I should have packed more sweaters

It has simultaneously been the longest seven days of my life, yet quite possibly the most quintessential “blink of an eye” moment. So far in that time frame, I've moved into a new apartment, got (mostly) settled, attended three days of class, unpacked my suitcases, cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, met five million new people, inherited a Danish phone number, acquired a metro card, and have somehow had time to get lost on the bus more occasions than I'd like to admit (more on that later).

I'm not really sure where to begin. This whole experience is increasingly difficult to put into words, let alone put on paper. My brain is so full, and I seem to have four different lists running in my head at all times. That's not particularly unusual for me, but it's hard to slow down and tell myself that I really do have four months to get it all done. I still feel like I'm on vacation, and am at some point going to land in a peaceful, timely manner at sweet sweet MSP where I'll see the sign, Welcome to Minnesota. But no! I literally live here now. I didn't fight the clerks at Walgreens to get a 135-day supply of every single medication I take for nothing, so I gotta stick it out. It's been quite literally a mixed bag (bayg) of emotions. I can't really describe it other than 'a lot'. That said, I haven't accidentally eaten any eggs yet, and I also haven't cried since Wednesday. So things are looking up!

I'm slowly starting to get the hang of things. The 5C bus picks me up right outside my apartment and takes me straight to the city centre where my classes are. I did, however, learn that the side of the street that you get on the bus or train does REALLY matter. Call me stupid, but I did not in fact grow up in a city with extensive public transportation, so I did not know that (among other things, including how to properly find my way home from IKEA, and how to not miss my bus while zoning out). Plus, it doesn't help when you don't know where you are in the slightest, and all of the signs and bus stops are in Danish. The outcome of this was me getting on the correct bus, yet going in the wrong direction, or getting on the wrong bus completely (I couldn't tell you how that happened). Long story short, I still have my phone out like an idiot and use Google Maps for everything, but I'm getting better. I yearn for the day I know my neighborhood well enough to just skip on home after a night out, with not a thought behind my eyes.

I guess I should explain what I've been up to, and with whom! May is my roommate at DIS, and we live together in a small studio apartment in the Amagerbro neighborhood. We live in what's called a Kollegium, which means it is student housing for Americans on study abroad programs, as well as for locals. It's just the two of us in our apartment, but we see our Danish neighbors every so often and always say hi. May is almost 22, starting her fourth year (of a five year architecture program) at Cal Poly. From San Luis Obispo, California, she like me, has never left her home to attend college. She is beautiful, talented, incredibly chic, and brings sunshine into any room that she walks into. She also happens to be 5'11. Her Swedish roots allow her to blend in with the locals much more than I do, although catch me in my high heeled boots and I'll be getting closer... We are great roommates, and I really couldn't have asked for better. Sometimes she makes me oatmeal in the morning.

Our apartment, on the other hand, is... interesting. Don't get me wrong, we've made it a home, but it did not start that way. I walked in after my eight hour flight, a two hour customs line, and a thirty minute bus ride, to discover (basically) nothing but filth. I've had my fair share of moving into grimy college dorms, but this was not that. The dishes were dirty, pots and pans filled with char, oil stains on the wall, floors that didn't appear to have been vacuumed in a few years, food residue in the fridge, a mysterious green-barf-colored stain on the base of the toilet... you get the picture. My first thought was absolutely not. We did have a cleaner come up to our room, after we had told our program director that the cleaning crew might have skipped our room by accident. Unfortunately, the cleaner spoke no English, and didn't understand what needed cleaning. She splashed some water around and called it a day. Naturally, the two extremely type-A girls we are, got to work, and have been getting rid of this filth with nothing but a roll of paper towels and a dream. It's looking much better now (apartment tour coming soon). I don't even remember what we did that first night, besides looking around at our filth covered apartment with not enough furniture, attempting to navigate the grocery store, and buying a bathmat.

We woke up at 6:30 the next morning (thank you jet lag), and made it a mission to get our lives together. We essentially went out and bought everything. We started at Netto, one of the grocery store chains here. There are two in the neighborhood, a big one and a small one. The small one is useless. This is a very niche reference, but if you know the mini-Target in highland (my Mom will understand this) it's exactly like that. It's a smaller version of the regular store and has everything you don't want, but lacks things you do want, very simple things, like trash bags. Thankfully, we went to the big Netto, where we found mostly what we were looking for. I could write a whole post on the grocery store, because it really is a jigsaw puzzle. We got the necessities (dates, peanut butter, coffee, oats, and salt & pepper), and called it a day. We spent the rest of the day at Normal, Basic, Søstrene Grene (local home stores) buying things like towels, a spatula, shampoo, etc., etc.) I'll save you with the whole list of everything we did that day. All you need to know is that we cleaned and bought so much shit.

On Monday, we took a tour of our 'campus' which is really just a collection of classrooms spread across the city centre. Rather than one building, DIS rents classroom spaces in a number of spots. It's really cool, because all of my classes are smack dab in the middle of the city, right next to anything from a local cafe, to a shopping mall. The downside is that it will take me a few weeks to remember how to get to all of my classrooms. Most of them have entrances through old buildings, and lots of winding staircases.

