exhilaration/exhaustion

(note that someone wrote "2-pac" on the base of this sculpture...)



you know you’re in europe when your feet hurt. my feet hurt. of the approximately 14 hours i was out today, i spent:
-4 wandering around copenhagen discovering new lovely side-streets, shops, and the new-to-me neighborhoods of nørrebro (more colorful, somewhat immigrant-influenced area) and østerbro (traditional and more posh area). on foot, wearing my I’m-pretending-to-be-danish boots. ouch!
-2.5 eating dinner at a café with friends…paid for by DIS!
-2.5 commuting to/from my suburb on the futuristic-looking s-trains
-1.5 leading my danish design class about ole thyssen’s philosophy of form (a presentation on the second day of class!? really?)
-1.5 hearing about the cartoon affair in denmark (clearly didn’t cover all of it!)
-1.5 reading about the history of denmark and copenhagen for class
the day’s activities were both exhausting and exhilarating, as any good day studying abroad should be!

some high points of the day included a few great conversations with classmates and other acquaintances and delicious food. although meeting both fellow students and danes has been a little difficult with my schedule and living situation, i’m feeling more confident about it now. DIS students can choose to live either in host families in the suburbs or apartments/dorms that are usually closer to the city. even though the hour+ commute can be annoying at times, it is so worth it to live with the host family and actually get to know first-hand what danish culture is like. plus my host parents are very friendly and knowledgeable, and their kids are adorable. in any case, a lot of the students living together in dorms (“kollegiums”) or apartments seem to go out together and really know each other well, whereas us host family kids tend to see each other for classes and eat our packed lunches together but then stay out of the loop for nightlife. or maybe that’s just me, i’m not sure. in any case, it was really nice to partake in long conversations with a few different people today. everyone i’ve met seems really interesting in one way or another, and it is really refreshing to be able to get to know people who would never find themselves at goucher. i’ve also enjoyed talking with some of the other goucher students here, who i didn’t know back at school.

i signed up for the dis network, where we are matched up with young danes who want to practice english or learn more about life in america. i have been in touch with my “networker,” amalie, today and i am so excited to meet her. we seem very similar—both 20-year-old sociology students—but she seems hilarious! we’re going to meet up for [ridiculously overpriced] coffee this week and go to a discount performance of the royal danish ballet’s romeo and juliet next week!! going to the acclaimed danish ballet and actually getting to know danes are definitely two of my top goals for this semester, so i’m very happy about doing both so soon.

a final note about today would have to be the food. in my wanderings this afternoon i finally made it to the bakery by sankt petri (saint peter), a church built in the 15th century! i’ve heard this place is excellent and i must say i agree. besides the giant golden pretzel hanging over the door, i was drawn by the décor. i intended to order a traditional danish pastry called a weinerbrød (simply “a danish” to us) with the basic danish phrase i learned this week, but i ended up ordering a chocolate croissant in english…everyone speaks english, which is convenient but also too easy for us foreigners. nonetheless, it was delicious and well worth the 12 kroner i paid for it.

for dinner DIS arranged “café nights” for all students taking danish. i met my ten or so classmates at café svanen (swan) and had a very odd scandinavian variation on quesadillas. while they seemed to be lacking cheese, they were pretty tasty. the best part of this meal was that DIS paid for it, so what would have put me back about 175 kr was essentially free. at the end of the evening one of the program assistants, or former students now interning at DIS, came up and spoke with us. i asked where he was from and he said seattle. i explained i was from shoreline and asked where he lived specifically. richmond beach, he said. imagine my surprise at traveling to denmark and finding someone from not only the same state, same city but also the same exact neighborhood! although we hadn’t met because he attended lakeside, the nearby private school, we do have some mutual friends. it was an odd but happy coincidence that perhaps will happen again?!