Week One...Down.

One week in…

This past week has been SO full of ups and downs, I’m not even sure where to begin.  I’ve been more emotionally shaken than I ever thought possible, and out of left field at that.  I’ve been unsure of myself and my surroundings.  I’ve gotten lost, found my way, laughed till I cried and cried till I laughed.  I’ve been wind blown and wet.  I’ve been COLD. But above all, I’ve challenged myself in a way that I was not at all prepared for, and for that I am incredibly thankful.

When people back home asked me why I chose to study abroad in Copenhagen—in the middle of winter—I didn’t have much of an answer.  I’d nervously laugh, smile, and repeat for their sake as much as mine: The program came with great recommendations, the location seemed cool (honestly, when will I EVER go to Copenhagen again…?!), and the people are “the happiest in the world.”  Though these all seem like good answers on paper, I’d be lying if I said that I was 110% ready to just up and move to another country.  In reality, I was scared s**tless on the plane and wondering why the hell I was doing this in the first place.

The first few days were not kind either—I had a very unique first day (missed the bus, forgot my train pass, was yelled at by the police and charged 750 DKK ($150) for it, lost the PIN # for my phone, cried…all day), and was having a hard time coping with the social re-adjustment.  I have never, EVER in my life been homesick, and feeling that emotion was very strange and sad.  I come from an unbelievable group of friends and “family” at Elon and the first few days I felt incredibly lost without them.  “Lonely” is not a feeling I have ever really ascribed to myself. 

But in fact, it was what I felt the first few days.  Once I accepted it, got it out of my system and reminded myself that it was only the first week, I felt a little better.  I talked to more people.   I put myself out there.  I—dare I say it—smiled.  Laughed.  Enjoyed the remarkably beautiful city where I’m so privileged to go to school.  Walked around the perfect, quaint town that I live in.  Appreciated the beauty found in such a small area: fields, forests, and lakes by my house and renaissance era cathedrals and cobblestone streets filled with history in the city. 

And wouldn’t you know?  The sun started to shine.  The wind stopped blowing.  I caught my breath and realized…I’M IN FREAKING DENMARK.  THIS. IS. AWESOME.  It might have been difficult the first few days, but it can’t always be bad.  Though I was initially shaken, I’m still the smiling, outgoing, Kaitlin that loves to live and laugh.  I have a feeling I can do both here.   :) 

Highlights of the past week:

-BONDING WITH FAMILY.  Oh, they are so great.  SO great.  They welcomed me with open arms from day 1, and I truly feel like I am slowly becoming a part of the family.  We’ve been shopping (realized I am VERY American…), played with the dogs, made decorative candles, eaten wonderful meals, and had great conversation.  This is just what I needed. 

-Finding my way to St. Peters, home of the best wiernerbrod ever and only 2 minutes from school

-Learning the ins and outs of water/energy conservation

-Wandering around aimlessly after school…just getting acquainted with the neighborhood.  Exploring.

-Going into the city alone on my class-less Friday and shopping for hours.  Walking down Stroget, the world’s longest pedestrian-only shopping street, in search of leather boots.  **I literally have not met a local wearing anything other than boots or black sneakers.

-Trying on countless pairs of said boots, only to find the PERFECT pair on the way home.  Soft, supple, brown Italian leather.  Beautiful construction.  MAJOR splurge.  Well, they say if the shoe fits…

-Wearing said boots with an all-black outfit, Carlsberg in my hand, and finally feeling very Danish on a way to a club with friends on Friday night.  Having to crash on a friend’s floor in the city because the trains and busses stop running around 12.

-Boots are made for walking…and I do. A LOT.

-Switching classes around.  Currently: News Media in Transition, International Advertising, Danish Language 1 (oh heyyyy GPA drop…), and Hans Christian Anderson and the Danish Golden Age.  Pretty sweet set up, if I do say so myself.

-Taking a walking tour of the city on a sunny day.  Being caught in the harbor in the perfect late-afternoon light.

-Finally finding that place you see on Copenhagen postcards, the one of the pretty buildings in the harbor.  It’s called Nyhavn (New-houn) and is even better than you’re imagining it.

-Visiting a GIANT cathedral from the middle ages in the town of Roskile, about an hour away by bus.  Meeting other DIS people on the trip.  Seeing old viking boats.  Playing dress up...as a viking.

-Hygge (hugh-glee): The Danish feeling of coziness.  Often accompanied by tea, good conversation, and lots of candles.  Experienced every evening.  LOVE. 

