monks and abbeys and golden plates

After a wonderfully chill Friday and Saturday night, I thought to myself, "hey.. I'm in Denmark! I should totally be living it up! But what kind of ridiculous excitement could I find on a Sunday befitting a Copenhagen study abroad experience?"

Naturally, I decided to tour a 900 year old monastery. 

Don't judge me too hard.. it was actually unbelievably fun. seriously.

After a tour of the abbey (which included the creepsters pictured above and a skeleton of a monk, obviously not pictured here), we broke up into several small teams to compete in some medieval games like archery, spear (javelin?) throwing, jousting...

...sword-fighting, and catapulting, as videos below demonstrate. btdubs, this is definitely the first time I've ever uploaded anything to youtube. this is a big step for my technologically incompetent self. 

NOTE:   I don't believe I had ever felt more agile, athletic, or awesome in my life. I--clearly mistakenly--actually thought I was holding my own against this guy (who evidently studied sword fighting techniques in England for fives years (that's a real life thing? just figured out the backup plan for my life)). 

The woman at the beginning of the video told us afterwards that we were the worst catapulters she had ever seen... she gave us an extra two points for it, actually. yeeaahhh, pity points!

On another note.. no big deal, but I kind of saw them in Rådhuspladsen (the town hall square) yesterday! along with thousands of other people, of course.  

They don't win a trophy.. they got a gold plate instead! 

I'm a couple days behind.. all this exciting abbey stuff happened on Sunday. I have some super exciting Monday adventures to share about (I find it exciting anyway. The subjects of this upcoming post will encompass Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, and fishing naked.. I'll get back to that.)

more stock photos of Copenhagen..

in case you can't find it

straight out of a fairy tale... I swear

Pastry of the Day

hej hej!

hygge like a dane

Have you ever heard of handball?! I decided today that it's my new favorite sport. This hasty decision may or may not have something to do with the fact that DENMARK JUST WON THE EUROPEAN HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIP TODAY.... not a big deal or anything. If you haven't heard of it, it's basically the best sport ever. I've only been here a week and I already like it more than [American] football.

The last minute of the game!! So exciting! We need this sport in the US! 

So, concerning the title of the post. "Hygge"(hoo-gah) doesn't translate directly into anything in English, but funnily enough, you know exactly when you feel it. My host family showed me the meaning of hygge this weekend, but it still isn't a word that can be easily described; near-synonym words like coziness, absolute comfort, warmth, security, etc don't exactly cut it. It's essentially the art of creating intimacy. This was basically how I spent my Friday and Saturday nights.. it was pretty great :) I'm seriously loving my host family more and more everyday!  

More explorations of the city:

Denmark makes THE. BEST. PASTRIES. OH. MY. GOODNESS. These were both from the same pastry shop- Lagkagehuset. They're also surprisingly inexpensive (by Danish standards). new goal- have one every day until I have one of each inexplicably wonderful item on the menu, then decide what my favorite is. I'll make sure to keep y'all updated on this little quest of mine.

Again, my host family is so sweet! The other day, I asked my them if it's true that Danes don't like peanut butter. They laughed and said they were pretty sure it's an American thing. The next breakfast though, they whipped out a jar of peanut butter! They bought it at the store after our conversation. So sweet! They tried it and didn't especially like it, but it was still super sweet of them to get it in the first place!

I went on my second run through the neighborhood yesterday morning. Danish early morning runs just might have to be a new thing..

frozen over pond.

an adorable little house I found on my run! maybe Snow White lives there?

still can't believe how lucky I am to be here. 

hej hej! 

my davidson is showing

Today was our final day orientating ourselves in the city. We had the surprisingly short task of filling out information for our visa. Awesomely enough, Denmark doesn't require visas to enter the country; we have to fill out a residence permit instead. We'll eventually get a "CPR" card, which has a plethora of vital functions. Not only does this card give us access to free health care, but it also doubles as our library card! Both are vital, clearly. 

Look who finally took pictures! You can't tell from this picture, but there's about a 1:1 ratio of bikes to people here. It's absurd.

Strøget, one of the most popular shopping areas. 

