Category: Study Abroad

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Copenhagen: The Little Mermaid, Drinking Games, and Lots of Plants

Last night, in honor of the first weekend being here, I went to a Danish bar with a few friends from my kollegium to actually interact with the locals.  The ones we met taught us a (really confusing) drinking game with cups and dice and lying, told us that ordering a beer and not finishing is “the equivalent to burning a cross in America,” and played “never have I ever” with us, although apparently in Denmark you can say things you have done, which…. seems to defeat the purpose of the game.  It was nice to actually talk to people who live here, since in the kollegium and in classes I’m interacting primarily with Americans.  The less fun part is their habit of smoking, which meant that the clothes I wore last night reeked of cigarettes.

Today started with going to Danish immigration, where I got fingerprinted, photographed, and gave them a copy of my passport.  Soon, I should have an official Danish Residence Card!  Afterwards, I wandered around Copenhagen with a few friends.  We ended up at the Botanical Gardens, and then after quite a long walk we found the Little Mermaid.  I hadn’t been in that area before, so it was cool to explore some new parts of the city.

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Denmark Europe Study Abroad

Copenhagen: Starting Classes and Climbing Churches

I’ve finished my first two days of classes!  They seem like they’re going to be amazing.  Quick recap of what I’m taking:

Core course- A Sense of Place in European Literature- AKA the class that goes to Russia.  And also a small Danish island called Fanø (pronounced fan-new, if you’re saying it out loud).  This one we started discussing our reading in the first class.  We’ll be reading a lot of contemporary Russian and Danish literature, meeting with authors, and writing about places.  On Monday, we’re actually walking around Copenhagen and doing our first writing exercise, which should be pretty cool!

Danish Language and Culture-  Our professor went through Danish pronunciation, which is literally nothing like how it’s spelled.  The field trips in that class are going to include a tour of Christiania and a ballet, so I’m pretty excited about those.  The language will be tough but I think it’ll be good.  It will be nice to not feel completely baffled every time someone speaks to me in Danish (which is at least 3x per day).

Hans Christian Andersen- The vast majority of our homework for this class is reading fairy tales.  We’re going to talk about Copenhagen during the 1800s, and analyze his fairy tales and other works.  It seems like it will be a bit reading heavy, but I’m definitely still looking forward to it!

Scandinavian Crime Fiction- We’re reading four crime novels, from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden.  Yesterday’s class was just a recap of the genre, which I am an avid fan of, so it looks like it’s going to be right up my alley.  Our first book we’re reading is Jo Nesbø’s “The Snowman” (update: turns out I’ve been pronouncing his name completely wrong.  oops.)

Criminology- This was the only class I had today.  I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am for this class.  My professor grew up on the grounds of a Danish open prison, and we’re visiting one during the semester and getting a guided tour!  Even though I thinkmy personal views on criminology are pretty different from Scandinavia’s, I’m really excited to hear about their perspective on everything.

Last night I also went on my first “field study” (the DIS version of field trips), which was a dinner with my Danish class.  Although I didn’t eat the chicken, it was cool to see what a nicer restaurant looks like here.  I also got to the harbor extra early and got to wander around for while while the sun was setting.  It was gorgeous, and I even managed to give someone directions!  (am I a local yet?)

Today after class I decided to go cross something else off my list, and so I went to the Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) and climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the tower.  I highly recommend that, the views were incredible!  I could see pretty much all of Copenhagen.  All the pictures of the cityscape in this post are from the top.  I even got to use my French skills because I was behind a couple that spoke French the whole way up and I asked them to take a photo of me.  Now that I’m no longer concerned about getting lost, I absolutely love exploring the city on my own, and I can’t wait to explore more places over the coming weeks!

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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!

 

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Study Abroad

Study Abroad: The Countdown Begins

In less than 6 weeks, I will be flying to another continent to start my semester in Copenhagen!

It’s a bit scary, because my passport is still in San Francisco with the Russian consulate and I’ve barely started packing.  Also, for my first time in Europe, it’s a little intimidating to imagine living in a country where I don’t speak the language.  I need to spend more time working on some basic Danish phrases so I’m not totally unprepared when I get there and have to buy groceries and other necessary things.  For now, though, it’s time to enjoy my last month and a half of summer break in the United States!

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Study Abroad

Study Abroad: I’m Even Excited About Paperwork

I got an email today about starting the paperwork for my Russian visa!  Even though I still have about four months until I leave, the visa process will actually require me to be without a passport for some time so it has to be completely done before I leave for Denmark.  Luckily, DIS is going to help me through all the steps.  And despite the extra paperwork, it’s totally worth it to be able to spend a week in St. Petersburg!

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Study Abroad

Planning for Study Abroad

I’m studying abroad in Copenhagen in the fall!  I’ve been accepted into the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, and I’m super excited about it!  Basically all I want to do is research the places I’m visiting when I should be studying for finals.

image

These are the places I’m for sure going to in the fall.  Which includes Western Denmark, St. Petersburg, Krakow & Auschwitz, hiking through the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, Amsterdam, and Paris with an emphasis on museums.  Hopefully I’ll be able to arrange a couple other trips on the weekends, but this is most of it.

I’ve never been to Europe before so it’s been unbelievably exciting to plan out trips and look at pictures on the internet.  I still have another quarter of school here in Evanston, but shortly thereafter the official countdown will begin!