Im really sad about Trump's fascism so this post isnt as nice

Anyways I left off at last wednesday so here are things that happened before I get too far behind and overwhelmed

Wednesday night:
Picked up an old bike from the daughter of our neighbors

Thursday:
First day of classes, starting at 8:30am so I have to get up a little after 6pm bc the commute is over an hour :(

Both classes are taught by a soft and powerful woman and in the same room. The class about being gay seems a little basic (gender is different than sex is where we are starting) but the one about prostitution is shaping up to be really interesting for me!!

I also got lunch with Emma (who is in three of my classes and lives in the same town) at this really cute cafe that looks like they just turned an old library into a cozy place to eat and there was lots of good goat cheese !

Friday:

Friday was inauguration day I think? Even if it wasn't consider this an alternative fact. I actually hate seeing Trump's face because sexual predators are disgusting if you didn't know. But I saw snippets and they were soaked in nationalism which is obviously my favorite thing in the world.

Friday night I went to the Folkehojskole where Emma lives because they were having a social event in the evening (a party) and it was a ton of fun and I got to meet a lot of other really cool people there too!

Saturday was busy busy because I went to the Women's March, but I also had a raging cold at that point. It felt really great to see so many people out and signs for Black Lives Matter. It felt really not great to see vaginas equated to womanhood. Merete's two daughters also marched with us, and Katherine came over after.

Sunday:

I didnt realize how much homework DIS assigns and am a little bummed about it currently. So I did some of it on Sunday! I also definitely did something else but I'm having a hard time remembering because Trump said okay to DAPL and thousands of people are going to die every month without ACA protections and the press is being suppressed and the wall and gay marriage and Muslims and refugees you know what I mean?

Monday classes resumed and I was starting to feel a little better re:cold not trump

Tuesday:
I tried to ride my bike to the station for the first time and got lost but in doing so found a shortcut and a way that I like better??? I also made it thru all of my classes and that night I went to the hojskole again and we watched The Social Network which felt like an ode to privileged white men. It was still nice to be around people though. On the bike ride back from the station the chain fell off my bike so I walked over to a different neighbor that had offered theirs and theirs is the most perfect of all bikes to have in Copenhagen and Im in love with it. I was also stupid and didn't look up bus routes to the hojskole before leaving, but I lucked out because I ran into Jonah (a student there) at one of the stops!

Wednesday:

Wednesdays are a little bit weird because there aren't actual classes and sometimes I have nothing and sometimes a class gets a four hour time block. Today Danish Language and Culture got four hours, and we watched a really sad movie and lots of people were crying and then we left.
I also got an interview to be a videographer, and that was immediately after the class but it went super well. I hear back on Friday so fingers crossed! I also signed up for clubs today and ate pickled herring and this pickle mayo and the first beer I kind of liked and expensive salami.

Anyways, everything is still perfect and things are foggy and beautiful I'm just angry/scared/sad about the man who didn't win the popular vote and reinstated the gag rule even though federal funds never went to the abortions anyways and has banned the EPA from public communications like???? we all understand that that is horrible right????? that research isnt the enemy???? #blessbadlandsnationalpark

I survived orientation!!

Just a quick update: I'm in Denmark!!!

I got in on Saturday morning, after only one missed layover and over 12 hours of traveling. My host mom, Merete (like Mehr-AI-tuh) (I think) (help), picked me up and we were off to the lovely lovely town I'll be staying in this semester, Hillerød. The house is BEAUTIFUL and no big but I live a few minutes from a castle so that's cool. 

A 400-year-late thank you to King Christian the IV for building Frederiksborg!!

In case you were disappointed there's also baroque gardens. We took a stroll through these within the first three hours of me being back. My life is a dream. 

 In other silly news, Merete took me to a grocery store because I was basically begging. Grocery stores are so interesting!!! I went to bed soon after dinner (aka 8pm) and slept reallllly well (aka 12 hours). 

On Sunday Merete was so sweet and cancelled her weekly 8am walk around the castle with friends just to take me to Liseleje!!! She owns a summer home on the northern shore of Denmark, and it is so yellow and so airy and the sea is RIGHT THERE in the back yard #goals. 

Ok these are all from Google because I didn't want to be touristy, but I swear the yellow house is hers. 

