Ants In My Pants

Yes, I can now honestly say I've had ants in my pants. And I don't mean fake ants, I mean the real kind. The ones that build little mounds in your driveway. And no, it wasn't voluntary. Let me explain:

Today I went to Dyrehaven (Deer Haven) with my visiting family (who I feel I should just start calling my family, that sounds much nicer) and Katherine, the girl who I share my family with. Dyrehaven is the old hunting grounds for the king. He had a small castle built there so he could hunt outside the city with his dogs and friends. And I don't think he was a very good hunter because they brought deer to the forest to ensure a good hunt. And now the deer have inbred and there are about 10 albino deer in the park!

But since there is no king anymore (Queen Margaret II is the first ruling queen in Danish history) there is no need for a hunting castle, and it is now a public park where you can ride bikes or horses, run, walk or have a picnic - which is exactly what we did! Danish food is always better when a Dane makes it. Hanne, the mom, is an amazing cook. There were salmon rolls, sausage wrapped in homemade bread, potato salad and vegetables. Yum! Also, until now I had never known what ants in your pants felt like. I did after lunch. So we picked a spot on the grass in the forest and put our blanket down. They have three kids so there were a lot of us, and I sat right off the blanket on the grass. All of a sudden I felt all these ants crawling on my back, and then in my pants. It was uncomfortable to say the least. So I quickly brushed them off/squished them, and pretended it was nothing. I still have the creepy-crawlies and think there might still be an ant in my pocket or somewhere. It was a bit traumatizing. But other than that, we had an excellent lunch!

This deer was so close to us and didn't seem to mind at all!

After lunch we walked to the castle at the top of the hill - honestly it wasn't anything more than that, Denmark is very flat. You could see Sweden and the coast on one side and a huge field full of deer on the other. The kids flew their kite and it was so nice. One thing I should note is that my family's third child, Johannes, has Down's syndrome. He is the cutest little seven year old I know. Today at lunch he crawled next to me and held my hand. He is nonverbal but understands everything you say (in Danish). I love how the family dynamic is here - very accepting. The kids adapt so easily when Johannes is tired or walking slowly. I feel like in the US it would be more than it is here to have a child with a disability. The family fully embraces it and thinks positively, knowing it gives them opportunities they would otherwise never experience. I love all of them!

I wish the castle was a museum now, but it's boarded up. There aren't park workers to provide security. 

Sweden! Through the fog...

I did much more than just this, but I don't want this to be a long blog! I'll add in more when I do my blog about all the tourist places in Copenhagen. Yesterday I went to the Round Tower and tomorrow I'm headed to Rosenborg Castle and gardens in the heart of Copenhagen. Pictures of those soon!

Hej hej!
(pronounced 'hi hi', it's Danish for goodbye!)

dwh.

Money, Money, Money...

Sorry for the ABBA reference, I had to at some point - I am in Scandinavia! Not Sweden, but close enough. And the song fits well for what I wanted to blog about today. Denmark is seen as an expensive country. Because they don't use the euro, the conversion rate is different, and not as good. One Euro here is about 7 kroner (crowns, but nobody calls them that, even in english) but one dollar is about five. So we again get the short end of the stick. I had read before I came here that it will be very costly and that I should watch my money carefully. I definitely understand why you need to, but there are also some exceptions to the rule (as always).

Fruit: fruit here is surprisingly cheap, possibly cheaper than in the United States. A quart of strawberries here grown locally is about $5, which isn't too different from the imported strawberries I buy in Maine flown in from California. Berries in general are cheaper. At the outdoor markets I can get five nectarines for 25 kroner, or about a dollar a piece. This seems expensive, but they are so huge and so delicious that it is 100% worth it.

So I had to stop typing to go out and take this picture. I forgot to take one of the fruit stand by the train station, but this one is about a block from where I live on a pedestrian street. Everything looks so fresh!

Necessities: today I went into Apotek, which is the Danish pharmacy. Because of the health care system, most things are behind the counter and there is one place to go get it all (there is no need for competition when the customers don't have to pay). I went in to buy contact solution today and it would have cost me $20!!! I do use a certain type that was about $4 more than the regular solution, but still - $16 for multipurpose contact solution!? In the US that would be about $6. I might have to choose between going broke or going blind...

I know this isn't a very good picture, but I had to take it when nobody was looking. All of these are contact solution. To figure out the price in dollars, divide each by 5. 

Travel: here's where the good news comes. Travel in Europe is so ridiculously cheap that I have become a bargain snob. I won't even look at flight times if the airfare one way is more than $40. And I mean it. There are so many hostels to chose from in every city. And since Copenhagen is so close to eastern Europe, I will be heading there a lot (they don't use the euro, so it's cheaper there). So far I have Budapest booked, but we'll see where else I decide to explore!

