This is my first opportunity to truly sit down and write about my experience in Denmark that has spanned roughly 36 hours.
Flight: I spent about 20+ hours traveling Saturday-Sunday. Due to the kind and generous nature of my dear father, I was able to fly in Business class from Atlanta to Copenhagen (with two previous connections). It may have been the most fun I have had all summer; I'm hoping Denmark will top it.
I was actually able to sleep and slightly function on arrival day, got served a lot of really good Greek wine, and ate enough so that I was not hungry on Sunday (arrival day)-this was a good thing because the opportunities for food were few and far between.
Arrival Day: I arrived at 9am DK time, 3am home time, only slightly exhausted. After a quick bus ride with about 75 other students to the University of Copenhagen (KUA) and another ride to my
kollegium (dorm) Keops and lugging my luggage around 3 times...and then up 2 flights of stairs because the elevator thought it was a good day to break...I made it to my room. I am fortunate enough to have a single room with private bathroom and a little kitchenette. All the furniture is Ikea, so I don't feel far from home (even my desk lamp is the same as the one in my Boston room).
The strangest part though is the shower. The bathroom is the shower, the shower is the bathroom. There is a small curtain that blocks off the toilet and sink from the showerhead, but the floor is not as fortunate. Every morning I will have the good fortune was squeeging my bathroom floor. My room looks out over the metro train, which is very quiet so I don't mind. That evening me and few other people, mostly friends of a friend from high school (Abby, who is also here in Keops), went on a walk around the neighborhood. Everything is closed on Sundays.
The following day (today), all the students in my kollegium left at 9am with my pseudo-RA for the bus that goes to DIS. Its only about a 15 minute ride and now I know how to get there, which is a calmly thought. We were then instructed to follow instructions and find the location of the "opening ceremony". Too boring to really comment on. The only thing it did for me was make me second guess my decision to come here. Each speaker mentioned how the Danes are quiet, hard to meet, the weather is bad, things are REALLY expensive, etc.
I seem to have become the guide and map reader among the people I have been socializing with. I'm happy in that role and last night even had to whip out my compass and map, which I always carry, because we were lost. We walked around a bit, found some lunch, bought some water (which I will never do again because it was 3$! At 1:00 we went on a bus tour to some of the main tourist spots in Copenhagen: The Little Mermaid Statue, the royal residence, queen's residence, water front, and another that I can't remember. There are parts of Copenhagen that are beautiful and many parts that don't spark any excitement in me...I'm hoping that will change. I need to stop comparing it to other places I've been because its only dampening my excitement of being here.
Following the bus ride, Abby, Emma (a swedish girl), and me went to the metro station to get bus passes. But first I had to get passport pictures taken because I forgot to in Boston. We were all hungry, so we went to the grocery store Netto-its the cheap one they recommend us use. So this may have been the most hilarious and unsuccessful shopping experience of my entire life. I don't understand a word of Danish, can't read the labels, and the dictionary that Abby and I stood with in front of each aisle had few food words in it. We managed to figure out how to say turkey and milk, but that was it. I bought a few essentials including coke lite and carlsberg beer (because I can). I just made dinner, which may end up being pasta quite frequently and am in the mood to go to sleep ASAP. I'll stay up for a bit longer though.
Tomorrow is more orientation and registering for my CPR (SSN#).
Pictures can be found at
here : I tried to put them in this post, but it didn't work.
