berlin? check.

This post is LONG overdue....my apologies. Its been a long week.

Maren, Emily, Suz, Margo, Julie and I took on the city of Berlin last weekend. Needless to say, we are travel GURU'S now :)

We left on our journey around 6:30 from Keops and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Since we took EasyJet, a really cheap airline, we were forced to watch the screens with departure gates up until about 5 minutes before we were actually going to depart. We FINALLY found out what gate we were at and were on our way to Berlin!

It was my first time out of Denmark, other than Malmo, Sweden which is only 30 minutes away, and it provoked so many different emotions. Excitement. Adventure. Exhaustion. Thrill. I honestly felt like I grew up just a little bit more, planning my own trip and figuring out how to get there, booking the hostel and tours.

We arrived in Berlin about an hour after our scheduled time and found our way to the hostel with some other DIS students who were also traveling that weekend. We got on the train that went to our Hostel, The Generator, and were greeted with a very interesting/scary man. He was clearly overly intoxicated and was passed out on the floor of the train. After about 5 minutes he woke up and started trying to speak to all of us saying random things like "I only talk to highly intelligent people" and "just call them and tell them to take me to the hotel so I can be there right now." He had a bottle of vodka in his hand with about 1/4 of it left and I watched him literally chug the rest of it and then fall completely on the ground. Needless to say, I was terrified and I think that is the first time I have actually felt unsafe while abroad. It was scary and sad at the same time and its those kind of people that really show you how blessed you are.

After that experience we arrived at the hostel, went to the bar for a short while, chatted with some guys from Holland and then crashed so we could get up early and start exploring Berlin the next morning.

We woke up to absolutely amazing weather! We are talking blue skies, sunshine that requires sunglasses, and over 40 degree temperatures. I felt like I was in Hawaii, haha! We hopped on the metro and made our way to the TV tower where we were meeting for our bike tour. Please note, Berlin's metro system is genius AND we made it the whole weekend without buying a ticket, yes!! We did an amazing bike tour with Tom from Wales and got to see all the great spots in Berlin: the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz, Hitler's bunker, the Jewish Memorial, Museum Island, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the hotel Michael Jackson dangled his baby from and lots more. Berlin is an amazing city and it was SO neat to see all the places I've seen in pictures in real life!






After our tour Margot, Emily and I got traditional German food (yum!) and then met back with the other girls to go on a pub crawl. It was the first pub crawl I've ever done, but it was tons of fun. We met some Irish guys, some Australians, and a couple people from America.


The next morning we headed back to the Reichstag (Parliament) and went up in the spiral dome where you can see all of Berlin. After that we went to the East Side Gallery, where they let painters paint on part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. It was definitely a sight to see. We decided to go back towards the part of town we were familiar with and grab some food and McDonalds (or as Tom says..Mackers). It was my first taste of American food...DELICIOUS. We bought some souvenirs, laughed a lot at making funny accents, grabbed ice cream, frolicked in the sun and then made our way back to the airport.






Unfortunately when I got back I had 2 midterms, 3 papers and 2 projects waiting for me in the next week, hence my absence in the blog. But I MADE IT and now I am off to London for the week for my long study tour. Vi ses København!

one month.

I woke up this morning feeling like P-Diddy, grabbed my glasses, hit the door, I'm gunna hit this city.

Today is a big day. I have officially been living in Copenhagen for ONE MONTH and MAN it has gone by fast. I can't even believe it. I definitely want to post about what I have learned in my first month, but I will leave that for next time.

As for the past couple days, here are a few highlights:

Sunday a group of us from Keops decided to celebrate Valentine's day with lunch at a local place called RizRaz. It was so nice to go out to eat and the best part was FREE REFILLS ON DIET COKE!!!!




Monday I decided to officially assimilate a little more into Danish culture and joined the Fitness World Gym 2 minutes from my kollegium. Working out is something that I have always really enjoyed and it is a chance for me to get away and have some Kelli time. The first time you go into a gym is always a little intimidating. You don't know where the machines are. You aren't sure what weight to do yet. In this case, you don't know that water fountains don't exist here. Despite my nerves, I walked around and figured out what machines they have and which ones they don't. It is a little more difficult to figure out everything here since all the machines are in Danish, but I think I will get the hang of it once I get into my routine. Another shocking thing was the locker rooms. Call me sheltered, but I have honestly never been in a locker room where all the women walk around in the nude and shower in front of everyone else. I was not expecting this either, so was a little culture shocked when I walked into the locker room.

