My First Weekend in Aarhus

Saturday

After having a very eventful day on Friday (and traveling all of Thursday), I was exhausted when it was time to go to bed Friday night. I went to bed at around 10:30PM and didn't wake up Saturday morning until 1:30PM. I must have needed the sleep because I didn't wake up once the whole night!

When I woke up, I checked my email and Facebook and spent about an hour replying to the messages. After that, I finished unpacking all my suitcases and put everything away in their place. I am impressed with the amount of storage this room has!

The rest of the afternoon I spent on Google Earth getting myself familiar with the area and trying to find the closest grocery stores and banks. My original plan for Saturday was to find a bank where I could exchange my money and then go grocery shopping. However, since I slept in so late, all the banks were closed and I would later find out that most of the grocery stores close at 5PM.

While on Google Earth, I also searched for the location of a Bible study in Aarhus. I found out about the Bible study online and was so thankful to have the opportunity to meet a group of Christians my very first Sunday in Denmark.

By the time I did all of that, it was around 7:00PM and I was getting hungry. I decided to see if the grocery store that I found on Google Earth was open. All the Danish grocery store websites I found were in Danish and I couldn't read their hours of operation. I decided to journey to a grocery store called Netto, about a mile away from my apartment. I figured it would be closed but I was wanting to explore the area anyways and thought that it would be good to know where it is.

It took me about 20 minutes to walk to Netto. On my way there, I passed a lot of people that looked like immigrants (i.e. they didn't look Danish). I'm guessing that the area where Netto is located is where a lot of immigrants and foreigners live. I saw both Asian- and Arab-looking people. I passed by a group of Arab-looking boys and one of them said "hi" to me (Hi also means hello in Danish) while another boy whistled at me while I walked by. I guess Arabic cultures don't change no matter what country they are in...

On my walk home I spotted a tall grassy hill. I decided to climb to the top for the view. The sun was setting and I could see people walking, riding bikes, driving and I saw kids playing soccer. I could see the city of Aarhus all lit up and could also could see the port. It was so peaceful on the top of that hill that I stayed there for some time and took pictures.

On top of the hill

By then it was starting to get dark so I headed back home. When I was walking through my apartment complex, I saw a large group of people having what looked like a party. I walked towards it and found out it was an apartment complex party. I didn't stay though because it required me to buy drinks and food and I don't have any Danish Kronas. So I walked back to my room and decided to eat granola bars for dinner (again). While walking down my hall, I passed a closet and noticed a vacuum. I put my purse in my room and walked back down the hall to get the vacuum. My room wasn't very clean when I moved in and I wanted to buy cleaning products that Saturday but didn't get to the grocery store in time. I vacuumed my whole room and entrance area and I also put up some shelves that came with the room.

Sunday

Last night I didn't sleep as well as Friday night. It was probably because the party that was going on outside had music blaring until 4 or 5AM. I woke up in the middle of the night and looked out my window and saw a few people still out there laughing and having a great time.

I tried to get back to sleep but kept tossing and turning for a long time. I had set my alarm clock to wake me up at 8AM so that I would have enough time to get ready for the Bible study and have time to walk there (it's about 2 miles away). However, once I finally got to sleep, I didn't wake up until 9AM. I had overslept my alarm clock (not unusual for me). I was originally planning on leaving the apartment at 9:30AM to give me an hour to walk to the bible study. However, I didn't leave my room until 10AM.

I walked briskly hoping that I would make the 2 mile walk in thirty minutes (the Bible study starts at 10:30AM). I found the building number where Theis (the guy that leads the Bible study) told me they met but the house looked abandoned or closed. I asked several people on the street if they knew of any other Vester Alle 8's and they said they didn't. Theis had emailed me his cell phone number the day before in case I got lost. Since I don't have a working cell phone yet, I asked a girl off the street if I could use her cell phone for a minute. She was very kind and let me called Theis on it. He had someone from the Bible study come out of the building and find me.

I arrived to the Bible study 20 minutes late but was glad I finally found them. The group was very small. There were only 7 people there including myself - Theis, Dave and Katya (they're a married couple with a newborn baby girl. Dave is from South Africa and Katya is from Belarus), and Jacob and Rachel (a couple who are dating. Jacob is Danish and Rachel is Canadian). Theis' wife, Allison, is American but couldn't come because she was working (she's a social worker and has weekend shifts). We studied 1 Samuel Chapter 12 - Samuel's Speech at Saul's Coronation. Theis did a great job of leading the bible study and had hand-out sheets with discussion questions. After the discussion, we shared prayer requests and prayed for about 15 minutes. After the prayer time, Dave led us with his guitar into a time of praise and worship.

When the study finished, I asked about the different churches in the area and Rachel and Katya told me there are a few churches that are geared more towards students. I gave them my email address so that they could email me with more information. I'm really happy that I met this group of believers and hope to meet more in the weeks to come.

