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So I’ve been in the U.S. for a few days now, and had a significant amount of Mexican and Thai food (with some bubble tea thrown in). Many non-European foods are still to come, but besides my ever-lingering jetlag (I’m still falling asleep on the couch around 10pm and waking up at 5am) I’m feeling fairly settled. It’s been weird to come back because as soon as it sunk in that I was actually in the U.S., it was hard for me to believe I was ever in Denmark. At times part of me believes that someone magically implanted all this information about Denmark into my head just to mess with me. Of course, whenever I think of hygge or my host family or delicious pastries, I do feel a pang of nostalgia, and I’m certainly already scheming of ways I can return to Europe sometime soon. For now, though, I’m enjoying the holiday season stateside (American Christmas pales in comparison to Danish holiday traditions) and trying to prepare myself for returning to Carleton (i.e. semi-real life). Last night I saw the Muppet movie with one of my friends and my sister (I highly recommend it) and I’m feeling generally pretty culturally acclimated. Of course, I’m still amazed by America’s cheap prices and shiny city lights and I definitely miss my quiet little Danish commute, complete with daily castle viewing. Still, it is so good to be home and enjoy such delicacies as the baby-sized burrito:

GOOD STUFF let me tell you. Anyhoozle, I think I’ll be wrapping this up (my LAST blog post) because today I’m going to pick out a Christmas tree for the second time this season.

Yes you read that right–I won’t be continuing this blog any longer, mostly because my life at home is not nearly as interesting as my life in Copenhagen, and I’m not sure anybody wants to read about how I sat around and watched TV then took my dog for a walk. Still, I have really enjoyed blogging about all the food that I encountered on my travels these past four months, and it’s possible I may continue that in one fashion or another. If it actually happens (read: it would be a Christmas miracle if I managed to do anything productive over this break) I’ll be sure to post a link here.

In any case, I guess this is hej hej for now. Thanks for reading about my adventures–I hope you didn’t mind my lazy food ramblings too much. And for all you DIS prospectives/future students out there (or anybody else who’s curious I suppose), please continue to feel free to ask me any questions about my experience in Denmark. I really truly enjoyed this semester, and I would highly recommend DIS to anybody who’s considering it!

Once a List-maker, Always a List-Maker

So, this will probably be my LAST BLOG POST before my return to Seattle. Crazy, scary, exciting? Yes, yes, yes. The past few days I have been re-reading my earlier blogs, and it’s so funny to think back to my first couple of days here, when I was so unsure of how my semester would unfold. Since then, I have experienced so many wonderful things (and tasted so many delicious foods), I cannot hope to sum it all up in one final reflective statement. List-maker that I am, however, I will attempt to do so in a few different statements. Probably fighting a losing battle, but it’s the best I got.

This Semester I Learned:

• To actually enjoy tea.
• How to speak Danish (not really) and understand it (just listen for key words)
• How much I really do LOVE eating.
• The procrastination fairy exists all over the world.
• How to eat with a knife and fork and not look like a 3 year old (now I eat more like a 9 year old).
• To love candles (never mind the fire hazard).
• How to make proper smørrebrød
• How to use Danish kroner (though I may have forgotten how American money works…)
• What I’ll probably do for my career/life (kind of important)
• How much I love Europe (and how to travel around it by myself)
• The importance of hygge

Jeg vil savner (I will miss): 

• My favoritest host family (and my bestest host dog!) <3
• Wienerbrød
• Home-cooked Danish food
• Danish 7/11s
• My commute (and seeing Frederiksborg Castle every day!)
• Candles/hygge
• Tea, cookies, and candy every night
• Danish fashion and shopping (so many sweaters!)
• DIS friends–Why won’t you all just move to Minnesota?
• Being a short  plane ride away from anywhere in Europe
• Hearing Danish everywhere I go
• Being a short walk away from hundreds of years of history and culture

I’m looking forward to:

• Eating Mexican/Thai/Indian/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/all non-European food
• “Cheap” not being defined as under 100 kr.
• SLEEPING ALL DAY EVERY DAY
• Seeing my sister and my doggy!
• Driving my car!
• SO MUCH BUBBLE TEA
• Being able to understand people around me
• Seeing Carleton people again! (and returning to Carleton academics…)
• Giving everybody all their European gifts
• Regressing to my baggy sweatpants self (but also bringing a little Danish fashion back home)

Obviously all those lists could go on forever, but that’s a brief summary for you. If you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty conflicted about all this–on the one hand, there’s so much to look forward to about going home, but there’s also so much that will be missing in my life once I leave Denmark. Luckily, I still have one more day to see a couple last friends, eat my last morsels of Danish food, and have one last hyggeligt dinner with my host family (or rather, Charlotte and Cille). Above all, it’s my host family that has really made this experience as great as it was, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. This has truly been an amazing semester, and I am SO glad I chose to come to DIS.

 

Stage One: Denial (and maybe a bit of Bargaining)

I really cannot believe I only have 3 days left in Denmark. The strangest part is not that I’m going to be leaving, but that I don’t know when I’ll return. It’s crazy to be saying goodbye to everyone I’ve spent the past 4 months with, not knowing when or if I’ll see them again. Of course, I’m hoping to do some cross-country visiting, as well as returning to Europe soon, but none of that is at all certain. Luckily we have Facebook nowadays, so I’m certain I won’t completely lose touch with people, but I’m certainly going to miss everybody, especially my amazing host family!

Speaking of, last Saturday we all went to Tivoli together (and met up with Kenneth, friend of the family and owner of Oswald–pronounced OSS-vel–cutest dog ever). We took the train so we wouldn’t have to pay for parking, which made for a pretty funny switching of roles. Usually it’s my host family showing me around and telling me how to do things, but since they rarely take the train or go into Copenhagen at all, it was me and Nanna showing everybody how to do it. It was nice to know that I’ve learned at least one useful thing these past four months.

We started out by going to Nyhavn, which is the canal area you will always see if you look up photos of Copenhagen. Despite its fame, it’s actually pretty small, and even my host family was surprised when we reached the end of the Christmas market there after only about 10 stalls. We then headed over along Strøget towards Tivoli. It was pretty weird being in the area I walk around all the time with my DIS friends, but with my host family. We stopped in some of the shops along the way to look at the Christmas sales, but unfortunately all the cafes we checked had no free tables. So instead we went to a cafe when we first got into Tivoli to have gløgg (mulled wine with raisins and almonds) and æbleskiver (the Danish pancake balls)–very typical Danish Christmastime fare. It was pretty cold outside, so we all enjoyed the chance to warm up a bit and chat for a while.

Tivoli itself was a whole different place (compared to the last time I went). It was covered in lights and decorations (Russian Christmas theme this year) and filled with Christmas market stalls. We wandered around to see all the pretty decorations and stopped to shop at a few of the stalls, including one making fresh flødeboller! We bought 2 boxes–white chocolate and coffee flavors. Yum yum. After we made it around most of the park once, everybody was cold, especially Cille, so we decided to head home for an ordered pizza dinner.

according to my host mom, the swans are because of the "ugly duckling" story

The pizza was actually an interesting experience in and of itself. We stopped on the way home to pick it up, and we each got to pick out our own. There were some really interesting topping choices, including shawarma, lettuce, and dressing. I ended up getting one with gorgonzola (one of their main cheese options), onions, ham, and bacon. It was not a typical pizza by American standards, but it was actually pretty tasty.

On Sunday, I had a relaxing morning of sleeping, watching TV, and cleaning my room up a bit before Shuyao arrived for a sleepover! Originally both Mariya and Shuyao were going to come, but Mariya had a 12 page paper due Tuesday for her class at København University, so she had to stay home and work. My host dad left that afternoon for a business trip (and won’t be back before I leave, so  had to say goodbye–so sad!), so it was a girls-only evening. Charlotte’s good friend Christina came over for dinner, for which we had a traditional Danish meal. I don’t know what the Danish name for it was, but it was basically like brisket with mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans. Yum yum yum. For dessert, we had gløgg and æbleskiver and had an interesting conversation about politics. Then Shuyao and I watched Love Actually, a Christmas classic, with cookies and milk before falling asleep for a lovely 9 hours. It was really fun to have another friend over to visit with my host family, and the whole evening was quite hyggeligt.

The next morning Shuyao and I walked around the outside of Frederiksborg and the Baroque Gardens before she caught the bus to the train station. When we parted ways, I headed down Hillerød’s own Strøget to do a bit of shopping. Though I was supposed to be Christmas shopping, I ended up buying some things for myself. Oops? Still, I was able to cross a few things off my list, and I had a great time doing it. It was also just fun to hang out in my own town and being able to walk home at the end of the day instead of worrying about bus and train schedules. It made me wish I’d spent a little more time in Hillerød this semester just exploring rather than always heading into Copenhagen at every chance.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I met Elise in Copenhagen around 1pm to do some more shopping. It was a pretty gross day out, with plenty of wind and rain to go around, so we tried to stay inside as much as possible. We walked all the way down Strøget, popping in shops along the way, and Elise found a circle scarf while I finished off the last of my Christmas list. Midway through our excursion, we stopped at Agnes Cupcakes for a delicious $6 treat that was so worth the extra money.

