bar hopping and free margaritas

I'm going to go back in time to Saturday night to tell you all a little bit of my amusing evening. I met up with Amy at our usual meeting spot- McDonalds and were joined by her friend. We headed to Floss to start off with some beers and then decided to walk around the city and look for another bar to head to. We ended up strolling through the sex district which is always a funny thing to do. Some of the shop windows are just unbelievable and nothing that would ever be shown in America. I believe the weirdest thing we saw involved an inflatable cow...? ANYWAY. We end our evening stroll through that area and come to the Buddha Bar-a cool little bar with slot machines and other games- where we stop in and grab some beers for the road, because we can do that here, and continue our walk around the city. We make another stop at Heidi's Bier Bar where we have a drink and are surrounded by other DIS students celebrating someone's birthday, but we don't stay long because Amy gets a call from a friend saying to meet him at the Viking Bar. This place might be one of my new favorites. Its very chill, open, good music. Oh, and I might be a little biased because when we got there, the people we were meeting were seated with this older guy buying everyone drinks? Yes, this was a little sketchy, but it was alright and he had a younger friend who kept putting his arm around the guys at the table. Hilarious. So, we had a free drink with him and then I headed home!

On the bright side...

Denmark losing the handball match to France means lots of wine with dinner and my host mother telling me a scandalous story about my host father from years ago involving tight pants, lots of women, and climbing through a window.

Dead royalty and viking ships

So, after our long night out on Saturday, I nicely woke Sam up (by shoving her) and we got up to get ready to go on our little field trip! After a very, very long (45 minute- it was bright out and movement wasn't all that welcome after the night before) bus ride to Roskilde, we arrived at the Cathedral. We had a really nice tour throughout most of the building, saw sooo many tombstones and neat little places in it, and took lots of touristy pictures:

Wouldn't you like to be buried beneath this?

Just looking at another room of dead royalty

Anyway, so the Cathedral was stunning and beautiful and had lots of cool stories and ceilings. 22 kings and 19 queens are buried there, I believe. It's basically like every where you walk you are surrounded by or stepping on royalty. Interesting.

Then we got back on the bus and made our way to the viking museum. There were lots and lots of ships. Dad, you would like this. It's like the Danish version of the maritime museum. Inside there were all of the actual ships (what was left of them) that had been found stacked in the water off the coast because they had been used as a blockade by the vikings. Outside there were the ships that had been made recently using the same tools and techniques as the vikings and the people had actually sailed the ships to Norway a few years ago. Pretty neat.

Friday night: Family dinner, Floss, Found, Friendships?

Friday after Danish class, Sam and I headed to my house for dinner with my host dad and brother who were so very (not) exited to cook a vegetarian meal! Actually, it turned out really good and they both liked it, so there Danish meat eaters. After dinner, Sam and I had some (cheap) wine and got ready and bothered Mathias for a little while. Then we hopped on the train and met up with a Smith friend at Floss, our fav bar. We hung out there for a really long time having some tuborgs and inhaling the copious amount of smoke in the air while chatting with some friends coming in and out.

Then we left the bar to meet up with someone on the other side of the city. So we go to the train station, and I get on a train, andddd turn around to see the others not getting on it because its the wrong one. OOPS! Actually, it really wasn't a big deal at all, it just took...a while for me to finally be found by Sam at the station we were all actually heading to. No worries. So, we meet up with the girl we were looking for and start walking to her place which is actually in the sex district? Fun fact, I also ended up there Saturday night. No, I have not gone to any strip clubs. Anyway, we find her and everyone just kind of decides to go to 7/11 and pick up some beers and go back to her place to hang out. Sam buys me a piece of pepperoni pizza because she is wonderful. And, as we are leaving the store, we see Vela across the street. Vela is the one lesbian bar in Copenhagen. So, Sam and I basically say- yeahhh, we're gonna go there instead.

Vela is really nice! It's pretty small, I liked the decoration, and the beers were relatively cheap. Sam and I stand around and observe for a pretty long time before I finally decide we need to be social so I kind of turn and start chatting with a group. Everyone was really nice! We get to chatting with a few specific people who were all really cool and showed interest in hanging out with us again. So yay for us! Cultural immersion!

