Handball and Train Hijinx

apologize for the photo layout. I don't seem to be very gifted with that portion of the blag. Or the writing part. Ahh well. The past few days have been very busy, but they've also been a lot of fun. The photos in this post are from city hall square/the greeting of the Danish handball team. The men won the handball world cup against Serbia on Sunday night, and 15-20,000 people welcomed them back to Denmark on Monday afternoon. I was only a few rows away from the front, and it was such a cool experience. People of all ages were there to celebrate in the BITTER cold, and there were Danish flags flying everywhere. In terms of the pictures, the guy holding up the gold plate is the Danish goalie. He is tall and attractive. Shocker for Denmark. Right?! The guy with his arms raised is another favorite. I won't say how many pictures I took of him...I also threw in a crowd shot, but it doesn't depict how many people were there. The birds may seem like a random choice, but they actually stole the show. This woman walked in and out of the city hall building, and as she walked out, the birds decided to dive bomb her multiple times. Hilarious/may have induced more cheering for the team. Today was another cold day, and snow is apparently on the way...hooray. Spent some time at a cafe with friends today, and pastries are the most affordable thing in this city. Mildly problematic. I'm getting better with the trains and haven't truly missed any since the beginning, but the train we chose tonight had a mind of its own. We were only moving for a few minutes before the train lost power and came to a stop. It picked up again and continued, but it didn't make it very far before we had to exit the train and wait for another one. Tragically, our stop isn't exactly a hub, so the two minute wait for another train turned into 30+ minutes outside. I am grateful for the Vikings/their influence in creating gloves. We finally made it home, and our host mom had another delicious meal waiting for us. She really needs to open a restaurant. No new bike accidents to report....yet. Heading to Sweden for the day tomorrow, and I am really excited. Pictures to come, and I hope that you are all doing well!

Touristy

This past week has been full of orientation activities, classes, and a lot of failed attempts at public transportation. For everyone who knows my lack of timeliness, I arrived for the train 10 minutes early this morning. I sat there comfortably and waited for my 7:28 departure. At about 7:27, I noticed that most people were waiting on the other track, but my train said Copenhagen, so I wasn't too worried. I still decided to check and asked someone outside about the time for the trains. It turns out that I was sitting on the 7:55, and the 7:28 was leaving in 10ish seconds. I raced to the other side and got there just as the doors were closing. I yelled to the conductor and even banged my hands on the doors...to no avail. I made a stunning entrance to my first class of the semester, but now I know to stay on track 1!!! I'm also attaching some photos of my touristy day yesterday. We explored Copenhagen and spent a lot of time down by the canal and waterfront. Gorgeous! The Royal Palace is incredible, and the houses along the canal are as cute as all of those postcards claim. It was bitterly cold yesterday, but the lattes at each stop in our Amazing Race made up for loss of feeling in my extremities. We fit in some grocery shopping (unlike restaurant food in Copenhagen, groceries won't cost you too many kroners), stopped by the Trinity Church, and tried liver pate...not sure if I'll ever really crave it. On a random side note, if you ever need corduroy pants, don't come to Copenhagen. I wandered through the largest H&M I have ever seen and had no luck finding any. The word corduroy also doesn't translate to Danish, and it took a lot of gesturing and description to find the five pairs in the store. I guess they aren't as popular here/I am not trendy enough!

Clumsy Clara

As I said before, an accident was bound to happen. I didn't realize it would happen quite this soon...at the end of the day today, we took a bike ride through the neighborhood and out all the way to the lake near their house. I haven't ridden a bike in a long time, but I had the hang of it and everything was going smoothly. Until I hit that sheet of black ice and tried to slow down for the woman walking her dog. I flew off the bike and landed with a perfect ten (as in ten fingers on the ground and my knees buckled beneath me.) My pride/ego feel more bruised than anything else, but I am definitely blaming it on the conditions rather than the driver. I'll keep you all posted about the accidents that are sure to come. I nearly hit a car (that's right, the car didn't almost hit me), but I was able to skim past as I veered off course. In the past few days, I've sprinted to most forms of public transit with my housemates because Danish transit is efficient to say the least. We are getting the hang of it, and I remembered how to get to school from the train station. (A major accomplishment with my sense of direction.) Copenhagen is beautiful, and I plan on taking lots of pictures when I get the chance. My host mother continues to make delicious meals, and she packs our lunches! I hope this isn't too boring!

Here I am!

I'm still awake and will regret it tomorrow morning, but I'm still getting settled in/the excitement hasn't worn off. Today has been a very long day, but it got me safely to Denmark, and I'm lucky to be here. My host family (and their cat) are wonderful, and they've certainly welcomed us. Although the jetlag is a definite downside, I'm excited to be in Borup (a small town about 45 min. outside of Copenhagen). After some effort on Martin's part (our host sister's boyfriend), we managed to fit everyone's luggage into two cars. For once, I didn't have the most stuff. Incredible! We arrived in Borup, were shown our rooms, and had salmon followed by crepes for dessert! The house is beautiful, and we all have our own space. My host sister Sophie introduced us to the bikes we'll be using for part of our commute, and I'll inform you all of the accidents that are sure to happen. We finished the night by watching She's the Man (tasteful, I know.) Sorry this is so jumbled, but I'm a little all over the place at the moment. Pictures to come!

Here we go!

I'm putting together the last of my things at my wonderful friend Leah's house in New Hampshire. Her family was kind enough to host me for a couple of days before my big adventure, and now we're getting ready to leave! The last few weeks have been full of errands and packing, and it seems bizarre that at at 9pm tonight (with no delays!), I'll be heading across the pond. I really don't think I'm interesting enough for a blog, but if you choose to follow it, don't blame me for its content...I have no idea what to expect, but I'm so excited to meet my host family, housemates, and classmates!

DENMARK OR BUST!

Farvel, (the only Danish word I know)

Laurie

Thanks so much to my family and friends for all of their support!