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.
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