rice Krispies and watched online TV after checking email and Facebook. My hostparents were gone all day helping my hostmom's sister and family move into their new place. I decided it might be a good idea to take a shower, did that, and then watched American Idol until dinner. There is two feet of snow outside and it's uber cold. All in all, pretty normal. No one really associates the word normal with study abroad. Ok I don't mean to sound like a total downer, I really don't. I've only been here for two weeks and I'm still figuring things out. I'm sure once I've been here longer, I'll have gained a perspective that will better be able to shine some (positive) light on the study abroad experience.
I'm winding down this post, but just for your enjoyment, I'm including a picture of a baby outside a store, just like I talked about! I promise I'll get around to taking pictures of my room and house. That will be the goal for next time.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Week One in a Nutshell
One week in a foreign country feels like one month. I can't believe I arrived just a week ago this morning. Being in Denmark has been very interesting so far. I'm not in love with it, but I don't hate it either, and things slowly get better each day. The first few days, I hung out with two girls I knew before coming here. Leah, who is in my sorority at GW, and Viv, who I knew in high school through National Charity League. The three of us became a little gang I guess. But we've met some other really nice girls and formed a group for the time being. At first, you're just scrambling for anyone to share your nervousness and uneasiness with. It's funny, because Leah and I at the beginning of the week would compare notes each night on gchat and set goals for ourselves for the next day. The list usually looked like this:
1. Make friends
2. Figure out how to get back to our houses late at night (public transportation here is pretty amazing, but a little confusing to dissect at first)
3. Meet cute Danish boys (finding them is not hard, getting them to talk to you is a little different)
4. Make friends
It's hard sometimes to remember that we're going to be here until May, and not everything is going to be perfect and figured out in the first two days. But I've learned a lot already about Danish culture and how the U.S. differs both a lot and not so much from Europe. First of all, everything here is smaller. The cars, the groceries, the stores, the streets. There's no such thing as Costco, and even if there was, there would be no where to put all that stuff. I'm also starting to realize how everything in Denmark really is so cozy. Every cafe looks so inviting and warm and even just everyday life is focused a lot more on family and togetherness. Meals, at least breakfast and dinner, are always eaten together, which is definitely something I'm not completely used to. Especially eating breakfast together every morning. And this isn't a cereal and orange juice breakfast. It's a homemade bread every morning, sausage, cheese, jam, butter, tea, liver pate, cucumber breakfast. Danes are also very into candles, and most things that we would make from a box or a packet or powder, they make from scratch.
Example: Today we went for a walk near one of the frozen lakes with my family and their cousins, and when we came back, they wanted hot chocolate. But that didn't mean putting SwissMiss in a mug and heating it in the microwave with water. It meant buying chocolate bars with 70% cacao and melting them on the stove with milk, then whipping homemade whipped cream to put on top. So delicious. I realized yesterday when I woke up before everyone else and ate cereal (which they bought for me) by myself in the dark kitchen, how much more enjoyable it is to do meals the Danish way. Though I'm definitely not used to eating so much food, or rather, eating on such a regular schedule.
At the same though, Copenhagen, for me, hasn't been one of those old, beautiful European cities like Paris or Rome that you are instantly in awe with, which is slightly disappointing and intriguing at the same time. There is a Toys R Us down the street from my house, but there's also a queen of Denmark?? There is amusing juxtoposition here.
Here's a list of other interesting and bizarre things I learned about the Danes this week:
1. They go to the grocery store every time they need something, not just once a week. Growing up with a clockwork schedule of going to the store every Saturday and buying enough for the entire week if not longer, this is very different for me. I think my mom would go crazy if she had to go to the store every day to pick up this or that. But here, they don't see it as a burden. It's just part of life. There are also grocery stores on almost every block. Oh, and the milk cartons are tiny. I'm pretty sure my family would go through two a day. But you can't buy anything as big as a gallon here.
2. They don't say excuse me. Danes are very forward and blunt. They say what they mean and mean what they say. They also aren't as politically correct. Hi, how are you? is an actual question here, not just a greeting. I think we could take a hint from them on this point.
3. Probably the most alarming thing I learned this week: Danes put their babies outside to sleep. First of all, Danish babies have the most elaborate and cozy buggies that they are wheeled around in, no matter the weather. And until they're about 2 or 3 years old, they are bundled up in their buggy and put outside for naps. Even if the mother is doing some quick errands downtown or grabbing coffee with a friend, they will leave the baby OUTSIDE THE STORE to sleep, as long as they can glance at it through a window. Just goes to show how much more trustworthy of a place this is. And I've already witnessed this baby phenomenon several times this week. For crying out loud, it's 28 degrees outside and these babies are just sound asleep on the sidewalk! It's a very crazy concept to Americans I guess, but the Danes say they do it because the fresh air is good for them.
4. Danes aren't as friendly towards strangers. No one talks on the metro, no one makes eye contact, nothing. I think that they are friendly people in general, they just aren't going to go out of their way to strike up a conversation with you at random. Even when my hostdad's 20-year-old godson came over for dinner, I had to do pretty much all the talking (which isn't that unusual for me I guess...haha) and he just answered and didn't ask a lot of questions in return. I guess they just don't like the bullshit of small talk. But how else are you supposed to get to know someone?
