7 things to <3 1. Hygge - When is comes to loving Denmark nothing else is a better indicator than the power of hygge. It is a difficult thing to translate because it is definitely a high-order concept chilling right next to karma and nirvana. It is usually inadequately translated as "coziness." This is too simplistic— my Cosby sweaters and my 100% wool socks are cosy — whereas hygge has more to do with the Danish psyche, people's behavior towards each other and an overall quality of a place for just being. It is the art of creating intimacy: a sense of comradeship, conviviality, and contentment rolled into one and wrapped in a warm blanket. Cafe's have candle-lit corners, lounges are inviting, and the best hangouts are over drinks in soft-lighted rooms with truthful conversations. 2. Pastries - I know I haven't posted enough pictures of Danish pastries but that is because by the time I remember I have to take a picture it's already down my stomach being enjoyed by my entire cell population. I specially like bread, and Denmark is a good place for it. The bakery by my apartment is a jewel with matching earrings and bracelets. 3. Fashion - I think I definitely under estimated how fashionable Europe was. Here I came with the skinny jeans and funky sweaters that usually do me justice in the US. Not in Copenhagen. Women look like they effortlessly rolled out of bed in black head-to-toe masterpieces. Guys look like they're getting it on every night of the week. The buns are high, the standards are high, and I am liking it. 4. Lifestyle - Living in a Homestay has been a great decision. I used to be hesitant about staying with a family but I really can't understand why all the sorority girls in the program seem to always want to party with each other rather than getting to know the culture. For that, I might as well had stayed at home. Specially if you find yourself with daily pictures of you and your American friends holding red solo cups in the Kollegium, just stop. Try again. People here are humble. I have really gotten a change to see just what makes Danes so happy. They wake up in the morning, despite the personal problems they have to face, ready for a cup of coffee and come at night with countless stories to be shared over dinner. They are conscious about the environment and place value, like it is in the case of my Host Father, in things like having a bicycle, going on a walk, spending time watching a movie, saving electricity, and keeping plants alive. 5. The City - There is so much history in the city. Every building has a story to tell and every streets leads to somewhere interesting. DIS is right in the heart of Downtown Copenhagen so walking to school and from class-to-class feels more like a field trip than school. You can feel the energy and feed off it! 6. Public Transportation - nothing is more satisfying than a train that came on time and a bus that aligned to its time table. Getting around in Copenhagen is no problem at all. Once you understand how the metro works there is no one that can stop you. 7. Study Tour - At DIS, studying in the city and using Europe as a classroom is a built-in principle. In many of my classes, small field-study assignments have already been set in place and I have already gotten the chance to link gaps between what I learn in school and what I see in the real world. Today I visited a housing complex for my Danish Architecture Class and tomorrow I will go see the windmill farm in the Copenhagen shore for my Environmental Policy class. These opportunities are making it all memorable so far. | 7 Things to </3 1. Winter - Even though an emphasis on light is principal to Danish design and architecture, no one told me that the sun decided to go on vacation for the whole entirety of the winter. While I don't mind the cold, since it allows me to layer like a player, not seeing the sun is not fun. I have only seen sunshine for maybe 5 minutes for the 7 days I have been here. The weather is cloudy and gray: shades get subdued into the overcast sky and you really have to imagine hard to see the colors of the city. Then, the days are very short, too. By the time I find time to head back home it feel like it's time for me to take the midnight train going anywhere. 2. Consumption - Every one praises Denmark for being one of the greenest countries in the planet. However, it is surprising to me that a country with high ethical environmental considerations can still have serious consumerist practices. Plastic water bottles and cans are a viable option instead of re-usable water bottles, here. In fact, just today, me and my friends got made fun of because a Dane could spot we were "Americans" by the fact that we carried reusable cups in our back packs. I mean, everything is clean and environmental policy is stellar in Denmark but the commodification of waste has been specially prevalent. 