A Bad Friday in Preparation for a Good Weekend

Today I thought it would be cute to wear a skirt.

And it was...

...when I wasn't biking.

I ripped the skirt a little bit... but it isn't noticeable.

I hiked it up high like the Danes and was fine.

I also wore my cowboy boots...

... and twisted my ankle on the cobblestones.

Damn cobblestones, so beautiful, yet so treacherous.

But let's face it, I hurt myself walking no matter what shoes I'm wearing. There are too many things to trip on and such.

I bought a 10 kr. cappuccino from the vending machine outside of class. 

I was half an hour early to class. And so I was lonely.
No one sits next to me in Immunology. They can sense I don't know what I'm doing. They leave a seat open next to me every day.

After my morning classes, I went to Netto and bought two bags of chips to bring to the host family network event at 5pm. My class gets out at 5:30.

The Human Health and Disease class was fun today because we practiced using stethoscopes on each other, listening to respiration.

Christian, the course assistant who was a combat medic, told us a story about how they handle a pressure pneumothorax : when there is air coming out of the lung into the pleural cavity, so the air builds up and pushes the lung shut. The way to fix it: stab the biggest needle you can find (or a pen, if necessary) into the pleural cavity under the second rib to release the air and save the person.

Christian said he saw it done once, on a guy who had been shot and that had created the pressure pneumothorax. And we were all excited because it's such a crazy thing and it's necessary for survival in that situation but what does Christian say?

"Oh no, he died."

Bummer. Also kind of awkward... 

But overall, a good class.

From there, I got off the train at Taastrup, and started to bike around looking for the Parkskolen where everyone would be in the auditorium.

So I was biking around in circles, trying to find the street named Parkvej, but my map didn't load because it was in my email and there wasn't wifi.

I was lost every couple of minutes, and I asked for directions like 8 times.

And it was pouring raining, and I was soaking wet.

So I finally got there and hour later, 1.5 hours after it started, and all the food was put away and everyone was learning the cha cha cha with a partner so I sat down and ate some chips and drank some wine at an empty table.

Then, a guy in some of my classes pointed out that I wasn't participating and made me come out on the floor and do this licorice eating contest with everyone (who can slurp up the long string of black licorice the fastest) which I did not win.

I knew one other guy, but he had a seat with some friends with no open seats around it.

Then we started to play bingo, but I was at the end of a table by myself, and I was there for a while looking like a lost sad puppy, so finally some older ladies asked me to sit by them.

That was actually pretty fun.

We did not win.

And later, after telling my life story to these ladies, they mentioned to some more people that I got lost and stuff, and these people happened to live near my house in Albertslund!

So they offered to drive me and my bike home.

Then I heated up some pasta and threw some salad on it and called it a night. 

Oh, but first I'm going to play Sims.

And tomorrow I'm going kayaking at Amager Strand.

And then perhaps thrift shopping with Taylor.

On a side note, when I was shopping at Netto (kind of like Aldi, but they have Aldi here so not exactly like it; some people say it's where poor people and students shop...okay...) I found that Somersby ciders are 10 kr. each, instead of the 30 kr. I pay at the Studenterhuset.

I guess Taylor and I will be hanging out outside the Netto instead, now!

Thursday - A stroll through Tivoli

I woke up on time. Hoorah.

I ate mysli and yogurt and drank a glass of milk for breakfast. Linda says I have to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in while I live here.

I cut up a peach and made myself a pb&j sandwich for lunch.

I wore a cute dress; I felt uncomfortable biking in the dress.
I wore spandex under the dress.

I had Medical Ethics and Danish. They're probably my favorites.

I found a new place to eat lunch!

It's behind the building on the right...

...and past this sidewalk garden...

...in here.

It's the town hall garden.

And there were maybe two people in there.
So I ate lunch on a white bench next to a peaceful fountain.

Then I thought, "I have this pass for free entrance to Tivoli, I might as well go check it out."

So I did.

Walking in...

Asian themed theater...

Rustic wooden house model...

Nibe Hotel...

Fountains and gardens...

Another little theater...

Excellently stocked candy shop...

ME...

The Glass Hall Theater...

And tons of nice restaurants... to which I have discounts... :D

I'm excited to see some free concerts here. And also to go to the Halloween and Christmas events. And maybe I'll go on a single ride for kr. 25. And perhaps I'll have lunch here one day :)

Wednesday = Day Off... Usually

Yay for Wednesdays!

Wednesdays are usually free days, or there will be a field trip for a class.

Today, there was a meeting for info on our short study tour.

I got to sleep in a little (11:00am) and then I met Taylor at a DIS building. This is my landmark, so I walk in the right direction from the train station at Vesterport.