TuesdayI had my Copenhagen History class and International Advertising. I got my first test back in History and was happy to see that I got an A! The test was on a Scavenger Hunt assignment where we had to go all over the city and learn different landmarks. Basically, I can now tell you most all of the landmarks, where they are on a map and what century they were built in. Cool, right? After class I came home and caught up on my Bachelor episodes. Team Tenley!! :) I headed to the gym to have a, fortunately, smoother second round. Then last night we had a CMM Social at one of the local theaters. We watched a movie and then were treated to drinks and snacks by DIS! When I got back to Keops some people were heading to Bar 7 downtown. I was already dressed to go out, so I decided to tag along. Since Facebook had told the world about Bar 7 drink specials that night, it was PACKED. We decided to head over to a smaller pub called Heidi's. I played some foosball (sp?) with some Albanian guys and then all of us were hit on by old Danish men...woof.

Wednesday (Today) a couple of us didn't have a study tour so we decided to get out of our rooms and go exploring! We hopped on a random train feeling liberated to just go wherever. We ended up in Frederiksberg were we grabbed a delicious lunch. I had an amazing cheeseburger and fries (MAN, I miss American food SO much). We then wandered to find Frederiksberg Have (gardens) and the castle. It was so beautiful and there were little kids sledding down the awesome hills. Once we could no longer feel our toes, we decided to head back into DIS part of town, grab the Wednesday special cinnamon buns from St. Peder's Bakery and take a lounge at The Living Room.




The Living Room is this great little cafe that definitely has the Danish hygge (look back to a previous post for the description). They have living room furniture and candles everywhere. I would LOVE to have a place like this at Elon. It is times like these were I really miss all of you back home!! I wish I could bring each and every one of you to this place. Yall would love it :)

Tonight is consisting of laundry, dinner, catching up on reading and doing some research for BERLIN this weekend. Cant wait.

a very danish evening.

Jeg havde en meget hyggelig aften med danskerne...translating to I had a very nice evening with the Danes.

To be honest, it has taken me a while to warm up to the Danes and the Danish culture. Keep in mind, I come from South Carolina where everyone talks to everyone, you wave to strangers just because, you smile at people when you pass by and you make new friends wherever you go. The Danes are the exact opposite. The bus is silent everyday and no one ever really looks you in the eye. They will not approach you and don't find it necessary to meet new people. DARE you smile at someone when you pass by.

Yet then again, this may just be "city life," and not necessary the Danish life, that I am not used to. But last night I really began to understand the Danes a little more.

On Friday night I received a call from my "visiting family." DIS sets up different cultural immersion programs such has Danish buddies and visiting families. This allows students not living in host families the opportunity to immerse into the Danish culture and get to know Danes. My family, Tove and Anders, said they would like to have me over for dinner the next night and they would pick me up at the Metro.


I was so excited and so nervous at the same time. Would they like me? What housewarming gift should I bring? Could I find my way there? What if I couldn't understand them?

I set off on my first journey alone and made a quick pit stop at one of the great bakery's in Copenhagen to grab a cake to take with me. I was relieved to find out that their Metro stop was in Zone 2, meaning I didn't have to buy an extra clipcard. The Metro was very easy and I got off at the last stop, Vanløse, just like Tove had told me. She and Anders had the car waiting for me when I got there! They showed me around their cute house (very Danish) and then Anders made his special meatballs, called Frikadeller, a Danish favorite, with a great salad, mashed potatoes and rye bread. It was absolutely delicious.

There were candles everywhere in their house--another Danish tradition, hygge. It is explained as

One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture is "hygge", which, although translated as "coziness" is more akin to "tranquility". Hygge is a complete absence of anything annoying, irritating, or emotionally overwhelming, and the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things. Hygge is often associated with family and close friends.

