Today was a full day in the city for me, which I was very excited about, simply to get some time to get to explore on my own. Plus the city is slightly more exciting than the town my host family lives in (although I cannot say that for certain since I haven’t walked around my town much). I woke up this morning after sleeping the whole way through the night and feeling well rested (which I was very excited about, hopefully the jet lag wont effect me, but we will have to wait and see). I then got ready to catch the bus a little before nine, and then headed to the train station where I go my transportation pass for all zones in Copenhagen, so I believe that I am goodto go wherever I wish on the public transportation system J. I then proceeded to ask someone to make sure that I had the right train and once I got on the train, I asked again just to make sure. I later found out that my stop is at the end of the line, so I couldn’t have gone even further if I had wanted too (at least not without changing tracks). The ride into the city isn’t too bad; overall it is about one hour from door to door, with a combination of bus, train, and walking. Once I got to Copenhagen, I ventured out on the streets to try to figure out which direction I needed to go to get to the street with my school on it. I took a few wrong turns, ran into another student, and then ran into a whole group of students to finally figure out where I was going. Although I think it will be much easier tomorrow, although I am still expecting to need a few days until I really get the hang of it, mainly because it all depends on which way you come out of the station.
Once I (and the hoard of other students that I was traveling with) arrived at the DIS building, we were given a quick tour of the place; although to be completely honest I am a little lost as to how we got everywhere we did. I am sure it will be easier once it isn’t quite so crowd (it’s a rather tight building by the way). I then tagged along with a few other girls who were walking around the streets a little bit during the time we had before our first time commitment.
At 11:00 we headed to the University of Copenhagen’s main building for the Opening Ceremony for the spring semester. It was about an hour and a half long, which included, a string quintet, a speech from the direction of DIS, a speech from another professor, and some more music. Overall, it was very nice.
It also made me realize that I think the set up of the program is rather similar to Elon in terms of the “outside the classroom experience” that DIS also emphasizes. That was encouraging to me hopefully because then I wont feel to off base with my classes and requirements once everything starts.
After the ceremony, me and the girls I was walking around with earlier, went over to a Polsevogne – which is comparable to a sausage stand in the US – to try a Danish popular favorite food, sausage. Overall, it was like a hotdog with a lot of toppings, including two kinds of mustard, relish, pickles, fried onions, and ketchup I think. It wasn’t bad, however I don’t have an urge to have another one right away either.
Following that we headed to our respective classrooms for our first orientation session, which included talks about IT at DIS, living and interacting with the Danes, and the tours and trips that DIS offers to students. It was okay, however it was 3 hours long, which made it a little more difficult. Although, I think I retained some good information and wrote some things down to be sure that I would remember them.
Once that session was over, I headed back to the DIS main building on Vestergade and found a very long line to stand in so that I could retrieve my books. They kept telling us that we could come back at a later time to retrieve them, however my host family mentioned to me the other day that they were not getting home until late, so I decided to wait. The best part about it though was definitely that I get to rent my book as part of my tuition, meaning I don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars for books that I mostly likely will never use again!
After I got my books and made sure I had everything I needed, I made my way back to the train station for my ride home. Getting on the train and the ride to Hillerod (the town I am staying in by the way) was no problem at all. I simply read on the train for the entirety of the time and then it is over before I know it. I then found the bus that would take me home, however I did have some lasting concern considering I didn’t know exactly when I would have to push the “stop” button so that I could get off. Ironically though, one of my host sisters, Caroline, was on the same bus (although neither of us knew it until we got off), so she had signaled the bus driver to stop and once he did I realized that was my stop too.
Once at home, I simply unpacked my things, got organized, and started to get ready for tomorrow. The rest of my host family then came home, and we had dinner (interesting note: the have a new years resolution to eat with chop sticks, regardless of the meal, for at least two days of the week in hopes to slow their eating and maybe eat less – a healthier option apparently. I don’t mind – primarily because I know how to use chopsticks from my adventures in China last year, so I am okay.) Then after that, I watched a little TV, took a shower, talked my dad, mom, and boyfriend on Skype (I have decided that site is going to be my savior – It was really nice to be able to see and talk to them like it was person, even though I as so far away. I admit I do miss them a lot already.) And now that I am finished with today’s entry, I am off to sleep (hopefully through the whole night again, although it is a little shorter considering I have to get up at 6:30 to get ready, eat, and catch my bus. Oh well I better get used to it, I have 8:30 classes twice a week, plus an hour commute – I have some early mornings ahead of me.)
PS - Since photos seem to be taking a while to upload, they will most likely be up the next day, when I go and edited it. So make sure to come back and check out my blog so you can see all the photos :)
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