I have officially lived in Copenhagen for a week now. In that time I have bought a bike, wiped out on said bike, and embarked on many other excursions.
My room is beautiful and large, and the school provided us with a lot of nice things. When we arrived we had a comforter, pillow, pots, pans, etc, all brand new in their original packages.
I live just outside of Copenhagen; a five minute metro ride or twenty-some minutes by bike (if I can learn to stay upright.) The only thing I would call “weird,” is the shower. In the U.S. you usually step into wherever you plan on bathing. There’s some sort of division of the floor that keeps water from flooding everywhere and drowning you mid-bath. In Denmark that’s not the case.
When you shower, the water goes all over the floor and just sort of puddles there for a while. After my shower the other day I was blow drying my hair and it dawned on me that this activity was really the equivalent of showering and standing in a bathtub. Just like the picture of the stick figure standing in water on the tags of hairdryers with a big red “NO” sign over it. If I drop this thing, I realized, I die. Suffice it to say we keep the electronics outside of the bathroom now.
Copenhagen truly is beautiful. I love the colored buildings and the history that surrounds me. Even my street, “Holger Danskes,” is named after a group of Danish students that resisted the Nazi occupation in WWII by blowing up German supplies. I have not encountered a single Dane that doesn’t speak English; as soon as they hear me speak they flawlessly switch into it. The city genuinely is built for biking. It’s mostly flat and bikers have their own lane so they don’t have to dodge pedestrians or cars on the street.
I also love how environmentally conscious everyone is here. Grocery stores don’t give out bags, you have to buy them. I bought one bag, keep it in my purse, and use it every time I go out. The power outlets have on and off switches so they’re only running when someone’s using them. Recycling of course is huge, and biking to work or anywhere else is the norm.
The only downside is that everything here is expensive. Before I left the states I googled prices of commodities and tried to make myself a budget to stick to- that’s out the window. I don’t know who put those prices online, but they must have had some intensely shady back-door deals with grocers and butchers. I have yet to go out to dinner here because I’m not sure I plan on having a first-born son to offer them as payment. My dinner last night was a can of tuna mixed with rice. I have to advise against that to anyone who can avoid it. I am in an constant state of hunger because I feel so guilty eating, just because it’s so expensive. (My mother is reading this with palpable concern, picturing me shivering and emaciated. I’m fine, really, I’m just viciously stubborn with a personal goal to live on as little money as possible.)
My roommate and I buy all “budget” brand food in bulk at stores like Netto or Fotex, as they are the cheapest.
I will bike through whatever form of precipitation this country throws at me because the Metro prices are so painful. I use an empty wine bottle as my water bottle, so I don’t have to buy a new one. Public drinking is legal, so it’s fine.
For future students my money-saving advice as of now is to cook at home as much as possible, and try to go in with friends. Four of us split a home-cooked chicken stir fry recently and it wasn’t too hard on the stomach or wallet. Also, find a way to buy your bike used. CBS will offer to rent you a bike for the semester for 950 DKK (or $170 USD) and a deposit of 750 DKK, but I did a little hunting and bought my own used one for 750 DKK (or $133 USD). It’s a good bike that works well. The other perk is that I can sell it at the end of the semester and try to get some of my money back. (To find a used bike, I used www.dba.dk – you’ll have to translate to English or get someone to help you.)
Another interesting thing here that I had heard about but was shocked to actually see is the absolute refusal of any Dane to jaywalk. I was out at around 2 AM… studying… the other night, and there were no cars or bikes anywhere in sight. But if the street light says “wait,” by God, you wait. Pedestrians stand patiently in the deserted crosswalk and wait for the little green walk light. My friend was attempting to navigate, accidentally crossed a totally deserted road once and somehow there were Danish police lurking around that gave her a good talking to. I think of my New York City sister who bowls through inner city traffic and gives me heart attacks, and how much she would struggle here.
My short term goals as of now:
– Day trip to Sweden
– Danish Museum of Resistance
– See the Palace (somehow I haven’t done this yet..?)
– Find CHEAP textbooks (hah.)
– Begin to plan trips to other European cities
Location: Frederiksberg, Denmark
Loading map...
Hi! Sorry this took me so long to reply, I somehow just saw that I had comments on here? Interesting. Technology and I aren’t always on the best of terms.
I’ll see if tickets are still available! I’m actually headed to Ireland in March – I’m so excited!! I do hope it warms up a bit though… I sometimes wonder why I didn’t choose to study abroad somewhere tropical..
Hey Stephanie!!! So, I really wanted to comment on your blog because I have been reading about your experience in Copenhagen and I just got tickets to see Ellie Goulding In Copenhagen on April 10th! Only 39.99 US dollars! Want to come?? Anyways, I am sad to here that everything is really expensive, but I am joining you in the “budget club” because I have been trying sooooo hard to live cheapily in Galway. The Euro exchange is worsening and I, too am trying to find the cheapest food possible. I am also freezing, the Irish do not like to turn the heat on, so no worries! Anyways, I look forward to keeping up with your blogs and I hope all is well! – Steph 🙂
Your bike looks really nice! Here in Amsterdam we rented bikes from a place that does business with IES and it was 75 euro for the bike, lights, a bell, and two locks.Plus, it is guaranteed that we can bring it back to them at the end of the semester. There are bike traffic rules as well, so biking feels really safe on most roads and never congested. There are public drinking laws here, such as no open containers…no drinking and cycling! The trams here and most public spaces are really very clean. Groceries are a pain when you have to carry everything on your bike or walk it home, especially if you need a lot of things. I will need to buy a bike basket like yours soon! I love your pictures.
It’s so strange to me that people follow traffic rules in Denmark when the road is empty because people in Spain follow traffic rules…never. It’s four in the afternoon and there are children and puppies playing in the pedestrian-only plaza, and suddenly a man on a vespa whizzes by the historic statue with no regards for the danger to everyone else standing around. Nobody stops on stop signs, everybody jaywalks, crosswalks are a joke. Also, there are no sidewalks, just sort of curbs upon which everyone walks, along the crazy narrow alleyways. The Spanish way of life is PURE ANARCHY when it comes to following rules.
Today I was sitting on a bench in a plaza by the tram, and i watched a police car amble up the car-free tram tracks, slowly followed by a tram that was only trying to get to where it was going…Additionally everyone involved in this strange occurrence was wearing those surgical masks that they also give out when people in your high school have swine flu? Yeah I’m not really sure how that pertained to any of it. Moral of the story is nothing in Spain makes any sense. If you’ve ever seen a Spanish telenovela….it’s kind of like that only I know a tiny bit of the language, so if someone says something offensive, I usually know exactly how it is that they’re insulting me.
Hope everything is going well!! Good luck re-learning to ride a bike!