Guess what we did?

We planned a trip to Spain!

So, from November 14 - 17, we will be in Barcelona, Spain. We're staying at a hostel that is pretty cheap and ranked really high on websites for everything. Most flights in Europe aren't that expensive, or you can find a cheap one. So, the flight was about $226 per person round-trip and the hostel is about $35 per person per night.

Total = $331

Worth it?

Look at this place.

Hostel One Paralelo

It's newly renovated so there's an outdoor terrace and a hot tub...um, yes please.

Bjarne said that food is pretty cheap in Spain, so I plan on getting yummy breakfast and coffee and then doing some Tapas at night.

Today I also bought an annual card to Tivoli, so I get free entrance every day that it's open. There are concerts on Friday nights and the card gets me discounts and deals to restaurants and things to do inside, so maybe when I have some time between classes I can just go read in the gardens or pay to go on a ride or whatever. And free entrance to concerts on Friday nights sounds great. They're only open until September 22, but I think I can use it enough to make it worth my while. The card was 280 kroner so about $50. It's also pretty beautiful at night.

The annual card also gets me free entrance to their Halloween and Christmas events. 

YAY!

At our meeting about our short study tour, we learned a little bit about what we'll be doing when we're there, but the itinerary won't be sent out til Friday or so.

Basically we wake up around 7, eat breakfast, and then go to lectures and activities. Some of the activities are a ropes course and touring a castle.

We're going to Kolding and Ribe, if I didn't already say that.

That's Monday-Wednesday next week, but Thursday and Friday we're back in Copenhagen and have class one day and an immersion activity the other and a lecture or two. 

We got to choose which immersion activity we got to do. The choices were a medical training institution where we could practice like med students, a drug abuse treatment facility, an elderly care institution, a sex-education volunteer-run place for 7-10 year olds, a psychiatric treatment facility for refugees, and a global health workshop.

Guess which one I picked?

The elderly care institution.

I really have no idea why, except that I thought we'd get some practice training through my Human Health and Disease course field trips, I've learned a lot about drugs and treatment through my neuroscience classes, I get a lot of sex-ed exposure at Family Tree Clinic when I'm volunteering/training, I don't really find the global health workshop interesting, and I'd prefer seeing a psychiatric place that works with all sorts of people.

And I had a strange attraction to the elderly care place. I guess because I'm not learning about it in any other way? Because I want to tour the nursing home?

I couldn't tell you.

I also did laundry.

But there is no dryer so we hang our clothes out like so.

Even in the winter.

But now that there is the glass-encased patio, we can put our clothes out there when it's cold.

Tonight, Chloe was volunteering at the Studenterhuset bar, so it was just Linda, Bjarne and me for dinner. Since Chloe wasn't there, we had a beef roast.

YUM!

Bjarne also gave me a glass of red wine and we had the yummy peanut salad with apples in it, some couscous-like corn stuff, and a lot of talking. It was a long dinner, so somewhere in the middle, Linda lit some candles and said, "I can't see what I'm eating" haha so I asked, "Is this hygge?" and they both said "Yea, this is it."

I don't think that's all there is to hygge. But really, I'm not totally sure what it is.

Linda also said that since it's summer now, we're eating less meat and eating lighter things, but that in the winter, everyone eats a lot more and lights a lot more candles and gets all bundled up inside the house and doesn't do a lot.

I'm super excited for that.

On Friday, there's an even in Taastrup for our host family network, which is like, 20 kids living in host families in the sort of nearby area. So I'll go and meet them and maybe their families and we'll eat. Maybe some of them will be my friends so we can do stuff around town together!! (I'm not as needy as I sound...)

I'm also going kayaking on Saturday in Amager (pronounced "Ah-mah") Strand. 

And on Sunday, I think Bjarne is going to take me to Bakken, the oldest amusement park in the world.

And Simon is coming home from school on Friday, so then he will hopefully hangout with me/take me cool places that I wouldn't find on my own. Ha, but I have no idea if he wants to or not, or if Chloe and I are just weird strangers in his house. But this family has had about 20 students like us, so maybe he likes it or is used to it?

We'll see.

Tuesday... Pool Day!

6:00 am wake up!

But I'm falling into bad habits. So I actually woke up at 7:00 and skipped breakfast again but I took a peach for the road.

