og nu med en cykel.

as of today, i've been in denmark for two full weeks. it simultaneously feels like it's flown by and feels like i've been here forever. i love how much this seems like a home. i already have so much of a life begun. but i find myself wanting to be busier. i think i just need to get a handle on traveling at night. too many nights spent in has made me anxious.

although considering the number of things i did this week, the preceding statement is borderline ridiculous. i suppose it just means i'm still adjusting.

in my last post i left all of you on an exciting cliffhanger: i had plans to go to the little mermaid statue. i know you've all been on the edge of your seats since then, so i'll not leave you in suspense any longer. here she is:

the danes always apologize for the statue because it's so small. i thought she was fun either way. very picturesque on the harbor and whatnot.

fun fact: she's been defaced a number of times. lots of painting. one time someone added a bra. but the big thing to do is decapitate her. who knew?
in addition to visiting the mermaid statue, our walking group made an unanticipated stop at a street hot dog stand. excellent decision. hot dogs in denmark are classy business. less mystery meat and more quality sausage. topped with yellow mustard, honey mustard, chili ketchup, onions, fried onions, and pickles, this thing was delicious. for the sake of my girlish figure and my wallet, i'll not make a habit of them, but i'm certainly glad i gave it a whirl. and all those who visit me in denmark will be making a stop at one of these stands. without a doubt. who wouldn't want to participate in this level of excitement?

our afternoon together as kollegium-mates ended with cake a coffee in the 5th floor party kitchen. our SRAs brought some danish cake recipes and we experimented with baking in grams, milliliters, and degrees celsius. it just makes me nervous. the cake was delicious, though. ended up having it for dinner. not such a wise idea before my ultimate frisbee practice.
speaking of which, frisbee was phenomenal. i'm so glad i got hooked up with the team here. however, it took about 10 minutes of practice for me to realize this wouldn't be a semester of athletic slacking off. our practice began with 30 minutes of circuit training followed by an hour of drills/throwing practice and finishing with 30 minutes of scrimaging. i had a blast but my body ached for the next three days. today was the first day i was able to climb the stairs to my room without groaning. despite the pain, i'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to stay in shape while i'm here. and i made a bunch of super athletic danish friends and another DIS girl, coincidentally named katie. even halfway around the world, i can't escape it.
the team practices three nights a week (monday, wednesday, and friday), but for the sake of trying new things, i think i'll stick to yoga on monday nights and do frisbee on wednesday and friday. fridays are scrimmage and hang out days. sounds like perfection.

thursday was a typical day of class that ended with a trip to a cafe in vesterbro with my danish language class. we had a cozy evening and enjoyed some danish cuisine courtesy of DIS. i enjoyed sparkling conversation with my table mates and left with three new friends, one of which i'll be traveling with this weekend on my first study tour.

the highlight of friday was our first patient interview in my core class (human health & disease). all of us gathered in a room with a 70 year-old woman and took a patient history. four students led the questioning and the rest of us added what we thought needed to be said when they were done. it was an intimidating experience at first but mostly just exhilarating. our first doctor-like act. this program is awesome. i can't believe the opportunities it's offering me--in the first full week, even. i'm so glad God led me to denmark.

on friday night, our kollegium had a rocking, five-floor party. each floor prepared some food/drink in their communal kitchen and we traversed the floors on a "tour-de-kitchen". we all ate entirely too much but enjoyed hanging out together in a relatively classy context. sadly, i'm still just not that much of a party girl. i stayed for a while but cut out after dessert--right before the drinks & dancing floor. with all this meeting people all the time, you just need some me-time every once in a while.

saturday was pretty low key--lots of grocery shopping and making plans for cooking. i made a helpful little sheet for taylor and i with easy recipes and ingredient lists with danish translations for simple shopping. i'm loving the opportunity to cook here and taylor and i are trying to take full advantage of the opportunity to cook for ourselves. to that effect, i had two girls from my amazing race group, karen and jill, over for dinner. the four of us enjoyed eggplant pomodoro and garlic-oregano chicken with a side of sparkling conversation. ah, the blessing of fellowship.

and that brings us to today. i enjoyed my second sunday morning at the international church of copenhagen and then went over to the studenterhuset to...

GET MY BIKE.

that's correct, i'm now a københavn resident AND the owner of a bicycle. as soon as i signed the contract, i felt instantly fabulous and european.
and then i had to carry my bike down the stairs to take on the train and felt very clumsy and american. but scrapes on my legs from the pedals and inexplicable black marks on my face could not kill my optimism--i will master københavn by bike. and it will be awesome.

i apologize for the picture-emptiness of this post. this week was mostly class and readings. but never fear: i'm accompanying brittany on her history assignment on tuesday which means lots of pictures to post. her class assignments are to explore. she's given a list of places and told to go check them out. this place is phenomenal.

i leave you with a picture of my kollegium mates and i with the little mermaid. this will give you a better perspective on her size. see if you can recognize my roommate yet. ;)

kærlig hilsen,
kati