Heading home was a little tricky. We went to the central station which is the biggest and could not find my train home for a really long time, but we did! And had a nice slumber party as we do.

And so concludes Friday night.

Thursday night in...

I know I'm a few days behind on updating on my life, so I will use my Sunday to distract myself from homework by writing to you all!

Thursday night was hilarious. After a full day of classes I was beaattt. So I finish my Danish homework and go upstairs to visit Mathias and make him check it for me. Then I say I'm bored and the night ends up going like this:

• He puts a santa hat on my head
• I receive an Iron Man (the movie) t shirt
  
• We play Wii downstairs. It turns out I have awful balance. My Wii age is 33. I now have a Wii character in this house. Cultural Immersion WIN.
• I had cookies and milk, therefore negating any "workout" I got from Wii fit. The Danes do not put their cookies in milk.
  
• I had a duct tape battle with Mathias where he ended up winning (although it took him a surprisingly long time considering I am a fourth of his size but weirdly strong?) and duct taping me to my chair.
  

And that was my Thursday night.

Freetown

Yesterday I went with a few friends to Freetown Christiania... how to describe this place... well, it began with a bunch of squatters in the early 70s and now is a self proclaimed autonomous neighborhood. Basically one second you are in the city and the next...


Its kind of like a village. There are little shops and stands everywhere. There are a lot of great bakeries and organic vegetarian restaurants. Basically, the place is known for its bikes and its weed- which people sell and smoke openly free of the control of the police.

I don't really know how to describe what it is like to walk down the streets of Christiania. Kind of like, an abandoned creepy fun park? An old abandoned western village taken over by 1970s hippies? I have no idea. It was a cool thing to see though. I know some of my friends who would thoroughly enjoy the place...

Jeg vil gerne have...

Yesterday (Mandag) was a very long day of classes, but it was okay, because they are still very interesting. I'm very excited for the workshops and study tours to begin. For example, for my Visual Worlds and Social Media class we will have a night where we make quick videos on our digital cameras to create a story and then learn how to edit them into movies. Lots of fun things to do coming up. OH ALSO. The Opera! My Danish Language class has hilariously decided that for one of our field studies we should go see Romeo and Juliet at the Opera... on Valentines Day.

Speaking of these fun "educational" outings, last night was my Danish Language and Culture class's cafe night where DIS takes our class out to eat with our teacher! We had just learned yesterday how to ask for something in a restaurant: Jeg vil gerne have - I will have.... and so we were expected to try it out last night. We went to a really nice little restaurant where we all sat together at a big table with our teacher. It's really nice because the class is only about 14 of us and everyone is really cool so it is very fun to hang out with them-- good thing since we see each other four days a week for class! The dinner was gooood. I had the biggest beer of my life! A massive Hoegaarden which was the first time I had tasted one and it was delicious.

We were very amused by the size and weight of the drink. Mmmm. So good.

For dinner, I ordered a burger. Ha. So culturally diverse of me. But it was delicious. As we were exploring the menu, we noticed a deal for shots at the bottom. 1o for 100 DKK, obviously we were intrigued and the spelling of the shot name made us guess that they were jello shots! Wrong. When we asked Mogens (?) our teacher, he laughed and explained that the shots were for when you have a sore throat... and that it is vodka with a pill... you can picture our faces becoming more and more confused.... and the pill dissolves and it is good for your throat. Oooookayyy. But, he insisted it was a Danish specialty and the class was totally up for some more cultural immersion! So, we got the shots, they looked terrifying and dark. Mogens bought us two favors so we could try them out. Blue and yellow. The blue tasted like STRONG peppermint, hard to take down, and the yellow was licorice. Now, I HATE licorice, but this shot was tasty. Most of us ended up choosing that one. Basically it tasted like really delicious Jägermeister.

Skål!

