Liver Paste and Lots of Beer

This week has been totally insane. Orientation was extremely busy (and, kind of badly planned in my opinion), and I'm still adjusting to the time difference I think. Since there are about 700 people on my program, we were split into blue and green groups - I was green. This meant I got to sleep in and go to the Welcome Ceremony at 11am instead of 9am. (I was very greatful for this). During the ceremony, we were given tickets with different words on them, and afterwards, we were told to find our groups using the word-tickets. We then got 50 kroner each (about $10) and went on a scavenger hunt to find important academic places... my group decided to go to a pub and hang out and get to know each other instead! It was really cool to get to know new people, and I actually ended up meeting someone who has a friend at Mac. We get along super well and have been hanging out a lot this week (she's also in one of my classes).

Tuesday we were put into specific orientation groups and met with a DIS professor. We then went on another scavenger hunt in groups of 6, but this time around the city. We saw some beautiful landmarks, and ended up being lucky enough to see the grand changing of the guards at the Queen's Castle. It was really cool! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I couldn't take any pictures. We then had to go to a grocery store and pick up a list of items to bring back to our classroom (with money provided by DIS). We all reconvened and had a nice lunch of sandwiches and nutella. There was also liver paste, but I absolutely refused to try that... ew. That afternoon I met with my core course and had a broad introduction to academic policy/info about my study tour, and later that evening I went to a session about my visiting family.

Wednesday, my roommate and I were basically the only ones from my building of 27 to attend the 3-hour long information session... and yes, it lasted all 3 hours. The information was quite helpful, but they could have shortened it to an hour and a half... everyone looked exhausted, and I really wanted to go back to bed. I'm happy I went though, because I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who knows how to fill out my insurance form.

We started classes on Thursday - I had 2 classes on Thursday and 2 on Friday. My core course, Medical Practice and Policy, meets at an area hospital thats a 25 minute busride away.  We're taught by local doctors and learn some basic skills (CPR, suturing, etc). I'm pretty excited about it even though I don't want to go into medicine anymore. I have a long gap between my 2 classes, so I walked around a bit and took some pictures of my neighborhood (posted below!). I'm really excited about my History of European Ballet class - we get to see 4 Royal Danish Ballet shows! It's going to be so awesome.

Every night, my friends and housemates and I have been going out to different bars - drinking is rather exhausting and extremely expensive. Tuesday night and Thursday night were probably my favorites: Tuesday I went to a Danish bar called the Happy Pig. I ended up talking to a ton of Danes, and it was one of the cheaper bars I've been to (only about 4$ for a beer rather than 8$). Thursday, we went to the Kulor Bar. You pay 60 kroner (about 10 or 11 dollars) to get in and get a mug. From 10-1, you get all the beer you can drink, and they have a really awesome dance floor with amazing music. My roommate and our other friend (who oddly enough lives down the street and goes to St. Thomas - we bond over the TCs all the time!) left at about 3AM. Probably not the smartest idea when we had class the next day, but I definitely don't regret it!

Last night, DIS had a Welcome Party at a club that's literally around the corner from my door - we got free admission, free coatcheck, and all the beer or wine we could drink from 8PM-11PM. I met up with the other Mac people and we headed over together since we hadn't all seen each other yet. I had the time of my life dancing and talking (well, yelling because it was so loud) to other people.

I've been having a good time, but it's definitely been an adjustment. The social scene here is strikingly different than that at Mac - I feel like I'm at a frat party 24/7, and one that I don't know a soul at. While I've met a lot of really cool people, I haven't really made a strong connection with more than 1 or 2, and I'm getting a little bummed out. However, I keep telling myself that I'm obviously not going to a have a best friend after being here 6 days, and that's seemed to work thus far. It's just very hard to be so different (at least on the surface) from almost everyone around you. Don't let this make you think I'm not having a good time - I'm really loving it here and know that it will get easier as time goes on! :)

Tomorrow I'm meeting my visiting family and I couldn't be more excited to have a family away from home. More updates later - now for a few pictures of my neighborhood!

the square near my apartment

"the walking street"

Mac Kids in DK!