After 1 week in Copenhagen

Time elapsed: 1 week
Time remaining: 5 weeks

So, what's life like after a week in Copenhagen? Honestly, still surreal. I'm very happy to be here. I don't know how you could look around at this place and not be happy. It's very beautiful.

Also, the streets are exceedingly clean. Add to that the flat fronts of the brightly colored buildings, and it feels like something out of a movie set,like I'll round a corner to Gene Kelly dancing towards me. Seriously:

I mean, sure, there's stuff that's hard. Grocery shopping is it's own special puzzle (had to go to four different stores to find salt, e.g.). I keep getting lost on my bike ride home. I miss my friends, especially when I see places and things I think they'd like. There's still a pile of stuff to fix and work out with respect to moving to Hamburg, hindered by bureaucracy and German technical jargon.

 This week's grocery finds: bread (for < $7USD/loaf), peanut butter and coarse salt:

I'm settling in to the math department here, and am really looking forward to helping out with their grad student seminar, which is being run on the stuff I work on.


The math department owns a fleet of bikes which it loans out to guests, so I am borrowing a bike. This saves me the trouble of buying my own, since they're pretty indispensable here. I'd say it takes me ~ the same amount of time to get to the uni by bike or by bus, and it's really very nice by bike. I cross a canal, and get to see ducks and those weird birds with white feet.

However, I managed to get lost two days in a row on the way home (by bike), Wednesday quite epically, in part because my landmark for getting home was the Strøget (roughly ''Stroy" (as in ''destroy'')+"ya" (yum without the m)'), which was not labeled on the tourist maps that you will see around the city. It had gotten very cold and I couldn't quite feel my hands by the time I made it home---my winter gloves are thin leather lined with thinner cashmere.

Tuesday, I made it out to Studenterhuset (a student space/bar) for the weekly free swing dance night. The music was a bit older and overall faster than my usual taste, and the crowd showed amazing energy and endurance. Especially as I'd peg the median age somewhere in the early/mid-30's with a standard deviation of about 8 and a roughly normal distribution. I still felt pretty exhausted by the move, and cut out ''early'' (11pm).

Sometime during the week, I discovered that the television in the apartment (a sleek, decently sized flatscreen, placed below an ikea futuristic wall shelf full of antique Danish-history books, had quite a few channels, including 4 of the German standards (Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and NDR). RTL hosts ''Wer wird Millionär?" which I find both entertaining and educational, and I caught a 2hr special of it Friday. Also, TV with commercials in a language you don't know is less annoying.

Friday was also remarkable for the clearing of clouds:

Saturday, I made it to Pauldan Bogcafe, which had been a book store and print shop and had an explosive thrown into it during WWII because of stuff that had been put in the window in protest (of the Nazi regime). Post-war, it's been rebuilt as a chic cafe (and bookstore). I sat there for several hours and did some work, including resubmitting my paper and working on the next.

I've decided that I should try to do (at least) one ''touristy'' thing per week(end). This weekend I picked the Danish Jewish Museum, which is housed in the King of Denmark's former boathouse, with interior designed by Libeskind.

Heading towards said museum:









The thing on the right is the national museum.

Canal by the palace:

Palace:(Christiansborg Slot)

King's Library:

The Danes have an interesting history regarding Jews in their country. When the sephardic Jew(ish merchants) were having troubles in Portugal (1600s), the King of Denmark invited them over, with the aim of expanding his country's trade and trades.

Speeding forward to WWII, Denmark has been lauded for saving its Jewish citizens. Between 400 and 800 Jews went to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, with only ~50 dying, and 7000-7550 were aided in escaping to Sweden. The government of Denmark was able to get a promise that they would not be moved to the camps in Germany (which I think made it easier for the Danes to further intercede on their behalf).

I also walked around and took pictures before settling in to Cafe Retro, the very hip coffee shop nearest me. I think at least 5 different languages were being spoken in there today (Danish, French, Spanish, English, Norwegian? (I knew it was Scandinavian, not Danish)) [Edit: I also heard something that could have been Russian/Polish/Ukrainian]. The prices are decent, and it's non-profit, which is interesting. Despite being open quite late, and being a coffee shop + bar, all noise dies down by about midnight.

I am amazed that I can be in the center of town and yet it is so quiet. I am sure some of this is due to good construction (brick with brick insulation, faced with more brick?).

