My Second European Country

The journey to the second European country I have ever been to took approximately 35 minutes.

My friend Susanne and I had talked about taking a train to Sweden early in the week and when Saturday came around we woke up and decided would would do just that. We got up out of bed at an early 10am (early, since we had been out making friends with the local bartenders the night before!). We grabbed a bagel and coffee and went to Copenhagen Central Station. From there we bought our tickets, and ventured to take my first international train ride!


After making a few friends, chatting, and checking out the views, we arrived shortly to Malmö Central Station. After our 35 minute train ride we were in a different country, where they speak a different language, and use a different currency. It was hard for me to take in this information. It seemed so bizarre to me that after this short train ride I could be in such a different culture. After the initial shock and a few back-and-forth paces of the station looking for an ATM and a map we ran into a few familiar faces! We ran into a few DIS students who I had a class with, and they lent us one of their maps and we were on our way!

We then spent the day spending Swedish Krona at the chic European shops and not even worrying about it. The conversion rates between USD and SWK is like 9:1 so it was like spending nothing! We then ended our day at a nice steak restaurant where we were able to have a good meal for a cheap price (rare in Copenhagen!) and we even splurged on desert! I am proud to say with all the shopping and eating I managed to spend under $100 usd!

I am still in awe that in one day I was in one country, in a different one, and back again!

Well its Monday again and classes are back in full swing and I arrived at my bus stop to find out ( after 15 min of waiting) that my bus, 14, was on strike so my Monday morning was to say the least, a little stressful and consisted of quite the hike to classes! Though, I somehow managed to find it quite humors!

Month One. Check.

It has already been just about a month since my arrival in Copenhagen. Though, I still feel it seems that my stress-filled arrival was just last week....

My dorm like room with the smallest kitchen I have ever seen, has now become "home,"

my new late night diet of hot dogs has become a routine Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights (no not really, but almost),

My pronunciation of this crazy Danish language is becoming a little more understandable, I think?

My commute to and from school has become enjoyable, now that I don't stress about where to get off,

And My random common-room acquaintances who let me tag a long my first night in Tåsingegade, and my survival danish classmates have become my good friends and travel companions whom I adore!

As this month has gone by, the days have started to get longer and the sun has even managed to find it's way though Copenhagen's constant dense cloud cover. I enjoyed my two days of sun last week with a chilly afternoon run and a beautiful valentines day of strolling down the center of Copenhagen on the longest pedestrian street in the Europe, Strøget. My sunny valentines day consisted of an enjoyable day of shopping for gifts for myself... and I must say, I did quite the job! The streets were overflowing with people shopping, eating, walking dogs, or just sitting outside taking in as much sun as they could retain. It was actually quite amazing to see the change in pace of this city when the sun comes out. You can not just see the energy, but you can actually feel the energy that the a little sunlight bring to the people in Copenhagen.

But as I predicted, the sunny days did not last long, as I woke up to about an inch of snow on the ground and still falling this morning, oh, and clouds... It just may be the Wisconsinite in me, but as I sat at the bus stop today, the snow really had a beauty to it too,nothing compared to the sun, but it was a light snowfall that reminded me of a snow that I enjoy at home.

Also check out the website I designed and did all the HTML coding on my own for one of my classes here. Jennifer Dubman. It is a work in progress still so I will be updating it as the semester goes on!

So much to say

Last Thursday began at 5:45 am for me. I packed up my backpack, bedding and all, took a bus into the city, in the cold rain I might add, to get on a bus and travel to Århus, Denmark with my Communications and Mass Media program. Four hours later we arrived to a overcast sky in Denmark's second biggest city Århus. Århus is located on the main land of Denmark called Jyutlland We then got a lecture from a professor at the Journalism school. From there we embarked quickly to Midtjuske Medier, a Midtjylland newspaper. We again got a lecture about they dying print media and the growth of the online news.... exact same stuff we have been hearing for a while....

The more exciting part of the day was the cultural visit to the ARoS Art Museum where we were lucky enough to check out a new "enter action" exhibit a day before it opened and it was so neat the way we got to be part of the art! The Danish people are very accommodating and kind when they see groups of about 50 American students in a group. We were able to see it only cause a guy who worked at the Museum came up to a group of us and asked what were were all doing. They were more than welcome to show us around to the new exhibit.

I then had my first hostel experience. We were literally placed in the middle of a forest about 15 minutes out of the city, mind you the second biggest city is really not that big at all in Denmark. Despite it's location, it was not all that bad and a few of us managed to find an AMAZING burger place before finding a bar to spend the evening at. My first hostel experience was a success and I hope they are all pretty similar, since i am now starting to plan my spring break travels.

The next morning was another early morning. After carbo-loading on fresh bread, cheese, and jam we piled on the bus to our next location Kolding. Kolding is a very tiny town were Koldinghus is located. Koldinghus is the last of the ancient royal castles on the Jutland area of Denmark. The castle founded in the 11th century burnt down in the 1800s

After a morning in Kolding we set off to a new city in Fyn called Odense. Odense is the home of the Danish government-owned television station TV2. We were again a very fortunate group of students. It just so happened that we were touring the station right as they were about to film the 16:00 news and we were actually able to watch them film the 16:00 news in the newsroom! Odense is also the home of Hans Christian Andersen. After our tour of the TV2 station we got a tour of the whole town of Odense and got too see the influence H.C. Anderson has in just about every aspect of the city.We managed to fit just about everything we could in to those three days we spent in western Denmark and I found my self homesick for Copenhagen... yes, not even the US, I missed the big city streets, the cobble stones, the hotdog stands, the people, the night life, the shopping, and my friends here too! It was a really fun trip but its left me itching to travel more! As I write we are planning weekend trips to Amsterdam, Stockholm, Malmö, and Berlin. And that is just weekend trips!



Again to see all of the photos:
album 1
album 2

Western DK

At 7:15 am tomorrow morning we depart for Århus, Copenhagen in Western Denmark. I am sure I will have something interesting when I come back on Saturday!

Though, I am very upset that I will be missing Fashion Week in the "Fashion Capitol" of Scandinavia! It's too bad I hear its pretty cool.

family.

I recently met my Danish visiting family!

Visiting family: A local family who I spend time with, eat dinner with once in a while, and learn what the Danish family culture is all about.

My visiting family called me about 20 min before dinner ans asked if i would like to join them in a very casual, nothing special dinner with them last Thursday. I was ecstatic and immediately accepted their invite. Twenty minutes later I was picked up by the mom and a very friendly golden retriever, Nala! We drove along the coast to their home a little bit north of Copenhagen. Their home was very nice and they made me feel at home right away.

Both the mom and the dad, Karen and Allen, are doctors. I met their daughter Ea who is 15 and very friendly. They all speak English very well and are all very smart people. Karen and I talked after dinner about how important studying other cultures and being abroad is. She has been all around the US and worked in hospitals in many areas. Allen also travels a lot.

It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and to be around a Danish family, or a family in general. It made me miss mine a little, but its so easy with technology to keep in touch and I don't feel all that far away.

Tonight I am watching the Superbowl in real time here in Copenhagen, which means kick off is at 12:30am.... I doubt I will make it much later though, I have a long 8:30-2:30 day full of back to back classes.