Doing As the Viennese Do

I'm back! I just returned from a weekend in Vienna (or Wien, as the Viennese call it) with my friends. Our flight left at 6:15 am, which means that I have been up since 3:30, so don't mind if this post seems a bit scatterbrained. My original plan was to go back to my host family's home when I got back to Copenhagen this morning, but in my sleepy state, I misread the bus schedule. Turns out, when I got to the train station near my house, I would have had to wait another hour for a bus home and would have had about 10 minutes to shower and leave again in order to make it in time to class. So I hopped right back onto a train going into the city, and here I am! Also, I was looking back at some old posts and realized that I use parentheses after every other word, so I am going to make a conscious effort to reduce my overactive parenthesis-usage.

Anyways, Vienna. In a nutshell, it is the most beautiful city I have been to! Absolutely gorgeous. I'll get to that in a little bit though. This was my first trip completely on my own, with just my friends, a map, and some money (or in Kelly's case, a credit card that refused to work) to get through the weekend -which means no chaperones, and no DIS dinners. As usual, the trip started off on a comical note. Our seating was random on the plane, so I was hoping I would have a good seat buddy since I would probably get to know them pretty well, considering the size of the plane. I lucked out! They were quiet, respected their space, and never had to get up to go to the bathroom. When I got to my seat, which was basically in the cockpit (2A, one of the first one's out!) my new friend was already there. She was a little old lady from Vienna and was so nice...although a little peculiar. She had a huge bag filled with a plant that she got in the city. She was afraid it was going to tip over on the flight if she put it in the overhead storage and there apparently was not enough room to put it near her feet on the floor. Since the flight wasn't full, the flight attendant found an extra seat that she could sit in, which means that yes, I sat next to a plant (buckled in the seatbelt and everything). I assured the worried owner that I would look out for it and make sure it didn't fall over during the flight. I must have left a good first impression or something, because she also left her purse on the seat next to me for the entire ride while she sat at the very back of the plane. This definitely wasn't an accident either -she came back right before takeoff to turn off her phone! I found this pretty funny considering I watch over my purse like a hawk...pickpocketers have a lot of clever little tricks. I learned that in trafficking class. You're probably wondering why I am ranting on about this random woman on a plane. Well, once we got off the plane, she came up to us and asked us if we knew how to get to the hostel. Kelly's immediate instinct was "trafficker!" but I told her later about our earlier meeting and she soon found out for herself that she really was just trying to help. We ran into her again at the train station and on the train, where she sat down next to us (again, she hung up her coat and bags in the front of the train before taking her seat) and we got talking. We found out that she had come to Copenhagen to see the opera, which she goes to almost every night in Vienna. Since music is such an important part of the culture there, she suggested which shows we should see and told us in extensive detail everything we needed to know. She was not completely sure what opera was playing over the weekend (shocker!), so she looked through every newspaper on the train to find out. When she couldn't find it this way, she took out her phone and called the opera house! After we got off the train, we came to the conclusion that we probably had just spent the past hour with an ex-Opera star or some Austrian celebrity. Paragraph parenthesis count: 5

I was hoping to get this post up before class, but that didn't really work out so I'm finally getting around to finishing it now, two days later (study break!). Our flight didn't land until close to 11:00 pm, so it was pretty late by the time we started looking for our hostel and let's just say Vienna's beauty wasn't exactly my first impression of the city. The street our hostel was on was pretty much desolate and it was located a block away from a strip club and across the street from a munitions store. I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, but I was totally judging. I should really start taking a picture of all of the hostels we stay at for reference.
Fortunately, the next day proved me wrong. Not only was it 70 degrees and sunny (I even got some color on my face!) but the city was bustling and just amazing! My pictures really do not do it justice. We basically spent the whole day walking and sightseeing. We started out at the museum quarter and worked our way through Hofburg, which has this gorgeous imperial palace, the National Library and the Spanish Riding School, among a bunch of other gorgeous (I'm running out of adjectives!) buildings that I don't know the purpose of. We tried to find the entrance to the main portion of the library, but could only seem to find the area for research, which we were not allowed into. I'm not sure how you could ever get any research done there though because it is so big that I doubt you would be able to actually find the book you were looking for, and it is so pretty that while searching for your book, you would probably stop to examine every wall and ceiling, and then proceed to stare out the window for 10 minutes. The biggest letdown of the day was probably not being able to see one of the horse shows at the riding school. The shows are only on Sundays and are pretty expensive, so most people go to watch a practice session, which are only on Tuesdays. There was a little video clip of part of the show playing outside of the school though, which did not fail to remind us of what we were missing out on. Parenthesis count: 2!

The majority of the sights to see are in Vienna's historical district. If you walk through it, you are bound to walk through a handful of parks along the way. There are open green spaces basically everywhere you turn, and I think that is what makes Vienna so beautiful (not to mention, the extremely elaborate and exquisite buildings). After lunch, we headed over to Wiener Prater Park, which is a small amusement park in the city known for its famous Ferris wheel, the Wiener Riesenrad. We were planning on riding it and getting a good view of the city, but were crushed when we found out that the student discount was 1 euro off of the original price, not 1 euro. Bummer. Instead, we indulged in some over-priced gelato.

On Saturday night, we decided to follow the advice of our friend from the flight over and went to the opera house! We figured we would enjoy a ballet much more than an opera. Plus, one of my friends already had to sit through a two hour opera with her host family, so the decision was pretty easy for her. We got there two hours ahead of show time like we were instructed to, in order to ensure that the standing room would not sell out. I'm really glad we got to see the ballet -it was really good, even though my feet weren't too happy with me. We left feeling very cultured, but our newfound Viennese-ness was pretty much shot five minutes later when we got Chinese food on the street for dinner.

