My eyes are numb. My feet are sore. My hunger for adventure is shaken AND stirred in all of the right ways. I have seen The Promised Land.
..
Just kidding. But I have seen lots of ridiculously beautiful and positively overwhelming sites of enormous historical importance. And I have tasted the wine. (It was gross.)
..
The double cone fountain in the Royal Library gardens
..
The Royal Library/ Black Diamond
..
My blueberry cheesecake and Italian wine from BioMio, an entirely organic and delicious restaurant where a Scan|Design (my fellowship supporters) welcome-to-Copenhagen dinner was held on Tuesday. I tried, but I didn’t get through much of the wine…
..
AND THEN. Frederiksborg Slot. The Danish castle that dates back to the early 1600s. It experienced a horrible winter fire in the 1800s and was reconstructed and repurposed as a museum in 1878. Alright. Now I’m just going to bombard you with pictures for a little while…
..
It was a dark and stormy night…
..
The beautiful facade of the castle!
..
The castle grounds
..
Me. And trees. (I didn’t have a prince to take a stroll across the grounds with me, so I just sat and sulked for a while.)
..
The church– the detail in here was unbelievable.
..
And to top it off, this. Is a door handle. Like what the actual heck. It led to the ballroom, where I had to sulk yet again at my lack of princes (you know, for dancing and stuff).
..
Alright, time for bed. Maybe next time I’ll give a Danish lesson.
But first, the lead-up. On my trip home from school Friday, I had even more bussing troubles. I hopped on the first bus I saw, but it ended up driving the wrong direction. I didn’t notice at first because I was enraptured by my book (Feed by M.T. Anderson, a Christmas present from Brother- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BY THE WAY. GO SEE AN R-RATED MOVIE.) Once I noticed the rolling golden fields, I knew I was in trouble. I reached up to press the “STOP” button, and a lovely old Danish man in the seat behind me swiftly began a conversation. With me. In Danish.
..
Now, a sensible person would probably return his words with a look of utter confusion/ horror/ distaste, or perhaps turn around and pretend to be Deaf, or even better- they may, like, say something to the effect of, “I’m sorry, do you speak English?” or, “No hablo Dansk,” or, “Uhhh.. uhm… Yeah… What?” BUT NOT I. No, sir. I am a survivor. So I smiled openly and nodded enthusiastically, and I watched as he pointed to his fingernails, and I even looked down at my own and nodded as though I understood and HOPED TO HOPE that he was not asking me any questions.
..
Some time later, he stopped talking and smiled. I took this as my cue to return to my book. After a slight pause, the man said to me, in English, “Did you understand what I just said?” Imagine. My. Embarrassment.
..
It’s okay, though! We’re buds, now. His name is Sven (of course), and he told me about his fortunate life of surviving a kidney transplant form thirty years ago. I told him of my studies with DIS and explained the phenomenon of The Party Nail (in answer to his original Danish conversation-starting question).
..
So that was fun. After dinner, I ventured back into the city with Tonia and Mikayla (DIS girls) in search of Copenhagen Art Week, to be met with cheap canned beer (I had lemonade.. ha!), loud non-live music (they were between sets), urinals where men literally stood there and peed with no doors for all the world to see (sorry, no pics), and little boys running around collecting beer cans. OH, and there was no art. Uhm. Yes. That was something. We ended up going to a board game bar instead, and we played Settlers of Catan while listening to another DIS student and her new-found Danish tattoo artist reminisce over the pain of tattooing one’s spine. So that is not on the to-do list.
..
The most hilarious thing was that everybody biked there. There were literally hundreds of bikes parked outside this raving party of hipster Danes. I couldn’t believe it.
..
Saturday, I tried my hand at orienteering for a DIS homestay get-to-know-your-neighbors event. We were handed a map and dropped into a forest via helicopter with nothing but our bare hands and taste for adventure.
..
Just kidding. About the helicopter part. All the rest is true. It was like a map-guided hunt for clues. Followed by cake! Yum.
..
There was a swing. (:
..
Then Sara and I went to the beach to cool off a bit. It was beautiful, the food along the shore smelled delicious, and I will be back. The one thing that really got me though was all of the male nudity. They all showed up in street clothes and just… changed on the beach. Right there. In front of me. I saw two butts and one… Well… I guess two, actually… Uhm… Yeah…. Anyway. They took their time, too, drying off and just enjoying the breeze, I guess. I wanted to hand them a kilt or something as a more modest alternative.
