Third Day

20 August 2013

Today we went to Immigration Services to apply for our Danish Residence Permits, YAY!

One girl forgot her passport but brought two copies of it, and the people there were like, um, no, that's a problem, go back and get your passport. Four hours later, she applied for her permit. Ouch.

I met a girl from the University of Minnesota, Emily. We were almost the first ones in line and everything went smoothly for us. I talked to the lady behind the counter about me paying twice and she said that of course I would get a refund!

So glad that's over with.

This is me on the bus. Not getting lost but a little worried nonetheless.

This is me and Chloe at the train station by our house. We take a bus to the train station, and we take the train to Copenhagen. A bike would eliminate the bus aka the worst part of public transportation because 1) we already got lost on one and 2) we have to wait for it instead of biking as soon as we're ready and 3) tonight we learned the last bus leaves the train station at 11:54pm and we got there around 1:30am so we had to walk home in the dark. It's safe and I feel comfortable doing it, but it's chilly and so much faster on a bike.

Tonight we went out to a bar with some DIS kids. We saw a DIS girl with a Danish roommate and some Danish friends along the way to one bar, so we ended up going with them to a different (probably better) bar.

Copenhagen central train station, where we waited for some DIS students.

An entrance to Tivoli lit up at dusk.

A Copenhagen Rickshaw, very popular.

So we all decided that the bars are too expensive, and that led us to buying drinks at the 7-Eleven. I got a 6-pack of Tuborg beer for about $12 and two guys got 6-packs as well. The girls got hard cider and Smirnoff drinks (but I'm too cheap for that kind of enjoyment).

No laws against open bottles/drinking in public in Denmark, but they fine you HEAVILY for pretty much everything else. Like no lights on your bike at night, riding the transportation without a pass, riding the transportation out/in zones you don't have listed on your pass, J-walking, etc.

Then we saw the girl with the Danish roommate and they invited us to a bar where some friends in a band were performing. So, duh, we went with them instead of who knows where, but it would have been filled with Americans. Outside the bar, a Dane told us about their beer-run game: with the last beer you have, you run up to it from a point and chug it, set it on the ground and spin around it 10 times, then run back to where you started.

Then we went into the bar and watched the bands play.
They write and sing their songs in English, because apparently if they want to "make it big" or make it out of Denmark, that's what they have to do.

It was some kind of rock, and I really liked it; they were all really good musicians.
Danes don't really dance at bars or concerts but they wiggle a little in their seats and shout yeahs and woos. So the other Americans I was with decided to be the only ones in the bar dancing, and so the Danish roommate and her boyfriend joined.

It kind of reminded me of when my girl scout troop was in Switzerland and we made the German boys dance with us and then they were just crazy dancers, HAHA.
Head banging, etc.

It was a super fun night and it turned out to be really easy to meet other Danes once you know one, so that's cool.

I have no idea if I'll see any of them again or if I'll even see the same DIS people again, but it was cool anyway!

We're meeting so many new people every day, it's kind of overwhelming. I never know if it's going to be someone I'll ever see again; should I get their number? Should we hangout? Haha. I like meeting tons of people but I'm also looking forward to having a good group of friends, and meeting fewer new people but probably making stronger connections with them when I do.