i'm really here.

I am here. I am actually here. Honestly, it is just now hitting me that this is actually happening. The past 3 days have been the craziest, scariest, most exciting days of my life thus far. And that is a pretty bold statement.

I woke up early Saturday morning to make it to the airport in Charlotte around 11:30 to catch my first flight to Newark. My roommate, Victoria, came down from Elon to say bye, so it was really nice to see her again right before I left. When I went through security they had to pat me down and do the wand and all that, I'm guessing because of my insulin pump. It was a smooth flight to Newark and that is where I began to spot other DIS'ers.

The first girl I met (Jill) in the security line and we ended up clicking immediately. As soon as we got to our gate we saw tons of other students going to DIS, so that was comforting. When we got on the plane there was a seat next to Jill, so I just sat there hoping that the person who was actually supposed to sit there would trade with me, and luckily, they did!

The flight was....kind of miserable. I couldn't get comfortable. I couldn't sleep a wink. I had so many thoughts and emotions running through my mind that I just wanted it to all be over. Thank goodness I had Jill to laugh with, or I might have had a break down. The big disappointment came when we landed and I came to find out that my luggage was still back in the States....bummer. Unfortunately, about 20 of us didn't get our luggage from Newark, leaving me with nothing but my pack of Spearmint Extra Gum and some books about Denmark. Both worthy of sacrifice for a toothbrush or contact solution. Yet unfortunately, it is what it is. Luckily, I have awesome people in my dorm who let me borrow a few of the necessities.

The DIS staff bussed us all to a short orientation at a building downtown where we got money for our transportation passes, our class schedule and a Danish cell phone. After we finished with that, they bussed us to our various housing locations. My kollegium, or dorm, is called Keops and it is in the borough of Nørrebro. We got settled in to our rooms and then gathered with everyone from the dorm for a pizza dinner in the common room. After dinner, Chance (a student at University of Copenhagen that helps students at Keops), took us around town to show us the grocery store and various places we may need to go. Then, it was pass out time.

My body definitely has not adjusted yet though, so I woke up every hour, sometimes laying awake for more than an hour. It was not a good night to say the least.

Yet today has been better. We went to DIS downtown this morning for our opening ceremony and Survival Danish course. We got a chance to walk around downtown a little more and I really like it! It is definitely much more lively than Nørrebro. The best thing was MY LUGGAGE ARRIVED!!! Definitely took a lot of stress and worry off of my mind. Some of my awesome dorm-mates helped bring my luggage back to Keops by the 6A (the bus I take to school). We decided it was about time to get some food for our dorms, so we headed to the local Netto and got some of the essentials. What an experience that was...They have no carts, only carry baskets. Nothing was in English. And we had to buy plastic bags to put the food in. Cooking is going to be a challenge, to say the least.

After cooking dinner with Emily, my friends Lindsey and Izzy and I decided to walk around town a little more and see what our new home has to offer. We found this hole-in-the-wall bar and walked in to find a Danish woman, Neena, running up to all 3 of us, hugging and kissing us and telling us how much she loves us. Welcome to Denmark! Her "mate" Neils started speaking to us in English since Neena couldn't. They were awesome and very very nice to us. They decided to take us to their other favorite bar down the street so we headed there with them for a while. We had a great discussion with Neils about America and different views he had on things. They were a great taste of culture, to say the least.

That is basically my summary of what has gone on thus far. I'm honestly still in that adjustment stage of "what in the HECK am I doing here." I'm not going to lie and say that is amazing, because it will definitely take adjustment, but I am safe and I know I have a lot to look forward to, so that is what I am going to set my mind on. But I must go to bed before I fall asleep typing...Hej Hej!