First Weekend

Saturday 

 Rosenborg Castle, again

 Gardens behind Rosenborg

 Nom.

 Amazing Danish design at use, beer carriers.

 Me, Melinda, and Molly at Carnival

Carnival electronica stage

In the morning, a group from our floor heading out to Rosenborg castle again, but this time to go inside and check out the jewels.  Unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside, but take my word that everything was stunning.  After another round of Joe and the Juice, our floor headed to Carnival.  Carnival is a Danish music festival located in Fælledparken in order to celebrate......I'm not exactly sure.  It's supposed to celebrate Whitsun Holiday but after attending it looked more like an excuse to get completely wasted and bop your head to some electronica.  Danes were in attendance, with plenty of alcohol and various reasons to go crazy.  Two other girls from my floor and I cut the night short through in order to get home at a decent hour because of..... 

Sunday

 Heading down to the rocks.

 Calf muscles in action.

View on the way back of a small Swedish town.

Rockclimbing in Sweden!!  Completely worth waking up at 6 am.  Our group of students took a bus to the ferry, ferried across to sweden, then drove again to our final location in the Kullaberg pennisula.  Not your average ferry by the way, but a massive cruise ship sized ferry that you drove your car onto.  The views in Kullaberg were stunning.  Scuba divers, fishermen, and of course, rock climbers were all enjoying the perfect weather.  Three people from our group were actually crazy enough to jump in the 50 degree water.
At night, we headed to Heidi's, a bar down the street from our apartment before calling it a night.


So there it is, almost one week spent in Copenhagen.  I am so lucky that my parent have given me this opportunity and that I have also been able to spend it with such enthusiastic company.  I wish I could be more witty in my blog posts, but honestly, living in this city makes you earn your sleep.  Like any place in Europe, you walk everywhere, continuously, and don't even seem to notice until you get to sleep at night.  With the perfect weather, all of the Danes spend every second possible outside and it only peer-pressures you to do the same.  So no, the stereotype that all of these Scandinavians are pale is completely false (for the most part).  The stereotype that they're all beautiful?  Completely true.

First week!

The past few days have been insane.  It's overwhelming to think that I can include everything important in one blog post (which is why I've been putting it off) so I'll attempt a list.

Wednesday Night

 

Nyhavn at night.

 Our apartment's living room.

Met everyone on the floor, bought some six packs of Carlsberg and Tuborg, and headed down to Nyhavn.  Nyhavn, known for postcards and overpriced tourist food, completely lived up to both of those parts of its reputation.  After walking around town for awhile, we called it a night.  Blisters began accumulating.

Thursday

 Amalienborg Palace

 

 Nyhavn during the day

 

 Palace across from Rosenborg

Classes started after an "Amazing Race" through Copenhagen.  After splitting into groups, we were asked to find 5 places in the city while also navigating without our trusty tour guides for the first time.  Some stops on the way were the Studenthouse (a bar and cafe for students of the University of Copenhagen) and the Round Tower, Rosenborg Castle, Amalienborg Palace, Nyhavn, and Parliment.  After some class and naps, we hit up a performance at Studenthouse and attempted to find Kulor bar but..err..failed.  Apparently the most well-known college-aged rage bar is underneath a hidden tunnel.  Oh of course.  So we went to Abar, where Pete (one of my roommates) showed off his inability to take a normal picture (not included for his sake).  

 Studenthouse

Me and my roommate Melinda.

Friday

 Dinner at Rizz Razz.

 Girls from DIS.

 Mary and I enjoying our lucky 2-minutes-until-expensive beers

After a groggy wake up from a long night at Abar and still fighting jetlag, the first real day of classes began.  It was almost impossible to stay awake for the only three hours of class.  Despite thinking I was invincible to jetlag, I'd obviously been proven wrong.  One three hour nap later, our floor went out around the town before heading to a local bar.

Saturday and Sunday were packed with all things Danish, including my first real danish and almost getting run over with a bike.  Oh and rock climbing in Sweden and attending Carnival, no big. 

Herro Europe

Sorry if this is a little confusing..Haven't slept since 5 am yesterday.

But I finally arrived in Copenhagen!  After a couple of delays at the beginning, minor panic attacks over almost missing a flight, and copious amounts of complimentary food later, Copenhagen has become a reality.  After landing at 8 am Copenhagen time (1 am Indianapolis time), we were shuttled to our university and began orientation.  Phones were unlocked, awkward conversations exchanged, and heavy textbooks were loaded into our all ready stuffed backpacks.  With two backpacks on my back, we took an hour long tour of the city before eating lunch at a local cafe and settling into our dorms.

 View from my window.

 My amazing single.

 He's doing it right.

 Niels Bohr.  What a boss.

Tomorrow we have another round of orientation followed by introductions into the classes we will be taking during the first three-week semester.  I'll be sure to update more as the week progresses, but currently I feel dyslexic from lack of sleep and the fact that Google insists on being in Danish on Firefox.

Love, Mer

Pre-depature

Here I am, just 25 hours away from leaving for Denmark.  Clothes are unpacked, iPods and iPads are uncharged, and I still haven't the slightest clue where exactly my dorm in located in this foreign city that spells its name København.  It's highly possible that I'm currently more excited for the relaxing 7 hour plane ride that marks the end of packing than anything else.  Well.. in addition to the promise of excessive wine on the plane and the arrival in a city that promises top-notch pastries.  And cold weather.  And the North Sea.  And goofy accents.

For stalking abilities, tomorrow I'll be flying from Indianapolis to Newark, then from Newark to Copenhagen.  My flight is clocked to land around 7:30 am in Denmark..and then all the fun and confusion can begin!  I'll attempt to update this blog about once a week with pictures, stories, mishaps, etc.

Contact info:

Address: Skindergade 14-2
               1159, København K
               Denmark