That night, I went to Lacey’s house again for one last farewell dinner. We had spaghetti with cookies I brought for dessert, and I was able to give Frida (her little host sister) a photo of me for her Vennerbog that I filled out last time. It was very hyggeligt, and we watched the Danish Christmas calendar show together. Apparently every December one of the networks puts on a miniseries that runs every night in December. It continues about a half an hour every night until Christmas. There are at least a couple different shows–one for small children, this year about elves in Greenland, and one for older children about kids living in a castle with ghosts. It seems most  Danish families keep up with the shows, so I’ve seen both from time to time, but have not really followed the plot very closely (plus it’s a bit difficult for me to know what’s going on, seeing as it’s in Danish).

It’s been so weird saying goodbye to people–so far I have had to say a (probably) final goodbye to Elise, Lacey, Lauren, Matt, my host dad of course, and possibly Shuyao if I do not see her again tomorrow.  I really cannot believe I am leaving Saturday–a couple nights ago Charlotte asked me about my flight times so we could plan when we’d leave for the airport, and I got freaked out for a second as I was forced out of my denial, before slowly shoving that thought back into the back of my head. Even though I’ve started packing now (and it looks like my bags will be underweight yay!), there’s some huge part of me that really just thinks this is all made up, and I’ll go back to classes any day now.

DONEZO (and some other good news).

Yes you’re reading that correctly–I’m completely DONE with all my work for the semester, with one week left to enjoy Denmark (a fact I’m not prepared to deal with quite yet).  I’ve been doing all kinds of fun things, though, which is not exactly helping me to get ready to leave…

On Wednesday, I got to hang out with Audrey! We met first thing in the morning at her hotel to begin our day exploring Copenhagen. First we went over to Nyhavn and walked up to the Little Mermaid along the water. It was my first time seeing the Little Mermaid (yes I know that’s pretty sad) so it was nice to finally cross that off my list! We also happened upon the changing of the guard at Amalienborg as we walked back toward the center of town, and then we went over to Sankt Peder’s Bageri for a pastry. Nummy.

After our delicious snack, we headed over to the Nationalmuseet, another important tourist destination I had not yet visited. The museum is actually huge, and we only saw a small portion of it, so I’ll be back this coming week (there’s free admission every Wednesday).

Look who we found in the ancient Greece section!

By this time it was pretty gross outside–some combination of rain and hail and wind–so we went over to DIS so I could show Audrey where I spend my time, and also to warm up/catch up on each other’s lives (though I think we mostly ended up talking about Harry Potter…). It was so nice to see her again (since we hadn’t talked since high school) but at 6:30 it was time for me to go off to the Nutcracker, while Audrey went to see Tivoli.

Allie and I signed up for the Nutcracker together, so we met up and stopped at China Box for a quick bite before heading over to the Royal Theater. It was a DIS event, so we’d gotten our tickets for significantly less than the regular price. We got handed tickets that seemed like they would be together (16 and 17), bought some snacks at concessions, and went to find our spots. When we got there, however, we found out that 16 and 17 were actually on different sides of the row because the odd and even numbers were separated. So to avoid stealing somebody else’s seat, I went over to 17 by myself. Luckily, as other DIS students arrived, it turned out that two girls from our Turkey class, Gilli and Kelsey, were in the same situation as Allie and I because they had seats 14 and 15. So we pulled a swapsies and everybody was happy. Sometimes things just work out so well! The show itself was really good, though I didn’t have a lot to compare it to since I haven’t been to see the Nutcracker since I was about 9 years old. Unfortunately, the Queen was not in attendance that night, so I still have not seen her, despite the fact that she walks around freely without security or anything.

just seeing the theater itself was worth the price

After the show, Allie and I met Lauren and Matt for a NORTH SHIELD REUNION. We originally planned to go to the Dubliner, an Irish pub on Strøget (I know Irish is not the same as Scottish but it was the closest we could get) but that was filled with football fans, so instead we headed over to an adorable cafe/bar called Cafe Retro that Lauren and Matt had recently discovered. It was a super local, non-profit cafe with comfy chairs (including some really cool hammock chairs) and no big beer companies like Carlsberg. They have a back room that’s a bit quieter and more private that we claimed, and we had a super cozy evening.

On Thursday I was up somewhat early again to meet Audrey, this time in Hillerød. I showed her my castle and gardens (yes, Fredriksborg belongs to me now), and a bit of Hillerød’s own Strøget. Once we couldn’t stay in the cold any longer, we walked back to my house where we made Christmas cookies with Charlotte and Nanna. It was super fun and hyggeligt, and really nice to be able to share my host family with somebody from home.

just walking around my neighborhood. nbd.

Friday was my last day of school-related activities. I had my final test for European Clinical Psychology, and it was wonderful to finally be officially DONE! However, it makes it all the more real that I’m leaving soon and I’ve got to enjoy every minute I have left! To that end, I went ice skating with Elise, Shuyao, Mariya, Scarlet, and everybody else who signed up for the DIS event. There was a bit of doubt if the event would still happen since it’d been raining on and off all day. But the rink was still open, and everybody voted to try it, and it ended up being really fun! The rink had hockey skates, which was good for me because I play ice hockey (though not very well) at Carleton, and I think I would’ve tripped over figure skates. It was really good to get back on the ice after not playing for about 10 months–I’m really excited to get back to hockey in January.

After ice skating, the event organizers treated us all to a hot drink because we didn’t get quite as much time on the ice as the event had originally said. I had some super yummy hot chocolate. Then Mariya, Shuyao, Scarlet, and I were still hungry (or mostly we just wanted to eat stuff) so we headed over to Central Station where we got some noodles at YamYam. Then we met up with Mariya’s friend Olivia and went out for some drinks (all of us except Scarlet, who had to head home). It was really nice to hang out with my travel buds again, and to finally meet Olivia, who we’d heard a lot about from Mariya. I ended up not getting home until about 3am, but it was definitely worth it.

Anyway, I had such a fun couple of days, and I’m only going to have more! Another update coming soon, but today I went to Tivoli with my host family, and tomorrow Mariya and Shuyao are coming over for dinner and a sleepover! Then I’m going to Lacey’s for dinner on Tuesday, Nationalmuseet on Wednesday, shopping sometime, and starting to pack for my trip home! It’s all going by so fast, but I’m determined to get as much out of the next week as I possibly can.

Don’t forget to ask me questions if you’ve got any! I know way more about DIS than I probably should because I got really excited before coming here… or if you have questions about Denmark or whatever. Either comment on a post or send me an email or something and I’d be happy to respond to whatever you’re wondering about!

Hej hej for now!

Never Want to Say Goodbye

So I’m (almost) officially done with work now. Just one test left on Friday, and I’m home free! That means more time to eat–I mean blog. I’ll start by catching up on my weekend, which was busy but lots of fun and very Danish.

Saturday was my host farfar, Eric’s (Søren’s dad) 70th birthday party. In the afternoon, my host mormor (Charlotte’s mom) came over from Jylland (Jutland) with her husband for lunch. We all went to the party around 5pm to be early because it started at 6pm. The first part of the party began as all Danish get-togethers do: lots of handshakes and introductions. In Denmark, you’re supposed to say hello and goodbye to each person individually, even if there are 50 people in attendance at a gathering, like there were on Saturday. Charlotte informs me that this is why it’s important to be early (so you can stand around while others come and say hello to you, rather than having to make a tour around the room). After probably about half an hour, we were lead to our seats by our table leaders. I was sitting with Charlotte, which was nice because she tried to give me some idea of what was going on with all the toasts and songs and such. And there were a lot of toasts and songs and such. At Danish birthday parties, it’s customary to write songs for the person of honor and have everybody sing them. So throughout the meal we were constantly being stopped and handed a set of lyrics or listening to a toast or something. And this was not a short dinner. We had a few different courses–appetizers, main course in the form of a buffet, fruits and cheese, cake (a special Serbian cake made as a present by one of Eric’s friends), coffee, more drinks, and finally a “go home” meal of sandwiches around 2am. Apparently this was a “short” party because most of the guests were elderly and could not stay out for dancing. It was really fun though, and I enjoyed getting to experience such a Danish tradition.