The next day was a lot more relaxing, since we saw most of what we had wanted to on the first day. We climbed up to the top of St. Stephen's cathedral, which had a great view of the entire city (and made up for not riding the Ferris wheel).

We spent the majority of the day though at Schönbrunn Palace, which was the summer residence of the Habsburg dynasty and where Maria Theresa grew up (apparently Hofburg was their preferred winter residence). If that’s the case, I'd be curious to see what their summer and spring sites of residence were because you wouldn't believe the size of this thing! It was so gargantuan and perfect that certain parts of it actually looked fake! I was already in shock looking at the front but when we walked around to the "backyard," my jaw literally just dropped. There are more gardens and a huge hill with the Gloriette on top, which was built as a symbol of Habsburg power. It was a little windy, but we spent a good amount of time there, laying on the hill and enjoying the view. There was also a little market at the palace that sold all sorts of food and crafts, including these really pretty Easter eggs that looked too nice to touch (but I did anyways). We also saw the Belvedere Castle later on in the day, which was just as gorgeous as all of the others.

That night, we tried Sachertorte, which is a chocolate cake that Austria is known for. Surprisingly, it was not really my cup of tea. It was a little dry and just didn't do the trick for me. Those Danish pastries just hold a special place in my heart. I ate the whole thing anyways though -there isn't exactly such a thing as a bad piece of cake!

We stumbled across plane tickets to Vienna pretty randomly and it certainly wasn't on any of our lists of must-see places to go to heading into this study abroad experience (it really should have been). It was an awesome trip and I am so glad we went! I'll probably be MIA on this blog for a few weeks now though because we have a two week travel break starting next week. I'm heading to Spain on Saturday and then I'll be seeing my family the following week. I am SO excited!  Hope all is well back home and you are enjoying the 80 degree weather. If it were raining right now, I think we'd officially be having a hurricane in Copenhagen. Also, quick side note...I'm actually starting to feel like  a Copenhagen-er (even though everyone else can probably peg me for an American from a mile away). I've even started to recognize some of the regulars on the morning commute -I've seen Sudoku Man and Joe Pesci's Danish twin multiple times. It really is amazing how quickly this semester is flying by!

I Feel Like Currywurst

I hope that you have all been sitting at the edge of your seats, waiting for my next post! So sorry to keep you waiting, but it has been a very busy week! I hope you breathed a sigh of relief though when you didn't see, "Land of the Hamburgers" as the first thing to appear when you load the page this time (Wow, look how sarcastic I am becoming!)

I spent the past week traveling with my Human Health and Disease class and I think I can say it has been the best week abroad so far. I don't even know where to start though, so I guess I'll just go from the very beginning! I'm sure this post will be extremely long, so hang in there and try to excuse my run on sentences and poor grammar!

Side note: I'm currently watching the "X-Factor DK." They perform basically all American songs, but Danish music is so catchy!

We left Sunday morning bright and early because we had a long bus ride ahead (12 hours to be exact). Thankfully, we had a two hour ferry ride and a couple of mandatory 45 minute breaks for the bus driver to split it up a little, but I still think flying may have been a bit more time efficient. Anyways, we arrived in Poznan, Poland just before dinnertime, and to our excitement found out we were staying in a four-star hotel instead of a hostel, which made the long bus ride a little more worth it.

The first nights dinner set our expectations very high for the following few days (which did not disappoint either...I'll get to them in an hour or two probably). We had an amazing three course meal at a really pretty restaurant in the middle of the old town square. I'm not sure if it was traditional Polish food, but there was pork, so I guess that counts.

The next morning we had our first academic visit of the study tour. (Brief side note: the academic sessions on this trip were awesome and even though they have not changed my decision to not apply to medical school, they were definitely worth my indecisive last minute program selection!) We went to the Pediatric department of the Poznan University Hospital, where we got the chance to shadow some of the doctors! My group worked with a doctor in the gastroenterology department, where we got to see her perform an endoscopy on a patient. It was our job to hold the boy down during the procedure. Considering the small size of the patient, you would think this would have been an easy task, but he squirmed and screamed the entire time. A few of the girls I was with were considering going into pediatrics, but I wouldn't be surprised if they change their minds because I wanted to cry just watching. I mean, I'm 20 (2 months and 1 day until 21...don't forget!) and I would no doubt be balling my eyes out if someone tried to stick a tube down my throat and into my intestines. I also think the HIPAA-like rules and health care regulation measures are a lot less strict and way more flexible in Poland, because I'm not even sure if the doctor asked the patients if it was okay for us to be there, and she seemed to have no hesitations in spilling the family's entire medical history to us! We also spent a lot of time discussing how the Polish health care system works. If anyone is planning on living in Poland anytime soon, it may be worth noting that it is “best to get sick during the beginning of the year" (direct quote from the doctor) because government funding tends to run out at the end of the year if it has been busy. Also, if you lose your job, you will still get treatment and the logistics and financial matters will be, "figured out later." Excellent. That makes me feel really reassured!

We had a couple hours of free time after our visit to the hospital while the other groups were in their academic sessions. We decided to wander around Poznan to get a feel for the city. I think now would be an excellent time to describe the public transportation system in Poznan, which we became quite familiar with. The "easiest" way to get from place to place (not very quickly, I may add) is using the trams. The trams looked like they were made about 100 years ago and riding on one feels pretty similar to being the passenger in the car with me when I first started driving (think braking). It is important to pick your spot wisely on the tram. They are extremely crowded so once you get on, you are suck in one position for the rest of the trip and every time it stops, you are almost guaranteed to fall into the person standing next to you. I didn't pick up on this the first few rides, and ended up standing next to a little old lady who I would have crushed in an instant with my backpack had I not quickly flung myself the other way onto my friend instead.

