Wow hi sorry for not blogging in a while. The semester has definitely picked up and I have been traveling nonstop! (No complaints though) So to start off last week I headed to Munich, Germany with my Psychopharmacology class for our long study tour. We left on Sunday morning and had a quick layover in Amsterdam. I definitely need to go back to Amsterdam for a weekend because it seems like a beautiful and fun city! We landed in Munich pretty late at night and had a dinner with our whole class. One of the best burgers ever (goat cheese and fig toppings!) Because DIS was paying we all got a pound of fries each...left overs for the rest of the week. Monday we got up early for a yummy buffet breakfast at the hotel - which by the way hotels are a billion times nicer than hostels in case ya didn't know. We went to Ludwig Maximus University for three Biology research talks with 3 pHD students. They were all very interesting but I was so antsy to go out and explore the city! For lunch we went to this weird Turkish place with the class and then we had the rest of the day on our own. This was the most beautiful day of the week. High 60s and compared to freezing cold Copenhagen it was such a nice change. Bri, Sara, Lauren, Phoebe, and I all went to central Munich where we randomly walked upon a huge carnival/festival!! Everyone was dressed up in costumes, there were a bunch of food stands, and a fun concert. We weren't dressed up as anything so the locals kept throwing confetti at us! In this same area was St. Peter's Church. We walked up a ton of stairs - you'd think Lehigh would've prepared me for that but once again it didn't - to the top of the church and saw the most beautiful view of all of Munich. It was so sunny so we really could see the entire city! After the church we walked over to the English Gardens. It is a huge park in Munich so we each got a yummy beer and walked around the park. I swear that is the most Vitamin D I have gotten in the past 2 months! (Munich please pass along the sun to Cope...thanks!) The rest of that night we went to this yummy taco place called taco libre where I actually spoke Spanish with the waiter! Woo not going to lose my Spanish! They had the most yummy margaritas but we were so exhausted from walking over 13 miles that day that the 5 of us headed back to the hotel to recoup and ended up watching She's the Man. Definitely an underrated movie and I should watch it more. Tuesday was most definitely most emotional day for me this semester. With the class we took a bus to Dachau- the concentration camp near Munich. We had an incredible tour guide who was so well educated about the subject and answered any questions we had. Everyone should experience this at some point in their life because it really was such a sad time during WWII. I don't think I am going to say much more about that because it is seriously just something that everyone should experience on their own. All I will say is that it was quite the emotional and moving experience. After decompressing for a bit our class decided that we needed a little pick me up so we all went to Hofbrahaus - the HUGE beer hall in central Munich. Both my parents have been there so I was definitely excited to check it out! They had liters of beer which of course when in Germany we had to drink. Also, there were pretzels larger than my face! Added to this slideshow is a picture of my dad from years ago drinking the same exact litre of beer from the English gardens. Like father like daughter am I right? :) That same night we wanted to act like the locals when went out that were all in costume for carnival so everyone borrowed me eyeliner and we went as cats...very creative. Not basic at all. Wednesday was probably one of my favorite days in Munich! We had an academic visit in the morning (boring) and then went to the science and technology museum in Munich. Nerded out in their psychopharmacology section, but because it was so nice out we decided to head out and explore the area some more. WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! We all bought tickets to the FC Munich Bayern game versus FC Köln. I was probably 5 rows from the goal where Munich scored 3 times against Köln. It was the largest stadium filled with more people I have seen at once in my entire life. The adrenalin rush you get when one of the players makes the perfect cross to the goal and another Munich player makes a perfect header into the goal is absolutely unreal. So much German cheering and spirit. We got back super late from the game so Thursday was definitely a tiresome day in the morning! For one of our academic visits we went to Diakonia, a second hand shop throughout Munich and other areas of Germany where mentally ill/disabled people have an opportunity to work there and get their lives more normalised. It gives them an amazing opportunity to get back into the work force and have a real work schedule. The two ladies that we talked to who are social workers at Diakonia for the workers were incredible and so so passionate about their work. Yet another amazing thing that Europe has that America should pick up on. After Diakonia, we headed over to the old Olympic Park where Munich held the Olympics in 1972 (I think.) The architecture of the stadium is beyond beautiful and the weather was great to be outside! Here's a picture of my and my pal Sara! After the Olympic Park we went across Munich for another academic visit which was definitely pretty interesting. We learned about how certain drugs can interact which was pretty cool! Then that night we had a huge class dinner with our class and the other Psychopharmacology class at the Augustiner beer hall near our hotel. Really cool hall with classic German foods! Love my class so so much and couldn't have asked for a better group of students and group leaders to travel to Munich with! :) Thanks for an amazing week DIS. And thank you Munich for allowing me to learn and thrive oh so much! Off to frisbee practice so I can make up for the WAY too much beer I drank this past week.
