America could learn a few lessons from the Danes

The other day as I was waiting for my bus, I noticed a lone white mitten laying in the middle of the bike lane. A woman bent over and carefully picked it up, placing it on the curb. That evening, probably 8 or 9 hours later, I noticed the same mitten carefully placed on the bench at the bus stop, as if waiting for its owner to come back and claim it.

When an older couple came on the bus and it was full, someone almost immediately stood up and offered their seat to them. Everyone (quietly) gets out of the way if a baby carriage comes on the bus. The ride is mostly quiet and people are very respectful of each other. If you're sitting by the window, all you have to do is rustle your bag a bit and the other person will stand up to let you out.

At the kommune (where I had to get my cpr card, kind of like social security), I pulled a number from a machine, waited for a few minutes, and then when the digital screen blinked my number, I went up to the desk assigned to my number. Everything was very clean and calm and very orderly, and the whole process only took 15-20 minutes. [compare that to the NJ DMV!]

(Kind of) Learning Danish

I will admit upfront, I'm not very good at learning new languages. I keep trying to pronounce things with a French accent and I have no idea how to pronounce half the letters in Danish. However, there are a few phrases that have been drilled into my head in the past week (I will provide pronunciation for everyone's sake).

1. UDSALG (oo-sell): Sale! This is posted on every store front, especially in January. I'm trying my hardest to resist temptation to buy things so that I can save my money to travel later in the semester.

2. Skål (skoal): This is what you say when you are toasting...I think it directly translates to "cheers!"

3. Undskyld (on-skool): I often hear this on the bus or on the streets when you bump into someone. It means "sorry" or "excuse me."

4. Tak, or Mange tak (mon-geh tok): Thanks, or many thanks. I have long mastered this one, it's one of the easiest to incorporate into daily language for me! The Danes have a lot of different versions of thank you but I haven't figured them all out yet.

5. Jeg kommer fra Amerika (Yie kuh-muh fra America): Pretty easy to figure out... I come from America!

6. Jeg forstår ikke (Yie fu-stor ik-kuh): "I can't understand." Haven't used this one yet, but I figure it'll come in handy eventually.

7. Champignon: Mushroom. Yes, finally something I can pronounce in French and everyone will understand!

Yesterday, I visited Kronborg Castle, which is where Hamlet traditionally takes place. Whenever I go to places like these, I wish I could just travel back in time for a day to see what it was really like! Of course, I'd rather not be able to smell when I go back... dealing with excrement didn't sound very sanitary.

Rachel and I at Kronborg

Jeg forstår ikke!

I've been here for a week now! Time is already flying. Adjusting is a lot harder than I thought it would be, but it's starting to get easier now. I'm finding that it's a little harder to make friends when I'm with a host family because I don't have as much interaction with other students after class, but everything else about the host family is great so the pros outweigh the cons in the long run, I think. I think it'll get better once I meet more people. And home-cooked meals every night are a big plus! My room is starting to feel more like home now.

I was supposed to have all my classes this past Thursday and Friday, but for some reason 2 of them were cancelled on Friday so I've only had 2 of the 4 so far. Here's a list of what I'm taking, for future reference:

-Memory and Identity in France: This is my core class so we're travelling to France for a week, as well as Western Denmark for a weekend. I love French history!

-Copenhagen: History and Contemporary Urban Issues: This one seems to be the most interesting so far! We'll be learning about the more physical aspects of how the city was formed and developed over the centuries and I'm really looking forward to having a more in-depth knowledge of the city by the time I leave.

-The Enemy Within: Spies and Espionage in the Cold War Period: I haven't had this class yet, but it sounds super cool!

-Holocaust and Genocide: This is the other class I haven't had yet, but I already know it'll be intense because later in the semester we're going on a weekend trip to Germany to visit Neuengamme, a concentration camp near Hamburg.

Last night was the DIS welcome party at a discoteche, which was very fun! The Danes sure know how to party! Tomorrow I'll be visiting Kronborg, immortalized as Elsinore in Hamlet. Very excited because I LOVE castles!! I'm sure there will be more pictures to come. :)

På gensyn!

Successful explorations

My jet lag is getting better already--it's 9pm now and I'm still awake!

I've very proud to say that I went the whole day today without getting lost, and navigated the buses successfully all by myself. I love this city already and I totally understand why people never want to leave! Considering it's only been two days and I already feel like I can get around (at least the area around DIS), I have a feeling that I'll know Copenhagen very well by May! After the opening ceremonies I got to wander around with new friends and we spent the afternoon in a coffeehouse chatting. Cappuccino is way better here! So delicious!

Coffeehouse on Købmagergade

Everything here is so foreign, but at the same time not foreign at all. That doesn't make sense. But I think it's a combination of familiar things, like H+M and 7-11 and coffee shops and McDonalds, combined with the foreign-ness of old European buildings and Danish being spoken everywhere. Half the time it seems almost normal to be here, and the other half of the time it still feels unreal. I'm interested to see how Copenhagen compares to other cities, like Munich and Paris.

Classes start on Thursday and I can't wait to start--although I dunno whether I'll be saying that in a week when I have lots of work! It seems like it'll be worth it though, because they all seem very interesting. I can't wait for the coming adventures this week! (Although I have to say, I don't enjoy waking up in the dark.)

Finally here!

Just made it to Copenhagen and wanted to make a few brief observations:

1. There are more 7-11's here than in America. Seriously, there is one on every street corner. Also, I saw KFC and McDonalds. Can't escape them.

2. The Copenhagen airport totally OWNS Newark's. It's really, really nice!

3. DIS is SUPER organized and I'm very impressed!

4. Jet lag is weird. And I'm tired. According to my computer clock, it's 4:52am. I should probably change that.

The beginning of a new journey

In case you happen upon this blog and have no idea what I'm blabbering on about, here's a little background:

I'm Jen and I'm a junior at Denison University--I'll be in Copenhagen, Denmark for the next semester. Why Denmark, you might ask? Actually, I originally planned to study abroad in England, but when it came down to it, I decided I wanted to go somewhere new that I'd never been before and probably never would go to otherwise. DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad, for future reference) is a popular program that Denison often goes through and it really appealed to me, especially because I'm a history major and they have a history track that sounds awesome.

One of the things I love most about history is BEING where history actually HAPPENED. I get (a little too) excited when I'm standing somewhere historical. Considering the rich history that Europe has to offer, and the fact that I've taken a lot of European history classes already, I'll probably be spazzing all over the place the whole time I'm there. Just to warn you.

Places I'll be going to besides Denmark (hopefully): France (Paris, Verdun, Reims), Germany, Austria, Italy?, England (London, Oxford, Bath), Sweden. It'll be a busy four months, that's for sure! I hope to keep this blog as up-to-date as I possibly can, and hopefully I'll be posting videos sometimes, too.

This is the state of my packing right now so I still have a bit of work to do before Saturday....

P.S. Technically the name of this blog, "The Copenhagen Interpretation," is something to do with quantum mechanics (just wikipedia it). BUT that's not why I chose it (if you know me, you know I HATE physics...with a passion). It's also the name of a fictional band in a book I read by Libba Bray called "Going Bovine". The name stuck in my head after I read the book and I thought it had a nice ring to it. So, interpret it as you will! No pun intended.