Welcome to Nuuk, my home for the semester

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect when I set off for Nuuk from Kangerlussuaq on September 1st. Excited to finally get to my new temporary home, I sat myself at the back of the small jet plane at a window seat so I could enjoy the views as we flew from above the polar circle further south to the capital.

The views were just as I had hoped and more. The weather stayed clear for the entire 45-minute flight, giving us the most amazing views of the fjords and snow-capped mountains as we flew south. Greenland is breathtaking.

Shortly after arriving in Nuuk at 5.30 PM, I was met by Per who organizes everything for the exchange students at the university. He and his wife drove me to my new temporary home, which is a shared apartment with four other guest students, located in the center of Nuuk and close to the national museum! My new roommates had all gotten there before me, but it was no problem coming in as the last one. We are an international household with Regine from Norway, Charlotte from France, Barbara from Austria, Maria from Germany and then me from Denmark.

The five of us spent the entire evening talking and getting to know each other. From the very beginning I had a good feeling about the group. Everyone is super nice, respects one another and nobody talks down to anyone. All five of us quickly became friends, which is awesome! I have to admit that I was nervous about meeting them, because imagine if we just didn’t click? If the other girls never cleaned up after themselves? But everything is perfect.

My room in the apartment is much bigger than expected, especially considering that I pay just 1000 DKK per month (compared to 3500 DKK per month in Copenhagen!). It’s sparsely furnished, but with everything I need – a bed, a desk, a drawer and a small closet. And then there’s the view. I’ve got a view of the Store Malene mountain! I hope to climb it someday. All five of us have our own room and then we have a shared kitchen, lounge and two bathrooms. And our views from the shared rooms are out to the ocean with beautiful sunsets every night! It’s more than I could ever have imagined for such a cheap rent.  Unfortunately, there was no wifi in the apartment when we got there, but we bought it two days later paying just 240 DKK extra per person per month.

The next day, the five of us slept in and got up around the same time so we could all have breakfast together. Then we decided we would spend the day together exploring Nuuk and using some wifi at the library (the local meeting spot!).

We walked around town, stopping every now and then to take some pictures. At one point, we decided to climb a little hill to get a good look at the city from above. I really love how colourful Nuuk is and I can’t wait to see it all covered in snow with the only colour being the houses. At that moment, standing there, I knew that I had made the right decision to come to Nuuk. Two days in and I was already loving it!

My first day at uni was on September 3rd where we had an enrollment day. We got to meet most of the other exchange students and figure out which courses we would take.

The courses that I’m taking for the next five months are Anthropological Methods, the History of Greenland, Museology and Archival Studies. I’ll only have lessons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, so my weekend is from Friday-Monday meaning that I can travel and hike during some of those weekends and also have plenty of time to read, write and blog! The university is a 45 minute walk away from the center of Nuuk where I’m living, and I plan on walking as often as possible to get some exercise during the week. It’s a nice walk with plenty of great views, so why not!

Now I’m extremely excited to see what these next five months will bring me – where I will go, who I will meet, what I will do, which parties I will attend. But I know one thing for sure – it’s going to be an amazing adventure!