First Impressions

Hej (that’s hello in Danish and just about the only word I have been able to pronounce thus far) ! As a brief overview, I really like Copenhagen so far. I’ve never been a huge city gal; I always dread the days where my mom wants go to NYC for a day trip or a show because I don’t like how busy and loud it is. Copenhagen is busy, but in a different way. It always seems bustling with people walking on the sidewalks, riding their bikes or just sitting along at cafes along the long streets. As busy as it might feel, it still feels quiet and small. My neighborhood is towards the center of the city and is where many wealthy Danish people live, it remains quiet for the most part and is lined with amazing cafes and restaurants.

To my surprise, the weather has been very nice recently, but it has rained randomly for 10-60 minutes every day since I’ve been here . Overall I’m happy to be here right now and the past 5 days have been great!

What I’ve Been up to

To catch everyone up to speed- I have changed my core course due to travel changes in the program’s trips. I am now in the Core Course “European Urban Experience: Why Cities Matter” that will count towards my minor at UNC.

I got to Copenhagen on Saturday August 17th in the morning and had to lug my luggage (ha ha) to a hotel’s conference room across the street. There my program, DIS, had an organized bus pick up system that got us all to our respective housing sites. My housing is honestly way better than I expected. I have mentioned I’m living in a Residential Community, and it is called Store Kongensgade (pronounced as store konsgale, yeah I don’t really understand the pronunciation of words here). It’s right above a cute little coffee shop called Emmerys that I have been to more times than I’d like to admit. Move in day was stressful because I had 3 big bags that I had to carry up 4 flights of stairs (there is no elevator in my building as it was build sometime in the 1600s) and then find a place for everything. So far I’m really liking the other people in my apartment, both on my floor and on other levels. European Urban Experience: Why Cities MatterTo catch everyone up to speed- I have changed my core course due to travel changes in the program’s trips. I am now in the Core Course I got to Copenhagen on Saturday August 17th in the morning and had to lug my luggage (ha ha) to a hotel’s conference room across the street. There my program, DIS, had an organized bus pick up system that got us all to our respective housing sites. My housing is honestly way better than I expected. I have mentioned I’m living in a Residential Community, and it is called Store Kongensgade (pronounced as store konsgale, yeah I don’t really understand the pronunciation of words here). It’s right above a cute little coffee shop called Emmerys that I have been to more times than I’d like to admit. Move in day was stressful because I had 3 big bags that I had to carry up 4 flights of stairs (there is no elevator in my building as it was build sometime in the 1600s) and then find a place for everything. So far I’m really liking the other people in my apartment, both on my floor and on other levels.

On Sunday I slept in pretty late as a result of my jet lag. The rest of the day I explored the city, went food shopping, had a housing site meeting with our community advisor and got dinner with some friends. Part of the housing meeting was a scavenger hunt between all the floors in my building – unfortunately it turned out that my floor did not win. It was actually a lot of fun though, and I got to know my other suitemates more from it.

Monday we had an opening ceremony at 8:30 am and I got to take the metro for the first time. Yikes. My friends and I walked to the train station and it took us 10 minutes to actually find where it was once we got there. Then once we were boarding the train, we realized that the express 2A train only had its doors opened for ~NOT EXAGGERATING~ 11 seconds. We waited a few more minutes and got on the next 2A train. The rest of the day I met up with my friend from UNC and got lunch with her and her friends, picked up my bike and explored new parts of the city that I was not familiar with before.

Tuesday was a free day for me other than another housing meeting that focused on safety and respect. I shared breakfast with my suitemates, then went exploring some more and found these cool in-ground trampolines. We had to kick some little kids off of them, which was a bit embarrassing, but c’mon who wouldn’t want to jump on a trampoline!!! (obviously I’m a kid at heart)

Today is Wednesday. I woke up on the later side and made myself some scrambled eggs with spinach on toast with a side of yummy strawberries. Toasters are definitely different here (see picture that follows). At 2 I have my core course orientation, which I am looking forward to.

Tomorrow is my first day of class! I’ll try to post again at the end of this week.

Until then,

— Christian Blaine

“Blogging is hard because of the grind required to stay interesting and relevant.”

— Sufia Tippu.

Welcome all! My goal for this blog is to stay on the grind mentioned in the above quote. I hope you enjoy my posts- I am a newcomer to blogging and I am very excited to share my experiences over the next few months. So here I go 🙂 …

It is August 7th and I am writing the first post of my new blog (can I get a ~heck yeah~)!!

I depart for Copenhagen on August 16th, just a short 8 days away. Yesterday DIS finally released my housing assignment! My heart was racing when I got the email- I immediately rushed to my laptop to sign into my account and check. To my surprise and great pleasure, I got my first choice for housing! I was assigned to live in a Residential Community, a DIS housing option that seems like living in a college dorm with other DIS students. My RC is in an awesome area that, based on google maps, is close to a bunch of Copenhagen hot spots including the famous Tivoli Gardens and Rosenborg Castle.

Since I am departing in a few short days (eep), I have started laying out some clothes to pack. Unfortunately and inevitably, I have already felt the challenge of the infamous “over packer”. As I look down at my bedroom floor I see a sea of my wardrobe in folded piles…*yeah that’s going to be an issue*. I’m going to have to eliminate some items of clothing that I hoped would make the cut. Anyway next on the list of my packing progress, I found a hack that I will share with you all. Thanks to watching countless Youtube videos titled “packing and traveling hacks”, I found that rolling up my clothing allows for more space and will hopefully allow me to squeeze an extra pair of sneakers or a clunky sweater into my suitcase.

So, what next?

That is the question that I asked myself about 10 minutes ago while I was laying on my bedroom floor struggling to say goodbye to my favorite oversized sweatshirt. I decided to blog to procrastinate :).

It is time for me to roll my remaining clothing, pack my bags, go through my check lists probably up to 6 times and most importantly, eat my all of favorite meals from my favorite spots around town. (I’m kidding, don’t worry- saying goodbye to my family, friends and puppies is what is most important!)

I am definitely getting a little antsy about leaving home and going to live in a country foreign to me for the next four months, but that is to be expected for a girl who is a slight homebody. I imagine that once I get to Copenhagen, I will be overwhelmed with excitement and all things new and the nerves will simmer down.

I am landing in Copenhagen on August 17th in the late morning and will be meeting up with other DIS students at the airport to transport to our respective housing sites. My overarching goal for my first weekend in Copenhagen is to unpack, unwind, catch up on sleep and meet some new people! I will write again sometime once I am settled in before my first day of classes start.

Until then,

— Christian Blaine