Monday, September 22, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
My Danish Home Away From Home
At first I was pretty bitter that I did not receive on-campus housing due to a shortage. Although calling it on-campus is pretty misleading. It's the law in Denmark that universities cannot own housing. The "on-campus" housing is actually privately owned although only students are able rent it. Danish students actually go to college for free and they can even qualify to receive money from the state while they complete their degree. (I would never graduate if that were the case in the States.) And I'm not talking money for textbooks, I'm talking part-time job level earnings. Too bad I can't take advantage of the free education and student pay. In fact, I still have to pay tuition to my home university even though my host university doesn't see a dime of it. Where is that money going again?
Although my apartment is not adjacent to campus, it is in a really convenient location with buses running right outside my window and the metro only a short walk or bike ride away. From my room I can hear the hustle and bustle of the street and American rap music blaring from car stereos. My neighborhood is filled with bike shops and kebab take-away joints. I am blessed with a full kitchen including an oven, something my on-campus counterparts don't have. My apartment complex has a great courtyard that is only accessible to residents. Picnic tables and shrubbery decorate the space. In the summertime it would be a great place to barbecue.
I couldn't be happier with my flatmates, both are sweet girls who don't mind me asking them tons of questions about life in Copenhagen. Sofie is Danish and Federica is Italian. Thank god I'm not the only one who does not speak Danish. Federica has lived here for two years, she moved here to complete her Master's degree in Video Game Design and she is equally as frustrated by the Danish language as I am. Sofie is a bookshop manager who just completed her first book and recently went back to school to study business.
My room came fully furnished and the whole apartment is gorgeously decorated. Even though almost everything in it comes from IKEA, it still looks like something out of an interior design magazine. The walls of my room are filled with photographs of David Bowie and the Rolling Stones and the shelves are filled with the biographies of every significant rock star of the past 35 years (in Danish of course). It's cozy and homey and there is a cat! Her name is Lille Skid, which is Danish for "Little Shit". She's definitely high maintenance as cats are known to be but she's sweet and adorable none the less. She greets us at the door and rubs against our legs while we cook.
One reason that I was bitter about my housing situation is that exchange students in school housing have the benefit of a built-in social network and pay less than I do in private housing. However, I still feel lucky to have found somewhere to live. After being here for two weeks now I've met many students who still don't have any accommodation. Students are staying in hostels, unable to find somewhere to live in the city at a reasonable price. Copenhagen is known to have a huge shortage of housing. Many people want to live here because the quality of life is so high and there are nice perks like a free education. But the city just doesn't have the space for it. I've lived off-campus my entire college career so might as well keep up the tradition during my time here in Copenhagen.
Although my apartment is not adjacent to campus, it is in a really convenient location with buses running right outside my window and the metro only a short walk or bike ride away. From my room I can hear the hustle and bustle of the street and American rap music blaring from car stereos. My neighborhood is filled with bike shops and kebab take-away joints. I am blessed with a full kitchen including an oven, something my on-campus counterparts don't have. My apartment complex has a great courtyard that is only accessible to residents. Picnic tables and shrubbery decorate the space. In the summertime it would be a great place to barbecue.
I couldn't be happier with my flatmates, both are sweet girls who don't mind me asking them tons of questions about life in Copenhagen. Sofie is Danish and Federica is Italian. Thank god I'm not the only one who does not speak Danish. Federica has lived here for two years, she moved here to complete her Master's degree in Video Game Design and she is equally as frustrated by the Danish language as I am. Sofie is a bookshop manager who just completed her first book and recently went back to school to study business.
My room came fully furnished and the whole apartment is gorgeously decorated. Even though almost everything in it comes from IKEA, it still looks like something out of an interior design magazine. The walls of my room are filled with photographs of David Bowie and the Rolling Stones and the shelves are filled with the biographies of every significant rock star of the past 35 years (in Danish of course). It's cozy and homey and there is a cat! Her name is Lille Skid, which is Danish for "Little Shit". She's definitely high maintenance as cats are known to be but she's sweet and adorable none the less. She greets us at the door and rubs against our legs while we cook.
 |
| The only time she sits still long enough for me to take a picture of her is when she's sleeping. |
One reason that I was bitter about my housing situation is that exchange students in school housing have the benefit of a built-in social network and pay less than I do in private housing. However, I still feel lucky to have found somewhere to live. After being here for two weeks now I've met many students who still don't have any accommodation. Students are staying in hostels, unable to find somewhere to live in the city at a reasonable price. Copenhagen is known to have a huge shortage of housing. Many people want to live here because the quality of life is so high and there are nice perks like a free education. But the city just doesn't have the space for it. I've lived off-campus my entire college career so might as well keep up the tradition during my time here in Copenhagen.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Learning Danish
In an effort to meet my fellow exchange students and seem less like a tourist when I'm out and about, I took a week-long "Danish Crash Course" offered by my host university, CBS. The course covered basic Danish language skills and Danish culture. This course was a big challenge for me. I've never had much of a knack for learning new languages. I took Spanish in school from Kindergarten to 10th grade and I am still not fluent in Spanish.
Danish is a difficult language compared to English, for sure. Not only does the Danish alphabet have 3 additional vowels, the vowels I am familiar with are pronounced differently! Danish pretty much turns everything upside down for me. These strange new vowels leave me tongue tied.
To make matters worse, because Danish is a historic language and not a phonetic language, words are pronounced completely differently from how they are spelled. I realized this within minutes of being in Denmark. My new neighborhood, Amager, is pronounced simply as "Ama".
