vivi torontali

Not caught up? Read Episodes 1-10 here.

Hej! I haven’t been ready to update y’all on my recent adventures until now because there have been so many of them! I’ve been spending a lot of my week meeting new people and expanding my network. While I love socializing, I am more than happy just to sit at home and not talk to anyone for weeks at a time. Even if it takes a pep talk to get me out the door, it’s always worth it in the end.

In my attempt to make friends, I joined a bunch of different Facebook groups. One post I saw was an invitation for four people to kayak in the canals for free and pick trash. I jumped at the opportunity, and it was so much fun. I arrived early on a Sunday at the canals to meet a group of girls my age for breakfast before we got in the boats. There was only one rule: it’s only free if you pick trash. Let me tell you, they gave us a good challenge. There was so little trash in the canal that I was worried we’d have to pay in the end. What a problem to have, right? Somehow, every day, Denmark makes me proud. 

I ended up befriending one of the girls from that event, and she also lives in my town! After that, I noticed the weather was going to be hot and sunny so I invited her to jump in the canals with me. It was on my bucket list for a long time, luckily I got to do it before (read Episode 8: La Playa). Turns out it was on her bucket list too. The water was much colder this time and there was more seaweed, but it was still very refreshing. I also got maybe 13% more tan. Don’t be fooled, the Danes are still much tanner than me.

Another event I signed up for through Facebook was a networking event for artists called “Mingle and Move.” It was run by an organization called IMMART (International Migration Meets the Arts). I commuted an hour on the trains to enjoy their lovely food and free wine, and met some incredibly interesting people. Every 20 minutes or so we’d get a performance by one of the artists featured. The first was a Kurdish–Syrian poet named Jan Pêt Khorto who read us two very moving pieces he wrote. I’m gonna be honest, it made me cry. They were originally written in Arabic and Danish but we received a printout of the English translated copy. I don’t have an online version so I transcribed them, you can read them here. Before you open that link and close it once you realize it’s a seven page document, I promise it’s worth reading even if you don’t have the time or headspace for it at this very moment. The last performance of the night was from a highly talented pianist from Russia named Polina Fradkina who played us a few Chopin pieces. People walking by outside stopped in their tracks to listen to her play. It was so amazing she got a well-deserved standing ovation at the end.

I met a lovely woman at the IMMART event. I briefly told her my story— that I am a Hungarian from Boston whose family had to leave the US, and that I’m an artist looking for work. She invited me over for dinner to her home to socialize with some other women and tell my story in more detail. At that dinner, I learned about the lives of these seven other women, their histories and perspectives on life. It’s so refreshing to hear about others’ circumstances, struggles and life experiences that are different from mine. It reminds me that other people have lives and they’re not just NPCs (non-playable characters) in a video game. Makes me wonder about all those random people I pass on the street every day…

When I’m not socializing, I’m learning Danish like an absolute machine. I just started language school, as did my parents. My dad hasn’t been able to attend the first two lessons because he’s been in forklift school. As I mentioned in the last episode, he got a job as an ornamental plasterer, but he decided to do the week-long course anyway so he could get his forklift operator license. There were ten people total in the class, and half of them failed the test. There was a written portion and a practical exam, and my dad passed with 100%, the only one out of the class to do so. Because he missed the first two classes of Danish school, my mom and I have been tutoring him to catch him up. He tends to get frustrated when things don’t go smoothly. That being said, he can now recite the alphabet and numbers 1-10 perfectly. He’s making good progress despite what Duo the owl makes him believe. We’re all very proud of him. 

We’re also very proud of my sister who just passed an online test that would get her a job at an online university– it’s a writing test that she said was easy. This acts as a third job interview out of four, and if they don’t hire her after all this I’m going to rage. Additionally, she’s selling her car so that she can move to Denmark with us next month. If anyone in America is interested in it, feel free to reach out to me. 

I’ve noticed that the only time we can get anything done is when Nudli is napping, so we need to do our very best to tire him out. We’ve been taking him to different places in the bike basket. This was another thing on my Denmark bucket list, to train Nudli to be a basket dog. When I’m driving I can’t take pictures so I’ll describe it in words instead. Imagine: the tiniest sausage dog you’ve ever seen,  paws up to stabilize and support himself, ears flapping in the wind like little sails. Today we took him to the Ballerup Museum, an outdoor farm-like museum that takes visitors back in time hundreds of years. There were goats, cats, chickens, and lots of flowers, as well as a cute little café selling salads, ice cream, beer, wine, and hot chocolate with Bailey’s Irish creme in it. Honestly it’s the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, and for 30kr ($4.71), it’s quite the game changer.

I’ve been here nearly three months now, and I’m surprised at how much I know. Getting out there and meeting other internationals shows me just how well-established I’ve become in such a short period of time. I consider myself lucky to have had two semesters abroad in two different countries because I got to practice starting in a new place with a brand new cast of characters. The process goes: Arrive, establish your mental map of the local area, then meet as many people as you can. I’m happy to serve as both a guide and a cautionary tale for anyone who may be thinking about moving to a new country. I’d love to hear what you think about this blog so far, so if you can comment, please do. If not, feel free to email your thoughts to vivitorontali@gmail.com.