The rest of Orientation

Orientation on Tuesday was much busier than Monday. We began the day by taking a Survival Danish class where we are supposed to learn basic Danish. We went to a supermarket to learn the names of fruit and vegetables and meat and then went back to the classroom to learn how to introduce ourselves. The thing that is most apparent from this brief lesson was the Danish is really really hard to say. The pronunciations are much less phoentic than even English and there are alot of silent letters or letters that have changing sounds. Also, when Danes speak, they tend to push every sound in each word and each individual word together so it is hard to distinguish individual sounds.

After our Survival Danish class, which wasn't all that helpful, we broke into small groups to go on a scavenger hunt where we were supposed to go to 6 different locations through the center of Copenhagen and answer questions about each one. The scavenger hunt was good introduction to the city but I'll have to go back to each of the sites and spend more time looking at the buildings.

Today was the last day of orientation which is a relief. I'm looking forward to getting settled into a routine and starting classes. After orientation today I went to Tiger, which is kind of like an upscale dollar store that seems to just have lots of random stuff. however, this store was very clean and neat and everything in it was a great example of Danish Design.

Today I also went on my first grocery store expedition. Until now I've mostly been buying my meals since I haven't had time to go to the grocery store when they were open (they are only open from 10-8). I went to Netto, the cheapest grocery store in Copenhagen and there is one about a 5 minute walk from where I live. The store was very different from those in America and was very small, even by Copenhagen standards and very crowded since it was full of people who had just gotten off work. It was really hard to find things because it was organized differently than at home and because it was so crowded. I managed to get a few groceries but will try to go to a little nicer and larger grocery store, Irma to get some things I couldn't find at Netto such as peanut butter and tofu. I think I'll be able to find peanut butter but am less sure about tofu.

Today i also figured out the bus system and am glad I did because my apartment is only a five minute bus ride and five minute walk from DIS which will be a lot better than the 30 minute walk I've been doing earlier.

One thing that I've notices about Copenhagen is that even though bikers and drivers can be a bit aggressive (which you would expect in any city), no one honks their horn or shouts in traffic or anything like that. the entire time I've been here and have been walking around, I don' t think I've ever hear a single car horn!