Get out the map, get out the map and lay your finger anywhere down

Wander
(verb)
1. To move about without a definite destination or purpose.
2. To go by an indirect route or at no set pace; amble: wander toward town.
3. To proceed in an irregular course; meander.
4. To go astray: wander from the path of righteousness.
5. To lose clarity or coherence of thought or expression.
(source: thefreedictionary.com)

I didn't come into DIS with many expecations about the program (this attitude, according to one of the interns' welcome speeches, is the desired state of mind.); however, what I did expect was to fulfill thefreedictionary.com's first three definitions of the verb "to wander," while never approaching #4 or #5.

Today, after 3 days of forced and awkward orientation, I began my wandering adventure.

I met up with three kids from my Danish class for a little exploring after the day's scheduled activities. John, Madeline and I had earlier explored the Strøget (the Newbury Street of Copenhagen), finding myriad overpriced clothing stores, ice cream shops and bars... and one "Erotica Museum." Meanwhile, Walter had discovered a stairwell in the middle of a street somewhere that apparently led to nowhere. We wanted to find this mysterious, enchanted staircase, too, so off we went.


Our initial goal was quickly forgotten when we came to a square off of Vestergade and noticed a group of Danes running around a giant inflatable can of Tuborg. One at a time, they ran backward around the can 3 times, then they would get hoisted by the remaining members of the group and drop a ring onto a peg, like at a carnival. We stood in the middle of the square and watched them. This was much more entertaining than 'The Mystery of the Hidden Staircase' (which turned out to be a public bathroom, by the way). After the group finished their task, they celebrating by toasting their success with real bottles of beer. Then they turned to us and waved. We went over to say hi, and it turns out that they are students at Copenhagen Business School and this was a teamp-building task for their orientation. After chatting for a bit, we continued on our merry way.

Allowing ourselves one tourist moment for the afternoon, Walter broke out his map. We selected a street at (almost) random: Vesterbrogade. And we were off.

When we reached Rådhuspladsen, Madeline broke into hysterics and Walter blushed. I asked John what was up. "That man's shorts are really small." Sure enough, at a pølsen (sausage) cart, there was an old man wearing a pair of Denim cutoffs that were more the size of a wide belt. It was obscene. I was in shock. "I love this city," I thought, as we crossed the street.
(it was worse than this! much, much worse.)

We walked for about 45 minutes, taking the scenic route. Along the way, we found a block with an awful lot of tatoo parlors. The tatoo parlors then came to intermingle with bars, then sex shops, then a stripper/go-go dancer emporium. Inexplicably, there also were a lot of classy-looking Indian restaurants sprinkled in for good measure. Turns out, we were in the former red-light district of Copenhagen. Super.

It was raining, a steady mist and the city looked beautiful and old. We were all walking together, but the group was quiet, each lost in our thoughts on our new home.

And we kept walking. Past the neighborhood of Muslim immigrants, with the smell of schwarma in the air, Arabic writing on the signs, halal meat in the windows. Past trendy cafes and hair salons. Past the "blue video store," which advertised "bondage and spanking" and was conveniently located next to the "my little pony" shop. Then someone realized we were walking in the wrong direction, and probably had been for the past 20 minutes. It started to rain harder, but we continued, not wanting to wimp out and take the 6A back to Nørreport Station.

We finally made it back to the metro, and each headed back to hir respected host families. I was damp from the rain, but smiled the whole train ride home. Copenhagen is beginning to feel like it can be mine. I can't wait to wander again tomorrow.