Once back into the main city, we quickly found out that there was not really that much going on in good ol' Poznan. We realized pretty early on though that it was probably going to be the cheapest city we travel to in Europe (for anyone thinking about auditioning for Jeopardy, they are not on the euro...they use the złoty). So, I stocked up on all of the necessities: two toothbrushes and chocolate. My plan was to save them all for when I got back to the US, so that I could always have a little taste of Europe. But, I soon found out that Polish chocolate is actually delectable and that plan failed immediately (I do have some left though! I hid them in my suitcase). We also came across a really neat outdoor flea market with vendors selling everything from fruits to underwear. We found a slipper stand where an old lady was trying to sell me a pair of slippers. She kept yelling to me in Polish even though it was quite obvious that we didn't speak Polish (I think not speaking the language is half of the fun while traveling!) Later on in the day, we had another fabulous and filling meal and then were sent on a scavenger hunt to see some of the historical sites of Poznan. They are really pretty and I took tons of pictures, but not really worth going on into detail here. Although, there was an absolutely gorgeous church with an organ that weighed 2 tons.

The following day our academic visit was at the gynecology hospital in Poznan, which is also part of the Poznan University Hospital...I think. There we shadowed another physician and he had us take the patient history of one of his patients! It was so nerve-wracking. At the end, we got a little tour through the labor and delivery department, in search of delivery to watch! Unfortunately, every room the doctor went in to had a patient who had just recently been admitted. The one lady we did spent a little time with didn't really seem too thrilled about us being there (not that I blame her), so I guess it was for the best. We did get to go see two of the newest born babies as the midwives were preparing to take them to their families. They were adorable!! I thought it was really interesting that in all of the hospital rooms we saw, there would be up to four or five (sometimes more!) patients in one room! Could you imagine seeing your kid for the first time, and having three random strangers hanging out with you too? Talk about third wheeling.

I'm beginning to realize just how long this post is going to be. We're just leaving Poland now...I'll summarize a bit: another long bus ride to Berlin, arrived for dinner, and went to the German Heart Institute the next morning for our first academic visit. The German Heart Institute is basically a hospital specializing in cardiac care and does a lot of research and pretty high-tech transplants. We got to see some patients, had a brief tour, and a lecture there. After lunch, a group of us headed to the East Side Gallery, which is the largest part of the Berlin Wall that is still standing. This was one of my favorite things that I saw in Berlin. The East side of it is covered in these pretty awesome paintings about freedom and filled with graffiti and tons of quotes. The murals are so good (that's really the only way I can describe it!). I think I took a picture of every one because they kept getting better and better. I'll only put a few here but if you want to see more, go to the family picture website or Facebook or ask me...or even better, go see it yourself!

We had another academic visit that afternoon, this time to a Family Planning Center in the city. I can't say I enjoyed this one as much. The sex-ed portion was a bit unnecessary and made me feel like I was in eighth grade health class. They did give us free coffee and snacks though, which is always a plus of course. It was interesting though to learn about their stance on abordtion. I got the sense that abortion is much less of a "not a dinner table topic" in Germany (and maybe all of Europe) and the rules governing it seem a lot more lax. I was kind of surprised by that, but at the same time it is not very surprising because Europe is much more liberal. After dinner that night (a delicious veggie pizza!) we had tickets for the symphony. The concert hall was really pretty and apparently it was one of the best ones in Berlin. Now, I am all about music and after 12 years of piano I definitely have an appreciation for it, but 2 1/2 hours is a bit excessive (although they were extremely good)! I enjoyed listening to the pianist though, as well as counting all of the people who were sleeping. Use your best judgment to figure out whether or not I was included in that number ;)

Okay, I'm almost finished (not really). Thursday was by far the best day of the study tour. In the morning, we went to the Center for Anatomy, where we got to go in the cadaver labs! For those of us who had never seen a cadaver before (including myself), it took a few seconds to get our bearings together, but then the science nerds in all of us came out. It was so cool exploring (this is actually really gross now that I think about it) all of the organs still inside a person. My personal favorite? The knee and the intestines. Also, for an organ, the liver is quite heavy! It's amazing how much you can learn with the real thing compared to the bone box in anatomy lab. Also, the thumbs on a dead person oddly enough look the most like their living counterpart, in my opinion. Weird...and creepy.

For lunch that day, we experienced German culture at its finest...currywurst at the subway station. Yum. For those of you who don't know what it is, currywurst is basically some type of meat (I'm not sure exactly what kind...and I don't really think I want to know) that is in hot dog form but cut up into small pieces. It is served in a little french-fray tray and has curry seasoning and ketchup on it. Kelly, Laura and I ordered one to split, but when we first got it, all three of us were about to just give it to a homeless person. However, the currywurst pleasantly surprised us and was actually really good! Following the currywurst adventure, we were headed to our next activity of the day: a bike tour of Berlin...in the cold, wind, and rain (the only day of the trip it rained, of course).

The bike tour was probably one of the highlights of the trip and I would definitely do one in every country if I could. Our class (well the three of us at least) had way too much fun on our bikes and I'll admit, I couldn't help but show off some of my new-found biking skills (I’m getting better at the hill!). All geared up in two jackets and a poncho, Scruffy (my bikes name) and I traversed all over the city through the major must-see historical sites of Berlin. These included the Holocaust Memorial, the Reichstag, the TV tower, University where the book burnings took place, these 2 other buildings that were really neat and identical except one was built by the French and one by the Germans, Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, another portion of the Berlin Wall, and the hotel where Michael Jackson hung his kid out of the window. Although my fingers felt like they were going to fall off for the first hour of the tour, Berlin is such a great city to see and there is so much history in it! Lucky for us, the sun came out with about an hour left.