On Tuesday, May and I were up bright and early to attend our student visa appointment, where we got our passports stamped for citizenship. We met our neighbors for coffee beforehand, where I ultimately made a fool out of my clumsy self, by tripping over a bowl of dog-water (why was it sitting in the middle of the cafe?!) and (more than once) knocking my head into an overhead light. Aside from that, we had a lovely time with our gorgeous pastries (breakfast for May + neighbors) and sourdough bread (breakfast for me). Who are our neighbors, you might be asking? That would be Andreas and Will. Andreas is from New Jersey, and goes to Middlebury (VT), and Will is from Wisconsin, and goes to Northwestern (IL). Sometimes they talk like frat boys, but also have very smiley, positive attitudes. They love to party and have a good time.

We stumbled into IKEA after our citizenship appointments, got really lost on the train home, and that night, May and I somehow got roped into doing family-style frat dinner with all of Andreas and Will’s friends. It started because Andreas was grilling chicken and asked if we wanted a couple pieces, in exchange for some of the roasted potatoes that May was cooking. It ended up with eight of us sitting at the table discussing Culver's. After that, May and I looked at each other, and said "God, we really need to meet some girls". We went to the bar, where every DIS student and their mother was, paid $24 for a single gin and tonic, and danced to music that very clearly outed us as Americans (ok but how can you not dance to Party in the U.S.A.)?

May slept until 9:45 on Wednesday morning, which she informed me was "the latest she had ever slept in her entire life." Looks like I really have to get used to living with an early riser. I had my first class on Wednesday, which was basically an introduction to our core classes, the main program of study throughout the semester. More on that later. The rest of the week felt like a blur. Thursday was my first official day of school, and Friday consisted of saying Danish tongue twisters in my language class (it's gonna be a rough semester pronunciation-wise).

After class on Friday, I met up with Andreas, Will, Ben (random guy, Will's friend maybe?), and Chelsea, one of my best friends at Carleton, who also happens to be on DIS this semester. We took the bus to Reffen, a local street food market. This place was heaven. If Ian was there, he would have had heart-eyes walking around. There was pretty much every cuisine you could think of, with each stand offering a menu of three or four specialties. I got a lamb kebob from a Kurdistan food stand (10/10), and steak frites with baguette from a French spot (8/10). We also went to get ice cream, but I sadly walked away empty handed, after the lady behind the counter told me she had no idea when I asked if the ice cream had eggs. The funny thing was that there was a very large sign on the ice cream case that said "ASK ABOUT ALLERGENS". You'd think they might have an answer for me, no? (Smoke coming out of my ears!!!)

The real reason we went to Reffen was because Andreas and Will had heard about this second-hand bike shop, where you can apparently get a bike for $150. The only problem was that there were zero employees to be found, even though the shop was open. Turns out some guy was slacking, and after calling the owner and carefully listening through his accent to catch what he was saying, there was supposed to be a guy there. He actually thanked us for calling, and told us "wow, I really gotta check in with my guy. He's supposed to be working right now." The owner gave us 25% off next time we go back. Just another excuse to go to Reffen and eat more street food (ugh I'm sooo mad).

My evening ended at Tivoli, an amusement park right in the middle of the city, with Chelsea and some of her friends. Stunning park, lots to see, but was it worth the $80 ENTRANCE FEE? I don't know yet. There was a free concert happening in the park featuring some Danish pop star that everyone was head over heels for. I had never heard of him, but I guess he's #1 on the Danish Spotify charts. Maybe we were listening to a world-renowned star and didn't even know it. Tivoli was also where I paid $35 for a bunless burger (booooo eggs) with no ketchup and no fries. (I didn't want to pay the extra $2 for ketchup, and I swear it came with fries, but I guess not. You'd think it'd be a combo meal for that price, right?). After spending my life savings at Tivoli, I called it a night and headed home.

And that brings us to this weekend! I've been taking it pretty easy, but soon enough, I'm sure you'll hear all about my late night adventures. We spent our Saturday evening watching Sterling Point (The Summer I Turned Pretty's hotter, older sister) and eating chocolate gelato straight out of the container. My first full school week starts tomorrow, so I guess it’s time to do my homework now.

Thanks for reading, and if you've made it this far, you're a real one. Did I talk too much? Not enough photos? Too much description? Were you just completely lost reading this? Let me know your thoughts. I'm sure I'll get better at this, too. I promise I can write like an intellectual, you'll just have to be patient :)

I can finally say: first week over. Here are just a few things I've learned:

• Coffee shops love their oat milk, but I haven't seen a lick of almond milk (yay for me and cross contamination!)
• Half and half is not a thing here, and I miss my Chobani sweet cream (I bet it's still in the fridge at home)
• Doors are really hard to open and NOT intuitive (oh you think it's a push, nope, probably a pull... looks like it would turn to the left? You're WRONG.)

From the girl who over-pronounces 'bag' and 'magnet' (Thanks for pointing that out, May) and buys frozen green beans at the grocery store (also according to May, that is VERY Minnesotan of me, she has apparently never eaten a frozen vegetable in her life),

I love you! Talk soon!

Clara