"Welcome to my Crib" and the Weekend Saga

We have officially moved to the new house in Bendstrup, which is one (or maybe two) village(s) away from Hillerød. The new house is beautiful (I'll figure out putting pictures up on blogspot very soon I assure you), and once I get my bike situation figured out the commute should only be 10 or 15 minutes longer than the commute from Gørløse.

My 14 year old host brother Kristian is really enjoying the new house and all of the space in the garden (which may or may not be related to his newfound freedom to engage in airsoft gun usage at his leisure) and has taken to walking out the front door and in very convincing MTV style proclaiming "Welcome to my Crib" with his arms spread open iin an expression that 50-cent would be proud of.

The move was quite an event, involving multiple trips with very full trailers behind a car borrowed from one of the teachers at Ingrid's school and one trip with a very full truck (I can never remember the name of the types of trucks that are bigger than pick-ups and smaller than 18-wheelers, but it was one of those) and a lot of loading and unloading. Things are not all unpacked and put away yet, but we're making progress.


My things, on the other hand, are, for the first time since arriving in Denmark, all put in their proper spot. I even unpacked my bag of Winterish clothes and found space for them in my closet. All of my bags (save my backpack) are now entirely empty and living under my bed. I didn't realize how much I was stressing about not having put all of my things away until I actually did it. Finishing that task was like having a weight lifted from my shoulders.


The weekend was not all moving from Gørløse to Bendstrup, though. On friday, DIS sent us all on a canal tour through Copenhagen, which yielded many wonderful photos (including a picture of the Little Mermaid that my sister Elizabeth was dying to see...) which will be up on facebook sometime this week. Also that evening there was a dinner for all of the students in my program (International Business and Economics) at RizRaz, a local vegetarian buffet. The food was fair, but it was a fun experience and the beer was outstanding and (this is a rarity in Denmark) FREE! That evening, there was a DIS welcome party at a København night club (I now refuse to call it Copenhagen...it immediately identifies you as a tourist) called K-3 which was fun, but had a bit of an awkward combination between a middle school dance gone horribly awry (imagine fueling one of those with copious amounts of relatively affordable alcohol) and a freshman mixer. I was not altogether disappointed to have my commute as an excuse to beat a hasty exit as the clock struck 11:30. I managed to get myself on the last train of the evening to my small community, and fell asleep early enough to pay off a good deal of my sleep debt from the previous week overnight.

On Saturday I went into the city with Carsten, Jonathan, and Jakob to watch the Christianhavn Roundt, a two kilometer swim in the center of Copenhagen. This was noteworthy for a couple of reasons. First off, Carsten competed and finished with a very good time of under 35 minutes. Second, I find it remarkable that the harbors and canals within Copenhagen are all completely swimmable. I think I might jump in at some point just to say that I did it. Maybe the day before I leave (towards the end of December) if I'm really brave.

That evening, after unloading a bunch of stuff, our lack of kitchen supplies led us to a meal at an American legend: McDonalds. I almost cried while I was ordering (hyperbole again...maybe that will be this blog's theme, we shall have to see) because I didn't understand the whole process of ordering fast food in Denmark. Fortunately, the girl taking my order (and most people over the age of 13 here as well) spoke excellent English and was very patient with me, even though there was a line developing behind me. You could cut the irony of an American's inability to order at McDonalds with knife.

The next morning I woke up around 10:30 (I guess I hadn't paid all of my sleep debt the night before), unfortunately having slept through breakfast. I made myself a breakfast sandwich and did some reading for my Monday and Tuesday classes while the Wredstrøms were at church. That afternoon, I went to a soccer match at the biggest stadium in Denmark, called Parken. The match was between F.C. København and Brønby IF, which is a huge rivalry. The fans were really into it, and from our seats we had a good view of the action on the field and in the stands. I personally would have liked to have been down in the middle of things, but I can see DIS's perspective that it might be better for us to have a bit of a buffer from the true hardcore supporters of either side. I know I'm promising a lot today and not really delivering much, but I'll put up a link to photos of the match by the middle of this week.

So now I start week two. I've gotten settled in for the most part, although I need to redefine my routine slightly to figure out my new commute (which will involve a bike, a bus, a train, and walking). This week will be the first "normal week" with classes four days and Wednesday off (no field study this week). It will be a good opportunity to get into the flow of Denmark and start to get a feel for how the semester is going to be.

That's all for now, but keep checking back for the photo links and further updates! Per request of some of you, the next set of photos will include photos of my host family and the place that I'm living...

A few upcoming dates that I'm looking forward to:

September 10-12: Short Study Tour to the city of Århus in Jutland (Western Island of Denmark).

September 20: H.C. Andersen Marathon in Odense

October 11-17: Long Study Tour to Brussels, Belgium and Frankfurt, Germany

November 1-7: Travel Break (I need couches in Europe...anybody offering?)

November 8-15: Travel Break Part II-Crete with the Parentals!