one a day

My goal is to see or do one new thing a day while I'm here in Copenhagen. If I keep it up, I'll have 119 days worth of new experiences.

On day 3 (today) I started off the morning with some DIS info sessions on what to expect, how to meet Danes, etc. It was informative but if left me wanting to get out of the classroom setting and go and do something! So during my break in the afternoon before going to more sessions, I meandered down the street and ended up in a large Danish bookstore that did indeed have an English section, too. The store had 3 levels with a wealth of books and complete with many games, puzzles, and office supplies to boot. My favorite part was stumbling upon a treasure (in my opinion) of a collection of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's sketches, many of which were drawn on old day planners and included in personal letters; if you don't know who he is, go look up "The Little Prince." And as the book was all in Danish or handwritten French on the sketches, I could only guess at what it was saying... so good thing it was full of pictures; those are pretty good at transcending language barriers. 

After that I wandered around some more and listened to a street performer playing the violin. Looking around the square at the historic buildings and having the violinist playing in the background made me feel like I was in a movie. At this point I was a little cold, though. So, I sought refuge in Trinity Church. The organist was playing so I sat there for a good while and just listened and, looking up at the inspiring architecture, was reminded of things much bigger than myself. I also took a look at a Danish Bible (Bibelen) and enjoyed trying to figure out the meaning of Danish words based on my knowledge of the English Bible. I felt just like Google Translator. Here's part of Genesis 1:3 for example: Gud sagde: Der skal vaere lys! (God said: Let there be light!)

Those things in and of themselves would've satisfied my goal of doing new things each day. But later on this evening, I was still itching to go and explore a bit - mainly because most of my interactions thus far have been with fellow American students and I was wanting to go make some Danish friends. That's when I remembered that the Studenterhuset (student house) hosts weekly swing dance nights. I'm not the best by any means, but I do love to swing dance - and dancing is a great way to meet people! A couple hours and several dance partners later, I can now say I've meet a number of Danish people and learned a bit more about them, too. By the way, these Danes don't fool around with their swing dancing. I felt like a fish out of water at times, but who cares - it was great fun!

the sun also rises

I woke up today for the first time in my Danish house. I arrived yesterday afternoon after a night flight from Chicago where, in the airport, I'd immediately bonded with a bunch of other DIS students (an easy way to find friends is to whip out a deck of cards during a long layover). Snow, but not much of it, greeted us as we walked out of the airport to the bus that took me to my new house. Walking down the street it's on and up to the door, you get a very old-timey feel. Walking into the house, though, feels totally different. To sum it up easily, I feel like I'm living in an IKEA. Everything's super modern and simple. Also, huge perk: the bathroom floors are heated. Location couldn't get any better either. We're right smack dab in the middle of Copenhagen, right at the heart of the city and within easy walking distance of pretty much everything... which I found out the right way (by doing it) today during one of our orientation events nicknamed the Amazing Race. I just kept thinking of the time I watched an episode of the Amazing Race that was filmed in Copenhagen and thought to myself "Man, I'll be there soon!" Well, the soon is now. And I love it! Also, in just 24 hours I've seen quite a bit, though at a fast pace to be sure. In 3 1/2 hours my group went to 3 different castles, a beautiful old church, to the iconic harbor area, and even to a grocery store (Netto).

at Nyhavn

But, even with all that excitement, I think one of my favorite moments of today came in two parts: 1. first thing this morning when I woke up, went to the kitchen, and saw a beautiful scene out the window of the sun rising in the background of the street-scape and 2. seeing the sun rise more fully while walking to our opening ceremony. I have a soft spot in my heart for the Sun. Stars in general, really. Did I mention that Trinity Church which we went to today has the Royal Observatory attached to it? Think I'm going sometime? Heck, yes! 

This is what I get to see every morning now!

sun rising (taken around 8:45)

sunny with a high of 75

Sunny with a high of 75. Something loved by me in the good ol' days, right along with all those mood rings and pink tuxes (points to the first to name the band). It's also what my past month at home in Florida has been like, give or a take a few coldish days. Believe me, I've been soaking up the sun as much as I can because, now, in less than 24 hours I will be saying good-bye to the daily blue skies and amber sunshines (here's another chance to name a band & song) and headed to a land where the Sun's up 9a-4p and it's 2 degrees outside... Celsius that is. Hopefully my efforts to stock up on Vitamin D will make a difference. Far-fetched but I can hope, right?

This, my last week at home, passed in the blink of an eye. It's been full of errand running, pile making (my first round attempts at packing) and a few "one last time" meetings-up with family. I've also been making a desparate attempt to finish my goal of reading the entire Series-That-Must-Not-Be-Named over Christmas break. The last three and fattest were all left to this week, and at the time of writing this I'm just 551 pages shy of my goal and, by golly, I'm determined to finish even if I'm reading all the way to the airport tomorrow.

