Danish Diaries: Gamle Dage

EPIC BLOG POST (almost two weeks old at this point...)

I had a brief but very insightful conversation with an old intern on the metro the other night. He is from Colorado, studied at Whittier in LA, and has interned for the Danish department for the past thirteen months. He is huge, used to play football, is into fitness, and does Bikram yoga. He just was in Scotland getting is education in Spinning and will be going to Afghanistan at the end of the month to be a spinning instructor and personal trainer for soldiers there. Not that all that has much to do with our conversation, but I must say that he is an interesting character, as are many of the people I have been encountering over the past few weeks.

He said that he feels like things in his life just continually work themselves out, the world always goes on, and he ends up happy. The conversation was contextual so that’s all I can write about it but I feel like there is nothing so important to learn. I have seen the same occurring in my own life. As cliché as it may be, things could always be worse and the world will keep spinning. Even if the economy sucks, I made 200 extra uneeded copies of a document at work the other day, the ATM ate my bank card, or I almost really fucked up the catering for a work dinner last week, everything will be alright :)

DEPARTURE & ARRIVAL

I had great vacation with my family in Santa Cruz, Monterey and Pacifica before I flew out of SFO. Man, I really am going to miss my family whilst away, as much as they drive me up the wall!

I flew from SFO to LAX where I had about a four hour lay over. Lucky for me my Dad came to share the layover with me and we ate dinner together one last time. Then had a super long ten hour flight to London next to an awkward and cranky man, and then on to Copenhagen.

Bodil came to get me at the airport and it was such a hot beautiful night. It was warmer here than in California actually. We biked out to swim, went around in town, etc. Bodil’s new flat is absolutely amazing: Eighth floor, tons of glass windows, the most beautiful view, and chic Danish design. I feel blessed to be staying in such a place. The architecture of the complex reminds me of the houses built into the hills of

Greece

WEEK ONE

Went to the summerhus with Bodil and Hans for a few days and swam every day in the warm sea. Saw some real live jellyfish in person and had to get out of the water on the last day. It rained and rained, but it was still warm and it was nice to veg out.

Came back to Copenhagen and went to an amazing birthday dinner and night out for Morten. Never have I ate and drank so much nice food and alcohol! We seriously sat and ate for almost five hours straight, and there was about five courses, plus dessert and coffee, four or five different wines, plenty of tequila, yadda yadda. It was great to see him and the gang again. Morten paid for me and four other friends to join him for his party. In America it is customary for friends/family to take a person out on their birthday, but here it is more common for someone to throw themselves a party for their friends and pay for it all. I’ve seen it on a few occasions, it definitely is strange. Luckily Morten is a chef at the restaurant so I think he worked out a special deal or payment plan. It probably came to just a little more than one hundred US dollars a person!

On the way to the dinner party I almost got a 600dkk ticket on the metro for an honest mistake. I hope not to be one of those girls who cries or shows off their boobs or whatever to get special privileges but I couldn’t help but cry a little because it really was an honest mistake and that’s s shit ton of money! I didn’t have ID on me and oh it was almost a disaster but he let me off and I vowed to never fuck with or cheat the expensive Danish public transportation system again (which I used to do semi-frequently before whenever possible).

I got eaten alive my mosquitoes: Don’t know what the fuck is up with them loving me so much. I keep waking up with random bites lately too from god knows what. And I had a little tic in my leg after hiking as well. Aghhhhh.

* Had a little too much fun with my iphone...

Went to an awesome chill out festival at the Statens Museet for Kunst (States Museum of Art). It was really just DJs spinning all day and into the night chill electro kind of music and tons of people just lounging around in the sun, eating and drinking. I went with Anders and Bryn. Anders has worked at DIS since I was a student, is hilarious and I went to London with him on study tour. Bryn is the out-going Housing and Student Services assistant who will be staying on at DIS for another year as the Facilities girl and doing some work with sustainability at DIS. She is really cool, has a Danish grandmother, and will get to do her masters in Denmark for free since she has German citizenship from one of her grandparents having to flee Germany back in the Nazi days. I met some other interns and lots of people that day at the festival. It was a really nice chill day and I even bought the overpriced cd that they were selling with some of the music from the day on there (I usually am too cheap!)

WEEKS TWO AND THREE

I started work and boy has it been a whirl wind! My first day to work I rode the red bike borrowed from Bodil and the chain fell of about 5 times. I was wearing white and had to continually stop to fix the chain, greasing myself up. It was really fun and super safe to have to keep stopping without the brakes working in rush hour bike traffic! Ugh. The first week seems ages ago even though it was only last week at this point! I met all the other interns and had so many meetings I can’t even keep them straight. Lots of orientation and too much information I would say. I am a learning by doing kind of girl so no matter how many orientation sessions you give me about this or that, I need to do it a few times, fuck up a few times, and then I’ll be great :)

There about 20 interns I think and we all spend a lot of time together. A few guys and the rest females. I feel bad for the dudes because they have to be around so many of us all the time. For a while, at the beginning, I felt like I had a bit of a hard time connecting with some of the interns, especially since I had my own thing going on out here staying with Bodil and knowing other people outside of DIS, but that has passed. While I haven’t latched on to any of them and made a best friend, I realize that that just isn’t in my nature, and we all have a really fun time together. A very interesting and talented group of people and it will be exciting to see everyone getting settled in to their apartments and all that jazz.