So as you can see from these examples, it totally depends on what you're buying, how much you really need it and whether or not you can settle for something of low quality. I need contact solution, that's not something I can skip, but when it comes down to the nectarines, maybe I'll get bananas on sale instead and put those 25 kroner towards something else. It's all give and take, and you have to manage wisely!

PS, my mother will be so happy to read this post and hear about my spending habits here. I am notoriously horrible with cash.

dwh.

Meet Lynda.

So yesterday in Copenhagen I didn't really have much to do, so my friends and I decided to head towards DIS to this great coffee house called Studenterhuset, which means "student house" in Danish. It's the student center for the University of Copenhagen, but as a DIS student you get discounts on great food and coffee! But yesterday we weren't looking for cheap food, we were looking for bikes! In Copenhagen everyone gets around on bikes. Cars are seldom on the streets, and there are designated bike lanes to ensure good traffic flow throughout the city (and all of Denmark). Since I will only be here for four months, I didn't know if I wanted a bike or not, but decided to go anyway to see what they had. The bikes were a little expensive, but worth it for the quality and reassurance of knowing you could sell them back at the end of the semester. I looked around for a while and finally found something that caught my eye:

Yes, that's right, I found a pink bicycle. And I have purchased said bicycle and will be riding it to class today. Her name as of now is Lynda, but who knows if that will stick. I decided on this because she is pepto bismol pink, and that reminds me of nurses, and I feel like Lynda is a nurse name. I also don't know why I chose to spell her name that way, but I'm not changing it. Hopefully Lynda does not get stolen, and I promise not to lose her. If I can manage these two things all semester, they will pay me $200 to bring it back to them in December. Which would be a nice perk towards the end of my stay here!

I didn't want this to be a long blog, as some of them have been pretty lengthy recently, but couldn't wait to show you my new bike! I hope you like her, I'll probably have lots of stories from our adventures together! 

Amanda went for an artsy shot...

Until then, 

dwh.

I've Only Been Here 7 Days?!?

So I have officially been in Denmark for a week now! Well, not an entire week, but almost! I feel like I've been here for a month already, I am so comfortable getting to classes and back and also around the city. There are definitely places I haven't even seen yet, but I'll get there eventually!

Ok so this week we started out with orientation meetings for three days. The first day was the opening ceremony at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, which was built before World War II as a building for radio broadcasting, but wasn't officially opened until after the end of the war due to concerns of being too luxurious for the hard times. The opening ceremony was nice - some professors spoke and gave us some tips on how to immerse ourselves. After that I had my urban awareness experience, which was a scavenger hunt around the city with four other people I'd never met before. We went to the Church of Our Saviour in Christiantown, the same island where Christiania is (I'm headed there soon!), the Black Diamond (Royal Library), to the Parliament building, the King's Square (where there is an amazing department store) and to Netto, a grocery store, for lunch. It was a good way to see the city and get more grounded with where things are.

This is the stock exchange, located to the left of the main parliament building. I love the dragons on the tower!

On Tuesday I had an optional session in the morning about etiquette in Denmark and what to do and not do while around in Copenhagen. Apparently if you pick up your silverware, you can't ever put them back on the table (not that I would anyway I guess), and it is very rude to be late or cancel plans. Extremely rude. That afternoon I had to get my books, which turned into a 30 pound nightmare. I got lost on the bus with all those books but eventually found my way (see previous post). Then I did nothing because I was so tired.

Wednesday I had to figure out all of my visa paperwork and file for my residence permit so I'm not living here illegally! That went very quickly and I met up with Andrea, a girl who goes to American with me, and some friends she had met that go to St. Lawrence. Then I headed home for lunch and a nap (and typed my latest blog) and headed back that night for a visiting family session. I have a visiting family, so I go see them for dinner and to go places, but I don't live with them.

Thursday I had classes for the first time, but they don't start until 1:15 so I had lots of time to finally sleep in! I'll post my class schedule below so you can see how everything goes! After my classes I went with Katherine, the girl who also visits the family with me, and we went to meet them at their house about a half hour from DIS (and the central station in Copenhagen). They are so wonderful, made us delicious food, and have three great kids. I really enjoyed talking with them and getting a break from being here in the city.

Friday I also had classes, only even later than Thursday because one was postponed until Tuesday. I went to the hospital that my main class is taught at and that was very exciting. Hospitals are very different in Europe than in the United States, so it's interesting to see how things are done there. Then last night I stayed in (I know, my first Friday, but I was really tired!) and skyped and picked up my room.

