Day 5 - January 5

How pretty is the building where the International Office is?




A note about showers and lights: Showers are interesting. To be energy efficient, they only heat up to a certain temperature, although you can adjust a dial which sets which temperature that limit is (but there’s no mixing of hot and cold). The shower itself is extremely low pressure. It’s going to take quite a while to get used to. The other interesting thing about the shower is the set up. It’s a part of the bathroom…the same tile floor that is the bathroom is the shower. It’ll be easiest to show with a picture:



























My room was freezing until I finally figured out the heat. It wasn’t difficult, but I just couldn’t figure out which direction was the right direction to turn the knob.

Sara – one Canadian, Sylvia – another Canadian, Jason – a fellow BU student, and Claudia – an Austrian, and I ran around in the afternoon doing errands – going to the International Office yet again, finding a library to photocopy our entire passport (because to get our cpr number – a sort of verification of your resident permit/registration that you’re here – the paper said you need a copy, but, of course, just like at the Danish Consulate in New York, they never even asked for it…oh well, I suppose it’s good to have a copy of your passport just in case, even if the entire photocopying probably cost $10), and then getting registered for the cpr number. I recognized the word “tretten” (13) when two of the workers were talking, and I was excited. We can also now tell time, so whenever we ask the time (or giving phone numbers), it’s time to practice Danish. They have a very specific way of telling time. From 0-20 minutes, it’s “__ minutes over the hour”, from 20-30 it’s “___ minutes before half the hour”, from 30-40 it’s “___ minutes over half the hour” and from 40-60 it’s “___ minutes before the next hour”. It’s also apparently rude to say “Good morning” after 9:00.

Some photos around the city center:



Sara, Claudia, and I all live in the same kollegium, so we stayed together to get a metro card, (and get a photo for a metro card – almost as bad as my passport photo), and then to do some grocery shopping and make dinner. I have discovered that for some reason stores don’t like my debit card. It never actually fails but it takes forever to go through and then says “try again”. But my bank doesn’t charge for ATM withdrawals and it doesn’t seem like Danish banks do either, so I suppose I’ll be fine with just cash. I used to do it in the days before debit cards, after all…

Dinner!

Sara and Claudia did most of the cooking (I think I stirred the rice...) while I provided the kitchen.

A satisfying sweet and sour vegetable medley.


With all this Danish being pushed into my head and all the necessary errands, I was exhausted by 8. We have yet to learn how to say “I am tired” or “I am hungry”, although I feel as a college student they are two of the most important phrases. I ended up going to bed at 10 and was out in minutes.