On Sunday, I attended another quintessential Danish event–a fodbold (i.e. football, i.e. soccer) game! This was an event done by DIS for all students in Danish classes, as well as those lucky enough to buy the extra subsidized tickets DIS provided before they sold out. The game was FCK (FC København) vs. AGF (Århus GF?). Obviously most people were rooting for FCK but AGF is Charlotte’s favorite team, so I had to stay loyal, obviously. I was a bit worried about finding my way to the stadium at first, but on the way I ran into several other DIS students waiting for the bus. Of course, when the bus finally showed up, it let about 2 people (out of maybe 15) on and then drove off. So we decided to walk. Luckily it was not that far, and it turned out to not be a super popular game, so there were plenty of seats left. I found Shuyao and Michelle amidst the crowd and settled in for what I thought would be a long game. But it actually went really quickly. Obviously all soccer games are basically the same length, but I think I’m just used to watching baseball games with tons of standing around and extra innings. Of course, I had to get a hot dog and a Carlsberg to complete the experience, and Shuyao also bought some popcorn that I had a significant portion of. All in all, it was a fun time, though slightly disappointing since neither team scored at all. The fans were super intense though. At the beginning both sides had flares and then there was an FCK cheering section that was bellowing organized cheers and bouncing in time a bunch. So that was fun to see.

Monday we had our last Danish class! It turned out to be really fun because our teacher Ditte Marie brought in her daughter, Amanda, and some Christmas treats for us. First we enjoyed some Christmas cookies and æbleskiver–basically like little pancake balls. Traditionally they have apple slices in them (hence the “æble”) but now you can just get them frozen and they don’t come with the apple. Apparently you can also get them at Trader Joe’s in the U.S., so I’ll be on the lookout when I get home. Then we had a Christmas decorating competition (kind of a mix between Danish and American cultures because Danes would never compete like that–everybody has to be equal). Our team was the smallest, and we also did not get any help from Amanda, so our table ended up looking a bit sad. Still, it was lots of fun, and I managed to make a Christmas star all by myself (you can see it on top of our “tree”). Needless to say, we did not win…

Which brings me to TODAY. A lovely day, if I do say so myself. I began leisurely, since I finished Positive Psychology last week. We got treats in both my European Clinical Psychology and my Adolescence in Northern Europe classes–no complaints there. The highlight of the day by far was my dinner at Den Tatoverede Enke as a reward for being a blogger this semester! It was super fancy, with three different courses and a beer especially paired with each one–definitely something I would not have paid for myself, but such a wonderful and hyggeligt experience! I took pictures of all the food and beer (unsurprising if you’ve been following this blog at all). It was fun because I didn’t know most of the people in attendance that well, and I got to chat with a variety of people including other bloggers, videographers for DIS, and one of the Architecture and Design interns. Additionally, they announced the Blogger of the Year, which was Perri VanderClock. She has a great blog you can read here (or it’s also on the DIS Blogger page). As a prize for all the bloggers, we also got super pretty customized Moleskine notebooks with our names imprinted onto the cover, so that was pretty cool (I am a big fan of Moleskine and was actually about to buy a new one for myself! Good thing I waited…).

two kinds of bread with herb butter and a Danish beer with a bit of spice

this was the second beer (same as bottle above). had an orange flavor to be well-paired with the duck.

duck confit with red cabbage, parsnip puree, a potato, and i think some apple sauce or something. it was exquisite.

panna cotta with almond. basically a play on risalamande, with all the ingredients separated and in a different form. sooo tasty.

this was the beer paired with our dessert... it was made from cherries and tasted sweet and not very beer-like. meant to be the "cherry sauce" for the risalamande theme.

So anyway I have to wrap this up because I am waking up early tomorrow, not to go to class, but to go exploring around Copenhagen! My high school friend Audrey who now goes to University of Edinburgh is visiting on her way home for break. She’ll be my first (and only) visitor in Copenhagen, so I’m really excited. We’re gonna go to Nyhavn, Sankt Peders Bageri, and a museum or two. On Thursday she’s coming up to Hillerød to see Frederiksborg and to meet my host family! Basically, this week is awesome, and I never want to leave Copenhagen!

Just about a week ago when I was in the midst of work, I thought I was prepared to leave, but now that I have time to spend I am starting to realize (for the bajillionth time) that I’m going to miss all of this sooo much! It’s absolutely INSANE that I only have a week and a half left here, and I’m already freaking out a bit. There’s so much to see and eat and shop for! At least I have finally gotten myself a big fatty circle scarf, which is an absolute staple in Danish fashion (it actually took me like 3 days to decide which one I wanted, which Lacey has not stopped making fun of me for, and I am in love with it because it is so cozy!). While I’m excited to show that and other Danish traditions to people at home and at school, I cannot believe I’m not returning here in the immediate future! I guess I’ll just have to soak it up as much as I can, but I don’t think anything will prepare me to leave this country and the people I have grown to love so much over the past 4 months. It’s funny to look back at my first few days here, when I couldn’t believe I’d be staying here for 4 full months. Now I can’t believe I’m not living here forever!

Nothing But Sunshine (and Gelato): Long Study Tour

So I’m back from my long study tour, and it was AMAZING. This post is gonna be a biggy, so buckle your seatbelt and prepare to be here a while.

Saturday/Sunday (still in Copenhagen):

Saturday night I played Bingo Banko with my host family. It’s basically a nation-wide crazy televised bingo game, where anyone who wants to play can print out a bunch of cards (as many as you can keep track of) and compete for prizes. During the tv show, they play crazy games (including tattoo pictionary and beaver racing) and do silly things (asking people on the street random questions) to come up with the bingo numbers. There are tons of great prizes, from socks to refrigerators. You compete for first one row, then two rows, then a whole board, and if you get the right numbers then you have to be the first one to call in. The whole thing is super silly, and really fun. I played with Søren and Cille, and we each had 9 cards. Sadly it was not enough, and we did not win anything, but I still had a great time. The show is on every Saturday, so I’m sure we’ll try again soon!

I spent most of Sunday packing and double-checking my passport, camera, money, and other essentials. That evening Søren was nice enough to drive me to the train station, where I headed over to Allerød to spend the night at Allie’s house. It was fun to meet someone else’s host family and we played some pretty competitive Wii games with her host brother. Plus we had some leftover brownies and tea for dessert.

Monday (Day One):

Monday morning began bright and early with a pre-dawn walk to the train station. It was nice to be going with a friend, though, so if anything went wrong we’d be in the same boat. We got a random offer for a ride from a Danish guy in a big sketchy black van, but we decided to stick with the train. Luckily, all went smoothly and everybody got to the airport in time for our flight. After an hour-long bus ride and a quick stop to check in at the hotel, we were sent off on our own for Urban Awareness: Milan Edition. Team Awesome (me, Allie, Ansley, Colin, and Dylan) decided to go the low-key approach, and started out at the Parco Sempione. The park was absolutely gorgeous, especially in the beautiful weather, and we sat for a while on the grass just soaking in the Italian atmosphere. Then we continued on through the other DIS recommended spots to visit, and grabbed some cheap pizza for lunch. A great first afternoon in Italy.

best hotel ever. FREE soda and cookies in every room, refilled each day.

view from our spot in the park--Arco Della Pace

supposedly you get good luck from spinning 3 times on the "delicate parts" of the bull in the center of the Galleria

For dinner, we ate as a group at a place called Art Factory. First we got huge plates cheesy pasta with bread and little breadsticks, and everybody ate until they were full. Then it turned out we had a second course–mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto. So yummy, but way too much to finish.

That night we had some free time, so Jenna, Allie, Ansley, and I went to a little restaurant-bar Ansley had spotted on her run earlier. Ansley and I had the most delicious margaritas, and it was lovely to just sit outside and chat for a while. We went home on the early side because we were all exhausted from the long day.

Tuesday (Day Two):

We began the day with a wonderful hotel breakfast buffet (I perfected my selection throughout the week–fresh machine-squeezed OJ, yogurt, cake, fruit, salami, proscuitto, and cheese, saving cookies for a mid-day snack) followed by our first academic visit. We heard from a researcher on subjective well-being, and it was really interesting, though it was hard to get in an academic mood with such gorgeous weather outside. Then we went to the Galleria D’Arte Moderna, which was beautiful. I mean, the art was great too but the building and gardens were gorgeous.

For our group lunch we went to a local sandwich chain (way nicer than Subway) and had paninis. I had a Fattore, which had salami, cheese, and something called aurora sauce. YUM.

At lunch, my friend Shuyao joined our trip because she’d had visa troubles that wouldn’t allow her to go to her own Scotland study tour. It was a shame for her to miss her tour, but it was fun to have her along.

That day we also got to see DaVinci’s Last Supper! Waiting to see it was pretty intense because there were a couple of airlock doors to go through, and there were guards around making sure nobody did anything wrong. As soon as we got into the room, some poor lady took a picture and one of the guards was like NOPICTURENOPICTURE and ran over to her and made her delete it. The way he was running I half-expected him to tackle her or something, but obviously that didn’t happen. The painting itself was really cool to see, even though it’s pretty faded and has had to be restored so many times. It was just crazy to be seeing something that old and that famous/influential.

