International culture in Denmark

I can officially say I’ve lived abroad for a month now! Only three and half months left. Wow.

I can’t say that it has been everything I expected. It has not been bad, just different. I guess when I thought about studying abroad, I forgot about the studying part! I thought about all the fun I would be having exploring a different country, reminiscent of the many trips I went on with my parents when I was younger. The problem is, I’m still at school. Minus all the networks of Greek life, work, and other friends that I’ve built over the past two and half years, and plus a slight language barrier!

So it’s just been different. For example, I feel like RPI is a lot more social in school, on campus. At RPI there are dining halls where everyone spends a lot of their time (at least Freshman year), and these are great places to start friendships. I can’t tell you how many people I became friends with because I would meet them briefly somewhere, and then run into them again at Commons or Sage dining halls, or even in the Union. Now maybe it’s still like that here, and I just don’t know it. I live so close to campus, and I don’t want to buy my lunch everyday when I can make it at home for cheaper. But I have gone to the canteens a couple times, and I didn’t get the same feeling I get in the cafeterias at home. I think another huge aspect is the dormitory/residence halls that are so common at US universities. At RPI, everyone lives on campus their first year. After that, almost everyone lives within walking distance, and many of those who don’t have cars or roommates with cars. This means that everyone is clustered together, whereas at DTU people are strewn across Lyngby and Copenhagen, some an hour or more away by public transportation. Not the most conducive to socialization.

Something else I’ve noticed, (after being inspired by a blog post of my friend studying abroad in the Netherlands on http://loganaround.blogspot.nl/) is the impact of US and other cultures in Denmark, and how they view Americans here.  First of all, I think that because in Europe there are so many countries so close to each other (almost like states in the US) people think and talk about other countries a lot more than we do in the states. How many times do you think about going skiing in another country, or spending your spring break in another country? I guess for those of us who live in the north, spending a weekend skiing in Canada would not be out of the question, but other than that, I do not have many conversations about different countries. When we talked about patent law in one of my classes at home, we only spoke about US patents. I recently had a lecture about patent law while here in Denmark. The lecturer spoke not only about Danish patents, but about international patents. She spoke about specific patent laws in the UK, and she went into detail about how patent law differs in the US from in the EU. In addition, all my textbooks are American and refer to feet and Fahrenheit and other British units, even though nobody uses those here.

More than half the time I walk into my kitchen the TV has American shows on. They really like the Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother (two of my faves as well!), and American Dad. My whole kitchen stayed up all night to watch the Superbowl, while I (the only American) went to sleep. The Superbowl didn’t even start until midnight here. At parties, I recognize almost all the music. “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore recently became popular, as well as a weird slow version of Ke$ha’s “Die Young.”

Even though American culture is really popular here, I still feel like Americans themselves are not. The “fat, dumb, loud” American is definitely a stereotype here. It’s really frustrating sometimes. For instance, in one of my classes last week we watched some clips from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, when he went to West Virginia. Granted, he did choose the unhealthiest city in the United States (according to some government statistics), but I still felt super defensive. In the video, he asked little kids what a tomato was. And they didn’t know. They called it a potato. And everyone in the class was laughing. But I am sure that I mixed up the word for tomato and the word for potato when I was little. That doesn’t mean that now I’ve grown up into a fat, dumb American. At the same time, I don’t know if I should stand up for the United States, or just admit that some parts of the United States scare me too. Over the summer I traveled with my mother to West Virginia, and sometimes it felt more foreign to me than Denmark does. Sure everything was in English there, but the people here have much more similar beliefs to those I’m used to in the Northeast. Either way, I am very thankful for my parents raising me to eat and like healthy food. I hope I’m giving everyone a good impression of the United States while I’m here!

