Settling In

As I write this, I am sitting in my bedroom in my new home in Ishøj, which is about a 45-50 minute commute to the center of Copenhagen (or, København, if you are in Denmark). I walk to the bus station, only a few minutes from where I live, hop on a bus for maybe 10 minutes, and then catch a train to Nørreport, the station near DIS, which takes maybe 20 minutes. Not too bad, especially since I don't have any classes during the first time slot (both by luck and by choice). We had our first day of orientation today; classes begin on Thursday, but before I get to that, I'll backtrack a little bit and tell you about my host family!

As I mentioned, my family is comprised of Henrik, Søs, Mads, and Milo, the dog, and I also have two host sisters, Kristina and Pernilla who don't live at home anymore. After they picked me up at the airport, we headed home, only about a 20 minute drive. Since they had already picked my (HUGE) bags up from DIS, I was able to immediately begin unpacking and settling in, which was great. It definitely is nice to no longer be living out of one small duffel bag!

We then sat down to a home-cooked dinner, which was absolutely wonderful. The food was great! We had a Danish version of meatballs (I learned, and forgot, of course, the Danish word already, but Henrik made them and they were great!), sliced potatoes with sesame seeds- can't really describe them exactly, but it was Kristina's recipe and they were delicious!, beetroot/beets- again, I don't know exactly how to describe all the food (it took us a day, Henrik's phone, and a translator to figure out the english word for this one), a huge salad, with dressing on the side (fortunate for me, since I LOVE vegetables, but HATE dressing), and a glass of wine. It was all delicious, and as I said, it was great to have a home cooked meal, and to get to know my new family a little better. Kristina, one of the Grejsen's (their last name) daughters, stopped by for a little bit so I was able to meet her.

We then sat in the living room/tv room/sun room- it has a television, couches, and basically two walls of floor length windows (and a heater, since it gets cold). It is very dark during a Danish winter, so that is a great room to let what sun there is in, and I'm sure it is a wonderful room when it is sunny! During and after dinner we enjoyed what is known in Danish as hygge (have fun trying to pronounce that one! kind of like hoogeh, but not quite). This doesn't have a translation or synonym in english, but it is kind of the feeling of warmth, community, and coziness (and candles! it's dark outside!) with family and friends, and often, food as well. That is the best I can do right now to try to explain it, based on my experiences and knowledge so far, although it is far from encompassing what hygge really is. But it's great! That night we sat in the room I mentioned before, with lots of candles lit, and just enjoyed each other's company in the warm room, with the sound of rain falling on the roof (possibly the best sound ever), talking, reading, and watching some television.

The next morning we woke up, had a breakfast of toast, Rugbrød, cheese, (really good!) tea, and perhaps some other foods- can't quite remember. We then headed to church, where I sat next to a translator during the service so I could understand the sermon. Usually they have english headsets, but they weren't working that week. It reminded me of the church I go to at home, Walnut Hill. I was also able to meet Pernilla and much of Søs's extended family, which was very fun!

After a quick lunch at home went to the Hilton Hotel to register with DIS and pick up my bus/train ticket, course schedule, etc, before returning home to hang out and relax for the rest of the night. Dinner was great, again- we had chicken wings, something that was kind of like a long grained rice or barely with cucumber, onion, and some other things mixed in (again, I forget the name of it...clearly I need to work on that!), and orange peppers (YUM!). I was able to watch my first game of handball, Denmark vs. Romania (Denmark won!) as well.

Ever since first deciding to study abroad, I knew that I would want to live with a host family. I wanted to really immerse myself in the culture of wherever I went, and since I knew pretty early on that Denmark was where I wanted to go, it was the Danish culture I wanted to experience. I also wanted to be able to form meaningful connections, even if it was only for a little over four months, and have a home base to go back to between classes and travels and everything else.

And now, this desire, which seemed so far off when I first began planning to go abroad, is a reality. And it was a great first weekend of settling in with the Grejsens! I did nervous n't really know what to expect going into it, at all. Before meeting them, I had only exchanged brief emails and messages with them, and went into it only knowing a few details about the family. I won't say that I was- I really just didn't know what to expect, or what they would be like at all. I guess I hoped for the best, but planned for the worst...and I can definitely say that my host family has not disappointed, and the experience has been great so far!

Milo :)

This experience is a first for both myself and the Grejsens- I am the first DIS student that they have hosted, and I know that, at least from my perspective, that it has been great so far! I have really enjoyed getting to know Henrik, Søs, and Mads better, and Milo has been great company (if you know me, you know that I LOVE dogs!)...I need to work on my Danish dog commands, although he seems to be at least semi-bilingual!


The only downside is that I am slightly sick- nothing major, I just have a cough and am a little congested, probably from all the traveling, walking, hostels, airplanes, and not getting quite enough sleep, but I'm starting to feel better. And I am excited to see what the rest of the semester has in store! It hasn't even been three days yet, but I think I am really going to love being in Denmark :)