Today I had my first three classes, which are awkwardly spread out over a 10 hour span.  I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing.  There is not much to do if I go back to my Kollegium anyway (except napping, one of my favorite things in the world).  So I will have plenty of time to study in the school library or to just explore the city, which will be fun to do on my own.  Today, however, I spent my break frantically searching for my wallet, which I lost yesterday.  I tore my room apart, and called the supermarket where I thought I might have left it so many times that the customer service lady was visibly irritated with me. ("are you SURE it is not there?  Can you check again?  Could you ask the cashiers? Please?!")

I came home a complete wreck and got online, and I miraculously see an email from my program saying that someone had turned in my wallet! All of the cash was gone, and it was quite a bit of money (guess I am not eating for a few days), but I got it back so that is all that really matters.

My first class today was 'News Media in Transition' which looks to be very interesting.  There are three teachers that alternate teaching and all have very long resumes and at least 6 years of grad school under their belts (a bit intimidating).  The second, 'Political Rhetoric,' is going to be a lot of work but AWESOME. We are basically spending the whole semester creating a mock campaign for a Danish political party, the Liberal Alliance.  At the end of the semester, each group does a half hour presentation in front of politicians, speech writers, campaign leaders... I am going to be a nervous wreck, but what an awesome experience!!!  I am not quite sure yet how to feel about 'Environmental Problems and Policy: A European Perspective'.  It is a lot about the EU, which I don't know much about and would love to learn about, but the teacher will readily admit that environmental studies is not a speciality of his.  Tomorrow I have 'Nordic Mythology.' I am pretty excited but they gave us EIGHT BOOKS for the class. eeek.

I sat alone in a cafe reading for about two hours this afternoon (wow, what a cliche thing for an American living in Europe to be doing, now that I think about it).  But I realized that the fact that I do not understand any Danish will be conducive to my studying.  Usually I love to study in coffee shops and the like, but am distracted by other's conversations.  But here, the lull of a language I cannot even begin to translate is strangely soothing.  It must be the 'Hygge' atmosphere.  Hygge is all the rage in Copenhagen.  It is hard to translate into English but means something along the lines of a cozy atmosphere, kind of like that warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you look at Christmas decorations (or is that just me?).  People use hygge to refer to places, situations, conversations, anything really.  But it is what really gives this city character.  I guess it is kind of hard to understand, but you must come here to experience it!

I had my first complete Danish conversation today:

Me: "Hi!" (it's the same but you say it differently kind of, like Scandanavian-ly... ha) 

7-11 chick: "Hi!"

7-11 chick scans my soda and says how much it costs in Danish, I have no idea what she says but hand her a large bill so I can't be wrong.

Me: Tak! (thank you)

Her: Hi Hi! (which means bye, it makes me laugh every time haha)

So there. she did not even know I was not Danish! AND i got asked for directions while waiting for the train yesterday. of course i had no idea what they were saying but still. I am fitting in! How exciting!

BIG NEWS.

I ATE CHICKEN YESTERDAY. ON PURPOSE.

I stupidly figured that Denmark, being an objectively liberal country, would have a lot of vegetarians. Well, they don't.  So i am trying to ease into chicken (just chicken and maybe ham, no red meat) because all I have been eating is bread pretty much. They have maybe 1 vegetarian option at most restaurants. So anyway... crazy.

We went to an Irish pub last night (there is always live music at Irish pubs here, usually it's smelly old guys but they are usually good and play American songs which is fun... Denmark does not really have music of their own).  Anyway, someone asked where I was from and I said California, to which he replied "Oh. I though you would be more...brown." Ha, I come to the only country where people are whiter than me and still get crap for being pale.  

I don't really understand these Danish people.

first of all, we were warned when we first got here that they will seem unfriendly and cold, which i would not expect from the so called "happiest people in the world." Plus, they have no word for please. And the bikers will hit you if you don't get out of your way. seriously. 

Let me just mention the homeless lady on the train last night who was smiling and laughing at us, seemingly entertained by ... maybe the fact that we were speaking english?... and then starts cursing at us and flipping us off while we awkwardly sat there quietly while this continued for at least 20 minutes until we could finally get off the train. crazy lady.  For some reason I expected everyone here to be smiling and polite all of the time, and I especially did not expect to see so many homeless people in such a socialist country.

Don't get me wrong, I have met many many nice Danish people, and I understand that these things (with the exception of the crazy train lady) are cultural and it will take a while to get used to.  It's just hard to be outgoing when you feel like no one really wants to get to know you.  But anyway, everyone in my program is awesome so it does not bother me so much that I have not gotten to know a lot of Danish people so far.  Except for the guy across the hall who I though was an RA/CF type figure and woke up because i locked myself out of my room and I needed to be let in... to find out he is just some random Danish student.  Oops.

School starts in two days and my classes seem like they are going to be really cool, but they have been trying to freak us out and saying it will be so hard, this isn't like other abroad programs, blah blah blah.  So I am a little scared.  We will see I guess!

I am here I am here!! 

This is day two of Maggie in Denmark! After a looooong sleepless flight (I sat behind two babies...fun), awkward introductions, and a few minor freak-outs, I am finally getting settled in.  It is absolutely beautiful here... it's not nearly as cold as I had expected, although the sun has been hiding all day.  My Kollegium (dorm) is 20 minutes out of Copenhagen. We were a little scared on the bus ride to the Kollegium because someone had heard that it looked "like a concentration camp." But it's actually very nice. There is a  lake outside with swans and a bunch of little grassy areas and a pretty park next to it, and the town we are in is so cute!  There are about 20-30 other kids from my program here so it's really fun.

We took the train into the city today...SO PRETTY!  The buildings are beautiful, everything is clean, and it is not too crowded... although you have to be on your toes because bikers literally will run into you if you don't get out of their way!  I was only there for a few hours so I did not get to see too much of the city but I can't wait to go back!