Getting Around Town

Bikes are ubiquitous in Copenhagen - it seems that everyone who lives here owns a bike and uses it to travel everywhere. On nearly every street there are separate lanes for bike traffic, and they're usually just as congested as the sidewalks or the streets. There are also a number of free bike stations positioned around the city; you can insert a 2-Kroner coin to release a bike, ride it around for as long as you want, then return it to any other station and get your 2 Kroner back. I have yet to use one of these free bikes, but I look forward to checking them out soon.

Bikes Parked Outside My Kollegium

On Friday, I went to class and along with the rest of the class made a short presentation about what we'd found by observing/interviewing the Danes in downtown Copenhagen. Afterward, I returned to Hoffmans for a while and got some cleaning done around the room, then once Kyle, Ryan, and Hirsch returned we met up with a a couple guys named Ravy and Tom, and we all went into town and explored for a while. While Kyle, Ryan, and Ravy stayed and got food in the downtown area, though, Hirsch and I headed back to the Kollegium, bought a few sausages, and cooked a feast like none other. After meeting back up with the other guys and a few girls from the Kollegium, we went back downtown and chilled late into the night.

One of Many Churches in Downtown Copenhagen

The next day, I woke up extremely late and got very little done during the daytime. However, the guys and I did make a pasta dinner of epic proportions while the girls from Hoffmans went out. Afterward, we all visited Tom's Kollegium and watched the Manchester-Barcelona game before going out on the town. Today, we all met up downtown and got last-minute tickets to a live soccer game between Copenhagen's own F. C. København and AaB. Although the game was very one-sided, the experience was a great one - at one point, the crowd suddenly erupted in an orgy of inflatable toys being tossed around, and throughout the game a collection of Copenhagen's finest soccer hooligans shouted boisterous anthems. After the game, we returned to Hoffmans by bus, and I Skyped my family before hitting the books and crashing for the night.

Something Truly Hip

It may sound cliche, but one of the first things that impresses itself upon you when you arrive in a foreign country is how much you stand out from the locals. It's incredibly easy to tell a foreigner from a Danish local - the tight jeans, perfectly styled hair, fashionable leather shoes, and general air of urban ennui make the Danes all look uniformly cultured. Copenhagen really is a city of hipsters - enough to put me to shame.

On Wednesday, I made it to class early and was extremely proud of myself. For lunch, the guys in my class and I discovered a schwarma restaurant close to the DIS buildings - where the food was solid and the prices were very reasonable. Our class was cut short, though, when everyone broke into groups and walked around downtown Copenhagen making observations of the Danish people. After all, Denmark is the highest-rated country for happiness - so it makes perfect sense that studying the Danes would give us a unique perspective on the study of positive psychology. After browsing around several shops in downtown Copenhagen with a few classmates, I went back to Hoffmans, listened to music for a while, and chilled with Kyle. The two of us, along with the two other guys in our Kollegium (Ryan and Hirsch), then went to a free dinner sponsored by DIS; the food and drinks were some of the best we'd had yet in Copenhagen. Before the evening wound down, Kyle and I tossed a disc at a local park, and he coached me on my Ultimate skills; then, we spent the rest of the night hanging with a few girls down the hall.

 A Public Park in Downtown Copenhagen

The next day, I arrived at the Positive Psych classroom to find that class was cancelled for the day - so the few classmates who hadn't gotten the memo and I decided to take a tour of the public parks in the downtown area. At our second stop, we visited a greenhouse that housed a ton of exotic plants - none of which were familiar to us. We then decided to take the S-tog (the Copenhagen subway system) to an old fortress in the northeast sector of town. It proved to be a HORRIBLE decision though, since we had no clue how the S-tog system worked and ended up having to backtrack several times. At one point, a girl from my class and I got separated from the others in a different station, but thankfully we managed to make our way back without too much trouble. The fortress was pretty sick though, which made up for all the commotion. After returning to Hoffmans, I got some cleaning done and chilled in our common room with my hallmates for a while.

