Being Tested

<--the S train that I usually take everyday

I feel like my patience is being tested a lot lately. The whole flight ordeal was enough to make you want to scream, but I was surprisingly okay. I waited more patiently than I would have expected for my stuff to come in 5 days after I arrived. My host dad is a nice dude, but he's very Danish in the fact that he's proud of his country; everything here is pretty much perfect to him. What he says is really nice - but the way he says it can kind of get to you, especially if it's discussed at every single meal. And during a tour around the city today, I took off my glove and my camera fell on the ground. Yes- the new Canon SD800 that cost a buttload. The lens got dented inwards and it wouldn't work for a while. I thought I was going to cry in front of my whole group - the freakin camera that I got specifically for this trip was ruined because I wanted to adjust my shirt. Sorry mom. I kept pulling at it and its okay now - the outer rim of the lens is messed up but the machine itself is fine. I guess it's a lesson against materialism.


<--the Frue Church where their crowned prince got married a few years ago to an Australian girl

Handball is a huge thing here- the championships are going on right now. It's hilarious - the first time I saw it on tv I laughed out loud. It looked just like a scene out of Dodgeball, but everyone else watching the game had such serious looks on their faces. The sport is supposedly second only to football in Europe. And the Danish men are beautiful to watch- they look like dolls. Cool - they just won the game against Russia. You know who else looks like dolls? Danish gymnasts. Today was an important qualifying round for Caroline's gymnastics-- teams from all over the city were there. I was one of 4 Asians in the room - and we were all Korean. Supposedly in the suburbs of Copenhagen, all the Asians you see are adopted from South Korea. I was told that Denmark has some agreement with the country for adoption. My host dad was all excited that I could meet Caroline's coach, who's a Korean adoptee. He's like so happy that I'm a Korean-- he's waiting for me to make them a meal. It was funny - everytime I crossed the gymnasium, I could see all these blond heads turning to watch the foreigner pass by.

Aite. Radio's on TV.
<-- The Copenhagen Opera House

Carlsberg

A courtyard I found 2 days ago. There's a little Hong Kong stationary store on the right -->

I've been in Copenhagen for 5 days now and things finally started to get better. Not that it was bad before or anything, but life here has become a little more enjoyable. I had a pretty good day - and most importantly - the luggage that was left behind in Philly arrived!!! My mom sent it through airmail, which I'm sure cost a buttload, but I'm so grateful. I now have more than 2 pairs of dirty jeans and I don't have to wear my sleeping t-shirts under Gracie's yellow CU hoodie or my stained black zipup. Ooh and I have my own toothpaste and shampoo and vitamins and shoes and gloves and even the pink slippers YoonJu unnie bought for me. I am in all seriousness HEPPY about the two blessed brown boxes that I found in my room tonight.

Do you remember the controversial Mohammed cartoon that a Danish newspaper printed? The paper's called the Jyllands-Posten and they did an article about the Americans studying through DIS in Copenhagen. I made the article's picture, front and center-- at least that's what everyone said. I didn't get to see it because my host family doesn't subscribe to that paper, but people told me that they saw me in it. I've been in Denmark for 5 days and I'm already famous. heh.

I felt my day was going to be good today when I woke up after a whole night's sleep. The jetlag's gone! At least I hope so. Jessica and I rode our bikes that our family provided to the train station. It was awesome-- I haven't really ridden a bike since elementary school. But the seat was too high for me and after I pedaled once I fell over. Stop laughing. We switched bikes and the one I have is still a little tall for me- I have to be careful when I stop - but otherwise I like it. The harsh wind sucks but I felt freeeee and so organic (?) riding the bike to the train station to go to class. It felt so European. Classes were alrite - Danish, Criminology in Scandinavia, and Modern Scandinavian Literature. Tomorrow's Danish and Environmental History of Europe. I know - sounds like a ton of fun.

Afterwards a bunch of us went to the Carlsberg brewery. My program hooked us up and everyone got to go-- today was my turn. We walked into this huge auditorium and they showed us pretty much a propaganda video. The company's shares are 51% owned by the Carlsberg Foundation, so everytime we drink a Carlsberg beer, we're actually supporting the arts and sciences. mm Hm. There's a huge display of the company's beers - it's breathtaking. Seriously. I literally gasped when I saw it. And we made our way to the cafeteria where we had free beer tasting. You know how asian I am and how red I get, so I was embarassed. Oh well- it made things more interesting I guess.