It was packed on the train, so people were three-seating it and standing and crowded and blah. But, I was sitting next to a guy with his headphones in and his bag on the seat like it was a person. It was so crowded and eventually the lady across from me starting talking in Danish at us, saying something like "When there are this many people on the train you need to sit three people in each seat!" So I scooted closer to the wall, but the guy did nothing. The lady was like, horrified that he was so oblivious or rude so she said, "I need to put this on Facebook" and so she took a picture of the guy next to me and the empty seat next to him where his bag was. HAHA. I don't know if she was mad at me or not or if I'm in the picture on her facebook post about people who are rude on trains. And she was speaking in Danish but it's actually not that hard to understand.

So I went to my horribly boring Immunology class, and I was on time, and I hated every minute of it. It's dark in the room so we can see the powerpoint and we do all this reading and then she talks about the same things. She asked us to come up with the five reasons for this or that, and I think we were supposed to do it in partners, but no one was talking and no one was sitting next to me. 

Then Developmental Disorders was almost as bad except the content was slightly more interesting. 

UGH.

Those are the two classes that are counting towards my majors/minor so I guess I'll just deal with it.

Also, I gave some girls wrong directions to Copenhagen University on accident, but they should have passed it when they were following where I told them to go, ha... I feel bad.

Hot enough to go to the pool!

So I came home and made a lunch and then went to the pool.

But it was locked when I got there at 13:00 even though it opens at 13:00. This guy who was in an office there didn't speak English but he managed to call the lifeguard to come open the pool for me, haha. The lifeguard looked unhappy when he got there. Like it's not his job...?

That is actually a tiny book, a tiny purse, and a tiny towel, but I make do.

Oh, don't mind me, just reading my book about how to be a doctor for my class in two hours.

There is a bar across the path from the pool. Cool.
I think there is a small cafe and a small grocery store nearby, too, but I forgot where they are.

Here are the pictures of the hospital where my Human Health and Disease class is.
This is the tunnel that goes under the road because there isn't a crosswalk that leads directly to the hospital (it's close, but I guess building a tunnel makes it closer).

It looks like many people bike to the hospital. There are either a lot of visitors and employees, or people in Denmark refuse to stop biking even when they need to be admitted to the hospital.

There are about 20 different entrances and that many buildings on this hospital campus. I think it kind of looks like a mental institution from the outside. 

The entrance we use to get to our classroom is 7.

And it's very orange...to be modern, maybe?

Another cute Glostrup neighborhood.

And then, since Bjarne said it's basically a straight shot to the hospital from our house, I decided to try my luck on the bike path on the highway and hopefully I'd recognize where to turn when I needed to.

I did.

I'm a pro biker, now.

I know my way around Denmark, now.

And it was a much quicker ride than the ride from the hospital to the train station, the train ride to Albertslund from Glostrup, and the bike ride from the train station home.

I also got honked at, like in a "Lookin' good!" way, I believe. I was wearing a Danish top-knot and shorts and a plaid button down and sunglasses, so they probably couldn't tell I was American and trying to find my way home but instead thought I was a sassy confident Dane with dark hair. HAHA.

Then, I heated up some meatballs and potatoes for dinner because Linda and Bjarne are out tonight. I tried to take Molly for a walk, but she was like, you aren't the right person to be doing this, and so she wouldn't walk anywhere.

And now I want to nap because this day gets really long waking up at 6 and getting done at 6.

I also need to do my first load of laundry and I should sweep my floor and clean the bathroom. Ugh.

So glad we don't have normal classes on Wednesdays.

For each class, there are one or two field trips that take place on Wednesdays throughout the semester.

There's another volleyball practice tomorrow, but I'm going to miss it again because there's a mandatory short study tour meeting at 5:30. Maybe I can leave early, and also, I don't know the way to the sports center but it looks like a straight shot so I can do that on my bike, right?

We're going to Kolding and Ribe in Western Denmark for our short study tour next week, and I know nothing else about it. We go with our core courses, so Human Health and Disease for me. We're looking at the Danish healthcare system, I believe.

Hopefully I'll be able to say more about it soon...

Monday Fun-Day

Medical Ethics and Danish today. + it was our Cafe Night Social for our Danish section.

I woke up a little late today... like 10 instead of my usual 9, so I rushed a little and didn't eat breakfast, which is okay because I would be eating about three hours after breakfast anyway, and I rode my bike as fast as I could to the train station. The only problem - TOMS shoes are not made for bike riding, and my feet slipped off the pedals as I was trying to pedal faster. I got there in 9 minutes.

Lesson = if you're late, wear sneakers.

The TOMS are great for a normal bike ride and walking around, though.

This time, instead of parking my bike at the Albertslund train station, I rode it onto the train and into Copenhagen and then to DIS. Even though I was worried I'd be late, the bike saved me some time and I was there 10 minutes early and then the instructor started the class 5 minutes late.