3. Viking Diet - This might be more of a measure of my Host Dad's habits than the actuality, but, food so far has been meat, meat and more meat. Just when I thought pork could only be made so many ways, my Host Dad showed me realness. I am used to Latin meals that involve a lot of grains and a combination of many things on the plate. Here, it is as if meat goes first and everything else doesn't go at all... While I feel like my host dad is trying hard to welcome me to his culture, I think I want to venture into other parts of the food pyramid or else I am afraid I will crumble down. 4. Morning Class - I haven't had morning class every day since Freshman year, so waking up for class at 6:30 AM has making me feeling like a biddie. I can't function properly when not even the birds are up getting the worms. In between the jetlag and trying to have an enjoyable Study Abroad experience, morning classes are one big bump in an otherwise smooth road. 5. Expense - um, $6 for a cup of coffee? I don't think so. Even if it is imported from the rarest Caribbean island and brewed on a coffee machine made out of pure gold, that's just not happening. It is true, the standard of living in Denmark comes at a high price. The nicest surprise was when I ordered water, expecting a complementary glass and a smile, and ended up with a $4 tab and a frown. For a poor soul as I, going out in Copenhagen has been more expensive than I anticipated. 6. Danish Direct - The Danish can be very direct people. Forget about talking to each other on the train. But when they do have to say something it comes to you fast and it comes efficiently direct at that. There is no beating around the bush here. No sandwiched compliments. While the key is to not get personally offended by some of the Dane directedness, sometimes it can be stressful and daunting. Especially as it has been this first couple of days living with a Host. 7. Ethnicity - Copenhagen itself is a pretty diverse city. At least much more than Sweden, where I had a layover. However, I have already experienced a lot of backlash between middle eastern, and other immigrant minorities, and Danes. Nothing as radical as some minority groups have it in most US cities, but it is relevant nonetheless. |
I have been here for 7 days. A whole complete week! Here are 7 of some of my impressions of Danes and DIS from the 7 days I've been here:
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Today was my first day getting down and dirty with Copenhagen so naturally I got lost, tried delicious danish pastries, made new friends, and made my first attempt at trying to understand the metro.
Where to even start! On the day time the small town I live in, Måløv, is much cuter than I first thought. It is very close to the metro station, which is such a plus when winds like today where ruling the city in a monarchy where I was no more than a peasant to the elements. The whole bike thing still surprises and excites me. I strongly recommend you don't walk on the bike lane in the sidewalk because you might encounter an angry bike bell and a nice little wake up call at 8 AM as you feel lucky to be alive after a bike just missed running you over. Not that it happened to me or anything.... I hope that, when the weather is warmer, I can get a bike and make good use of it. There is a nice nature reserve, and a couple of parks that I can see from my room on the top floor of an apartment complex. There is already an extensive list of many unplanned places I want to stumble upon during a bike ride. Having a bicycle and taking it to the city seems like the best way to get around in Copenhagen. I mean, it was some sort of negative degree temperature today with the windchill and people (woman, men, kids, the barista, the soccer mom, the suited up employee, a cute little girl with a head-to-toe pink ensemble) still used the bicycle to commute! I met some enjoyable friends at the metro stop who were all going to the DIS orientation, so we hurdled together and headed over. Copenhagen is what my life partner should be: consistent, has a good profile, inviting, a fun touch of creative energy, green, and cozy. The main city is incredible: streets leading into each other, the organic sense of architecture and light. Not like Rome where streets are all over the place, or London where buildings fold into one another. Everything feels drawn in, as if the city too is hugging itself because it is cold and gloomy. Whereas I have been in plenty U.S cities with a main emphasis on the verticality of downtown skyscrapers and the skyline of bridged and over arching structures, Copenhagen has a horizontal quality. Windows align endlessly with each other down the street in a picturesque manner, rather than to the sky. The streets curve, making you want to find out just what is around the corner. If you are into any type of architecture, really any, sticks and stones or windows on a wall, then Europe is definitely the place. Buildings crawl into you and suddenly you are looking at an incredibly elaborate theater or massive classical columns holding the pediment of a Great Hall, or a back alley of windows and overgrown ivy, or an all glass building with interesting patterns. It never stopped. Now, here is the tip of the day: always carry cash with you, and organize all the important document you need in one safe and sound spot. You don't wanna be that person that holds the line because you've been swiping the door lock with your train pass instead of your ID or who can't buy anything to eat because (surprise), they don't accept dollars at the sandwich shop, and who