Even with my overpacking, every time I go somewhere I forget something. This trip is no different. Luckily, I can just ask Elizabeth (my twin) to bring things to me when she comes this week and everything else I can buy here.
I have made it to Denmark. For those of you wondering if I indeed only checked one bag, sadly I was bested by my over packing tendencies. Did I pack less than what I brought to Iceland? Yes! So that was a win. Sadly, I did not get a picture arriving at the airport to document this achievement, so you will just have to take my word.
Goodbye America, Hej Copenhagen
My flight left Newark airport at 5:30 and I was shoving things into my bag until the very last second (sometimes I can be very organized and ready, other times less so). As soon as I arrived to the airport I was surrounded by other DIS students, a very different experience from last semester when I was one of two students from the States. As I stood in line to check in I heard my name called. It turned out to be Amy, with whom I am living in a homestay this semester. We ended up on the same flight, only a couple rows apart, so we got to hang out a bit before even arriving. We are actually from the same county in New Jersey and she goes to school with four of my middle school friends (small world!). Being vegetarians from New Jersey who enjoy reading and wanted to live in a homestay with another student, I think DIS did a pretty good job in matching us up. After killing time in the airport, it was time to get on our SAS flight to Copenhagen! With a flight time of about 7 hours, I had enough time to watch 3 movies as sleeping on planes is hard for me to do (I finally got to watch the movie Yesterday about a musician who is one of a few people who can remember the Beatles after a world-wide black out and it was very enjoyable. According to Anette, my host mom, the movie was pretty popular here in Denmark.) I like to watch the flight tracker and said a mental hello to Iceland as we passed. However, by the last half-hour of the flight I was very ready to land and get off the plane.
And then we were in Denmark! Customs was super simple and after grabbing our bags we followed the numerous other DIS students to the check-in at a hotel across the street. Here Amy and I were whisked away from the long check-in line to a separate Homestay check in. After a short while, we were met by Anette (and thankfully her friend as all of our luggage would not have fit in Anette’s car) and we were off to Blovstrød. The first day in Denmark consisted in settling into the homestay, taking naps, and a nice walk through the woods. The following day it rained, but during a brief pause Anette showed Amy and I how to bike to the train station (though I will probably just take the bus to the train, it is nice to have the option. I have to get a helmet though—I promise it was just that one ride Mom!) After we returned, a little wet from the rain starting up again, we had some carrot cake by candle light.
Living in a homestay has been really nice so far. (For those of you who know about my odd dorm situation last semester—don’t worry, I am eating more than just yogurt with actual people this semester!) Once you get over the oddness of coming into someone else’s space and establishing your own routine, you start appreciating the upsides of living in a house over a dorm, or at least I did. Amy and I lucked out with a super nice family and an adorable dog Snuske, and I am looking forward to our nightly dinners though out the semester.
Into the City, Into the Classroom
On Monday we had the opening ceremony for DIS. Luckily Amy and I were in the later one at 9:45 and our commute was super straight forward. During the ceremony, the musician Drew played some of her music and I can say she has gained a new fan (I found her on Spotify while we were still in the venue and she had a very cool guitar that looked black but reflected purple in the light). I linked one of her songs at the end of this in case you are interested. The first few days are filled with events and information, so it was really nice to head back home—yes, my homestay already feels like my home here in Denmark—each night for dinner. Although the buildings are confusing at first, I’m pretty sure at some point it will be second nature to get to class. Yesterday we had a meeting with our homestay network—Birkerød/Allerød/Hillerød—and met other DIS students who live in our area so that we could begin building a bit of community. Today we had our Core Course orientation which was super exciting to get to know who we will be spending a good chunk of our time here with. My course is European Urban Experience: Why Cities Matter (A) and we will be traveling to Hamburg, Vienna, and Budapest—all cities I have never been to and am really looking forward to exploring. It was nice to see that everyone has different backgrounds in the class and that I am not the only one coming from a non-Urban Studies/related fields background.
Classes begin tomorrow. As of now (and I doubt I will be changing my schedule but you never know) I am taking my core course, Nordic Mythology, Environmental Impacts of Humans, Queer and Subversive Writers in European Cities and History of Copenhagen: Structure, Plan, Design. I still have to find all my classrooms, but I am excited to take classes that are different than what I would be taking at Wellesley but that I am still very much interested in. Well, I think that is all for now. If anyone has a catchy sign-off they want to pitch that would be awesome! Until next time.
Erika Leaves America 