Met the Little Mermaid! (January 23, 2011)

I just got back from having a very Danish day with my very Danish host parents! The morning began with breakfast with my parents and their oldest son and his youngest daughter- an adorable little blonde girl. We had rolls for breakfast to kick off the Danish day. Then, we hopped in the the car and headed out! Our first stop was seeing a bunch of windmills and energy factories because our breakfast discussion revolve around Denmark's leaps and bounds over America when it comes to resources.

Our next stop was this ADORABLE little town, of course, I have no idea what the name is and could not pronounce it anyway, but it is very old with very small houses on the water. I've decided that I want to live there and sooo I need to acquire the 3 or 4 million dollars it will take to purchase one of the houses.



Many of the houses in the village had these pairs white china dogs in the windows looking out into the street. Lisbeth informed me that back in the day, prostitutes sold the dogs along with their other "goods" and when men left the home to go on trips they would return with the dogs as gifts for their wives. Odd. However, the wives began to use the dogs to inform others if the husband was home or not so that they could also have some fun of their own instead of being lonely. So, if the dogs were facing the street looking out- it meant that the husband was NOT home because they dogs would not want to see what was going on inside. And if the dogs were facing inside of the home, the husband was there. I really, really want a pair of these dogs.

After this, we headed into the city and had a lunch of hot dogs! This was my first time having a Danish hot dog and we all got the ristet hot dogs (roasted) with everything. DELICIOUS. Then we headed along a path and saw this statue:



The statue is of a witch who was told that however much land she could cover in one night, would be hers. So, she turned her sons into the bulls you see here.

We kept walking and the next thing I know we are coming upon the Little Mermaid! So I got to meet her which was nice!



On the way home, we stopped in a bakery and bought a ton of pastries to bring home. I literally just ate my weight in Danish pastries and I'm pretty sure I will never have to eat again, but damn were they good.

And so concludes a very wonderful Sunday! Now I am going to spend the evening studying Danish, reading, and awaiting my host brother, Mathias', return home from a weekend of skiing because I miss him dearly.

nul, en/et, to, tre, fire,fem....

Just a glimpse into my life in Denmark: sitting in my little room mumbling over and over again how to count to 20 in Danish.

Tia Loca, Ruby Sipper, and the Danish Mistress

The majority of my Saturday was spent in bed, trying to read, napping, and catching up on tv shows. It was nice and relaxing. Then last night, I met up with some friends in the city and we bar hopppped. Our first stop was this really chill bar where the handball game was on and so we had to watch that. We won, don't worry. This bar had lots of cool beer choices such as Sam's choice- the Danish Mistress, a sweet cider. I had a beer called Tia Loca which has now jumped to the top of my favorite beers chart. We kind of all just decided to get beers that sounded funny. Well, the girls did. The boys we were with came back with lots of dark ales. Grunt grunt.

Copenhagen still never ceases to amuse and amaze me. I love walking around at night. Most of the shops are still lit from inside and you can see whatever fun products they have. Floss is still one of the most interesting and fun bars ever. Caity, I think you'd love it. We hung out in the downstairs part last night watching beautiful blond (hipster) danish boys play pool and drink Tuborg. Good stuff.

I woke up early to get ready to have breakfast with Christian, the oldest son, and his wife who are coming over but someone has been in the bathroom for a looong time soo lucky for you all- I had time to blog!

oh hej, tiny goblet? (January 21, 2011)

Soo, last night was my first night out in the city! After our Danish class, Sam and I hopped on the train to her house. It was awesome to meet and hang out with her host family who is incredibly sweet and fun. They are younger than my host parents so it was an interesting change. Sam made delicious veggie sandwiches for dinner and after a few glasses of wine with her parents we set out to meet another Smithie for drinks!

We had a few (cheap) beers at Floss (the tattoo and graffiti bar) and chatted and were soon joined by two girls Sam had met in her program. Then we all headed off to the DIS party at the Diskotek In which is a pretty American club and was paaacked with DIS students, but there was free beer so it was okay. We didn't stay there for very long after running into some guys I knew and we took off to bar hop throughout the rest of the area. It was all very fun, apparently I ended up stealing a shot glass that looks like a tiny, tiny goblet from some place where we did tequila shots and now it is sitting nicely on my bookshelf.