shows the train ticket-checker your passport instead of your train pass so now she knows how unprepared I was when I took my passport photo. Not that any of those happened to me either..... The tip is also useful because today, for example, the whole credit card system was down in the city so every place was only able to process cash for any purchases. Regardless, the currency is kind of cute too, so you may as well use it: coins have fancy medieval etchings on them that make you feel like you are a Renaissance man, and the bills are color-coded and sized into minimal designs. At the end of the day I went back home with my NEW friends. We decided to hang until it was time for dinner so I walked over to my friends house. Danish houses are very cute inside. Essentially just open an IKEA catalogue and that's it: my friend Elsa's house, where she lives with a host family, is in the Danish version of a suburb except the houses are interesting enough that they are charming like no other. Naturally we watched GIRLS. When it was time to head back I was all like "yeah I know how to get back, watch me." Good thing that the neighborhood is a maze full of identical row houses because 2 minutes in and I was lost. I went down one end and there was a set of row houses with big open windows and concrete masonry that I had never seen so I headed back. I took another route and I was suddenly in a bridge over a highway I never remembered crossing. I went back and took another route where I ended up in a pedestrian roundabout. I didn't panic or anything, I was actually kind of involuntarily enjoying it. The houses had nice back and front gardens. Stacked buildings with big windows where ideal for peaking in to all the Danes living their life, cooking dinner, smoking a cigarette, and playing games on the computer. Suddenly it was cold and dark so I stopped some people who were walking past me to ask for directions. It was an older couple and they didn't know much English. I said something like "I come in peace, can you please show me to the Malov statio." You could see they were able to click in some words from their vocabulary. In the US, it is a little weird that a stranger in some small suburb would stop someone on a dark street to ask for directions to a far away station. They would've just brushed it off and point to some general direction. But, the couple seemed to embrace the moment. They told me to follow them, since they were heading that direction, to make it easier for me to find it. I was hesitant because I didn't want to make them feel like I was bothering them but soon enough they were trying to communicate with me and asking a lot of questions. I told them where I was from and what I was doing in Denmark. They just smiled. It was noticeable that we didn't have much in common besides probably the color of our hair. I said "are you guys from here originally? I am from El Salvador" and I was greeted with an odd expression that said "um, yeah we are from here what is even that question." It is definitely different coming from both Miami and Pittsburgh where people are from so many diverse places that the question "where are you from?" holds some ground. But not here, not in a small suburb in Denmark. I would've let that just made me give up but then we started talking about the cold weather and how different it must be from Florida, handball and how Denmark beat Spain, how I am studying sustainability and all of the cool sites I must check out, how we both couldn't buy anything because the credit card system was down in all of the city..... Today I was out of my element but I didn't let that deter me from a meaningful experience. I think finding yourself in unfamiliar situations is very rewarding. Me and this older Danish couple shared laughs and smiles, and soon enough they had directed me to the station and we said good bye. Turns out I am not as socially inept as I thought! A lot of leagues of over the sea voyage later and I finally made it to Copenhagen, Denmark. The fact that I was leaving the U.S kicked in rather quickly when I was boarding a plane with an aggregate 1% of non-blonde passengers (me). I was so nervous and anxious that in the 8 hr plane ride hoping over the Atlantic I slept for maybe 15 minutes and looked out the window for the rest of the ride. I was sitting next to a family; a mom and her son. They were ever so quiet, minding their own business and playing games on their iPad. I started to get a feeling that they didn't want to socialize with a weird kid wearing plaid and corduroys (I know, I'm sorry. It was cold). But, when the son started to watch the movie Rio on the over-the-seat screen I knew that it was a door opening up for me. I grasped to anything familiar and a movie set in Brazil about colorful birds with accents was close enough. I stroke conversation with them and was greeted with such warm smiles and conversation. I was satisfied. I am looking to embrace these moments: feeling out of my element, fitting in, and standing out. In that order. For this study abroad experience I want to think about everything that is familiar to me and challenge it, or a least advance it. That case on the plane was a little taste of that goal and it tasted so so good.
