Starting
and keeping this blog has proven to be more difficult than I had originally anticipated. Between my classes, exploring the city,
commuting ~2 hours every day, traveling, and the other activities I’ve gotten
involved in (more about all that stuff later), I’ve been pretty busy so far
here in Denmark. But now I am firmly
committed to writing blog posts on a semi-regular basis. My experience so far has actually been quite
interesting – I’ve learned a lot about the Danes and Danish culture, and I’ve
gotten to travel a bit and see come cool new places. I will attempt to share some of my new
knowledge and experiences with all of you interested readers out there (like all
3 of you haha).
My
adventure began a while ago – it’s been almost 6 weeks – but for the sake of
thoroughness, I will begin at the proper place to commence a story, at the
beginning. Right before I left for
Denmark, on January 12th, 2013, my life was pretty hectic. I had just gotten back from Princeton – I was
there for the first few days of reading period – and after taking my driver’s
license exam on Friday (I passed!), visiting relatives at the last minute, and
packing, by Saturday I was exhausted but fully packed up and ready to go. A few hours before my flight, lying at home
next to my cat Noodle, a sudden wave of sadness hit me and abruptly deflated my
giddy mood. Damn, I thought, I’m really
gonna miss home and the people I love here.
But there was little time to dwell on this premature homesickness – the
clock struck 2pm and we were off to the airport!
After some
heartfelt goodbyes, many warnings to stay safe and that I “don’t need any
diseases” (“birigi siba Fredichka!”), and some tears from my mom, I went
through security check and I was finally rid of them (kidding, Mom, I’m totally
kidding). But I did indeed feel an
overwhelming sense of freedom and adventure now that I was actually on my way
to Europe. At JFK I met a bunch of kids
who were going to study at DIS just like me – including Allison, with whom I
went to Prague last weekend, and Huey, with whom I’m traveling next week, and
Kiki, who still hangs out with me despite me violently coughing all over her
during the flight – she was sitting next to me and I was suffering from a
really bad cold. Everyone I met seemed
ecstatic to finally be going to Denmark and they were all pretty friendly. We boarded the plane, and after a few hours
of disturbed, nyquil-induced sleep, we had arrived in Keflavik airport in
Iceland. And what a beautiful airport it
was! During my 6 hour layover, I slept a
bit, walked around the airport, talked to a fellow named DISer Molly, studied a
bit – I had to take my final exams for the fall semester about a week later due
to my school’s fucked up schedule - and I tried a traditional Icelandic beer
called Viking, which was damn good.
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| Keflavik Airport |
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| Enjoying Viking Beer at the airport |
On the
plane from Iceland to Copenhagen, I immediately noticed that everyone appeared
blonde and beautiful. Seriously, they
all looked like they had robust, Aryan blood flowing through their veins. The plane I was on was named after an
Icelandic volcano, but nevertheless it got us safely to Denmark without
exploding. As a quick side note, I
should warn you about my tone. Since
this is my blog, I will be writing quite freely, and I have been told that I
have a strange sense of humor – childish yet often perverse – so if you wish, feel
free to just disregard my attempts at humor and move on. But I digress. I watched an episode of an Icelandic tv show
and before I knew it we were there.
I walked
out of Copenhagen airport after retrieving my luggage and immediately saw a big
sign with my name on it. I felt like a
hotshot, having someone greet me at the airport with a sign, except the sign
was written on cardboard in permanent marker, and the people who greeted me
formed an odd couple. Holding the sign
was Jan, my lovely host here in Denmark.
The first thing I did when I met him was to say hi, nice to meet you,
and then ask him if his name is pronounced “Jan” (how it looks) or “Jen.” He told me that it was actually pronounced
“Yen” – I was completely off the mark! Needless
to say, I felt like a real American idiot, but Jan was understanding and since
then we’ve had many great experiences. The
other individual who was there to greet me was a gangly looking kid named
Jordan, who is my housemate here. He
came off as reserved that first night I met him, but since then we’ve gotten to
know each other quite well and he has often surprised me with his crude sense
of humor and flippant remarks. I must
admit, when I first was in an email from DIS that my housemate’s name was
Jordan, I imagined and whole-heartedly hoped that he would be a sturdy African
American basketball player named after the great one, Michael Jordan. Instead, he was a nerdy white kid (if you’re
reading this, I still love ya bud!) Nevertheless,
we have become good friends and it’s been great fun living with another
student.
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| Jan with his granddaughter |
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| The one, the only, Mr. Jordan Kurbs! |
After Jan
drove us back to his home, we had burgers for dinner – I know, a real Danish first
meal – and I unpacked my bags. I
was feeling completely normal up until then, but all of a sudden, it hit me –
holy shit, I’m in Denmark! For four
months! This vague conception of going
“abroad” had finally become a reality, and to be honest it felt kind of
strange. I didn’t have too much time to
ruminate on the implications though – I lay down in bed and was out like a rock
the minute my head hit the pillow, and the next week was jam-packed with
welcome and orientation activities. We
had a housing orientation, a tour of the DIS buildings, and an “amazing race” that
took us around the major attractions of Copenhagen on an incredibly brisk,
windy day. I met a lot of people that
week and saw a lot of places. In
reality, the whole week kind of passed by in a blur. After that week though, I was starting to get
accustomed to being here, fighting the bitter cold but still enjoying life. Classes begun the next week and I also had to
take all of my fall final exams, so it was a hectic period. After my exams, I felt a lot better and
freer. In general, since arriving here I’ve
been having a blast, and I look forward to writing about what’s happened in the
past 5 weeks. Right now, though, I’m
downstairs and it’s cold, so I’m gonna go upstairs, where a fire is blazing in
the fireplace, to drink some tea and hang out with the host family.
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| Goofing off during the Amazing Race |
Vi ses i weekenden,
Fred
