Ode to Olie

11:33 AM, today. I look out at the brick apartment block to my left and the graffitied wall that seperates it from Valby station. The train begins to chug again, starting at a crawl then breaking into full speed. The train to Esbjerg will be a long one, about 3 hours in total. Just enough time to think…

My home during my time at DIS was Oliebladsgade 8, known officially as the Oliebladsgade Kollegium and referred to simply as Olie, owing to its pronunciation in Danish proving awkward to the English tongue. Residing on the ground floor, I held a special status; though I was initially supposed to have a roommate, I ended up as the only American guy on the ground floor and thus I got my very own dorm room.

Whether the day went well or not, that room of my own was there as my sanctuary. It was where I read assigned reading and worked on essays, where I played games and watched Netflix, and where I hosted my guests (before moving out into the common area). It had seen the best of me and the worst of me throughout these last four months, and if its thick, concrete walls could speak, I imagine they’d do as they always had done; echo vibrantly the past and reverberate the sounds of the present.

11:43. I’m at Høje Taastrup now – the last stop I will take that resides within the Greater Copenhagen area. At some point in the future I will pass through here again to leave all of Denmark behind, but for today, it is merely the gate that symbolizes my transition from student abroad to seasoned tourist. While I am looking forward to the period of rest I’ll have after this robust semester, I will miss the classes I took, the flavorful meals I cooked, and indeed, room 0.02 of Oliebladsgade 8; the home I will never return to, but the one I will always remember.

To whoever ends up being the next person/people in this room; treat it well, and I can guarantee that it’ll treat you as wonderously as it treated me (oh, and just use the table lamps as your primary source of light – the ceiling light in real life glows a very dim orange that may not give you much cheer).