The Danes

Well one week down! I am thoroughly amazed at how much this trip has already opened my eyes! Its amazing how many unconscious habits not only differ in other cultures but are misinterpreted. The Danes intrigue me greatly and honestly have made me begin to examine my own culture much more thoroughly (which I suspect is what these sort of trips are taken for) During orientation we attended an intro to danish culture seminar and were graciously warned about how different the culture is here and though skeptical at first, the astonishing report has proven to be correct thus far. One bit of caution that seems to really express a lot about their culture: Danish people may seem very stark and cold at times. They will never say hello to you first, or strike up conversation on the subway but don't take offense. They see our brief "hi, how are you..." conversations as superficial since we rarely care what the answer actually is: soooo true! Don't think for a minute that this makes them cruel or unpersonable. They simply enjoy more intellectual discussions. One dane even made the annalogy: Danes are like a glass ketchup bottle you bang and bang with no avail, and then once it comes out you get more than you ever wanted! lol I've only met a few the past week but so far they are a very nice group who enjoy learning about us as much as I enjoy learning about them. With education open to everyone, they are a very well educated bunch.
I didn't opt to live with a host family because I was worried about the extra hours necessary for studio and most of them live much further away from the school. However the school has given me the opportunity to sign up for a Danish Visiting Family. This program puts me in contact with a Danish family who I can go and have dinner with occasionally and they might show me around the city a bit; the amount of contact is really up to the individual and their family. Last night I finally had the opportunity to meet my visiting family, I went and had dinner at their home. There is a couple Tove(F) and Anders(M) who have twin girls Mette and Kirsten(27) and another daughter Laura(23). The girls don't live with them anymore but Laura and Kirsten were there last night. They're very bubbly and vivacious I can see them becoming good friends. I had a nice time talking with Tove and Anders as well, they showed me pictures of their family, talked a lot about food and other traditions, told me about many interesting places throughout Denmark, and even offered to lend me one of the girls old bikes while I'm here! They were a very sweet family. I didn't get a pic of them yet, cause my cameras still on the fritz. It deleted some more pics the other day but I'm workin on it and I thought I could at least show you all a few views of my room.

My tiny bathroom, don't be fooled yes this is all there is. The shower is behind the door, I just pull the curtain across a vou'la!

Here's my room, kinda messy I know...

View from the door. It's a good size room with new floor, very nice. Can't say the same for the rest of the building but it'll do.