Howdy!
Today is the official one month mark of my exchange semester here in Copenhagen, Denmark. After hours of flying and waiting in airports, getting to finally step off the last plane was both a blessing and a shock. Thankfully I had no problems at any of the three airports I passed through, managed to find my bags in a matter of minutes, and successfully wandered down the halls until, finally, I was greeted in Denmark by my CBS (Copenhagen Business School) Buddy, Karina. One metro and two bus rides later, I was in my new dorm room, unpacking, familiarizing myself with the new neighborhood and getting so excited to start my semester.
Speaking of the dorms, there are about 35 other exchange students living in Norrebro (a region in Copenhagen) with me which is about 10-15 minutes from CBS by bike. In this short amount of time, isolated together, we have grown extremely close and I absolutely love the family we have become. Upon meeting everyone, we formed a dorm-wide Facebook chat which we use daily to talk, plan outings, form travel groups and in the case of an emergency, contact each other for help. It amazes me how studying abroad has pulled us from all over the world (United States, Canada, New Zealand, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Switzerland, China and Taiwan) into one place where we have bonded over a single commonality: we are not Danish. Below are some of the fun moments from Copenhagen which, let me make clear, is very cold!
If I do not spend a paragraph here talking about bikes, I will not have done Denmark justice. Biking is a huge part of Danish culture and I am absolutely in love with it. Because of an insanely large VAT tax, most people, especially college students, do not own cars but everyone, and I truly mean everyone, owns a bike. Children can be seen biking behind their parents, mothers and fathers are pulling carts of groceries or children (even pets), businesses send employees to make deliveries using bike baskets and students carry their bags to and from school, on bikes, every day. Now I am not saying biking is the only means of transportation. Denmark does have an excellent bus and metro system but bikes defiantly have a huge impact as they are cheap and practical, not to mention a great way to get some exercise in. All streets have bike lanes that fit about two bikes side by side (you always bike on the right and pass on the left), however, when you get into the city center, the bike lanes grow to fit about 5 bikes side by side and are nearly twice as large are the car/ bus lanes. In conclusion, bikes are everything here and as nearly every other exchange student has done, I have rented a bike for the next 4 months from a company called Swapfiets and this bike has become my lifeline.
As I stated earlier, it has been a month since I have started my semester and now that I have well established myself in Denmark, I have begun traveling and planning trips to other European countries. So far I have taken a bus to Malmo, Sweden and Hamburg, Germany. Next weekend is Oslo, Norway and beyond that, who knows.?I am so excited for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel! Below are a few photos from both Sweden (first 2 photos) and Germany (last 2 photos).
Until next time, thanks & gig’em!