A little “hazing”, a little sightseeing – Week Three in Denmark

I’ve been here for almost a month! (25 days). The sun has been visible for approximately 3 hours, except for today, when it was out all day, but I was stuck in class. Other than that, the sky has been grey. I’m starting to get used to it though. It bugs me a little because normally when I don’t know what to do with my time, if I’m bored and stressed and can’t concentrate, I like to go for walks. But by the time I get out of class, it’s already getting dark out!

Last week had a couple of really fun events though. Tuesday after class there was an RPI/DTU mixer. All of the RPI exchange students were invited, as well as the DTU students who had either been on exchange at RPI last semester, or were planning to study there next semester. It was a chance for them to exchange advice about going on exchange, and for both groups to get to know each other. It was really nice. I ended up spending most of my time chatting with a guy coming to RPI next semester. I advised him on fun things to do near Troy, and where to meet girls at RPI! (Nowhere, basically :P).

They gave us pizza as well. I’m starting to understand the whole “poor college student” thing. I guess in the past I’ve been spoiled by having a meal plan, and I always thought it was kind of weird that people were so excited about campus events that offered free food, because normally the food was pretty crappy. Now I understand! I definitely ate an extra pizza slice or two (they were tiny, don’t judge!) just because it was free. Now that I have to pay for food and other things I took for granted (like toilet paper), I’ve been much more excited about free things.

On Thursday, a half hour after my class ended, there was a new tenants’ meeting for Kampsax Kollegiet – the dormitory complex in which I and the other RPI students here at DTU live. It started at 5:30, and there was unlimited beer, hard cider, and soda, until 9PM. I don’t like beer much, which is one reason why I haven’t been drinking much while I am here, but I do like cider :). The first half hour a bunch of people told us things about Kampsax: about how there is an advisory council, a group that is in charge of the internet here, and other things like that. It was nice to know that there is some sort of governing body over Kampsax. It’s weird not having an RA to turn to if things go wrong. To be honest, I don’t remember everything they said, but I think one guy mentioned that he’d be putting an info sheet in our mailbox soon with all the information that had been mentioned on it. Hopefully he does soon.

After the boring part was over, they split us into groups and gave us a bag containing a Tuborg beer, a Mars bar, and a balloon. Then we were sent on a little adventure around Kampsax. At the first stop, we were asked some questions about Kampsax rules. Apparently we’re not allowed to have any pets, not even fish! Good thing I didn’t try to bring Beau, Darla, and Rip Van Winkle, my three lovely goldfish, along with me to Denmark. The next stop was at the cinema, which isn’t open yet. It can be rented out to watch movies on your flash drive. We had to play charades using movie names pulled out of a hat. 3 out of the 4 of our group acted a movie out, and we got them all! (They were Titanic, Kill Bill, and Fight Club, in case you were wondering). After that, we were sent to make up a story together, with each person adding only one word. It got pretty weird, pretty fast. Once we said “The End” we were sent all the way across Kampsax and had to perform an odd relay, carrying a cardboard tube between our legs. It was pretty hilarious; I wish I took pictures. Then we were back to our starting point, and we did a relay chugging beers. I was so full after that! Once we all finished our beers, we ran back upstairs and had to perform a relay race with shots of a mystery drink: water, vodka, apple juice, or gin. Our last stop before dinner was back downstairs to sing Karaoke. I sang Payphone by Maroon 5, and another Latvian girl with us sang a song by Metallica.

It’s weird to write about drinking games like this online. In the United States it is both illegal (for those of us under the drinking age) and kind of a taboo subject, at least in conjunction with collegiate things (although in real life I’m sure they always go together). What I mean is that I can’t imagine RPI or any dormitories in the US including such events in the introduction week/new tenants meeting, as DTU and Kampsax both have!

My next adventure last week was Saturday. Many of the other RPI students and I went to IKEA. It looked exactly the same as the IKEA in Brooklyn, and the one in New Jersey, except that under the weird Swedish names, there was more Danish writing, instead of English. I recognized quite a few things that I own back in the States! We looked around, had lunch and then checked out. I love the Swedish meatballs at IKEA, but they’re not even close to as good as the one’s my mother’s Swedish friend Annie makes. Leaving IKEA was pretty funny because we were all walking out and onto the bus with rugs over our shoulders or under our arms.

