Metros, Museums, and Missing Luggage: My First Week at DIS

I’M HERE!!!

(Me in the Nyhavn neighborhood of Copenhagen on my first Sunday at DIS)

I still cannot actually believe it. I am living in Denmark, in a community of people with whom I have never met before, taking classes at an institution where I have never stepped foot in previously, eating food that I have only seen on travel guides and social media. And. it. is. awesome.

(My first view of Denmark - plane windows don't count)

Don’t get me wrong, my arrival here was much more harrowing than what I would have liked. In order to get to Copenhagen from my home city of Omaha, I had to catch 2 connecting flights that went through Minneapolis and Amsterdam. And although I made it to Minneapolis easy enough, our plane sat for two hours on the tarmac in the MSP airport before taking off on an 8-hour international flight. As a result, I had to legitimately sprint across the entirety of the Amsterdam airport in order to catch my flight, whose boarding process began before I even touched down in the Netherlands(note to self, an hour-and-a-half layover is not enough time). 

(My favorite form to fill out after arriving in a completely new country)

Somehow, someway, I was able to catch my flight on time; however, my luggage was not so lucky. It took a whopping 5 total days for the missing checked bag to arrive back in my possession, where picked up said missing luggage from DIS on the Thursday after classes began. What a way to start a semester!

(My reaction after running across the entire airport just to have my bags be delayed)

Thankfully, I am happy to report that besides my stand-off with Scandinavian Airline’s Customer Service, basically everything else about my time abroad has been absolutely fantastic. The people that I live with in my Culinary LLC are some of the kindest, smartest, most hardworking and fun-loving people that I’ve ever met, and I just know that we're going to have some incredible adventures and shared experiences together - a weekly dinner and movie night are already in the books!

(Breakfast at Emmery's Cafe with my new best friends)

Ok, so how about the classes? They’ve been wonderful as well! I’ve only had my Core Course and 2 other classes so far - Understanding Climate Change and Creative Industries - but each covers a diverse array of intelligentsia, contains the perfect amount of students, and is helmed by a competent and interesting professor. What has surprised me the most about student life at DIS so far is how everyone seems to be incredibly social - people are so curious to discover where you’re from, what’s your living situation in Copenhagen, and what other classes you’re taking. I can tell that some of these conversations are just to find a few friends to go out with on the weekends, but I’d say that the majority of people are really quite interested to know what life is like where you’re from and what you’re planning on doing here.

(Just some amazing people exploring Nyhavn together)

And don’t even get me started on here. The location of Copenhagen is exactly what I imagine one of the great cities of the world to be like, except it’s even 10 times cooler(pun certainly intended). Every time I walk out of the M4 line at Rådhuspladsen to go to class it’s like I'm greeted with a mini Times-Square smashed against a historical Nordic plaza. There are so many of these areas that are scattered across the city - Christiania, Nørreport, Vesterbro, Amager - and I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of Copenhagen's physical offerings even though I’ve seen a different neighborhood, castle, or metro station every single day so far. 

(A moment from my incredible walk to DIS every morning - more on bikes in a later post!)

I think the moment that encapsulates all my feelings about my first week in Copenhagen so far would be my visit to the Statens Museum for Kunst on my first day of class this past Wednesday. I met my Core Course on the frigid steps outside of the entrance to the National Gallery of Denmark, whereafter we engaged in a walking tour of specific galleries that focused on framing what concepts in film and art history that we’ll cover in the coming weeks(the course is titled Modern Frames: European Art and Cinema after all). Afterwards, we walked through the King’s Garden with a view of Rosenberg Castle before heading to a cafe to have a delicious lunch and afternoon cup of cocoa. Walking, talking, and sharing a meal with a new group of people who are just as ecstatic as me for this entire experience is a feeling that I will cherish for my rest of the time here.

(My cool and awesome classmates enjoying even more cool and awesome art and food)

AND I HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE FOOD!!! Well I fear that since this post is getting a little long, I’ll save my next blog to talk all about the food scene that I’ve experienced since arriving in the world’s capital of New Nordic cuisine. I already have dinner reservations set for tonight(table for one, please) so you’ll have to stay tuned to see how it goes!

(2 pastries from BUKA bakery - a mouthwatering highlight so far)

Until then, I hope you or the person you’re sharing this with is not too annoyed by me, because I’m only going to be talking about just how amazing this first week is for months. Here’s to it only getting better!

(Amalienborg says hi!)