He made me feel welcomed. He showed me my room, went over the nuts and bolts of the house and then poured us a glass of red wine, made pizza and chatted down to eat. I was very refreshed by this. I was very refreshed for it all. We ended up at the table for an hour or two, just talking about all of things that make us interesting. Yes, he is a weird old guy living alone with two guinea pigs and yes I am a weird guy with patterned clothes and an affinity for odd habits. I guess that works, I guess it doesn't. idk... Coming from a place where alcohol is used mainly for things like getting wasted at a club or for frozen margarita mondays, sitting down at the table over wine and pizza very casually was endearing. Coming from a place where public transport is as good as the Miami Marlins, hoping over a train and the metro with beautiful stations and beautiful tall people is exciting. Coming from a place where people and cars are pretty much one, bicycle lanes and the friendly glance of pedestrians passing each other is refreshing.
I can't wait to make a sense of it all soon, once I explore the city, make new friends and make it all work. Since I got a mini iPad for Christmas I have been doing as much of app downloading, picture taking, and snapchatting as I can. Good thing I'm on vacation too because everything has had a fun touch of Miami and me being happy. This week I got around to downloading the Google earth app, so of course the first thing I did was stalk the future and see where I'll be living all through next semester. Here are some of the snippets I was able to take.
I really don't know how to even pronounce the place I'll be living. Is the crossed o (ø) crossed out cause it's meant to be silent? Idk.... Anyways, my host said that Måløv is a quiet suburb about 30 min from downtown Copenhagen and that he likes it because "the air is better" and there is access to a lot of green space. These are things that make me happy. The metro is pretty close to the apartment and there are a handful of interesting things nearby like big open areas where I can go graze like a happy cow, or a lot of parks to release my inner child, or one of the worlds biggest hearing aid manufacturer offices, and a museum. Que cute. We'll see how google earth compares to the actual pics I'll take once I get there. Stay close and follow me on instagram. I just got the awaited email from my Study Abroad program about the lucky winner to be the one to host me this semester while I'm in Copenhagen! His name is Jens, a Danish guy who works at the super market, enjoys to explore different things, and lives in a place with a nice balcony. All his words, not mine, hand-picked to what I liked most about him. He does sound like an incredibly nice guy, who I hope soon will become someone cool in my life.
