New City. New Life. Get Used To It Babe.

The last time you heard from me, I had gone to this crazy-insane music festival and a LOT has happened since then. I've met my new Danish family, said goodbye to my American family :( , met tons of people, and I've been intensely exploring Copenhagen for the past four days.

Last Saturday I said my goodbyes at the train station to all of my Danish family. It was sad leaving, but I was also extremely excited and nervous to meet my new Danish family in just a couple of hours. When we arrived in Køge, Henrik and Jani were waiting on the platform. All I could think was, "These people are strangers. How are they supposed to become my family? ... WEIRD."  Well, I've been living with them for a week now and I can definitely see the potential.

From the left, Rasmus, Jani, Henrik, and Caroline.

My host mom, Jani, is very nice :) She is a hairdresser a couple days during the week, so if I ever need a haircut while I'm here, I know who to go to ;D. My host dad, Henrik, works at a car dealership full-time, so I see him in the morning and when I get back from school. I have two host siblings, Caroline and Rasmus. Caroline is 13 and can speak english pretty darn well. I was surprised. When I arrived at the house she had painted her nails in American flags. It was awesome. Rasmus is 9, he started out being pretty quiet, but now it's evident that he is the clown in the family. He's such a goofball, he's hilarious. This is his first year taking english in school, so I try to speak danish to him when I can. 

The Madsen's are EXTREMELY healthy. They have smoothies every morning for breakfast (which I thoroughly enjoy) and a salad at dinner. They also exercise tons: the gym, running, soccer, cycling, spinning, everything. I get enough exercise just getting to and from the city every day. I have a 45 minute to an hour commute to my classes. It's longer than I expected but I make it work. 

MY ROOM IS AWESOME. Sorry, I just had to put that in shouty capitals because that's what I'm thinking right now. It's about the size of a single dorm room in college, I have a full size bed, a dresser and closet, AND, wait for it........... A GIGANTIC FLATSCREEN TV. I was shocked when I saw it (if you couldn't already tell from my shouty capitals). The funny thing is though, is that I have yet to even turn it on. What's wrong with me??? I cleaned my room just to take some pictures to show you guys, so appreciate them!!! :P

I have plenty of storage. IT'S AWESOME. I don't think I've ever been quite this organized.

My beautiful television =D

My bed.....obviously.

I have this shelf right above my bed, there are pretty flowers. And the piece of paper is a note from the family that I found upon entering my room. It says, "WELCOME SARAH! We hope you will enjoy it! :-)" I think it's cute.

The Madsen's are overall quite clean. Everything has it's place. In the bathroom, which is super clean and spartan, I have a locker where I can put all of my toiletries and I have my own set of towels. More importantly, there is nothing on the counter. When I'm home I keep all my toiletries out on the counter. It's filled with my crap. So now I gotta get used to putting everything away >.< haha. 

There is NOTHING on this counter.....Ahhhhhhh.

This is my locker, and thank goodness I have one, because as I'm sure you can tell, I have lots of toiletries.

Since last Monday, I've been into Copenhagen every day. I've gotten lost countless times.While it's pretty busy like NYC, it's harder to navigate because all the streets twist and turn. They do NOT go by the grid system. Not to mention that all the street names are at least 10 letters long and impossible to pronounce. Even with all of these obstacles, I'm starting to recognize the streets and stores. I suspect that in a short amount of time I will know Copenhagen like the back of my hand.....and then I can laugh inwardly at all the tourists who don't know where to go :P It's the same feeling as being a freshman in college and then becoming a sophomore...you laugh at all the freshman even though you were one of them only a couple months ago.

I really do think that DIS (Danish Institute of Study Abroad) has done a good job in forcing us to get to know the city. For orientation they sent us out to check prices at cafes, restaurants and stores, a scavenger hunt for landmarks, and lots of fairs and activities that you have to navigate yourself. If they had danes showing us students where to go, we would not have gotten to know the city as well. Getting lost was an essential part of learning the streets and alleys. 

Here are some pictures that I took while I was out on excursions:

This is the famous, round tower. Everyone in Copenhagen knows about this landmark. It's actually the tallest building in the city, even though it's tinsy compared to buildings in NYC. Christian IV, who was the king of Denmark-Norway in 1588 until his death, was one of the most active kings to ever reign. He initiated many projects, specifically building beautiful castles, towers, and other buildings. The round tower is unique because inside, in order to get to the top of the tower, you would not walk up a staircase, but walk up a giant ramp. Christian IV did this so that he could be carried to the top of the tower in a horse-drawn carriage. He must've been some lazy dude.

This is the church inside of the round tower.

The ceilings were magnificent. WOW.

We also went to the King's Garden, also created by Christian IV. Many danes come here in the summer when the weather is nice to lounge on the grass and have picnics.

This was interesting. It's some kind of ornament for the trees. Odd, but I like it.

This is Christian IV's summer castle. He built it to get away from the stench of the city. There wasn't exactly a sewage system back then.

When entering this castle, you are greeted by two lions. One with its mouth closed (as in this picture) and one with its mouth open (didn't get that pic =/). The reasoning for one lion having its mouth open was because Christian liked to party hardy. When he left his castle he would put his keys into the lions mouth so that he would be able to find them when he got back at dawn. This man loved partying, building, and most of all, women. He had 23 children, and only 7 of those were his own.

We came across the Queen's Guards, when we were visiting the castle where she lives. It was amazing how close we were able to get. I was technically in her courtyard.

More to come later on, I need to take more pictures >.<

xoxo, 

Sarah =)