Short Study Tour

I've been getting a lot of positive feedback about this blog, so thanks everyone for keeping up with it so I don't feel like I'm just writing to myself. I feel a little pressured now to keep these somewhat entertaining for you, so I'll try not to disappoint! I am fully aware that the title to this post is pretty much as good as Mikaela's titles to her creative writing stories... I'll work on it.

This past weekend was my first weekend traveling! Everyone in the DIS program went on "short study tours" with their core class. The idea of a study tour is to basically see what you are learning about in class put into practice, in different settings. The study tours also are a good time to get to know your classmates better and each tour has cultural sessions scattered throughout the itinerary in addition to the academic portion.

The Medical Practice and Policy program traveled to Århus and Ebelstoft, both of which are in Denmark. They are on the western side, part of Jutland (Copenhagen is part of Zealand, which is the largest island of Denmark). We left at 7:30 am on Thursday morning, so we only had two days of classes last week! The bus ride was unpleasantly warm and rather smelly (this could have been due to our seats close to the bathroom, but we're not really sure), so I was very excited when we arrived at our first destination three hours later. On the way we drove over this really long bridge that had a great view and tons of wind turbines that looked really sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Our first stop was at the PET (positron emission tomography for all of you liberal arts majors) center at the Arhus University Hospital. We were first lectured by one of the employees involved in the research. We learned about all of the new imaging technologies they are using both in patients and in their research. Its use has been very practical for neurological testing. The research has some really interesting applications too, such as for Alzheimers and even really obscure problems like pathological gambling. In one of the rooms they were using an MR machine to run tests on a pig. Also, they mentioned that they are replacing their outdated GE scanner with a different companies -might want to forward that to someone, Dad.

Our next stop was close by in Skødstrup, where we visited a general practitioners office. We learned all about the Danish healthcare system, which is very socialized and compared it to the system in the United States. Most Danes pay about 50-60% of their salaries towards taxes, but in return they do not have to pay for healthcare or education. In fact, medical students get a stipend during their education! We also saw this graph of the amount of money spent on healthcare in countries versus their “primary care score” of most European countries and the United States. Not surprisingly, Denmark spent very little and had a very high health care score with a lot of satisfaction (the UK was first) whereas the US was on the complete opposite side of the graph, far off from every other country. Pretty wild.

We then headed to Ebelstoft, which was where our hostel was located. I think we only went to Ebelstoft to go bowling (seriously). This was my first experience staying in a hostel, so I really had no idea what to expect. I had this idea that it would basically be a bunch of people sleeping all over the place in a huge room with no beds. Ours ranked pretty high on the sketchy-scale at first glance, sitting all by itself on top of a hill with no lights leading up to it in the middle of Japeka. However, Kelly, Laura and I (two girls in my class who also go to Gettysburg) lucked out and were able to score our own three person room. It was basically just a cheap hotel room, so it really was not that bad at all! I also think that DIS probably finds nicer hostels to stay at, so my expectation for future hostel stays is pretty low. Anyways, our class went to dinner together and had a night of bowling planned. Dinner was at the bowling alley, so naturally, I was expecting the greasy pizza and nachos from Brunswick Zone served by the Danish version of a ticked off Carinne. Wrong again! We had an awesome buffet waiting for us, with really great mix in’s for salad, delicious potatoes, chicken, pork, etc. Afterwards, I proudly laced up my size 42 shoes and bowled one of my best games (sadly, I still didn't break 100). Also, props to Kelly who got a strike bowling with her eyes closed and her left hand. Impressive moves. We had to find our own way back to the hostel that night, so the three of us decided to trek back on foot through the unlit streets of Ebelstoft so as not to "waste" $4 on a taxi.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hostel (the scrambled eggs looked a lot better than they actually tasted) and were off early to the Aros Art Museum, which is a contemporary art museum. It was definitely my favorite stop on the trip. I'm not usually really into art, but a lot of the exhibits were interactive and so different than anything I had ever seen before. The museum is well known for the sculpture, Boy. I think it's a little creepy, but some of the analyses of the statue can get pretty deep. I was rather intrigued by the feet of Boy. These were the most detailed feet I had ever seen. Plus, I felt personally connected to them because they were so large and beautiful and must have been inspired by mine.

The best exhibit though was the Color Panorama at the top floor of the building. As you walked through, you could see the city of Arhus in every different color. Pretty cool! My friends and I took an obligatory "Gettysburg" picture, and now we are now collectively referred to as just, "Gettysburg" by our class. The three of us were laughing basically the entire trip at anything and everything, so that probably didn't help the situation.

