In This Post I… Am Older Than Everyone

Cake and Cheap Beer for Every Occassion!

I am working out some bugs on my website… I know that only some of you can view captions under my photos, so I’ll do my best to explain them in text at the end of each post. Also, some of you have left some wonderful comments on my posts! I am working on making those public to everyone so that I can reply to them. Thanks for being patient!

Kate

I wake up in the morning to the sound of my roommate watching Netflix… in the shower. Did I mention all of my roommates are 20? All. Of. Them. I am the shortest and oldest member of my house. The matriarch! The spinster! 

When her show (presumably) ends and she exits the bathroom, I hurry in to get ready for my day. Carissa and I are meeting at a loppemarked (flea market) to look for some room decorations. I am specifically hoping to find a jewelry tray for my desk. The flea market is inside a culture center, and Carissa and I spend more time browsing through the pamphlets on upcoming events than we do in the market. Nothing really catches our eyes there, so we head out to a nearby cafe where we meet Alea (A-Lay-Uh), another Fulbright student who is spending one semester in Aarhus and the other in Greenland. 

Together, we walk to the university for orientation day. There will be lectures, games, merch, and cake! The International coordinator for the university, Gitte, tells us that “The Danes eat cake on birthdays, to celebrate, and sometimes just because it is Monday.”

While waiting in line to pick up our student IDs, Carissa, Alea, and I meet some other international students. They are all doing exchange semesters, so again, younger than Carissa, Alea, and me. As a group, we attend the “Welcome to Aarhus University” lecture and then listen to the upcoming events presentation by Studenterhuset, a volunteer organization that runs a cafe, bar, and weekly events by and for students at AU. The University also encouraged us to take advantage of “Friday Bars” which are happy hour type events run by a different department each Friday of the semester. This is very different from the advice I received during my Columbia orientation!

Carissa and I also meet Alea’s roommates. Alea lives in another house run by the M&Ms, and her house has several Aussies. We meet Tom and Tai, and they inform me that there’s another Wisconsinite living in their house! 

Then, we head out to the lawns to play some games! They have spike ball, viking chess (kuub), cornhole, and frisbee. The lawn is busy so we just grab a frisbee and throw it around. Alea played for the ultimate frisbee team at her school, Oberlin, and we discover that she is much better at frisbee than we are.

After that, we walk around campus. Carissa and I meet Hannah who is a student from the US doing her entire bachelor’s degree at AU. She’s only 18! After graduating high school at 16 she went to gymnasium in Denmark, which is basically pre-college. Students there receive a specialized education in business, science, or the arts, before going on to pursue their bachelor’s degree. 

Carissa and I encourage her to go meet other students in her program, then steal Alea from the Aussies and head to the student bar. We mingle there for a bit with some Hungarian masters students, enjoying very cheap beer, before heading to the bus stop to pick up Carissa’s bike! 

32 bus stops later, we find ourselves in the suburbs again. She tests out the bike, has the seat lowered, and ensures the lock and basket are in good condition. After making the purchase, we walk back to the bus and again beg the bus driver to let us bring the bike onto the bus “just this once.” 

When I get home, I speak with my parents briefly and then climb into bed. I’m exhausted!

Image Descriptions:

Top Left: The Lake on AU’s Campus

Rop Right: Carissa and Me on Campus

Third Image: A Fancy Ambulance/Fire Station I Spotted During the Walk to Campus

Fourth Image: AU Intro Day Lecture

Fifth Image: One of the Law Buildings and Cafes at AU

Sixth Image: Carissa with her Bike on the Bus