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!