Sail boats!
That’s Sweden behind me….
..
Sunday started off with some banana bread-baking and triathlon-viewing near our house.
..
Some boys even cheered us on, as we rode our bikes to our viewing post under the shade.
..
And then. The Final Frontier. The greatest joy of my life. The One. The Only. SWING DANCING.
..
Ba-Bam. Ka-Chow. Ca-Chigga. And a doo-wop, doo-wop. The room was way too hot and the band was way too swingin’ (as if there is such a thing). The band was a bunch of hipster jazz boys from London (hell-ooooooo), and of course I took the time to chat them up at the end (my most favorite pastime). The crowd was a bit older than what I’m used to in Seattle and Portland, but they were GOOD. Like, really good. As in, I saw not a single beginner. Every one of the men who asked me took a second dance right away (not sure if it’s a culture thing or if I’m just that adorable), and they all had accents! I think I may have heard some American snippets at one point, but I did not meet anyone from The Homeland.
..
All in all, I would chalk that up as a fantastic First Real Weekend Abroad. Can’t wait to see what else Denmark has in store for me.
..
I come to you this fine afternoon from the Copenhagen Library, and these truths are brought to my attention for the hundredth time: that the kids and the musicians always has the most fun.
First of all, I would like to take a second to brag about my view:
..
This is Ørstedsparken, a huge, gorgeous park I found yesterday during my three hour break between classes.
..
There are statues
..
Flowers
..
And beautiful bridges
..
There are also lots of benches and little chess-playing-sized tables perfect for reading/ writing/ eating. I think I will be frequenting this little find as much as possible while the weather permits. I also bet it would be breathtaking in the snow. (Unfortunately, I hear it doesn’t snow much here.)
..
So yesterday was my first day of classes. I had Sustainable Development in Northern Europe at 8:30am, which required that I wake up at 6:30 in order to get ready and catch the train. I got to Copenhagen in plenty of time, but the park distracted me, and I ended up being late anyway. My instructor is adorable and she fed us cake as a metaphor for the money and resources that our current generation is eating up. (After we had split up the cake and started eating, she told us that we needed to figure out what she was going to do to provide her next class with some.) Whoops!
..
Then I spent some time in Ostensparken before finding another bakery for lunch and heading to Creative Travel Writing. That one was lots of fun, and the instructor had to be corrected several times, because she couldn’t get my name straight. First Lilly, then Livvi, though her name is also Liz! Whatcha gonna do…?
..
Lastly, I had Equality in Scandinavia. It was interesting, and we discussed everything from equality in education, gender, age, and nationality. Unfortunately, the class is three hours long, and the instructor really, Really, REALLY appreciates the value of literacy. We had to read eight articles before the first class, we have another sixty or so pages from some academic texts for next week, and over a hundred pages due the week after. So this should be interesting.
..
I stopped by Charlie Scott’s again to listen to some more jazz on my way home, and we had The Weirdest Pizza Thing Ever for dinner. It was good, but it was topped with kabob (some sort of Turkish mystery meat), lettuce, and ranch. I should have taken a picture. All green with swirly rings of white dressing.
..
TODAY:
I was late for my first class, yet again. This time, it was the bus’s fault. The information posts at the bus stop always display how long before the next bus arrives on an LCD screen. The post said twelve minutes, which would mean me missing my train. I wasn’t sure how long the walk was, so I debated for a while before making up my mind and stepping away from the post. Two steps later, my bus drives past. So yeah. That sucked.
..
I was so sweaty and gross by the time I got to the station, and I still missed my train BY TWO MINUTES. Ugh. Luckily, they come every ten.
..
My first class was Danish! Yay! I learned how to say “rødgrød med fløde,” which is a Danish rice pudding dessert, and sounds like…. Well, that’s unimportant. We also learned “røget ørred,” which is smoked trout, and it sounds kind of like Scooby saying “ruh-roh!” but with about ten other hidden sounds. Part of my homework consists of reading this small essay IN DANISH, and I’m supposed to be able to answer questions about it. So this should be exciting.