While I am excited to meet him, I am also pretty nervous and taken aback. That typical "what am I doing with my life?", "Is he going to be strict/weird/overbearing?", "Will I like him?" pre-departure existential crisis that is so so relevant at the moment. I think all this uncertain feelings about living with someone while abroad is coming from two main interpersonal places: 1. The term "Host Father" makes me think about this endeavour as if we are going to have a parasitic organism relationship. Will I be just a parasite living at the expense of my host father? There is also this book my sister was reading once called The Host where (and I quote verbatim after asking her to remind me what the book was about) "some little worms take over your body, and they have their own personalities and travel around taking host in bodies from different worlds." Um what.....The term makes me feel alienated, and as if I am inconveniencing Jens. The faced realities are that Jens sounds friendly and welcoming so far, but I can't help but feel uncertain about the interactions we will have once I move-in to Måløv. Perhaps I need to find a better term to address my host and perhaps the relationship I will have with him will be significantly meaningful. For now, I am fine calling him Jens, or PenPal, until I can finally call him my friend. 2. I have always been a very independent person, opposite to most of the Study Abroad blogs that I have encountered thus far. I can't relate to the general "fear of travelling alone" because I am the type of person that can go on a walk and explore a new city without hesitation. I also can't relate to the "now that I am abroad I need to stay on a budget" sentiment because my life's name is Budget and its last name Goodwill. And, I can't relate to the whole "I will have to live with someone I don't know who is completely different than me" because 12 random room mates later and I am suddenly capable of living with anyone. Jens mentioned that I am his 26th student. While that reassures me that he is committed and passionate about welcoming immersion to students, it also makes me feel like a cog in an long line of past and future students. I hope that I can show Jens that I am different (and way better than the rest, duh). Anyways, I guess I am just worrying to much about it. Måløv sounds like a tranquil and charming suburb where I hope I can meet the locals and get to know my host. I'm going to have my own room, and there is even other students living pretty close to Jens' apartment. Jens once sang in a choir and he works at the supermarket so he must know the 101 of what to buy and where. His son Henrik likes to practice his English with Jens students and I am exited for that because I don't have a sexy english accent for nothing. Keep it locked to read what my impressions are once I get there. The holidays are a charming time of the year. Positive vibes knock on everyone's door and smiles just welcome themselves into the family room. Coming home after a long semester of sleepless nights and a summer interning in Washington, DC is definitely the perfect piece on the puzzle. And, with the prospect of a future sneaking-in, everyone who catches my eye at the family reunion wants to know "so I heard you are going to Denmark...?" The pattern has been endearing: comments about how I am either getting taller or they shorter; a quick summary of the fact that I've been missed; an exciting outburst about Studying Abroad; and then, the Wikipedia-style questions about Copenhagen roll in. But the joke is on them, because what all these do is get me extra excited about starting my time abroad and creating new experiences aka leave and get going! I sit in bed now, more of a measure of the amount of incredibly delicious food I consumed than of how tired I am, thinking about how Copenhagen must be, who I will meet and what sort of things I will learn. The one thing that I've learned about Copenhagen during the holidays is that I don't necessarily know too much about Denmark, and the rest of Scandinavia. What is their population? How is their educational system set up? How many cars are there? Is the stabilized, or in some cases declining, economic growth rates and population growth rates a major problem? How do you even say hello in Danish, or Thank you, or Where is the Restroom?!?! (as more wine was poured, harder questions followed). I really do not know the answer to some of these questions but they fed me wonder. Imagining what the answers could be is magical because it makes me think of what will happen between now and when those questions get answered. But for now, I wanted to share the few things that I do know about Copenhagen that happen to have cross my life so far:
Ugh, now I am extra excited to get the show on the road. What have I done to myself?
I just finished my Junior Fall semester at Carnegie Mellon University. Usually I would secretly admit that I miss the snow a little bit but I'm coming to you all from a winter break in Miami, FL, where the average temperature is closer to the final percentage I probably should have gotten in some of my classes if I had spent more time learning how to make a Rhino computer model (oops). Next semester things will change. I will be in Copenhagen, Denmark and I couldn't be more excited. And by excited I mean nervous, happy, and any other mixed set of emotions that don't do justice to tell how I am actually feeling.
While abroad I will be studying Sustainability in Europe. Which is fitting because Copenhagen, while globally renowned as being the 'cycling capital of the world,' is a place whose urban design's motto is 'Cities for People." How refreshing is that. In this blog I will present my impressions of finding a sense of place in Europe. A sense of place is important, yo. If you know me you know that I am always on a budget, always wandering, and always into art and soul. So you should be as intrigued as I as to how it will all turn out. Drøm is the only danish word that I know after a research paper on sleep and the philosophy of the self . It means dream. This blog is then , a play on "syndrome" because currently my symptoms are dreaming... of what I could become and what I can achieve. If that is so, my diagnosis is having proudly formed perceptions about what my experiences for now-on could mean. And, that means a happy time in Europe. What's that for deductive reasoning. Here is a little glimpse at what my life the last month has been, we'll see how much change happens: |