Bike Tour

So my first few days of classes went very well.  I am in the Psychology and Child Development Program here and I am focusing on children with special needs.  On Thursday we got to know our teachers and some specifics about our program.  Every Thursday I will be working in a school about 35 minutes from where I live.  I am going to get the chance to interact with first grade students who are in a transitional classroom.  We also got more information on the study trips we will be taking together.  In two weeks we will be going on a 3 day trip to Western Denmark and in October we will go to Holland for a week.  I am sooooo excited to go to Holland!!!  We don't know exactly where we will be going, but I know we will stop in Amsterdam for a while.

TODAY...

Today a few of us signed up for a free bike tour of Copenhagen.  It was 4 hours of exciting, nerve racking, physically challenging, incredible biking.  There were 15 of us and a tour guide and he led us around to various parts of the city.  FYI:  biking is HUGE in Copenhagen.  About one third of Danes living in the Copenhagen area bike to work every day, which is A LOT!!!  There are bikes everywhere and it is very easy to be run over by one.  We had a great time on our tour even if it was complete insanity trying to navigate the crowds, cars and other bikers.  Here are some pictures...

 

The man to the left was our tour guide.  This is a garden in the middle of the city.

 

This is a view of the Royal Library... and that's me.  There is a lot of cool architecture in DK.

 

In the first picture I am standing next to the canal in the center of the city where there are a lot of cute outdoor restaurants and shopping.  The second picture is a view of the castles where the royalty live.

So, I think that is all for now.  Tonight I am meeting up with a bunch of students from my school.  tomorrow I am going on a tour to a castle... hopefully I will have a lot of nice pictures from there.

More Orientation

So for the past two days I have had to sit through an enormous amount of orientation meetings and classes.  We have learned about Danish culture, etiquette, food and LANGUAGE!  Now, just so you can feel my pain the Danish language is an absolutely impossible language to learn.  They have 3 more vowels than us and nothing is spelled the way it sounds.  After two days of Survival Danish lessons I am able to recognize a few words in the grocery store and tell people the name of the street I live on.  Hopefully by the end of my trip I will be slightly more capable of speaking/understanding Danish.

Tomorrow is the start of my classes for the semester and I am SOOO excited.  Typically I will have my special needs practicum on Thursday where I will work in a school.  Tomorrow I will just be learning about the place I will be working and what I will be doing.

For those who are brave enough to attempt some Danish...

1. Jeg hedder ________. (My name is)

2. Hvordan godt det? (How are you?)

3. Fint tak. (Fine, thanks!)

4. Jeg vil gerne have en sandwich med skinke og ost. (I would like a ham and cheese sandwich)

5. Jeg taler ikke dansk. (I do not speak Danish)

Orientation

YESTERDAY

So... yesterday was my first day of orientation at DIS.  We checked in, walked around the city a bit and sat threw a few boring sessions before I finally got to my KOLLEGIUM!!!!!   (FYI: A kollegium is a building similar to a college dorm where Danish students live.)  

Moving In...

There are 110 students living in this kollegium and 10 of us are American students from DIS.  Thank goodness I am on the first floor because the elevator is a little bit questionable.  We all moved into our own rooms yesterday and are looking forward to a trip to Ikea to "properly" furnish them.  (I will post a picture when my room no longer loo

ks like a half unpacked disaster zone) After we were semi-settled on

e of the Danish DIS guides that lives here made us an incredible dinner.  He made meatloaf, Danish meatballs, potatoes/carrots/beets, an interesting dip for the vegetables, home made bread and LOTS of wine.  It was delicious.  We will al take turns cooking dinner on our floors and I believe it will be quite an adventure living along side Danish students.

TODAY

This morning we got up and went to an opening ceremony for DIS at The Royal Library.  It was mostly speakers, but they also had a wind quartet play th

at was very good.  After that we found lunch on our own in the city before taking a bus tour.

The bus tour...

There are over 500 students studying at DIS this semester, so to see some sights in the city we split into groups lead by various teachers from DIS.  We stopped at several locations to learn about Danish history, architecture, policy and philosophy.  Our first stop was at the Slottet Castle.  It was a royal summer castle built for a previous royal family member that wanted to be surrounded by nature.

After the castle we went "...under 'da sea..."  For those who are not aware, Hans Christian Anderson (the author of the original Little Mermaid) is from Denmark.  So, to pay tribute to them both there is a statue of her by the harbor.

  

Then we headed toward where the royal family lives.  It is basically a circle of small castles overlooking the harbor.  We could tell that the queen was home because the flag was flying.  

Danish grocery stores...

When we got back to our Kollegium this afternoon we decided we needed to do some shopping in order to actually be able to eat.  So... we walked down the road about 10 minutes to the store called Netto.  Upon walking into Netto I was co

mpletely overwhelmed by the fact that I do not know any Danish.  Beside the fact that I was mentally converting kroner into dollars the entire time, it was impossible to figure out what the heck I was actually buying.  For example, I wanted to buy some cheese but I could not figure out what the different kinds were.  One said "mild," another said "cheesy" and the rest had words with what seemed like 15 random letters just strung together.  It was a challenge but we made it through.  

Can anyone get me the number for Danny Wegman... we need a Wegmans grocery in Denmark!

Finally Here

So, after a 6 hour drive to the Boston airport, 10 hours of plane travel and 2 hours of extraneous confusion I arrived at my temporary residence, the Cab Inn Hotel in Copenhagen.  My orientation at DIS is not until Sunday so I have 2 days to rest up and minimally explore the city on my own.  My plan right now is to sleep as much as I can an possibly look for a bit more adventure tomorrow.

(pictures to come soon)

Pre-Departure

So...I am 5 days away from leaving and I am no where near being ready. I have not even thought about shopping, packing or emotionally leaving myfriends and family yet. I've been so busy this summer being the boating director at camp and waitressing at the diner that I have successfully avoided the notion that I am going to be living in a foreign country for four months. Anyway, my plan for the next several days is to work at camp during the day and desperately try to get ready to leave at night. Its going to be a crazy week and I am not sure I am prepared.


**a message for my friends**
If I am unable to see you before I leave I am very sorry. Like I said this summer has been insane and I have not gotten to spend as much time with you as I should have. Please know that I love you all and I look forward to hearing from you while I am abroad. Feel free to email, skype, message or write me at any time while I am gone.