Friday Rock Fangirling

Each week, participants in the ISUP Social Package are emailed a newsletter reminding of upcoming events while also showcasing other sites and events in Copenhagen.  For Week 26, the "Event of the Week" was Fredagsrock, or Friday Rock: a summer concert series at Tivoli.

Last night (June 27), the artists were Kim Cesarion and Christopher.  After learning a bit more about them and listening to their music, I was excited to see them live.  Both are Scandinavian pop singers: Kim Cesarion from Sweden and Christopher from right here in Copenhagen.

While waiting to meet the other girls at the metro station, I actually ran into a fellow Chippewa and friend from my church back at school.  With over a million people in this city, it was a crazy coincidence to see her!  Then, after meeting three friends from Penn State at Norreport, we walked towards city center and Tivoli.

Found my last name on a building while walking from Norreport's metro station to Tivoli.

A bit hard to see from the bikes and cars, but this is a group of recent high-school graduates (easily spotted around the city by wearing these special, seemingly sailor-esque hats).  As per tradition in Denmark, the grads ride around on the back of a truck and enjoy celebrating!

Going into the concert, which was held in the middle of the amusement park, I was surprised at the crowd.  Expecting a lot of screaming fangirls, there was a decent mix of people there!  Arriving there just before 8 pm (in time to enter for 99 DKK, instead of 139!), we sat down and watched the lawn area grow increasingly full of concertgoers.

Tivoli, a famous amusement park in Copenhagen and the venue for the night's concert.

Anticipating the beginning of the concert!

The show was scheduled from 10-11:30 pm and ended up going a bit later (definitely not complaining).  Surrounded by the Danish language when standing in a crowd full of people, it was a cool cultural experience to attend a concert like many locals and just appreciate the moment.  One week after first setting foot in Europe, I was at my first concert here.

Sign for Friday Rock advertising another group performing this summer.  Chances are, I will end up going to see Passenger, too, after the fun concert last night.  We'll see what happens, but I'll return to Tivoli regardless to at least explore the attraction more and go on a few rides.

After Kim Cesarion's performance and right before Christopher took the stage.

Beyond that, I enjoyed the fun atmosphere and music the night had to offer.  Spending time in the days before listening to Christopher's songs on repeat, I felt like a true fan already knowing much of the music.  Especially after last night's performance, it's safe to say I am quite a fan of the 22-year-old pop artist's tracks.  [Note, all but one of the songs sang last night were in English, so I was able to sing along.]

For your viewing pleasure and a taste of the atmosphere, here's a few brief clips from Fredagsrock:

Kim Cesarion: "girls, all they want to do is have fun" (surely appropriate for a girls' night out in Tivoli!)

Christopher, "Against The Odds"

Christopher, [call me up and say you're] "Mine, Mine, Mine"

Even some fireworks to cap off an amazing experience.

Truly, it was an unforgettable night marking the completion of my first week in Copenhagen.

Gonna Make This Place My Home

Here in Copenhagen, student living situations are a bit different than back in the United States.  At Central, as with many American universities, there are several dorms on campus for Chippewas to live in.  In Denmark, though, the schools do not own housing; in my impression, anyway, they are not too associated with student residences.  Thus, planning to study at the Copenhagen Business School, I had multiple housing options.  The CBS has rooms reserved for us summer students at several student residences.  As I announced in my first blog, my choice was Tietgenkollegiet.
Arriving here on the very first day, even the Danish student volunteer who took us from the airport to our new home commented that we made a nice selection, and I absolutely agree.  We all walked from room to room checking out everyone's new accommodations, and there's no going wrong with a room here at Tietgenkollegiet.  (The embarrassing part of this is that I couldn't get my door to open or close and therefore looked dumb in front of all the new people I just met and the cute guy showing us around.  Thanks to help from an exchange student friend down the hall, though, I realized the trick to turning the key--pulling the door handle hard towards me--so now I have mastered it, thankfully!)
Today, I finally finished unpacking my things (there's SO MUCH storage space that one is practically obligated to) and took some pictures, so check out my new room!