The street our school is on! DIS is spread out over four buildings on the same street. 

Like I was saying earlier, my nerdiness/davidson (synonymous in this context) is starting to show. Many DISers continually complained about classes starting tomorrow. I, on the other hand, have been looking forward to this moment for months; the Child Diversity and Development program was what made me want to attend DIS in the first place. I was basically bouncing off the walls out of excitement for classes to start tomorrow! Needless to say, I got some pretty strange looks (even one, "uhh, you actually like learning?" uhh, clearly). 

I'll have an interesting line-up this semester..

1. Danish Language and Culture (I'm in the section specifically for students working with kids in schools)

2. Gender Perspectives on Human Rights

3. Hans Christian Anderson and the Danish Golden Age (I can't decide if I'm more excited about this or my core courses.. I'm pretty sure I'll be in love with them both)

4. Children in a Multicultural Context (my core course... includes a study tour to Istanbul, Turkey!)

5. Child Development and Diversity Practicum (my other core course.. this is the class where I basically hang out with kids all day. More on that later.)

6. Literary London (doesn't start until March and includes a study tour to London!)

It should be a fun semester :) 

orientating myself

Yesterday was the beginning of a three day long orientation. So far, everything has been super helpful... although yesterday was a bit of a challenge for me. We had an "amazing race" throughout Copenhagen, where we had to find and listen to a lecture about five important sites and figure out how to shop in a grocery store, which in itself led to great confusion...

(for example, yogurt or milk? It's yogurt! They're found in deceivingly similar packages, leading to a rather unpleasant surprise when you pour it out...)

We were given four hours to complete everything. Instead of finding 5 sites and the grocery store in four hours, our group ended up only finding two sites, the grocery store, and an awesome pastry/coffee shop where I'm planning on spending lots of time. To top it all off, we got back to DIS half an hour late. 

I think this exercise was intended to make us more confident in our navigational skills around the city, but I can't say it did for me. My navigationally-challenged self will still need to wander throughout the streets a bit more until I feel any more comfortable. 

Today, instead of traversing through the freezing streets of Copenhagen, I went to a couple sessions on proper etiquette, which is unfortunately very different from I'm used to in South/North Carolina. Basically, I have to stop saying ma'am and sir, stop apologizing for everything, stop thanking my family for everything, and not be too enthusiastic. If you know me at all, then you know that these will be unbelievably hard habits to break. Danes also have a very dry sense of humor, which I definitely do not have. It'll be interesting to see over the next couple months how much of my southern-ness I do and don't retain. 

I know that so far, my pictures have been... well, nonexistent (except for that excellent picture of yogurt up there!), but more actual pictures of the city and the suburb will coming soon! stay tuned!! 

ciao!

ps. In case you hadn't already heard, "Man or Muppet" from the latest Muppet movie is nominated for best song at the Oscars.. this actually just made my day. It's time to meet the Muppets..

impressions of koo-ben-houn

*koo-ben-houn = how Copenhageners pronounce their home! 

After a terrifyingly short layover in Atlanta (in which I sprinted the length of the airport in 15 minutes), and wandering somewhat aimlessly through the airport in Paris, I finally arrived to the dreariest weather I could have imagined. It's hard to care about the lack of sunlight when everything around you is so beautiful, though! The city of Copenhagen itself is extremely cool- last night I got to traverse through the streets without getting too lost, but I think that was mainly because I was with someone else who is actually capable of remembering silly things like street names. 

Another awesome thing: three whole people assumed I was a Dane! My state of American-ness isn't too obvious! This all occurred when I was lugging approximately 100 lbs of luggage from the airport to the hostel over cobblestone streets. They all looked at me, made (what I assume) some joke in Danish, and I smiled. For all I know they may have been calling me a silly(censored?) American, but I just smiled and laughed each time. 

The hostel I stayed at last night! It was super colorful and kind of impossible to miss.

