Round Trip Metro

Today I was a little less overwhelmed. My major accomplishment today was successfully navigating my way to through the metro to downtown Copenhagen. While I traveled with a group some of the time, I actually knew the name of the stop in the square, it's Nørreport Station. (Below is a picture of my metro stop)

While I may will be able to get to school and back, saying the names of the places I

travel to is much more difficult. Today we had our second crash course in Danish speaking and culture. It seems as if I have a type of short-term memory loss that is specific to languages. My pronunciation of everything I learned yesterday was, to put it lightly, lacking. But the Danish language is quite interesting. For example there is no way to say "excuse me" in Danish. If you are in a Danes way they will push you aside. According to ou

r Danish instructor, this is because Danes do not see the need to apologize if they have not yet done som

ething to wrong. If they do push you, they will only apologize if they cause you extreme bodily harm. The word for I am sorry is "Undskld", just in case you are ever in Denmark and happen to push someone into traffic or give someone a bloody nose.

In another session today we learned about Danish customs. A DIS staffer who is from Denmark explained to us that there

is no such thing as political correctness in Denmark. He said that they customarily make fun of minorities and get great joy in mocking religious groups. He said that for

Danes this is not a type of exclusion, rather it is a sign that they groups are well

integrated/included in Danish society. He said Danes find genocide 'funny', which us students found appalling, despite he explanation t

hat I still don't fully understand. It was helpful to know that Danes don't engage in small talk. They either have a conversation or they don't. When you say hi to a dane (hej--but it sounds like hi) they would be throughly confused if you didn't stay in talk. They are also blunt.

These facts were extremely useful to learn, especially live on a hall with 20 danish and international students. I no longer feel offend when I am routinely bumped into on the street--in their defense I'm sure I am completely blocking everything. When I was cooking dinner, a Dane came into the kitchen, completely silent with no greeting. I said hello and engage in 15 minute conversation about schooling and traveling. It's good to know that the Danes I'm living with do want to have a conversation, but will not be the first one to start the ball rolling.

My other big news for the day is that during the hour

between class and the immersion fair I won

dered around the city. Within twenty minutes I found a large square surrounded by shops. You see I have a gift, a sixth sense if you will, that I am able to find a place to shop everywhere I go. This plaza that I found was beautiful, and completely full of stores I know, love, and need to stay away from. It was akin to the shopping by the Spanish Steps in Ro

me, apparently further down there were more designers. I went in to sever

al, and (shocker) did not buy a single thing.

I also went to the immersion fair hosted by my school and signed up to learn more information about volunteering in Danish school, helping prepare Thanksgiving dinner for a group of Copenhagen citizens, and a cooking class.

Below are a couple of picture of my room and of the view from my room. I need to get going because I am being attacked by a giant moth, oy.