Walk on in my new room!

..and the view heading out (looking towards the courtyard below)

Coats and dresses in the closet by my door

All of my belongings unpacked and organized in a closet by my bed.  There's so much room for activities and storage!

Beautiful day today in Copenhagen.  One of my favorite parts of my room undoubtedly is this huge window: opening completely, spanning that entire wall, and letting in the fresh air and sunlight.

I pinned my summer calendar that I made to my board and everything.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to see that my name was on the door; I am so excited to feel official.

Each room has an en-suite bathroom (even with heated floors!)--certainly a happy surprise--and we share kitchens between about 12 people.

Having a bathroom to myself is nice.  Having it look like this is even nicer!

I happen to be the exchange student in Kitchen 18.1.  I haven't met all of my neighbors yet, but those I have talked to are very kind.  The Danish people in general are reserved, which makes integrating into a dorm comprised of almost all Danish students a bit difficult.  By the end of these next few weeks, though, I hope to have interacted more with everyone here.
Tietgenkollegiet is shaped like a circle with a courtyard in the middle, and all of us residents have key cards to tap for access everywhere.  Because of the stunning architecture that drew me to this building in the first place, tourists come here just to take pictures.  (Partially why I have yet to take a picture of the full exterior, but I definitely will.)  Of course, there's plenty of nice or cool things I could say about my residence, but I'll sum it up with this thought: I have never and will never live in a dorm as great as Tietgenkollegiet.

Back When The King Was Cool

On Sunday, June 22, two events were planned for us members of the ISUP Social Package: a sightseeing trip and a canal tour.
First, I'll elaborate a bit more about this deal, since it'll be mentioned quite a bit.  Earlier this month, all of us international students had the opportunity to book three parts of the International Summer University Program social program: the Social Package, tour of Denmark, and Berlin trip.  Doing as I like to do, which is take advantage of as many opportunities as possible, I registered for all three.  The Social Package consists of multiple events throughout the six weeks we are here (about 1-3 per week), and the others are weekend adventures that I'm really excited about.
Anyway, on Sunday afternoon I got to be part of a tourist group around Copenhagen.  A decently-sized group of us (30-40 or so students) led by 3 Danish student volunteers walked all throughout the city, able to see numerous historic landmarks.  Unfortunately, off-and-on there was a cold rain, and I didn't get a chance to take very many pictures.  Nonetheless, it was a great experience, and I'm in a few nice group shots.

First picture of my sightseeing group, posed in front of the Royal Theatre.
(I'm wearing the green tank and navy cardigan with my coral purse.)

"Mount the anchor!"

At one point in front of Amalienborg, where Danish royalty live, we all posed for a posed "royal" picture.  At first, I didn't think I'd even be in the photo, and then, I was a guard--yes, they have guards in the tall, poofy hats here!--until it was decided that we needed a wife to the crown prince (a fellow American, I believe from Philly).  Though I wasn't "madly in love" as I was supposed to be, I do get to say I was princess for a moment. ;)

Amalienborg

Royalty for a hot second.  I'm the crown prince's wife, hugging him while waving to the people.

 The best part of our tour, however, was undoubtedly our tour guide.  He is a student from Copenhagen actually in one of my classes, and the fact that he isn't a professional made the trip all the more entertaining.  While taking us around the sites, he gave us intense historical background about where we were at, such as: "Back when the king was cool... if he wanted a garden, they built a garden!" and "If you go to this art museum, only go on Wednesday night when it's free because I'm sick of my taxes paying towards this!"

Said museum with art that I will have to go see (of course) on a Wednesday.

Oh, and another good one... "This is where they store the soldiers!" (Not house, not accommodate.. store.)

