By Beth Browse-Blogger and Student

Hello from Aarhus

Wow. Made it. It’s the weirdest feeling. I feel like I have to keep pinching myself (mentally) to remind myself I’m in Denmark and I’m going to be here (not “there”, anymore) for a year. It’s a good feeling though So today I have to go register at the university’s International Centre and pick up the key to my room, which I’m so excited for. I can’t wait to unpack, and not have to be in between places anymore. I’m also really looking forward to not carrying around so many bags with me.

This morning when I woke up I could really feel it in my arms and my shoulders, all my muscles are aching. It was really only just a couple of trips up and down stairs, and on and off a few trains (plus lifting it into the overheard shelf on the last one) but after 22hours on a plane and not having slept for more than a few hours all week, I was struggling by the end of the day.

Yesterday, after getting off the plane at 7am I caught a train into Copenhagen, arrived just after 8 and left my bags at the “baggage drop” place (for 110kr! = around $20, for 3 hours) and went for a walk. I just wanted to stretch my legs after such a long flight. The first thing I noticed was the wind – I nearly got blown into the wall, and this poor bird got blown upside down and then into a fence. Tivoli was right outside the train station, and it was closed but you could still see everything from outside the fence. I walked around just having a look at the city and letting it sink in that now I was in Denmark.

It was a nice day – about 5 degrees, so I’m glad I had my gloves, and blue sky with a few clouds. I just walked for about an hour and when I realised I had no clue where I was I went back to the train station to get a map. I stopped at a cafe there and got a delicious “kanensnejl” from the “wienerbrod” (what the rest of the world calls “danishes”) plate. There was a bowl of apples on the counter so I got one of those as well, and I actually laughed out loud at the receipt, because it said “impulsevare” (impulse item) and it totally was on an impulse that I bought it, but you would just never expect to see that on a receipt in Australia. I used their wifi to look up the National Museum (which I knew was free entry, and probably warm) and luckily it was only a few streets away. I spent about an hour there because I had to catch my train to Aarhus, but I would go back again next time I’m in Copenhagen. There were loads of artefacts and stuff from Viking times which were pretty cool, but then there were also sections from the last 200 years and 1950-now.

It was nice to kind of get a bit of an overview of the history of my new home for this year. So anyway, then got my train to Aarhus, and saw a couple of puddles that were frozen over and some snow on the side of the road which got me a bit excited and also saw loads of those huge windmills that we have a couple of in Australia but I haven’t seen that often. Also saw lots of stuff made from concrete, and lots of really square, new looking buildings with loads of space between them. I didn’t really get to see much of Aarhus yesterday, but I did like what I saw. Mostly I just remember the roof of the Art museum – a kind of corridor made from rainbow glass that runs in a circle on the top of the building. I’ve never travelled on my own before, and even though I panicked about a lot of things (the Singapore stopover, getting the right train, dropping my phone down the crack in the seat and not being able to dig it out until a German lady helped me get the seat cushions off), everything was fine.

Everyone here has been really polite and helpful and speaks flawless English – I tried out the little Danish I knew a few times but always got the reply in English. I’m so glad Denmark is the first place I’m travelling alone. It did occur to me more than once that everyone in this country is a stranger, and it made me miss everyone lots more, but I’ve had a couple of emails from my family etc. and it really is such a good feeling Another good feeling was climbing into bed last night – soooo amazingly soft and comfortable! After so many hours awake and in an plane seat, really, nothing can top that lol. Still a bit jetlagged (or maybe just tired) but hopefully it will wear off soon