Day 8 - January 8

An interesting thing about this exchange, with the large international population, is that because everyone speaks English, you hear all sorts of accents. The most interesting so far was a girl whose dad was Danish but mom was German and she lived in Germany. She studied in Ireland. Thus, her accent was the strangest mix of German and Irish. The Irish was the most distinctive, and before I knew where she was from, I was quite confused, because I could hear the hints of Ireland, but I could tell that she was not Irish and her accent was not actually Irish. It is also interesting to hear little differences in English from those who learned it as a second (or third) language. Such as Angela, my Colombian friend, who says “Sure, sure, okay!” as you talk, where most Americans would say “yeah” and “uh-huh”. And sometimes stereotypes are true – I met a French girl who was so obviously French with her accent and fashion, as soon as she said “zat”. You can even hear the accents in Danish. Because I’ve only ever learned a language with other Americans, I’ve never thought about it much. Of course we have our accents when we’re speaking Spanish or French or whatever, but in the Danish course, you can still hear everyone’s accent when they’re speaking Danish. It makes sense, but it’s one of those things that I never would have thought of.

Random discovery – Frosted Flakes (or Frosties as they are in Europe) taste better here. They’re...flakier, for lack of a better way to describe them.

We learned how to order, ask the price, etc. today. One of the vocab words was “muffin”. Daria, a Russian, asked what a muffin was, which led to a short discussion in which I felt just a tad bit more worldwise than I usually do. Why? Because one of the Canadians, in describing muffins, said “it’s a breakfast food.” Claudia, the Austrian, made a face, and I was able to say confidently, “Nope, it’s only us who eat it for breakfast.” I’d had a very similar conversation in England last summer, in which my dear English friends were flabbergasted by the fact that we could eat anything so sugary for breakfast (doughnuts were worse, but they already knew that was a breakfast food – although they were under the impression that we ate doughnuts and pancakes every single day). It happened when I was really craving a blueberry muffin and we went to the grocery store – I wanted one, and they weren’t sure exactly what I meant because they kept describing it as a dessert and cake-y and I wanted to look in the breakfast section. The only muffins in the breakfast section were English muffins (not called that in England, of course). And now, I really want a blueberry muffin.

A multi-cultural Danish class.

There’s a horrible chill in the air that gets under your skin. I feel warm, and then suddenly, I will be shivering. Granted, I am not dressed as an Alaskan, but neither am I dressed as an Arizonan. I am in my room, with two pairs of socks, under armor, jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, and a jacket, with the heat on level 4 of 5 (the heat comes from a small heater, so it would actually be warmer nearer to the heater) and still my feet tingle and the hair on my arms stick up.

Bundling up next to Hans Christian Andersen

At least I am inside. The wind is the worst part, which I’ve experienced in both Boston and Seward. I’m no stranger to cold weather, but when looking at averages online for temperature, I was not prepared for a much-colder-than-average Copenhagen.

It's been so cold here lately that even the pigeons are huddling together for warmth. (I have never seen them stay still for so long. Even walking so close they didn't move).

A group activity planned for today was ice skating. By the time we got to the rink, our feet were frozen. We looked at each other, rubbing our hands together, and shook our heads. Nope, not today. Instead, we found a nice corner café, which was not only cozy but decently priced. It also served absolutely delicious hot chocolate. I shall certainly be returning.

Most delicious varm chokolade I've tried.