I left my room around 9:20 to start my walk to the station. My first unaccompanied trip since arriving. I got to the train station and really...couldn't read a single thing. People were speaking Danish all around me, and I am just mesmerized by the accent. I met up with another girl living on my floor, and eventually a few more people trickled in to leave as a group with the SRA (Social and Residence Assistant). She led us onto the train which is like a commuter rail. It has two floors and the sections were separated by glass doors. The conductors walked around to check our passes. Apparently, if you are caught without one, there is a very heavy fine. We made it to Central Station in Copenhagen and walked through the station itself to see what it looked like. Sanne, our SRA gave us a few tips about commuting back before leading us to the Opening Ceremony Venue, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a statue museum. Central Station is actually located right across the street from Tivoli Park. I had NO clue whatsoever. I was excited at the discovery because I thought that I would have had to go hunting for it. But no, there it was right in front of me, a place where I would mark as a landmark so that I won't get lost. Unfortunately, it doesn't open until April. So until then, see you Tivoli.
Here is a photo of the Glyptotek
There were speeches and a string band that played music with an emphasis on Spring. It was pretty funny. Program has about 800 students, 70% of which are female. Seemingly, a good number of them are from the seven sister schools.
After, we left to go to DIS-Danish Institute for Study Abroad our home for the next four months. The orientation was split into three groups, I happened to be in the one that does optional workshop sessions for the day. After getting my cell phone set up, I left with Tam, another girl from my hall, and went looking for the workshop classrooms. After walking in the wrong direction, we made it, but were late, so we couldn't get in. I picked up my books, and we left for lunch with a few other students we bumped into.
We opted for hotdogs. I think we overpayed for them too, but no matter, they were pretty delicious. It had some kind of fried looking onion, sweet pickles, ketchup, and a sweet mayo on top. We walked around for a bit and saw a bakery and crepe stand. Of course the fatty in me told me to definitely go back later that night.
As I was taking this picture, a Danish boy came up to me to tell me that if I wanted a hot dog, this one was closed and to go the one up ahead. I felt a bit bad because I was only taking a picture with no intention whatsoever to buy another hot dog. I said thank you, should have said Tak, but I'm not completely comfortable trying to speak Danish yet. He looked at his friends as if he didn't know how to respond, then looked back and said, "oh, your welcome!" My first Danish Interaction!!
By this point, you are probably wondering what the title means. The workshop that I did end up going to was one about Danish Etiquette. Apparently Danes are very punctual, don't be early and don't be late they say. I wonder if that will be difficult given Bryn Mawr time. (For those of you who don't know, Bryn Mawr classes start exactly 10 minutes after their scheduled time.) I'm not too worried. One of the girls in this session talked about her experience going to the pool. The Danish are very meticulous about their cleanliness, so she witnessed people completely naked showering before putting on their bathing suits to go to the pool. "No curtains" she said. Alright, I didn't see any naked people but all I could think about was my experience in Japan and how similar it sounded. The lecturer also talked about the architecture study tours to Sweden and Finland and how it is very similar there as well, especially when they go to saunas!!! I am totally excited to go on that trip!! But oh boy, more naked people to come.
The plaza that we walked through that morning had surprisingly a number of American restaurant chains, McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC. The city is a little more Americanized than I imagined.
Here is a fancy looking McDonald's. It's two stories high.
McDonald's and Burger King are literally right next to each other!
There was also a very cool interactive add wall, that at first glance just looked like a tv, but was touch screen so you could play with it.
And of course, I went back to get that crepe! Yum!
Nutella, Banana, and Icecream
We were supposed to find our own way back to the dorm. Tam and I were together all day and got to Central Station after some exploring. We looked on the screens as we were told to do so by Sanne, but we didn't really see Trekoner, our stop. So we decided to go ask when the next train was, and for a schedule. The man at the info station was very nice. He must have thought we were idiots. We looked at the schedule for a good five minutes before we had to go back to him to ask how to read the thing. Apparently, it's very straight forward.
Got on the train, got off on the right stop, bought some groceries, and that was it. I skyped with Jenny that night, and she witnessed me trying to clean and cook. My sink got clogged so I was having a bit of trouble and had to improvise. I heated up the pot too much to toast my bread as I was making a sandwich, and smoke was flying EVERYWHERE! It filled the whole room, it was a fiasco, and Jenny was just there being entertained. My sandwich did end up tasting very good though. Just eggs and mushrooms. I think I got sick, and they don't believe in cold medicine here. I'm not feeling to hot, and hopefully I get through this cold quickly, because it would be awful to have to suffer through this for a long period of time.
I will update about today, tomorrow, because it was also very interesting, but right now, I need to rest and get rid of this awful cold. I probably won't be updating as much when classes actually start, but the beginning is always the fullest.
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