The third week of DIS, the week we receive our Residence Permit and officially gain access to living in Denmark for 4 months, marks a big turning point in our study abroad experience: the shift from casual tourist to aspiring residents. As I have explored new areas, joined extracurriculars, and continued to integrate into my wonderful host family, I have been feeling this shift most poignantly.
I was first pushed out of my comfort zone during my field study. On Wednesday I had a Field Study with my Creative Nonfiction class at the Friederksberg Mall. At dinner Tuesday night, I jokingly informed my host mom that my teacher had simply instructed us to meet her at the mall with no further instructions, and that I was 90% sure she was going to have us stalk and write about someone for our field study. After taking the metro into Frederiksberg from Nørreport and hearing my professor’s speech, I realized that I was exactly right—we were assigned to observe someone without talking about them and write a short piece on them based solely on observation. Afterward, we found our way to our professor’s apartment where she rewarded us with pastries, coffee, and fruit, and we read our stories aloud to one another. The Field Study, as uncomfortable as it made me feel, was surprisingly fun. I left feeling confident in the piece I had shared (which as a writer, rarely happens), excited about the bonds with classmates I am making, and excited to have seen a new neighborhood of Copenhagen. Frederiksberg is undoubtedly beautiful, and undoubtedly, one of the more upscale neighborhoods in the city. Though I didn’t see very much of it and will certainly go back, I can highly recommend the Frederiksberg Mall, in addition to going “apartment hunting” amidst the well-groomed tan brick buildings.
After spending some time in Frederiksberg, I met up with a friend where her field study was— Nørrebro—and we did some exploring. Nørrebro is perhaps the antithesis of Frederiksberg—young, eclectic, multicultural, and adorned with sweeping graffiti, it was a great change of pace from what can sometimes feel like a uniform city. The streets were packed with shops of a variety of different kinds of food, colorful buildings, and thrift shops. I felt immediately drawn in and had so much fun exploring (even though it was not a bright and sunny day in Copenhagen, and our need to walk everywhere did result in us getting soaked). We touristed. We visited Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen’s graves (peep the pens sticking out of Andersen’s grave—the perfect way to memorialize a writer!) in Assistens Cemetery. The space was absolutely beautiful, but still, carried the solemnness of a place of rest. We chuckled at the signs asking visitors to be respectful and not sun bathe at a place of rest, marveling at the Danish resolve to take in any bit of sun wherever they can.
After our trip to Assistens, we stopped at The Laundromat Café for some chai lattes (I would definitely recommend—it’s a chain throughout Copenhagen with a really fun vibe and also, a space to do laundry if that’s something you would like to do whilst sipping a cappuccino). I ordered a chai latte—in Danish!!
Then we set about exploring the colorful houses, meandering through the rainy streets (which honestly, I think bring out the cheerfulness of Copenhagen’s street rather than dilute it). We set our sights on Maersk Tower, a free look out point affiliated with the University of Copenhagen Medical School, but took our sweet time getting there. Here are some shots of the best-looking houses we found on our walk there:
My friend and one of the best buildings we saw that day 
Colorful, graffiti-ed houses
And then lastly, we found our way to Maersk Tower, and took in a panoramic view quite different from the one of Round Tower and City Hall, which tend to center the most touristed areas of Copenhagen as a backdrop. We got a view of the whole city, and all the bodies of water that surround the relatively tiny island of Zealand. We remarked that the houses looked like Lego houses, all in perfect square rows, and the cars like little bugs. We felt small but excited all at the same time.
After that I passed the time at DIS, studying, before I headed off to my last event of the night: the first rehearsal of Copenhagen Business School’s International Choir. The rehearsal was in Frederiksberg, so I found myself once again on the metro, and in a square black building oozing with the suaveness of quintessential Danish design. The actual choir was lots of fun—less serious than my singing experience at home, but filled with eager, kind international and local students who used the space both to express their passion for singing and make friendships. In the first couple of minutes I talked with another student from DIS, a Danish student, and a student from Italy, and sang “Somewhere Only We Know” and “When the Party’s Over” to my heart’s content. As I took the metro back to Nørreport Station to then board my train home, I was filled with the overwhelming sense that I was doing this thing. I’m becoming a resident here—seeing new parts of the city, seeing things from new perspectives, doing my best to find the pieces of this new place that feel like home.
Hej from Denmark! 