Swedish meatballs – just like home!

Sunday ESN had a trip to Roskilde, an old Viking town near Copenhagen. It was quite a long day. At 11 we walked into Lyngby to meet at the train station at 11:30. We took the train to the main Copenhagen train station, then switched trains there to get to Roskilde. It was a cold, grey day. (What’s new?) We went to the Domkirke, an old church where all the monarchs of Denmark are buried. It was gorgeous. Interestingly enough, it is made of bricks. While I love bricks, I felt like it was an odd choice for a church. I associate bricks with houses and schools, but not churches.

Domkirke Bell Tower

According to the guide booklet, there have been churches in the spot where the current Roskilde Domkirke is for over 1000 years!  The current church building was started around 1170, but has been updated often since.

Hallway in Domkirke

This church is interesting because it seems that everywhere you turn, there are coffins! There were many little doorways that led to half-underground tombs with a couple of coffins lined up in them.

Underground Tomb

The more ornate coffins were in above ground rooms. I noticed some Egyptian influences in the sarcophagi in this room:

Sarcophagus with Sphinx

The actual center room (worship room?) looked very familiar to me. It looked very much like a church I went to Easter services at with my Uncle Ed in New York City. It was called the Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine, it’s a high Episcopal church. There were seats on the stage just like the seats we sat in, and there was an ornate staircase up the side of the room to a two-floor private box for the King.

Beautiful Staircase in Domkirke

There are so many beautiful pictures from the church, and I don’t have much to say about them, so I’ll just add a couple more of them now. But scroll down all the way! I have a little more to say. 🙂

I love painted skies.

An interesting gate.

The following is a scale model of the current Queen’s sarcophagus. Apparently it is causing an uproar. It was designed by a famous Danish artist, Bjørn Nørgaard. I think it’s really quite cool. It’s weird and morbid because the Queen is still alive, but I think it’s great that she is looking into something more modern than the traditional box.

Glass sarcophagus for the royal couple

After the church, we walked down a hill (the only hill I’ve seen in Denmark) to the waterfront, to visit the Viking museum. We were advised that unless we’re super interested in history, the Viking museum is not that interesting and that it is rather small. We just wanted to see the Viking ships outside. Unfortunately, they were all covered up, and a lot smaller than we expected.

Viking Ship

Recently a group of scientists and historians took one of these ships and traveled in it all the way to Dublin, Ireland, and back.  I’m pretty sure I would not want to be chosen for that journey. These ships are pretty small, and they don’t have any rooms in them! I can’t imagine that it was pleasant for anyone involved.

After the ships, we went to a Viking restaurant (not really, it was just a pizza and grill). Then we started the long trek home. I guess it was nothing compared with how far the Vikings had to go to get home. It was just a train to a bus and then a 10  minute walk for us.

Coming home to my new pink rug was awesome.

My new pink rug from IKEA!

Feeling at home, when you’re 4000 miles away

On Friday morning, I was feeling a bit down again. Something that has been getting to me is that even when I was feeling content, I didn’t feel comfortable. I didn’t feel relaxed. Always, in the back of mind, I’m thinking “I want to go home” or “Only 4 more months.” This is not why I came here! If I came here just to think about going home, I shouldn’t have come. Because of the drinking culture and just the fact that I am very far from home, I have been feeling lonely. So I decided to meditate, on advice from mom and my boyfriend. While I don’t know how well I did at the meditating, I did realize a flaw in my ways. If I wanted to feel at home here at Kampsax, and in Denmark in general, I had to treat it like home. Up until then, I had been treating this situation as temporary. The bathroom is a little grungy? It doesn’t matter, I’m not going to be here for that long. Thoughts like that. But this is ridiculous. Of course, if I act like this is a temporary situation, I will have a hard time feeling at home here.

