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!