Øl!

On Wednesday, about 150 DIS kids visited the Carlsberg Brewery. Carlsberg, founded in the late 1800s, and Tuborg, which Carlsberg bought sometime in the 70s, have a seeming monopoly on beer in København. But I think that may just be the way it looks to us tourists because their logos and stuff are everywhere. At the tour, our speaker said now the company only has something like 60 percent of the market share.

When we got the brewery, we heard a presentation and then took a self-guided tour through Old Carlsberg and some museum stuff they have set up. We walked into the building for the presentation and the smell of hops in the air was so strong. Or maybe it was yeast. Are hops and yeast the same thing? I don't know the technicalities of making beer. But it definitely smelled like bread.

Then, we walk out and see the beautiful buildings. I wouldn't have guessed in a million years they were for a brewery. I haven't been to Budweiser or anything but I doubt it's as pretty. There were statues everywhere, including a replica of the Little Mermaid.

Accidentally in black and white.

And then the beer smell. It was kind of awesome, I'm not going to lie. But you felt like you were drinking just walking around. There were HUGE silos full of grain everywhere, and we saw a truck holding at least 100 kegs. Glorious sights.

And they called it the Stairway to Heaven?

Come on, if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, what does, you teetotaler?

One room in the museum showed a bottle of every kind of beer the brewery has made.

I took a picture of some of the tools they use just for you, Dad!

The ultimate beer funnel.

After the tour, we had about 45 minutes of free all-you-can-drink Carlsberg, Carl's special and a dark Carlsberg, which I didn't try. DIS also paid for us to have sandwiches, which I wisely saved for later, giving me both more room for beer and a free snack for later. It was so delicious on the bus back home at 12 something.

Anyway, umm, after the tour I got to experience Copenhagen weekday nightlife, which isn't really bumpin, but is fun nonetheless. We drank in the public square and went to a few bars and I was hit on by three different nationalities of men - a new record for me! Haha.

Skål!

I look pretty bad here, I know. It was a long day. But skål anyway!

I have arrived!

I'm here!

Can you say sleep-deprived?
After several relatively uneventful flights and a strong bout of anxiety, I'm in Copenhagen, moved into my kollegium (cole-eeg-ee-um) and all is swell.

It's 9:30 here, six hours ahead of the East Coasters and seven ahead of my Texas pals. It's been an interesting couple of days' travel...I don't know how long it's actually been, but it feels like a long time. There's so much to take in and so much to learn and get accustomed to.

My room is awesome. It's just me, I have my own bathroom, it's bigger than my apartment in Woodrow (well, the bedroom anyway), I have more closet space than I did in Woodrow, everything is just really pretty cool. It was chilly and rainy tonight for our group dinner at Cafe Felix, where my whole table ordered pizza from the limited English menu they prepared for us (since DIS paid) and paid 35 kroner for a large Carlsburg, which I think was around 16 ounces. It was less than a pint and more than a 12-ounce serving, as you can see from the picture below. A whiskey and coke cost 55 kroner!! My first and last, for sure. But it did come with a festive firework-looking decoration.

My first Danish meal

My kollegium is in Albertslund, a suburb of Copenhagen, about 25 minutes away by train. It's not at all what I expected. It's sort of like a village, to me. There are maybe 10 or 15 "blocks" which have maybe like 20-30 rooms each, maybe more. Each room is a single, with its own bathroom, and there are communal kitchens and living areas. 48 DIS students are scattered through it, I believe.

Tomorrow and the next couple days are more orientation, and classes start Friday! We get our books Tuesday, and I already have lots of assigned reading to do!

I know, I know, I'm abusing the exclamation point. But to sum up, nothing's rotten here -yet.

Welcome!

Hello everyone,

I haven't gotten things properly started yet, I think it will be more appropriate to do so on Saturday morning, but in the meantime, please add me to your bloglog if you so desire and get ready to live vicariously through me!

Just kidding. I'll miss home (and football season) just as much as y'all will miss me. And if you don't miss me, well, I sure don't want to know about it.

--Jess