2 Comments
1.) Fixing a broken phone is twice as expensive as it is in the states.
2.) When it gets about 35 degrees Fahrenheit everyone sits and eats outside. There are very rare days in Copenhagen to get Vitamin D so literally the entire city is outside in the sun when it gets anywhere close to 40 degrees. And if you can see any form of sun rays that is basically Spring for the Danes. I even saw someone biking in a t-shirt yesterday!! 3.) Once someone finds out I am from America they automatically bring up Donald Trump. Even the random man on the train yesterday who was very friendly had so many questions about what I thought of him. It is sad that because I am from the states I am automatically associated with someone so terrible. 4.) It is socially acceptable to talk to random strangers on the street/train and ask for help from literally anyone. Stranger danger doesn't exist here. 5.) It is also socially acceptable to leave your baby in their stroller outside of a cafe or restaurant for as long as you want. I've seen many parents leave their strollers outside while their child is napping and they are getting a cup of coffee inside. Kidnapping isn't a thing here I guess...? 6.) They don't celebrate Valentine's Day here #blessed 7.) Denmark is just an overall better country that the US 8.) I want to live here forever On Monday after getting barely any sleep the night back from Edinburgh, I woke up very early to get on the bus with my class to go to Sweden. My core course, Psychopharmacology, takes us on a 3 day short study tour to somewhere in either Denmark or Sweden. My class got to go to Sweden which I was super excited about but also a little nervous because I only knew one person in my class. The whole trip ended up being incredible and I met some amazing new friends. On Monday we started off going to a Forensic Psychiatry unit near Malmö, Sweden, which is about an hour bus drive from Copenhagen. It was all about mentally ill people who have committed some kind of illegal act, but instead of going to prison they are being treated in this forensic psychiatry unit. I think it's an amazing facility and there should definitely be more of them back in the states. After the lecture we had a class "bonding" activity where we bowled for a couple of hours. Great at first but we were all so exhausted that by the end we were bowling with our left hands for fun. That night we walked a block from our hostel to this amazing local restaurant that DIS treated us to. We had ravioli with prosciutto and yummy sauce on top with a nice glass of white wine. For dessert was the best tiramisu I have ever tasted with a gooseberry on top! Bri could not stop freaking out about finally trying a gooseberry which she has seen on the show, Chopped. You know you're eating fancy when you eat something from Chopped. We were definitely treated well after a very long day. That night a couple of the girls in the class got together to watch the movie 'How to be Single' which is beyond hilarious and would totally recommend. The next day we got up bright and early to head to Lunds University in Lunds, Sweden, about half an hour from Malmö. (also the breakfast at the hostel was delicious and I finally had juice which was quite exciting.) Outside the breakfast area there was this beautiful mural. Oh and it also snowed at least 5 or 6 inches while we were there! hiIn Lunds that day we listened to three presenters talk about the Lundby study which was a 50 year study done in a town in Sweden. They conducted three sets of interviews through many generations - one after 10 years, one after 25 years, and one after 50 years. The whole point of the study was to show the progression of mental illness during that time period. It was so interesting to learn about the risk factors that can cause mental illness even in a small suburb town. After the presentation we had such a yummy lunch at a fancy restaurant. Classic herring, with mashed potatoes, and pomegranates (??) For dessert we had the most delicious chocolate pie with egg white whip cream. After dessert we went to the Livets Museum (Life museum in English) where we got a tour because everything was in Swedish. Interesting but very elementary and really my whole biology class was fascinated by this fun reaction time game. Pretty cool though that Lunds is where the first pace maker was built! The rest of the afternoon we had time to explore Lunds. Some of us walked over to the botanical gardens which ended up being closed, and then went to this beautiful modern art museum, which I really really enjoyed. We tried to get to the famous Lunds church to explore around but there ended up being a mass going on so we couldn't go in lol. After the museum and sort-of church we headed back to Malmö for the night. A bunch of us went to Bar Burrito for lunch which is basically a mini Chipotle. Then we hung out with my entire class in a hostel room which was great and