For dinner on Thursday night, we went to unsicht-Bar Dark Restaurant as a class. This restaurant is exactly what it says it is: dark. You are served by blind waiters and eat in total darkness to experience your other senses at work (I think it would be a great place for a blind date!). Oh, and you have no idea what you are being served! I was a little hesitant about this at first. I didn't really like the idea of a) not knowing what I was eating, b) not being able to see who I was talking to, and c) not being able to see for over an hour. But at the same time, I was super excited. Plus, I would never be able to afford to eat there without it being a DIS dinner, so I was glad to have the opportunity. So, when I say you eat in total darkness, I mean pitch black, are-you-afraid-of-the-dark, can't see your hand in front of you darkness. I could have taken my pants off in the middle of dinner and no one would have known. It was really hard to get used to at first (it hurts your eyes for a little bit while they adjust). I also was on the end (my least favorite seat, of course!) and kept feeling a breeze next to me, which was a little scary. Also, I could not get used to the waiter coming up. Even though he would introduce himself and touch your arm (being super ticklish this did not help the situation) to let you know he was next to you, it would always startle me a little bit. I still don't know how the waiters did it. They put your plate exactly in front of you and even lead you to and from your seats. It's amazing! Now, the meal. It was a three course meal, which started with a salad with a tomato and an avocado (which we guessed correctly). I don't know if anyone has ever tried to eat a salad with their eyes closed, but it is virtually impossible. Since no one could see what we were doing, my whole table started eating it with our hands (needless to say, we needed a lot of extra napkins). At first we were a little shy about it, but then we all realized we were doing the same thing. It would have taken me an hour to eat the salad with a fork because I honestly couldn't stab one piece of lettuce without seeing it. It was hilarious. Also, tomatoes are not fun to eat when you do not know they are coming (who likes something squirting in your mouth when you aren't expecting it?) and avocados feel even more gross when you do not know you are touching an avocado. Next came the main course. As much as I hate to admit it, we ate this meal like cavemen as well as we gnawed away at what we thought was meat. My guess? Ribs. It was tofu. Close. (It smelled like J.B. Dawson's!). Dessert was delicious as well. It was cut up mangos with custard and chocolate petit fours. Since no one was looking, we literally licked our plates clean. Wish I were kidding...there was extra chocolate sauce on the dish though, so this was clearly necessary, and not to mention the only effective way to eat all of it. It was definitely an experience to remember and I surprisingly, thoroughly enjoyed it! Maybe I'll make my family eat in the dark with me sometime this summer. It was a great way to end our trip (although it might have been nice to see my classmates during our last dinner together). We went out as a class that night, and I even met up with a friend from Gettysburg studying abroad in Berlin! I know my parents won't want to hear this, but I can tell you that abroad has definitely made me relax a little about my school work because we all stayed up until 4 am and put together our group presentations the next morning during breakfast...forty five minutes before presentation time. I think we all got A's. Afterwards, we got to go to the top of the Reichstag and hang out a bit more in the city before heading home.

It was an awesome trip and I wish we had more study tours this semester! It is so fun traveling with a class and being able to learn in so many different places, outside of the classroom. Plus, it's great having all of the travel arrangements, lodging, and dining taken care of. We left Berlin exhausted, and feeling like sausages, or should I say, "feeling like currywurst." But it was totally worth it! I'm really looking forward to traveling these next few weeks and experiencing more that Europe has to offer! Again, sorry this is so long and detailed. This is probably the closest thing to a journal that I'll ever get to, and I feel like I should be documenting this trip somehow!

Land of the Hamburgers

This week has been super busy, and unfortunately I wasn't able to write about my weekend before Wednesday, so there goes my goal of weekly updates. I have a feeling they are going to be pretty spotty from here on out because I have so much coming up! I'll try my best though!

This past weekend, I traveled to Hamburg, Germany with my Holocaust and Genocide class for a study tour. We had a 5 hour bus ride, so we left fairly early on Saturday morning. To get to Germany, we had to drive to the coast and take the ferry across. The bus came on board, but we had to get off during the trip. On the way out, it was so windy that the waves were splashing to the top of the ferry and rocking the whole boat. I never get sea sick, but I was definitely feeling it this time! On the bright side, the stores on board did not have any taxes, so my classmates and I indulged in some of our favorite chocolate bars for half the price (we also saw the largest jar of Nutella I have ever seen). Also worth noting- fun fact: we watched The Pianist on the bus ride to Hamburg, and I totally performed the song that the pianist plays in the opening scene at a highschool recital. Maybe my new summer goal should be to relearn it...

Our first stop in Hamburg was the Bullenhuser Damm School. During WWII, an SS (a Nazi military party) physcian was experimenting with vaccines for tuberculosis. **Warning: this entry does not contain the most uplifting stories, so read on at your own discretion. As part of the racist ideologies of the time in Germany, it was thought that a person's ethnicity was a contributing factor in developing TB, so he experimented on Jews, Soviets, and people from other "inferior" races at the Neuengamme concentration camp nearby. Later, he used 20 Jewish children from Auschwitz for his experiments. After being injected with the disease, they were brought to the schoolhouse and killed by the SS officers in order to cover up the crimes. There was an exhibit about the experiments, the perpetrators, and the children involved at the school, as well as a memorial garden. The museum was really small but it was interesting to read about the experiments and the tributes to the victims were nice to see as well.