I LOVE this about the Danes and I really felt it last night. They even gave me two glass candles designed by a famous Danish designer, Piet Hein We had a nice conversation over dinner about our families, religion and Danish politics. After dinner they made coffee and we sat in the living room and had coffee and the cake I brought with this precious little tea set. I told them I was going to Berlin next weekend and Tove got very excited, Berlin being one of her favorite cities. She brought out a big scrapbook of things from Berlin and even gave me a book of maps to take with me! I had such a great time with them, even though it was a different experience than I have ever had before.

After that I went to go hang out at one of the Dane's flats that I had met a couple weeks ago at the DIS party. It was fun to go from a Danish family setting to a younger Danish crowd, seeing that it is pretty much the same as in the US. There were about 14 or 15 of us, me being the only girl for most of the time until 1 more came. But hey, I am not complaining :) It was very unusual for me, because usually the ratio is WAY more girls (at Elon and in the DIS program). Again, we talked a lot about politics (Danes LOVE to talk about politics). They played a bunch of Danish songs and all sang together (video on Facebook soon). At about 1:30 they decided they wanted to go out finally, WHEW. Way too late for me, so I made my way home.

It was my first time really venturing out into the city by myself and spending time with the Danes--an accomplishment if I might say so myself. I'm glad I can now say I really enjoyed the Danes!

digital natives.

A blog I wrote in reference to my Virtual Worlds and the Digital Consumer class:

My parents always ask me how in the world I can text so fast. My response? I don't know, I just can. My aunt wonders how in the world I can figure out how to upload pictures from any digital camera. My response? Honestly, I don't know. I just can. My teachers find it amazing that I can listen to music on YouTube, talk to my peers, and write a news article all at one time. My response? It seems easy to me, I don't know. Its just something I can do.

To turn the tables, I often wonder a similar question: Why can't you? And with this question I bring forward the discussion of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants.

In John Palfrey and Urs Gasser's book, Born Digital, they discuss the idea of two kinds of generations, the digital natives and the digital immigrants. Digital natives being those "born after 1980, when social digital technologies came online. They all have access to networked digital technologies. And they all have the skills to use those technologies." (1) Digital immigrants, on the other hand, "learned how to email and use social networks late in life . You know them by the lame jokes and warnings about urban myths that they still forward to large cc: lists." (4)

In short, Digital Natives are the young people and Digital Immigrants are the, well, older parents. As part of the Digital Native community at a fairly young age, I was often blinded by the fact that I belonged to such a community, rather I assumed that the skills were inherent in all people. Yet as I have gotten older I have come to learn that there is a wide gap between the two generations. Maybe even worthy of a large, MIND THE GAP, sign.

I do think it is critical that both the natives and immigrants learn to understand the inverse. Natives must learn to have patience with those who struggle to understand technology and be willing to teach them the little tricks that make technology so readable to us as natives. Immigrants, on the other hand, must make the effort to learn the technologies, or at least try to understand why digital natives do the things they do. This mutual understanding will lead to a more cohesive movement forward into this digital reality.

So Digital Natives: Next time you encounter a Digital Immigrant having trouble working something on the computer or turning on the DVD player, take a second away from your cell phone and Facebook and YouTube and your homework, and teach them a little something!

And Digital Immigrants: Don't get mad when your son or daughter is texting while you are trying to tell them something or Facebooking and doing homework simultaneously...we grew up this way and don't know anything different! Learn to understand this lifestyle.

Cheers to a world where there is digital democracy for all.

an unfortunate morning.

As some of you may of heard, I was hit by a biker yesterday morning in a pretty nasty accident.

To paint the picture for you: There were about 20 of us waiting for the 6A bus to school at 8 am. One bus came and it was too full so it wouldn't let us on. Another empty bus passed by and didn't even stop. We were all pretty worried because it was creeping up on 8:15 and class was to start in 15 minutes and still no bus in sight. In Copenhagen, there are 3 lanes. The sidewalk for pedestrians, the bike lane for bikers and then the actual road for cars (in that order). To get on a bus, you have to cross the bike lane and stand at the end of it so the bus will stop. Some people were already standing on the edge to get in line for the next arriving bus. I was standing on the edge of the sidewalk with my back toward the bike lane and turned slightly to begin to cross the bike lane, and the next seconds are somewhat of a blur, but a guy on a bike coming very fast hit me from behind and next thing I knew I was on the ground with a nose gushing with blood and my entire face was stinging.

