There’s a Castle in my Backyard!

I cannot believe I’m closing out my second week in Denmark! My first week here was perhaps one of the longest weeks of my life (though not necessarily in a bad way). Between constantly meeting new people, acclimating to a new academic semester, getting lost in Copenhagen, getting lost on the bus, getting lost in DIS buildings themselves, it was a lot to take in (and a lot of directional confusion).

My second week, comparatively, actually went by in the blink of an eye. Starting to get into the swing of things, I felt myself getting used to my bus route (or, the many bus routes I have taken because I am bad at being on time), getting used to the walk to Vestergarde (the street where most of DIS’ classrooms are), and the people I interact with day-to-day. And while that feeling of familiarity and routine has been reassuring, it’s also completely unwarranted. I’m now living 5,400 miles away from my college on a continent I have never spent longer than a week on before. I am about to book a flight to Portugal and London because there are 4 weeks in my semester that are entirely dedicated to travel. This is NOT my normal life, and I want to ensure setting a routine doesn’t dissuade me from recognizing just how special this opportunity is.

BECAUSE THERE IS A CASTLE IN MY BACKYARD.

You heard me! To be fair, the castle isn’t exactly in my backyard–but it’s a 10 minute commute from me. This Wednesday I didn’t have any field studies (essentially, DIS reserves Wednesdays for field trips and each of our classes takes turns utilizing the day to take us to cool places and enrich our learning). But because I had no field studies, I could spend the day however I wanted. Some of my friends who live in Copenhagen took the A Train (my normal commute) up to Hillerød, and we went to see Frederiksborg Castle! (Such an instance also gave me the opportunity to show off my public transit prowess and take the bus from Hillerød Station to the castle, and direct my friends back to the correct train into Copenhagen).

Frederiksborg Castle was built in the 17th century as the residence for King Christian the IV, who ruled over Denmark (including the Danish colonies in the West Indes, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands), as well as Norway. It’s downright breathtaking on the inside and out, and we explored both the museum located within the castle, the gardens (though I’ll admit, not much was in bloom), and the scenic views of the castle and the water surrounding it.

We also got the chance to hang out around Hillerød, which is a beautiful town in it of itself! My host dad informed me that it tended to draw bigger crowds than Birkerød, the neighboring town where I live, because it serves as a hub for people in the surrounding areas, and a nice place to commute to for work that isn’t quite as far South as Copenhagen. It definitely inspired me to try and convince my friends to spend more time in Hillerød, for those days where those of us in homestays are just too lazy to take the train back into the city to hang out later in the day. Though as tedious as public transit can be, I should add that public transit on a Saturday night in Denmark is actually quite a lot of fun–it’s the perfect people watching hours. The commuter rail goes from being the sullen, quiet zone where no one makes eye contact during the day to a train roaring with life, Danes talking to new people and laying on the train seats and reveling in the life of the city. As we watched a drunk man in a ridiculously large hat greet a group of women, and held back our giggles as the shocked women fell on the floor from their laughter, our friend’s host sister took a stab at explaining Danish drinking culture to us: “Danes are withholding. So when we go out, we get kind of silly because we’re letting go of that.”

There’s so much about this place I’m still getting to know, even as I settle into the routine of having a fair amount of confidence as to what direction to take the A Train and which busses will get me to the Station fastest. I’m still in the process of really solidifying the people I want to hang out with (not to say that that needs to be a fixed, unchanging group). I still haven’t left Denmark and traveled. I still haven’t even scratched the surface on the amount of cafes and bars I should be taking advantage of. As I walked back from class toward Nørreport Station, marking the end of Week 2, I stopped and took a moment to regain a sense of place, finding a moment of presentness and stillness within the beating heart of Denmark. Because as easy as it is to get caught up in it all, there’s a castle in my backyard and I hope that’s never something I take for granted!