One week down!

So I have been in Denmark for exactly one week, thought it was time to update! I've had my first few classes. Danish will be hard - I think the hardest part about Danish is the pronunciation. Many words are similar in Russian though which is nice. I've been able to practice some Danish with my host family too which has been fun. For my Psych class, I have a practicum in a preschool. Every Thursday I'll have to go to Niva, another city, where I'll be working in a preschool with kids ages 3-6. I'm in the "forest group" meaning my group just goes to the forest every day and spend their days there. I'm pretty excited, sounds a bit like summer camp! My other class is nordic mythology - my professor is very tall and enthusiastic - by the end of class his shirt was soaked in sweat. I think it'll be an entertaining class.

I'm really enjoying my host fam. I've been eating pretty bomb food. We went to the grocery store the other day, "Fotex", which is their version of Costco, and bought some breakfast food for me (mm cereal). I also found out that you can go to any Butcher shop where they also sell cheese, and you can sample all of the cheese. I'm very excited to do this, sampling cheese is a dream come true for me!

I'm getting to know the city a lot better - both Helsingor and Copenhagen. It's been nice exploring, especially since the weather has been very nice the past few days. I got to see my friend Charlotte from camp who was in Copenhagen which was awesome - as well as meet some of her friends that live here. Next weekend - my Scottish friend Chris (also from camp) will visit me which I am really excited for!!

Me and Charlotte:

At the Luux with Dana and Nick (both from santa clara), at a DIS party where they played all American music and we got to hang out with all Americans. It was very nice though, really interesting to look around!

My pictures take too long to upload, so if you want to see more pictures -

Tower, Rosenberg gardens and castle, and nyvhavn

Peace!

Velkomen til Kobenhavn!

I have been in Denmark for 2 days now, and things are pretty different from what I had expected! After a delayed flight, I met up with other DIS students at the airport, and we all ended up sharing taxis to get to the orientation site. Because we were late due to our plane, we missed most of orientation and it ended up being very rushed registering, getting my Danish cell phone and then listening to a presentation on living with Danes. Then, it was finally time to meet our host families. My family consisted of Sten (the dad) and Mikkel (his son). They gave me a big warm welcome and hugs and after wandering around the confusing building we finally found my luggage and their car. Annelise (my host mom, who coincidentally goes by Liza) could not be there because she is away working all week. She works with mentally ill people, and this week she is staying with a 16 year old with a rare disease because her parents are away on vacation. On the way home, we stopped at the house to meet her and then we were on our way to my new home.

As we were talking, I told them horrified about how I had met a girl who has an hour and 15 min commute each day to Copenhagen from her host family. They laughed about it and then said "well you know, we're about an hour away". Me, being super awkward and thinking they are being sarcastic, started laughing until I realized they were serious. My Danish home is about an hour away from the city in a town called Elsinore (those of you who have read Hamlet, that is where Hamlet is set). It turns out that it's about 40 minutes on the train, which is pretty standard for DIS. However, I'm thinking that it'll be a good time to read/do homework/catch up on sleep.

The town is actually very cute. There is a big castle (Kronborg castle), cute cobblestone streets, a big plaza in the center and you can see Sweden across the water. The ferry to go to Sweden is about 5 minutes from my house. The population of Elsinore is about 30,000. The house is beautiful - there's a big backyard where they grow strawberries, have a fire pit and a big swing. My room is also really nice. Everything of course looks like Ikea!

For our first dinner, we went into the town and got ginormous hamburgers that are way bigger than my face. I think I ate about a quarter of mine and was beyond full. They were "viking style" hamburgers. The family is very nice. I can tell that they are excited for me to be there and we asked each other tons of questions. They are very kind people, i'm pretty lucky to live with them!

Today we had our first official day of orientation. It started with "opening ceremonies" and many awful analogies between DIS and the Olympics. Then it followed with a wind quintet playing some lovely tunes by Carl Nielsen and Beethoven. After this we went and got some lunch. I went with Shawn (my friend from high school and Santa Clara) and a few other people he'd met at his Kollegium (his dorm). We went and got some Shewarma which wasn't too expensive and pretty delicious. After lunch, we got on some big touristy buses and got a huge tour of the city. Our tour guide was an architecture professor from DIS, he was really funny and informative. I feel like I can get around Copenhagen a lot better now, and I got glimpses of the main sights.

After spending about 45 minutes getting my picture taken and buying my train pass (there were very long lines thanks to us obnoxious Americans from DIS) i finally got on the train and came back to Elsinore, where we had some dinner (Frikedeli which are meat balls) and then my host brother and I walked around the town, and now I am going to get some sleep for another day of orientation tomorrow! Some of the orientation seminars are pretty ridiculous like an Ikea trip and "Understanding European football". Overall though its nice to be in the city all day and meet other DIS people!

Everything is so new so far. I keep thinking back to a scene in L'Auberge Espagnole, where he is walking on the streets in Spain and he talks about how everything is so unfamiliar and new but he knows that in a few weeks it will all be so familiar and he will walk those streets so many times. I think that captures pretty well how I think about Copenhagen right now!

The Preparations

Finally, there are less than 24 hours until I depart for Copenhagen where I'll be for the next 4 months! I am beyond excited. I have been home from camp for only about 3 days, which is not nearly enough time at home. It has been a crazy few days as well, trying to see everyone, spending time with my family and getting ready to leave. Although I wish I'd had a bit more time at home, I am definitely ready to go. I've been looking forward to studying abroad for a looooong time and I'm so stoked the time has finally come.

My host family, the Nielsens, sound very nice and excited for me to get there. Despite some people trying to scare me about living with a family (something about them locking me up in a closet), I can't wait to meet them.

I feel somewhat prepared. I've studied my Danish from my porch at camp and can now say "Meet noun air liza" (my name is liza), as well as "uhl" meaning beer. That's right, DIS (my program) has made sure that right after Yes and No, i can say Beer. As well as "Thanks for last time". Hopefully my Danish classes will be a bit more helpful!

My mission for Denmark is to figure out what makes Danish people so happy. They are supposedly some of the happiest people in the world, and have the best education systems, healthcare and quality of life in general. I'll have to wait and see if Copenhagen really is such a happy place and why that is!

For now, I am going to go enjoy my last night at home by starting to pack (very last minute, i know).

t - 21 hours until departure!