everyone is so friendly and nice! We did hop over to the convenience store below our hostel where I FINALLY got my Swedish fish in Sweden (they taste the same in case you were wondering.) And Swedish chocolate is also very delicious too! Our last day in Sweden we went back to a different part of Lunds University where we talked with a researcher about inserting fetal dopaminergic neurons into Parkinson's patients' brains. They gave us a tour of their facilities and we got to see slides of rat brains which was definitely pretty cool. Then we ended our time at Lunds with cinnamon rolls and coffee! This is a Swedish tradition known as Fika where they take some down time to chat and eat cinnamon rolls! After Lunds was my favourite part of the trip. We went on a ferry back to Denmark and made a stop at the Louisiana Modern Art Museum. Had a buffet lunch of typical Danish food and then got a tour of the new exhibit. Love love love modern art. Excited to be heading home (aka Copenhagen)...wow that's crazy that that's my "home" for 4 months! But a great past couple of week traveling and meeting amazing people!
Left Friday for Edinburgh and arrived in time for dinner. The sunset arriving to Scotland was beyond beautiful and I already love the accents. Nicole, Duff, Laura, and I all were on the same plane and after getting to our Airbnb apartments we met back up for a yummy burger at this cute local restaurant. Nicole and I found out the hard way that Edinburgh is basically a larger version of Lehigh's hills. Getting to the restaurant was definitely a struggle (but thank you Lehigh stairs for preparing me.) After dinner we went out to the most classic Scottish pub. There was an Ireland versus Scotland rugby match happening that Saturday so on Friday night all the locals were singing, dancing, drinking, and getting ready for the game. Definitely a lot of old songs like Simple Bear Necessities that nowhere else would these songs have played! Also, I thought I would be good to go in an English speaking country but man the accents can be hard to understand! Woke up bright and early Saturday morning to get the day started. Even the view from our Airbnb was incredible! Edinburgh has cobblestones everywhere and I love it. We had a yummy bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast roll at a local Scottish restaurant. (Johnny's you've been surpassed.) Next stop was the Edinburgh castle. But first, we had to take touristy pictures in a photo booth. So much history is behind this castle and the fact that it's in the middle of a major city is mind boggling to me. After spending a while at the amazing castle we did a tour of Mary King's Close. It's a secret underground area where the old townspeople used to live years and years ago. The tour guide was hilarious and really got into her character of living in the 1700s. Unfortunately because the area is underground a government building we weren't allowed to take any photos. After the tour we walked to the apartment to put my dead camera (tear) down and then put on some warmer clothes for our hike up to Arthur's seat. The hike was about a 10 minute walk from the city and had the most beautiful views from the top. Crazy windy at the top of the hike and we basically had to rock climb to get to the tippy top, but totally worth it. Also, insane to have a hike right by a city where you can see the entire city from the top. After the hike we had fish and chips at a cute cheap restaurant. The portions were 100 times bigger than Copenhagen food portions and very very delicious. After dinner we hung out with our flat mate, Corinna who is a student at University of Edinburgh. She showed us all the local bars and fun places to go that night. It was seriously such a fun night to get to know the Scotland culture and meet a bunch of people! Everyone is so friendly and nice. Here are some selfies of me, Nicole, and Corinna that night! After waking up exhausted on Sunday morning after a fun night out, we forced ourselves to pack up our stuff and head to the National Museum of Scotland for the morning until our afternoon flight. Nicole and I definitely could have spent an entire full day at this museum nerding out because there is seriously so so much to do and see and learn. The coolest part was the room full of life-size animals. Also, Dolly the sheep, which was the first animal to be cloned was at this museum! Fun fact is that that experiment happened in Scotland and they're really proud of that. Another area was all about biomedical and technological advancements. From me freaking out about cool new advances in surgery to Nicole freaking out about renewable energy it was definitely a fun museum. Basically, I had the most amazing first travel weekend and although I am sad that it's over it's not like my adventures are over! I'm going "home" but now my home is freaking Copenhagen where I love it there and still have so much to learn and do there!