Then Sam and I headed back to my house where Lisbeth and Steen were still awake -ha- and we had a snack of warm rolls and water before heading up to bed!

It was definitely a fun and successful first night out. The city is awesome at night, so many young beautiful people walking around and filling the bars. Today, however, I'm doing a lot of reading for class which isn't as fun... but is actually alright because it's all very interesting reading. Thankfully. I do also want a nap.

Warm reindeer liver? nomz? (January 20, 2011)

I just sat downstairs and had coffee with Steen and one of our neighbors and friend of the family, Mons. I love older bearded Danish men. Mons has done lots of neat things in his life: he grew up on a farm in the Danish countryside and Steen grew up in a harbor town so they told me all about fishing and the industry and how mink fur has become a rather big deal here because when the fishing is not good, the Danes need another way to make some money in the towns. When Mons was younger, he would take a break from his career in finance and go on hunting trips where they would set camp three hours away from the mountains and walk to hunt every day. Once a reindeer was killed and clean, what was the snack they had before the long walk back to camp? The warm livers. Ew. I'm an adventurous eater, but that just... no.

Hvad hedder du? (January 20, 2011)

...Jeg hedder Gillian!

Today was the first day of classes, and due to my charming schedule, I have all four of my classes every Monday and Thursday. So, from 8:30 until 4:10 I am doing some learning. However, I am extremely excited for all of my classes, so it's okay. So far. There was also SUN today! First time I've seen it since I've been here.

My first class of the day is Current Trends in Media, the core course for my program. It seems like it is going to be very cool, very "real life" oriented, so maybe I'll actually gain a sense of what I want to do with my life?? This is also the class that I will do my study tours with.

My second class is Virtual Worlds and Social Media. This class is awesome. So far it seems as though we are doing a cultural analysis of the impact of Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and other social networks. Blogging is also a key part to the class, so, I suppose Babes and Berries will be getting some work done!

Then I had a lunch break. Got myself some folded pizza (maybe there's a more technical Danish term for this?) and walked through the city.

After lunch, I ran into Sam and we went to our intensive Danish Language and Culture class. This ones going to be hard. I accidentally called Sam a boy in our class, but she didn't kill me. So it's okay.

Even though I was exhausted by the time my last class came around, I was immediately excited again. International Advertising in a European Context scared me at first, because a lot of the other students taking it are marketing majors or have interned doing advertising stuff, but we did a mini quiz and THANKS SMITH I actually knew a lot more than I thought I did! The woman who is teaching is seems amazing and I am so excited about the class. I'm hoping this class combined with my core class will give me a goal for the future by the end of the semester.

So that was my day! Currently my hair is a little sticky because my host brother decided to put an adhesive CD case on top of my head.

Passport to Denmark! (January 19, 2011)

Okay, remember those Mary-Kate and Ashley movies where they would go to different countries and run around and see things with very little plot? THAT IS HOW I FELT TODAY. The day began with a very crowded train ride for me. A man said something to me in Danish though, so I am going to pretend that it is definitely because he figured I am Danish. Win. Today's final orientation activity was a scavenger hunt all around our area of the city to historically and culturally important places where there would be a speaker to tell us about each location! We got into groups of about six- here is where I began to feel like MK&A because it was me, two other girls, and two boys. The perfect dynamic for a preteen movie? I think sooo. It was so much fun walking around the city and exploring, fumbling with maps the entire time.

Our first stop: Gråbrødretorv! "The most charming square in the city"
Here, there are lots of beautiful cafes and a sculpture in the center of the square surrounded by a variety of different buildings. The area is historically and architecturally important because throughout history many of the buildings were bombed or burned to the ground and were rebuild at different times, so while some survived, others are clearly from a different
architectural style.
The sculpture in the center was built in place of The Pillar of Shame- I kid you not.
Our second stop: The Royal Palace
The Royal Palace of Copenhagen is different than one might imagine. It is not what I expected a "Palace" to look like. As we learned today, this is because the circle of buildings that form the palace were actually built to be homes for the very rich but were instead purchased for the royal family. Also, I love the guards.