So I got up, and I swept the floor in my room. I got all the dust from the corners. I scrubbed the spots on the floor. I scrubbed the shower and the floor in the bathroom. And I felt so much better. It’s funny how much of a difference that made. I’m not a clean freak, so I don’t think the dust was really bothering me. It was more that I was treating my room as a temporary place to sleep. Although the feeling did not last, the idea behind it did, that I need to act like this is permanent, and make my choices with that in mind. I need to be proactive, and not wait for experience to show up at my door.

I decided to study abroad for many reasons, but one big one was that I knew it would be hard for me. Doesn’t make sense? I’ve grown up with great parents, who have always been there when I needed help. I’m not saying that I am spoiled, but what I am saying is that I’ve never been on my own. Even when I went away to college I soon had a boyfriend, and I haven’t been single since. I’m not used to having only myself to rely on. But I knew that I should learn to take care of myself. A study abroad experience is the perfect opportunity for me to grow in this aspect. Obviously, I also came because of the experience of living in Europe. The idea of traveling the world entrances me. I’m excited to be living here for four more months!

I’ve already learned how much I take things at home for granted. I knew I had a good life, and I appreciated it. But there are little (and big) things that I did not realize I would miss as much as I do. Take RPI for instance. I knew I liked RPI, even when I went there. But know I realize how awesome it is. I love the campus culture. I love being able to walk into the union and recognize half of the people sitting at the tables. I miss walking around and seeing familiar faces. I think that because of the structure of the class schedule here at DTU, there are few people on campus who are not in class. In RPI, people have those hour or two breaks between classes sometimes, which means time to hang out on campus with your friends.  Of course, as I learn more about DTU, I may find that I am not correct. Starting classes in the middle of winter probably doesn’t help either!

Since moving into a single room, I realized how much I love having a roommate, and a hallway full of my sisters to turn to if I’m upset, bored, or need fashion advice. I love you guys!

I’m ready now to embrace the choice I made to come here, and learn to love my new home!

First Week of Classes at DTU

So my first week of classes here in Denmark is over! I can officially say I’ve studied abroad. Hah.

I have 4 days of class a week. This is actually more than most people (or at least most exchange students) have. I think many people have only 3 days of class. Normally, a student at DTU will take 25 points a semester. These consist of 10 and 5 point classes. There are 2 class blocks per day: one from 8AM to 12PM, and the other from 1PM to 5PM. The 10 point classes have two 4-hour blocks of class, and the 5 point classes only have one 4-hour block. I, of course, had to push myself and take 30 points, so I have a total of six 4-hour blocks.

While I do not have any class on Monday, I have a full day on Tuesday. My morning consists of the first block of a class about product development. This class is a Master’s level class. I am working on a team with two other students at DTU, and 3 students from Copenhagen Business School, who we met on Friday. The class seems like it will be a ton of work. The professor expects us to do a real product development. I am used to developing ideas and simulating how I would find investors, etc., but in this class we are taking a real patent from a professor here at DTU, making a business plan, finding real investors, and hoping that it actually goes to market. While I find this interesting, it is very stressful to me because others are depending on me: especially because I do not have such an “entrepreneurial spirit.” However, I’m excited to see where this class goes. Perhaps I will catch the spark, and even start a business. If not, I know I will learn a lot.

Tuesday afternoon I have the only block of the Intro to Stats class I am taking. For this course, the teacher gives his lectures in Danish, so the international students can stay home and watch the English lectures online. Then at 3pm we go to the classroom to work on problems with other students and a TA who speaks English. It’s going to take some extra will-power from me to make sure I keep up in this class!  The 2 hours of problem work are in my favorite building, where it looks like it’s always spring.

The new building.