Today (Saturday) I went to Fredericksborg Castle, which is about 40 minutes from the city. It is so pretty but I was disappointed to learn it was rebuilt in the 1800's because of a fire, so the interior isn't actually from the 1600's, it just looks like it is. But nevertheless, DIS had a great tour planned for us and the bus ride was easy (despite downpour rain the entire time!). It was a really convenient way to see the castle without figuring out transportation, you'd need a car. We had a great time in the gardens and finding funny paintings and statues to take pictures with. There was also a beautiful wedding in the chapel while we were there, and we were able to see the bride! She was very pretty. Then we were told there are four weddings there today, and on our way to the gardens we saw the next bride making her way into the castle grounds in a very old car before her wedding began! I have to say, I wouldn't mind my wedding being there... So despite the rain and gloom it actually was a very nice day and we had a lot of fun!

Amanda and me at the castle! We probably had too much fun there... but the DIS coordinator kept letting us sneak off and explore!

Tomorrow I think everything is closed, but hopefully we will get to go to somewhere! I still need a hair dryer and some other things. Sorry this is so long! When I have time I will pop some pictures in here, but right now my camera battery is charging! Have a great weekend! dwh.

First Top Ten in Copenhagen!

So this is a list of my top ten favorite things so far:

1. By far my favorite thing is the bicycles. I can probably count the number of cars on a street with one hand, but I'd need a very large abacus to keep track of how many bicycles go by. The city is really quiet, there's no honking of car horns (only a few bus horns - but they kind of beep not honk, so polite!), only the quiet clicking of bicycles as the go down the bike lane. I'm still undecided on getting a bike or not...

2. Danish pastries are not like American danishes. For starters, their pastry dough is beyond anything I've had in the US. I'm not a fan of super flaky pastries that crumble apart. In Denmark they are flaky but soft, so you can bite into them and taste the buttery layers of dough, but then it smushes together and is absolutely heavenly. I had a round pastry with chocolate and vanilla frosting in the middle (I'm talking like almost a half inch thick and the size of your palm) Monday and it was to die for. And I needed lots of water, it was so sweet. But I'll have to ration my pastries or I'll eat one every day.

3. The people are so friendly. I had one student who came early say on the first day, "Danes are quiet and keep to themselves and would never approach you if you looked lost, but the moment you ask they treat you like family and make sure you're on the right path." This is so true. When I got my books yesterday, the bag weighed almost 30 pounds (I'm guessing) so I took the bus home for the first time. Well there's construction on our street so I had to get off a stop past ours and get back on going the other way. Not a good plan when you have no idea which stop is the one after yours (which is nonexistent due to the road having a huge hole in it). I walked around completely lost, and then went to another bus stop and asked a woman for directions. She was extremely helpful and got me to exactly where I needed to be, and repeated the directions four times to make sure I understood. Five minutes later I was home.

I'll keep these next few short!
4. I am legal here. I never really thought I'd be happy about this, but I realized last night how much better it is when they don't question your age or treat you like you're immature and too young for alcohol. I'm not a huge drinker, but it's nice to be able to go out with friends for a change.

5. Everything is natural. There is real sugar in the soda, real ingredients in the food (I think, I can't read most ingredients, but it tastes good), and always fresh produce on the street. America really needs to think about this way of life, it is so much healthier and you feel happier!

6. My class at the hospital is next to the Ikea. Yes. I know. I'm so happy. I can go there for dinner every night. Yay! One good thing of that class being 20 minutes outside of Copenhagen.

7. The weather's not that bad! Think Maine in early fall (early September weather) or DC in late October/early November and you'll get the idea. Cloudy but not dreary. The whole city seems happy and light, so even on a bad day you don't mind walking around (those kind of days are coffee and pastry days...).

8. Tourism? What tourism?! I haven't seen a single street vendor selling "I <3 Copenhagen" shirts in all of the parts of the city I've been to. Even the most touristy areas are pretty normal. I like that I chose somewhere a little more off the beaten path, the culture is so present.

9. Ugh these last two always kill me. Think, think, think!!! OH. The people are gorgeous. So casual but classy. I'm pretty sure Europe is the only place that straight men can get away with wearing tight fitting jorts (jean shorts). Honestly, I have never seen so many in one day. Ok so that's not classy, but everyone else is. Women in short dresses ride bicycles without a mishap (think 9 months pregnant with a basket of groceries and a short dress with no leggings). Men in fitted suits with skinny pants ride around like they're in sweats. Their hairstyles are unique but beautiful, and I have never seen blonde hair like this before. Also as a pale person, I am very happy to finally fit in! (Although nobody has freckles.)

