Everything on My Screen Is in Danish!

"Is this your first time in Europe?"
"Yes! It is!"
"It's an honor to give you your passport its first stamp. Welcome to Denmark."

I am finally in Copenhagen. It seems like I have been waiting for this for so long. Oh wait, I have. And boy was it a journey.

After running around trying to pick up last minute things on Friday night and shoving them in my already very full bags I could finally call myself packed. This was around 2:30. Except then I couldn't sleep, of course. So I tossed and turned until 6:30am. It was finally time to head to the airport.

After saying the goodbyes, which are never easy, I go through security and have a nice long chat with the security man about his awful time in Germany and how he asked to be put in Korea instead. I thanked him for his words of encouragement.

My flight gets delayed.
My flight gets delayed again.
Come on Yeager Airport.
Finally board plane. But this wasn't just any plane. It was the loudest damn plane I've ever had the honor of being a passenger of. Oh, and this planes stewardess...Stacy...woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Maybe she even woke up on the floor for all I know. She was not nice.
Land in D.C.

So, I quickly maneuvered my way through Dulles Airport. I mean so quickly that I actually debated stopping and patting myself on the back for the duration of my layover. NOTE: Not getting lost is a huge accomplishment for me, let me have my moment.
I make my way to my gate where I see a little circle of what appears to be college age people judging from the north face backpacks, leggings, and rain boots. (We basically all looked identical right down to the huge smiles on our faces.) So I channeled my inner Paige ( who is my super outgoing, sorority, cheerleading, best friend) and introduced myself.

"Hi Y'all are you guys DIS people!?"

STOP.

Now if you know me, you can probably hear my voice saying that very enthusiastic sentence with a very southern twang. They sure did. 99.9% of them were from the North and replied with "Oh my god you are so adorable!"...no more comment on that.

PLAY.

We all introduced ourselves, talked about our majors, schools, and so on. It made the extremely long layover fly by. I met so many really nice students and it made me feel good to meet people before DIS throughs us all together for a crammed orientation. Finally it was time to board our flight to Copenhagen. I am looking at the numbers as I go down and I start seeing the very back of the plane...I look at the last seat in the whole planes number and wouldn't you guess it it was 46 which was the exact match to the seat number on my boarding pass!

STOP.

Alright, so I could do the American thing and complain about every little thing on this 8 hour plane ride like the fact that I was the middle seat with a person in front of me apparently not noticing that I was behind him and leaning his seat down so he was completely vertical. Or, oh , I could mention the fact that  I was right next to the bathroom so they couldn't turn the lights out where we were and that awful flushing noise that happened 57 times from D.C. to Copenhagen. I know this because I kept a tally because my movie screen didn't work most of the flight and I did not sleep.

BUT. I'm not going to do that. Because I'm in Copenhagen and I'm beyond excited.

PLAY.

After the long flight with the beautiful blonde hair blue eyed stewardesses who had a wardrobe change every 2 hours, we got our passport stamped and proceeded to baggage claim where DIS staff directed us to busses. Those with a Danish roommate or hostess family, like myself, were bussed to a hotel in the middle of Copenhagen, given lots and lots of information, and finally picked up by our host families. There Neil, my host dad, and Simone, my host brother, stood with huge smiles.
  
PAUSE.

Simone. 15. Tall. Blonde. Double the energy I have on my most hyper days, which some of you know, is a LOT. His favorite topic? Soccer and Handball. We've been watching soccer youtube videos for hours. He also thinks it's hilarious to speak Danish and watch my facial expressions as I try to decipher each word.

PLAY.

We talk the whole way to the house and they give me a mini tour of the city which actually does not seem as complicated as my nightmares. I get a tour of the house, which does have heated floors, and I unpack my bags which was really just me trying to keep my eyes open. JET LAG to the max.

I met the rest of my host family later and they all seem really great. They've been giving me a run down of the train and bus stops because the maps are just not cutting it. It is now 6:42 here and we are preparing to eat dinner. My first Danish family dinner of many!
Living with a host family makes me think of my own family and a little hint of homesickness kicks in. However, I have a feeling it was a great decision and I'm excited to have this really feel like home for the next four months. This week is going to be a little crazy with the time adjustment, orientation schedules, and classes starting but you'll hear more from me soon! Dinner time. Nomnomnom

Wish you were here.


P.S. Everything is in Danish as far as all the buttons to click to post the blog so if the random button I choose ends up being the wrong one no one will ever get to read this wonderful, sleep deprived post. Wah.