While you were asleep...

...I had my first day of class. Today, I had to wake up at 7, which is the first of many because the four days of week I have class I start with 8:30 am-ers. Gross, right? Not to mention I had trouble getting to bed, considering I've been here for 4 days and suffer from jet lag. So, it wasn't so pleasant starting school, especially when I haven't acclimated to the time zone. But complaints aside, school was good; my Sustainable Development class began with a lecture and some discussion. (She skipped reading over the syllabus, etc. which I look forward to in the states, not technically having class on the first day is nice.) SD was followed by Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia, which I think will turn out to be a pretty crazy class. We'll cover everything from transgenderism to mail order brides to human trafficking. We basically get to cover very edgy topics that most don't dare talk about. (Plus we have some crazy field trips and out of class assignments American professors probably wouldn't assign.) My third class that I'll take Mondays and Thursdays won't start until this Monday, but it's a Renewable Energy Systems class. It should be interesting, though at the moment I've forgotten the course description, something about renewables :) After class, I hung out with a girl who is in four of my classes and we got super cheap, but delicious pizza at Cafe Istanbul. The pieces aren't nearly as large as Cosmos's slices, but they were good and they serve them to you folded like a sandwich. We decided to stroll the city to look for shops that carried school supplies; she needed some notebooks and I was in desperate need of some folders. I hate just throwing papers around in my bag and was not about to start the semester off without them. It was a good day in the city, I got some readings assigned and the SUN was OUT. So, I headed home, I've got things to sort out and postcards to write, plus I needed a bit of a break. My time here has been a whirlwind thus far and filling my calender in seems like a good breather. Plus, Karina is taking me to IKEA when she gets home from work. A real Scandinavian IKEA, suck it American IKEAs, this is the real deal. I could use to spice up my room, three picture frames, a shot glass for London, and an old fashion looking, metal alarm clock are not very homey. I was thinking a cactus, some candles and a piece of wall art would do the trick. I'll be here for 4+ months I might as well make it comfortable. When we get home, we'll welcome peter in from Greenland. He lives the majority of the month in Greenland but 10 days or so here to be with Karina and Rasmus. It should be nice having another person around, besides Karina and Rasmus are probably tired of my babbling by now.
And to recap a bit from yesterday...I had an orientation session with the group of students that live with host families or Danish roommates. It wasn't anything spectacular but it was nice to be with others in a similar position. It's harder to meet people our own age living outside the city with the Danes, so they set up a little network for other host kids to meet the other students living in their areas. After that I got all my books and lugged them around the city with Katie. We got lunch and explored the little shops around Copenhagen. We got crepes that were to die for, warm and gooey and we ate them in Europe! I returned home to find that Karina bought me pie crusts and pumpkin to bake with along with stuff for Taco Salad, the first sort of American dinner I'll prepare. As much as I have enjoyed Karina's cooking and the Thai take-out she picks up, it will be nice to share a dinner that I'd make for myself in the states for them. Though they have some Mexican restaurants here, its not a regular cuisine style so it'll be nice to mix it up. Now that I've chattered your ears off, I'll leave you with a couple photos of the day,

A little roasted nut street vendor.

Did I mention that the sun was out from behind the clouds today?

And for those of you who can't find Denmark on a map, that is Sweden. Taken about 300 meters away from my flat.