When attempting to learn Danish, it seems like most of the letters in Danish words are not even pronounced. You basically have to memorize the correct pronunciation because when you see words spelled out on the page it's impossible to just sound them out using the alphabet. When saying a phrase in Danish, the words flow together and the phrase becomes one big sound, not a sequence of sounds.
Luckily, my Danish teacher Mike is a laid-back dude who wears shark tooth necklaces and told us dirty jokes during class. He was understanding of our struggle with the language and gave us great advice such as how to avoid having our bicycles stolen and where to find good cinnamon rolls. I'm still too embarrassed by my poor pronunciation to converse with Danes in Danish. But I've managed to use the Danish word for thank you, "Tak". Baby steps.
Danish is a difficult language compared to English, for sure. Not only does the Danish alphabet have 3 additional vowels, the vowels I am familiar with are pronounced differently! Danish pretty much turns everything upside down for me. These strange new vowels leave me tongue tied.
 |
| The additional vowels in the Danish alphabet |
To make matters worse, because Danish is a historic language and not a phonetic language, words are pronounced completely differently from how they are spelled. I realized this within minutes of being in Denmark. My new neighborhood, Amager, is pronounced simply as "Ama".
When attempting to learn Danish, it seems like most of the letters in Danish words are not even pronounced. You basically have to memorize the correct pronunciation because when you see words spelled out on the page it's impossible to just sound them out using the alphabet. When saying a phrase in Danish, the words flow together and the phrase becomes one big sound, not a sequence of sounds.
Luckily, my Danish teacher Mike is a laid-back dude who wears shark tooth necklaces and told us dirty jokes during class. He was understanding of our struggle with the language and gave us great advice such as how to avoid having our bicycles stolen and where to find good cinnamon rolls. I'm still too embarrassed by my poor pronunciation to converse with Danes in Danish. But I've managed to use the Danish word for thank you, "Tak". Baby steps.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
An Uneventful Beginning to My European Adventure
If you're reading this it's probably because you already know me so I won't bother introducing myself too much. The short story is that I'm an American student from Maryland and I'm spending the fall 2014 semester abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am writing this blog mainly to update my family and friends on my whereabouts but also to document my experiences so that when I'm older I will be able to relive my travels. I've always admired bloggers and their ability to share their inner thoughts, feelings and details of their personal lives. I've never been very comfortable sharing with the world what feels like a diary entry. But after all, this semester is about trying news things and that is what I must do.
The first thing I saw when we touched down at the Copenhagen airport was a rainbow in the sky. I took it as a sign that I made the right choice. I had never traveled internationally before and I did not really know what to expect. I was anxious about leaving my parents, my friends and my boyfriend of a year and a half. The day of my departure, I was a big bag of nerves. But when I saw that rainbow in the sky, I felt immediately rejuvenated. Everything was going to be okay.
My host university, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), set me up with a "buddy", another CBS student who signed up to help the exchange students settle in and transition into Danish life. My buddy, Hana, met me at the airport, helped me buy a metro ticket and accompanied me to my new home, an apartment in Amagerbro, Copenhagen. I wasn't lucky enough to get on-campus housing from CBS, which sold out in less than an hour after it became available. So I was forced to find my own accommodations.
I share an apartment with a Danish woman and an Italian woman. Both are grad students in their mid-twenties. I'm much further away from the CBS campus than I would like, but looking on the bright side, this is a great opportunity for me to engage with other cultures. I've asked my roommate tons of questions about what the Danes do, how the Danes act and general inquiries about life in Copenhagen. She's also asked me about the States. It's nice that we can both learn more about the world through each other.
I arrived here in Copenhagen the evening of Friday the 15th. My first weekend here, I was so exhausted, jet-lagged and homesick, I didn't really do much. I explored my neighborhood and my new school. But I didn't know anyone but my flatmates and my buddy. I Skyped with my boyfriend of a year and a half, missing him already. For once, I was looking forward to Monday, when my Danish class would begin.
The first thing I saw when we touched down at the Copenhagen airport was a rainbow in the sky. I took it as a sign that I made the right choice. I had never traveled internationally before and I did not really know what to expect. I was anxious about leaving my parents, my friends and my boyfriend of a year and a half. The day of my departure, I was a big bag of nerves. But when I saw that rainbow in the sky, I felt immediately rejuvenated. Everything was going to be okay.
 |
| I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of the rainbow at the aiport, but a few days later, this double rainbow happened in the center of Copenhagen! |
My host university, Copenhagen Business School (CBS), set me up with a "buddy", another CBS student who signed up to help the exchange students settle in and transition into Danish life. My buddy, Hana, met me at the airport, helped me buy a metro ticket and accompanied me to my new home, an apartment in Amagerbro, Copenhagen. I wasn't lucky enough to get on-campus housing from CBS, which sold out in less than an hour after it became available. So I was forced to find my own accommodations.
I share an apartment with a Danish woman and an Italian woman. Both are grad students in their mid-twenties. I'm much further away from the CBS campus than I would like, but looking on the bright side, this is a great opportunity for me to engage with other cultures. I've asked my roommate tons of questions about what the Danes do, how the Danes act and general inquiries about life in Copenhagen. She's also asked me about the States. It's nice that we can both learn more about the world through each other.
I arrived here in Copenhagen the evening of Friday the 15th. My first weekend here, I was so exhausted, jet-lagged and homesick, I didn't really do much. I explored my neighborhood and my new school. But I didn't know anyone but my flatmates and my buddy. I Skyped with my boyfriend of a year and a half, missing him already. For once, I was looking forward to Monday, when my Danish class would begin.
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