Hilsen fra København!

Well, after a long and exhausting few days of traveling, getting to Copenhagen, and orientation, classes have finally started and I finally get a few hours to myself. I'm sitting in a cafe drinking coffee and eating a Danish (how København of me) and I figured this was the perfect time to update everyone on the trip and what has gone on so far.

Well first off, jet lag sucks. Saturday was a very long travel day and luckily I had Dan with me for the first two flights. It was pretty hard saying good bye to my parents at the airport and I even teared up when the plane took off from Syracuse. Though nothing really compared to getting to Newark and saying good bye to Dan and finally REALLY being on my own. I always used to roll my eyes at the people who cried at airports and I fully take all of those eye rolls back. Ahead of me in the security line was a confident and talkative student excited about his trip and I envied him so much because I was just there ready to cry. Ironically I ended up sitting next to him on the plane. It was absolutely the most memorable plane ride ever. Right away we both figured out we were DIS students and spent a majority of the flight talking about our lives, relationships, how appalling it was that they were not showing any movies, and other things here and there. Oh, and we drank. Before you judge, you should know that I was a nervous wreck and my nerves were all over the place. David suggested that we have a drink to celebrate our semester abroad and the flight attendant just kept bringing us drinks and not charging us. When we finally tried to tip him he was adamant about not taking the money. There was a pretty big group of DIS students on the flight so we stuck together at the Oslo airport before departed for Copenhagen. It was beautiful in Copenhagen once I arrived. I was unbelievably exhausted and felt crappy and really just wanted to sleep. My roommate Natasha met me at the airport and she is seriously too adorable (not to mention gorgeous) to describe. We share an apartment together with a bathroom and kitchen and my room is great. It's white with modern pieces all over and is pretty large. I can't really say the same for the bathroom, however, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

I won't say the transition has been easy at all. Today is the first day I really feel like myself (I'm still jet lagged but since I don't have classes tomorrow I plan on sleeping in). I got extremely homesick from the start and mixed in with exhaustion was not in a good place. I really felt that I had made a huge mistake and just wanted to go home. Not to mention I felt like my apartment was far away (it's about a 15-20 bus ride to the center of the city and where classes are) but once I heard some people had to travel about an hour to 80 minutes just to get into the city, I didn't really have much to complain about. After talking non-stop with my parents and Dan and still wanting to come home, I finally got a phone call from Mikey (a.k.a. my third parent) who convinced me that it took time. After talking to Natasha more I felt a lot better and made it a point to make my room feel more like a room rather than just a place where I had to sleep. Regardless, its been a good day.

I only started classes today but I feel like there is already so much to look forward to. In a few weeks I'm going on a short study tour to Sweden to learn about the religious institutions in the country and in early October I get to go to Istanbul for a week. I've met some great people here and got to hang out with Syd more than I ever got to at Tufts, which is great. My classes seem really interesting and the professors are very laid back and "chill" (they will laugh at you if you call them Mr. or Professor).

This post was not very detailed but I'll update more this weekend when I can really sit down and talk about the lovely city of Copenhagen (SO MANY BIKES). If you're abroad and reading this, I sincerely hope your time abroad is going well and you're adjusting well. If you're still back in the States (especially Tufts loves), I miss you guys...but Copenhagen is pretty glorious.

Laura

P.S. To Mom, Dad (not that you'll even get on the internet to read this), Dan, Mikey, and Lauren: Thank you guys. I won't say any more than that but you get the picture.