After the bible study I was very hungry and I promised myself that I wouldn't have to eat granola bars again for lunch. So I walked around Aarhus and found a nice sandwich shop. I asked if they accepted Visa and the owner said only Danish Visa. He directed me to an ATM close by and then I withdrew some money so that I could buy lunch. I bought a turkey and bacon sandwich on nut bread and also bought a bottle of Orange Fanta. I put the sandwich in my purse and drank the Fanta on my walk home.

As I was walking home I saw a bakery and decided to stop in to see what they had. I saw that they had Nutella (in case you didn't know this about me, I LOVE Nutella) so I bought that along with a half loaf of fresh whole wheat bread.
About 2 blocks from apartment, I noticed an open grocery store. I decided to go home and eat lunch and then buy the necessary groceries afterwards.

As soon as I got home I opened up my sandwich and took a bite. Since I had only eaten granola bars and crackers for the entire two days before, that sandwich tasted like nothing I had ever eaten in my whole life! It was SO good! After feeling very satisfied after eating my sandwich, I headed to the grocery store called Fakta (only a half mile away from where I live).

As soon as I walked in the door I asked an employee if they accept Visa. He told me that they didn't (at least not American Visa) and that I would have to go outside and use the ATM to get cash. At this point, I was tired of being hungry and waiting on exchanging my money so I made up my mind to just suck it up and pay the conversion fees to withdraw money from the ATM. I enjoyed looking through all the isles in the grocery store. However, I came across the same problem as the Danish websites, everything was in Danish! I usually looked for familiar words and if that didn't work, I would ask someone in the grocery store to translate for me.

I bought cleaning supplies so that I could clean my room. When I moved in, it was very dusty and had some dead insects near the window. I've been wanting to wash everything but haven't had the tools to do so. My plan is to clean the whole apartment tomorrow. I also bought some cereal, milk, apples, and popcorn.

When I got home, I put everything away. When I was putting away my food in the kitchen, I met one of my neighbors, a Danish girl named Maria. She was very nice and kind and let me share the refrigerator that she had cleaned out that day.

Johanne and me

At around 5PM I got the bus into town to meet up with Johanne. She met me at the bus stop near her apartment so that we could go to the grocery store and get dinner. We bought items to make a salad and a pineapple smoothie. When we got home, we prepared dinner and then we chatted for most of the evening. I thank God for Johanne! She's the friend God knew I needed to make me feel more at home and welcomed at Aarhus. She taught me how to count to twenty in Danish and how to pronounce the days so the week! I spent the evening with her until about 10:30PM when I rode the bus home. I got home at around 11PM, took a shower, emailed, and am now writing this post.

Tomorrow the International Office is taking the exchange students to IKEA! Here's something else I learned from Johanne today: IKEA is the cheapest place to buy things for your house. In Denmark (and the Scandinavian countries) it's like Wal-mart! She says it's not looked on as "hip" or "modern" in Denmark. It's just where students and families usually shop. This is so different from the U.S. We see IKEA as a place where the upper middle class shops, it's a little more expensive, and also more hip and modern. The same goes for the clothing store H&M. American's love that store and here it's so common place. Anyways, I thought that was interesting.

I'll write more later this week. If you read this whole post, kudos to you!

To Christ be the Glory,

~JMC~

Flight to Denmark and First Day in Aarhus

I have arrived safe and sound in Aarhus, Denmark. The journey was amazingly smooth with only one flight being delayed (Copenhagen to Aarhus) by only 20 minutes.

For those of you who didn't know my flight itinerary, I flew from GSP (Greenville) to Washington/Dullus; from Dullus to Copenhagen; and from Copenhagen to Aarhus. I thank God that I was able to bring everything I intended to with me and didn't lose any luggage. My two check-ins were a few pounds overweight so I had to stuff my backpack (carry-on) with more weight. I would guess my backpack weighed at least 50 pounds (or felt like it!) by the time I added the extra weight.

My 50 pound carry-on

My 7 hour flight from Dullus to Copenhagen was the best of all three flights. Even though I flew with Continental Airlines, they must partner with Scandinavian Airlines because that's who's plane I flew on to get to Copenhagen. The airplane was the nicest plane I have ever been on. It had plenty of room and an individual touch screen monitor that allowed you to select from a variety of options (Movies, Music, Games, and Plane info). One of the coolest of these options was that you could watch the cameras that were attached to the front and bottom of the plane. It was so cool to watch them during take-off (and also look out the window to see the side view). I also watched two movies (Definitely Maybe and Northanger Abbey). I tried to sleep a few hours throughout the flight but kept waking up because I couldn't stay comfortable for very long. But I shouldn't complain because there wasn't anyone sitting next to me and I also had the window seat! The food was great on the flight too (they served lots of fresh bread/rolls) and were continually asking us if we wanted anything to drink. I would definitely recommend flying with Scandinavian Airlines from Dullus to Copenhagen. So, for those of you who are thinking of coming to visit me, try getting that flight!

My Sweet Touch Screen Monitor

I have been very impressed all day with how kind the Danish people are. When I was stowing away my 50+ pound backpack on my favorite flight, I couldn't lift it as high as I needed to. But immediately a Danish guy sitting in the next row from me offered to put it in the stow away cabin for me. And then he helped me get it down once we landed in Copenhagen too!