(oh also sorry Dad, I didn't play golf in Scotland.) Unfortunately I am writing this about a week late because this week has been SO busy! Buttt I had an amazing last couple of days in Cope before my travels began. On Sunday, Nicole and I drove with my host dad to my host brother Oscar's cycling race. I had never heard of indoor cycling like this before! It's a crazy track and they bike forever. The race we saw was a 40 minute race, but some are different lengths or ages. It was so so cool to see all the culture of being at a real Danish event. Obviously it was a struggle because Nicole and I don't speak Danish but our host dad helped us out with explaining all the details of the race. The bike race was on Sunday so then we had fam dinner that night with my host parents, Oscar, Mie, Nicole, and Mormor (grandma.) Great food and nice to be with everyone and catch up with everyone. Then on Monday I went to class, ate my usual packed lunch with Bri at Studenterhuset. They have cheap coffee and a croissant for 12 Kr ($1.75) which is always my little treat to wake me up. Then that night I went to my first frisbee practice in Copenhagen from 9pm-11pm. Crazy late but also crazy fun. Indoor frisbee was actually surpsinigly different from outdoor frisbee. Threw a lot of hammer throws instead of normal backhand or flick throws. Also it was super strange to not be the captain and instead be a rookie again. Had no idea what they had planned for practice which I actually loved because I learned so much. What's great is that the frisbee culture is the same all the way on the other side of the Atlantic! Still super chill, funny people that get along with everyone. I also met some really nice girls from DIS - one of them I am even going to travel Spain with in March! So happy to be playing frisbee again and I am also going to join the local girls frisbee team since this one is indoor mixed. Woo ultimate. #BTIMF
Bri, Alison, and I woke up early Saturday morning and took a 45 minute train ride to Helsingør, Denmark. It's a city on the northern part of the island Copenhagen is on, Zealand. Not that I have really been to many castles, but this was definitely the most beautiful castle I have ever been to. Kronborg castle was the castle that the famous Shakesperean play, Hamlet, was based off of. The architecture, details, and precision that was put into building Kronborg is seriously incredible. And the history I learned all about was mesmorizing. I can really only describe it's beauty by showing you! After spending hours and hours exploring Kronborg castle we made our way into downtown Helsingør and finally had my first Smørrebørd
bWell I woke up on Bri's coach on Friday morning because when we went out on Thursday night the bus that takes me home literally PASSED ME. ugh! was quite annoyed because the next one wasn't coming for another 40 minutes. Anywaysss Friday morning I headed back to Hareskov (with no contacts by the way) from Bri's apartment for a shower, a power nap, and some brunch. Yup, cheese and eggs still taste great in Denmark. :p I headed back into central Copenhagen to meet up with Bri and Alison (new country, same friends) at a Baresso cafe which had a delicious salted caramel latte. Alison had to head back to class (yay for no Friday classes) so Bri and I biked our way over to the touristy area by the little mermaid statue. The statue was slightly underwhelming because its super tiny, but obviously we had to see the statue based off of Hans Christian Anderson's story while we there! We then biked around the super beautiful area and explored that harbour. Yes, we took basic white girl pictures, but how could we not? For dinner we got hot dogs on the street which are seriously delicious and have the most random toppings - I never knew that pickles on a hot dog were normal. Afterwords, we hung out at Bri's apartment for a while to finally warm up from the cold! Then, with this new app that I found out about called Too Good To Go, you can buy the leftovers from bakeries or restaurants for super cheap prices at the end of the day so the food doesn't go bad! For $4 we bought 2 delicious loaves of bread, a cinnamon roll, and a chocolate roll! Definitely went well with our wine and cards against humanity night.
