Ah, Aarhus!
So, if you were all wondering where I've been for the last week or so, having finished my lovely sunny Turkish adventures, I have finally made it to Denmark!
I was worried that I wouldn't meet people, and would be spending a lot of time in my room alone, but it has proved the complete opposite, as I only get home to sleep for a few hours, before I'm off out again!
Anyway, from the beginning:
I arrived here last Tuesday, the 1st of August, having left Clapham, London at the ungodly hour of 4:45am, to catch my 7:30am flight. Obscene amounts of excess luggage costs later, I arrived in Aarhus, where I was met by my Danish mentor from the law school, Signe. Thank goodness, she had a car, so we grabbed some food, bought me a Danish sim card for my phone (my new number is +45 23 63 83 54 for those interested - but text messages appear quite expensive to Oz, so probably e-mail still the best!), picked up my key from the International Secretariat, and then found my room!
I was quite excited to actually have a bed and a cupboard, having lived on a couch and out of a suitcase for the previous week. My place is nice and quite big - I have my own ensuite bathroom, a bed, desk, coffee table, lounge chair and lamps, and even a little balcony!
I share a kitchen with 11 other people, who I have been slowly meeting over the past few weeks, as they return from holidays or move in - mostly Danish at the moment, who take a while to warm to you, but have been overall quite friendly, a Bosnian girl, and a Californian guy.
I live in a suburb called Brabrand, which is about 20 minutes on the bus from the city, and 15 minutes from the university. The Aarhus Danish people think of this area as the ghetto, because there are a lot of Turkish and Lebanese immigrants out here. However, it is very safe, as there are about 180 other dorms as big as mine in the complex, which means plenty of people around and on the buses, and we even have our own supermarket and bar! I just lock doors and windows when leaving, as most of us do at home anyway, and there is a great cheap fruit & veg market, Bazaar Vest, just down the road - I feel like I'm back in Turkey when I go there!
Anyway, on the first day of my Denmark Today course, which is a language/culture course I'm doing over the next few weeks, I had to go and register for a CPR number, which is like a social security number, needed for opening bank accounts and such, and then register at the Studenterhaus, which is the International Student house which puts on events and parties for all students. While registering there, I met Charlotte, who is 20 and from Leeds, and Fabrizio and Diego, both 25, from Trieste in Italy. They are lovely people, and I have spent the last week paryting with them - the boys cooked us great Italian pasta a couple of nights last week, and as they live about 5 minutes away by bus in the next college, it's easy to catch up!
There are also plenty of German and other exchange students where I live, so I am meeting lots of people every day - there are also quite a few Aussies, Canadians, Spanish, Polish, and even people from Estonia and Slovakia, so I am learning lots about the rest of Europe! I am also realising just how much slang I use in everyday speech, as I have to not only speak much slower (surprise, surprise!), but also in better English - I think it will be good for me!
So my days consist of Danish classes from 9am to 12pm, then lunch, then afternoon activities, such as lectures on the university, and Danish culture such as Greenland, politics, religion etc, or excursions to places like the Town Hall and the Viking museum. Then there is something social on almost every night, so I'm constantly tired, from meeting people and doing things, but having an absolute blast!
On Friday night we went to the Social Bar, which has free beer from 11pm to 12am, and fun pop music to dance to, so it was great fun to party with all the other students.
On Saturday we went to the beach - yay! Europe generally is having a heatwave, and Aarhus has been about 27 degrees all week, and sunny, which is lovely for me! However, the beach had lots of jellyfish, and as I have a healthy Australian fear of things that sting in the surf, I didn't spend too long in the water!
On Monday night we went to a free open air cinema to see "Walk the Line", which was fun, and on Tuesday arvo we went to Ikea - very exciting, I bought useful things like towels and bathmats and proper pillows, so my room is now feeling like home!
Tonight we saw a very black Danish comedy movie, "Adam's Apples" - interesting insights into Danish culture with what they find humourous!
