... I certainly did't know the water was going to be so deep! I have had the most incredible experience in Copenhagen and I have only been here for 2.5 days. The cultural differences are incredible and so are the people. I am shocked at how much I already love the city so much that I am dreading saying goodbye and that is 4 months away.
Prepare yourself, this is going to be a lot of reading. (If you don't like stories detailing travel, skip two paragraphs lol)
My flight from Toronto landed in Copenhagen at 10:30 in the morning (and if you are booking a flight, pick Air Canada as your airline, they are fabulous). The airport is the first amazing thing about Denmark; it looks so different from your "typical American" airport. The floors are tiles that look like marble and the chairs are modern, black plastic, and incredibly comfortable. It is so refreshing from the old pleather-split chairs and drab carpeting in our airports (at least the ones I have been to).
DIS was more than supportive, providing directions to our baggage and the hotel across the street where we then divided by our housing assignments. After a short orientation for the homestay students, I was picked up by my Host Mom and Brother. We took the metro to their house and I was given the grand tour. I have my own room and bathroom which is very nice. They have been more accommodating and loving than I ever imagined.
As anticipated, I took a nap shortly after I arrived at the house because I was beyond tired from my sleepless flight. I am so glad I did, because this is where the "diving in" became real. It was my Host Mom's Niece's birthday and we were going to the party. Most of the people at the party spoke both English and Danish which was fortunate and luckily they are humorous and understood my sarcasm giving it right back to me. The Danes have cake first at their parties and when I say "cake" do not think of your typical chocolate with white frosting. A traditional Danish birthday "cake" is a flakey danish pastry shaped like a person and decorated with chocolate drizzle, licorice, and gummy candies. When they cut the danish to be served, they cut the throat first then the rest (don't as me why, I slept through that part). They also had cakes more traditional to ours with layers of cake and filling (either raspberry or lemon). After the cake was devoured, we moved the party outside and played a game called Kings. It entails knocking rectangular wooden blocks over by tossing a wooden dowel (about 3/4 inch in diameter and a foot long) from 20 feet away. Trust me, it looks and sounds a lot easier than it actually is. After dinner and a trip to the beach (which is a few blocks from my house) my bed was screaming my name and I willingly answered its call.
After a good nights sleep, I was awoken by a lovely breakfast on the porch with fresh biscuits (made especially for the homemade peach jam and whipped honey I brought as gifts for my host parents), eggs, watermelon, coffee, and tea. It was one of the rare days the sun was actually shining and would continue to be that way all day. My host mom and brother then took me into the city showing me how to get the metro and how to navigate it. (I was very lucky that I have such an easy commute, it takes less than half an hour to walk from my house and take the metro to get to school.) They showed me how to get to the Opening Ceremony and then we went exploring downtown Copenhagen.
The first thing we did was the Nyhavn Canal (the stereotypical colorful buildings that come up when you Google Copenhagen) boat tour which I highly recommend. The architecture was absolutely incredible and I learned a ton about the history of the area. We then wandered around the down town and has a late lunch at a Schwarma place, which I definitely recommend. We then headed home and I crashed.
I won't got into detail about today's events because this post is already extremely long, but I also smell something delicious coming from the kitchen so I am off to explore.
If you made it all the way to this, I applaud your dedication and thank you for reading it!
Prepare yourself, this is going to be a lot of reading. (If you don't like stories detailing travel, skip two paragraphs lol)
My flight from Toronto landed in Copenhagen at 10:30 in the morning (and if you are booking a flight, pick Air Canada as your airline, they are fabulous). The airport is the first amazing thing about Denmark; it looks so different from your "typical American" airport. The floors are tiles that look like marble and the chairs are modern, black plastic, and incredibly comfortable. It is so refreshing from the old pleather-split chairs and drab carpeting in our airports (at least the ones I have been to).
DIS was more than supportive, providing directions to our baggage and the hotel across the street where we then divided by our housing assignments. After a short orientation for the homestay students, I was picked up by my Host Mom and Brother. We took the metro to their house and I was given the grand tour. I have my own room and bathroom which is very nice. They have been more accommodating and loving than I ever imagined.
As anticipated, I took a nap shortly after I arrived at the house because I was beyond tired from my sleepless flight. I am so glad I did, because this is where the "diving in" became real. It was my Host Mom's Niece's birthday and we were going to the party. Most of the people at the party spoke both English and Danish which was fortunate and luckily they are humorous and understood my sarcasm giving it right back to me. The Danes have cake first at their parties and when I say "cake" do not think of your typical chocolate with white frosting. A traditional Danish birthday "cake" is a flakey danish pastry shaped like a person and decorated with chocolate drizzle, licorice, and gummy candies. When they cut the danish to be served, they cut the throat first then the rest (don't as me why, I slept through that part). They also had cakes more traditional to ours with layers of cake and filling (either raspberry or lemon). After the cake was devoured, we moved the party outside and played a game called Kings. It entails knocking rectangular wooden blocks over by tossing a wooden dowel (about 3/4 inch in diameter and a foot long) from 20 feet away. Trust me, it looks and sounds a lot easier than it actually is. After dinner and a trip to the beach (which is a few blocks from my house) my bed was screaming my name and I willingly answered its call.
After a good nights sleep, I was awoken by a lovely breakfast on the porch with fresh biscuits (made especially for the homemade peach jam and whipped honey I brought as gifts for my host parents), eggs, watermelon, coffee, and tea. It was one of the rare days the sun was actually shining and would continue to be that way all day. My host mom and brother then took me into the city showing me how to get the metro and how to navigate it. (I was very lucky that I have such an easy commute, it takes less than half an hour to walk from my house and take the metro to get to school.) They showed me how to get to the Opening Ceremony and then we went exploring downtown Copenhagen.
The first thing we did was the Nyhavn Canal (the stereotypical colorful buildings that come up when you Google Copenhagen) boat tour which I highly recommend. The architecture was absolutely incredible and I learned a ton about the history of the area. We then wandered around the down town and has a late lunch at a Schwarma place, which I definitely recommend. We then headed home and I crashed.
I won't got into detail about today's events because this post is already extremely long, but I also smell something delicious coming from the kitchen so I am off to explore.
If you made it all the way to this, I applaud your dedication and thank you for reading it!