When in Denmark, shower in the kitchen

They say that in Denmark, it is actually quite common to have a shower in odd places of the house. Mine is in the kitchen.

Imagine a sort of a transparent phone booth, place it in a tiny kitchen and you have part of my apartment in mind. My apartment-mate and I just made an agreement that whoever goes into the shower first will leave a bowl and some milk outside the door so the other can have breakfast when the kitchen is occupied.

Studying abroad in Copenhagen was sort of a renegade decision I made because I really believe in the whole philosophy of travel. But living it is quite different than reading about it in the glossy pamphlets of the Education Abroad Program office at UCLA.

But despite all of the difficulties I have had adjusting to living in a foreign country, the experience has been eye-opening and worth every minute. I went from having everything mapped out for me, to having to be completely autonomous in a strange new place, and it made me nauseous.

During my first week, I could have killed for a sign of something familiar in the streets or even in my food but had to, instead, bear out the sheer foreignness of things. My parents came to sightsee and drop me off and seeing them off was the first and most unpleasant hint that I was just marooned alone in a city I knew nothing about.

The brochure for international students at the University of Copenhagen declares that the first stage many students will experience while studying abroad is the “honeymoon phase” when you’re tingly and excited about every new smidgen of information. But I think the first stage is nausea.

After repeating the phrase “Hvor kommer du fra?” at least twenty times in my mandatory Beginning Danish class, I realized that Danish pronunciation makes French look like a cake walk. Everything is served on toast (seriously, egg, salmon, you name it). Here, the currency and the prices are such that small items such as an adapter or a SIM card cost over a hundred kroner, making you feel like you’re throwing money away with both hands.

Even though the dollar is approximately five Danish Kroner, Copenhagen can still drive you mad with expenses. In fact, it was just named by CNN as the third most expensive city in the world falling behind Oslo and Paris .

For all that, it is still beautiful and very eccentric. For example, my first trip to the grocery store found me with purchases spilling out of my arms and pockets because, in an effort to discourage the use of plastic bags, they force you to bring your own bag.

Another amusing tidbit is that the Metro trains have no drivers; there are transparent windows on both ends of the trains and you just have to trust that the powers that be that are controlling the vehicle you are in know what they are doing. So far though, no problems.

Of course, all this talk of trains and grocery bags is old news. I have been here for three months and am not only the proud owner of a used pink bicycle but also of a sturdy sack that can support the weight of juice bottles, pasta sauce cans and apples all at the same time.

I still cannot believe that when I look out of my Psychology classroom, I see a castle across the street or that every day I pass by lakes and canals right in the middle of the city.

Slowly, the advertisement slogans and small things being said in the streets are making a little bit of sense to me and I actually move out of the way when someone says “undskyld” instead of giving a prolonged deer-in-the-headlights gaze.

I don’t even wonder any more at the ever-present Dannebrog. The Danish flag flapping out from behind windows, through store fronts and even on top of buses waves me in and out of most of my destinations. The Danes are positively addicted to their national symbol, putting it up for sales, birthdays, back-to-school days ““ you name it.

The red and white colors toss in the wind as I walk into cafes to meet my friends or look into stores for winter coats. There was even a large vase of flags in the kitchen of a kollegium, or a dorm, that I visited this weekend.

This Californian is using gloves and heaters. I have experienced several bike rides through pelting rain and rushing winds and I suppose I will just have to suit up for more. Copenhagen might have been a random decision, but it will be one for the books.

Studying abroad is all about decisions, starting with the very first one to actually do it. Then come the choices and the selections of everything else, from what to cook tonight to which unpronounceable road might lead you to class to how a lifestyle ought to be when it is left completely to your discretion. Everything is your call.

E-mail Joshi at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].