today was the first day of DIS, which meant seeing bowdoin friends, going to a big talk, eating pancakes (see picture) and realizing how many people are on this program!! all very overwhelming but exciting. it poured today, so walking around the city wasn't great. oh, but i did take the train from home to downtown, and it's great. i really love having a commute, and the train is super efficient, clean, and quiet so getting to school this fall should be wonderful.
a word about bikes here - as you probably know, they're everywhere, tons of people use them to commute and get around during the day. makes you feel silly walking around sometimes, actually. anyway, because of biking's popularity here, there are all sorts of cool ways the city accommodates bikes. there are bike lanes everywhere, there are cars on the trains with bike-holder things, and there are narrow ramps at the edges of stairs so people can wheel their bikes up while they walk. also, my first language miscommunication with my host dad involved bikes - i asked if a lot of people wore helmets and he started telling me about how there are "not so many homeless here." i think i'll probably tell him this when i get to know him better.
anyway, great transition to my awesome HOST FAMILY! they are super laid-back, generous, funny, and are really just a pleasure to live with. the dad bjarne is very silly and always laughs at my jokes, and he makes dinner everynight for the family. this is a good thing because so far he has been an excellent cook. linda, my host mom, speaks less english so haven't talked with her as much. she seems very cool though, she wore black harem pants with silver pinstripes to work today, so i was impressed. she took me into the city this morning to show me how the train works, and she came with me to the pharmacy to buy band aids for my foot blisters (damn you, green sigerson morrison flats! every time!) so i am indebted to her for that. simon is my host brother, he's 18 and pretty quiet, but really sweet. i hope i can help him with english (and he can help me with danish - argh) and we can talk more as time goes on.
okay, i'm pretty sleepy so i'll wrap this up with some photos!
1. new best friend, my host dog mølly (yes, with that o letter thing). one year old jack russell, can jump up to my face, and thinks my monkey slippers are her personal toys. the cutest.
at first not paying attention to the camera...
2. some bowdoin friends with the previously mentioned pancakes. which also had some delicious cream kind of filling. i should figure out how they make those. from left, mason, ally, jordan, hannah. hint: memorize for future reference.
i want more posts! and more pictures of chester! (that's just what i'm going to call him from now on...)
ReplyDeletemiss you oodles