I have a feeling Wednesday is going to be a dreaded day in the upcoming semester. It is another full day, but in this case, it is only one class from 8AM to 5PM (with that hour break around noon). It is a 10 point Master’s level class that I am taking to replace Thermals and Fluids 2 (for those of you reading from RPI). Ah! I don’t even know how to express how I feel about this class. It’s hard! I feel like I’m missing some of the prerequisites for it. I know the basics from Thermals and Fluids 1, but I think that we are expected to know more specifics – about things like fuel cells, power plants, and refrigeration. My saving grace is that the class has no exam, but is graded based on 6 “mini” projects – all done in groups of 4. So even though  the material is a bit confusing, I think that between the 4 of us, we can pass the class. So far we’ve been working really well together! Also, the TA was amazing – she answered many of our questions.

Thursday, I only have class in the afternoon. I had a bit of an adventure in the morning though. Thursday night was the first kitchen meeting for my hallway (each hallway shares a kitchen). I was told that because it is my first kitchen meeting, I am required to bake something, or buy a round of beers. As I am not a big drinker, I decided I would rather bake. Of course, this is more complicated, and probably more expensive, because I need to buy all the ingredients and then bake. I was going to make chocolate chip cookies at first, but then I realized that there aren’t any for sale. I asked a guy in my kitchen, and he said people here just crush chocolate bars themselves! It’s funny, because chocolate chips are so common in the states, but that’s really all they are: little pieces of chocolate. Nonetheless, I decided to change my plan to making simple sugar cookies.

So Thursday morning I ventured out to the Aldi (a German discount supermarket chain) to buy sugar, flour, butter, and vanilla. I found the first three with no problem. But no vanilla. I searched in the condiments. I searched in the beverages. Nothing. So I asked the cashier. He said they had vanilla sugar, and maybe some plain vanilla bean. Hmm. Maybe the Netto will have some vanilla extract, I thought. So I stopped at the little Netto on campus. After searching the aisles for about 10 minutes, all I could find was the vanilla sugar again. I brought it up to the cashier and asked her if I could use vanilla sugar to replace vanilla extract. She said yes, that’s exactly what it is for, and she claimed it was better than vanilla extract!

Vanilla Sugar

That was my whole adventure. Although I guess I could add on that this was my first time baking in metric. It’s funny to think about, but I’ve never seen a recipe online that wasn’t written in American units. You would think that metric units would be common on the internet, because most of the world uses them, but all the recipes I’ve ever found use good ol’ cups as the main measurement. So I had to convert, and that was a bit of fun. I used a scale to measure grams! It was like a science experiment! The cookies weren’t my best work, but they were tasty. I actually have half the batter left in the fridge. I might mix in some more sugar and see if they taste better. I think they were made to be iced, so they weren’t as sweet as they should be.

Thursday afternoon I had my last “first” class. It’s also a Master’s level class, concerning what different things affect innovation. As in, how different companies, customers, manufacturers, really anyone who is in someway related to a product, affect how the product is designed. I think it will be a fairly interesting class. Unfortunately, the professor gives us really long breaks. This sounds like a good thing, but if we didn’t have 40 minutes of break time in the class, we probably would have ended an hour and half earlier than we did I (given that after break it takes a while to regroup, etc)! Another interesting tidbit: the whole grade from this class is based on one 2000 word or less paper. One paper! This is both awesome and terrifying. It’s also weird. The professor assigns other assignments. But they don’t mean anything. I mean, of course they mean something. They are assigned so we learn. I guess it’s just a completely different mindset from most classes I’ve been in. But that’s why I’m here! To learn about the world.

So, those are my classes! Keep tuned for another blog piece soon!  I love being able to share my experiences with people I can’t talk to everyday. Also, if you have any good, cheap, recipes, send them my way. I’m not used to cooking for myself yet, and I’ve eaten pasta for dinner everyday this week. Help!

Intro Week

So I have been in Denmark for a week now. Things have definitely gotten better now that I have participated in intro week.