Ok I guess this synopsis isn't really in a nutshell. Maybe I'll start writing more than once a week to avoid such long posts. I feel like there's so much to tell! I haven't even gotten to my night out on Friday or my trip to Elsinore and the Kronborg castle. Let's just say that drinking here is a totally different experience than in the states (as in way more enjoyable because you're not freaking out about getting caught and downing shots like you'll never get another chance), and Hamlet's castle is actually not that cool. I've posted some pictures on facebook, and next time I'll hopefully get around to posting some here of my house and room. Now I'm off to try and get some reading done before class tomorrow...it's hard to remember the study part of study abroad when you're having so many new experiences so fast.
Hej Hej! (bye bye in Danish)
1. Make friends
2. Figure out how to get back to our houses late at night (public transportation here is pretty amazing, but a little confusing to dissect at first)
3. Meet cute Danish boys (finding them is not hard, getting them to talk to you is a little different)
4. Make friends
It's hard sometimes to remember that we're going to be here until May, and not everything is going to be perfect and figured out in the first two days. But I've learned a lot already about Danish culture and how the U.S. differs both a lot and not so much from Europe. First of all, everything here is smaller. The cars, the groceries, the stores, the streets. There's no such thing as Costco, and even if there was, there would be no where to put all that stuff. I'm also starting to realize how everything in Denmark really is so cozy. Every cafe looks so inviting and warm and even just everyday life is focused a lot more on family and togetherness. Meals, at least breakfast and dinner, are always eaten together, which is definitely something I'm not completely used to. Especially eating breakfast together every morning. And this isn't a cereal and orange juice breakfast. It's a homemade bread every morning, sausage, cheese, jam, butter, tea, liver pate, cucumber breakfast. Danes are also very into candles, and most things that we would make from a box or a packet or powder, they make from scratch.
Example: Today we went for a walk near one of the frozen lakes with my family and their cousins, and when we came back, they wanted hot chocolate. But that didn't mean putting SwissMiss in a mug and heating it in the microwave with water. It meant buying chocolate bars with 70% cacao and melting them on the stove with milk, then whipping homemade whipped cream to put on top. So delicious. I realized yesterday when I woke up before everyone else and ate cereal (which they bought for me) by myself in the dark kitchen, how much more enjoyable it is to do meals the Danish way. Though I'm definitely not used to eating so much food, or rather, eating on such a regular schedule.
At the same though, Copenhagen, for me, hasn't been one of those old, beautiful European cities like Paris or Rome that you are instantly in awe with, which is slightly disappointing and intriguing at the same time. There is a Toys R Us down the street from my house, but there's also a queen of Denmark?? There is amusing juxtoposition here.
Here's a list of other interesting and bizarre things I learned about the Danes this week:
1. They go to the grocery store every time they need something, not just once a week. Growing up with a clockwork schedule of going to the store every Saturday and buying enough for the entire week if not longer, this is very different for me. I think my mom would go crazy if she had to go to the store every day to pick up this or that. But here, they don't see it as a burden. It's just part of life. There are also grocery stores on almost every block. Oh, and the milk cartons are tiny. I'm pretty sure my family would go through two a day. But you can't buy anything as big as a gallon here.
2. They don't say excuse me. Danes are very forward and blunt. They say what they mean and mean what they say. They also aren't as politically correct. Hi, how are you? is an actual question here, not just a greeting. I think we could take a hint from them on this point.
3. Probably the most alarming thing I learned this week: Danes put their babies outside to sleep. First of all, Danish babies have the most elaborate and cozy buggies that they are wheeled around in, no matter the weather. And until they're about 2 or 3 years old, they are bundled up in their buggy and put outside for naps. Even if the mother is doing some quick errands downtown or grabbing coffee with a friend, they will leave the baby OUTSIDE THE STORE to sleep, as long as they can glance at it through a window. Just goes to show how much more trustworthy of a place this is. And I've already witnessed this baby phenomenon several times this week. For crying out loud, it's 28 degrees outside and these babies are just sound asleep on the sidewalk! It's a very crazy concept to Americans I guess, but the Danes say they do it because the fresh air is good for them.
4. Danes aren't as friendly towards strangers. No one talks on the metro, no one makes eye contact, nothing. I think that they are friendly people in general, they just aren't going to go out of their way to strike up a conversation with you at random. Even when my hostdad's 20-year-old godson came over for dinner, I had to do pretty much all the talking (which isn't that unusual for me I guess...haha) and he just answered and didn't ask a lot of questions in return. I guess they just don't like the bullshit of small talk. But how else are you supposed to get to know someone?