Next, we hit up the Royal Theater which is right on the water and then took a Harbor Boat to the Black Diamond- the city library before our final destination: Parliament!


Cool, huh? I love this city. And yes, it really is that dark and gray all of the time.
On our way to the Royal Palace, we ended up walking along one of the most picturesque areas of the city that you would probably all recognize from postcards and it finally hit my group and I that we were ACTUALLY in Copenhagen. The strip of houses and boats right before the water is just incredible, even in the gray light. And there was at least one treat that probably would not have been shown in any MK&A movie...

Folded pizza and a singing birthday mug (January 18, 2011)

My morning began with a knock on my door and Mathias' voice telling me that it was 8 o'clock and wondering if I had to be up. Yes, in fact, I did. Apparently either I slept through my cell phone alarm or it did not work. Ooops. However, I SOMEHOW made it to my 9 am orientation on time! Today's orientation was organized by our living situation and was basically just informative about basic things and situations that may come about. It was rather boring, but our session tomorrow is supposed to be more fun- another scavenger hunt thing around the city, but we get to visit more places and have speakers at each one, or so I've heard.

After the orientation, I went to lunch with a few of the people I met in my group yesterday and a few other boys. We ended up at a cheap but very good pizza/sandwich place nearby DIS. I had seen people walking around the city with pizza folded in half and was extremely curious to try this. On the menu, they had some of the most bizarre pizza options. Some even involving shrimp! I, however, was not that brave and was too hungry to risk something that might not be good, so I stuck to a basic chicken, mozzarella, and tomato pizza. Brilliant concept, delicious, and perfect for an on-the-go lunch.

After lunch, I headed to a variety store called Tiger that we had to find yesterday in order to find a birthday present for my host brother who turned 23 today! I ended up buying him a hideous Happy Birthday mug and a personal massager because I noticed he had been rubbing his shoulder the other day. Anyway, when I gave him the gifts after dinner he laughed and said that he really liked them but it was not until he took the mug OUT of its case that we all realized together that it actually PLAYED the happy birthday tune! I had no idea! It was hilarious and we all laughed and thought it was the funniest gift ever. Whewww, I was nervous about the gift giving but I think I successfully completed this round.

Later in the afternoon, I had my first meeting with my academic program- Communication and Mass Media. All of the other students- about 25- and I gathered together and met the head of the department, the program assistant, and the teacher who is in charge of the main class. The cool thing about DIS is that all of the teachers are professionals in the field that they teach. Everything is much more career and real life based than Smith which will be good for me to apply what I have learned into a more "practical" education, at least for the semester. The program seems amazing. I'm very excited- although not so excited to actually start classes on Thursday. Oh well!

After this, Sam and I went for a long walk around the city (aka around in a circle) before heading to the train station.

Another fun part of my day and then I will shut up: when we had the birthday dinner, I eyed the way my family used their knife and fork and I managed to copy them so well that Steen announced that it was impressive that I knew how to use them! Ha! fooled him. Maybe. Lisbeth quickly remarked about how another student they hosted had been watching them and followed, so maybe she caught on. Maybe not. Either way, I am determined to become extremely skilled at eating with my fork in my left hand while holding my knife the entire time in my right.

So now, I'm sitting at my little desk in my little room up later than I have been since I got here! I suppose the sleeping in was good for me.

A Few Danish Traditions! (January 18, 2011)

My host mother is wonderful, she loves to talk and she loves to share Danish traditions and histories with me that I feel like I would be completely missing out on if I had chosen another living option. While I have had my anxieties about meeting people and making friends here- because some students all live together in large groups in apartment building and have it much easier to meet and hang out- after evenings like this one, I know I made the right decision. I'm going to share with you all some of the traditions and events that I have learned about over the dinner table or watching the news (in Danish) with Lisbeth and Steen.

