So I have now spent some time in Copenhagen, the first leg of my year abroad. I consider Copenhagen to be a fun warm-up for the potentially harder-to-adjust-to countries of China and Israel.
The first night I arrived, Friday June 25, I walked to the main square, right off Hans Christian Anderson Boulevard, which seems to a major thoroughfare. I walked down the Stroget, grabbed a Polser, and a Cocio. I returned to my dorm around 2330, assuming to call it an early first night. I walked into my room and set down my bag when I heard a knock on my still open door. It was my next door neighbor, as I soon learned, and his name was Andreas. He invited me downstairs to an end-of-exams celebration being held in the dorm's party-room. I felt tired and weary of attending when I knew no one. In a split second change of heart I said yes. (I needed to meet people, didn't I?) Andreas introduced me to three of his guy friends and we went down. There were probably over a hundred drunk Danes, all dancing their stress away. I ended up meeting quite a few people in my building. New friends bought me pints of Carlesberg and I returned the favor with tequila shots. I finally went to bed at 4:30 in the morning, with the sun well on its way up from the horizon.
I have been exceptionally happy with my living situation thus far. I live in a dorm named Tietgen on the South campus of Copenhagen University (KU). In order to properly visualize this, you must keep in mind that my building is in the shape of donut, with the hole being an inner courtyard (check photos on Facebook). I have my own room with an attached full bathroom. The end of my room opens up with a sliding door, revealing a north-westerly view towards the city center. Below me lies a canal with gulls, geese, ducks, and some type of diving bird that is a pleasure to watch. Outside of my room, just across the threshold, is the common room. Down the hallway are rooms on one side, with floor-to-cielling glass windows on the other, eventually leading to a communal kitchen. It includes a television and couches, along with a view of the inner circle and the kitchens of all the other floors. The entire building is divided into housing sections based on the shared kitchens. These characteristics foster a communal feeling and make for great dorm life. I was lucky to learn that my kitchen is among the closest in the whole building and puts on shared dinners a couple times a week where we all help to prep, cook, and/or clean the meal. We then all eat together at a table. This has allowed me to quickly make friends with the people in my section, who have been so welcoming to me. Its beginning to feel like home.
I started my Danish language class on Monday the 28th. The program split us up into groups of about 10-12 students and assigned us teachers. I was placed with a young, attractive Danish women who has brought great energy to the classroom. She, like most Danes, speaks excellent English. I feel lucky to have been exposed so much to the Danish language, even if in a passive manner, for the throat and glossal sounds come easier to me than others. The pronunciation is unique and is absolutely the most difficult part of learning the language. The class lasts from 9 in the morning to 12:30 in the afternoon. Twice a week there is a structured cultural activity. The first one consisted of a sunny afternoon in the park listening to Copenhagen's Jazz Festival. I look forward to more events.
Thursday night saw the arrival of my good friend from Cal, Zach. He has spent his summer interning at an Absinthe factory in Aix-en-Provence, France. Upon arriving, he generously supplied me with a bottle of his distillery's 'good stuff.' He was up in Copenhagen for the weekend in order to attend, with me, Roskilde 2010. The Roskilde festival is an annual music festival that draws over 100,000 people. For the youth in Denmark, it marks a time of heavy drinking and great summer fun. Around the perimeter of the festival is camping, where 70,000 people stay for a whole week of messy but fun living. Zach and I only attended for one day, Saturday only. Our day began at 9am with a hearty breakfast, consisting of eggs, toast, 3 shots of absinthe and two beers, each. We took a train to the festival, where we met up with Fer from Amsterdam, who had spent a summer in our apartment in Berkeley. Our day proceeded from there, full of great music. The bands I saw were Vampire Weekend, Beach House, Pendulum, Muse, Schlacththofbronx, a bit of The Prodigy, and Moderat. The music ended at 4am, and I finally got to bed at 6am that morning.
The next day was the Fourth of July so, after I saw Zach off, we, the Americans in my Danish program, got together and put on a BBQ outside of the dorm. We had hotdogs, hamburgers, 'American Grill' chips (I had to buy them when I saw them at the grocery), and beer. I had brought an American flag with me in anticipation of a deep run by the US team in the FIFA World Cup. That didn't exactly pan out... But it did have a second life as it hung from a tree branch next to our outing! I had a good time, and I think others did too. It was a nice end to an exhausting weekend.
The following weekend, July 10-11, I visited my parents home near Broager in Southern Jutland, Denmark. It was the first time I had seen the place and it fulfilled all my expectations. I can't believe how lucky I am. My parents had an open house/welcome party to display the home to their Danish friends and the Danish side of my family from California. The party went off splendidly and it was interesting, as always, to speak and meet the Danes.
Head over to Facebook to see photos that accompany some of the above mentioned events.
I will post again when I've got something worthy to share!
Books: 'Swann's Way' by Marcel Proust
"Visiting by moonlight the roads on which I used to play as a child in the sunshine"
Music: 'Tonight, Tonight' cover by Passion Pit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc6z6tP20g8
People: Robert McNamara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8653788864462752804#docid=-6733596013688235740