Sightseeing turned out to be pretty enjoyable, despite the rain, and I got to talk with a few new people.  Plus, we saw the famous "colored houses" for the first time, which is part of a district I have already returned to and will go back to many times I'm certain.  It's gorgeous.  Although I didn't take any shots of the canal tour I went on, since I was seated in the middle of a large, covered ferry, the ride was relaxing, and it's one more thing to add to the list of experiences I have had in Denmark.

I will get my picture taken here eventually.  Beautiful Nyhavn in Copenhagen.

Welcome to Denmark

Well, I am up earlier than I had hoped.. guess I'll take the opportunity to talk about yesterday, my first full day in Copenhagen.

After about 8 hours of solid sleep, I woke up around 10 to begin my day.  Once I got ready, I met my fellow Midwesterners (two guys from Wisconsin that live on the floor above me) to head out and run some errands.

Ready for my first day in this wonderful city.

Our trip took us around the Amager district of Copenhagen.  In search of monthly metro passes, we went from place to place trying to figure out where to go.  This led us to several little convenience stores and even a mall, Amager Centret, until we finally got to a location that didn't just sell 10-clip cards.  360 DKK later, I have myself unlimited Metro rides in zones 1 and 2 through July 20.  Although the little shop took us a while to locate, everything was worth it in the end.  Biking is, of course, the preferred method of travel here in Copenhagen, but especially on day 1, it was nice to have transportation arranged for only about $75.

We also stopped for some groceries at Fatka, one of the discount stores, before returning to Tietgen (more on my dorm later, once I finish unpacking and take some pictures).  Not knowing that we'd have our own bathrooms, we all needed to buy soap, and since I hadn't gone to the store yet, I also picked up some milk, fruit, and cereal.  After making my selections, I proceeded to checkout.  The card reader, though, kept asking for a pin number, and telling the girl working the register "credit" wasn't getting me anywhere, so after many swipes, I handed her some kroner before grabbing my groceries.  The communication barrier was a bit confusing of not knowing why my card wouldn't work as I wanted, but everything turned out alright.  Thank goodness, too, that I didn't buy anything else, because I hadn't realized that I wouldn't have a bag to carry my purchases.  Walking in a dress, in the wind, and juggling my things, I was happy to set everything down in my room and kitchen when I got back.  Lesson learned: bring a bag next time I shop and life will be easier.

Only about 50 DKK for these essentials.. so approximately $9-10.  Not bad, I'd say!

Later in the afternoon, we used our metro passes for the first time to head to campus for the welcome events.  Here, we had an interesting presentation about ISUP, CBS, and Copenhagen.  At one point, a speaker had us stand up to poll what ages we were.  Safe to say, I am one of very few of the 600 international students here that are under 20.  (The majority are 20-21, so not too far off from my age of 19, but there are many in their 20's and older as well.) However, being from the United States is not so uncommon, though I have yet to meet anyone else from a Michigan university.

After the speeches came the first event in the ISUP Social Package (a group of fun events throughout the program that I pre-booked), the Welcome Dinner/Dance.  There, I ate a nice meal (including dessert) and ended up meeting a lot of people: mostly Americans, including one fellow Michigander, but also students from countries like Canada, Norway, Sweden, and Argentina.

Our chocolate welcome-international-students cake!

Instead of joining the dancing taking place at CBS, we went with some new friends to Kongens Tværvej, their cute student residence house.  This turned into meeting even more people (from China, Poland, England...) and having a great night hanging out.  Chatting with everyone even on the first day and night, I returned home happy knowing just how many friends are to be made while in Copenhagen.

Arriving in Copenhagen

What a whirlwind these last two days have been!  From Thursday to now, I have gone from the U.S. to Europe and done a lot since arriving.  Honestly, on the day of my departure, my thoughts were pretty preoccupied with the lack of appetite and the fever I was experiencing.  Now, though, I feel back to normal, and I am safely in Copenhagen.