Haha. YAY! I win.

In Danish, we actually started to learn things today! It's totally different than French and Spanish and the pronunciation is very difficult. We were going really fast today, probably because we were supposed to learn these things in the previous class but we just ended up talking about life and such.

Some examples of things we learned today:

• Hvordan har du det? = How are you?
• pronounced like "voden hah do dih?"
• Fint, hvad med dig? = Fine, and you?
• pronounced "feent, va (like the 'a' in Matt) mih die?"
• fødselsdag = birthday
• pronounced "fuesselsday"

So there, now you speak Danish just like me.

And now you know how important it is that everyone here knows English.

Then, I went to meet Taylor at the fountain to sell her an Avon facewash because facewash here is at least $10, I charged here kr. 20 = $3.50. That's how much notebooks are here, too.

I ate lunch on my normal bench outside the Studenterhuset, sucking up some wi-fi.

PB&J sandwich + potato meatball - meat + half a banana = lunch.

Oh my gosh, last night Bjarne made meatballs and potato balls for dinner and they were super delicious. And huge. And we had a mushroom sauce and pasta and salad.

Tonight for dinner, our Danish class went to Sebastopol, a restaurant across the lake from DIS. This means I saw another part of town I haven't seen yet. The lake is super pretty and so are the bridges that cross it, and the other side of town is very cute and full of more things to do. I think I might eat lunch by the lake tomorrow...

This is the outside of Sebastopol.

And guess what I found?
A Bubble Tea Emporium across the street.
I will have to try it to compare it to the US...

I couldn't find my way to the bridge on my bike to get to the restaurant, so I stopped next to a blonde Danish girl with her headphones in and I kind of looked at her and said, "Hey!" and it took her a while to realize I was talking to her. But then I tried to pronounce Frederiksborrgade and she asked me, "English" and so I said yea and then she was like, "What are you saying?" HAHA. So I asked her where Frederiksborrgade was and she told me and then I said, "I have to get across the bridge" so I told her I was going to Sebastopol and she hadn't heard of it. We were in the bike lane in the street and the light for us turned green so I was expecting her to go and be like "Sorry!" but she got on the sidewalk and looked it up on her iPhone, and said "Oh, I'm going that way. You can just follow me."

So we started biking and she asked me where I'm from, am I studying, am I used to biking, etc. She was super nice and helpful and she took me to the square Sebastopol was in and I said "Tussind tak!" and she said "You're welcome!" and we parted ways, never to see each other again.

And it turns out I was basically at Sebastopol where she left me. Thanks, bike!

This is the way this part of town looks.

Inside the restaurant.
That guy is Jonah from Macalester, and he's in my Danish class. 22 people from Mac this semester, 2000 people at Mac total.

Small world.

DIS paid, and we got a lamb flank with some potatoes and ratatouille. I liked the lamb a lot. It's kind of weird because I'm not used to it, but it was kind of like a roast, kind of falls apart in your mouth. JC (Jens Christian Linde, our instructor) said the restaurant is French inspired, so I suppose the ratatouille makes sense.

Classy water served in a wine bottle, candles lit for proper hygge.

I tried to take a picture of me and JC while he wasn't looking so he wouldn't see me being creepy and touristy, but the lighting was bad so I had to take the picture like 5 times, and so the last two times I told him I was taking his picture with me. HAHA.

Then, about half the people left and there were about 6 of us left, so JC said he would take us up Elmergade (Elm Street) and show us some stuff. He lives in Østerport (pronounced "uersteport") about 10 minutes away from DIS, so he knows and likes this area.

I was going to try to go to Hvidovre (veelore) Volleyball Klub at 8, but we didn't get done at the restaurant til about 7:50 and then I waited for my train for 20 minutes and it takes about 30 minutes to get there and then I'd have to find my way by bike about three kilometers to the sports center, so it was basically too late. I packed all my vball stuff and everything in my backpack so I was carrying it around all day for no reason! Oh well, now I know how much time to give myself to get there. I would take a bus, but it's not in one of the zones on my transportation pass. OMG the zone thing is THE WORST! It's so expensive to travel here. The zones to Copenhagen from my house are included with DIS, but that's it. 

So glad I have a bike.

Hopefully tomorrow during my three hour break between Developmental Disorders and Human Health & Disease, I'll be able to go to the community pool a block away from my house and eat lunch and tan and nap.
And then I can quickly get to the hospital because it's only one stop away!

So, so glad.

I have much less chance of getting trapped or missing trains or being late now.

My First Weekend!

Saturday!

