Arrivals

I have been in the land of the Danes a full week, after arriving last Monday morning.  The arrival was somewhat eventful, a delayed flight and missed connection called for an overnight stay in Houston. So I arrived a day late, and caught a cab into downtown to check in with my DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) program. Orientation lasted through Wednesday, consisting of multiple city-wide scavenger hunts and cultural immersions. I eventually dragged my belongings through Copenhagen's incredibly organized public train system, and made my way to the town of Helsingør.  About 44 km North of Copenhagen, Helsingør is a relatively small town perched on the northen most tip of the island. The train station is right on the shore, and I can see Sweden just across the Øresund sound quite easily. With a one way commute of one hour, we often joke about how much closer we are to Sweden than Copenhagen.

 My residence is at a Folkehøjskole called the International People's College (IPC).  Folkehøjskoles are Danish traditions, a type of school were youths live together taking small classes and share communal living, http://www.dis.dk/study-abroad/accommodation/folkehojskole/ <---explains it better than I.  There are 70 students living at studying at IPC from around the world (only two are American and two are Danes), all of whom are outside my study abroad program and simply share living with us.  There are 15 of us DIS abroad students living here, I have gotten to know them very well already.  It's so neat to be sitting in the common room and chatting with 3 or 4 other kids all from not just other countries, but complete different regions of the globe. We all share dinner together each night, there are few things better than coming home from town at 5 pm, dark and cold outside, to sit down to a homecooked meal with all these people.  I feel that I have lucked out with my situation.