Vi ses! (that means see you later in Danish) Sooo on Wednesday, most people had what DIS calls "field studies." Basically, there are no classes on Wednesday and classes schedule field trips on some of those days. Luckily, I didn't have one so I could do whatever I wanted to! My friend Duff and I decided to meet on the train (he only lives 2 stops from me) and then head into Copenhagen. Once we got downtown we took the metro across town to Christiania. Basically, Christiania is an area separate from Copenhagen that has no rules or structure. There are only a couple of rules: no photography, weed is legal, no private cars, no stealing, no hard drugs, and no violence. Seriously I felt like I walked into a Hollywood movie set because I have never seen anything like this before. And the saddest part is that I COULDN'T TAKE PHOTOS UGHHHH!!! Soo much color and cool murals. You can also smell weed the entire walk around there which was pretty funny. Everything is super casual there and I have heard it's even more lively on the weekends so I may have to go back and check it out. But of course I hate rules so I did take 3 photos until I got dirty looks so I hid my camera away... The next place we went to was next to Christiania, a place called Paper Island. It is pretty much a giant warehouse with lots of food vendors everywhere. Unfortunately, it was closed when we went there so again, another place to go back to in the next upcoming months! But, the area around Paper Island and Christiania was so beautiful! The sign in the middle picture below is great too! Hygee is a Danish word meaning "cozy." It's basically how everyone here tries to live their life and I LOVE that motto! After Paper Island we crossed over this long walking bridge into Nyhavn area, which again is the claaaasic Copenhagen colourful houses that Copenhagen is known for. But the pictures were worth the freezing cold. In Nyhavn we stopped at this super tiny pizza place. Yup, compared to New York it kind of tastes like cardboard...but for a cheap price so wutcha gunna do about it. Then, we walked back downtown to the Geology Museum. Duff and I nerded out at some weird animals and some pretty rocks. @Sabrina you would've loved these geodes! We walked back to Norreport Station/DIS and I had the best oreo cheesecake I have ever had in my entire life. It basically combined my two favorite desserts in one and I could not have been happier with that purchase. Later on I did some homework, hung out with Bri and Alison, and then headed back home. Had dinner with my host dad who literally makes the best food ever and we had such a great conversation too! Best. host. family. ever.
Wow I have been so insanely busy the past couple of days that I haven't even had a couple of seconds to post on here! Orientation was long but definitely a lot to take in. We learned a lot about the academics, the culture, and what we would be experiencing the next couple of months. Also, I met sooo many amazing and cool people in my home stay network (a group of us that all live in home stays close together), in my classes, and through friends of friends. Literally I feel like freshman year again when everyone was so friendly and wanted to make so many new friends. Everyone is super down to earth, loves Copenhagen, and loves to travel. There is also a great place to hang out called Studenterhuset which is a cafe but also a bar at night. Anyone can go but students get a really great discount. My coffee was only $1.75! Definitely going to be saving tons of money by going there. It is also a great place near my classes to hang with friends during lunch. Most people bring lunch which is nice and easy. Classes started on Thursday and it was quite a long day! Went from 8:30-4 with a long lunch break in the middle. My classes are SO cool and engaging, I am actually super excited about getting to know my professors too. Something different is that everyone in Denmark calls their professor by their first name, it is actually considered weird to call them by their last name because Danish is a very casual language and culture. The first class was Psychopharmacology and the professor really knows what he is talking about. I even participated!! (that rarely happens in huge lectures at Lehigh.) There is only about 20 kids in that class which is also super nice but different from what I am used to. The next class was Immunology which is definitely going to be tough but still an interesting subject. Funny story...there was another girl named Dana in the class so the professor asked me if I could be called my middle name, Jean. I said I had never been called that before but why not, right? The whole class thought it was so funny because she could really just call us both by Dana. Then, the other Dana felt bad because she felt like she was stealing my name. After all the talk in the middle of class, I am going to be called Dana and she will be called D. Glad that was resolved. Then, a couple of us from class went to Studenterhuset for lunch. Before 12 if you buy a coffee you get a free croissant for DIS students! woo. Bri and Alison met us there and we hung out and ate lunch, but then we helped Alison buy some water colours for her art class at this cute art supplies store. It is definitely quite a challenge with the language barrier to figure out what kind of supplies you need to buy so it took us a while, but eventually figured it out. While we walked around the area, I took some #artsy photos. :) Since I don't have class on Friday, Bri, Alison, and I made dinner at Bri's apartment and met all of the people that live in her apartment. We struggled to cook but it all worked out :)It is very normal to wear all black to go out. You look kind of out of place if you are wearing anything else but black, so I may need to go out and buy some more black clothing! The going out scene in Copenhagen is seriously insane. I figured Lehigh's party scene would've prepared me but was most definitely wrong about that. Copenhagen definitely likes to party to say the least!