People ran over to help me, but all I could hear was Danish and I had no idea what they were saying. I kept trying to listen for one of my friends and I finally heard my friend Mike speaking English. I know I sat there for a few seconds honestly in shock over what had just happened. They got me up and sat me on the bench by the bus stop and got me tissues for my nose and face. There was a man there and he called the ambulance. I found out later that this was the guy who hit me, so it was very nice of him to stick around and make sure I got help.

It was then that I really started to feel the pain and kept going in and out. I couldn't hear anything and then I started feeling like I was going to throw up. I told my friend Mike I was going to pass out and just hoped that the ambulance would come soon. Unfortunately, it did not. 25 minutes later (which seemed like an eternity) the ambulance came. My friend Mike came with me to the hospital (Mike- you are amazing!) where they really didn't really do much to help me, unfortunately.

I am somewhat frustrated with the Danish healthcare system after this experience. Honestly though, I think that is just how the Danes are. They are a very minimalist society and it transgresses into their medical practices. They said I could have possibly broken my nose and gotten a minor concussion, but I would have to wait a couple days to get an x-ray after the swelling went down. So they told me to go home, meaning Mike and I walked home from the hospital. Their healthcare practices are just totally different than in America and it is hard for me to get used to.

This is a picture...


Needless to say, everyone has been extremely supportive. To everyone who has helped me, cooked for me, called me, messaged me--I am more than grateful. To Mike who was my first rescuer and took me to the hospital, I literally don't know what I would have done if you weren't there. You are a lifesaver. To my Australian friend Tom who was the only one at Keops since all my other friends were at school, thanks for the tea, cookies, and coffee and for sitting with me for 3 hours- you are a lifesaver. To Maren who brought me chocolate, such a sweetheart. To Julie and Margot who came home on their lunch break and sat on my floor and ate their lunch (love you both). To Emily who brought me medicine, made me dinner, brought me breakfast and took me to the doctor today- I don't know what I would do without you. To Suz who came over as soon as she got home and raged about their healthcare with me (you are my other half). To my Little who can make me feel better even if she is halfway across the world- I am so lucky to be your big. To Vic who will run home to Skype to talk to me at the drop of a dime--thanks for always being there. To my parents for sitting on Skype with me and making sure I am getting taken care of--love and miss you. And to everyone else who has sent me messages, texts, and phone calls. I really feel like I have a family here and it means so much.

some firsts. short study tour!

I experienced a couple of firsts in the past three days.

My first time leaving Copenhagen overnight.
My first time not eating 730 Keops dinner two nights in a row (sigh).
My first time ever staying in a hostel.
My first time being away from the "keops crew."
My first time eating a traditional Danish meal.
My first time meeting Finnish boys.
My first time I felt like returning to Keops was returning home.

There were a lot of firsts and some were good, some not so good. So where did all these firsts come from? Well, on Thursday morning at 5:45 am I awoke to go on my first "short study tour." Within DIS there are different programs, most of them being some kind of major, and students choose a program they are interested in. For instance, since I am a Strategic Communications major at Elon, I chose to be in the Communications & Mass Media (CMM) program so that I could learn more about international communications. It is a great way to focus study tours and classes so that they are specific to your interests. Each program then goes on a short and long study tour during the semester. Our short study tour took us to Ebeltoft, Kolding and Ødense, all different parts of Denmark.

After arriving at the crack of dawn on Thursday, we took off to visit the Jelling Stones. The Jelling stones are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, raised by King Gorm (the first King of Denmark) and his son Harald Bluetooth, to celebrate the Danes conversion to Christianity. They are kind of like the "birth certificate" of Denmark. We then went to lunch at an Inn and this is where I had my first traditional Danish meal. I hate to say it, but I really don't like Danish food. At all. I feel as though the Danish cuisine is made up of everything that I don't like. Nevertheless, it was nice to be fed rather than cook and get to know the people in my program a little better.