Even from the get-go, my trip has already been an adventure.  My flights, especially, made the journey over here exciting.  To begin with, my 6:12 pm June 19 departure from Grand Rapids was delayed.  Thankfully, we still left early enough (around 7) to make my next flight, and I sat in a window seat next to a nice couple headed to Denver.  Arriving in Minneapolis around 7:30, though, did yield less than half an hour until the departure of my next flight.  Racing through the airport, I boarded that flight in time but was pretty hot from the sweatshirt, backpack, bag, and purse I had on me.

From there I flew to Charles De Gaulle in Paris.  My 8-and-a-half hour flight was through Air France (arranged by Delta, the airline I used to book my flights), which made the time kind of interesting.  When dinner time came, I ate my pasta with a "bon appetit!" from the French flight attendant.  Still not feeling the best at that point, I didn't eat too much of my meal, which was pretty big albeit tasty.  The rest of my flight consisted of Hunger Games 2 (for a bit, there, I thought it was the new movie in the sequel, so I was crazy excited until I realized it's what I've already watched... oh well) and sleeping.

Since my Paris flight arrived later than planned as well, this led to more running in an airport.  All was going alright until I got to security, something I hadn't anticipated.  With minor hiccups, I made it through that scan and into the next line.  Luckily, here, I eventually took the initiative and talked to one of the workers; although I was approaching the front of the line, I know this saved me precious time thanks to him waving me to be the next in line at the other window.  Once my passport was stamped, I bolted to the gate and made it in the nick of time to my plane.

My Paris to Copenhagen flight went pretty quickly, probably because I was sleeping.  In that instance, I was again hot, tired, and not feeling the best, so napping on that plane was much-needed.  Arriving in Denmark, surprisingly to me, did not mean more security.  The interesting situation, here, though, came with baggage.  CDG was coming in at belt 5, so I waited there until a worker said our luggage would be at belt 3.  After patiently waiting for two hours, I finally took a number to speak with a worker.  Apparently, my suitcase went to Amsterdam.  Who knows how that happened, but when 5:45 rolled around, I was very happy to see my brown suitcase come up the belt.

At the end of it all, I checked in to my program successfully from there.  I'm very glad that none of my flights were missed in the midst of everything and that I was able to keep my composure, all the while reminding myself that things are out of my control and that I don't want to be "that American."  Surely, even just with flying to Denmark, life has been an adventure, and I love that this is only the beginning of the story of my time here...

Only A Day Away

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow!

It's hard to believe that 24 hours from now, I'll be on my first flight to Europe.  I have been counting down to Copenhagen for so long now that it doesn't seem real.  My suitcase and backpack are almost entirely packed now; I'm practically ready to go.

That being said, am I nervous about going to Denmark? Not really.  I absolutely love traveling.  I'm flying out to a foreign country on my own and could not be much more excited.  On the other hand, I do have a few little concerns, mostly about my classes.

Surely, I'll be fighting the urge to explore while I'm abroad and need to study.  My nerves, if any, stem from the fact that 100% of my grades are based on my final exams, each four hours long.  Class in Europe will truly be unlike any I have ever taken, which I hope will be a good thing.

Thus, some of my goals for this summer are:
PASS MY CLASSES. (It is, as my dad would say, study abroad... not just a vacation, although my experience will definitely be enjoyable!)
Make unforgettable memories and friends from around the world.
Experience Copenhagen. Ride a bike, sample an open-faced sandwich, ride an attraction at Tivoli Gardens. Learn some Danish.
Exercise.  (After all, I will be living in a country from which a type of pastry is named..)
Go to Sweden. (It's only half an hour away, for goodness' sake!)
Live in the moment and have a great time.  Who knows when or if I'll ever be in Denmark again.

Otherwise, my main concern at the moment is to get a good night's sleep.  As I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I'm hoping some rest will be all it takes to get better and start my adventure off on the right foot.  Good night!