Darkness Descends

The nights are already drawing in here.  I slept wonderfully on my sofa bed but then the problems started - showering was much more difficult.  There is currently a hole in the bathroom roof due to the building work so there were man voices booming in through the hole as I tried to conceal myself behind the mottled glass.  Then on my walk to campus I nearly stepped on a dead rat.  Pleasant.

Had my first Scandinavian Political Systems class and then took the S-tog up to Hellerup, north of the city.  This area is so nice, its all massive ornate houses and small italian cafes and streets lined with trees.  I was there to have a meeting at Copenhagen International School.  I will be doing some volunteering with the kids, which should start in the next month.  I then travelled back to the city centre and went to the library for a bit and got my first Metro home.  Arriving in Frederiksberg I turned the wrong way down my road and had to do one of those embarrassing ' Yes I have no idea where I live' turns in the street.  I'm planning to borrow a bike and have a go at that later this week - very scary prospect on these roads.

Also, I am officially an international student at Kobenhavns Universitet.

Shangri-La

Today was move-in day!!!!!  I got a taxi from my hotel to my new address.  Ask me for it if you would like to send a 'I hope you are happy in your new home' card etc. Hahahaha.  Met my landlady and her boyfriend who seem very nice. And proceeded to unpack the small amount that I have into my new room!

I also had my first lecture for the International Politics of Climate Change which is mega mega interesting.
Below is a tour through the apartment.

Dining area of the living room

Bookshelves and door to one of the bedrooms in living room

Sitting area of living room which lead through to...

This side of the kitchen and...

The other side of the kitchen.  Through the door is...

The office area, one side for my flatmate, the other for me.  Through the next door is...

My room!

So there we go.  There is also a toilet, and a proper bathroom but they are down these strange windy corridors and not very interesting to look at.  The whole building is currently covered in scaffolding but in a month or so I will have some pictures of the the street-front and the stair-well etc.  Also aiming to get some photos of the neighbourhood up this week.  It's very busy, lots of shop of all kinds, just down the road from the Metro station and a big shopping centre but also near to some really beautiful old Danish buildings.

Confusion City

Today was the day of massive confusion as I tried to find books in the library and use the Danish public transport system.  It's kind of similar to that of Amsterdam, in other words completely different to London and the UK.

I also managed to get a picture of the entrance of my campus.  Inside it has millions of bikes and a beautifully green courtyard.

Trials and Tribulations

OK, so today was my first cry baby day - but to be fair I was teary for about 30 seconds and then I got over it.  I've been a bit coldy for the last few days so I've been slightly frustrated with what my mind and body has let me do socialising-wise.

Still all is cool. I move into my apartment on Monday which I am very excited about! And I went on a tourist boat tour today which was super.

I've also been trying to take a picture of the below building since I got here.  Its on my way from the hotel to the university but its really hard to get the lighting right.  Even this photo doesn't really show how brightly it is painted.

There are kind of a lot of photos but.... a picture speaks a thousand words.

Dregs of Summer

So, there are no photos from yesterday as I was in class all morning, it rained all afternoon, and I went to dinner in the evening.  Summer is coming to a close in Copenhagen as it has rained everyday since I've been here apart from today.  This means nothing to the Danish as they cycle around their city in shorts and flip flops.  Today the wind has taken over and I have been carried around the city in a stream of air.

After my 4 hour lecture today (!) I walked down to the lakes right next to my campus, which are called Sø.  They look like a river but all of the bridges over to Nørrebro and Frederiksberg (which is where I will be living from next week onwards) are filled in underneath to create 5 seperate lakes.

Then I got followed by an abusive drunken man.

Stop at the red light

I had read this on websites et cetera, but I did not expect it to be so true.  All pedestrians wait for the green man before crossing the road, which meant that my walk to campus this morning was all about the STOP-START. I wanted to get a picture of the Politics  building but didn't want to look like a dork with all the other international students so all I have is the Social Sciences library which is just around the corner.

After taking lunch leftovers for my dinner and chatting to some of the Germans, Italians, French, Austrians, Greek, Canadians, Australians, Czech and Irish international students, I decided to go explore the city, plus I had to go to the post office.  I walked home from the main shopping street Strøget (which seems to have its own police force) through Ørstedsparken which was beautiful and right in the centre of the city, but also pretty rainy by this point.

Goodbye England, Hello Denmark

My last few days in England were jam-packed with interesting events but I always forgot to take pictures or even take my camera. STANDARD. I've been here about 4 hours now so not much to report apart from that I must look very Danish, because people keep on asking me questions that I definitely do not know the answer to, IN DANISH!