Our next stop was a wine tasting at That’s Wine. Unfortunately we got lost trying to find it (a common theme of the trip) and the group was getting a bit cranky because most of us hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. Everyone was overjoyed when we finally found it, and our group completely packed the tiny little wine bar. The tasting itself was super fun, and I actually really liked all the wines we tasted. Plus we got some delicious bread, cheese, prosciutto, and salami to accompany it. After three glasses of wine, we all were desperately in need of dinner, so we tromped around as a group until we found a restaurant called Flash Pizzeria. The food turned out to be really good, and I had gnocchi and split some bruschetta with a few other people. Afterwards we got our first Italian gelato at a place near the Duomo, and it was definitely as good as the hype.

group picture in front of the Duomo

Wednesday (Day Three):

Wednesday morning we had an academic visit with Prof. Paolo Inghilleri and a couple of student researchers at University of Milan. It was a long visit, but really cool because we got to hear about real research that’s being done right now around positive psychology. We also got a tour of the University, which is in a very old hospital building. It was really beautiful, and it was hard to imagine being a student and having classes there every day.

We had lunch as a group at Original Pizza. At first only one type of pizza (pepperoni) showed up and we were pretty disappointed because it meant only one slice per person. But after a few minutes, another pizza came, and then another, and it seemed like they just kept coming and coming. I think we had four or five pizzas in all, and my favorite had gorgonzola cheese and corn. We also got dessert, either ice cream balls or Italian ice–even more delicious when it’s paid for by DIS!

After lunch we got to go individually to the Duomo, but since everybody went at about the same time it was sort of like a group activity. This was what I’d been most excited for, because I’d heard the views from the top of the Duomo were spectacular, and I was not disappointed. At one point we thought we’d seen it all, but luckily the elevator man closed the lift and told us to go down the other side. In the process of looking for the “other side” we discovered the stairs up to the very top of the roof. Moral of the story: the Duomo is HUGE, and there’s always something more to see!

We also went inside the Duomo, which was HUGE. I could’ve spent an hour just looking at all the details and exploring the place, but we wanted to get the most out of our free afternoon, so we only took a brief tour around. It was dark inside, and you weren’t supposed to take pictures anyway, so I have no pictures for you all, but I assure you it was really amazing. For dinner we had a quick bite from a food cart near the Duomo and did some shopping at a designer department store. The clothes were so wonderful but so expensive and we left quickly to avoid further temptation. That evening we had a visit at the La Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (apparently they are located all over the world) and go to speak with a woman about the importance of meditation and peacefulness in daily life. The whole atmosphere was very calming, and it was really interesting to hear a different point of view on well-being.

After the visit we searched for an open pasticeria because Ansley really wanted an Italian Napoleon, but almost everything was closed. We ended up at a little place near our hotel, where I had a huge cannoli. Yummmm.

Thursday (Day Four):

Thursday morning’s academic visit was one of my favorites, because we were talking with Antonella Della Fave, one of the first positive psychology researchers ever, and the most important one in Italy. She and her fellow researchers talked about their work and gave us a lot of great information on how the positive psychology principles we’ve been learning about in class can be applied in practical research. Even the presentation was three hours, it went by really quickly, and I think we were all sad to be leaving at the end of it.

We had a fancy group lunch with risotto then pork with wildberry sauce and potatoes. The restaurant was dark so my pictures didn’t turn out very well, but the food was scrumptious. After lunch we got espresso courtesy of DIS. In the afternoon we visited with Dr. Morandi at Ayurvedic Point, and learned about Ayurveda as well as traditional medicine in general. It was probably my favorite visit because he talked to us about the philosophy of traditional medicine and how he approaches his Ayurvedic practice as a Western medicine-trained physician. He emphasized how Eastern and Western traditions should work together, rather than competing, and his perspective was really fascinating. I definitely want to learn more about Ayurveda and how it can be applied to a psychological context.

That night we got the evening to ourselves, so Ansley, Allie, and I took some relaxation time before going out to dinner. I took a marvelous bath (with jets!) in our hotel room, and it was great to get some time to just chill after having such a busy week. For dinner we met up with Jenna and her Italian friend she’d met a few years ago while being a camp counselor. We found a nice place with outdoor seating by the canals, and splurged a bit on fancy food and some wine to accompany it. For dessert we went back to the hotel and found a gelato place nearby, and I found my new favorite flavor–crema.

Friday (Day Five):

Our last full day in Milan began with another academic visit with Antonella’s researchers. This time it was focused more on disability and positive psychology, which was really cool because it was very different from the other research we’d heard about the rest of the tour. As a surprise at the end of the visit, we each got Kinder Bueno bars from our tour leaders. Then for Liia’s birthday they took us out to free gelato, the best gelato I had that week. It was a place called Gelatissimo, and unsurprisingly the owner was very happy to have forty customers at once.

I got Crema Catalana and Pistachio--delicious!

We had the afternoon free, so Shuyao, Jenna and I walked through the Parco Sempione (neither of them had gotten to see it the first day) to the Pinoteca di Brera, an art museum that was highly recommended by, well, everyone. I know next to nothing about art history, and the captions were all in Italian, but the paintings were mostly from the early 1800′s or the 1500′s. There was a ton of religious art and many depictions of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. I love art museums, but I’d never seen such old art before so it felt like an entirely new experience. My favorite painting depicted a young woman, relaxing in a chair while shirtless. I know nothing of the context of the painting, but she just seemed really relaxed and content, and it was a nice contrast to all the stark religious imagery.

For our last night, we had a group dinner followed by a jazz show at Blue Note Milan. Everybody got dressed up for the show, and it was fun seeing everybody all fancy (though a lady at the restaurant apparently thought we were in high school). It was dark in the restaurant so my pictures are not spectacular, but we had three wonderful courses–pasta, sausage with veggies, and flan! We also each got a glass of wine or soda to accompany the meal.

tried using the flash for the second course--not a great result (but the food was delicious!)

Shuyao didn't want her flan, so I ended up having 1 and 3/4 flans (what is the plural of flan?!)

I didn’t think the day could get any better, but it definitely did. The jazz show was simply amazing. Allie, Ansley, Jenna, and I got bar seats right on the balcony so we got a good view of the performance. The singer was Luca Jerman, accompanied by several musicians and a couple of backup singers. His very first song was “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers, which I had just downloaded the week before, and it pretty much set the tone for the night. Everything about the performance was amazing and his voice was really incredible. Luca Jerman was also accompanied for one song by another singer, who turned out to be a really famous Italian singer who won a singing competition show followed by an Italian music award.  Apparently he was taught by Luca Jerman, which was why he showed up for the performance. Everyone in our class was buzzing about it afterwards, and it was a truly perfect way to end the trip. Plus, on the way home, Shuyao and I found Spongebob randomly painted on a wall.

Saturday (Day Six):

Saturday morning I had a perfect last breakfast, including a creme puff covered in chocolate mouse–obviously a great way to start the day. We loaded all our stuff onto the bus and departed for an afternoon at Lake Como. The lake was so beautiful, and the town was adorable. It was nice to see someplace other than Milan, which is beautiful but has a lot of cars and busy streets (stark contrast from Copenhagen).

After getting our lunch money and directions from our guide, Shuyao and I headed over to the Funiculare, a gondola-tram-thing that takes you up to the top of one of the hills surrounding the lake. When trying to find it, we first went up this tiny alleyway, thinking we were headed the right way, and we were surprised that nobody else was around. Then when we reached the top of the hill we came out onto a regular busy street, and were really confused. We asked a woman where to find the Funiculare, and she told us we had to go all the way down the hill, and it’d be right there. OOPS. Turns out what we’d thought was a cafe was actually the ticket office.

walking through the little town

We were starting to get hungry, so we decided to try to find some lunch up on top of the hill. We wandered through the streets for a bit, starting to wish we’d paid more attention to the map of the town near the Funiculare station. Finally we decided to ask for directions from a guy at a small grocery store. He pointed us to a little trattoria tucked away in a side street. The restaurant was adorable, and there were only about three options for each course. Shuyao and I decided on two different pasta dishes because we didn’t want to spend too much. What a great choice. After a long wait, the waiter brought out our pasta, and it was the best food we had all week. The ingredients were really simple, but it was all super fresh, including the pasta, and we felt like we were experiencing the real Italy.

We decided to head back down again for dessert, and we found a gelato place by the docks that looked really good. The woman there spoke only Italian, so it was a little difficult making our orders, but the gelato was delicious, as always.

We walked back into town and explored a street market there for a while, and I bought a scarf. Then we went to see the Como Duomo (haha I couldn’t resist), which was obviously much smaller than the one in Milan, but still very beautiful.