And the best highlight:

-Realizing that I can do this.  I am going to have a great semester, day by day.  I expect to be challenged again, and I expect to encounter missteps and frustrations.  But I also expect life-changing experiences that I will carry with me forever.  I expect to form solid relationships with my new family and friends.  I expect to be see things that I never will again, and I expect to take some home with me.  I am a daughter, sister, friend, and Elon student living in a brand new country for the next four and a half months.  I’ll do my best to live up to our school’s favorite saying:

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Vi ses,

Kaitlin  :) 

Warning: LONG post about arrival day. whoops!

Well, it is currently 3 AM here in Denmark, and I have been laying awake for the past two hours.  I figured maybe a more constructive use of my time would be to post a quick update of the past (24?  48?) not-sure-how-many hours.  I am using a Macbook computer, which the internet at home doesn’t seem to recognize.  I’ll actually post the blog when I get internet access at school later tomorrow (today?), and I have a feeling most of my posts will follow this pattern of technology…Though hopefully I won’t be writing too many more at 3 AM.

 

**NOTE: This will be an abnormally long blog post…mainly for Mom and Dad who I can’t talk to for long periods on the phone, but I know will want to know alllllll the details of the first day or two.

 

OK…Left Richmond at 1:30, had a very rough flight to Newark—thank goodness it was only an hour.  The plane was very small and I was sitting right next to the propeller, which made my whole body vibrate the entire time.  It was also very loud and I was sitting next to a woman who was just…not nice.  Not sure how to describe her other than…not nice.  I came down with a sinus infection the day before leaving the States, and it was this flight that gave me the most trouble with pressure.  My face hurt when we arrived and I couldn’t really hear much.  Kind of funny, in hindsight.

 

In the Newark terminal, I wound up meeting a handful of other DIS students.  We bonded over our nervous excitement and also our sudden change of terminal to halfway across the airport, haha.  It was good to finally put a real face to people I had been talking to on Facebook.  Our flight boarded exactly at 5:00 and we took off exactly at 5:30/40.  I thankfully had an aisle exit row seat (thanks Dad!) and only one other person in my row, next to the window, with an empty seat between us.  It turns out Emily was a DIS student too, and it was great to talk to someone else on the plane. 

 

We landed in Copenhagen, earlier than the intenerary said, and went through the line of customs/passport checks.  Then down to baggage claim where DIS had a cute little kiosk set up to check us in.  Emily and I each grabbed a free baggage cart and (thankfully) retrieved our not-lost luggage.  We made a quick currency exchange and went into the main lobby area of the airport…only to run smack into about 100 other DIS students checking in at the second DIS kiosk.  I have to say, DIS has been absolutely wonderful at making sure that we know what we’re doing, when we’re doing it, and having lots of people on hand to help even first time travelers like myself.

 

A $10 Starbucks coffee later (whoops…not used to the exchange rate yet) I met up with other Elon students in the mass of kids mulling around the airport.  SO GOOD to see somewhat familiar faces!  Once the busses arrived, we navigated the masses of students to throw our luggage on and board the bus that would take us to our first part of Orientation, held at the Univeristy of Copenhagen (held there simply for space-issues).  Our bus got lost on the way…we weren’t sure if this was supposed to be some kind of omen??...but we arrived, stashed our stuff in a room, and went to the main cafeteria style room where DIS had set up check in.

 

Going through a series of booths, I received a messenger bag with all necessary paperwork, my transportation money, and a form to receive a PicCell phone.  I sat down with some people through my flight and we navigated through all the information together.  DIS had set up lots of water and fresh fruit for us, and you could also purchase a sandwich.  Everything was very organized, but it was clearly up to us to figure everything out.

 

Those staying with host families had a brief orientation in a lecture hall that was much different than what I’m used to at Elon.  My Elon friends can picture an ampitheater setting very similar to Yeager auditorium, but twice as big!  Then we just…sat…and waited for the director to call our names when our family came.  This was around 11:30, to give you a time reference. 

 

Gitte and Nathalie picked me up, and were so soo nice!  They both gave me a big hug and we set off through the now growing crowd in the cafeteria-room to find my luggage, get it in the car, and head off.

 

As we drove through the city, Gitte would give me a brief overview of the major points of interest.  The words for them sound NOTHING like they look in English…AHHH! We parked and walked my route from the train stop to school, and then I led the way back home.  Not too hard!  It was cold and overcast and VERY windy, but my area of school is very beautiful and postcard-esque.  I’ll take lots of pictures the next few days!

