Day 1, arrival

I arrived at 7.15 am sunday august 22, which is only 1 in the morning at home. I got a little sleep on the airplane but not much. my knees hit the seat in front of me, and the cushion on my seat kept sliding away from the back of the chair, but it wasn't too big a deal at all. There were tons of other DIS students near me on the plane and some girls from Elon knew some of my friends (like Libba!). the Boy in front of me goes to colby, and for once, many of them seemed to have heard of bowdoin! which was very exciting.

 I am now at my host family's house with mother Laila, father flemming, and daughter Tine. I met the sons Jon and Ulrik this morning, but they went out to hang out "with some girls." They went partying last night and came home around 5 in the morning, which is apparently pretty routine for the young people here. we had a great breakfast of all different kinds of bread (which they make) with butter, peanut butter, or several types of jam--plus swiss cheese along with some really good poppyseed danishes. I am pretty tired now, and I haven't seen a glimpse of copenhagen yet, but we will go in in the morning. their town is very sweet and small, and their house is very pleasant with a nice lawn in the back. and they have an extra bike for me! and apparently (close friend) lizzy lives nearby. I have a nice room to myself with a desk, a TV, and a window overlooking the backyard, and we all share a bathroom, which is pretty nice and spacious. the have a very light and appealing house overall, and I am very excited to live here.  they have 2 cats (but I have only seen 1) and a rabbit!!! the daughter Tine is tall and very fair with blonde hair and blue eyes, and Laila, like Tine is blonde, beautiful, and very welcoming.  Tine keeps singing Lady Gaga and Kay Perry. the sons are both tall and blonde, and flemming looks a lot like the guy in man on wire. also with blonde hair. i have the darkest hair here.  this little town isn't too far out of the city, and i think i saw some type of aspen growing along the side of the highway.  I have been told to try to limit water and electricity use bc it is very expensive, so they usually hang their clothes dry. I tried to get money, but the exchange in the airport was having trouble reading my visa, so hopefully better luck tomorrow.  its warm humid and rainy today, and for dinner we are having danish meatballs.

the school I will be attending is the study abroad program called DIS (Danish Institute for Study Abroad) and has nearly 600 students studying abroad. all of my classes are in English and are through the program.
I am taking: 
1.Human Health and Disease, a Clinical Approach (class held in the hospital and we will travel throughout denmark and also to berlin and poland.
2. The Complexity of Cancer (for my upper level biology class for my major)
3. Danish Language and Culture 1.
4. Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia
5. Muslims in the West
6. Vienna: Capital of Classical Music (meets once a week for the first half of the semester and then we go to vienna for a weekend)

Bowdoin requires that we take at least 5 courses to equal 4 bowdoin courses and get the correct amount of  credits transferred, instead of the 4 courses DIS requires. Looks like I will be quite busy!
  Hannah