meal-oh-vin-densk-ay

I managed to oversleep the first morning because I forgot to set BOTH of my clocks to military time, which meant they were due to go off twelve hours later than necessary. What can I say, I make really great first impressions. Our first "official" day in CPH consisted of an opening ceremony in the Black Diamond (the Royal Library) at 9am, wandering around the city, and a class about living in Europe. Afterwards, Ali and I were all set to get home, but in our haste, chose to get off at Vanløse (where we actually live), instead of Jyllingevej (where we should get off). Jyllingevej station is only about a 5-7 minute walk from our house, and I suppose Vanløse is about 20 minutes, but that's only if you know where you are going. We managed to turn at more corners, and cross more intersections than would ever be necessary. It took us almost 45 minutes to find Thorsmindevej (the street we live on), and Jørgen embraced the opportunity to make fun of us. I, however, think that getting on the right train, in the right direction, deserves praise. Just saying.

Tuesday and Wednesday were stocked full of orientation classes like survival Danish and our program core course meeting. I now know how to correctly ask someone what their name is ("Hvad hedder du?" Pronounced somewhat like "val heller do?" or "va heyer do?"), what they study ("Hvad laser du?" Pronounced "va lasser do?") and where they are from ("Hvor kommor du fra?" Pronounced "vor comber do fra"). Most importantly, I know that I am studying Miljøvidenskab (Environmental Studies), which sounds somewhat like meal-oh-vin-densk-ay. I guess that could come in handy at somepoint? The best part of Tuesday was a scavenger hunt of Copenhagen. We were split into groups and set out with a map and a list of destinations. My group managed to run out of time just because we wanted to spend so much time at each point. Okay, maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that we sat down by the harbor to watch the water and relax. Don't judge.

Wednesday evening, Ali and I met Jørgen, Else, Tina, Casper and Steen at Tivoli, the world's oldest amusement park. Steen is Jørgen's austistic son, and once a year they all go to the park and take him on the rides. It was really cute. The park is amazing, and although I didn't go on any rides, I enjoyed walking around. It's hard to believe that this place exists in the bustling city of Copenhagen. That night, they were actually filming the final contestants for Dancing with the Stars live on the stage. I saw the guy from Aqua (you know, Barbie Girl). It was pretty fantastic.