RC (Residential Community)
House selection was the most difficult choice for me after being accepted to DIS. I spent hours trying to decide what living arrangement was best for me and by the time I applied for housing, I still had no idea what I wanted. Since being here, I’ve realized that I probably would have been happy anywhere, but different arrangements definitely have their perks and drawbacks. I will try to do a contemplation blog on different housing styles once I interview more students. For now, let me introduce you to life in an RC.
I wake up at 7:00 AM and roll off of my soft bed, grateful that all bedding supplies are provided by DIS. I stand up, stretch, pull back the shades, and look across the morning traffic and lakes that front my building. I don’t have a roommate (only a few of us in this RC do) so I have no reason to be hesitant about when I’m getting up, going to bed, or napping. I slip on my sandals and put a towel around my waist and take four steps out of my room and turn into the bathroom. I turn the shower on and wait for the water to warm up. Still waiting... still waiting… about 20 minutes later I give up and take a quick cold shower and wonder how I’ll do this in the winter. Every shower is a surprise. Will I walk out frozen, with my skin burned off, or feeling respectively clean?
I get back to my room, get dressed, and pull out a box of cereal from my cupboard and mini mælk from the mini-fridge that was waiting for me here (thanks DIS). I eat my cereal at my desk while planning out my day or finishing some homework. I use the sink in my room to brush my teeth etc. Before leaving for the day I open my windows (well, I guess they are always open because they don’t close all the way), grab by wallet, ID, and keys from my dresser, stuff them in my pocket, and find a playlist for the morning commute. I lock my door, go down four flights of stairs from floor three to the bottom, and find my bike, Excalibur, right outside the front door. After a ten-minute ride, I park him besides my classroom building.
On the way back I stop at Netto, I buy a bag of pasta, tomato sauce, beef, eggs, and rye bread and shove them all into my backpack before cycling home. I carry them up three flights of stairs, wait no, four flights of stairs, and unpack from the day.
Although there is a kitchen on my floor (and three between the 27 of us here), I bring my pasta, sauce, and beef to the second floor where friends are already gathered. We chat about our day while anticipating that Sara will put on modern family, some random movie, or French music. These are the people I’m usually doing things with, whether it’s renting a goboat, exploring old churches, strolling through gardens, or you name it! Hanging out with them makes me not even care that it takes a half hour for my pasta water to start boiling.
As I’m eating, Anna and Harald, our SRAs, come into the kitchen and introduce us to one of their friends. I don’t see Anna or Harald that often, as SRAs only work 10 hours a week. Their role is to help us adapt socially to Denmark. They showed us around on the first weekend and bought us all pizza when we first arrived. Since then, they designed activities to help us explore Copenhagen, showed us Copenhagen nightlife, and even bought us tickets to a concert in Tivoli.
After eating I clean my dishes. Cleaning dishes shouldn’t be an issue, but here, it always is. Some people don’t clean their dishes and just leave them in the sink, which sucks because if the sink is filled I have to clean everyone else’s dishes before doing my own. I’m trying not to go on a tangent here, but seriously, if you don’t clean your dishes please don’t go abroad.
After dinner I’ll usually start homework or continue socializing (games of UNO have become increasingly popular at this time of day). I might try to take care of some laundry, which is a process in itself. To take care of my dirties, I have to go down five flights of stairs and unlock the door to the only two washers in the building. Washing isn’t that bad; it’s the drying that sucks. After two hours of tumbling, my clothes are still too damp to put away.
When I finally give up on drying or when I’m done with homework, I’ll either hang out with my friends here or FaceTime with someone back at home before going to bed. I’m usually FaceTiming between 11:00pm and 1:00am because of the six-hour time difference.
Reflecting on my RC experiences I have to say that overall, I like it. I love that it’s a 10-minute bike ride to class and city center, I love buying my own groceries and cooking for myself, I love the common spaces, I love the foosball table (Mike, you owe me a rematch!), I love the SRAs, and I love my room, which is far better than I ever expected it to be. The drawbacks of this particular RC are the appliances and inconsiderate individuals who don’t clean up after themselves. Fortunately, most RCs don’t have these problems.
Ultimately, it is the people you live with who make or break your experience with your residency. They may not be Danes, but I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends with which to share my home and Copenhagen experience. Because of them, I’ve always looked forward to coming home to my RC.