To further illustrate how centrally located I am, here are some things that are within spitting distance:

• The King's library.  
• National Museum 
• The Ruins of (the two) previous castles under the current castle
• ThorvaldsensMuseum
• Jewish Museum
• Egyptian Musuem/ Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket
• Strøget

Here, have a nice picture I took of the plaza around the corner. That's the ''stork fountain'' in the middle: 

Days 0 and 1 to Copenhagen

Yesterday, I took the train from Berlin to Hamburg and Hamburg to Copenhagen. I was going to stop in Hamburg and look at an apartment that I am likely to sublet for the month of March (through a friend of a friend), but due to some problems, our train took ~ 4 hrs instead of 1hr 40min to get to Hamburg, which meant I had only enough time to fill out some paperwork with Deutsche Bahn to get some kind of refund, buy some food, and get on the next train. 

The train to Copenhagen was delightfully punctual, by contrast. The fastest train (which I was on) takes 4 hrs and 45 minutes. Also! It boards a ferry. The train. And then picks up again on the other side. You're required to get off the train during transit, so I went up and bought a bottle of water and a Rittersport with chocolate over a butter biscuit.

Random fact: This route between Hamburg and Copenhagen is called the Vögelfluglinie, i.e. the train line that goes as the bird flies. I know this because I've been watching ''Wer wird Millionär?"(German version of ''Who wants to be a Millionaire?")

I brought maybe 70% of my belongings with me and left the rest with my friend in Berlin who I was staying with and who has graciously agreed to let me store the rest.

As a result, I had my pack (this sort of thing)with some things strapped to it, my 24'' suitcase at maybe 60lbs, and my carryon bag also at max capacity. I'm sure I was a bit of a sight, and was definitely glad at what help I got entering and exiting various trains. I did not have the foresight to take a picture, but I promise one when I go to Hamburg. You can then all marvel at my packmule-ishness. 

I kind of regretted my packing decisions when I reached my friend Daniela's apartment (I stayed with her last night, and got my apartment here today). It's on the 4th floor OG., i.e. above the ground level. If you start counting at 1 instead of 0, then it's the 5th floor.  That was…well. I earned the chocolate I ate earlier :). 

I made it today in to the department, met people, got various keys, and my office. I include a picture of my view. My office number is 3.14. :) 

I would say today is honestly the first day it has really sunk in that I've moved to Europe, during my walk to the grocery store. 

I actually had a sort of surreal, magical walk to the store. En route, I crossed a plaza, near the Strøget, which is major pedestrian-only shopping area in the city center. I live around the corner. There was a group of musicians, with keyboard and violin, playing a waltz (and quite well). I took a little video to prove that I'm not making this up. :) I expected to see tango dancers materializing from thin air, but no such luck. 

The streets are so quaint and clean. It's hard for me to tell which are pedestrian-only, since the sidewalks and streets blend together. There are probably signs, which I don't understand. 

In other news, my stovetop appears to be broken. I ventured out to a different store (a Netto, this time) to grab some rapeseed oil so that I could bake dinner instead of frying it, as the oven works. 

For shopping and generally getting around, knowing German helps out.

Examples: 

Danish:  Torsk German: Dorsch (English: Cod) 

Danish:  Grønkål German: Grünkohl (English?: it's like very young, very curly kale?)

Danish: Rosenkål German: Rosenkohl (English: Brussel Sprouts)

Danish: Blomkål German: Blumenkohl (English: Cauliflower)

Danish:  Ingefær German: Ingwer (English: Ginger)

I've included a picture. This all ran me about 250 dkk, which is a bit less than 50 USD (conversion is about 5.5 dkk to 1 USD, 7.5 dkk to 1 euro). What I got: 

Müsli (750g)

Bag of apples

Bag of frozen Grünkohl

4 frozen Cod fillets 

500 g Brussel sprouts 

Ginger

2kg Yoghurt

1 dozen eggs

1kg rice (could only find parboiled)

lemon juice 

1 head of Broccoli 

~400kg dried chickpeas

lotion

I did feel kind of like I am some how research the lives of Homo Europeans or such with my logging and cataloging-type photo. I remember seeing a picture (probably in National Geographic) of the week's worth of groceries for families of different countries and different sizes, and how much it cost, and thought it was pretty neat.

[A few Copenhagen pictures, and the aforementioned movie.]

Europe: the Move, part 1

[Fore-note1: Lacking any current and awesome pictures, I will include a mural from Berlin from this summer

Fore-note 2: I debated whether people might be interested in this, the sort of ''behind the scenes'' stuff about the move, and figured I'd write it and see. Also, Megan said she'd read it ;)]
 =========

People keep asking me if I am excited.

