It’s been over a week since I arrived, and I’m finally starting to really feel at home in Denmark.  Right now, I’m watching the handball match between Denmark and Norway with my host family.  Handball is like a mixture of basketball and soccer, with the basically gameplay of basketball and soccer-style goals (ach-em, I mean, football).  Denmark is behind in the game right now.

Last night, I went out with a group of friends from my Danish class.  We had a Danish Café Night where our teacher took us out for beer and sandwiches, and we all decided to go to a bar near DIS called Den Glade Gris (The Happy Pig) for 10 DKK shots (10 for 100 DKK).  I had a great time with them!  I think of all my classes, Danish will be the best; we have a really funny group of people all of whom I like a lot.

Today was a gorgeous day with sunshine and beautiful weather.  Chilly, but definitely bearable, and the sunshine and clear skies made up for the cold.  I decided to spend the day wandering around Copenhagen on my own.  Sometimes I really like being by myself – I have the opportunity to observe, think, and reflect more carefully than I would were I with a companion.  Don’t get me wrong – I love exploring with others – it’s just that sometimes I also really like my alone time.

Anyway, today was a happy (Danish!) day overall.  I had no class (my Tuesday classes were either canceled or don’t start for a few weeks), so I had lots of time to lose myself in the city.  Near the end of the day, I walked to the Rundetårn (Round Tower) and walked up to the top to watch the sunrise/see the view.  I came home, and had a delicious meal of mashed potatoes and beef stroganoff with my host family.  We drank tea, watched the handball game, and now I’m in my room staying up too late and contemplating getting an orange from the kitchen to snack on.

I put up my map of Europe and a map of Copenhagen in my room.  I haven’t yet gotten to play my ukulele for my host family; I keep forgetting to pull it out and play Paparazzi for them.  I recently found out that Maria loves Gwen Stefani, which is awesome.  I told her about how I like to make pancake art and we decided we have to make pancakes together soon.  (Maybe we’ll do it this weekend?)

I have not seen a truly fat person since I arrived in Denmark.  I mean, there are chubby people, and probably even overweight people, but I don’t believe I have seen anything close to the size of people I see weekly (if not daily) in the US.  It’s surprising, because the food doesn’t seem to be that much healthier than what I eat at home.  There aren’t too many vegetables, and there is lots of meat and potatoes and carrots.  The differences (between American/Danish nutrition) I’ve noticed that seem significant are:

• In Denmark, people eat three meals a day and do not snack in between.  If they do snack, they have fresh fruit and nothing else.
• In the US, I feel like eating on the go has become normal, but in Denmark, my host family finds the time to sit down and have a meal together every single night.  Mealtimes are a chance to catch up with family, relax, and without any distractions really engage with each other.  If not with family, Danes use meals as a time to catch up with friends.  If a family member comes home late, the rest of the family sits with him to eat.  It’s not really about the food – the meal is an excuse to spend quality time together.
• My host family eats at home all the time.  They make their own breakfast, bring their lunches, and have dinner at home.  Eating out is a big luxury.  I’m not sure how all the restaurants here survive.
• Dessert is a luxury to be enjoyed on holidays.  My family here doesn’t have ice cream or cakes or cookies in the house.  (As far as I’ve seen.)  Families might eat food higher in fat and lower in fiber, but any added calories in the meals are made up for by the fact that dessert likely consists of a piece of fruit or a cup of hot tea.

I love the food my host mom makes.  She is such an awesome cook that I’m a little intimidated to make something of my own.  What if my family doesn’t like it?  I’m still trying to finding something to cook…I’d like to do Thai yellow curry, but I kind of think something Mexican or Mexican-influenced would be more appropriate.  We’ll see!  I’ll definitely update here when I finally prepare dinner on my own.

The food here is so good and I eat so much that I’m a bit worried about gaining the weight that I lost back, so I’ll have to be conscious of that over the next few weeks and months.  I was okay a few days ago, on the weekend, but of course I’d like to continue losing while I’m here, if possible.  On that note, I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to join a gym while I’m here.  DIS has a special deal with a group of gyms called “Fitness World.”

This post is too long already.  Next time I’ll share some fun and short stories about my host family and classes and Denmark in general.