..
My last class was European Art of the 19th Century. The instructor has been a lecturer, museum curator, and festival contributor for years. (Did I mention all of the DIS teachers are all still working in their fields somehow as some sort of experienced guru? For example, my Creative Travel Writing teacher has written eight novels and used to be a super intense journalist.)
..
I was so inspired by my art class that I decided to drag some other DIS students to the grand opening showcase of Copenhagen Art Week 2015. Here’s a preview:
Starting with today: I had my first day of classes! Yahoo/ boo/ hoo-rah/ yawn. I’ll talk about that later. As in tomorrow. Or even later. My eyes are yelling at me for staying up this late as it is, and it’s only ten o’clock. Gah. Waking up at six = not the first thing on my list of How to Be Productive and Exciting for the Day.
..
So, yesterday. Yesterday was a thing… Yes… Sorry. Tired.
..
Yesterday, I managed to sleep in a bit and wasn’t in Copenhagen until two. I thought it would be an easy day, but not so.
..
After my short intro-class for DIS, I wandered around with the intentions of finding either food or a library. The books came first! Huzzah!
I found some familiar covers. (^Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close)
..
And I found a future reading spot, given that it will not already be occupied by one of the children for whom it was intended. I’ll also need to figure out how to make sure I can fit without getting stuck or embarrassing myself. But that is for another day. (:
..
Interestingly enough, the majority of books were bound in these standard, ambiguous, colorful hardback covers rather than the picturesque, iconic images I am used to. I’m not sure why this is, but it gave the whole library a candy store effect.
The amazing interior view from the escalator. (The Copenhagen Library is no small shop.)
..
Then I ended up meeting Sara (host sister), and we went shopping around until we hated ourselves and the books in our bags. My wallet is lighter and my feet hurt by the end of it, but at least one great thing came from this:
What you are currently drooling over is a couple of do-it-yourself Magnum bars. You get to decide what toppings to sprinkle on and which kind of chocolate dip to use. Sorry.. I guess you — GAH. I AM BECOMING A WOMAN WARRIOR!!! Sorry. But I have seriously captured, corralled, and killed at least a dozen different species of insects and spiders since moving here. They aren’t used to the heat. I just killed a crane fly with the grace of a swan. Or something graceful. I don’t know. Anyway.– I was saying that you don’t get to pick the toppings. I do. Because I did. And it was delicious. And the promotion will be over within the week. So come visit me?
..
The view from the train! So pretty.
..
When we got home, Jesper (host Dad) was hard at work remodeling the neighbor’s yard! He’s adorable. And I’ve never before seen a “little digging machine,” as he called it.
..
After dinner, Sara and Jesper gave me a lesson on the Danish education system. This is the map I was given. I will not try to explain now, but I will give some fun facts and basics! Their GPA is on a 12 point scale, but it is possible to go negative and above 12 points under various circumstances. Their primary, mandatory schooling (they call it “pre-school”) is nine years, followed by gymnasium for three, and then university. However, it seems pretty common to take gap years/ study other things in between/ etc, and there are a lot of options when it comes to gymnasium and university. All of this is covered by the state, of course! The lucky duckies.
..
OH. And one last fact. I will probably talk about this more another time, because I have been thinking about it all day, and I think it is positively mind-boggling: There are approximately 8.4 million people living in New York City, but only 5.6 million living in all of Denmark. I think this is why the entirety of Danish history, culture, and language is so fascinating to me. Honestly, imagine if NYC had its very own language that was used by hardly anyone else. I just can’t wrap my head around it.
..
All right, all right. Enough with the philosophical breakthroughs or middle school video-blog rants or whatever. Time for a shower.
What a day! I was out of the house from 8am until 9pm, running around the city and exploring.
..
During the DIScover Copenhagen scavenger hunt-like event:
…
Grabrødretorv
..
A hidden little square!
..
Bikes, of course
..
Den Sorte Diamant, or “The Black Diamond,” which is a nickname for Denmark’s national library
..
Christiansborg, where Danish parliament resides
..
And finally, the marble church near Amalienborg, the home of Denmark’s queen
..
And then the other explorations!
..
Swans (: I’ve never seen one before in person… They were huge!
..
A shot from the water taxi
..