• The Queen's Birthday! Lisbeth actually shares her birthday with the Queen and as she jokes, she is much more polite about it. What she means, is that while the Queen greats the city on her birthday by coming onto the balcony and waving at the crowd, she never invites anyone in! Lisbeth apparently, would not only wave to the crowds outside gathering for her birthday, but she would certainly invite them in.
• Another traditional Danish meal: PORK ROAST. Tonight for Mathias' birthday meal he prepared a traditional Danish pork roast. Dad- challenge! The Danish prepare their pork so that the skin is extremely crispy (AND DELICIOUS) while the rest is cooked and juicy. It is amazing. Apparently, Lisbeth's sister is the master at pork roast and she can cook it so the skin is sooo crispy and has tons of big bubbles, which I know must sound awful to many of you- especially the vegetarians, but hoooly shit is it good. Also with the meal, we had potatoes and gravy- which has become a common side dish in our dinners, and red cabbage. I loooved the red cabbage. I believe it was pickled? it's kind of sour, and was cooked with red wine. So good. All of it was amazing. And Lisbeth kept teasing Mathias that it wasn't all that well done, so I can only imagine a master Danish chef with these recipes.
• Anniversaries! This is a weird one. But awesome. So, Danish wedding anniversaries are a big, big deal in the community and with friends. Instead of the married couple simply going to out to dinner either alone or with their family, friends of the Danish couple whose wedding anniversary it is organize a special gathering the morning of. The morning begins with the married couple being woken up by music in the street. For Lisbeth and Steen's 25th anniversary, I believe, this was done by a BAGPIPE player that their son Christian organized! Can you imagine? Bagpipes early in the morning?? Other friends or relatives may organize another instrument player or singers, or different kinds of music to wake up the couple. Then, once the couple is wake bright and early, they great the massive amount of people who have come to celebrate the anniversary with a breakfast provided by the couple. Apparently 80 people may show up. EVERYONE goes. Also, their doorway is decorated so that the whole street knows- in case they missed the loud music and huge crowd early in the morning. I thought this was such a neat tradition.
  
• Speaking of anniversaries, Happy 90th Anniversary Today to the Sausage/Hot Dog Stands in Copenhagen! Everywhere you go on the streets they have the stands, like in NYC, but obviously with a Danish twist and today was the 90th anniversary for these stands as I learned while watching the news. I have yet to try one of these, but I surely will and will report back.

I'm sure I have learned more, but these are the ones that are fresh on my mind right now.

When in Denmark... (January 18, 2011

pose with an Abercrombie & Fitch model? WHY NOT


While strolling down Strøget with some people the other day, one of the girls got very excited by the attractiveness of the model posing inside of the store...sooo she rushed in and dragged me in and then, of course, I could not resist.

day 2 success (January 17, 2011)

I am beyond exhausted but I wanted to jot down a bit about my day before I forget. This morning I took the train into the city all by myself! Successfully! And then navigated the short distance through the beautiful streets of Copenhagen to where I needed to be. I was very proud of myself. My commute consists of an 8 minute walk to the train station in my little town and then a 24 minute train ride into the city and then... a 5-10 minute walk to the DIS buildings. Not bad, but definitely not my 5 minute walk from the quad onto the Smith campus. I also have an 8:30 class this morning- those who know me and my sleep/class schedule can only imagine how much this will challenge me.

But hey, that's what I'm here for right? To be challenged. So many times today I felt like I pushed my comfort zone and it's only the second day.

So, today we had the opening ceremony which was rather boring but motivational in the way that all opening ceremonies are. Then we were split into groups for a sort of scavenger hunt to get to know the DIS facilities around the area. This was...kind of helpful? My group was very, very nice. Some of us exchanged phone numbers so maybe I'll be seeing them around? Later in the afternoon, my group acquainted ourselves with a full year student who ended up taking us on a tour of his favorite (cheap) bars and cafes and other neat things around the city. This was wonderful, we were really lucky, but it involved a lot of walking because my group wanted to go to the library which was about a fifteen minute walk away from DIS. Worth it though, I got to see part of the harbor and more of the city. It really is beautiful! And old! some of it so old. Our "tour guide" showed us one of the medieval streets which was very cool. There are swans in the harbor and in the little boat areas. Very nice. Very white and majestic. I'm very tired.

