I have officially arrived in Copenhagen to begin my fall semester with
DIS! These past few days have been a whirlwind of travel, unpacking, orientations, meeting up with friends new and old, and lots and lots of walking. As the sun sets on my fourth day in Denmark I thought I would share some photos of my new home for the next four months and what I've learned so far!
On my first day here, I arrived to my flat in Frederiksberg, which I share with eight other DIS students (5 girls and 2 boys). I got unpacked and my SRA (kind of like an RA) took everyone to the grocery store down the street to pick up some essentials. Afterwards, we ordered pizza, hung out in our living room, and got to know each other a little bit. Later that evening I met up with some friends from Villanova and we explored the downtown area where we will be taking classes.
On Sunday, a few of my flatmates and I walked around our neighborhood and went to the local pharmacy to pick up some more items for our apartment. Then, we completed a scavenger hunt that led us around the city completing tasks like riding the bus and learning some basic Danish words and phrases. That evening, our SRA took us out to dinner with the other students he is in charge of for the semester (our 'sister' apartment). He brought us to a place called
Absalon, which is an old church that has been converted into a community center. It has a very unique set up - there's no menu, everything is cooked from scratch and served family style, and everyone is seated at long tables with other random people. That night they were serving homemade bread, roast chicken, a tomato salad, and potatoes. It was
so good. After dinner there is always some sort of activity (yoga, bingo, live music, etc.) and on Sunday it was a jazz band. I thought this was such a cool concept and I'm definitely going to bring my friends back there during the semester. The best part? Dinner is only 50 dkk per person (about $8) which is very affordable and rare for Copenhagen.
On Monday morning, we had the DIS Opening Ceremony at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. There were performances from Danish opera singers and the program director spoke about what to expect during our time in Copenhagen. That afternoon I picked up my textbooks and headed back to my flat for lunch. A few of my flatmates and I took a walk to a park in our neighborhood. It is apparently one of the largest and most beautiful parks in the city and it did not disappoint! There were lots of trails, a fountain, a palace, and a zoo! We barely got to explore the whole thing so we are planning to go back again soon.
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| The park reminded me a little bit of Longwood Gardens |
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| The park entrance - the buildings in our neighborhood are so beautiful! |
Later that afternoon, our SRA took us on a walking tour of the city center, where he showed us the best shopping, bakeries, restaurants, and study spots near the DIS campus buildings. It was a great way to learn more about the area and help us get our bearings. European baked goods are my weakness so I made note of a few places I need to visit soon. All of the streets and storefronts here are so quintessentially European and some are very reminiscent of Paris - I love it!
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| My ideal front door |
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| Cobblestone and colorful houses are found on every little side street |
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| One of the main shopping squares in the city center |
After our tour we got sandwiches and had a housing meeting with our sister apartment. That night, I met up with some friends at Paper Island, a food market alongside the harbor. The market is made up of lots of different food stalls and there were so many delicious options! There is currently an art installation by Yoko Ono called the
Wish Tree Garden on display outside the market. According to its website,
"On a slip of paper, a so-called ‘wish tag’, anyone can write a wish which is afterwards hung from the branches of the trees. All the wishes are regularly collected and sent to Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower on the island of Viðey in Kollafjörður Bay, Iceland...The wishes are buried around the Peace Tower along with the millions of other wishes that have been collected since 1996 from other places in the world."
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| Yoko Ono's display at Paper Island |
This morning, our flat had a DIScover Copenhagen Tour, where we went around to different spots in the city where DIS representatives gave us history about important locations and attractions. Each walking tour leaves me feeling like I am slowly but surely learning my way around this place. My favorite place was the Black Diamond, a library on the waterfront. They have lots of great study and work spaces as well as rotating exhibitions on display. I'm sure I will be spending time there later on in the semester. Afterwards, I met up with my friend Maddie and we went to Nyhavn, the place most people probably think of when they think of Copenhagen. It's a picturesque stretch of harbor lined with colorful row houses and beautiful sailboats. We of course had to snap some photos and try out the trampolines built into the sidewalk nearby!
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| I was so happy to finally find these trampolines after hunting for them all week! |
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| A classic Cope photo ft. BSHS alums :) |
Tomorrow I have academic orientation and classes start on Thursday! I'm super excited for all of my classes this semester and I can't wait to explore the city even more in the coming months. In closing, here are the top 5 things I've learned about Copenhagen so far:
- They have peanut butter here! It's not Jif, but its actually not too bad.
- Pretty much all Danes use bikes as their main mode of transportation, bikers even get the right of way over pedestrians.
- You can never know what to expect with the weather here - once second its pouring rain and the next second its sunny blue skies.
- There were several fires in the city in the 17th and 18th century so most buildings in Copenhagen aren't actually that old!
- Danes love to badmouth the Swedish - I'm not quite sure why yet so updates to come on this.
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