Last night my little host sister Caroline was showing us her gymnastics and dance moves. We got to talking about her earrings - fake diamonds - and she shared with us a little Danish.

Caroline: "Oh, you like my earrings? In Danish we call it... bling bling."

I felt bad but we couldn't stop laughing at her. And tonight I mentioned MTV and Birgitte, the host mom, said she only saw Pimp My Ride.

Birgitte: "I want to pimp my ride!"

:)

Caroline liked my shoes and put them on right out of the box. She's 10. And yea- those are my gloves and scarf too -->

Flights, Cars, and Trains

Hi guys :) I decided to try out this blogging jawns to keep track of what goes on over here and to let people occasionally know what's going on. Yea-- I originally didn't get the purpose for blogging (except for Xanga because it's just Xanga- come on now), but I'm gonna try to stick this one out. I'll probably do a random Xanga just because. So here goes.

I left my house around 1.30pm on Saturday for the airport- and after picking up my dad we got to PHL around 2.40. The itinerary said my flight was through United so I went to Terminal D-- but it turned out that my flight was from USAirways (owned by United) and so my mom and I went to Terminal C to check in my luggage. I got to the counter by 2.50pm, but they wouldn't let me check anything in because it was too late according to TSA regulations. I needed to check stuff in 45 minutes prior to departure- but I missed the cut-off by 5 minutes. AHHH. But my mom, being the clever woman she is (ha- NaDa, make sure she sees that. She'll be happy), decided that she'll send my huge bag through the mail and I should just take my carry-on. So I took off for Boston with my bookbag and a carry-on. I was supposed to get on a connecting flight to Heathrow in London, but my plane got into Boston too late. I also had to check in my carry-on because British Airways only allows 1 carry-on. So I checked in the stupid bag and waited 2 hours on stand-by for the next flight to Heathrow. I met a bunch of kids in my program while I waited for the plane- but they were on a different flight. So I peaced out and got onto my London-bound flight. It worked out alright though because the seat to my left was empty. I couldn't get any sleep on the plane though- so I watched 'Black Dahlia.' I thought it was pretty lame; perhaps I was too grumpy to enjoy it. At Heathrow- I walked around for 20 minutes looking for an international calling card and a payphone that worked to let DIS know why I was going to arrive in Copenhagen 8 hours after I was supposed to. Once in Copenhagen, I couldn't find my bag. Turns out that they never put my luggage on the last plane. I met two girls in my program in baggage claim and they waited for me- but after finding out that the airline had left my crap in London I just left with them and shared a cab into the city.

That was the short version of the traveling story.

The city is really flat -- only a handful of skyscrapers, and they're not very impressive at all. But it still has the city-feel-- it's bizarre. The architectural style is old and cute--but the apartment buildings are modern and all the interiors (like furniture and windows) are Scandinavian and modern. Think IKEA everywhere; this seems like the place that birthed IKEA- except it isn't.

I'm staying with a host family in a suburb of the city, and there's one other girl staying in the house with me. My housemate's name is Jessica and she goes to Scripps (another women's college) in California. She's like the typical wholesome all-American girl. My host dad was a pastor for 15 years, but now he works for an organization that connects immigrants to churches, and my host mom is a general nurse. They have 3 kids - two are at boarding school (~15 and 17 years old) and Caroline is the youngest at 10 years old and lives at home. She's a gymnast and really eager to spend time with me and Jessica. The two of them are doing Sudoku right now as I ignore them to work on this blog. The house doesn't look like much from the outside - but once you're inside it's really nice. It's humble in its decoration- but stylish nonetheless. Danes are supposedly a really humble people in general.

My luggage came in late last night, so Hans (the dad) drove me there and we picked it up. Finally I got a change of clothes - just one, but that's a lot more than having nothing at all. And the parents liked the bread and butter gift (tell this to mom girls) and were kinda impressed by the Korean writing on the cups. I guess it seems more authentically Asian or something. But they like it a lot - make sure you tell her. Or else. And that's a picture of my room - Jessica and I pretty much have the upperfloor for our rooms- but the family hangs out there too because it's where the tv is.

I got a phone - just dial this whole thing when/if you want to hear my voice. ;P

011 45 30974333

My address:

Eunice Ahn c/o Hans Lund
Froehaven 1
DK- 2630 Taastrup
Denmark

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid -->