Copenhagen!

Well, I got here safe and sound! I’ve been in Denmark for a few days now (although it feels both much longer and much shorter than that) and I’m over jet lag for the most part, so I decided it might be time for an update.

The flight from Boston to Reykjavík to Copenhagen (København) was pretty uneventful. I got into the airport at about noon local time, which felt like 6 am to my still accustomed to Eastern Standard time self, and was taken to my kollegium by bus with a bunch of other DIS students. When we arrived at Trekroner Kollegiet, my home for the next four months, we were met by our two RAs who took us to our rooms to drop off our stuff, and before walking about 5 minutes to Korallen, the other kollegium nearby, to pick up some arrival information. After an afternoon of unpacking, general “ohmygodI’minDenmark” moments, and a quick stop at the grocery store nearby (which unfortunately doesn’t take our DIS food stipend cards) all of the students from the two kollegiums met for dinner at a café. It was great to meet other students, although it was overwhelming learning so many new names on top of the jet lag and the general disorientation.

The next day, I got up dark and early (because it doesn’t start to get really light until around 8:30 am), downed a bowl of overly-sweet Danish cheerios and met up with some other Trekroner folks to catch the train into Copenhagen for our first day of orientation. The train ride is about 25 minutes altogether, which isn’t too bad, although the trains seem to be consistently late. Fun fact: Danes do not talk – at all – on the trains. There were definitely a few moments when I cringed at the Americanness of some of the other DIS students because they were talking SO loudly on an obviously otherwise silent train.

My first thought getting off the train was “I’m definitely not in America anymore.” Many of the streets are cobblestone, the buildings are centuries old, and EVERYBODY bikes (crazyfast, and without helmets). It’s definitely going to take me a while to work up the courage to bike anywhere in Denmark because the Danes take it so seriously! Being completely new to the city, we got lost on our way to the orientation, but we made it there eventually. After the welcome ceremony, we broke into smaller groups and went out on a scavenger hunt around the city in which we had to find the various DIS buildings (not all located next to each other, because unlike Smith, urban universities in Europe don’t have campuses) in addition to other important landmarks. It was exhausting, we got lost a lot, and I discovered that being a vegetarian in Denmark might be even harder than I thought it would be. Lets just say the Danes eat a LOT of meat. After walking around the city for hours, we went to a fair at which various DIS organizations give out information, but we were tired and didn’t stay long.

While the train ride into Copenhagen in the morning had been relatively easy, the ride back was anything but. After being told numerous different things about where to go, which platform to get on, which train to take to get back to Trekroner, and much frantic running from platform to platform, we finally got onto a train…only to be physically unable to get off it. Apparently you have to press a button to get the train doors to open, but we didn’t do it in time and had to watch as the Trekroner station passed us by. We got off at the next stop, Roskilde, and then had to wait for the next train to take us back to Trekroner. All in all, I was totally exhausted at the end of the day, and not totally sure I was going to like this urban living thing.

Today was much better: after another morning orientation session, I walked around the city a bit more with some of my new friends, just exploring the streets and the shops; my friend and I even successfully translated the word for “sun-dried tomato” at a delicious bakery/sandwich shop. Copenhagen really is a beautiful city, and once I get to know my way around more I know I’m really going to love it.

Tomorrow will include more orientation (classes start on Thursday, which I am both nervous about and looking forward to. It’ll be nice to have a set schedule, at the very least) and hopefully a trip into Roskilde to look around and do some “serious” grocery shopping…pictures to come, I promise!