It wasn't quite love at first site, but that may have been because of my severe lack of sleep.
As I mentioned before, I had gone a very long time without sleeping and passed out at promptly 7pm the night of my arrival. The next morning I woke up around 3am, and unable to go back to sleep, I decided to shower, unpack, and wash every single piece of kitchenware provided for me. The showers are an experience in themselves- you can literally sit on the toilet and shower at the same time. I actually have to remember to remove the toilet paper each time I turn on the water. The bathroom floors are supposed to be heated to help with the evaporation of the water, but unfortunately my floor heating does not work. Unpacking and dishwashing took up a few hours, and before I knew it 8am had rolled around, the time we were meeting at the bus stop to travel to orientation. Opening ceremonies were held in the Royal Danish Academy of Music, and some nice speeches were given along with an absolutely charming performance by the DIS Strings. Following opening ceremonies, we were on our own for an hour to make our way to the next location where a Student Affairs session would take place. I have learned that I am rather good with a map (so good that I have been referred to by multiple people over the past few days as "map girl") despite the poor sense of direction I once had growing up. I guess when the bitter cold is motivating you to reach your warm destination, anything can happen.
After Day 1 of orientation, a few people in my kollegium decided to take another trip to the grocery store. This trip was to a different, bigger/cleaner one called Føtex, which will probably be where I do most of my shopping from now on. Food certainly isn't cheap in Copenhagen in general, but there are enough things on sale that prices don't have to be so bad. Our SRAs made dinner for us again, and we spent the night bonding with others in the kollegium. I have yet to meet anyone other than the Americans who live here, which is really disappointing. Apparently the Danes have major exams that count for ~100% of their grades in January, so they're in hibernation mode. The international students who live here (typically from Australia and New Zealand) won't be coming until the end of the month. I really do like the Americans who live here though, even if we are quite a homogenous population. While from all over the country, most everyone seems to be from a small, private liberal arts/ivy league school. It's not necessarily a bad thing though, as geographic diversity alone is enough to contribute toward interesting conversations.
Day 2 of orientation was definitely my favorite- the "Amazing Race". Divided into groups of 5, we were given a map (that didn't even really have street names on it) and a list of locations around the city to visit. One of the guys in our group felt confident enough in leading us around, but after the first hour or so of walking in circles, I took over. We had a great time getting lost, seeing the buildings, learning about Copenhagen history, eating Weinerbrød (Vienna Bread, commonly known to Americans as "Danishes"), drinking Varm Chokolade, and getting to know each other along the way. As soon as Emily posts a picture we had someone take of our team while waiting for the Harbour Bus I'll add it to this post.
Those of you who know me well may be wondering why there aren't a million pictures of Copenhagen posted online already. The truth is that would be because I have yet to take any (GASP!). I have decided that because I am living here for over 4 months, I didn't want to start out my experience taking a million pictures. One of the recurring themes throughout orientation was the phrase, "You see what you know," and I want my pictures to really convey what I know about this beautiful city.
I also made a fantastic dinner on my own last night! It was extremely simple- chicken marinated in Italian dressing cooked on a skillet with rosemary and sauteed onions over a bed of spinach with some mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top and baked garlic bread. Everyone thinks I'm a culinary genius now, and I'm looking forward to helping plan meals once we get our Keops cooking group started.
Last night we decided to go out and experience the Copenhagen nightlife for the first time since arriving. We went to a club called Kulørbar, located in center city area and boasting free beer for the night with only a cover charge. While somewhat disappointing because it was packed with mostly Americans (the Danes were literally being turned away at the door), I had a fantastic time with my new friends. I also was able to catch up with all the other Lafayette people, as they were all there as well. Once I returned home one of them actually called me, lost and alone in the middle of the night and needing to find a bus station. My access to Google Maps and his not-so-great reading of Danish street signs ended up saving the day.
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| Lights at the club- they sure weren't able to guide S home, to reference Coldplay... |
Today, the third and final day of orientation, we had a housing session, academic program session, and an immersion fair. My core program, Medical Practice and Policy, is the 3rd largest program here, made up of 6 sections of a total of (I'll come back to this number later) students, 79% of whom are surprisingly girls. It was nice to meet the people in my section, with whom I will be travelling to Western Denmark as well as Budapest and Vienna later on this semester.
Since returning home I have been doing readings for my first day of classes tomorrow! I can't believe they're already beginning. For the first time in a while I am actually really interested in what I am taking (no more chem/physics... wooo!). Tomorrow I have Health Beyond Borders, Medical Ethics, and Human Health and Disease, the last of which is taught inside of Gentofte Hospital. Friday I have Developmental Disorders and Danish Language and Culture. I'll definitely be posting about how they went!
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| Just a few of my books... for not even all of my classes. |
I'm also going to my visiting family's house for lunch this weekend- I'm super excited to finally meet them!
I promise to try to update more often about relevant things so that I don't have to do this long recap sort of post again.
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