Started off our day commuting into Vesterpørt station with some other DIS students from our home stay network (students that live close to Nicole and I.) We headed across the station to the old Copenhagen circus, where we had our opening ceremony. Chinah, a famous English speaking Danish band, performed and they were wonderful. They played three songs and I'm actually listening to their music on Spotify right now - if you like Indie folk music definitely check them out! The director of DIS spoke and gave us some good tips when studying abroad. Afterwords, we headed towards the DIS academic buildings where we got into a big group of 6 and did somewhat of a scavenger hunt around Copenhagen. They told us to dress warm which I am definitely glad that I did because we walked at least 10-15 miles today - definitely got some good exercise. The first stop on the scavenger hunt was the Amalienborg Palace. That is where the guards stand, protecting the royal family, especially the Queen, whom resides in the palace. There are four different buildings, three of which are identical. The fourth is the mansion where the Queen lives and is supposed to look superior to the other three. Although we got yelled at by the guards for standing in from of a gate we weren't supposed to and looked like dumb Americans we eventually figured it out! Another fun fact is that unlike the British royal family, the Danish royal family is super casual and the soon to be King just goes on runs around Copenhagen without any security or anything. This country is amazingly safe! The second place we went to was the harbor along the water. I didn't realize that Denmark used to control part of Sweden and all of Norway. Hundreds of years ago they actually had the largest navy in the world, but then Europe came along during the Napoleon wars and took their navy. (There's a lot of history to the harbor but you'll have to come visit if you want to learn more...) Next stop around the city was the Parliament's building. Interestingly enough it actually has either burned down or gotten destroyed so many times that the building is the 4th time being built. Walking outside for so long, we all started getting really cold so we decided to head into a local cafe for warm drinks. My latté I have to say was quite delicious and much needed since I started not being able to feel my hands -__- (That is why I actually have no pictures of the Parliament building.) Finally, the last stop was the Vor Frue church. Unfortuantely the professor at this stop I could't quite understand (the language barrier is literally impossible but I am slowly learning some Danish words day by day.) However I do know the church was gorgeous and was also burned down and rebuilt many of times. After the church we went to Dale Vale, a pretty large lunch restaurant kind of place. There was a nice little buffet with lots of different kinds of Danish food. Brianne and Alison met us for lunch and I introduced them to everyone in my orientation group #agamtakesovercopenhagen. While paying for lunch I learned the hard way that water is incredibly expensive in Copenhagen. I actually payed almost the same price for my meal as I did for a jug of water!! I was so so surprised but although I learned the hard way, from now on I will always be carrying a water bottle with me. Then, Nicole and I finally embraced the Copenhagen biking culture and went to the bike shop to rent bikes for the semester!! We got a great deal for a 4 month rental with cute baskets, locks, and lights. Then we were on our way to the Vesterpørt station when we made a bunch of wrong turns and it was beyond terrifying to turn left. LOL. so we literally made a U-turn to avoid turning left, but then ended up biking on the wrong side of the road...we survived but now I am creating ways to get to class without having to turn left. Eventually I will learn... A couple minutes ago we had leftovers from last night and I found out I LOVE mushrooms (sorry moms!) Trying new things and learning many new things as well. So much to talk about at dinner just because of the cultural differences, but also many similarities as well. Off to learn some Danish...
|
|