People have asked me if I'm nervous to be going to Denmark (or I guess just abroad anywhere). The honest answer is no. I'm excited more than anything. Maybe it's the eternal optimist in me or the fact that my time to go abroad is finally here and I'm just ready to go. My inner self says yes to both. But I also think that it has to do with what I've learned about Denmark, the Danes, and even just my program that really excites me - the opportunity to learn and explore even more and to (hopefully) immerse myself in Danish culture. Though I might need a miracle to learn the language. Here's a start at least: farvel amerika!!

still not a commuter

"Not a commuter?" you may ask. "What's that all about?" Well, let me explain. If you know anything about the average European university (and the DIS program is no different) they don't really have campuses like we have here in the States. You're not going to find the "normal" campus set-up complete with dorms or residence halls, so students in Copenhagen find a place to live elsewhere, like an apartment. By the non-resident-campus standards, then, I guess all students - myself included - are commuters since living on a campus isn't part of the picture. But after finding out that I'll be living just over a 1/4 mile away from where classes will be held and that it'll take about 5 minutes to walk from here to there... and considering that as a campus resident at my home university it takes at least that long to get to class... I'm afraid I still don't feel like much of a commuter.

A bit more on where I'll be living: 

- in a house in downtown Copenhagen

- total of 18 students (16 American, 2 Danish; and I'm pretty sure only 2 of the residents are boys... Three words of reminder to them: P... M... S...)

- Green House - no it's not painted green or anything (it's actually a historical house built in the 1700s, I believe)... My housing arrangement is a Living & Learning Community dubbed the Green House because everyone living in it is interested in learning about the "green" side of Copenhagen - how they've become and remain one of the top eco-friendly, sustainable cities in Europe. We'll be working at a community garden, making weekly organic meals and having group discussions, and meeting with local leaders. I'm sure I'll be writing more on these experiences so stay tuned.

Anyway, that's all for now... Back to the list of "things to do" before I leave... FOUR DAYS LEFT.

one bite at a time

When Americans go to study in, say, China or Italy I can imagine that they're pleasantly surprised by how good the food tastes - and how different from the Americanized versions. As I prepare to go to Denmark and sample what I'm sure will be delicious food I realize that my only experience with Americanized Danish food of any sort is, well, Danishes (which aren't even called Danishes by the Danes, but that's besides the point). Until last night...

I had the honor of having my first ever Danish meal without even stepping foot in Denmark. The lovely couple that I mentioned in an earlier post had my parents and I over to sample a true Danish-style meal of open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød). Now, as I quickly learned, there is an art to crafting the proper Danish open-faced sandwich [to learn more for yourself, click here] and, even more so, an order to the whole process of eating the meal, complete with different courses related to the main topping (ie, fish, meat, cheese). Unlike what I'd been used to with sandwich-type meals in the past, the ingredients aren't all spread out on the table for the purpose of a do-it-yourself, eat-at-your-pace, free for all. Each thing has its own purpose and its own timing in the course of the meal. After crafting one sandwich (example: slice of rye bread with butter topped with herring and onions), you take a bite and then WAIT. Don't forget this part - no matter how yummy that bite was. After everyone at the table's had their bite #1 comes skål (Danish-style toast, explained in an earlier post). Then you finish that particular masterpiece, make the next, take a bite, do skål, finish that sandwich, and then... well you get the idea. And if you're used to scarfing down your entire meal in all of 5 minutes and then moving on to more important things, let me just say that my Danish meal experience took about 4 hours; and we even skipped one of the traditional courses. 

To be honest, I rather liked the slower-paced style, though. Gives you more time to talk with everyone. And lets you really appreciate each bite you take and savor the flavors of exotic (in some cases and for my inexperienced taste buds) foods. Example: head cheese. I had no idea what it was prior to eating it and if you don't either, let's just say that it has absolutely nothing to do with cheese and everything to do with head. (But that's the most extreme example; everything else was far more normal.)

If you're wondering what some of these open-faced sandwiches look like, see below. Notice that the salmon is on white bread, not rye. When I asked last night why that's the case, the answer was something along the lines of, "Well, dear, it just tastes better that way."

Oh... and 10 days left on the Copenhagen Countdown!

Smørrebrød (picture taken from here)

the Turtle Chronicles begin

Creativity is the spice of life. I decided to bring some spice along with me to Copenhagen by starting a photo adventure pre-departure that I'll carry on throughout my semester abroad. Here's the plan:

1. Start with a family of 4 cute turtle-people (coincidentally, my favorite toys as a kid were older versions of this type of toy)

2. Take said family or individuals thereof on excursions around Copenhagen and Europe and capture the beautiful sights from their perspective 

3. Return to the States. Put pictures together in an online photo book and... voila! creative souvenir / gift idea / coffee table book

I did a similar photo adventure with a gnome I borrowed from a friend of mine and the end result was quite fun. I'll update this periodically with pictures from what I've now dubbed "The Turtle Chronicles." Let's see where this family of 4 finds themselves over the next 4 months. To begin with they took a trip to the University of Florida, home of the Gators - and former home of the well-known Tim Tebow...

down by Lake Alice (here's where I admit the fact that I'm a child at heart and have become oddly attached to these little guys and am pretty sure that they're going to develop stories of their own as I go along - for starters, names: Mr. & Mrs. Braxton, Chester & Phoebe)

at the famous UF Gator Swamp (translation: football stadium)

Mr. Braxton and Chester with Tim Tebow... Go Gators and Go Broncos!

at the Baughman Center (a chapel)

Mrs. Braxton with an iconic giant statue... literally GIANT

under the sea

For years I've been enchanted by the story of the Little Mermaid told in true Disney fashion. I grew up singing the songs along with the best of them and having my own adventures with a stuffed-toy Flounder. Since my middle name is Ariel (though pronounced ARE-iel not AIR-iel) I've always felt an affinity with that red-haired, legless teenager. And, even now, I can relate to her desire to just get out and go where her dreams took her.