10. Hmm my last favorite thing? Probably that their money is mostly coins, so I can easily have 100 kroner in the bottom of my bag without realizing it ($20). It's just kind of heavy and I need a change purse for all of it... But I forget how much I have! It IS expensive here, I can't say it isn't, but if you are careful I think it's fine.

Ok well that's all, sorry it's so long, I just have so much to say about everything!!!!
More soon! dwh.

I'm Here!

So Saturday (the 20th) I drove from home to Boston with my mom to start my trek over the ocean to DIS. My first flight was from Logan on United and if there is anyone out there planning on bringing an overweight bag on United - DON'T. We had to pay $200 to get my bag to Denmark because it weighed 64.5 pounds. So don't do what we did. But it was worth the money to not to have to stress about packing two checked bags and finding enough space in my purse/bag for my laptop. Then I got my tickets and watched as my purple duffle sailed away on the luggage belt, hopefully to be seen again.

After checking in I grabbed some food and said good bye to my mom, which was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be! I got nervous and sad when I went to Germany because it was so far away, and this was the same. So we did a quick goodbye and off I went through security, which was very quick. I met a girl going to DIS at the gate, her name is Josie and she lives with me! She's my neighbor and classmate, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other! We flew to Dulles in DC and met even more DIS people, including my friend Tom who goes to AU with me. I was sad to be in DC but not be able to visit everyone and go to my favorite places. That will have to wait until January, I already have a list going of where I want to go.

The plane ride had the worst food I've ever eaten on a plane. It was dry and gross - who serves spicy food on a plane?! Go with mild flavors!!! Probably the best food I've ever had was on Virgin Atlantic. But anyway, it wasn't very good. After I ate my food I tried to sleep a little and then we landed! Not very interesting. When we got to Denmark, customs was a breeze and before we knew it we were being welcomed by DIS interns splitting us into our groups! We got on big buses and headed out into the city to go "home". I live in DIS shared housing, which is basically another name for a dorm. I chose it because I wanted to be in the city with a lot around me to do. I didn't want a host family and then have friends visit and be stuck all the way out there without them, even though I don't know how many friends will actually visit.

 My room! Well my half of the room. The white box is the entrance to the cafe on the first floor, so it can't move but we are using it as a comfy place to sit. See our plant in the corner! So nice of them to give us a plant. 

My bed and desk, plus a nightstand thing and the rug plus art they put on the wall for us. Strange but I'll go with it. 

Once everyone arrived we ate pizza, got to know each other (there are about 25 of us - guys and girls) and then some people went out but I stayed in to sleep. I was so tired. Then those of us who stayed in talked for a while and went to bed! I'll put the details of today and tomorrow in a blog tomorrow night, I'm too tired to post that much now!

Bye!
dwh.

And away we go!

This will be my last post from the fabulous USA! Well, this is hoping my flights go as planned tomorrow and nothing gets delayed, or I might have to do an airport blog. And I might write one from Dulles, but probably not. Anyway, this is a more important blog than usual because I'm finally going public! I have no idea who has been reading this for the past three and a half months, but someone has because I swear I haven't logged in 161 times. Only like 50 (once to sign in and once to view the newest blog). So since people I actually know are reading this, hi!! I hope you enjoy the complete randomness my blog has, because it's not going to change any time soon. (If anything this is what the past 3.5 months have told me.)

In packing news, I am almost done, I just have to pack my toiletries in the morning. My carry on is like a small house and my checked bag is more like a storage complex but airlines don't care just as long as you pay your way through. My bag is going to cost like $100 to check. Not fun. My mother said she would pay this $100. Fun (for me). Thanks Mum. I feel like I'm overpacking, because everyone says to pack half of what you think you'll need, but I've been packing for years (literally, between college and going to and from the dorms in high school, I'm a pro at this) and think I know what to bring and what not to. It's my mother that keeps shoving a third pair of black flats into my bag that's making it hard! I will be sending things back with her in October to make room for whatever I buy when I'm there, right now I have no room!

And my train of thought is gone. Sorry, I remembered I had to pack something and came back to blog more and it's lost and gone forever. But what I do want to say is that I've had a great summer and can't believe it's over now. I did so much - summer chem classes, working at the fabulous retail store, my babysitting adventure, having my friends here (Laura you were sorely missed!), moving to Portland, and now packing for Denmark. I have more freckles than ever before, and am happy and ready to start something new! I can't say I won't miss my friends at AU - I am having a hard time thinking I'm not going back to them this semester - but I am excited to see who I will meet abroad! I have already talked to some people and my roommate seems great, so I'm looking forward to it all! Bookmark my blog so you can keep following me until December (and then who knows what will happen, I love blogging!). And Big, I put your blog on my Bookmarks Bar. Just saying. Goodbye all, next stop - COPENHAGEN, DENMARK!!!!