After we checked into our hostel, we had the choice to have free time or go to an art museum in the city... so we had free time. My roommates and I took the opportunity to walk around Hamburg for a few hours before dinner. Luckily, two of them had already gone to Hamburg with their classes, so I had my very own personal tour guides and got to give my map skills a little break.  For some reason, I pictured it as a little town but it's actually really big...and so pretty! We saw some type of political protest by town hall which was pretty cool. There was also some guy whose job it was to make a pile of bottle caps, watch kids run through them and spill them across the street, and then go collect them and put them back in a pile for more kids to run through. Obviously, I joined the kids and kicked some around myself. We made sure to stop at the gummy bear store for free samples as well (okay, I bought a bag) because gummy bears apparently originated in Germany and they are ten times better than the ones in the United States. Also, if you didn't catch from the title of this post (so creative, isn't it?), I learned that the people in Hamburg are referred to as, "Hamburgers." Apparently, I am still eight years old and laughed every time it came up.

We had a three course meal waiting for us at a nearby restauraunt next. It was such a great meal and a really good chance to get to know my classmates, who I never really had a chance to meet.  Everyone was really nice (and very different, which made for some pretty interesting conversation). Unfortunately though, I ended up sitting next to Buzzkill Bonnie, who does not eat, "swine." The waitress kindly assured her that the meat they would be serving was beef. However, in Germany, dietary restrictions (especially those regarding meat) are not as well understood. Let's just say that when we discovered that the side of potatoes had little bacon bits in them (umm..yumm!), my dramatic classmate was not a happy camper, refused to eat anything else, spent the rest of the night sulking, and basically just killed the mood completely. It was at this point that I helped myself to a second serving of potatoes...hey, more for the rest of us!

After dinner, a group of us decided to continue our walk through Hamburg, but this time check out the red light district. Apparently, Hamburg has the second biggest red light district in Europe (second only to Amsterdam). I'm not going to go into much detail here, as we only walked through it anyways. Use your imagination though. We did manage to grab a picture with a person dressed up as "Where's Waldo," which made our night complete.

The next day can be described in two words: food and sad. (Terrible combination, by the way). We had breakfast at the hostel, and then went straight to see the Church of St. Nicholas, in the middle of Hamburg. This church was bombed by the Allies during the war, which ruined a large portion of the city. That is why most of the buildings in Hamburg are more modern looking -neighborhoods were literally destroyed. The church has not been restored to its former condition, so it's a neat place to see and really get a feel for what went on there. We took the elevator up to the top, where there is an incredible view of the city and some neat pictures of how parts of the city used to look from the top of the church before the bombing.

After our stop at the church, we headed to brunch (don't forget, we ate breakfast about an hour and a half before this...so no one was actually hungry). There was a huge buffet with so many amazing dishes (cheeses, meats, fruits, salmon, bread, anything you could ever think of). Somehow I ended up sitting across from, "I don't eat swine" again, but she was much more well behaved today. Everyone eagerly filled their plates up, wanting to try everything, and then went back for seconds when we discovered there was a waffle machine. Needless to say, we all left the place wanting to walk around with our pants unbuttoned for the rest of the day...well, at least I did. I'm not sure why I don't have a picture of this, since I seem to have a picture of every other edible item I've come across abroad...

Our final stop of the trip, and the main reason for coming, was to the Neuengamme concentration camp, which is located just outside of Hamburg. Neuengamme was a work camp (as opposed to an extermination camp) during the war, but it still had one of the highest death rates due to its location and conditions. I didn't really know what my expectations were -probably, along the lines of the classic textbook images I had seen so many times. But whatever I did expect, what I saw was nothing like it. In fact, there isn't really a whole lot to even see. For instance, a lot of the barracks had to be taken down, so there were simply walls of stones next to "roll call square" resembling where they used to be.

There was still a lot of the original parts of the camp in tact though, such as the railroad tracks, and the areas that the workers had to dig for clay. Even so, being there was just bone chilling, especially because our teacher gave us a tour of the camp himself and is so knowledgeable on the subject. The information he would tell us was unlike anything I had ever learned about before. Even though it is a really heavy subject matter, I really like listening to him because he just knows so much. One point of the tour that stood out most to me was a transport wagon situated on one of the railroad tracks. Across from it was a box outlined in the ground that was the same size as the wagon. Our teacher had our class of about 30 kids stand inside of it. It was a tight squeeze. He then told us that there would typically be about 80 people in one wagon, for days. It is just mind boggling.

I really don't know how to describe the feeling of being there. I guess 'sad' does the trick. It's a very sobering experience.  But I honestly think, if given the chance, people should take the time to visit a place like that. While it is a reminder of one of the worst atrocities in history, it is an important reminder, and one that should not be forgotten. (If you do ever go though, do not eat a large meal beforehand -it will not sit well in your stomach and make the trip more unpleasant than necessary). Oh, and before I forget, one very interesting note from our tour: Following WWII and to this day, the Germans fully accept responsibility for their actions and they are very ashamed of their past -and they will make the point of it. For instance, when we were visiting the church that was bombed, the information blurbs would basically flat out say that the Allies rightfully bombed Nazi Germany and that they deserved it, even if it did mean the loss of many innocent people. I respect that!

Overall, the trip was a really great educational experience and a nice opportunity to see another culture and meet some new people. I have to admit though, I am looking forward to a (hopefully) more lighthearted trip next week to Poznan, Poland and Berlin, Germany with my Human Health and Disease class.