The second impressive act of kindness by a Dane was when I was on my last flight, Copenhagen to Aarhus. I was given the advice to ask someone on the plane if they were going to be taking the bus that shuttles people from the airport to Aarhus City. Then I could just follow them once we landed and got our bags. I asked the man next to me, Finn, if he was going to be taking the bus to Aarhus from the airport. He said he wasn't because he was going to take a taxi to Aarhus. He then asked me where it was that I needed to go from the airport. I told him that I needed to meet a friend at the main bus station in Aarhus. He said that the place where he was going was right next to the bus station and then offered to give me a ride. I replied by saying that I wanted to go the most affordable way and that I knew the bus was cheaper. As I was turning down his offer, he quickly interjected that his company was paying for the taxi so not to worry about the cost because it would be free for both of us. I then mentioned to him that I didn't think it would be possible to fit all of my luggage in a European taxi. He said not to worry about it and that it would fit. When we landed in Aarhus (the flight was only 25 minutes from Copenhagen,) I collected my bags while Finn summoned the taxi. Amazingly, there was a Volvo taxi that had a very large trunk that ended up storing my three big bags perfectly.

View from Copenhagen-Aarhus flight

The drive from the airport to Aarhus took about 45 minutes. Finn had the taxi driver drop me off first and they helped me unload my bags. I thanked him very much for his kindness and then headed to find my friend (the third impressively kind Dane).

Some of you may not know this story. Earlier this April, I was researching Denmark for a class project. Part of the project asked about the culture. I had heard about this website called myhappyplanet.com that connected people all around the world who wanted to learn about the other's culture, history, and language. I found several people on the website from Denmark. I met a girl called Johanne (pronounced yo-ann) on the website. We sent messages back and forth asking about each other's culture. Through our conversations, we found out that both of us were going to be studying at Aarhus School of Business this Fall semester. She got in contact with me over Facebook a week ago and asked when I was arriving. I told her that I was Arriving Friday morning. I also mentioned to her that I didn't know how to get from the airport to the school where I needed to pick up my apartment key. Johanne was the one who suggested I ask someone on the flight if they were going on the bus from the airport to Aarhus. She said that she would meet me at the main bus station and would help me get to the school office where I needed to pick up my room key.

I found her a few minutes after arriving in Aarhus and she was such a Godsend all day! I think today would have been extremely hard had it not been for Johanne and all her help. I would have had to spend a ton of time and energy finding the right bus to take me to the International Office. Instead, Johanne knew which bus to put me on and told the bus driver to let me off at the bus stop right in front of the International Office. She also lent me 20 danish krona (about $4) to ride the bus since I hadn't yet had time to exchange my money. Johanne rode her bike to the bus stop where I had been dropped off and she helped me pull my luggage into the International Office where I picked up my apartment key and housing information. There were Danish "tutors" (that's what they call them) who were waiting for all incoming exchange students to arrive at the International Office. They drove me to my apartment and gave me a quick tour of the facilities. Johanne rode her bike to my apartment since there wasn't enough room for her in the car (the reason for this was because we also had to drop off another exchange student to his apartment). I live about 2 miles away from the school and 3 miles from the city center.

I love where I live! I have my own room and bathroom and then I have a kitchen and living room down the hall that I share with everyone on my floor. I haven't met any of my neighbors yet, but I'll be sure to let you know when I do. There's also a laundry room, tanning bed, gym, and bar for the apartment complex. The International Office gave me a plastic card to swipe every time I clean laundry. They said that "laundry is on us, so wash away!" The tanning bed and gym aren't free though. And the bar is supposedly very popular on weekends.

This is my building (or "Blok" as it's called in Danish)

My room is on the second floor, 4th window to the right.

After the tutors left, Johanne and I walked down town to get supper (or so we thought). We passed by an electronics store and I asked if we could go in and buy an ethernet cable so that I could have Internet to email my family. I tried paying with my mastercard but the shop didn't accept it so Johanne also paid for that. As soon as we got back outside it started pouring rain. We both go completely soaked and ended up going to her apartment to dry off. She had to go to work in an hour so I chilled at her place for about 30 minutes before walking home (by then it was only drizzling outside).

It was about 6PM by the time I got back home (it took almost an hour to walk from her apartment in the city to mine). Hopefully, I'll find a bike soon so that I can have a faster means of transportation.

I unpacked when I got home and put the sheets on my bed. Unfortunately, the mattress is a weird size (maybe simply a european size) and only my top sheet and comforter fit. Thankfully, the International Office is taking us exchange students to IKEA next week so we can buy anything we need for our rooms. I probably will buy sheets there. After unpacking most of my things, I took a long shower and then ate some crackers and granola bars. And now I'm posting this blog.

My plan for tomorrow is to get some groceries and have real food to fix for meals. I love going to grocery stores in different countries and spending hours looking at their different products and packaging. I also plan on exploring more of Aarhus and just getting over jet lag. Hopefully, I won't have jet lag too bad because I plan on going to bed after I send this email and getting a full night's rest.

To Christ be the Glory,

~JMC~