Nicole and I woke up this morning to meet our home stay parents - Jens and Marianne. They are so so nice and welcoming. I really could not be happier to be staying with such a wonderful family. They made me a wonderful latte and then we ate some cheese & chocolate croissants which were beyond delicious. Seriously I am getting spoiled! After setting some ground rules about living in their house (even though they are so casual,) Nicole and I decided to head into downtown Copenhagen for the afternoon. The train station was a 10 minute walk and the train was about 25 minutes to the station. Denmark's transportation is 10 billion times better than good ole' NYC subways. Arriving into the city and seeing Copenhagen from what I have only seen in pictures made it finally hit me that I'm not in America anymore! The cobble stone streets are old, yet beautiful and the shops are so modern. Walking down the cobble stone streets we stopped at this huge tower which was having an exhibit called "The Museum of Broken Relationships." (And no David and I did not break up it was just a fun museum to go to...) We had to climb up half the round tower to get there which had beautiful windows with views of all of Copenhagen. The museum showed all different mementos from past relationships that were donated by real people. Each memento had a story behind it explaining it's meaning. Something as simple as a sweatshirt, a pair of crutches, or a tiny pig figurine had a long background story that was quite intriguing to read. Then, we climbed up the rest of the round tower where the world's oldest observatory is located. The round tower has no stairs to the top, it's actually all one big circular ramp because the King at the time was too lazy and wanted to have his horses carry him up to the top. He clearly had a challenging life. But, the views were incredible as you can see. And, across the bridge in the distance is Sweden - only a 20 minute bus ride to Sweden from Copenhagen. After the beautiful view of the round tower we headed over to Nyhavn which is where the well known Copenhagen colorful houses are. The weather and lighting were perfect for some incredible pictures. We had a bit of a heart attack because both our phones died due to the cold and mostly everywhere is in Danish, but once we warmed up Google Maps was ready to be used again. Strolling down Nyhavn I couldn't believe I was really in such an amazing city. The people are wonderful and so nice. This semester is really going to be incredible! Oh, and by the way I love Denmark's political views. After exploring the canal we had to grab a classic Denmark hot dog on the side of the street so we did. It was quite delicious but also twice the size of my face, and also the same color red as the table. Gotta try everything, but thank goodness we were hungry. After lots of walking today we decided to head back home and hang out with our host parents. Every Sunday night they do family dinners (Daria if you are reading this it reminds me of our old Sunday night dinners!) They grandma, the kids, the parents, and us students all get together every Sunday around 7pm. It is a great couple of hours to get together and the food is seriously delicious.
Alright, headed to bed now because I have to wake up at 6:30am for a commute to DIS where we are going to be starting orientation. Luckily, we only have activities until 1pm so Nicole and I are going to get our bike rentals and explore more of Copenhagen! :)
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After a day of flying I finally made it! My first 6 1/2 hour plane ride from Newark airport to Frankfurt, Germany was actually not too bad. Nobody showed up next to me so I got lots of extra wiggle room. Also, I guess I look German or something (!?) because every single flight attend from Lufthansa asked me questions in German, yet they asked the German guy all questions in English. My response was just nodding and smiling and that seemed to work. FYI the plane was huge - one of those crazy double decker planes where you can walk upstairs. It was pretty dark when we left Newark so this was the only photo I could get. After sleeping and reading to pass the time we finally arrived in Germany. Once I got to Frankfurt, the customs officer looked at my passport and asks, "Copenhagen?" I responded yes and I got my first stamp in my brand new passport! Hello Adventure! I met a ton of nice girls on DIS on the same plane as me going to Copenhagen, including Nicole McCallum who is staying in the same home stay as me! Unlike what I have done before, we actually took a 5 minute bus ride from the terminal to the plane and then straight out of a movie we got to WALK ONTO THE PLANE. I literally felt like a famous person and was having an inner freak out. Already checking things off my bucket list and I hadn't even arrived in Denmark yet. On the flight to Copenhagen I had to giggle to myself considering my name is Dana, I was sitting in aisle D, I was traveling to Denmark, and the snack on the flight was Danishes. (please laugh at my alliteration joke.) After a short flight from Germany to Denmark, during which I ironically spoke Spanish with the guy sitting next to me, we landed around 11:30am on Sunday. The DIS girls and I went to find our bags and then followed the DIS signs across the street to the Hilton. At the hotel there was a quick orientation about home stay and we were given a huge packet describing our upcoming orientation week. (freshman year all over again?) Then, Nicole and I hopped in a quick taxi to Væerløse, which is a little outside of Copenhagen. We met our host sister, Mie and her best friend at the house. (My host family will be back from vacation tomorrow morning.)
The house is gorgeous and our rooms are adorable. After getting some helpful tips about traveling and about Copenhagen in general from the two Danish girls, they headed out. As for now, Nicole and I will be sipping on some wine and watching a movie as we attempt to get rid of our 6 hour jet lag! Can't wait to explore downtown Copenhagen tomorrow! |
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