And just a few random facts/observations/things I learned/etc. that I thought I'd share this week:

1. You have to pay for a bag if you want one for your groceries at the store. This would not go over too well with McCaffrey's customers...especially the, "I'll have the bread in double plastic" type.
2. The wind blows in every direction in this country. That, or it changes direction to face me every time I turn, which is highly improbable, although I wouldn't be surprised because I ride against it both to the train station, and home from the train station. Interesting...
3. Apparently, people will leave their babies out on the street while they are in the store. I haven't actually seen it yet, but a lot of people have. I'll have to keep you update on this.
4. I think I was born tanner than I am right now.
5. I wore just a North Face jacket today. No heavy winter coat :)
6. I'm actually enjoying writing in this blog (shocker, I know). I think I've "discovered my blogging voice," as Ali would say. Hope you are enjoying reading it as well...I certainly hope all of the page views are not all from me!

Is Your Refrigerator Running? Better Go Catch It! (but really...)

Yesterday, I almost had my "traumatic experience in the host family home" experience. I've heard a lot of horror stories about students who have had some pretty bad luck (the worst being the story of a kid who lost the family dog while walking it and it ended up getting hit by a car!) , so I've been extra careful not to make myself one of “those” students. This entry has absolutely nothing to do with integrating myself into Danish culture or traveling somewhere exciting; it is purely for your enjoyment, and will hopefully add an extra laugh to your day. Plus, it's just one of those things that would totally happen to me.

My mornings are very structured and I stick to a tight schedule: wake up, run, shower (3 minutes!), get dressed, eat breakfast while making lunch, bike to train station, don't miss train. There really is not much room for any "mishaps," but now I think I should probably start waking up ten minutes earlier.

Anyways, I went into the kitchen to make something to eat- yogurt and granola (it is essential that I do not go a day without this breakfast staple...it's so good!). In typical fashion, I opened the refrigerator and stared at its contents for a good five minutes, contemplating the possibilities to bring for lunch. All the sudden, I heard the apple on the shelf fall to the floor. I thought, "Huh. That's odd." I was still in the midst of scanning the side compartments and about to grab the pesto off the shelf when all of the drawers seemed to spontaneously open all on their own. I turned my head and saw the drawers, shelves, (okay, who am I kidding...the entire refrigerator) tipping towards me. I was so surprised/horrified/appalled/scared/wide-eyed that I didn’t even know what to think. But I’m pretty sure it was somewhere along the lines of, “Holy crap (PG version)!” “What the heck (PG version) do I do!??!?!?!?!?!”  “Where is Dad when you need him?” “Definitely did not save enough time to deal with the falling refrigerator today.”

So, here I am, now standing in a lunge position, arms outstretched, literally holding the entire refrigerator to prevent it from crashing to the ground (Maybe that lifting paid off after all). I tried giving it a little push, but when I released my hold it began to tip right back towards me. Again, holding the refrigerator, I went through all of the possible outcomes of the situation in my head:

Scenario A) "The preferred outcome": I miraculously have the ability to bench press 200 pounds more than I am capable of and have the strength to push the refrigerator back into its proper position. No one will ever know that anything happened.

Scenario B) "The not-so preferred outcome." I stand there all day holding the refrigerator because I am not strong enough to push it back into place.

Scenario C) "The really-not-so-preferred outcome." I try to push it back into place, and think it is okay, but it really is not. Or, I try to stand there all day but realize I am actually not strong enough to do that. Either way, it will come crashing down and will shatter across the kitchen floor along with all of its contents, ruining not only the refrigerator but everything else in the general vicinity. I don't think my host family gets compensated for students breaking expensive appliances. Oh, and I miss my train.

My arms were beginning to tire rather quickly, so I decided that Scenario A was the best option, although it was probably the least likely to be successful. Somehow though, fate was on my side and while I was not able to put it back in place, I was able to move it just enough so that it didn't fall right on top of me like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_nEr9AWayw ...except a refrigerator would probably hurt a lot more than a door.

I looked up to admire my handy work (must have inherited some good genes from Dad!) and thank God that I was not just killed by a refrigerator and saw that it was still tipped at an angle towards the ground. I gave it a gentle push, and breathed a sigh of relief when it stayed in that position and did not move closer to the ground. Needless to say, my lunch was on the small side, seeing as I did not dare to touch the refrigerator more than necessary. I called my host dad to inform him of the "strange situation," hoping he didn't think that I was just being a little too aggressive for breakfast and actually pulled it out of place myself. I wanted to leave a note to my little host sisters to be careful, but they do not understand that much English, so I figured that was pointless. I crossed my fingers that the same would not happen for them. I think my biggest concern though was for the dog. All I could think about all day was the refrigerator falling down on top of him. Then, not only would I be the host student that broke the refrigerator, but I'd be the host student that broke the refrigerator and crushed the dog.

Thankfully, when I got home, all family members (including the dog) were safe...although, the entire contents of the refrigerator were emptied onto the kitchen counter. Not to fret though, because all is well now!

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..

The Day I Walked Up The Hill.

It's not Sunday, but I decided I would update my blog anyways. Plus, I am leaving for my short-study tour tomorrow so I really have nothing better to do. The homework can wait. Anyways, today doesn't exactly rank at the top of my "Day's In Denmark" list, but I figured that most people (well, I know my Dad will) would really appreciate this post or at least get a good laugh out of it.

My host family so generously supplied a bike for me to ride during my stay here. It just came last week, so this week was the first time I used it. Usually, I take a bus to Ballerup station, about 5 km away and either take the bus home or get picked up by my host family. Since the busses only run once an hour, this can be pretty inconvenient sometimes.

