The Happiest Place in the world...

Nope, it's not Disney World!

My first weekend in Copenhagen has come to an end and I have to say, it exceeded any and all expectations I had. Yesterday (Saturday), we had a big orientation with all 540 international students! We learned really funny and interesting facts about Denmark that I think I'll share with all of you. From now on, I will add interesting things that I learn about the country! Here's the start...

- Denmark is the happiest place in the world :-D

- People here generally don't have a religion
- There is no word for please
- CBS is the biggest business school in Europe with 17,000 students and currently 1800 summer students (540 international)
- Danes from 15-19 hold the European record for alcohol consumption
- Denmark was the first country to ever legalize porn (in the 60s)
- "Skol" means cheers
- "Takk" means thank you
- On graduation day, drunk high schoolers parade around in buses cheering and screaming with music blasting to celebrate. The bus stops at each person's house and they take one drink at every house. The bus holds at least 20 people... uh oh!
    - our first day was HS graduation day

After orientation there was a welcome BBQ where we ate typical American food.. oh well. Then we came back to our rooms (conveniently I am in the only dorm on campus!) and got ready for the welcome party that was at a bar on campus.  We found a place in our dorm, PH, called the "common room" and all pre-gamed there for the evening. The welcome party was really fun since everyone there was an international student at CBS for the summer. We ended up going to a couple other places and then coming back to hang out in the common room again.

 

 Above is all of the kids I have been hanging out with - from all over the world! Below is a bunch of us walking on the beautiful streets of Copenhagen

Today (Sunday) Anna, Mannat and I went to Strøget Street, which is a beautiful street with amazing shops and cute cafes! We ate a great lunch, egg and cheese on a "bagel" (except that it was really just a sandwich, not even close to a bagel), and walked around on the street. I, shockingly, got away without buying anything! It might be because the stores closed at 4...but we'll pretend otherwise. We then came back to PH and my roommate Lisa and her friend Mona (we call them Mona Lisa) were going to a park right next to our dorm. I went with them and we discovered a huge park with elephants and a castle right in the middle.  It was so beautiful! There, we looked through a guide book (or at least Lisa did, since it was in German and I don't quite know that language yet) and figured out the best way to get to all the places we want to go while we're here.

 Strøget Street

 Above is my roommate Lisa and I in front of the huge castle in the park!

At night, we went to Nyhavn, which is an area where there are a lot of pretty boats and nice restaurants. We bought some wine and beer and sat on the edge of the water. It was so beautiful and, truthfully, odd to be openly drinking in public!

Tomorrow I will pick up my bike and be a true Dane :)

xo,

JOJ