August 24-27...

High: Vegetarian Restaurant in Christiania
Low: broken converter (I'm writing from the computer lab)

I suppose I should explain the title of the blog first...

I had my first class in Danish yesterday, and it's incredibly difficult. I was paying ten different kinds of attention, and thanks in no small part to my voice teacher and her Kleenex box, I noticed that when our Danish instructor spoke (both English and Danish), her speech had a highly forward, focused sound to it. My hand shot up, and I asked something like, "Do you put it so you can feel it in your nose?" The entire class, teacher included, fell silent (we had been practicing dialogues, so this began as a private, one on one question), my neighbors (friendly people) burst out laughing, and the teacher gave me a look like I had two heads and just said "do I put what where?" Somewhat awkward. BUT I think it helped...English speakers who have learned Danish and know what I'm asking about, if you think you have a helpful answer, please let me know!

Ok, here's how it's gone so far:

I arrived at 7:10 am Sunday and checked in. When I packed, I was really worried I'd be one of those Americans who overpacks and brings umpteen things too many, so I narrowed it down and ended up taking one normal sized suitcase, one carry-on sized suitcase, and my backpack (I stuffed a duffel into the small bag so I can shop around while I'm here :p). Upside = I was one of the lightest packers, and all of my bags fit into the big one, which is great for storage! Downside = I miss the pants I made myself leave in the states. Fair trade? I think so!

OH and not only were there like twenty bajillion DIS students on my connecting flight from DC to Copenhagen, but I got bumped up to business class! Hooray!!

Orientation has been interesting - on the first night DIS separated us into groups according to where we're living and then treated the groups to dinner. This was when I found out that I am the only DIS student living in my kollegium. Now, I'm kind of excited about the prospect of being able to schmooze with so many Danes, but in the moment, after a 16 hour plane ride, I was somewhat less than pleased. We've been touring around the city so far, mostly in the central area where DIS is located. So far it's BEAUTIFUL. Pictures to come when I find a way to charge my computer.

My kollegium is located about 30 minutes away from DIS HQ, down near Christianhavn. It's a gorgeous walk, and I'm also within walking distance of bus and metro stops, so when the weather is gross (like today) it's easy to catch a ride to school.

OH the people in my program! Well for starters the program is HUMONGOUS, something like 600 students, and I didn't realize that DIS caters almost exclusively to Americans. There are some wonderful people, some not so wonderful people, and some people who need to take some anthropology classes to develop some cultural sensitivity. By and large though everyone's basically friendly, which is a plus.

Words of import:
1) Kollegium = collective dorm. Danish universities don't have campuses like we're used to in the states. Instead, students from all different local universities live together in large structures called kollegiums.
2) ost = cheese. Allegedly what certain people yell when the popo show up


Observations:
1) Danes are BEAUTIFUL. There are, of course, exceptions, but as a rule, BEAUFITUL.
2) "This is a nation of coins" - Asian tourist lady to me as I bowed out after failing to purchase a metro card with my debit card.
3) Skinny jeans are the shit.
4) In relation to number one: it's reasurring to see fat, frumpy Danes. Otherwise, it would be like living among elves who are preturnaturally pretty.