 

We drove home, and met my other sister Caroline.  She is very sweet and welcoming, if a little shy?  Nathalie gave me a tour of their home and I started to unpack while Gitte made lunch.

 

Lunch was what I gather is a traditional smorrebrod (can’t make the funny “o”’ with a slash through it)—a piece of dark break, with an assortment of toppings.  We had fish sticks (“fish fingers”…so cute!), hard boiled eggs that they cut in half and top with mayo, red cabbage, raw onion, and PICKLED HERRING (Becca, I REALLY hope you’re reading this…).  The fish was slightly rubbery and sweet, nothing like the fish that I’m used to but also nothing like I thought it would taste like.  It wasn’t my favorite, but overall not bad!  We also had this type of pork which was SO much better than any pork I’ve had stateside.  It looked kind of like really big brown lumps in an egg shape, but was really some kind of breaded and friend pork.  DELICIOUS!  The juice with lunch was a condensed juice in a carton that you water down…Mine was some kind of berry that I’ve never had before, but very good!

 

And then…I crashed.  Hard core.  I went up to my room, washed my face, and fell RIGHT asleep.  I had set my phone alarm for two hours, and it felt like I could have slept for days and days.  When I got up, I went downstairs and began to look through all of the paperwork that DIS had given me, and Gitte explained the bus/train schedule that I’ll be using.  Caroline and I tried to set up my internet, but it was near impossible.  We’re going to have the “neighbor boy” try and figure it out soon and I realllllly hope it works out!

 

In the meantime, I was able to borrow their laptop to send a quick email home to mom and dad.  I was suddenly very overwhelmed with emotions I can’t even put to name.  I’ve been waiting for all of this to seem real, and while it still isn’t, I got a large dose of that feeling all at once.  It was very overwhelming…again I’m not quite sure how to put it. 

 

I continued looking through papers and quizzed the girls a lot on how to pronounce everything under the sun.  The American English language is very lazy…we pronounce everything in our mouth, while the Danes use more of their throat—creating swallowed vowels and “soft” letters.  Even names their names are different than they look:

 

“Caroline:” care-o-lean

 

“Nathalie:” nah-tal-ee-ugh

 

“Gitte:” Ge (as in “geese”)-t-eh/ah (impossible to write phonetically).

 

Soon it was dinner, which was a DELICIOUS lasagne.  It was full of vegetables and soooo good.  Like a typical lasagne here, but with much less Italian flavor and more…I don’t know.  Just VERY good!!!

 

We had such a great dinnertime conversation.  I talked about regional differnces in the States, where I live and go to school, and Gitte pulled out a big atlas so we could locate everything.  They got a kick out of how we call Michigan the mitten, for whwat it’s shaped like, and how Florida is like the little finger sticking out.  Again, I’m not sure how to describe the conversation but it was so welcoming, warm, and natural.  We joked and laughed and just…talked.  It was absolutely wonderful.  :)

 

And then…came catch phrase.  Easily one of my favorite board games, made even better because I was playing with my family who speaks English as a second language and they didn’t know some of the words.  We laughed…SO hard.  It was really a great great end to the evening, full of fun and laughter.  It really did just feel like home.  Gitte had to get on her glasses and use a light to read the words which we all laughed about, Nathalie was just hysterical with her facial expressions, and caroline is probally the best catch phrase player I know…ahh she’s so good.  I wasn’t sure the things they would/wouldn’t know, so it was just funny to see the language divide manifest itself.  At one point the word was luggage and Caroline was trying to get Nathalie to guess it, and she said “umm…ok!  Kaitlin brought a lot of this…” and Nathalie looked confused and then goes… “Deodorant…?”.  HAHA they couldn’t believe I brought so much and I think thought I was a little strange for it—told you!  Gitte said she also looked online and could tell they sell high and dry in the states, so I hope they don’t think I wimped out.  I just couldn’t find it online or in any stores!

 

While they watched a Danish sitcom, similar to a crime/action type plot (think 24 without all the time melodrama) I skyped with Ian and a few friends.  Then I went downstairs and watched some with them, then hit the hay.  And…here I am now.  That pretty much covers my first day, plus or minus a few things, but that’s basically it!

 

Love you lots and I’ll keep you posted!!

 

Kaitlin  :) 

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