Yesterday, my host mom showed me the route to Malov station, which is a bit closer -about 2.5 miles. I decided that I would run the route in the morning to make sure I knew it and then ride my bike there today. Now, for those of you who haven't ventured to Denmark yet, it is virtually flat. If you want to ski, you go to Sweden. My host sisters build thier own hills in the backyard when it snows to "sled" down. Besides some gradual inclines, the only hill this country has is on the route from my house to Malov (wish I were kidding). Basically, if you are in Smorumovre and look left, all roads lead upwards. Not surprisingly, running the route made it seem much longer than 2.5 miles. But I knew it would go faster on a bike and probably not be as bad as I thought it would be. Wrong-o.

This morning, after getting dreadfully lost on my run (Google maps is a lot more difficult to follow in Danish), I was already a bit pressed for time. I wanted to have extra time to catch the train because I didn't know exactly how long it was going to take me to ride there. So of course, it took me five minutes (not exaggerating) to lock the front door. As I got more frusterated, the key got more stubborn. Finally I was off though.

First challenge: gradual hill out of my neighborhood. I forgot how hard biking is and how it never fails to make me feel completely out of shape. I thought running worked your leg muscles. Apparently not. After a slight gradual incline all the way to the base of, "the hill" I started the trek upwards. The hill was probably Denmarks equivalent of "the hill" at Core Creek, or Mummasburg for those of you in Gettysburg. Taxing to run up, but not impossible. If I was in the proper attire, there would be no need for this post (I hope). But to get the best mental image, you should probably be reminded that I was wearing my backpack with a computer in it (which is not light!), a huge winter coat overtop multiple base layers, a huge scarf, hat, snow boots, and jeans. Oh, and spandex underneath my jeans (which I do not recommend, unless absolutely necessary. It is very uncomfortable and makes your jeans fall down, especially while attempting to ride a bike). Not surprisingly, my range of motion was essentially zero.  So here I am, struggling to get up a hill with my pants halfway down my butt, panting, legs burning and Taylor Swift not providing anything to "pump me up" like usual. My thoughts went something like this:

"Comon' you can get up this hill. Stop being ridiculous. Complainer."
"Feel the burn, feel the burn. Oh my god, this really hurts."
"This is so embarassing."
"*#&$@*"

etc..

Most of you probably know that I don't like to take the easy way out and I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I always finish things completely, I get angry when Coach has me stop a workout before I do the maximum number of repeats, and I have never walked up a hill on a run, race or bike ride -no matter how slow I am crawling up it. It's just not my style. I absolutely refuse to do it. Well, that changed today. I walked up the hill. It took me way too longer than should be acceptable to get to the train station, and I arrived exhausted and sweating way more than I should ever sweat in February (in case you were interested). My train was going to be there in about 6 minutes. I searched desperately to find the built in bike lock to no avail and had to call my host dad for help (good thing he always answers his phone!). Apparently, locks just weren't working for me today and it took me at least another 5 minutes to actually lock the bike up (its a tricky mechanism if you've never seen it before). Needless to say, guess who missed her train? This one. Thankfully, I didn't have class today and was just going in to meet a friend.

Fortunately, the bike ride home went much smoother, seeing how it is downhill, for the most part (except the beginning and end, but thats besides the point). Hopefully my bike riding skills will improve by the end of the semester. They could certainly use some help!

Hope all is well back home and at Gettysburg, and that everyone's day went a little more smoothly than mine. I'll update again after my study tour to Arhus and Ebeltoft!

P.S. I am officially going to Paris the first week of May! I'm super excited!

No Class Wednesdays and Danish Birthday Parties

Seeing how I have been here for only a few weeks so far, I will do my best to complete this post before midnight to keep up with my goal of weekly updates. I'll also make sure to run this through spell check before I publish it, as my mom just pointed out to me that I'm still spelling "their" the same way I did in third grade.

This week was the first full week of classes, but I don't even feel like I'm really in classes yet. There are no classes on Wednesdays (instead, you attend class sessions outside of the classroom -for instance, going to a museum or a film viewing). In addition, the DIS program does a really great job of fulfilling their "Copenhagen as your home, Europe as your classroom" slogan, as many of the classes have academic and cultural trips integrated into them. However, the classes are much longer than I am used to at Gettysburg. For anyone who has had class with me before, I'm sure you can guess how a two-hour class has been going for me. I am proud to report though, that I have not fallen asleep yet!

The classes that I am taking this semester are Human Health and Disease (my "core" course), Neuroscience of Fear, Holocaust and Genocide, and Human Trafficking from a Global Perspective. I know what you're thinking: depressing much? My goal for the semester though was to try to take courses outside of the science realm, and just learn about world issues that I really know nothing about -you know, "expand my horizons." So far I've enjoyed most of my classes (although Neuroscience of Fear is actually turning out to be a lot harder, and a lot less interesting than I had anticipated...we'll see how that turns out!). I had to go to a movie for Human Trafficking (no, it was not Taken) though (on a no-class Wednesday), which did leave me a tad unnerved and a bit scared to walk through a foreign city in the dark. But other than that, all is well in the academic arena!

On the subject of Wednesdays, I should probably elaborate on how we decided to spend our free day (before I had nightmares about being smuggled across the border). If you haven't noticed, my friends and I have a slight obsession with all things bakery related in this country, so we decided to find the elusive "St. Peter's Bakery" that our friends who had traveled to Copenhagen in past semesters raved about. They have a special deal on Wednesdays -cinnamon buns for the same price, but twice the size! After a brief debate as to whether or not we should split the pastries, we quickly realized how ridiculous of an idea that was and each delighted in our very own, delectable St. Peter's cinnamon bun. I will most certainly be venturing back to this wonderful place to sample more (including what appeared to be a home-made Pop-Tart and danishes of all sorts). It's a good thing we do so much walking in this city!

