first days in copenhagen

so i’ve been in copenhagen for about 36 hours now and it’s is treating me well so far!

the flight was fine—relatively short, at just under seven hours (it takes me almost as long to get home to seattle!). the other passengers were mostly DIS (my program) students. the flight attendants were fluent in both danish and english and wore black leather high-heel boots and black tights as part of their uniform. clearly european. there was a danish girl sitting in front of me who looked like she was about 10. for most of the flight she read a book in english, which few americans were doing. the flight was pretty empty, so i tried unsuccessfully to sleep on the empty seat next to me.

we arrived at 7.15 am— which felt like 1.15 am— and hung out at the airport for quite some time, waiting for a bus to pick us up. i bought a coffee for 35 dkk, which is about usd $6.24!!!! i know airport food is usually expensive but that shocked me. i guess people weren’t lying about denmark being expensive! eek. it was grey and rainy but not too frigid, which reminded me a lot of flying to seattle as well. after a short and chaotic run through the orientation line, where i picked up all my materials, i was shuffled to an auditorium in which the host parents came and got us. my host mom pernille (pronounced pa-nilla) came to get me and we drove the ½ hour to their house in tåstrup, a suburb west of the city. the house is kind of rambler-style but clearly more modern and danish-looking. it’s all one level with lots of windows, hard wood floors, skylights, and ikea lamps. i have my own room which is somewhat sparse but looks clean, in the danish style of design. my host dad henrik has worked hard to set up the wireless on my computer. both of them are really kind and speak english well. i would describe them both as “health nuts” in that they exercise many times a week, go to sports centers for vacation, and eat plenty of health foods like flax and organic peanut butter. their kids are 6-year-old elise (pronounced a-lisa) and 18-month-old johannes, who is a big troublemaker. johannes likes to toddle around the house and throw stuff. i’m impressed with his motor skills and he seems like a smart kid, but he just cries a lot because he is cranky and tired… i like kids a lot but i must say, i’m not used to living with one (or two!). elise is really sweet and pretty similar to her 6-year-old american counterparts. she likes pink, dresses and hannah montana. i wish i could talk to her more but she doesn’t speak english (yet) and my danish is pretty much non-existent at this point.

this morning i got up and made it to the train station on my own (which i was pretty proud of), took it 25 minutes to the city center, and met ½ my 600 classmates at the ny carlsberg glyptotek, a museum of classical sculpture donated by the founder of the carlsberg brewery. we were welcomed by a wind quintet and the director of DIS. the ionic columns and classical forms surrounding us really made me realize that we were in europe. who else begins an orientation in a fancy museum created by a brewer? the number of students in the program is pretty overwhelming. i haven’t really met too many yet, but i did talk to one guy from bellevue, washington today. most of the students seem to be much more cookie-cutter university types than anyone at goucher. we had some intro sessions today and we have more tomorrow. we begin classes on thursday, which i am definitely looking forward to.

i am going to go to bed now—this jet lag is still killing me!