I would like to add to the list of things I've learned since being in Copenhagen:

1. Biking in a blizzard is less than desirable.

2. Biking in a blizzard and coming home to find your road is blocked is even less desirable.

3. Standing in the blizzard with your bike one hundred feet from your house and waiting for the giant truck to unblock your road for twenty minutes in the wind and snow just plain sucks.

4. It is easy to compare people's treatment of their bikes with their treatment of their babies. Someone will get on the bus with their stroller, park the stroller (and child) at the front of the bus, and go sit in the back, reading and chatting, leaving the baby sitting there by itself. Someone will also go into a cafe to get lunch with a friend and park their baby outside, lock it up, and leave it. Much like a bike. The biggest (and best) difference is that bikes get stolen far more than babies.

5. The sun does come out.

6. If you jay walk, people will hit you. Hard.

7. I think I will be falling in love with handball.

8. There are politically conservative Danes that are opposed to taxes and like Bush a lot ( I met one and engaged in a relatively long debate ending repeatedly with me asking "Why do you live in Denmark then?", "How can you like Bush?", and "Are you delusional?")

Next week I start tutoring kids at this international school in Hellerup. I interviewed for the position yesterday and will be tutoring a 2nd grader in math, a 4th grader in general subjects, and a 7th grader in organization. Most of the kids that attend this school are children of diplomats, business men and women, and international families that move from one place to another frequently. It is an interesting dynamic and I am excited! I am also going to a seminar on Climate Change tonight with the Ministry of Finance for the EU to talk about what happened during the COP15.

I found out about my two classes at the University of Copenhagen last. Both my class on the "Social Context of HIV/AIDS in Africa" and "Human Rights in Africa" have one single grade.. a final exam. That's going to take some adjustment... I'm excited to actually meet some Danes though and experience the Danish education system though.

Well I am off to get my green card!

Hej Hej!

First Week

I have successfully survived the first week of being abroad (although I did not expect anything else given I was actually going to a more developed and stable country). I am living with the Braagaard family; Mathilde (13 year old girl), Mathais (15 year old boy) and Lotte and Carsten (mom and dad). Lotte and Carsten and nice beyond words and extremely helpful (which is good for me given that I tend to get lost in foreign countries and take the wrong bus home finding myself 10km from home, at night, in a blizzard, completely disoriented). Mathias is chatty and quite funny, whereas Mathilde is shy, but equally as funny when she opens up a bit.

The house is literally the epitome of an IKEA showroom (but... I mistakenly mentioned that which turns out is quite offensive to Danes who find IKEA cheap. They informed me most of the house was Danish designer's work, except my room which was IKEA).

I have to take the train to school everyday because I live twenty minutes north of Copenhagen. I take the bus to the station (about ten minutes away) or bike, and then take the train for twenty minutes into Copenhagen. I am in love with trains. Something I have noticed on the trains- Danish people don't do small talk. They just don't understand why you would sit there and have a meaningless conversation with someone you will never see again. Valid point. Danish people also don't apologize when they run into you, or knock you- there is no point in saying "sorry" or "excuse me" over and over again if those type things happen naturally in everyday life, no need to apologize. Another valid point.

I started some of my classes yesterday (the rest I don't start until February). My "Current Trends in News Media" class should be alright, mostly information I have already learned in other communication classes and a focus on news production which I am rather uninterested in. My "Biomedical Ethics" class looks awesome, and my "Political Rhetoric" class should be tough given I have to write five 10-page paper in five weeks time. Yeah, I know.

This turning into a short novel....

Something else I have learned- when people speak to me with accents I have this inexplicable tendency to make up an accent (example: my accent in Ghana). And I have done that yet again. I sound like I am a British woman with a speech impediment. That would be the best way I can describe it.

Finally...

I would like to thank my five followers. I now feel like less of a freak.

Miss you all!

XOXOX

Fun fact: There are no homeless in Denmark, the government gives all people housing and jobs if they want them. There are a select number who refuse government help and voluntarily choose to live on the street, they are the homeless of Denmark. These homeless people can be found drinking lattes (which cost about $7 here), wearing NorthFace (I can't even afford NorthFace), and wearing Tim's (which run about $100 here). Gotta love socialism.

Velkommen to Denmark

I have arrived in Copenhagen only to find out it is not Copenhagen but Kobenhavn, two words that sound nothing alike and thereby cause confusion to disoriented Americans. I also found out that I can successfully butcher the pronunciation of every Danish word known to man. Here is an additional list of things that I have learned in my first twenty-four hours in Denmark:

1. Not sleeping the night before you leave on a twelve hour journey to a country eight time zones away doesn't help you adjust, it just make you tired.

2. Rushing to buy a ferry ticket to some nearby country in proof that you will in fact be leaving Denmark is entirely unnecessary although it will provide for a fun adventure come May 21st.

3. Danes like IKEA.

4. Not all Danes like to drink, or are liberal, or take shots in the morning (aka my host family).

5. The Danish public transportation system is amazing.

6. It is true that everyone bikes, even in the snow.

7. It is also true that it is cold, dark, and grey (even when compared to Seattle).

8. Everyone wears boots. Men, women, children, dogs.

I am sure there is more that I learned in these last twenty-four hours that I am forgetting due mainly to memory number one, but I am too tired and will update you with my findings as the days go on....

Hej Hej.

And the adventure begins (almost)...

Today it all set in, I leave in a little over a week and everything is set. My host family is wonderful... A mother and father, both younger, who are avid marathon runners and love to travel. They have a 15 year old son and 13 year old daughter. They spend their winters skiing the alps and travelling Denmark and their summers on the Italian coasts or gallivanting Europe. So today I ran and extra mile or two because I accidently mentioned that I love to run in the letter I wrote to them and "loving to run" is very different for people who run three marathons a year and for people like me. I don't love to run 26.2 miles, I don't even love to run 6.2 miles, I don't even know if I could run 6.2 miles even if I loved it. Nevertheless, I am excited. Very, very excited. And so my packing adventure begins... and in t minus 8 days my real adventure begins...