On the inside the ceilings were very detailed and and covered with gold embellishments, but I didn’t take any pictures because you’re not supposed to (though many people do anyway).

On the way to the airport, we did a positive psychology intervention where everyone filled out positive comments about everyone else in the class, including themselves. Later on everybody received a packet with all their positive comments. All the comments were so thoughtful, and it was really nice  to end the trip with a positive feeling.

We arrived in the airport way too early because of the lack of traffic, so we had about an hour to waste before we could check our bags. Ansley, Allie, and I sat at some tables and shared all our Italian purchases and ate our last few snacks leftover from the hotel breakfast. Once we finally got to check our bags, we checked out a gift store where Allie bought a souvenir and then went to find something to eat. There was only one choice for food in our terminal, but it turned out to be really good. I had a sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, and arugala, and a pastry for dessert.

My sfogliatella (lobster tail). It was (to my surprise) really delicious--my own farewell to Italy.

Unfortunately, when we got back to Copenhagen at 10pm, it turned out that some of the trains were not running. Luckily Allie and I were together so we searched for a solution. First we went from Nørreport to Central Station to figure out what was going on. All the info booths were closed, and when we tried to figure out the bus we needed, we couldn’t find the stop to meet it. In a stroke of genius, Allie ended up buying a hot dog while we figured out what to do. We asked the man at the hot dog stand if he happened to know anything about the buses/trains, and he told us that if we took the one train that was running to Hellerup, we could catch our train from there. We went for it because we had no other ideas, and fortunately he was correct. We each ended up getting home at like 12:30am, but we got there!

Told you it would be a long post. Now it’s time for me to prepare for a return to a normal schedule, homework and all. This trip was better than I ever thought it would be, but I’m so glad to be back in Copenhagen. It is so nice to be in my own room with my own bed, and I’m actually really excited to return to my normal commute tomorrow morning. It’s funny how Copenhagen has become my new home and frame of reference as I travel around–even American money is starting to look foreign!

Arrivederci and vi ses!

Don’t Call Me Achmel

Time to hear about the rest of my weekend, and my first few days of my fourth (!) week here. This weekend, my host mom’s sister and her wife were visiting from Århus, which was super fun. When I got back from my study tour, I was exhausted but very happy to be part of hyggeligt family time. I was also very excited for dinner, because I figured it would be special since we had guests. Indeed, the table was being fully set and everything looked put together, but I couldn’t figure out what we were having. Bowls of chopped apples, oranges, bananas, bell peppers, coconut, peanuts, and other ingredients were all being put together. At first I assumed that the fruit must be for some kind of fruit salad (though I didn’t understand why it was separated) or possibly for a dessert. But the bowls were being put on the table as if they were a part of dinner. Then I caught a glimpse of what was cooking in the pot–some kind of meat stew. Now I was really confused. Eventually I found out that my suspicions were true, and that we were going to put all those things on top of the meat (with rice)–an Indonesian recipe. I often get pretty creative with my flavor combinations (teriyaki sauce with scrambled eggs anyone?) but this was a bit much even for me. In the spirit of my study abroad experience, though, I decided to go for it. I chose bell peppers, apples, oranges, and peanuts to start because they seemed least clashing. In fact, it turned out to be pretty good! My favorite part was that we got to use chopsticks, which felt very homey because I always use them when I eat Asian food at home, which is quite often.

After dinner we decided to play a family game while eating the other apple cake Nanna, Charlotte, and I made a couple weeks ago. Everybody chose Trivial Pursuit, but they were nice enough to play the kid’s version, play in teams, and translate all the questions into English so I sort of had a chance. My host aunts turned out to be really funny and silly, and having more people in the house made it even more lively. Game night was super hyggeligt, but afterwards I was super tired so I clambered into bed without even unpacking.

The next morning I got out of bed leisurely at 9:30 and joined a yummy breakfast of rolls and wienerbrød. Always the best way to start a day. It was a quiet Sunday, so I spent most of the rest of the morning updating my blog, unpacking my stuff, and doing some much-needed laundry. Around noonish, we had a quick lunch of sandwiches before heading out on a walk to finally see the Baroque Gardens at Frederiksborg. It was a beautiful day–almost too much so. I had gotten used to dressing for gray windy weather, and I got way overheated in the warm sunshine on our walk to the castle. The gardens were just as beautiful as promised, and I took a ton of pictures.

first time in the baroque gardens

monograms in the baroque garden--they apparently had to change them when Prince Joachim got divorced

view of the castle from gardens

On our way back, we walked through town and stopped in the square where the race had started two weeks before. Everyone was lining up at the ice cream stand, and through a general consensus we joined them. It was my first time having soft is, which is like American soft-serve but creamier and denser (kind of like frozen custard). Just before we ordered, we saw a young girl, not more than 4 years old, getting her ice cream. She went for the works–large waffle cone with rainbow sprinkles and a lollipop. As she walked away she stopped for a second, waved her little arms and said “YEAH,” very definitively. It was her quiet certainty that made it so adorable. She knew her ice cream was going to be awesome.

When I got my own ice cream cone, I had to agree with the little girl. Mine was covered in what I originally thought were nuts, but turned out to be toffee candy pieces. Even though I got a small, it was huge and the sides were sagging over the edges of my waffle cone. I ate it a bit too fast so I felt just a tad sick, but in a good, childish decadence sort of way. Just because I could.

enjoying soft is with the family in the square

That evening I spent mostly catching up on homework since I obviously hadn’t done any during my study tour. In the morning I got to have a relaxed quiet breakfast with Charlotte before beginning yet another week of classes. Monday was a pretty relaxed day as always. Applied psych was fun–our teacher had us actually run around the classroom to wake us up. She’s not afraid to make us do funny things, which is nice in an evening class, especially on a Monday. The thing that surprised me was how dark it was when I was on my way home! On the bus just the week before, the sun was setting but there was still a lot of light out. This week, it was almost completely dark at that same time. Then when my alarm went off this morning I thought it was the middle of the night because it was so dark outside. Unfortunately, it was 6am and I had to get up. It seems while I was away in western Denmark the days have been getting much shorter. It’s making me realize just how far into the semester we already are and just how dark it’s going to be soon. Of course, the days are still relatively long at the moment, but I’m going to have to start savoring that daylight before it goes away on me.

Today was actually a pretty good day, even though it was very long–I was away from home for thirteen hours! First off, this morning in Positive Psych we found out that our class was in the local paper in Bornholm. The politician we talked to last week for our field study, Peter, also had a journalist following him that day and she included us in her article. The funniest part was that she used a quote from Colin, who had jokingly mentioned his original impression of Denmark as a “socialist wonderland.” We couldn’t believe that had ended up in an actual newspaper, even if it was only local. This may sound cheesy, but the more jokes our class shares, the more we feel like a connected group rather than just a bunch of random students. In any case, it was a nice way to begin the morning, especially because I was running low on energy after staying up late completing my reading last night.

After psych, Allie and I had our first Turkey class! We did class introductions, went over the syllabus, and got to hear a little about Turkey and the places we’re going to visit. It made me even more excited for the trip because now we have an idea of where we’re going to be staying and the kinds of academic and touristy visits we’re going to have. Basically, it’s gonna be AWESOME.

At lunchtime I met briefly with a girl who I might travel with during the first week of travel break, before going to Turkey. There’s been a whole group of DIS students working out travel plans together and we were the only two with just the first week free. Tomorrow I’m also going to be meeting with the bigger group to see where our plans might mesh and hopefully get a little closer to booking flights, since prices are rising pretty quickly.

In my afternoon classes I must admit I was a bit less attentive than usual because sleep deprivation was getting to me and I was a little slap happy. In particular during my last class (Adolescence in Northern Europe), Lacey and I were both a little over the edge at the end of the day, and got a bit silly when discussing a case study. We were supposed to be talking about a troubled kid called Achmed, but we got distracted trying to figure out whether his named was pronounced Achmed or Achmel, as Danes would pronounce it. We got into a fit of the giggles and just could not stop. Eventually I managed to get serious in time for all-class discussion, but I definitely lost it a couple more times before the end of class.

After class I had the usual awkward bit of free time before my next commitment, an International Cooking Club class I signed up for over the summer. At first I had just planned on sitting at DIS and getting some work done, but the buildings close at 5pm and apparently if you get locked in, it’s game over and even security can’t help you. My class was at 6:30pm, so I decided to do a bit of window shopping along Strøget, the walking street near DIS. My “window shopping” soon turned into real shopping as I was enticed by a few different sweaters and some scarves, and wandered through some shops. I stayed strong and managed not to buy anything though, because everything is so expensive that I want to find the perfect clothes before I buy something. My wallet was opened along my walk, though. I ran across a bakery with all kinds of pastries prominently displayed in the window, and decided that I had to check it out. I have definitely been neglecting my pastry sampling duties since I’ve been here, so I decided it was definitely worth the 16kr.