(Nyhavn, the famous street that is on most Danish tourism paraphernalia!)
..
And then there were my greatest triumphs for the day: wandering by myself, learning how to read a map, navigating the scarcely-labeled and impossible-to-pronounce streets, attempting to pronounce said impossible-to-pronounce streets, and ORDERING A PASTRY WITHOUT USING A WORD OF ENGLISH.
..
To be fair, I only had to use two words of Danish, but hey. The guy gave me the right thing, and I thanked him, so that’s all that matters! (Even though he could definitely tell I was not actually Danish, as he said everything to me in English. Eh. Baby steps.) I ordered a Klobenbollen, if you’re curious. My host family believes it is a made-up word, because they don’t recognize it, but it was a croissant with almonds, apricots, and raisins. Yum.
..
..
I also tried to go swing dancing, but there ended up being no actual floor space to do so, and I only managed to stand on the stairs and listen for a few songs before heading out to apply for Danish residency. The band was the Chris Tanner Trio (from Australia), and they play at Charlie Scott’s every Tuesday night. I recorded a really nice snippet of What it Means to Miss New Orleans, but it isn’t the right file type to upload. ): I’ll figure it out later.
..
My view!
So yes. I am making progress, here in Denmark. I even managed to snooze a bit on the train ride back. Oh, and the reminders that I am in fact here to study have begun to pour in. Presenting, MY TEXTBOOKS: (dun, Dun, DUUUUUUNNNN….!)
(There are twelve of them. For five classes and a seminar… I suppose this week will bring an end to my reading-for-pleasure on the train.) The one I am most looking forward to is my Danish book! Here’s hoping it will help me survive the semester in Copenhagen.
It is Day 3 in Denmark, by Danish time. Now, if you consult my personal internal clock, you may be told otherwise, as the jet lag combined with the overall sleeplessness of the past couple of weeks is finally catching up with me. I got about three hours of sleep the night before my flight, and then I stayed up for about 26 hours before the words coming out of my host family’s mouths started sounding like Danish even while they were speaking English. That was when I decided to take a nap. After dinner, I went to bed around 10:30pm and proceeded to sleep until nearly FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON. I only woke up because my host dad yelled “GOOD MOOOORNING,” and he has the lungs of an opera singer.
Alright. Let’s back up.
..
..
First, there was my practically non-existent layover in Toronto. I then arrived in Copenhagen on Saturday morning covered in sweat with an extremely sore backside, despite the best efforts of Air Canada’s adorable tiny travel pillow. I received a short welcome presentation from DIS before my host family came to pick me up.
They. Are. Adorable. All smiles and blonde hair, and my hope that I would be taller than any of them was quickly put to rest.
~~
Excuse me if this post sounds at all choppy. I keep having to stop and run out to the hallway or hide under my covers. There is a wasp or bee of some sort in my room because I left my lamp on with the window open, and I don’t know what to do about it because it is four in the morning and everyone else is asleep– again, the jet lag. Oh gosh it is just so loud and terrifying… I wonder how strange my family will feel if they find me on the couch in the morning.
~~
Anyway. My family consists of Jesper (dad, tall, loud and welcoming, tries to teach me Danish– so far with little success), Sara (no “h” at the end and the same age as my sister Sara back home (18), so that’s adorable, who is extremely helpful and corrects the others’ English sometimes– she’s the big traveler and has already been to the States and loves the Jif peanut butter I brought her), and Maria (16, super sweet, really into music, and I may have to ship her a UW long sleeve athletic top because she wants one so badly).
After they met me at the airport, we drove around Copenhagen for a while and they showed me all of the tourist sites, government buildings, and the homes of the Queen and Crowned Prince. We also stopped to see the Little Mermaid statue, which was covered in tourists and cruise ship passengers out on their excursions. We grabbed some ice cream cones, and Sara made me get whipped cream and jam on top. It was delicious. And very messy.
..
..
We soon drove home to the town of Birkerød, which is not pronounced “birk- uh- rod,” as I had been saying it. (Instead, you have to say the first couple of letters followed by this impossible-to-mimick throat sound thing that I may be getting the hang of, though I am worried someone will try to do the Heimlich on me whenever I tell them where I live.) The landscape transformed from beaches and buildings to greens and adorable homes. The streets were winding and traffic habits are very different from driving around the perfectly angular and yellow-painted roads of the Seattle area that I am used to.
