lot o pictures

I think this is the stage where everything seems exciting and picture-worthy; eventually, I'm sure things will start to seem ordinary. I don't even want to read on the the train yet, cause I don't want to miss anything.


Yesterday we had to go in teams on a scavenger hunt of the city, which took us all over. Here are some pictures along the way.

colorful buildings :)

A state-owned church (Lutheran). I think this is the one where the prince got married.
Danish graffiti. ha.

Beautiful cobblestones. I love how the light bounces off of them.
The iconic harbor. I had to take a pic.
Guards in front of the queen's house. She was there when we went. She should have come out to say hi. Unfortunately she thought the guards were warm enough welcome.
After the hunt (which we didn't finish. boo), I went to the architecture orientation. Apparently, I'm a mentor for a Pre-architecture student. I didn't sign up for it, but I think it will be fun. Here are all the arch kids.
This is in the city at only 5 pm! It gets dark so early now. It is suppose to be getting lighter a little more each day though.

I talked to Christie on skype!! You should get on so you can be on my blog too :) Aren't you jealous...? lol. Here's Christie lookin good...
I got some pics of the main floor of my house today! Here is the kitchen.

And a 'hygge' reading room off the kitchen. A funny story: my host mom said that she cleaned the piano and left the top closed on the keys afterwards. Her daughter told her she had to open it back up and set a piano book out because otherwise it didn't look 'hygge.'
This is the kitchen table where we have all our meals.
The kids always have bread with these pieces of chocolate on them for breakfast. I decided to try it today. It basically tastes like bread with chocolate on it. They have dark and milk chocolate. This is the dark.

I've been having bread with Nutella every day. Their Nutella is HUGE! ...the one thing that is bigger here than the US. haha. They love their nutella.
So you can see the size compared to my juice glass.....it means business.

I already feel like I'm getting worse at English. I am starting to Danish-atize it, when I talk to them...for some reason I feel like they will understand me better. Kinda like how I started talking in a Chinese accent when I went to China.

I have my first class tomorrow afternoon, so I will get to see what studio will be like again.... :\

First Day!

I'm here in København! I've spent most of my last day and a half here with my host family. They are great. They all came to pick me up at my school. The two kids are adorable but funny. They are such good kids--they clean up everything after dinner, they never fight, they thank their parents for dinner, and they always seem interested in conversation...I'm still waiting to find a flaw. haha. But they both definitely have a twinkle in their eye. I brought them silly putty and they took it to school to show their friends, along with the hot tamales I gave them. :)

After dinner here, it is common to sit around together in a 'cozy' room and read/talk/watch tv/play games. There are only 2 requirements:
it has to be cozy
it has to be together

I think I've heard the word hygge (coxy) twenty times today. It is what Danes strive for in their lives. We went to a cozy cafe, ate a cozy meal, walked past cozy shops.....quite funny.

But it is really awesome how much they value family life. I've enjoyed talking with the parents. It's been really easy to find similar points of humor. And they don't believe in shallow conversations here, so there is always something interesting to discuss.

The architecture has been fabulous so far (even from what little I've seen). There seem to be amazing looking buildings on every street. My host parents are both interested in architecture. The dad owns/sells buildings and has just opened his own office with one partner. The mom has been studying interior design.

Their house is spectacular. It is very modern, but somehow they manage to keep it 'cozy' at the same time. haha. Maybe sometime I will try to take pictures of the upstairs, but for now, here are some of my room, and my bathroom. I have the whole basement to myself pretty much.




This is my bathroom. It has a sweet shower that is all open and just drains into the edge of the floor. And their is radiant floor heating in the floors all through the house (even in the bathroom), which is awesome. No walking on cold tile or wood! :)

A touch of coziness to my room. :)

I forgot to take pictures when I was outside and around the city, so I will have to do that soon.

Almost

This is the beginning of something new. But I guess so is every semester...in which case this will be the same. In any case, Saturday will be the last time I will be in America until June. Copenhagen is probably a little more exciting than Kansas, however.
My host family looks pretty cute and super Danish.














A few fun facts about Denmark I've picked up:

1) Dexetrine and Red Bull are illegal, but it is legal to drink on the streets.

2) 95% of Danes are members of the State church, but only 5% actually attend.

3) They love bikes!! There are bike lanes with their own lights.

4)) The work for hello is 'Hej' (pronounced 'hi'), and the word for goodbye is 'Hej Hej.' :)