Category: Denmark / Δανιμαρκία

Danish Diaries #3

These days have been everything about being out and meeting new people, most notably a few Spanish and Mexican girls that have turned my opinion on Spain, the Spanish language and the Spanish people by 180 degrees. Hi-fives to Ana, Dulce, Ileana and Henar!

Studenterhus Århus continues to organise lots of stuff every day to keep us entertained, like taking us to ARoS ([state of the — pardon me for the pun] art museum, loved everything, from the super po-mo stuff that didn’t make sense to the super po-mo stuff that made lots of sense to the early 20th century Danish painters that I’d normally find quite ordinary) or having a speed meeting (I can tell you, I have never been so thrilled AND tired of getting to know people at the same time, most of I’ll never see again because they weren’t actually from our Destination DK group but from some other summer university program of AU that was about to end). I’m starting to really like the people of Studenterhus and the place itself which is not too bad at all for a beer or coffee.

Monday was the first day of my Danish class and we have classes every day starting at 8:45. Living 30-40 minutes away by bike from the university campus in Århus where the lessons take place doesn’t help things, but I enjoy biking there and home. If only it wasn’t so time-consuming! Sophia is an excellent teacher, exceptionally cheery and informal, laughs out loud a lot, loves to talk to us about her life and Denmark in general. I’m very happy to be having lessons with her! Danish… Hvad hedder du? Hvor kommer du fra?Jeg har ikke en kærester. Jeg har et seng, to border og tre stoler på min værelse. Jeg cykler mange i Århus. Well, it does taking A LOT of getting used to and believe me, it sounds absolutely NOTHING like it reads. After four days of lessons already and ten days in Denmark, I think I might have started catching words on the street or in shops that are not common with or in any other way remind German. I still think I have a long and winding road ahead of me before I can even start catching spoken Danish; unless of course it was spoken to me veeery slowly and clearly, in which case I doubt whether it would continue to claim the right to be called Danish anymore.

This is my class:

Iciar, Tara, David, Bo-Reum, Nele, Eriko, Camil, Walburga, Victorija, Natalia, Tatsu, Pedro, Schelby, Micol, Bastyen and Sophia. Teresa was missing today.

There’s me in this one!

The atmosphere is great in the lessons and I’m having a lot of fun each day. Of course there’s another 7 or 8 classes just like us, most filled with complete Danish beginners!

I’ll sign off for today with some videos showing Skolhøjkollegiet, my dorms (I’m in no 58, room 3 by the way):

Danish Diaries #2

Yesterday, after another long walk in Aarhus, it was time for the first official Erasmus get-together! Studenthus Aarhus organised a Welcome Dinner for all the new-comers and their empty stomachs. There I met my first Erasmus people! I have no idea if they’re going to be my friends for the rest of the semester — it’s only 5 out of 100 Destination DK participators (the early goers such as me for the language and culture program) and over ~600 exchange students in total for this semester– but who knows, right?

Today with said friends we headed a bit outside of Aarhus to the annual Viking fight and horse-riding show. It was part of a greater Viking festival with tens and tens of tents with all kinds of craftsmen making everything and anything related to Vikings, from mead to shields with runes, from traditional Viking food to ornaments. Everything was produced on the spot. The fight and horse show were sure impressive, with all the combatants yelling and their swords and spears clanging. No picture will do this experience justice of course, maybe in time some videos are going to find their way on Youtube.

But I’ll admit it. What I was most fascinated by was not the vikings, not their cooking or their runes but the location of this happening. The viking festival took place on a grassy hilly clearing next to a beach. But surrounding this clearing was a beautiful forest with trees so tall, leaf canopies so thick they were practically hiding the sky, creating the musky, cozy atmosphere of the deep forest. It was complete with running water and light washing in on the streams from the few openings among the leaves… We reached the festival through that forest starting at Moesgaard Museum. It’s very easy to reach from the center of Aarhus (we just hopped on bus 6 from Nøregade), so I can definitely see myself returning preferrably together with my bike!

The other big thing of today was that I went to the hospital. When I woke up in the morning I could feel, together with my dry and brambly throat, my left ear just clogged with fluid and hurting as hell. “OK”, I thought, “this is not another of those my-throat-hurts-for-a-few-days-it’s-gonna-take-care-of-itself. Reluctantly, I decided to get checked up after returning from the Viking festival (as Dulce said: ‘why miss it, if you’re not about to die…’ and I hold the sentiment close to my heart) Turns out I’ve got a “mouth infection” and that only penicillin can put an end to the bacterial menace once and for all. If I had a CPR number (I’ll get it when I get my Danish residence permit, that is next month) I’d be eligible for completely free examinations and medication, in contrast with today when I had to pay for my penicillin in the end because I didn’t have a CPR number and thus belonged to the ‘tourist” category…

But these Nordic people… They make even their hospitals good to look at.

I have to sign off now, get some sleep and let the antibiotics do their thing. Tomorrow we’ve got brunch at 10:00 at Studenthus Aarhus and eat well we must cause it’s Museum Day! Gotta get my rest, no? I’ll up new pictures as soon as possible.

Danish Diaries #1

Yes! My Erasmus is on, I’m writing this using some stolen unlocked invisible waves from a nearby dorm… And I’m sick. My throat is killing me and I must have a fever. Must be from sleeping everywhere I found a suitable surface in Prague airport (where I had an 11-hour stopover) and in a park in Prague itself, so sleep-deprived was I… I don’t know where I caught the bug but right now it’s killing all of my energy and fun. Anyway…

I’m in Denmark two days already. I like it VERY much. The area in which I live is in the middle of nowhere, almost 10km from the centre of Århus, but that means that it’s really quiet with lots of beautiful nature everywhere. It’s also in a side of town which is considered a “ghetto”, and so yesterday when riding home on the bike I rented from Studenterhus Århus I saw lots of Muslim and black immigrants. I also found a few local supermarkets run by immigrants that had all sorts of spices, Turkish products, an aroma from the Middle East and shopped at a couple of them. I can’t shake the feeling that they overcharged me because they realised I was a foreigner but then again that might be my subconscious little anti-multiculturally indoctrinated side speaking. From what I found out by visiting another nearby supermarket today, things are expensive everywhere. Three bell peppers of various colours: 15 kr. A little can of Somersby cider: 20 kr. Pears: 2,95 kr per piece.

By the way, 1€ =~ 7,5 Danish Kroner. Do the math yourself. 😛 Yes, things here ARE expensive.

The University in all of its grand location in the middle of a large park and in the city centre, complete with lakes etc has been a big help already and I can feel that they’re really caring for the exchange students, what with organising the language and culture course that’s taking place in the next few days, ensuring everyone is OK etc. On arriving they gave me a big bag with merchandise, including a raincoat! Even though the weather as long as I’ve been here has been excellent, something tells me I’m gonna need it!

God! I feel terrible. I so want to continue writing, there’s SO much to share already but I’d rather just lie in bed… Some pictures (from my Denmark flickr set):