Wasn't really expecting that....

When I came to Denmark, I of course was expecting to speak Danish and English, most of which I've been doing. Last night though I ended up speaking four different languages with all different people. Let me explain...

DIS (the study program I'm on) paid for our small groups (about 15 of us) to go out to a cafe for dinner and have our "hygge" dinner. Hygge is supposed to be a comfortable, friendly setting that we've been hearing so much about. I was speaking English with the other DIS kids, who are mostly American, but also consist of students from China and Russia. One of the Chinese students was in my group and was super cute and friendly, so I was speaking Chinese with her a bit. She couldn't believe an American had tried to learn her language! When the waitress came, I ordered my meal in Danish, probably making a funny face as I said it (at least that's what my host sister Ida says when I try to speak Danish). Later that night, I went to a bar downtown that student volunteers work at. As we approached the bar to get a drink, our bartender immediately started speaking to us in English. We were thrown aback a bit and asked, "Do we really look that American?" He laughed and said no, he actually didn't know Danish since he was from Mexico on exchange at KU (Københavns Universitet). So then I started speaking with him in Spanish.

To sum everything up, it was definitely a night filled with lots of languages that I wasn't expecting to use here! I guess it goes to show that wherever you go, there will always be some degree of diversity...you just have to find it.