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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Copenhagen: Nyhavn, Tivoli, Sidewalk Trampolines, and Getting Lost

This morning began with my first experience of getting incredibly lost here.  I was going to go to a bakery before class, but my friend and I got the bus stop wrong and ended up getting off 12 stops after we were supposed to.  We took the bus back, but then I still couldn’t find the building where I was supposed to go and wandered around the area peering into shops.  Eventually, I realized that I needed breakfast more than I needed to go to the last 20 minutes of orientation, so I found that bakery we had been looking for and had an amazing cinnamon roll.  They definitely know how to make pastries here.

After another orientation session, I met up with my friend Sarah, from Northwestern, to go see Tivoli for the first time.  I totally understand why Walt Disney felt inspired there.  It’s absolutely gorgeous!  We wandered around the park for a while and even tried a few rides, which were cool.  It’s interesting to see what aspects were brought to theme parks in America, like the themed sections of the park.  I’m definitely planning to go back and try some more of the rides!

After that, we headed up to Nyhavn.  On the way, we found the sidewalk trampolines, which are super cool.  Nyhavn, which appears to be the most photographed place in all of Copenhagen and will come up in approximately 85% of the search results when you google the city, was very picturesque.  I’m glad I’ve seen (and photographed) it, but there doesn’t seem like there’s a lot to do there.

Overall, even after the rough start, it was a good day (albeit an exhausting one).  Seeing as I start classes tomorrow, though, I should probably make sure my reading is done so I can go to sleep on the earlier side.  It’s so weird to think that I’m starting school already, but I think my classes are going to be pretty awesome.

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Copenhagen: Castles, Horse Sculptures, and Sandwiches

Today’s orientation activities started with something DIS calls the “Amazing Race,” which wasn’t really a race at all but a list of places to go where professors waited and gave us explanations of the history of those areas.  My group went to Amalienborg Palace, where the royal family lives, followed by Rosenborg Palace, which is where the crown jewels are located and is surrounded by the King’s Gardens.  Then we went to Gråbrødretorv, which is a square with a lot of little restaurants and cafés, and learned about the architecture of Copenhagen.  The last stop was Christiansborg, which is where the Danish Parliament was located.  Fun fact: If you want to know if the sculptor admired their horse-riding subject, check the gender of the horse.  Male horses meant the subject was admired.  Guess what we spent our time near parliament doing.

We then went to a sandwich shop near Christiansborg.  When you sit outside, there are blankets on the chairs.  Our waitress actually put one around my shoulders… she seemed to feel very strongly that we didn’t get cold outside.

I also got books for class, and I think I’ll have a lot of reading.  It’s kind of my own fault for taking three English classes though.  And the subjects will be interesting.  I’m looking forward to classes starting Thursday!  Even if I’m not looking forward to doing assignments again…..

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Copenhagen: Exploring and Grocery Shopping

After our morning orientation sessions on DIS and the kollegium, I spent the free afternoon wandering through Copenhagen with some friends from my kollegium.  We mostly just walked towards pretty buildings and went down Strøget, which is a pedestrian street full of shops.  Although I didn’t buy anything, it was good practice in mentally converting kroner to dollars.

It rains about five times a day here with no warning and will stop just as suddenly.  It might even be weirder than Colorado.  I’ll definitely need to  start carrying an umbrella regularly.

Today also marks the first day I went grocery shopping.  It was incredibly overwhelming, because I don’t know what any of the food labels say.  Instructions for things are in Danish and Swedish, I’m not sure if what I bought is actually tomato sauce, and apparently the yogurt comes in cartons so people often get that instead of milk by accident…. We’ll see how well I manage to keep myself fed.

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Study Abroad: My First International Flight

I was going to write a blog post from the airport in Toronto, but the wifi was absolutely awful.  Now, though, I’m writing from my kollegium in Copenhagen!

Turned out Chris was flying into Denver at almost exactly the same time I was flying out, so he came to visit me at my gate, which was nice.

My next stop, Toronto, might have been the nicest airport I’ve ever been to, despite the terrible internet situation.  About half the stores sold designer purses and expensive items like that, and all of the chairs have iPads in front of them, which are hooked up to the nearby restaurants so you can order food and drinks.  Also, the sign in the store where I bought food was a little….stereotypically Canadian?

After the six hour layover there, I had my flight to Copenhagen, which was incredibly long.  I befriended a Canadian couple on the plane who were coming to Europe for a Scandinavian cruise.  My bag wasn’t lost and we were only half an hour late to arrive, so I consider it a success.

After arriving at the airport, we were transported to our housing (which, as you may recall from the last post, is a type of Danish dorm called a kollegium).  It seems nice, and I’ll learn more about it tonight when we have an info meeting.  Mine is the striped bed.  Orientation starts tomorrow!

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Study Abroad: I Have A Place To Live

(Image from DIS)

I have my passport back from the Russian consulate, I’m mostly packed, and I only have about 9 days left until I leave!

I got information about housing today.  I’m living in a kollegium, which is basically the Danish version of a dorm.  The best part, however, is that I have a kitchenette in my room, so I can control what I’m eating and not have to worry about being on a meal plan or anything.  Mine is called Hoffmanns Minde Kollegiet, pictured above, and it’s in the suburb of Brønshøj.  It only has about 100 people total.  Half will be DIS students, and the other half will be Danish and international students.  According to google maps, it’s about 30-40 minutes by bus ride, or about 25 minutes if I get a bike.  Still deciding if I want to get a bike…. I’m not usually a very outdoorsy person.  We’ll see.

In other news, I’ve been in contact with my German relatives, who we lost contact with some 30+ years ago.  I felt somewhat creepy, emailing them out of the blue and telling them we were related, but they were incredibly nice and said that I was welcome to stay with them.  So, I will be flying into Munich and spending time with them in the small German town of Weißenhorn for a couple days this fall!