This morning, we began with an orientation meeting it the city's opera hall. It was about a fifteen minute walk from our residence hall. The head of DIS gave a lovely speech about the difference between taking your American life abroad and truly immersing yourself in another culture (needless to say, he was encouraging us to do the latter). The DIS orchestra played a wide variety of tunes for us, including a little Beatles and a little Beethoven. We were also graced with the presence of an official from the American embassy in Denmark who informed us that the only time we will ever encounter him again is if we (a) lose our passport, or (b) are sent to jail, both of which are definite possibilities seeing as one can get thrown in jail for carrying around a knife larger than a pocket knife (and as most of you know, I have been known to carry around a paring knife in the event that a carrot or apple must be immediately sliced). The losing of the passport is also a mild concern, although hopefully over the course of this semester, I will learn scads about organizational skills from Amanda.
After that, my group (meaning, sort of like a freshman orientation group) went on a 3 hour walking tour around the city.
First stop: the Danish Parliamentary building, which actually used to belong to the royal family. It is surrounded by other government buildings like the Office of Cultural Affairs, Labor Office, etc. etc. We were also given free coffee (I know, I know, "Great story ... tell it again"). Unlike the White House, anyone is permitted to walk right up to the building and even go so far as to walk through an enclosed courtyard space without any security present. The next stop was Our Lady Cathedral, which was really beautiful.
Next: we went to a charming town square where there were several coffee shops and restaurants. Unfortunately, we missed the summer jazz festival that is held there by a couple of months, but we still learned about some really interesting history there. Half of the buildings were burned down when Britain attacked Denmark many a year ago in a battle or war about which I can recall nothing. Therefore, half of the buildings are new and half are still in the style of their original Renaissance architecture.
Next: grocery store. We were given 85 (about $17) kroner to purchase liver, bread, butter, juice, ham, and tomatoes. To give you an indication of the cost of living in Denmark, 85 kroner did not cover our costs and we, sadly, had to sacrifice the juice. Long live chopped liver! Our last spot was the royal family's palace, which is composed of 4 buildings built in the round, centered around equestrian statue #432 (royals look far more powerful when mounted on horseback). We learned a lot about the royal family (too much to write about - please contact if you would like more information on the Danish monarchy).
Finally, we took our delicious fare back to DIS where we prepared a traditional Danish sandwich and gave presentations on the locations we visited.
After this, we went to an activities fair much like the ones we all remember so vividly from our freshman years of college - i.e., there are a million clubs and groups to join and you have the urge to join every single one of them (and yes, I am including Rugby in that). Tonight, some other people in my residence hall all went to the grocery store and came back and all cooked dinner together. I had my first monumental account with frozen salmon, and I must say, I was not at all disappointed. Now we are preparing to go out ... I will report on the mysterious world of Danish nightlife tomorrow. I will, I assure you, have some thrilling tales, as per usual.
Farvel!
ord af dagen: "slut" = "end"
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