So one day I decided to walk to the library (yes, I really did walk) and pick up a book of fairly tales written by the esteemed Hans Christian Andersen, none other than the author of the Little Mermaid (and a host of other wonderful stories, too). I'd never read or heard the real story of the Little Mermaid - and, much to my surprise, it is not a thing like the happy-ending, musical depiction known by every young girl, thanks to Disney. I don't won't to ruin it for you if you haven't read it so I won't say anything more than this: go get yourself a copy of the Little Mermaid (the real one) and read it. It will do you good. And if you're like me, it might even bring tears to your eyes.

everything from YouTube to dessert

When I got home from school for the holidays, I decided that - in this several week break - I'd make effort to learn what I could about Denmark and the Danes before embarking on my journey there.

1. My first resource(s) was the DIS website and the handbook they sent in the mail. Both very helpful. The DIS website links up with other sites about Copenhagen, so you could really spend hours just going from link to link and seeing what you find. Apparently the Danes eat lots of bacon (totally fine with me - bacon makes everything better) and they don't give a hoot about being politically correct or small talk-ing (coming from a southern state where small talk is the norm, that might take a bit getting used to). And they're also very fond of their queen and their many princes and princesses (there's a holiday for each of their birthdays).

2. At the recommendation of a fellow student on the DIS Facebook page (a lovely way to network before getting to Copenhagen), I looked up some "how to" videos on YouTube for learning simple Danish words and phrases. Let me just get it out in the open that I think Danish is going to be hard for me to learn. It's nothing like the Spanish I studied in high school. Nevertheless I gave a stab at learning how to count in Danish and how to say things like "my name is." The first phrase you learn in Spanish is "donde esta el bano" but I haven't learned how to ask that all-important question in Danish yet. Let's just hope that if I'm ever in need of a restroom I'm not surrounded by people who only speak Danish.

3. My dad's the sort of person who knows everyone in town. So it came at no surprise that one day he comes home from work and says "I know this Danish couple. Let's have them over for dessert and you can ask them questions." Turns out I didn't have to ask a lot of questions. They both had a wealth of stories to share and tidbits of advice to give. They even taught me the proper Danish way to do "skaal" (translation: cheers/toast) - you wait for everyone's glass to be filled then hold yours up in one hand and look around the table to make eye contact with each person before taking a sip; much more sophisticated than the American way of clinking glasses. Unfortunately, I'd missed the memo on what was going on and immediately jumped to step three of taking a sip. Look at me - not even in Denmark and already breaking Danish customs! But it didn't seem to matter that much. And by the time dessert was over, I'd heard lots about their family history and years of living there and gotten a list of places that "you just have to go to." Hopefully I can make it to all of them.

My most recent step (as in yesterday) in learning to be Danish was to change my cell phone to be on 24 hour time. You wouldn't think such a small thing would make that much of a difference. But when you've gone your whole life seeing hours in just numbers 1-12, imagine how surprised I am when I look down to see hours with numbers like 13 and 17. Equally confusing is changing the way dates are written. Any good American would look at 5-1-12 and say "May 5, 2012." But Danes are not good Americans. To them, 5-1-12 is "January 5, 2012." To save myself confusion later on, I also changed the date display on my phone.

the why behind this blog

Six months ago I decided to study abroad in Copenhagen. I already knew I was going to study abroad somewhere so then it just became a matter of choosing the "where." I looked at a lot of places, but when I started taking a closer look at DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) it was like all the pieces began falling together for what I wanted... Great psychology classes? Check. Experiential learning? Check. Travel opportunities? Check. (Just to name a few) Before I knew it, I was sold on the idea. And now it's less than 3 weeks until I'll be flying to Copenhagen for a 4 month cultural adventure. 

Through this blog I hope to capture my time in Copenhagen from a few different angles (from my classes and travels to my impressions of Copenhagen and my thoughts on how to be a great Dane), following my curiosity where it leads me, and being open to learning a thing or two (or three or four) from the Danes. From my quest to learn a bit about Denmark before I get there (to be saved for another post) I already have some questions:

Denmark is rated one of the happiest nations, but what exactly makes the Danes so happy?

What does Copenhagen do to earn the ranking of one of the top eco-friendly cities in the world?

Do the Danes really wear black all the time? 

Biking in the snow and ice... really?

And how exactly do you pronounce those elusive Danish vowels? (ø, æ, å)

Who knows where my questions and their answers will lead me. But one thing's for certain - there's a whole lot of newness coming my way... and I can't wait!