A Dungen in the Dungeon

I've officially been here for a full week! So much has been going on, but I'll give a quick overview. On Thursday we went on a scavenger hunt and I took lots of pictures...like this one of the Harbor (its just like the picture on the top of my blog...only during the day and taken by me and not Google Images). And as you'll notice, there was actually sunshine that day, even though everyone told me I wouldn't see sunlight in January. That night, I caught the late train with Danielle, a girl living with a host family right down the street from me (so another DIS student DOES live in the 'ghetto' with me!) and we went bar hopping and met some local Danes. They were actually very friendly, and since then I've realized that most Danes are actually very open to talking to Americans (you just have to branch out and meet them!) I pretended to be lost the other day just so I could talk to a really good-looking Dane, and he helped me out and was very chatty. Who woulda thought? Now here's a pic of me in my typical daywear. As you can see, I look about 350 pounds, but everyone does so it's cool. This will be one of the only times you see me this layered...definitely not in Texas! Friday night was the DIS Welcome Party, 2 free drinks if you get there before 9 pm (which we did, of course) and then we went hoppin' around again. Then Saturday, I went on a castle tour of Elsinor, the castle from Shakespeare's Hamlet! It was totally worth it. I had this delicious chocolate croissant and chai tea in Helsingør, a cozy little town just outside of the castle, and then went on a guided tour and saw all of the old rooms and towers and DUNGEONS...the inspiration for the blog title. The castle had the stereotypical moats and dungeons which was pretty cool to see, and was built in the 1500s so definitely older than anything in the US.

You can see the coastline of Sweden from the castle! So maybe Sarah Palin was right about Russia...

A Day Late and a Computer Short

So first the good news: I'm in København (Copenhagen), Denmark!! The city is so beautiful, lots of cobblestone streets and cozy buildings and January sales! The only part that sucks about it being so pretty is no picture really captures what it looks like in person; believe me, I've tried. And now the bad news: at 11:30 PM, Tuesday evening, my computer passed away. And I know they say you can't take any material possessions with you when you die, but my computer took all of my pictures and music with it as well. I feel so lost and helpless without my laptop. The IT guys say the hard drive crashed because MACs just tend to do that for no apparent reason, but I think the flight did it in. Now if I want to upload pictures, I'm going to have to use my host dad's computer, so I'll try and add some tonight but if not the next post will hopefully have some.
On a lighter note, my first three days (I don't count Sunday, since I didn't get here til 5:30 and passed out by 9) have had a lot of interesting things happen. I've gotten lost a lot, but it hasn't been that bad since getting lost means you find new, interesting places to explore. That's how I stumbled across a book bar, where I had my first Carlsberg (waiter: 'small or large?' me: 'definitely the large'). By the way, that one beer was 8 US dollars. Not even kidding. But now I've gotten savvy to where the cheaper places are and when they have specials. Oh, and you know all those things you hear about Danes all being blond, blue eyed, and beautiful? It's not an exaggerations, there are more good looking guys in this city than I have ever seen. Too bad they walk around with their ipods everywhere and don't believe in 'small talk'. They only believe in political talks, and as a Republican I can't see that going anywhere good. Yeah, when in doubt, just say Obama

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

So after about a year of telling everyone "oh I'm definitely studying abroad", it just now hit me that it's finally here. As in, I leave tomorrow. As in, no turning back. I haven't even packed yet. Right now I'm most nervous about the flight. I don't know if you know this or not, but I have a fear of flying ever since watching Final Destination right before the senior trip to Cancun, and then we got put in a piece of aluminum foil that they called a plane and since then I freak out any time there's turbulence. It doesn't help that my flight has a layover in Chicago (80% chance of snowstorms tomorrow by the way) and London (same bad weather). I found this picture of me in a New York taxi cab last year and its pretty much gonna be my expression the whole way--->

Anyways, once I get over that I get to meet my host family! I'm thinking about faking a really thick southern accent to freak them out, but then they might not think it's funny. I wonder if they'll notice my sarcasm and jokes or if they'll think I'm being serious? Hmmmm we'll see. But next week I have Orientation every day and classes already start on Thursday! BOOOOO! So I'll write on here again as soon as I figure out the Internet system there. Before I'll go, I'll leave ya with my goals for the next couple of days:

1. Get my first legal drink ASAP

2. Don't freak out my host family

3. Bond with the other students AKA find people to travel with so I'm not by myself and can get travel deals

4. Try to conquer the public transportation, but if get lost play role of lost, helpless Texas girl to be rescued by hot Danish guy

5. Use some of my sweet Danish language skills and fool some of the locals into thinking I know more than I do