#studenterhuset

On Tuesday, I did my entire commute by myself. I would love to say it went perfectly, but that would be lying. I could not figure out how to lock my host family’s house. I had to call my host mom, and a neighbor came over to help me. It was all settled, but I missed the train I was supposed to take with some friends in my homestay network. This also meant that after I biked to the station I had to wait about 7 minutes for the train. This doesn’t sound that bad, but it was windy, dark, and about 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once in Copenhagen, I went to an info session for my homestay network. We discussed how to communicate with your host, get the most out of a homestay, and what experiences we have had so far. It was interesting to hear what other people’s homestays are like. One girl said her host mom treats her like a child, and another said that her hostmom had a conversation with her about how long her showers are. I think homestay is a great option, and I am really happy with mine so far, but it is a bit of a crap-shoot.

On Wednesday, I was able to lock the house, but when I got to the train station, I could not get my bike-lock to lock. I was trying for about twp minutes, but I had to leave my bike there unlocked because the train had arrived. I was a little nervous about it, but my bike was there when I got back. Thank you Denmark! :)

In Copenhagen, I had my European Humanities introduction. First, all the Humanities core courses meet together, then we split up. It is interesting that only about half of the people in my Competing Narratives: Modern European History class are history majors. There are Economics, Computer Science, and Business majors to name a few.

After a quick lunch in a student lounge, some friends and I went on a facilities tour of DIS. The buildings in Copenhagen are more tall that wide, so this involved a lot of stair climbing.

Motivated to keep walking, some friends and I wandered around the city for about an hour. We went down Strøget, by the Parliment building, and over the canal to Christianshavn Kanal. We then made our way to Studenterhuset to meet another friend for coffee. It was a cold and windy walk, but it was beautiful. We let ourselves get a little lost, and only used a map once!

I have decided that Studenterhuset is going to become my place of choice when it comes to coffee and alcohol. DIS gives all its students a membership, which meets buying stuff at Studenterhuset is even cheaper that it would normally be. I got a cup of coffee and a piece of cake for 27 kroner or $4!

Once home, my host mom and I figured out that the inside of my bike lock was frozen. This morning I poured hot water on it and was able to unlock it and lock it again at the station. I went in for my first class of the semester, my core course, in which we discussed the rise of modern Germany. When I got back to Kokkedal, however, my bike lock was frozen again. The same water I used to unfreeze it this morning had stabbed me in the back! So I walked home.