There were times though, when my American-ness was all too obvious. The next day, I had to go back to the airport to take the shuttle to meet up with my host fam. While still dragging my 100 lbs. of luggage over cobblestone streets I stop several times, perplexed. Three different people stopped what they were doing (one even came back up an elevator after his explanation was cut off by a closing door!) to tell me that I "looked lost" and wanted to help me. I had heard stereotypes that unless you approach a Dane yourself, you won't realize how super friendly they are because they remain pretty aloof. That totally wasn't the case for me at all, which I'm super grateful for! I was pretty nervous to ask for directions, mainly because I didn't actually know how to pronounce the names of the streets I was searching for. 

Finally, I met up with my new family of four months! To sum up, they're pretty fantastic. The family is comprised of a mom, dad (both absolutely hysterical), their 23 year old daughters Sandra (I think she was a little nervous to speak English, although she understands everything and sounds perfect when she speaks. she's really sweet, though!), and Betina (20, super awesome- she's training to be a police officer!), and Casper, Sandra's boyfriend (Sandra and Casper live in Copenhagen, while the house I'm staying in is half an hour away in the 'burbs). 

They took the time to walk around with me and show me where I'm supposed to go tomorrow and how to get there. Here's hoping I'll actually remember this (I have to be at this place for orientation at 9 am.. getting up super early to account for 'getting lost' time).  

First day of orientation tomorrow! Getting excited!

My room for the next four months. As you can see, I've yet to destroy it with my unkempt ways.

Have I really only been here 30 hours? Feels like a lifetime. 4 months to go. 

hej hej

and away we go!

After a seemingly endless six week Christmas break, it's time to bid "farvel" to the United States and everyone I love in it. Even though I spent the better part of the last two days packing, repacking, and then packing again, I still can't believe that I leave in just a few short hours. 

I really wish I could say this is what my room looks like only when I'm packing... this is in fact what my room looks like on a typical day. One [unrealistic] goal for Copenhagen is to fight all my natural instincts and not allow my host fam to see my utterly slovenly side.. maybe I can leave that in the US? Probs not, but it's worth a shot. 

This is my last post from the fabulous US! Hopefully, next time you hear from me I will have figured out my living situation for tomorrow night (I, perhaps unintelligently, decided to fly into Copenhagen a day early to "explore the city" (read: wander aimlessly, as I have no directional sense). This also means that I have no clue what I'm doing for almost a full day. More on this later..)

hej hej! see ya in scandinavia!

guess who's going to denmark!

This Friday, I'll begin four months of utter ridiculousness and excitement. After perusing numerous programs with intriguing possibilities, I chose the most exotic place I could think of. . . Copenhagen, Denmark! (a sea of blonde-haired, blue-eyed faces... so exotic!)

For reals though, this is basically why I chose this program (DIS):

1. They encourage us to travel as much as possible. We'll have a 17 day long break to journey wherever the wind blows us. We also have every Wednesday off for various activities: field studies (read: field trips), exploring the city and surrounding area (Sweden is just half an hour away!) etc. Some of these trips include Hans Christian Anderson's place and castle Hamlet is set in. More on that later.

2. DIS is focused on integrating the students in the Danish way of life as much as possible. I'll be living with a host family; I just got an email from my "familie" (=family. totally just spoke Danish) recently and they sound ridiculously incredible. More on that later, after I meet them and all. 

3. My core course, Child Diversity and Development, was what put Copenhagen on my radar in the first place. I'm doing the Childhood in a Multicultural Context track, which includes a week long study tour to Istanbul, Turkey! I'm unbelievably excited for this class, partly because I get to go to Turkey, but mainly because I've already looked at the syllabus and I know that this course suits me perfectly!

So, over the next four months I hope to have tons to write and perhaps even video about (the latter depends on how tech-savvy I decide to become, which I admit is unlikely, as I tend to repel technology). As excited as I am to take this next step, I admit  about leaving my friends back at Davidson College and my family in SC. I know that nervousness is part of the preparation for my experience though; I think there would be something wrong if I wasn't nervous at all. My goal going into this is to never let fear or uncertainty get in the way and never let my expectations interfere with my lived experience. I plan to accept every invitation and new opportunity that comes my way and make this experience my own. 

I'm definitely the luckiest girl in the world :)

applicable quote of the day:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

-Mark Twain

hej hej, until next time!