When I went in, I thought it would be a great chance to practice my Danish because we just learned about how to order food in our last class. The guy at the counter called my number, which I totally understood (go me!) but I think I looked a bit confused because he took me by surprise. At that point he definitely knew I was American (though he probably knew beforehand because of my huge backpack, sloppy clothes, and prolonged squinting at the pastry names). He repeated the number in English and asked me what I wanted in English, so at that point I felt silly trying to order in Danish. Next time I will have to go in prepared and make sure I look like I know what I’m doing so that they won’t immediately start speaking to me in English. In any case, my french horn (or Fransk horn) tasted just as good ordered in English so I was mostly satisfied.

After my pastry I did a bit more shopping. I went into H&M for the first time since being here, and immediately wanted to buy everything. I may return sometime tomorrow to buy a certain sweater I had my eye on, but I told myself that I would take a day to sleep on it as well as to keep track of my money spending situation.

I got to the building for my cooking class without any issues, which was kind of exciting because it was in Svanemøllen, a train stop I pass every day but had never gotten off at before. When I got there I ran into another DIS student looking for the same class, so we searched for the door together. It turned out to be much more difficult than we’d anticipated, and we ended up walking around/through the building a couple times before finally locating the kitchen, where someone let us in. We were basically cooking in the kitchen for an elementary school home-ec class so it wasn’t exactly high-tec but it was small and cute. Since there were four of us there on time, we got to get started on the first recipe, zucchini soup. People who know me could tell you that I’m much more of an eater than a cook, and I mostly see cooking as a means to a delicious meal, rather than an end in itself. I signed up for this cooking class to get some new recipes and techniques and ideas because when left to myself I tend to not so much cook as fry eggs and caramelize onions. The group cooking ended up being pretty fun tonight because we got to chat a lot while the food was on the stove or in the oven. I hadn’t met any of the other people I was cooking with, and it was nice to see some new faces this far into the semester. In addition to the soup, we roasted a chicken and made (somewhat haphazardly) rice with black eyed peas (yes it is a food not just a music group) and coconut milk. All the food was really good, and we were especially proud of our chicken.

our chicken!

Along the way there was some trouble with knives, since we didn’t find the adult-sized knives until after we’d cooked most of the meal. We also had unnecessary problems with the rice, because we turned the stove too low so it wasn’t really cooking for about 20 minutes. Still, the meal was very hyggeligt and it was definitely a nice way to spend a Tuesday night, even though I was really tired. We also all got to take home some leftovers, which I’m looking forward to enjoying tomorrow.

When I finally got home tonight I was originally going to go to bed immediately but then I had to write this post and I also finally got a chance to skype with my parents. It was nice to see them (and my dog) and to personally tell them some of the stories I’ve been blogging about. They also got to update me on the state of the house (a never-ending process) and their recent trip to Seattle and bubble tea. Apparently they also saw a baby llama, which is just ridiculously adorable and I am jealous. Now it is WAY past my bedtime though and I have to be well-rested for fun times at Tivoli with Allie tomorrow!

Later alligator.

Fish and Chips

Last post before my short study tour! It’s hard to believe this semester is going by so quickly. In just three more weeks we will be headed off on our long tour to Milan. It’s very exciting but at the same time I’m starting to worry that I won’t get to see and do everything on my (yet-to-be-made) list. Everyone is already finalizing plans for our two week travel break at the end of October, and the rest of the semester is already coming into focus. Not to mention Carleton New Student Week is happening across the Atlantic. Before I get too far ahead of myself, though, I should fill you in on the happenings of this week so far.

Monday was a relaxed but long day since my first class wasn’t until 11:40 but I had Applied Psych in the evening until 7pm. Normally on my late mornings Charlotte and I have a nice breakfast together, but she was at work so I had a quiet morning with my cornflakes. My first class was Danish, which is beginning to get a little more challenging. The first few classes we were just going over basic phrases like “What is your name?” and “Where do you live?” but now we are getting into grammar and more complex vocabulary, and it’s a bit intimidating. Being the easily excitable nerd that I am, I practiced some Danish last spring, so I was familiar with basic questions as well as numbers up to 20, so I didn’t have to practice those things very much. Now that we’re moving beyond those early bits, though, I’m realizing that I will actually have to practice and study if I’m going to do this whole “learning Danish” thing. Apparently I’m not doing too badly, though, because we had a numbers competition, testing our knowledge of numbers 0-100, and I was one of the four winners. Unfortunately our prize was licorice candy, which seems to be an acquired taste, because I couldn’t handle it, and neither could most of my class, but the Danes love it.

After class I went to the library to find a movie I was supposed to watch for my Adolescence in Northern Europe class. The DIS library is pretty small (about the size of my elementary school library, plus some computers and a lounge study area) but it does have some great film rooms. To get a film, you just have to give someone in the office your student ID card, then you can go through a door and across a hall to the film rooms. There are two–one that’s bigger, and more like a small theater, and a small one with just a couch, some chairs, and a big flat screen TV. I chose the smaller one since  I was by myself, popped in the movie, and curled up on the couch to watch it. Overall a very pleasant viewing experience. The movie was called Råzone, and it’s about some Danish teenagers who get out of control and things turn out badly. It was pretty much like American films of the same genre, but luckily not as intense as I expected from the warning our teacher gave us beforehand. It was a nice way to spend a Monday afternoon, and I sort of wished I’d had popcorn to munch on. That evening, Applied Psych class was actually pretty fun. Our teacher is pretty eccentric, and she gets really into what she’s saying, which is good for a class so late in the day. We were discussing narrative therapy, and we even got to try it out by doing roleplays in groups, with one client, one therapist, and one observer. I was the client, the one thing I didn’t want to be, but it was actually pretty relaxing just telling someone about my life and having them listen to me. Between that class and my positive psych class, I’m getting pretty used to  this feelings-validation thing.

When I got home, my host parents had leftovers from dinner waiting for me. Charlotte described it pretty accurately as “Asian food made Danish” since there was meatballs with curry and rice. Curry = Asian. Meatballs = very Danish, not Asian. Despite its incongruousness, it was actually quite yummy, and it felt very hyggeligt to be sitting on the couch with my family while they watched the Danish version of Survivor and I ate my dinner. I definitely do not regret doing the host family option. The more I hear about other living situations, I am so glad I get to come home to a cozy family waiting to hear about my day over dinner.

Tuesday was pretty bland, just classes as usual. Every early class day I am struggling more and more to pull myself out of bed. As glad as I am to have a routine and feel comfortable in my environment, I kind of miss the days when jetlag, excitement, and nervousness made lack of sleep a secondary concern. I’m getting really good at sleeping on my morning train, and sometimes on the afternoon one too. Those naps help a little bit, but I should probably just start going to bed earlier…

Tuesday night I also went to a BLUS (basically an LGBTQ student organization in Copenhagen) event that I’d been invited to by Adda and Anthony from my buddy network. Originally Jenn was supposed to come with me, but about five minutes after my train left Hillerød I got a call from her saying she wasn’t going to make it. She’d realized she forgot her transportation pass and had luckily gotten off the train before it became a problem. You can get on the train without a ticket but if you get caught when they do their occasional inspections you have to pay a large fine. So basically she was stuck somewhere between her house and Copenhagen, and she’d bought a ticket back home but she lives beyond the S-tog area so she has to take the regional trains, which come much less often. Anyway, I was left to ride my train with the prospect of going to an event alone where there would be more Danes than DIS students. Obviously, it turned out fine and I ran into some other DIS people there and it was pretty fun. BLUS has a bunch of events planned for the semester, mostly on Tuesdays, that I may go to although probably not too many because I don’t like missing dinner at home. It was a fun way to hang out with a mixed group of people, however, and I ended up riding part of the train home with a Spanish guy we met who was pretty nice.

This morning I had my second field study, this time for my Positive Psych class. We met at DIS in the morning then walked to Parliament, at Christiansborg Palace (yes,the Danish Parliament is in a castle) where we met with Peter Juels Jensen, the education spokesman for the Liberal Party. I was expecting it to be a somewhat formal and serious event, but he was actually pretty funny and had some very interesting things to say about Danish happiness, the education system, and other political issues. We also got a great tour of Parliament, including some fancy meeting rooms, Peter’s office, and of course the room where all the action happens. Other than the fact that it was a castle, it seemed a lot like our American government buildings, except with much older decorations, more eccentric paintings, and a lot less security.

On the way back to the train station, I was absolutely starving, so I stopped for my first Danish hot dog, or pølser. There are stands all over Copenhagen, and they come in several different varieties, so I just went for the most basic since it was my first time. This one didn’t come with a bun, but it was a long (bright) red sausage with delicious mustard and ketchup on the side. The stands had been tempting me for a while, so I was excited to have an excuse to finally try one. Just as I suspected, it was super yummy, and now I’m really excited to try some different varieties with more toppings. I’d been planning to walk with it to the train station, but as soon as I got my food it started pouring out of nowhere. So I ended up eating my fast food like the Danes do, standing by the cart under the overhang to avoid getting soaked.