I was worried that I wouldn't meet people, and would be spending a lot of time in my room alone, but it has proved the complete opposite, as I only get home to sleep for a few hours, before I'm off out again!
Anyway, from the beginning:
I arrived here last Tuesday, the 1st of August, having left Clapham, London at the ungodly hour of 4:45am, to catch my 7:30am flight. Obscene amounts of excess luggage costs later, I arrived in Aarhus, where I was met by my Danish mentor from the law school, Signe. Thank goodness, she had a car, so we grabbed some food, bought me a Danish sim card for my phone (my new number is +45 23 63 83 54 for those interested - but text messages appear quite expensive to Oz, so probably e-mail still the best!), picked up my key from the International Secretariat, and then found my room!
I was quite excited to actually have a bed and a cupboard, having lived on a couch and out of a suitcase for the previous week. My place is nice and quite big - I have my own ensuite bathroom, a bed, desk, coffee table, lounge chair and lamps, and even a little balcony!
I share a kitchen with 11 other people, who I have been slowly meeting over the past few weeks, as they return from holidays or move in - mostly Danish at the moment, who take a while to warm to you, but have been overall quite friendly, a Bosnian girl, and a Californian guy.
I live in a suburb called Brabrand, which is about 20 minutes on the bus from the city, and 15 minutes from the university. The Aarhus Danish people think of this area as the ghetto, because there are a lot of Turkish and Lebanese immigrants out here. However, it is very safe, as there are about 180 other dorms as big as mine in the complex, which means plenty of people around and on the buses, and we even have our own supermarket and bar! I just lock doors and windows when leaving, as most of us do at home anyway, and there is a great cheap fruit & veg market, Bazaar Vest, just down the road - I feel like I'm back in Turkey when I go there!
Anyway, on the first day of my Denmark Today course, which is a language/culture course I'm doing over the next few weeks, I had to go and register for a CPR number, which is like a social security number, needed for opening bank accounts and such, and then register at the Studenterhaus, which is the International Student house which puts on events and parties for all students. While registering there, I met Charlotte, who is 20 and from Leeds, and Fabrizio and Diego, both 25, from Trieste in Italy. They are lovely people, and I have spent the last week paryting with them - the boys cooked us great Italian pasta a couple of nights last week, and as they live about 5 minutes away by bus in the next college, it's easy to catch up!
There are also plenty of German and other exchange students where I live, so I am meeting lots of people every day - there are also quite a few Aussies, Canadians, Spanish, Polish, and even people from Estonia and Slovakia, so I am learning lots about the rest of Europe! I am also realising just how much slang I use in everyday speech, as I have to not only speak much slower (surprise, surprise!), but also in better English - I think it will be good for me!
So my days consist of Danish classes from 9am to 12pm, then lunch, then afternoon activities, such as lectures on the university, and Danish culture such as Greenland, politics, religion etc, or excursions to places like the Town Hall and the Viking museum. Then there is something social on almost every night, so I'm constantly tired, from meeting people and doing things, but having an absolute blast!
On Friday night we went to the Social Bar, which has free beer from 11pm to 12am, and fun pop music to dance to, so it was great fun to party with all the other students.
On Saturday we went to the beach - yay! Europe generally is having a heatwave, and Aarhus has been about 27 degrees all week, and sunny, which is lovely for me! However, the beach had lots of jellyfish, and as I have a healthy Australian fear of things that sting in the surf, I didn't spend too long in the water!
On Monday night we went to a free open air cinema to see "Walk the Line", which was fun, and on Tuesday arvo we went to Ikea - very exciting, I bought useful things like towels and bathmats and proper pillows, so my room is now feeling like home!
Tonight we saw a very black Danish comedy movie, "Adam's Apples" - interesting insights into Danish culture with what they find humourous!
posted by Laura B @ 11:14 pm
1 Comments:
At 2:20 am,
Anonymous said…
Laura! Just wanted to say HI! I had a read of your blog - Looks like you're having a ball! Keep up the good work ;)
julie koh
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