COrAl's COpeNhAgeN AdVEnTUReS

Coral is spending the Spring ('11) of her Junior year studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Hyggin' out in København!

It's now been 3 weeks since my last post and a month since I arrived (edited). Craziness! Thanks for your patience.

Walking down the cobble streets of København, the other day, I heard a bell ringing and saw a group of little children going for their walk. I felt like I was back on the Bowdoin Quad happening upon the children center toddlers on their walk with chapel bells ringing in the background. It was a sweet moment.

There have been many of those... Every time the accordion player is playing I feel like I'm in a European film full of saturated light, romantic music, and beautiful people. It's fun.

Walking or biking to the train station, taking the B or E train, and then walking or biking to school has become second nature. There are still a lot of new, exciting things to experience and learn about each day but being in some sort of routine feels really nice.

The bike my host dad fixed up for me!
Public transportation in Copenhagen has been pretty easy to figure out. My school provides me with a transport pass for all the zones I need to from my house to school. It's still really expensive for locals from what I hear - hence all the biking. My host family has a car and there was one morning that Morten drove me to the city. I realized how few routes I've walked, biked, and/or taken public transport more than driven in my life. 
An attempt to capture the cool view
in the metro (different from the train)
I've definitely done some quality exploring around the city. Although, I look forward to doing more when people come visit!

They don't seem to dress most of the
mannequins here.
Pretty horses outside an irish pub on
the main shopping street (Stroget)

Lot's of cool artwork! Some
in the form of graffiti.
A cool historic church
turned art museum
Playground behind the church! There
are a lot of sweet playgrounds here!
My host parents are both teachers. The schooling system is different here but in U.S. terms my host mom works with middle schoolers and my host dad works with high schoolers. The equivalent to high school (for lack of a better term) is gymnasium. My friend Erin and I were able to go and visit my host dad's gymnasium on the night of their open house for prospective students. It's a the most recently built gymnasium in greater København and the most sought after. It was really beautiful! We took pictures!
Erin on the roof terrace!
Chill out space for students... So cool!
Erin on the amazing
spiral staircase
The amazing spiral staircase
We walked out the door and they had
their video projected on the building
across the street. How cool?!
When I was really little one of my favorite parts of going to the movies was choosing what treats I wanted and filling my little bag with candy from the rows of plastic boxes. I think it was Clarks Pond in South Portland that had it and I'm not sure when they got rid of those boxes but I remember being young and sad. So when I walked up the stairs after paying the astronomically expensive movie ticket fee (a little less than $17) I was thrilled to discover that this cinema still had the rows of self serve candy boxes. The only problem was that a good two thirds of the candy was licorice. Danes loooove their licorice! Thankfully, I was with my host sister and her roommate who were able to warn me if something contained licorice. They also convinced me to try one type of licorice candy and it wasn't too bad!
The Candy Boxes!
Each door in the ladies
bathroom was adorned with
the last name of a movie star
Robyn and I
Comfy Seats!
In the land of dairy, my dad (who hates dairy products) may fear that "Something's rotten in the state of Denmark" but all that matters to me in regards to that statement is that it means Hamlet's castle is right near by!
To the castle!
My host dad in front of the castle

Kronberg Castle!
An aerial view picture
Robyn! :)
It was the first time I'd been at the
ocean since I'd arrived. Sooo nice! 
Lots of towers
Me with a miniature of the castle
Pretty exterior
Hamlet!
This doll house reminded me of
the one I had when I was little!
I love the iron oxidation of the houses!
This is a very common house color. 
Most the trees in denmark are trimmed
so they have these round scabs(?) on
the end of each branch. 

There's this lovely yoga place I've now gone to three times. The class I attended last week was my first "official" anusara class and I loved it! I will definitely be going back.
This is their pretty sign!
My friend who was in København [cope-en-hown] last semester recommended the raspberry hot chocolate (varm chokolade) at a restaurant near school. Two of my friends and I went and had some. It was incredible!

My Positive Psychology class went on a Short Study Tour to Jutland [u-lan] last weekend. It was a lot of fun to see the more rural part of Denmark in the west and get to know my class a little better!

An adaptation of "Waiting
for Godot" in Aarhus?
Pretty building in Aarhus





Our Ghost Walk tour guide!
(Loved the cap and cape!)
The author of "How the Other Half
Lives" is from Ribe.
Licorice (ick) candy pipe
No idea what it is but it
was in the back of the
Ribe Cathedral

The mantle of the Ribe Cathedral


Gotta love the pagan influences.
This was on the side of one of the
pews. It looks awfully like the
green man to me!


A painting I really loved in the
Ribe Art Museum
Ribe Viking Museum!
This is the sign above all the bakeries
in Denmark. I thought it was a pretzel
but apparently it's a type of cake!
Lobster! In the Viking Museum!
Kids section of the Ribe Viking Museum!
 My friend Erin and I went to a Citizen Cope Concert in Copenhagen! It was a lot of fun!

Other random pictures...

They have handball courts in the
middle of the city rather than bball
courts. Handball is like soccer just
with hands. It's a BIG deal here!
My host sister brought me to a Wellness
Fair in the city! It was right down my
alley... This poster was on the stairwell.

This coming weekend I'm off to Dublin for my birthday! More to come soon! 

Vi Ses!