On Tuesday I met my intro week group, Group 5! We had coffee and croissants and we were introduced to the program. Apparently there are about 200 international students at DTU this semester. Last semester they had almost 700! I guess people prefer to start in Denmark when it’s warmer. All the international students were assigned groups to spend the week with, and meet up with over the semester. Each group has a group leader, called our “International Buddy”. Group 5’s group leader is a really cool Master’s student here from Germany. The rest of the group consists of a girl from Italy, a guy from Sweden, a guy from Poland, me, a guy from Hong Kong, a guy from the Netherlands, a girl from France, and a Master’s student from Washington state. He’s here with his wife and a baby!

After we introduced ourselves, we went on a tour of campus. It’s rather big and all the buildings look very similar. I can see myself getting a little bit turned around here. On this tour I learned that there are 5 bars on campus! The drinking culture in Denmark is something that makes me a little nervous. I am not a big partier/drinker, but it seems that drinking beer is the most popular pastime here. Even during intro week, a school-run program, I was given beer many times.

Group 5, after dinner!

The rest of the day consisted of lunch, a couple lectures on team-work and Danish culture, and then dinner and beers. After dinner we all migrated to the game room and bar. I managed to snag a potted plant, the centerpiece from our table, to brighten up my room.(I know I promised pictures of my room and DTU in my last post, but I think that I will wait until next time. Otherwise this one might get a little bit too long.) I left pretty early from the after dinner festivities. I was very tired, and unfortunately for my social life here, uninterested in drinking.

Wednesday we had another lecture about different social activities available at DTU. They all sounded pretty interesting. There is one group, called Erasmus Student Network, that organizes inexpensive trips around Europe and social events around campus. It is specifically for exchange students. In Europe there is a fund for studying abroad called Erasmus, so most of the Europeans I’ve spoken to say they are “taking their Erasmus’, or “on their Erasmus.” While I don’t think I can afford to go on many of these trips, I’d like to at least take the trip to Legoland, which is in Denmark, and maybe take the weekend trip around Denmark as well.

After lunch in a canteen on campus, Group 5 headed to Copenhagen via train. We went back to the National Museum as part of our intro week. This time we learned about the more medieval history of Denmark, right after the Vikings. We had a tour guide for about an hour, so I enjoyed it a lot  more than I did when I came the time before. I learned about funny medieval fashions, and about the partying nature of the monarchs, all named Frederick or Christian (by law). The most famous, Christian the fourth, was so lazy that he built a tower, called the Round Tower, that he could ride all the way up in his horse.

The Round Tower

Entrance to the Round Tower

We intended to head to Christiania (an anarchist state within Copenhagen) after the museum, but it was cold out and the walk would have been long. Instead we walked around Copenhagen a bit more. We explored a very fancy furniture store, where there were very expensive chairs, including the famous egg chair. They also sold the artichoke lamp, another famous Danish design. I sat in many of the famous chairs. I wish I had gotten a picture in some of the funny designs, but I felt weird taking pictures in such a luxury store, even though I was treating it as a museum.

We walked around a bit more, and then our buddy brought us to a dive bar called the Moose Bar. As soon as we walked inside, the air turned a different color from all the smoke. There were paintings on the wall of plump naked women in various poses with moose. The rest of the bar’s walls were covered in graffiti. I did not find it a pleasant place. I’m sure that it is a cultural landmark, but I found it pretty gross.

The back room in the Moose Bar

After dinner at a vegetarian buffet, RizRaz, we headed to a club called Kulørbar, or Colorbar. There was free beer for two hours. I was a bit uncomfortable at first, but once people started dancing I had lots of fun. I enjoy dancing. I’ve never been to a club like this, since I’m underage in the States. It was quite an experience. They played almost all American music, often old songs that I doubt would be played at American clubs, like “Grease Lightning”. I enjoyed it though, I still did not stay that late. I like my sleep.