After my snack I had to hurry to the train station because today I had to register with my local kommune (municipality) to get my Danish CPR card so I can live here non-illegally and get benefits like free Danish healthcare. Charlotte was nice enough to pick me up from the train station and take me to the kommune because it’s way out on one side of town, and somewhat difficult to get to if you don’t have a car and don’t know the way (i.e. if you’re me). Registration was actually very easy, and quite different from my experiences at American DMVs. We had to take a number, but there were very few people there, so we only waited about a minute. At the desk next to us, a little girl was getting her first passport which was super adorable because you could see how excited she was to sign her own name for her own official passport. On the way home, we also stopped at Føtex, which is a bit like Fred Meyer or Target, only Danish so much much smaller. It’s fun for me to go to Danish grocery stores, especially because I’m not buying my own food or anything. I am always immediately tempted by all the candies and chocolates because for some reason foreign candy always seems that much more delicious. Plus kinder chocolate is just great. Luckily the high prices always keep me from even touching any of it. I think I’ll be in trouble as soon as I visit a country with even slightly cheaper prices.

Tonight I was able to hang out with my host family a little more since I don’t have any homework due until next week after my study tour. Charlotte and I might make cupcakes together sometime, because she has a cupcake cookbook but Danes don’t really have cupcakes, only muffins. As someone who loves cupcakes (pretty obvious given my recent blog theme change) I’m very excited to make them from scratch. Maybe I’ll even show them cupcake cones, though that might be too much to handle. At dinner we discussed Christmas traditions, which is getting me really excited for Christmas even though it is still a few months away. Since they don’t have Thanksgiving in Denmark, Christmas spirit starts in full swing in November, so it won’t be too long. I told them about eggnog, and I think the girls thought it was a pretty strange idea, but maybe I’ll make some for them this winter. After dinner, Cille, Nanna, and I took Maggie for her walk, which was really nice because we never really get a chance to chat just the three of us. Then we all played a family game, Ludo (kind of like Sorry or Trouble), and had some delicious apple streusel muffins Charlotte made. The game was very competitive, but it went on for a long while, so eventually we called it quits, and we each claimed to be the winner. It was one of the most hyggeligt nights I’ve had so far and it was a great last night before my first overnight trip.

[Pictures of above events coming soon!]

(About the title of this post: during the game Cille was swearing a lot and getting very angry when she would lose, and her parents were not too happy about it, so they asked me about nice ways to swear in English. I mentioned “gosh darn,” “fudge,” and “fiddlesticks,” which got transformed to “fish and chips” as they were all trying to pronounce it. One of those had to be there moments, but it was pretty hilarious.)

Fun For The Whole Family

Today was my first official run in Denmark and, well, ever. I got an official shirt and everything yesterday with a number, safety pins to attach it, and a chip for my shoe to track my time/placement. I’d agreed to do this race the very first day I was here, when I probably would have agreed to anything. Two days before, when discussing whether to bring my running shoes to Denmark, I specifically told my mom, “I don’t run. I’m not a runner. That won’t change. I won’t magically want to run when I get to Denmark.” I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to buy a gym membership or anything, so I saw no reason I would need my shoes. Little did I know, two-days-in-the-future me would agree to participate in a five kilometer race with all the women from my host dad’s side of the family. And when I say all, I mean ALL. Here’s a picture of everybody who ran today:

This includes me, Charlotte, Søren’s cousin and her daughter, Søren’s aunt, his mother, and his sister and her daughter, and his sister-in-law and her daughters. And of course all the menfolk from this crew sat in the sunshine and drank beer (not the little boys obviously) and cheered us on at the end. It was really fun to be with such a big family group since my family never has get-togethers this big, and certainly not just for a race. Frankly it’s hard for me to imagine my family ever joining together over an athletic event at all, but that’s another issue entirely.

This morning we biked over to the site, which was pleasant but a bit of a struggle bus. I haven’t ridden a bike in forever–probably the only time in the past six years was our bike tour in Vietnam. I think my host parents were a bit worried for me because my starts were pretty wobbly, especially because the bike was a bit too tall for me, and we were biking along the street. I made it successfully there and back, even after the race, so I’m quite proud of myself, even if I looked pretty silly doing it.

The race itself was quite arduous, being five kilometers, or about 3 miles, especially since I am terribly out of shape and haven’t gone running since who knows when. Needless to say I walked much of the way… I like to say that I was just taking the time to “enjoy the scenery”, which was actually quite pretty. We were running around Frederiksborg Castle and it was a gorgeous sunny day as we ran through the forest by the castle and past the Baroque Gardens, which were as beautiful as people had said. Luckily most of our group were not real runners either, so we stayed together most of the way. I was happy as can be when the race ended, and proud of myself for finishing.

Upon reaching the finish line, we got fruit, water, and goody bags. In the goody bags we got there were magazines, herbal tea, blister medicine, a huge bar of marzipan (very popular here), and a tick remover that claimed to be “for the whole family.” I don’t know what ticks have to do running but it was pretty funny.

When I got home from the race, I took a shower then a much needed nap. After dinner (pita bread with chicken and veggies; kind of like make your own pita taco, except with ketchup–I think Danes really like ketchup), Nanna and I took a walk to 7-11 with Maggie to get milk. It’s nice when I get to spend time alone with the girls because we’re all usually busy with homework or activities, plus they’re less confident with English than their parents. Earlier this week Cille and I walked Maggie alone and I got to talk to her about her school and everything. So tonight it was nice to chat with Nanna about her job at Sunset Boulevard (a fast-food sandwich place kind of like Subway). You should know that 7-11s are very different here than in the U.S. They’re everywhere here, and they usually have a case of pastries, lots of candies, a small selection of groceries, and even DVDs. So they’re more like a tiny grocery store than a convenience store as we know them in the U.S. Supposedly, they’re also one of the main places you may get pickpocketed though, so so far I’ve been avoiding them.

After the walk, we had American pancakes for dessert. It was a bit of a surprise to me, because although we’d been talking about having pancakes I’d always assumed it’d be for breakfast, like in the U.S. I think Danish pancakes are usually thin, like crepes, but Søren made a special effort to make them fluffier American ones. We had them with the maple syrup I’d given them as gift, with Nesquik that Charlotte had gotten in her goody bag. They were very surprised when I told them that we usually had pancakes with bacon and eggs at breakfast in the U.S. Breakfast here is usually toast or rolls with butter and jam and cheese, and maybe some wienerbrød. Nanna and Cille really enjoyed the maple syrup, which made me happy because it was kind of like my main present to the family.

So I’m officially at the two week mark. Doing this race really made me remember my first day here (since that’s when I agreed to do it) and how excited but nervous and unsure I felt. Now living here seems quite normal, almost weirdly so. I’m getting to know some Danish TV shows and I’m getting better at using my knife and fork in the proper way. Danes eat with their fork in their left hand and their knife in the right hand all the time, and they scoop things onto their fork with their knife. As someone who rarely uses a knife normally if I can avoid it, it was quite an adjustment, and my first few days here I felt very childish having such struggles with my silverware. After two weeks, though, I’m actually able to do it correctly. Maybe by the time I leave I’ll have permanently changed my eating utensil use.

Skyping with Zach in about ten minutes, so time to wrap up.

Three more days and then my short study tour!

Winning

Yesterday was another long day. I had class first thing in the morning, at 8:30am, and of course I napped on my morning train ride. The first week I was here, the train was so exciting I wanted to spend the whole time looking around, but now I fall asleep almost every time.  After our morning class, Allie and I wandered over to the Black Diamond and sat outside in the beautiful sunshine.

sunny day outside black diamond

The week had been pretty rainy and gray, so it was nice to know that summertime isn’t quite over. After Allie left for her second morning class, I sat around for a little longer then took the scenic route back to DIS. On the way as I was walking past the canals, suddenly a band was playing out of nowhere, but I looked around and didn’t see a parade or anything. It turns out there was a boat passing by with a small ensemble playing on it, and it seemed like yet another sign of a wonderful Friday. My afternoon classes were pretty normal–we’ve gotten past the basic introductions now, and are moving on to more serious material, so I got my first real essay assignment… whoopee (not). After classes I checked my email in the library to waste some time, before heading to the metro station to go to my first Danish buddy network event.