Before heading back home, some of my group members and I went out for a beer in one of the little bars our "tour guide" had shown us. Basically, the outside of the bar is covered in stickers and graffiti, you would never know what it was from looking at it. Inside, old danish men, some covered in tattoos are drinking beer and smoking. I feel like I smoked a pack of cigarettes just being in there but I loved it and we had a really nice time relaxing after the long day. It was definitely a neat find, and very cheap. Had my first Tuborg which was delicious.

Then found my way back home! Even in the fog! Sat down and ate dinner- the family had eaten already but Lisbeth sat down and talked to me about Danish traditions and royalty. I can tell she loves sharing traditions and bits of their culture, it is all very fascinating and intriguing. So different from America.

Alas, I would love to write more but I am wiped out.

Oh, Hej! I'm here! (January 16, 2011)

I don't know any Danish yet or I would say something witty to begin this! I learned that "bad" means bath, however. That's about all I've got. And no, it was not because someone suggested I take a bad.

This morning I arrived in Copenhagen! I cannot believe that was only 14 hours ago. Seems like forever. Sam and I had a nice flight where neither of us could sleep at all, but luckily due to our cuteness, we were able to sit next to each other. We tried to watch the Bucket List but it was terrible and then we watched a documentary on mute about elephants. I'm pretty sure no one but Sam and I care about this part of the adventure.

Then we arrived! Sam and I met this boy named Hugh from Bates who is very nice and we waited for our baggage with him. Then we separated and Sam and I went off to find out host families. After being misdirected and walking through the airport searching for a staircase that did not exist, we finally got on the right track and made it into the Hilton Hotel where we would meet our host famz.

My host mom, Lisbeth Schou, picked me up. She is wonderful! She told me about how their family has kept in close contact with many of their other host students and even traveled to the states to see them years after! Yes, this puts a bit of pressure on me, but she is just so nice and eager to help, I truly feel like I am in good hands. Then we headed back to my house where Steen, my host father, was cooking breakfast! We had fresh rolls that were delicious and they told me stories about Denmark things and their lives and it was just so refreshing and nice to be completely immersed in something so new and different. After a while, Mathias- my host brother- stumbled down the stairs hungover from a night of drinking. Obviously I was intrigued. He is incredibly sassy and has a harsh but hilarious sense of humor and the entire family spends most of their time in a witty and hilarious banter of teasing one another. I love it.

After breakfast, I unpacked in my adorable little room. I have a desk that folds from the wall and a little bit that is also a couch and it is just adorable. I'll post pictures soon. So I unpacked and then nappppped for a while which was nice. Then showered, got dressed, realized I have no idea how to flush a Danish toilet (don't worry, I've figured it out by now), and headed downstairs where the family was just about ready to head out. Where you ask? Well, to their older son's house for dinner. The older son who has a wife and three young children. I wasn't too nervous, still in a daze from all the traveling and excitement, and luckily he and his wife are incredibly nice and also full of banter. The family is just so fun and love to give each other a hard time. The father likes me because I love coffee. Mathias gave me a heads up that Danish men in clubs are much more straight forward than American men. Good to know. Anyway, for dinner we had mexican- ha? which was good and the funniest part...(SHOUT OUT TO DJ PEARLZ) Taylor Swift played the entire time in the background. It made me homesick but also so amused that the family would choose to put her on.

The dinner was also interesting because half of it was spoken in Danish. Lisbeth always makes an effort to translate for me what was said if an entire conversation went by that I would find amusing or important, but sometimes I just listen as they talk. I'm going to have to get used to it, and honestly I kind of enjoy it.

So, tomorrow I have to find my way into the city by myself for the first time for orientation. We'll see how that goes! As for now, I need SLEEP.

DIS Classes! (January 13, 2011)

I just logged into the DIS forum and was reminded of the classes I will be taking when abroad: I forgot how awesome they sound!

I will be taking:

Current Trends in Media (core course for my Communication and Mass Media program)
International Advertising in a European Context
Virtual Worlds and Social Media
and of course- Danish Language I & II

Stay tuned for updates on how the classes turn out!