As if our long stroll on the beach wasn't enough, Merete took me to see the sand dunes!!! That was my first time seeing sand dunes I believe!!! And they were magical!!! We walked all over those, back through the forest, and then went to ANOTHER grocery store #blessed. Then Merete did one of the cutest things ever and bought her veggies directly from the farmer. I think I'm in love. 

Other reasons to be in love with Merete:

• She's very easy going
• Communicates well
• Laughs a lot
• Good listener
• Generous
• Adventurous
• Compassionate
• Critical thinker
• Great cook
• Patient with my million-and-one questions
• Bought me flowers for my room!!! (Which, by the way, is the nicest room I have ever stayed in and I have two glass doors out to the garden...)
• Eats a boiled egg every morning in one of her little egg stands (something I now love doing too)
• Is curious about my life/the U.S.
• Knits like a boss
• Has four (maybe five?) neighborhood/community based clubs (eg. eating club, cinema club)
• Makes her own salad dressings
• Buys good knives
• There's definitely more but I am pass the point of embarrassing myself so lets move on.

Once we left the veggie store, Merete showed me another grossly cute thing about Denmark. There are roads marked by a daisy sign that means they are "especially beautiful roads." So we went on one. I can attest it was especially beautiful.

We drove on the daisy road past the largest lake in Denmark just as the sun was setting so yeah my life is still a dream it was magical. 

That night I had the great honor of trying my real first traditional Danish dinner: leverpostej.

Behold pate and rye bread!

I also got to try the kind that had cranberries in it and I liked that one a lot!!!! This is probably pretty uncultured of me to say but it more or less tastes like a creamed version of ham salad to my unrefined palette. 

On Monday, orientation began for the thing I am actually here for, ya know school. I met the rest of the people living nearby (9ish in total) and they all seem super sweet! It was the very first time I saw downtown Copenhagen, and it is a bit little but still old and historic and European and all those things. We started in this cirkus building that was very purple and extra amazing. CHINAH, one of the hippest bands in Denmark, played a few songs for us. AGAIN NO BIG WHATEVER.

Anyways what a good orientation! For dinner Monday I had traditional meal #2, Frikadeller and cabbage and beets and cute lil potatoes (kartofle in Danish!).

This is also from Google but somehow nearly identical!!

On Tuesday, orientation continued with a small walking tour of Copenhagen! The group and I were icicles three hours later. It would have been a blast if it were 20 degrees warmer!

Stop 1: Copenhagen's City Hall, aka Rådhus

Stop 2: Queen's Winter Palace, aka Amalienborg
This isn't a great picture but how else can I show you that it's a circle!

Danes have this thing where they don't like big fusses so you can walk up to the Queen's front door.
The Crown Prince and his wife also live in one of the buildings! The three are pretty popular with Danes right now.

Stop 3: The Parliament Building, aka Christiansborg

Stop 3: The Royal Library, aka The Black Diamond, aka Den Sorte Diamant

The inside is SOOO COOL and has a sound installation!!
Mette, Merete's daughter, works for DIS. She welcomed us at this stop!

After the tour, I got my books and went back to Hillerød. Merete picked me up and showed me the mall and the library, which are both over-the-top stunning for a town of just over 30,000. After a bit of resting at home, we met up with Merete's friends and had a 4 hours dinner party with my third traditional meal, fried pork belly and potatoes with parsley sauce, aka Stegt Flæsk med persillesovs. This was apparently voted the Danish national meal a few years back, but no one seemed to know why or how. 

Hungry yet? The parsley sauce was a trip (in a good way).

That brings us to today, Wednesday!! Today was the last day of orientation, and after a tour of the facilities, a talk on Copenhagen fashion (which was amazing), and meeting the people in my core class, I headed home to write this blog! 

Obviously everything is exceptionally rosy right now but I think I was dealt a really good hand here. Living with Merete is easy and fun; we have two hours dinner conversations every night. I feel exceptionally comfortable and curious. Learning Danish is proving to be rewarding and even more intriguing. I'm excited for classes to start tomorrow morning, after seeing how kind everyone at DIS is. The program is unbelievably organized and well-run. And the weather hasn't been too too horrible. :)

With love and red meat,

Abby