We were supposed to take the train back down to Copenhagen on Sunday, but seeing as how I slept through most of the day, that wasn’t really an option. Sara took me on the bus to the train station, and we rode the train for one stop before reversing our steps, just so I could see how it works. The system was super nice, and the buses and train were very new looking and the ride was unbelievably smooth. I think the train may be semi-magnetic, but I can’t find anything online that confirms this suspicion.
..
BEHOLD the second Sara in my life– I don’t think I will get them mixed up.
..
I started off today with my very own trip to Copenhagen, or København, via foot/ bus/ train/ metro. It was easy peasy, and I spent most of my time reading and practicing Danish city names under my breath after the automated train lady read them at each stop.
..
Then we had a welcome session and mini concert performance by Sys Bjerre, a Danish singer. Here’s the Danish Royal Academy of Music, where the event was held, along with my new Danish jam (the music kind, not the put-on-top-of-ice-cream kind):
Goodbye, America! Many may still be unaware, but I am currently 35,000 feet above sea level, en route to Copenhagen. I am about to finish off one of the most whirlwind years of my life with a four-month stay in Denmark. No big.
..
This year has been packed with promotions, real engineering, amazing friendships, family, sleeping through finals, stress, sadness, happiness, love, driving all over the state, and heat. I’m sure other things happened, but that’s what comes to mind immediately. I got my first passport back in May and have spent the last few days unpacking and repacking my life and my belongings in preparation for The Next Adventure.
..
So here I am. The clouds are puffy as can be, and I really wish a clown would twirl them on a stick and dye them pink, because I am extremely hungry and they quite resemble cotton candy at the moment. So far the baby a few rows back has only had one outburst, and wifi is pay-by-the-minute or something, so I won’t be doing much of that.
..
Now onto Exciting Things: Why am I flying to Copenhagen in the middle of August, you ask? (And by “you,” I mean “Mom,” because I doubt this little jot will make it much past that, assuming she actually reads this and doesn’t just look at the pictures.)
..
Well, I am studying abroad in order to become Worldly and Enlightened, because that is the type of thing you do in college. My final destination is the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, or “DIS.” It is a school designed for North American university students to experience the extravagance and wonder that is Denmark, Europe, and the world. We are provided with the tools to do all sorts of things, including living with a Danish host family (can’t wait to meet you guys!), learning Danish, and taking class outside the classroom to learn first-hand from museums, discussions, and excursions in Copenhagen and in other countries in Europe. I will also be supported by the Scan|Design foundation, who is helping me fund my studies and will provide me with even more immersions in Danish culture. Eep!
~~
TURBULEEEENCE. How can air be bumpy? I don’t understand… Apparently it is the clouds; I should have eaten them when I had the chance.
~~
Right. So. I am a mechanical engineering major at the University of Washington, but I will be taking a nice little break from engineering while abroad. I am taking some art history, Equality in Scandinavia, and Danish classes for fun, and I am taking some sustainability classes that I feel will be extremely applicable to my engineering future. I will also have faculty-led trips to Rome, Sweden, and Northern Germany, and I hope to make it to at least a few other places during weekends and travel breaks (namely: Norway, Paris, and Amsterdam).
..
Sooooooooo that is all I can think of as far as– OHMYGOSH WE ARE FLYING NEXT TO THIS HUGEMONGOUS CLOUD. Wow. That was great. You guys missed out… I mean Mom. Mom, you missed out.
..
Anyway. If you want to contact me, I’m nine hours ahead of Seattle time. I can definitely be in touch on facebook and email, and texting is free! (You could also just comment on this post.) However, if you want to hear my beautiful voice or see my beautiful face (except not right now– right now I am not sure what is happening to my hair and the bags under my eyes barely made the carry-on limits), you should download the Viber app, because then we can wi-fi talk-it-up all we want for freeeeeee. The app is kind of a combo between Messenger and Skype, but better and with cuter stickers.
..
Until next time!
..
(As a note: just ignore the signature I am about to use if you don’t understand it. I used to sign every blog post this way back in my glory days, and I think it will be a hard habit to break…)
