Denmark.

My apologies for not getting around to this sooner, but the whole moving-to-a-new-country thing is surprisingly hectic. As of this past Monday, I’m now a resident of Denmark. It’s still taking a while to wrap my head around that, but so far it’s pretty damn enjoyable.

It’s pretty difficult to describe exactly what’s happened so far, because there were a lot of mundane details to the entire process, but on the other hand, there a few interesting discoveries along the way. For purposes of efficiency, here’s a bulleted list.

- Would it have killed the REACH office to set our coordinators up with a rental van or something so we didn’t have to pool our money for a taxi from the airport? You’re sending them over so they can “pick us up” from the airport, only to point us to the taxi stand.
- I’m still going through iPhone withdrawal.
- The sun rises way too late and sets way too early.
- Jet lag turns me into a morning person. Out of bed by 7:30, sleepy by 10:30. Great for productivity, bad for socializing.
- Foreign plates here are basically like out-of-state plates back home. The cars with Swedish plates driving around Copenhagen’s belt road are just like cars with New Jersey plates in Manhattan.
- Thievery Corporation’s “The Cosmic Game” album is the best soundtrack for wandering around here. This is good, because walking is basically my exclusive mode of transportation now.
- While I’m inherently alienated by structured get-to-know-you orientation events, it actually helped me get to know people surprisingly well. I can now count Danes, Swedes, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Italians, Frenchmen, Indians, Australians, and even more Americans amongst my friends.
- After a few beers, I tend to whine about American culture a lot. However, the consensus from the global community I’m party to seems to be that America is finally turning itself around.
- No matter what country you’re from, one thing is sure to unite you: Penis jokes.
- Bars are expensive. Picking up a 6-pack of Carlsberg from the 7-11, however, is not.
- The Carlsberg brewery tour is like Disney World for grown-ups, but with really good beer at the end.
- I have fulfilled my duty as an American abroad by consuming a Big Mac.
- Europeans love to dance. They do not understand American wallflower culture. My attempts to assimilate are nothing short of hilariously depressing.
- Pretty much everybody I’ve encountered speaks English remarkably well. Despite this, I still feel an incredible amount of guilt by simply being an American with this knowledge already under my belt and having everybody else seemingly bending over backwards to be able to communicate with me.
- It’s hard enough to read Danish, but you lose all hope of understanding it once you realize how it’s all pronounced.
- Danish keyboards have a very steep learning curve for Americans. It took me a good five minutes to discover how to type “@.” (Hint: There’s an “Alt Gr” key that calls up tertiary functions.)
- Danes love order. Jaywalking is a cardinal sin, and paperwork is a way of life.
- If you’re supposed to meet at 9 am and you arrive at 9 exactly, you’re late. This does not bode well for my 8 am classes.
- You. Need. A. Bike. In. Copenhagen. No exceptions.

I’ve uploaded a few initial pictures from the hold-your-hand intro week activities here, but there’ll be way, way more coming once I have a chance to move around on my own some more. I just signed up for a basic pay-as-you-go phone plan aimed at foreigners (calling abroad is pretty cheap, and in-network mobile-to-mobile is free, which is nice, because I think everybody else I know went with this carrier, too) and I’m still in the process of looking for a decent bike. Once I make it past that hurdle, life becomes a walk in the park. Apart from the whole classes thing, anyway.

So far, though, so good.