As one of the possible immersion programs, DIS does a buddy program where you can be matched up with a Danish buddy, usually a university student, to get to know. I think they used to do one-to-one match-ups, but apparently students found that somewhat awkward, so this year they are doing a network system, where there are 10 Danish buddies and 20 American students. Each network gets a budget to be spent doing fun events together, so many of the networks did their first event this week. My network’s event was a dinner in Christiania, a sort of hippie-ish independent city within Copenhagen known for their “green light district” where people are selling and smoking pot out in the open. The police have been cracking down on the drug usage in Christiania recently though, so we have received many warnings not to partake in the available activities there. Christiania is also known for their funky houses and general atmosphere, so it’s a required stop for tourists in Copenhagen. For our dinner, we were meeting in the Christianshavn metro station, which was not difficult to find, only about 2 stops down from Nørreport, the station close to DIS. I got there pretty early so I sat for a bit then wandered back through the metro station looking for the group. I started to get a bit worried because I didn’t see a large gathering of Danish or DIS students, but then I saw a guy with a backpack (definite DIS student marker) who asked if I was from DIS. Together we ran into another student, and then we spotted a couple of Danish people across the square that had been standing there for a while. When we all met up, we found out we’d all been standing around for the past 10 min., not recognizing each other as part of the group. It was pretty silly, but I was mostly glad to have found the group successfully.

We waited around for several more minutes for other students to show up, but only about 5 DIS students from our network showed up. There was also a group of DIS students from DIS housing (sort of like dorms) who knew the “Danish buddy” organizing the event and were invited to come along. When it became clear that nobody else was coming, we started walking together over to Christiania. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to take pictures in Christiania because the residents don’t want to be caught on film doing their illicit activities so I have no pictures to show you, but it was a very cool place. We only walked straight to our destination, so we didn’t do a lot of exploring, but there were lots of painted murals everywhere and booths and we passed the sign for the “green light district” as well. On the way to the place where we were having dinner, we also passed a giant plastic jellyfish sculpture just hanging outside. I’m returning to Christiania for my Danish class later this month, so I’m really excited to explore it further.

The place where we had dinner was basically called “Gay House” in Danish (Bøssehuset I think?). It’s a venue for drag and other gay events, and groups can also rent it out for the night. When we got there they gave us some free drinks with blueberries that were quite good and we all stood around chatting for a bit. After a while we sat down at tables, with at least one Danish buddy per table, and waited for dinner to be ready. Everyone seemed really nice, especially the Danish buddies. The one at my table was Adda, who was actually Icelandic but she’d been living in Denmark for the past seven years. There were a couple of other non-Danish Danish buddies too–one from Portugal and one from South Africa, but all of them had been living in Copenhagen for several years. They were all very funny and friendly, and very interested in getting to know us. The conversation was actually much more academic than any I had had since being here, since they were all university students as well. It was nice to talk about something other than where I was living in Denmark and what classes I was taking.

For dinner we had food prepared especially for us by a chef guy who Anthony, the Danish buddy organizing the event, knew. We had pesto salad with grilled tomatoes, flødekartofler (basically potatoes baked with cream–very Danish), beef, and two kinds of bread. Everything was very delicious, and I ate until I was quite full. After dinner, we were divided up into teams for a quiz competition. Each team had to have a mascot, who got dressed up in the various crazy drag costumes in the back room. My team was the Swinger’s Club and our mascot, Michael, was wearing a ridiculous jellyfish tentacles thingy around his neck and an afro wig. The quiz was really fun and our team did pretty well. We only got second place, though, so we did not win the bucket of candy. All the DIS students ended up leaving after the quiz was over, which we felt a little bad about, but everyone had various morning excursions to attend and nobody wanted to try to find their way back to the train station alone in the dark. Overall it was a super fun night, and I got to hang out with some people I never would have met otherwise. Hopefully our network will have another event soon.

This morning I had to get up earlyish to get to Copenhagen by 10am to catch the bus to Helsingør (Elsinore in English)! My travel today was actually very silly because Helsingør is actually north of Hillerød, so I went 40 min. south only to go 1 hr. north, and on the way home I went 1 hr. south back to Copenhagen then 40 min. north again to get home. Lots of wasted time, but definitely worth it. I met up with Jenn at Frue Plads where we were meeting our bus, and we had a lovely bus ride along the coast up to Helsingør. Along the way were some very nice waterfront houses that were huge by Danish standards. Probably hugely expensive. When we finally got there, we got about an hour and a half to explore on our own before we had to meet up for our tour of Kronborg, Hamlet’s castle. Jenn and I wandered around the adorable streets of Helsingør, just looking around. There was some kind of children’s fair going on, and so there were a lot of kids in fluorescent yellow vests and there was a giant giraffe bouncy castle in one of the squares.

streets in elsinore

giraffe bouncy castle

After seeing the town, we went to find the ice cream place that Allie had recommended to me after she went to Helsingør last weekend. It was called Brostraede Is, and it was quite delicious. I definitely recommend it to anyone going to Helsingør. I got caramel ice cream with fresh whipped cream (a common thing in Denmark, I think) and a bit of real strawberry sauce on top. The caramel and strawberry didn’t clash as much as I expected, and the whole thing was super yummy. The waffle cone was also really good–thinner than American ones and more sugary/crispy.

super excited for my ice cream

It was another sunny day, so we sat outside and ate our ice cream, and then had our lunches. My packed sandwich and apple were yummy, but a bit underwhelming after having ice cream (maybe that’s why you don’t have dessert first?) but my host mom had given me some candy too so I had a second dessert to round out the meal. By the time we finished lunch, it was time to head back to the group meeting place to get our castle tour. I was pretty convinced that Jenn and I had “won” this part of the day, since we found the public restroom right away (the thing everyone was looking for as soon as we got off the bus) and got delicious ice cream. Of course, nobody else recognized our clear victory, but pride of winning was enough of a reward.

For the tour, we had to get divided into smaller groups, which was done by calling out all our names individually and sorting us by last name. Definitely not the most efficient process (Kendall, you would not have been able to handle it), especially considering everyone was just going to go with their friends anyway. When we finally got going though, the tour was really interesting. It was nice to get some more history and explanations of the appearance of the castle, unlike when I went to Frederiksborg and couldn’t even read the signs in Danish. Apparently when opening Kronborg to the public, they decided not to put in fake restored items, so most of the walls were bare but all the items there were original, about four hundred years old.

cool ceiling (my favorite )

We also got to go down in the old dungeons, where they performed tortures long ago. There is also Holger Danske, a statue of a famous Danish Viking hero who is supposedly sleeping until Denmark is in grave danger, when he will awake and defend it. His legend is very famous and all Danish children know about him.

Holger Danske

gorgeous view out of Kronborg

It was a long tour, and by the end we were all pretty exhausted, especially because our group finished up with the dungeons, which were very dark and a bit scary to navigate. The floors were super bumpy rocks and the ceilings were low, so you felt like you were going to trip at any moment. As interesting as they were, it was a bit of a relief to walk out of the dungeons and into the sunshine. After the tour, we took the bus all the way back to Copenhagen, when I caught a train all the way back up to Hillerød. It was a lot more travel than necessary, but Jenn and I chatted on the bus ride and it was quite pleasant. On my train, I obviously fell asleep yet again, since I was pretty tired from walking all day.

After dinner tonight we (it was just me and my host parents because Nanna was at work and Cille was at a friend’s house) took Maggie for a walk as usual, but we stopped by Søren’s aunt and uncle’s house for tea. They were just as friendly as the rest of the family has been, and their English was pretty good (I think Søren’s aunt studied in England when she was younger). Søren’s uncle was very funny, just like the old men you see in the movies, who are allowed to be inappropriate because of their age. It’s funny to be able to meet so many members of the family; I’m not used to having everybody live so close together. Of course, in Denmark, 30 minutes is a pretty far distance, and if you live 3 hours away, it’s good to see you a few times a year. Tomorrow I will meet even more family members because there is a women’s race, that I agreed to participate in my first day here, that practically all the women in the family are participating in. The distance is about 5 km., or 3 miles, but Charlotte assures me that she will be mostly walking too, so I’m hoping it will be relatively low key.

I’m really starting to get used to living here, and it’s almost weird to think about going back to the U.S., and to Carleton especially. Since Carleton New Student Week is starting soon, I’m getting emails from the GSC and such about various preparations, and it’s hard to believe that all that is still happening across the ocean, even though I’m not there. At the same time, it also seems odd that I’m going to be here for so much longer. I feel like I’ve been here a while, but I still have 3 and a half months to go. I’m sure it will speed by though–as I begin to make plans for travel and exploring, those 3 months are beginning to seem shorter and shorter. Only two weeks ago I arrived here exhausted and unsure of what would happen, and now I have an established routine–I’ve regained my anti-morning feelings, I fall asleep on the train, and I can find my classes without checking my schedule. So much has happened already–I can’t imagine how anything more could possibly happen to one person in such a short span of time.

Must go to bed soon and prepare for my race tomorrow. Nighty night.

(Also, Facebook pictures are now up for those visual learners out there. )