danish is terrible (i am terrible at it)

I am out of the hotel and settled into my residence hall. I'll take some pictures once I put away my things so that I'll have some documented proof that it was at one point clean. First day of class was yesterday and I can already tell that I will never learn to speak Danish. At all. It is terrible.

What was really odd was the way the classes were set up. About two hundred or so of us (international students) were in a lecture hall and had to sit through a quick orientation explaining how the three-week language class was going to be set up. That in itself wasn't too bad, but what was strange was once the lecture concluded a teacher would randomly pick students out of the audience to decide who was in what class. I guess when two hundred people collectively cannot speak Danish it doesn't really matter how classes are organized.

In my class I ended up with 3 other people from California, 5 or so Australians, and three ladies from Switzerland, France and England. An odd collection of nationalities but I can take solace in the fact that none of us are any good at Danish. I am hoping that at the end of three weeks I can at least say "Hello I don't speak Danish" in an understandable way. Sadly I think this is but a dream. I was going to take a class in Danish during the semester but if my abilities are stagnant by the end of the three week course I may just pass. While I would like to learn Danish I also want to have lots of free time to hang out around and about the city, the country, and hopefully other places in Europe.

Most people seem to be understanding about my linguistic handicap. The bus drivers have saved me from further confusion many a times (and I've only been here four days). I've had people approach me on the street to offer help as I stared into a map trying to figure out exactly where I was. The food service here, however, has been less helpful. Being unable to read Danish I've found myself passing the responsibility onto whomever I am purchasing food from by just asking what they recommend. Otherwise I would be left to pick food items off a menu based off of price or just choosing at random. In some places this has worked well, in other places not so much. I can't blame them for not speaking English since I am the foreigner in their country, but as an almost-white American it is my right to feel that everyone should bend over backwards for me. At least now that I've moved into the hall I'll be able to find some people to go out with who can act as my translator.

As a quick aside, here are some observations I have made in my short stay so far:

• The good thing about not having wool socks when it is -6 degrees outside is that you can't feel your toes after 20 minutes so it really doesn't make a difference
• The good thing about the Kroner being less than the dollar is that I feel awesome dropping 100 dkk on food even though it is really only 20 dollars
• I don't think it is a product of culture shock to say that the street signs in Copenhagen suck. They just do.
• It's tough to feel home sick when you come from a terrible home so i got that going for me
• Danish people may have a similar affinity for Ted Danson as Germans do for David Hasselhoff. Otherwise I can't explain why he is on at least one channel at all times. The other night while trying to fall asleep I saw him on no less than three different channels within an hour or two. Crazy.
• When I first got here I noticed that none of the bikes had those bulky chain locks that everyone uses back home. I assumed this is because everyone in Denmark is trusting. It turns out that it is actually just because they had smaller, stealthier locks on the back tire. Please note that I did not find this out by trying to steal one.