Ok I guess this synopsis isn't really in a nutshell. Maybe I'll start writing more than once a week to avoid such long posts. I feel like there's so much to tell! I haven't even gotten to my night out on Friday or my trip to Elsinore and the Kronborg castle. Let's just say that drinking here is a totally different experience than in the states (as in way more enjoyable because you're not freaking out about getting caught and downing shots like you'll never get another chance), and Hamlet's castle is actually not that cool. I've posted some pictures on facebook, and next time I'll hopefully get around to posting some here of my house and room. Now I'm off to try and get some reading done before class tomorrow...it's hard to remember the study part of study abroad when you're having so many new experiences so fast.
Hej Hej! (bye bye in Danish)
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hej
Hej means hi in Danish. And this is my first hello from Denmark. I arrived in Copenhagen this morning after a surprisingly harmless flight from the Dulles airport on which I drifted between sleep and bits and pieces of Mystic River for a solid eight hours. Great movie...really depressing after the fourth rerun. Of course out of the 200-something passengers on board, I just happen to sit next to a girl from Seattle (woohoo west coast) who is also in the Communication and Mass Media track with DIS. I think I'm going to decide to stop being surprised at coincidences that continually remind me how small the world is.
Anyways, we got to Copenhagen around 7 a.m. Sunday morning (I say "we" because I swear almost my entire flight was full of DIS students) and stood in an endlessly long line to get checked in by DIS staff. Other than sighting a select few very well dressed men, my brief time in the Copenhagen airport felt pretty much like I was in the U.S. Everybody spoke English, every sign was translated into English, and I'm sure it didn't help that I was part of a horde of nervous American students making petty small talk about their crackberries not working (among other things).
We took buses to the tech university where we had a brief orientation and I was met by my host family. Their names are Aksel, Helle, and daughter Michelle. They took me around downtown so I could see the train station, get my transportation pass, find the actual location of my university, and they pointed out a few notable sights along the way. Then we went to their house, which is located in a Kommune (basically just a small town/neighborhood of Copenhagen...I think) called Gentofte. It's very nice, clean, and neat. All the floors are heated too, which is very cool. At this point it was about 11 and I was starving. We had a snack of bread, cheese, sausage, and jam, with tea. It felt very European.
Afterwards, I unpacked my room, and spent some time online. A couple hours later, it was time for another snack. My host mom, Helle, made these amazing rolls and a sort of applesauce, vanilla wafer, whipped cream pie that was delicious. We ate this with tea and watched the Danish news...which of course I didn't understand, but it's one of the few channels that's actually in Danish and not English, and I didn't come to Copenhagen to watch episodes of The Cougar (yes, that was on today). In an effort to feign off sleep and adjust to Copenhagen time, we went for a walk in the FREEZING COLD, stopped at a little store, and even walked on a pond because it's COMPLETELY FROZEN. Did I mention that it is EXTREMELY COLD outside? We came back and ate dinner a little while later, and I was taught the proper way to hold a fork and knife. I then attempted to watch a Danish tv show with my host dad, but mostly just passed out and we all ended up going to bed.
Tomorrow is orientation and who knows what else! Wow, it's only been one day and this post is probably too long and comprehensive. I'll do a better job editing when I'm not so jet lagged.
Anyways, we got to Copenhagen around 7 a.m. Sunday morning (I say "we" because I swear almost my entire flight was full of DIS students) and stood in an endlessly long line to get checked in by DIS staff. Other than sighting a select few very well dressed men, my brief time in the Copenhagen airport felt pretty much like I was in the U.S. Everybody spoke English, every sign was translated into English, and I'm sure it didn't help that I was part of a horde of nervous American students making petty small talk about their crackberries not working (among other things).
We took buses to the tech university where we had a brief orientation and I was met by my host family. Their names are Aksel, Helle, and daughter Michelle. They took me around downtown so I could see the train station, get my transportation pass, find the actual location of my university, and they pointed out a few notable sights along the way. Then we went to their house, which is located in a Kommune (basically just a small town/neighborhood of Copenhagen...I think) called Gentofte. It's very nice, clean, and neat. All the floors are heated too, which is very cool. At this point it was about 11 and I was starving. We had a snack of bread, cheese, sausage, and jam, with tea. It felt very European.
Afterwards, I unpacked my room, and spent some time online. A couple hours later, it was time for another snack. My host mom, Helle, made these amazing rolls and a sort of applesauce, vanilla wafer, whipped cream pie that was delicious. We ate this with tea and watched the Danish news...which of course I didn't understand, but it's one of the few channels that's actually in Danish and not English, and I didn't come to Copenhagen to watch episodes of The Cougar (yes, that was on today). In an effort to feign off sleep and adjust to Copenhagen time, we went for a walk in the FREEZING COLD, stopped at a little store, and even walked on a pond because it's COMPLETELY FROZEN. Did I mention that it is EXTREMELY COLD outside? We came back and ate dinner a little while later, and I was taught the proper way to hold a fork and knife. I then attempted to watch a Danish tv show with my host dad, but mostly just passed out and we all ended up going to bed.
Tomorrow is orientation and who knows what else! Wow, it's only been one day and this post is probably too long and comprehensive. I'll do a better job editing when I'm not so jet lagged.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)