Making Mistakes in Odense
Stories about mistakes so far
I’ve been in Denmark for nearly a month now, which means I have a month’s worth of embarrassing stories to share. Countless times, I have gotten lost, missed buses, and made cultural mistakes. And when I say countless, I truly mean it. I have the worst luck of anyone you have ever met.
Taking wrong turns
The first few days I arrived in Denmark, I had to stay in a hotel until I could move into my rental house. After two nights, my friend Tatiana moved into her apartment, and she graciously let me crash for two more nights. All I had to do was check out in the morning and walk ten minutes with my luggage. Easy enough, you might think. But apparently navigation is not my forte. At some point, I took a wrong turn, and I was hopelessly lost in a city where the street signs don’t even make sense. To make matters worse, I couldn’t use my phone and it was raining. Luckily, everyone in Denmark speaks a passing level of English. I went from person to person, mispronouncing the word “Osterbro” until they knew where I was trying to get. Nine inquiries later, I managed to ask a delivery man who had just finished his route. He offered to drive me to the apartment complex. Since I had been walking for an hour and a half, I quickly took him up on his offer. Tatiana was extremely confused when I finally showed up at her apartment, looking like a wet dog. I swore I would never get lost again in Odense, which is a promise I have broken at least twice a week since then.
Fork and knife for nachos
The following night, I went out to the city center with Tatiana and my Danish friend Solveigh. We walked around and explored the shopping center and other sights to see. Eventually, we wound up at a restaurant called Froggy’s. A quick scan of the menu showed that, ironically, the only options in English were the burgers. I got a pulled pork sandwich, and when it came out, it was massive. Probably the biggest burger I’ve seen in a while. I couldn’t fit it into my mouth without making a mess, but you bet I tried. As I looked around the restaurant, I realized a lot of people were staring at me. I asked Solveigh why I was gathering attention, and she proceeded to explain how Danes prefer to use a fork and knife for most food. She demonstrated with the nachos she ordered. A chip on the fork, spread guac with a knife, and enjoy. I decided to play along with my burger just so that no one would look at me anymore.
This hall or that?
The University of Southern Denmark is probably one of the most confusing buildings to have ever been constructed. The architecture of the building was designed after Danish ideals of equality. No buildings truly stand apart from one another, and the interiors are all wildly similar. In addition, every building is connected by an above ground hallway, so you can’t even use your surroundings to orient yourself. A main entrance wasn’t even included in the original construction of the university. Over the years, the university has added different works of art and interior decorations to make the building easier to navigate, but none of the improvements seemed to work well enough to help me get to class.
If you don’t know where your classroom is, then chances are that no one else does either. Despite asking many people for directions, I still managed to be late to every class for the first two weeks. An-hour-late-to-a-two-hour-class late. I’ve figured it out now, but the first few weeks were rough.
A victim
Two weeks ago, I took a weekend trip with friends to Copenhagen. We planned to get a bus to the city at 5:00, and we had to get to the buses on our own. Naturally, I missed the bus. Determined to get to Copenhagen as quickly as possible, I rode my bike immediately to the train station to hop on the next train. In my rush, I didn’t lock my bike. My trip to Copenhagen was extremely fun and I am so happy I got the chance to go. But my return wasn’t so pleasurable. In place of my bike at the station on Sunday was empty space. I looked around for twenty minutes before realizing that someone had stolen my bike. Bike theft is one of the most common crimes in Denmark, and I made myself an extremely easy target. Lesson learned, I bought a new bike and a great lock. It’s not going to happen again. (It probably will because it’s me).
Despite the mistakes I’ve made here, the only one I truly regret is losing my bike. Getting lost almost always results in a funny story, and cultural faux pas are to be expected. I’m glad it takes a lot to embarass me, or else this month would have been quite a different ordeal. I can’t wait to see what I mess up next month.