Mostly, I worry.  I try to remind myself, though, of what I've already accomplished and the good things going on. 

• Have a job, or, will, in March. 
• Living in foreign countries. 
• Learning a foreign language. (No offense to the Danes, but I think I'll stick to German for now. )
• I have a local (German) bank account and cell phone. 
• I found someone to take over the lease to my apartment in Urbana (no meager feat)
• My worldly possessions are reduced to about 250 pounds of assorted stuff. 
• Schlepped said stuff across the ocean at very reasonable cost.
• Will have a nice place to live and math to do for 1.5 months, in Copenhagen, before Hamburg. That is, I will not be homeless or burning through all of my money before I even begin to work. 
• Have an appointment with the people who will give me my residence&work permit. 
• The people who grant residence&work permits speak/read/write English.
• I have made contact with some people about health insurance. 
• I have figured out which neighborhoods I'd like to live in, what websites to search, and what search criteria to use, and with the results made a spreadsheet to work off of. 

On to the stuff that is (somewhat quietly) freaking me out. The most prominent are 

(1) Finding a place to live in Hamburg 

(2) Getting health insurance 

(3) getting (1) and (2) so that I can get a residence&work permit on March 6th. 

I think I will tackle some of my troubles with housing and leave the health insurance debacle for another time. 

First, a word on the general state of the housing market in Hamburg. 

There were protests in October about the crazy rent increases. There is a severe shortage of housing. I read somewhere that it's in the top 4 highest-rent cities in Germany. 

I've found, I think, every website I could be searching for an apartment or a room (i.e. shared flat) on, and have subscribed to their emails where they send me daily the new ads that fit my search criteria. Great, ok. I have also touched base with the university's new group dedicated to ''housing for international guests'', which apparently I qualify as. 

Based on what I've seen, I will probably not get away with paying less than 500 euro rent pre-utilities, which can be ~ 720 euro after utilities, etc. My friend pays 330 euro pre-utilities in Berlin for a place that's nicer and bigger than any place I have any hope of renting in Hamburg for less than 575. 

To be fair, if I were willing to live >10km away from the uni, I could get cheaper rent. 

Various hurdles/concerns to do with the apartment-search:

Fees:  Most of the places are rented through a firm, and there are non-negligable fees, at 2.83 times the ''cold rent'' (pre-utilities cost, or base rent), >= 1700 euros (current conversion is about 1.3 euros/dollar).  

Deposit: To be expected, but is ~3x the ''cold rent'', so >= 1500 euros. 

Viewings: If you're lucky, there is a viewing date set in the ad, and you can make it. 

If you're not, you email them (and don't hear back or call them and leave a message on their voicemail. When they accumulate enough interested parties, they set a viewing date and time. I'm guessing this is random, or maximizing annoyance for the average interested party. 

Language: I guess this is obvious that it would be easier if I knew more German, and knew the German renting-phrases. Esp. as I need to leave voicemail. Here are some examples.

"n-Zimmer Wohnung": Ok, wohnung is apartment. In the states, n would be the number of bedrooms. Here, it's the number of rooms that are not (a) a kitchen, (b) a bathroom or (c) a hallway. 

"Miete zzgl NK" , despite what google translate tells you, is ''cold rent'', i.e. rent before heating/utilities 

NK=Nebenkosten = utilities, sometimes includes heat

"Nachtspeicherheizung", literally translates as "Night"+"storage"+"heating". What's that about? Why, of course they must mean *electric heat*. Which, by the way, is rather undesireable, being significantly more expensive than central/gas heat. 

EBK = Einbaukuche = '''built in kitchen''. This can mean sink+stovetop, or that plus any combination of the following: oven, fridge+freezer, dishwasher.

That is, there are places that have...maybe a sink? This blew my mind. 

For the interested, my search criteria: 

Min size (Min Große):  40 m^2  (~ 300 ft^2)

Min # ''Rooms'' (Min # Zimmer): 2        (e.g. bedroom + living/dining-room)

Max. Rent (euros):  500 (or, more recently, 550) 

Neighborhoods:  near the university (i.e. within a 6km circle), not in the red-light/former-red-light/punk areas. [Eimsbüttel, Eppendorf, Hoeheluft (Ost & West), Winterhude, Harvesthude, Lokstedt, some of Barmbek]