First Week Recap!

GREETINGS!

So, as you know if you've been a LOYAL BLOG follower, today marks the end of my first week in Copenhagen! :) Throughout this upcoming week I expect I'll get into a more solid routine with my classes, homework, and general frolicking. In light of that, here is a photo tour of my daily walks to and from class!

OK, so this isn't technically me on my way to class (it was after our welcoming ceremony the first day!), but I do walk past City Hall every day! Here I am with my Wooster pals :)

The plaza we're standing in is aptly called City Hall Plaza. When walking through it, you see a lot of this:

Cool crafty booths!

 And these:

Pigeons :)

And these!

Fruit stands everywhere! Much cheaper than grocery stores, thank goodness!

There are almost always performers of some kind:

And sometimes THESE goofballs, if it's a Friday afternoon :)

Yep, definitely legal to drink in public here! In fact, you basically fit in better if you DO drink in public!

THESE are on nearly every corner, which kind of surprised me:

Good old 7 eleven!

AND, one of these!

This is on Strøget (I think it means 'Stroll' in English), which is a walking only street! Lots of shops, bakeries, restaurants, performers, and TOURISTS.

One morning, I saw THIS:

Yep, a car with a giant ICE BLOCK melting through the roof! And yeah, those are TENNIS SHOES frozen inside it!

A closer look :

I must say, I was quite confused. My first thought was WOW, what a mean prank! Then, after I figured that was both too much work and a LITTLE too mean to be a prank, I figured it was an art exhibit of some kind. It was still there (although about half melted) around 4 hours later when I walked home, so I asked a bystander why in the world a perfectly nice car was being impaled by an ice block, in almost exactly those words! He told me that it was a fundraiser being put on by a shoe company (the one that makes the sneakers frozen in the ice) and that as the ice melts, people can just come up and take the exposed shoes! The shoe company paid for the car and everything.

Anyway, on to CLASS DESCRIPTIONS :) I'm taking Communications and Mass Media, Danish Language and Culture, A Cultural History of Travel, European Film, and Nordic Mythology! All seem very promising and to be taught by wonderful and qualified faculty. Every class has several field trips (Comm. + Mass Media takes a week-long trip to LONDON!) and I get the idea that the goals of the classes are to get us to see more of and better understand both Copenhagen and Europe as a whole. I'm especially excited about Danish Language and Culture :) Tomorrow night we have our first field study - Cafe Night! It's a dinner out at a nice cafe, and the idea is to teach us about Danish cafe style and culture. It's also sponsored by DIS, so WOOHOO!

Oh, had to add this:

This is India, and she's standing over our delicious vegetarian chili! She lives with a host family and had the kitchen to herself for the evening, so a group of us decided on a recipe, went grocery shopping, and got to it! It was wonderful! We even got to meet her host mom, who just so happens to have completed an immersion trip in...CARMICHAEL, CALIFORNIA!! What are the odds?? Needless to say, I was ECSTATIC about this and proceeded to ask her question after question about her stay. She spent some time living in Arden Park, for those of you who recognize it! :)

Well, tonight was special not only because it marks the end of my first week here, but also because I met my Danish visiting family! Because I'm not living with a host family, I signed up to have a local Danish family meet me for dinner, sightseeing, walks, etc. every week or so so I can be properly immersed among the Danes! They are WONDERFUL! They took me to Tivoli, an amusement park down the street from my apartment. Tivoli is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world, and has lovely extras like free concerts every Friday night, daily and nightly performances, beautiful landscaping, and gorgeous restaurants and hotels! It has some great thrillers and some good rides for sightseeing that give you a great view of the city from WAY high up (made me kinda nervous, but so worth it!) It was a great "first date," and I can't wait to meet with them again! I'll elaborate more tomorrow when I have some pictures to add :)

Anyway, I guess since I'm apparently here to go to SCHOOL or something, I'd better get going on this reading I have to do! Homework on study abroad?! WHAT?!?

Well, I'll report back in a day or so, hopefully with fun pictures and stories to share!

Miss you, love you, xoxo :)

More of em.