Our next stop was The European Film College in Ebeltoft. We were welcomed with coffee and bread & jam, which was wonderful. We listened to a lecture by Søren Høy, a film journalist, writer, and former TV host and also the principal of the college. He gave us a lot of great tips and really stressed that experience is key in a career, rather than education. After that we had dinner at the school and watched Twilight: New Moon in their big theatre.


Then came my next first: the hostel. The Ebeltoft hostel was struggling. The room was TINY and 4 of us were smashed together. I slept on the top bunk and didn't really sleep a wink. To say the least, my first hostel experience was not the greatest.

Friday we headed to Ødense, a town that I had actually been to before for my Hans Christian Andersen field study. Here we visited Brandts, a center of art and culture that had an Art Hall, Photo Art and Danish Media museum. We also visited TV 2, which is a Danish government-owned television station. We heard a presentation by one of the chief editors, then one of the anchors of the crime show came and spoke to us. We also got to meet "the Anderson Cooper of Denmark" but unfortunately they didn't tell us this until after he left so I didn't get a picture.




We arrived at our new hostel in Kolding and it was AWESOME. It definitely revived my view of a hostel from the previous night. After dinner at the hostel all of us went out to a pub called "Lanteern" with our new Finnish friends. The Architecture students were also staying at the same hostel, so all of them were there too. Needless to say, the bar was filled with Americans, something I have found is hard to get away from cause there are SO many DIS students. After a late-night pizza eat (very common here in Denmark, pizza places are EVERYWHERE and they stay open all night usually), we went back to the hostel and crashed after not getting much sleep the night before.



Saturday, our final day, began at Trapholt, a museum for art, design and handicraft. We got to see an awesome exhibition displaying the work of Peter Callesen called "Out of Nothing," an exhibit where everything was cut from paper. Here are some pictures from that:




We also got to hear from Trapholt's PR director, Trine Nissen, so it was neat to see what she had to say about her job there. After that we went over to Koldinghus, a royal castle built in the 13th century.

We finished off the trip with a great lunch in Kolding at a place called Lucca, where we got Turkey sandwiches with cheese, bacon, cucumber, lettuce, tomato and this sauce that was kind of like a mixture of ranch and thousand island. Great way to finish off the tour!!

Overall, it was a good trip. It was definitely hard being away from Copenhagen and Keops, where I feel comfortable now. Nonetheless, it was a good opportunity to get back out of my comfort zone and learn more about Denmark and about myself!

For now, hej hej!

i know.

17 days down and it is starting to feel like a lifestyle. I have often heard that the first couple weeks, maybe even months, of study abroad can feel like a "vacation." Whether it is figuring out what bus to take, or which grocery store has the best bargains, it is hard NOT to feel like a tourist in a whole new culture with only 2 days of "survival danish" under your belt.

Yet I am proud, and lucky, to say that we are 17 days in and I no longer feel helpless in this city. I'm learning the bus system pretty well and am beginning to feel well acquainted with the metro and the S-Train. I know that "bus stop Netto" is a shorter walk to Keops than Føtex and nicer than "ghetto Netto," but the best deals are at the "cheap place" next to Fitness World. (The names are great, right?) I know that I have to get on the bus at least 30 minutes before class just in case the bus breaks down (which totally happened the other morning). I know that at 7:30 I can walk down into our common room and see at least 10 smiling faces to eat dinner with. I know that Digestive cookies are great with not only peanut butter, but Nutella as well.I know that you can't turn the shower on too high or it will soak the entire bathroom. I know that I really can make 3 meals a day for myself. I know that laundry really isn't as hard as it may seem and that the heater in my room can dry snow-covered pants in less than an hour. I know that even though many of my peers are extremely intelligent, I still have a lot to offer. I know that sometimes the impossible really is possible.

Each day brings new opportunities to learn and more things to fit into my new Copenhagen lifestyle. Today I joined the gym and tomorrow I will venture into a new part of the city to visit a PR agency for my Advertising course. Who knows what the next day will bring?

Yet with all this, I do know one thing for sure. I know that I made the right decision to study abroad. I know that I was meant to come to Copenhagen, take classes with DIS and meet all of the amazing people I have met thus far.

I know I am right where I am supposed to be.