This update is coming at you pretty fast, but that's because my school doesn't start until Thursday, so I have a few days to work on Danish, settling in, getting my CRP number, etc. All of that wonderful technical stuff that we all have to do. Anywho. No expectations for the rest of the year, though, alright?
Having some time here, I thought I'd write a bit about my first few days with my HOST FAMILY! Woooot! Three days ago I arrived here at my new home, and got to meet my family and see my room. In my family I have a mor og far(mother and father) and to søsters(two sisters), all of whom are lovely people.
Now that I've been here a few days we've gotten to know each other a bit better, and I feel like I've been here ages longer than I have in reality. A side note; My host parents are definite 'foodies' so we eat amazing stuff. I'm not really someone who takes 'food pictures' but maybe sometime I'll show off some 'mad'! (food.)
Jeg elsker Roskilde!! I really, really love my city. It's beautiful. Yay europe yay!
Anyways. So I've been exploring a bit with my host dad and host sister. All by bike, mind you. Biking, as per the stereotypes, is an super huge part of Dansk life. Everyone bikes all the time, and it's really safe and normal to bike to work, school, grocery shopping, to a doctors appointment, going out at night, etc. There are almost always completely seperate bike lanes in between the roads and 'sidewalks' of sorts. You can see this up in that photo above. ^ You do have to bike pretty fast here, though. If you're not going maybe 20 mph, you're going really slow, and should be prepared to move over for other people. A nice thing about biking her in Danmark though is that it is very systematic and effective. EVERYONE uses handsignals, everyone is aware of space around them, and if someone says the equivalent of 'on your left', or rings their bell, no hesitation, everyone follows suit. So it works out well. I've heard the only time you need to be at all worried is at night....the danes have quite the reputation for getting drunk, haha.
I dag(today) I went to school with my younger host sister. It was the equivalent of like a mass elementary-middle-sort-of-highschool. I'm personally attending the school AFTER this type of school, called gymnassium. It's kinda like a high school-college mix. But anyway, at my host sister's school, I went to english class with her and it was GREAT. Only time so far I've felt like I've had a step up. I also went to school with her because the danish lessons I'm taking on tuesdays and thursdays are held at her school, so it was good to see where the building was.
SPEAKING of danish....yeah. It's really fucking hard. I expected this, but I'm still sort of being hit in the head with it.
Thankfully, my host family is amazing and helping me out(especially my sister! We kind of have a trade going: I help her with English, she helps me with Danish), and my sister even went into the attic with me and we dug up all of my family's old kid's books!
So, these danish lesson things I've been refering to....FREE. Silk printing class on the weekend? Free. Trip to sweden on horseback? Not free...but almost! Japanese class after school? Free! Specialty cake class? ALSO FREE! I love this system. So, basically, in denmark, you have this magic card/number; your CPR number. You get it by either a. being a resident of denmark or b. having a visa/student permit. This card gets you access to many things, for example healthcare, community events, free university+money from the government each month, etc. The way this is possible is that you pay really high taxes on everything from your salary, to a 25% tax on all purchases. I personally think it's a really productive and smart way to live, but definitely a lot different than the capitalist mentality and system going on in the US.
On a personal note, I'm still in the stage of being where I'm mystified and enchanted by everything around me.(except for danish and the intense gym class I'm signed up for in school...ugh.) I'm all good, amigas! I love the food, the people, the visuals and I'm having an amazing time.
I'm hoping to keep these posts pumping out in a pretty frequent manner, but if not, just assume it means there's too much going on over here in Roskilde for me to have time to write!
Vi sees and good vibes everyone,
-Rowen
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