Or I guess I should say Welcome to Copenhagen since I would be kidding myself if I said I knew how to pronounce that. While this language still confuses me like crazy (the Danes thought it would be funny to add three additional vowels to the alphabet even though they don't pronounce half the letters in words anyway), I am beginning to feel like I know Copenhagen a bit. And from what I know, I absolutely love it!

It's funny to think that I am having such an incredible time now because things definitely started off a little rocky. I arrived in Copenhagen at 7 a.m. (1 a.m. body time) after having not been able to sleep on the plane. After lugging my incredibly heavy luggage around and attending some introductory lectures, we were shuttled off to our housing. I am living in a place called Keops Kollegium, which is similar to an American dorm. The building is eight stories tall and houses 210 Danish students and 40 students from my program, DIS.

While the interior is really nice, and the commute to class is a mere 15-minute bus ride, my first impression was a bit rough. It is not the most attractive building from the outside, as its surrounding is basically a mix between a landfill and a construction site. I cheered up a tremendous amount when I got inside my room and saw my spacious single, complete with my personal bathroom and kitchenette.

The lovely view from my front door My room Again Bathroom Kitchenette

The bathroom, as you can see, is just one room with a shower head and a drain on the floor; you basically shower in the open room, which is pretty weird to me. Now you might be wondering how you can shower on a flat floor of the bathroom and not have the water leak out under the door... Well, I wouldn't know. When I opened the door to my bathroom after finishing my first shower on Monday morning, I saw that my entire room was covered in a layer of water and my towels that were sitting outside my door were entirely drenched. After I forced myself not to cry in frustration, I used a t-shirt to dry myself off, threw on clothes, soaked up what water I could with the wet towels, and poured myself a vase full of Cheerios. Yes, a vase, because I have not yet had a chance to buy some dining necessities and it was the closest thing to a bowl I could find.

By this point I was convinced that the city was gross and ugly and my life was a mess. Luckily, everything since then improved and I look back at that morning and laugh. However, I will be able to laugh a little more easily when my shower is fixed and I stop being fully dependent on deodorant and perfume.

Yesterday and today we got a chance to explore downtown and took a bus tour of the city. I also attended a crash course in Danish in which we learned about Denmark's culture, how to say some basic phrases, read the alphabet, and count numbers. I feel somewhat like a three year-old, but even after just those three hours I feel more confident interacting with Danes and appreciating my beautiful surroundings. It is incredible here and I am still in awe of the fact that I get to call this home for the next four months. Below are some pictures of the places we went on the tour.

One of Copenhagen's many beautiful canals Famous opera house

Home of the royal family

The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Anderson is from Copenhagen and is a huge deal here, it's pretty cool

Shopping area in downtown CPH So pretty

While I expect to make lots more progress, I'll end with a quick update about some things I mentioned in my last entry...

* I have met a lot of Americans and have become good friends with a group of people in my kollegium. We also got an opportunity to talk to some Danes in our building last night and they were extremely nice and I'm excited to learn more about them.

* Despite the one-hour excursion that resulted from taking a bus in the wrong direction yesterday, I am quickly learning the bus system and know how to get to and from all my necessary destinations so far.

* Although classes don't start until tomorrow, so I haven't learned too much academic information besides pieces of Danish language and culture, I am constantly practicing my math skills. Denmark's currency is the krone, which is worth about 20 cents, so my five times tables are at an all-time high. More diverse knowledge will come tomorrow I am sure.

* Today I only wore two jackets and I was able to feel my fingers and toes for nearly the entire day. It's definitely cold here but it is actually not as bad as I had expected. Knock on wood.

* My diet has mainly consisted of cereal, PB&Js, and chicken sandwiches. However, our Danish class went to a cafe for dinner and while I chose a wok with beef and vegetables, a few of my friends had native foods so at least I feel as though I have somewhat experienced them. It didn't look quite as intimidating as I was expecting so I think there's hope.

Hej Hej (bye bye in Danish)