 A Heavily Graffiti'd S-tog Station

First Few Days

The first couple of days in Copenhagen have been a whirlwind of activity! It seems like I've barely had the time to settle down and get things in order. On the first day of class, all DIS students went on a tour throughout the city to familiarize ourselves with its landmarks and general layout. Some major highlights included the King's Gardens (a large public park in the northwest of downtown where Danes and students go to socialize on afternoons), the palace of the Queen of Denmark (where we witnessed the changing of the royal guard), and the house of the Danish Parliament. Afterward I went to my first Positive Psych class, which was interesting enough; the prof introduced the basic theory behind the school of positive psych and engaged the class in a few group activities. Afterward, I picked up some materials from DIS and returned to my Kollegium with Jill and a few others. Later in the evening, a number of the Kollegium residents and I went down to the local Netto (the cheapest grocery store chain in Copenhagen) to pick up a few necessities for our rooms. Afterward, we all went to a local restaurant for a solid meal - though we felt a bit guilty for ordering the most American-sounding items on the menu. When we returned, we hung in our common room for a while and ended up meeting a transfer student from Berlin, and together we joked and discussed EU politics and the European economic system before heading in for the night.

 My Kollegium

The next day, I ended up taking the wrong bus into downtown Copenhagen and was kicked off at an unfamiliar stop - but thankfully my trusty map and quick wits got me to class only a minute late. The professor was understanding though, since several other students arrived about half an hour later than I did. During our lunch break I met a few guys from my class, one of whom was from Cincinnati too! Even though he went to Lakota East and we didn't seem to have any friends in common, we immediately became pretty friendly. The class discussion afterward was actually pretty engaging, and after getting out of class I went on a walk around the downtown area with several other classmates. We found another awesome public garden and visited Rosenborg castle, near the King's Gardens. I also got my first taste of a Danish hotdog, which was wrapped in bacon and topped with spicy mustard and pickles - and it was EXCELLENT. I took a glorious nap after returning to the Kollegium, then got some reading done, grabbed a quick dinner, and later went out with a group of people from Hoffmans Minde (our Kollegium). We hung around in downtown Copenhagen for a while, though eventually Kyle and I decided to head back to the Kollegium around 1 while the rest hung out with a few other DIS-ers downtown.

Layover and Arrival

Who'd have believed that so much could happen in just a day's time? After departing yesterday evening from the Cincinnati airport, I arrived in Paris for a brief layover. Little did I know that only a handful of workers at Charles de Gaulle Airport speak serviceable English (or even more likely, they refuse to speak to Americans) - so as I fumbled around exchanging dollars for Euros and purchasing airport wi-fi service, I'm sure I butchered the few French phrases that I knew. However, the bathrooms at Charles de Gaulle were absolutely SICK, which sort of made up for the difficulties. After about four hours in Paris, I finally departed for Copenhagen and arrived without too much hassle.

In the brief time I spent in the airports, I was astounded by the variety of people I encountered. Ranging from the Xavier University alum traveling to Budapest to work at a study abroad program there, to the seasoned European traveler embarking on a cruise, to the kindly Icelandic couple also en route to Copenhagen, each new person I met added a bit of perspective to my own travels.

Once I arrived in Copenhagen's airport, I quickly met a few fellow DIS students from the States (DIS is the Danish Institute for Study Abroad). However, after we all shared stories of our universities back home, we realized that the DIS staff who were supposed to meet us were nowhere to be found. After a lot of deliberation and many failed calls to the DIS offices, we finally hailed a cab and found our way to the program's buses by a roundabout route. Exhausted after the past couple hours' ordeal, we each went our separate ways and settled into our respective Kollegiums (a Danish cross between dorms and apartments). When I arrived at mine I met my roommate - a guy named Kyle Canuette hailing from UNC Chapel Hill - and an intern studying architecture in Denmark gave us the lowdown on our living situation over pizza from a local Italian restaurant. Despite missing a shower head and some other room necessities, my roommate and I made do and explored the Kollegium with a few other DIS students. Then, after hanging with a few girls from down the hall (one of whom, Jill, also goes to Denison) we finally settled down for the night.

Ready at Last

It's been a long time coming, but finally there's only a day left until I leave for Copenhagen! After many months of preparation, it's hard to believe that I'll be leaving the states for the first time. Despite being extremely pumped, I'm also a bit apprehensive - in just over 24 hours I'll be completely on my own in a foreign country, and I'll be responsible for providing myself with all my own necessities. Being so self-reliant must be liberating, but at the same time it's pretty staggering to think about. I'm also sure I'll be completely broke by the time I get back in July, but after all the worthwhile experiences I'll have abroad I'm positive that I won't regret it - no matter the expenses. My bags are packed, my fingers are crossed, and I'm ready for the trip of a lifetime. Denmark, bring it.

(By the way, mock me as much as you want for the title and layout. I'll go to any level of self-deprecation for the sake of comedy.)