Not all those who wander are lost.
— J.R.R. Tolkien
It has been a little over a week now since I arrived in Copenhagen. Everything goes by so quickly but the days seem to stretch on forever. One of my biggest goals during this time has been to step out of my comfort zone. In my mind that has meant exploring the city (alone and with people) and not cooping up in my room in the evenings. We are all creatures of habit and it is very easy to fall back into old routines, especially as a coping mechanism in a new environment. One of my worst habits is scheduling my days too full to experience life and adventure. In the US, I rarely find the energy or desire to venture out of my pre-established commitments. My days are me running from one place to another, checking off items on a never-ending to-do list. I know that is not going to work in Copenhagen. If I want to gain anything from my time here, I will have to take initiative to do so. Experiences will not just be handed to me, I will have to make them.
It’s for this reason that I have endeavored to block out time in my day to journey. What I don’t mean by that is finding the top ten places to visit in Copenhagen and then visiting them one by one. I have set aside time each day to venture forth and explore. The first few days I did this on my bike, opting to breeze through neighborhoods and sketch out a mental map of the city as best I could. Since then, I have transitioned to journeying on foot. I love the intimacy and flexibility of wandering down a block and stopping at will—it’s not as easy on a bike with traffic to worry about. The other day, I came across an elementary school in one of the suburbs of Copenhagen. The children were outside playing a ball game that looked like a mix between four square and kickball. All of the children had smiles on their faces and were running around in play. That image is still in my mind because it gave me a peek into the daily life of some of Denmark’s resident however young they may be.
I have also been afforded the opportunity to get other glimpses of Danish life through my host family. My host mother is a biological researcher by trade and a caring mother to her son (13 years old). It has been really interesting to watch them interact as their relationship is both similar and starkly different to US families. The biggest difference is that my host brother is treated as a mature person in the family. All negotiations between him and his mother about computer time, dinner, chores, etc. are civil and have never devolved to yelling or crying. That was stunning to watch as so many of my young teenage years involved raging mood swings and tense familial relationships. While he is not babied, he still receives the love and care you would typically heap upon someone his age. When we visited his father (who lives down the street) for dinner, he plopped himself right on his father’s lap after we finished eating.
My host mother has also given me chances to explore Danish life. On my first day here, she drove me around a bit of Copenhagen to get a general layout of the area and where we lived in relation. A couple of days later we took a walk around the lake behind our house and she pointed out different types of fauna and various landmarks—including the official house of the Danish prime minister—that were nearby. This past weekend, we ventured to The Little Mermaid statue, the royal palace, Kastellet, Amaliehaven, and various other surrounding areas. Throughout that, I learned a bit about Danish royal and military history as well as some of the architectural contributions the founder of the Maersk company has made to Copenhagen.
While my host family and I have been getting along very well, I have been having a bit more trouble connecting with other students at DIS. When I originally signed up to do a homestay, I thought that most people in the program would be doing one as well. It turns out that a majority of people are living in apartments together in and around the city. So, for someone like myself with a 50 minute commute to the city, it’s not as easy to go out for bar nights or have a default group of friends I am living with. Right now it’s hard not to feel a bit of FOMO and isolation, but I know this difficulty will lessen as the semester goes on. I’ve been doing my best to connect with people from my classes in the afternoon and evening to go play board games and grab meals, which has been helping.
My goal for this upcoming weekend is to go on an adventure with someone.
Wish me luck!
Learning To Cope 