Following our cinnamon bun adventure, my friends and I attempted to start planning some trips, including spring break. We realized almost immediately how dependent we have been on our parents and that we really knew nothing about making travel arrangements. Frustrated with our incompetency, we gave up and since then have been wishing that somehow we will magically have a flight to Spain arranged for April that fits our budget. More on that soon.

The longer I am in Denmark, the more I am enjoying myself here. At first, I was very hesitant that Gettysburg required us to live with a host family, because the idea of that was very nerve-wracking. I distinctly remember the first few days, my friends and I were sitting on a bench in Central Station at the end of the day. My one friend said, "Can we just sit here for awhile so we don't have to go home and feel awkward longer?" So, we all happened to "miss" about 5 trains headed towards our home stays. Just yesterday though, we all admitted that it really was great to go back to a host family. Not only does it truly help you get immersed in the Danish culture, but it is so nice to come home after a long day in the city, and have a dinner prepared, a family to hang out with, and in my case, an unlimited number of Friends episodes to watch, courtesy of my host families 1000+ movie and tv show collection.

This past week in Copenhagen has been frigid, to say the least. While Langhorne and Gettysburg have been experiencing a sultry 60 degrees in February, it has been below freezing (or in the negatives, now that I am fluent in the Celsius scale) every day, and has snowed twice! (Denmark usually does not get a lot of snow). I have started to wear cardigans over sweaters and multiple shirts at once. Tomorrow, I will most likely be doubling up on socks, and I'm planning on investing in a European-esque scarf and sweater. By the way, if you haven't figured it out already, I stick out like a sore thumb in Europe. Everyone wears black. I, on the other hand, walk around in a beige parka and a white hat that gives me the nickname, "snow bunny."

This weekend, I decided to stay in Copenhagen because pretty soon, I will be traveling most weekends of the semester. On Friday night, a handful of Gettysburg students met up in the city, which as usual was an eventful experience. Seeing as it was probably 10 degrees F, we were all wearing our winter jackets, scarves, gloves, the whole deal. Thankfully, most places have coat-checks here at the entrance. It is a pretty simple idea: check your coat, get a number, turn in the number, get your coat back. Mikaela though, decided to throw a twist in this efficient system and lost her number. Apparently, you cannot get your coat back without your number, even if you have ID in your pocket to prove it. The coat-check girl (who needless to say, did not like us very much) told us we would have to wait until closing at five to pick it up. This did not go over very well with us, and thankfully, after speaking to the manager, we were able to retrieve her coat held captive. In celebration of being able to take the 3:18 train home (trains only come once an hour) instead of the 5:18 train, we decided to indulge in a late night snack- a famous Danish hotdog. These are seriously the coolest hotdogs you will ever see and we had been dying to try them for quite some time now. They are very long and thin, and the bun is only in the center part. Whatever toppings you want in it, are squirted inside the bun. It was delicious! (Cross country team- I promise I have been running and will not come back 50 pounds heavier).

On Saturday, I took a tour of the Carlsberg brewery/visitors center with a couple of friends. Carlsberg is the beer that Denmark is known for. We saw the largest collection of beer in the world, with hundreds of different unopened bottles from different countries, how they make it, and learned about the history of this European tradition. The best part of the trip though was definitely the horse stables, where we saw the biggest horses I have ever seen in my life. I'm still not exactly sure why they had stables there. I kind of "skimmed" through the informational portion of the tour. It was here that we met Marcon. While petting Marcon, he decided that my jacket looked like a nice snack. At first I thought he was just giving me a kiss, but then I noticed that he was actually eating me! We asked some young Danish children to take our picture, and they found it hilarious that I was Marcon's number one choice for lunch. The tour ended with two "free" (aka included in the price) beers at their classy bar that made us feel way too young and underdressed to be there. And I'll be honest, being college students used to drinking beer that bears more of a resemblance to water, this beer was actually quite good.

I know that this post is getting unbearably long, but I promise I am almost finished (Mom, you wanted to hear about everything!). Today, I went with my host family to their nephew's birthday party, where I got to experience how a birthday is traditionally celebrated in Denmark. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning feeling very under the weather and had a terrible headache and sore throat (I'll be fine, Mom). My family gave me the option to stay home, but I decided it would be a worthwhile cultural experience, popped a few Advil, and I was off. Now, there was very little English spoken at this event. My host family would try to talk in English a little bit, or translate occasionally, but being with their family, it was probably natural for everyone to be speaking in Danish. The birthday festivities go something like this: rolls are served, with some choices of different spreads to put on them. There was also a small plate of cookies/crackers (I'm not exactly sure which one they actually were). The whole time I just sat there wondering if that was the only thing that would be served. I didn't have lunch before we left, because when I think of a family gathering, I associate it with a huge bowl of Grandma's cavatelli and every possible carbohydrate you could imagine on the table. Not wanting to sound rude and ask, I debated back and forth as to how many rolls I should eat to hold me over until dinner. Then though, a birthday cake was served, followed by a plate of some candies (chocolates, gummies, etc.) and chips. One of the family members was explaining to me how this was very traditional. "We eat a lot of food on birthdays! We don't normally eat like this!" I immediately thought of our two-hour long Servo sits at school, all-you-can-eat cereal and dumplings, and every birthday party I've ever been to, and just laughed to myself. It really was an interesting experience! When we got home, I played in the snow with my host-sisters, who were beyond thrilled with the couple of inches they received. And that basically sums up my week! And, it's only 11:00!

Next week, short study tour to western Denmark!