Kulørbar

Thursday, we traveled to the Carlsberg Brewery museum in Carlsberg town. It was about a half hour train ride from Lyngby. We went with two other groups. I’d already been with mom, but it was still fun to go. The museum was not a working brewery, but it was in the buildings where the brewery used to be. I learned that there was a period in Scandinavian history when food was heavily salted, so people drank lots of beer, known as “The Great Nordic Inebriation.” During this period the King’s top adviser would mark down in his diary every time the King was so drunk that he had to be carried to bed! Apparently it happened often. In addition to a history of beer, the museum houses the largest collection of unopened beer bottles. Over 16,000 bottles are on display!

An aisle of the beer collection

After the museum, I picked up some souvenirs and we went back to Kampsax via train and bus. There we met another group and had a group dinner. We played card games while the Italian girl from my group made spaghetti and frittata. The frittata was awesome, I’ve never had it before. It was like a spaghetti, egg, and cheese pancake. I hung around a bit, but went to bed early. Many people headed to the bar after, because the student bar at Kampsax is open on Thursday nights. Unfortunately for me, this meant that at around 1:30 AM I was woken by the sounds of people in kitchen. They were blasting music and being rather loud. This did not stop until almost 8:30 AM! I was appalled, and got very little sleep. As soon as I heard them leave, I went into the kitchen to make my breakfast and tea. Another resident joined me, and he told me that that was very rare for them to be loud like that (thankfully!). I’m still going to look for some ear plugs.

Our last day of intro week, Friday, consisted of three separate presentations. The first one was about a Danish class. We sat down and the woman at the front of the room began speaking in Danish to all of us. We were all really confused. I couldn’t tell if she just had a really strong accent or if she wasn’t speaking English. Then she repeated what she said in English and told us she would have us speaking Danish in the next hour. She taught us how to say some phrases, but it is really hard! They don’t pronounce half the letters in the word, and when they do, it doesn’t sound like what we Americans would think it would. I would love to take another language class, but I don’t think I have time in my schedule.

The second lecture was about the library (Ellen, this is for you!). Walking into the library, you would not guess what it is supposed to be. It’s a big open room with only about 3 shelves of books. In the middle of the library, there is a platform were they are building an exhibit. I’m not sure what it’s about yet, but it should be done by tomorrow. I’ll take some pictures next time I stop by. There are some computers on the ground floor, lots of  computers on the first floor, and then group study tables on the second floor. Apparently the stacks are in the basement, but I haven’t been down there. The librarians’ presentation consisted of telling us what is on each floor, and how to use the online book catalog to download online articles and eBooks. They have a huge online collection. The library is only open from 8AM to 8PM weekdays, so it’s very different from the library I’m used to at RPI, which is open all the time for people to study in. The RPI library is also full of books, which is kind of comforting.

The last lecture was about study methods. I’m going to spare you the details, but basically team work is key at DTU. Almost all classes have team aspects, and it’s important to find a good group and respect them.

That night, after hanging out and dinner, there was a party in the S-house, a student hang out room with pool, foozball, tables, couches, and of course, a bar. They had a DJ so I stuck around for a while and danced. I left around 11:00, but I heard things got kind of crazy.

Now that Intro week has concluded, I feel a lot more comfortable here at DTU. There are other people here! The first couple of days, there really weren’t. I had things to do every day, so I was too busy to feel homesick. One of my favorite parts about meeting people from all over is hearing them have conversations in English. One person speaking with an Italian accent, one with a Dutch accent, trying to understand each other. I’ve been called over to translate many times.

My new Italian friend and me. Cheers!

Since this post is already so long, I’ll wait until my next post to tell you some of my other feelings about exchange students, their views on the US, and of course the pictures of DTU and my room. My classes start on Tuesday, so maybe I’ll write a bit about them too! Again, leave me comments, email me, Facebook me, whatever, I love to hear from home!