Today was my first day in Copenhagen. I thought I was going to miss my connecting flight but made it just in time. Around 9:00 am, the program staff picked us up and transported us to our housing. On the bus ride I saw a lot of interesting buildings.
When I arrived at my apartment, I took a short nap. I am living with a few other girls who I share a kitchen and bathroom with. One of them is a local student and the others are from the United States. The local student said she thinks we are getting another female local student in our apartment later this week.
My roommate Baylee goes to UNC and she has a friend from school here, so I met the friend and the friend's roommate today. Apparently some of the other apartments in our buildings are co-ed, which is interesting because they didn't ask us on our housing application if we were comfortable with co-ed roommates. I guess it is more normal here to have students in co-ed housing.
Here is a brief overview of the common area.
This is what my room looks like.
The local students gave us a short tour of our neighborhood. It is mostly residential, but has many grocery stores. We saw where to get on the Metro, so I set up my commuter card. I have to use that tomorrow for a river tour and to get to class, so hopefully I can figure it out.
After unpacking, the two girls I met through Baylee, Baylee, and I went to 2 local grocery stores. I wasn't sure how much food would cost so to start out, I bought a salad for dinner, a small breakfast, and some snacks. The total converted to only $11 USD, which is a good deal considering I got a whole salad and container of raspberries.
I only bought food at the first grocery store which was pretty small, but the second store was much larger. Although it was larger, I would say it was about the size of a Trader Joe's in the United States, so it was still pretty small. The produce selection is pretty small compared to the amount of soda, chips, and candy they have, which I wasn't expecting.
After walking home, I sat at the kitchen table with Baylee and we ate our dinners. When we finished eating, our local student roommate came in the apartment for the first time. Her name is Vicky, she is a bit older than us, and she stays in the apartment year round. She told us she gets new roommates every fall, spring, and summer.
Vicky taught us how to handle the trash in the apartment. There is a compost box for food waste. We have a large organizer in the hallway of our apartment that is labeled with categories like paper, cardboard, cans, and glass. When the bins get full, we take them out to a shed behind the building where there is a large bin for each type of waste. There is also a small trash bag in the apartment, but it is no larger than a plastic grocery bag.
They give us a jersey fitted sheet, pillow, pillowcase, and duvet with duvet cover. It feels very scratchy and hot. Also, our apartment is very warm and the thermostat does not go below approximately 72.5 degrees F. We opened the windows this afternoon but will have to close them before we sleep because of how early the sun rise. I think I will have to find somewhere to buy a small fan because of how hot the room is. The pillow they provide is a square pillow, which I have never slept on before and makes my twin bed even shorter. Other than the bed situation, the room and apartment are pretty nice and feel very clean.
So far, the local students who help with the program are very nice. Not all of them are local to Denmark, which I wasn't expecting. One of the students who gave us a tour today is from Spain and seems like many others are also from other countries.
Tomorrow morning is our boat tour so I will be trying to sleep early tonight. It is past 9:00 and is still sunny and hot, so that seems unlikely, but I am very tired so I hope I can sleep soon.
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