I set my alarm for 10am, woke up, found this mystery bruise that I thought was dirt a couple days ago, and then texted Taylor because we planned to watch the Denmark Gay Pride Parade today!

It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day, so I was very American and wore shorts.

Just takin' pictures of myself at the train station.

                                     

Taylor and I walked around forever and could NOT find the parade. But there was some action in City Hall Square.

Then Taylor and I went to McDonald's and I bought a McFlurry and she bought a huge wrap and a McFlurry. I packed my lunch. 

The McFlurrys are made with Magnum ice cream, it was super delicious. Cost = kr. 23

Public urinals =

Trying to find the parade = walking into the Rosenborg Palace gardens

And look! A Danish Capri Sun.

And then we took a billion pictures of the gardens.

Then we went to Studenterhuset for some refreshments.

And when we were about to go home, we found a pride dance in the middle of a street, blocked off for dancing purposes.

Drinking + dancing + outfit = required

Then a cinnamon and sugar crepe for dinner!

Remind me to buy myself a crepe-cart when I get back. We need more of them in MN.

Beautiful night view...of the McDonald's.

And a drag queen with rubber duckies on her dress.

Then an ABBA concert!

Pride brought in about 20,000 people.

How exciting! Super Troopers right here. Long day of Pride. Even though we never found the parade.

I finally decided to work the Danish top-knot hairstyle. See this blog for details on Danish stereotypes.

And I looked at the weather in St. Paul before I went to bed...

And then I changed it to show me the weather in Copenhagen :'(

Sunday!

Woke up 10am Sunday, made myself some breakfast/lunch.

1. Yummy Strawberry Tea (lol, they drink Lipton)
2. Cream cheese, sausage, pesto/sundried tomato sauce, and swiss cheese (or whatever the Danish eat that looks like Swiss) sandwich
3. Yummy, liquidy yogurt in a Jack Daniel's glass (they have a ton of Jack Daniel's glasses, like 15)

I ate brunch outside at this table, but it had some leftover hygge on it.
Hygge:

• Wiki - One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture is "hygge": relaxing with good friends or loved ones, often while enjoying good food and something to drink or creating a more friendly atmosphere by lighting a few candles. Christmas time, when loved ones sit close together on a cold rainy night, is a true moment of hygge, as is grilling a pølse (Danish sausage) and drinking a beer on a long summer evening.^[5]

Looking good, koi fish.

Linda was going out to see her horses, the ranch is somewhere in Risby, and so about an hour later, Bjarne took Chloe and me by bike to visit. We biked through the forest to get there. It was surprising to me to see that Denmark had a forest, I don't know why, call me ignorant.

And interspersed in the forest, there are lakes and fields and nature.

There is a party area, where you can rent these shelters to throw parties and hangout. This is all somewhere deep in the forest next to a field with a really tall hill where you can see Copenhagen and even Sweden from the top on a nice day.

And apparently someone has chickens, or there are wild chickens in the party area. Either is fine by me.

Me taking pictures of myself while biking...

This is a horse.

But there are horses everywhere, and the horse above is grazing in the summer area. Below, Chloe and I are where Linda keeps her horses in the winter, and if there are new horses, they go here, too. Where there are fewer people and noises.

Thank you, bike. The forest looks beautiful from on top of you.

So cute! There are about 6 women who board there horses on this ranch (is that what you call it?). They can give lessons to kids/people with special needs or disabilities as a therapy, and during the ride, the parents and caretakers all hangout in the barn and drink and socialize. Like the Danes so often do.

Bjarne in the barn.

Molly is a hunter at heart. She hunts mice and stuff but sometimes she just plays with them. She had a lot of fun out here!

A horse and Bjarne. The clothes for the horse keep flies from eating them.

A horse and me. This one is the bad one.

This one is the good one :)

First family (sort of) photo!

Linda and her sister got back, and the horse on the left is named Fiona, like in Shrek, because that horse is a bit ugly, they told me. If she had to be a princess, she would be the ugly one. HAHA. And I said, so one day she will turn beautiful! And Linda's sister said, "And she will choose to go back to being ugly." I wish I knew how to spell Linda's sister's name. Ha. Linda's sister is such a long name for a person. It's something like Madda but not exactly.

Then Bjarne, Molly, Chloe and I biked home, and Molly ran the whole way! Like 5 or so kilometers.

Don't mind this, just an adorable church on the way home.

I'm so happy I got to see the horses! They said we could even ride them one day.
I also saw that there is a cafe and store and bar and swimming pool about a block away from our house, but it's not in the direction of the train station so I hadn't ever seen it! Notice I'm keeping with the Danish top-knot hairdo. So simple.

I guess I will be swimming sometime soon :)