This blog post would not be complete if I didn't go into some detail about food in it. We had lunch in the museum and it was delicious! They served us a potato soup (did I mention that the Danes really like potatoes?) with bacon (they really like meat too...I bet they would have that filet wrapped in bacon that I had last summer every day if they could) and apples in it. Usually, I'm not a fan of fruit in my soup, but the apples added something special to it. If I can find the recipe, I'll certainly put in a request to my Mom or Steph to try it out sometime when I'm home. Following the soup, we had a choice of a salmon/shrimp or salami/ham/some type of meat sandwich. I think they must have known we were Americans because I don't think a Danish person would ever actually eat that much for lunch. (Although I will admit, heading into this experience I expected the exact opposite. The only experience I had with the Danish culture was from Father of the Bride, and Bryan's aunt needed two seats on the plane. Just saying.) Needless to say, I was basically feeling the same way Dad does on Christmas after he eats "just one more" of Grandma's potato pancakes. Okay, more on the food later.

 We left the museum and headed to Skejby Hospital for another academic visit. We were lectured by another doctor but to be perfectly honest, I can't really tell you what the exact point of the lecture was. It probably wouldn't be that interesting to you anyways. So after an hour of watching everyone in my class (including myself) try to stay awake, we got a little tour of the hospital and then got to see medical students practicing surgeries...on pigs! The pigs were alive, but under anesthesia so it was pretty realistic for the students...although, they seemed rather relaxed about the whole thing. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. They even allowed pictures to be taken. I'm on the right side, third one back.

We ended the day at another museum, the Steno Museet, which is a museum on science and medicine. It's a really small museum but it had some cool representations of old fashioned doctors’ offices, dentist’s offices, pharmacies, etc. We got to see some of the old instruments that were used for certain procedures (be very thankful you live in the 21st century!). They had a special exhibit on birth control and the science behind things like in-vitro fertilization, stem cells, stuff like that. The highlight of this section of the tour was probably trying on "pregnancy vests" which are supposed to resemble what it feels like to be pregnant. If they are actually accurate, I doubt I'll ever become a mother because I honestly don't think I could last a day carrying that extra weight around (thanks Mom!). I don't know how more pregnant women don't break their backs or anything. There was also this gigantic uterus in the middle of the room (maybe for decoration?), which is kind of strange but also kind of cool because you could climb into it and fall asleep in there, which I would have done if we didn't run out of time.

Next up, hostel experience number 2! Kelly, Laura and I decided to be troupers and signed up for the 6 person room in hopes that it would give us a chance to get to know three other classmates a little better. I guess you could say mission accomplished, because the room was actually half of the size of my freshman dorm room and had 3 sets of bunk beds in it. I don't think I can give this hostel as high of a review as the first nights. I was considering going for a run early in the morning, but scratched that idea when I realized that there was no way I would be able to get out of bed in the morning with the lights still off and without falling on top of my newest friend below me. I really wish I had a picture of it.

We were on our own for the rest of the night, and free to wander Arhus. The section we were in seemed rather small, but it was so pretty. There was a canal that ran through the middle of the street and a ton of shops and restaurants on either side of it. Our first mission was to find a place to eat that wouldn't break the bank. After a long search, a group of us decided that "All Inn Food" was the best option. Nothing was in English, but Kelly and I managed to order a great pizza, that we devoured in seconds. Afterwards, we somehow found ourselves in the middle of a pub crawl with physical therapy students at the University. A couple of them were thrilled by "the Americans" and were so excited that they invited us to finish the night with them. The leader of this caught on though and was not too thrilled, so sadly, we didn't make it past the first pub. We ended up calling it a night and walked (again) back to the hostel.

On the final day of our study tour, we were up nice and early again. We took a tour of the Jelling Stones, which have hieroglyphics on them. "The stones represent the transitional period between the indigenous Norse paganism and the process of Christianization in Denmark. They are strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state." (courtesy of Wikipedia, for filling me in on what I missed during the tour). I think the highlight of this trip was trying to exit the museum through the revolving door that didn't have an opening to the outside.

We got to have lunch in Jelling, which was one of my first experiences with a traditional Danish lunch (I forgot to tell you though that I did have herring with my host family and it was so good!). There was a buffet of different breads, salads, and fish to make open face sandwiches. In traditional American style, we left stuffed and exhausted.

 Our final stop for the day was in Fredericia, where we saw a handball game. Fredericia, the heavy favorite lost in a huge upset! (Not really actually... I could have easily confused the place with a high school gym). I think the Denmark national team (which won the European Handball Championships!) is the "big deal" here. But it was still really cool to see, especially because handball is a favorite sport of the Danes. I haven't decided yet if I'll take it up. Probably not.

So that basically sums up our study tour. It was such a fun trip and I'm even more excited for the next few weeks of traveling coming up. In two weekends, I'm off to Hamburg with my Holocaust class, and then Poznan and Berlin with my core class for long study tour the week after! And I won't tell you what's coming after that. If these posts are boring you, that will at least keep you coming back for more! Tak! (Thank you!....That's the only Danish word I really have down...and I still don't pronounce it right).

P.S. I successfully rode up the hill on my bike the other day. I may have fallen off the bike both leaving my house and entering the train station because I am stubborn and thought I would be fine riding on a sheet of ice, but I made it up and over. That's really all that matters. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. My butt is still sore..