We took a miniature study tour to Kullen, Sweden for our Study Tour Orientation where we learned ourselves how to be study tour leaders. It was an awesome time and a great way to bond with my colleagues and coworkers. Leading study tours will be extremely fun and a huge personal challenge for me. This semester I will be leading a weekend biking tour to Bornholm and a day tour to Legoland. Nothing too exotic but as the Housing Intern I probably won’t get a long tour until my second semester which is fine by me.

Sweden

is so beautiful and we had great weather. I had been to Kullen once before with Bodil and the old people she works with but got to see some new stuff this time. We did an orienteering challenge for team building and my team came in second. We didn’t even make it to one of the tasks AND had a girl with a broken foot on our team. It was so fun. We also went on a hike to a place called Nimis or Ladonia, depending on who you talk to...

This man started building these structures from drift wood that would wash up on the shore and because it was in such an isolated place on the shore line, the Swedish government didn’t even know about it for quite some time. When the government finally discovered the structures, they were pissed off and attempted to make him take them down claiming that the land was part of the national park. Somehow the structures we able to remain, however, and he declared the area as a separate country from the rest of Sweden, called Ladonia. You can go online and become a member of Ladonia and pay some money to become royalty of the land. The Swedish government doesn’t recognize it still. Haha. And the man still keeps adding to the structures only using nails and almost only drift wood to this day. So beautiful and cool, and surprisingly sturdy when climbed through/upon. I want to become a Dutchess of Ladonia so if anyone wants so sponsor me financially, I do have a birthday this month :)

I love my job so far a lot. DIS is a very flat organization, meaning that while technical hierarchies exist, I’ve had meetings with the director (and a bbq at his house), and can go and have a beer after work with my supervisors. The individual’s voice is respected and the working culture is relaxed. It will be a personal challenge for me to find a nice balance between being relaxed and such good friends with my bosses and co workers while also remaining professional. They say it can take twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. I tend to be a sloppy light weight and haven’t yet quite proved myself professionally, so let’s hope for the best :)

The building I work in is from 1798 and is in the very center of Copenhagen right near central station, Tivoli Gardens, the city hall, the longest walking street in Europe, the Royal Library, etc. We call it “The House”, which really gives it a familial feel. There even is a kitchen where we all eat lunch and sign up for dishwasher duty. Its changed quite a bit since I was a student.

I love my department and have an awesome office. Bryn has been training me this month so we have been sharing the desk but I am getting familiar with all the data bases and Outlook. Oh and learning how to make copies in mass quantities. So. Many. Freaking. Trees. I honestly think that is one of the hardest parts of my job. I have to block out the fact that half of the copies I print will probably never be read and most likely not even recycled. It hurts my soul.

We have 800 students arriving next week so that is mainly what I have been preparing for. I have been soooo busy and have never left work on time. There was only 500 students my first semester at DIS and 600 my second so you can see how fast it is growing. Don’t know how people can afford study abroad when times are so hard but it appears that kids are coming here more now than ever. The Copenhagen Climate Conference, Denmark being proclaimed as the happiest place on earth, and Copenhagen having the best restaurant on the globe—Noma—I think have helped put Denmark on the map. But on the other hand, people still thought I was going to the Netherlands and that I can speak Dutch so maybe not, haha.

I have been staying with Bodil and everyone I know has been incredibly generous to me. I have had a really great time living with Bodil in her new flat but it is only a one bedroom so I have been sleeping on the floor and living from a suitcase more or less all this time.

I will be moving to an apartment closer to work with my friend Bridget’s boyfriend. Bridget was one of my closest friends when I studied here and she is from California too. She is back in the states because her Au Pairing didn’t work out, but I got a great offer from her kæreste, Rasmus, to live with him. He will have the main room, and I will have the bedroom and we will share the kitchen and bathroom. He is extremely mellow and I probably won’t be home much anyway since work keeps me pretty busy. I got a great deal financially and the location is so prime. I have the keys and will start moving things in ASAP but the room doesn’t have furniture. I am getting a bed from Bodil’s friend whose mom recently died so I need to coordinate moving that but once that happens I will be able to get more settled! I am so excited! I feel a little scatterbrained with no internet aside from when I am at work, no cell phone, no bank account, and no personal space, etc. It is sort of a long process getting re-registered with the government again. And today my bank card really did get eaten by the ATM. Here people won’t help you on the weekends so all I can do is wait and hope that my money is safe and Monday morning I can get my card back. I was getting money to pay for getting my bike fixed, but then couldn’t get the money out, so my bike is being held hostage at the bike shop. I guess hostage is a strong word. The guy at the bike shop is a totally nice dude, but yeah, he needs the money to give me my bike understandably! And the bike I got was free from Morten’s parents. I really have been lucking out amidst all of my unluckiness :) It sure does help to have such a strong and giving network.

Fashion Week Highlights

Copenhagen Fashion Week hosted the world’s greatest and longest cat walk and it was a pretty cool thing to experience. 200 models and a few different collections we exhibited and I was front row to see them all: