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!

Settling In

I'd like to preface this post by warning you that it will probably take longer to read than you have time for. There's just so much to say!

I've been in Copenhagen for over a week now and have been having a great time so far! Last Sunday, I met my host family for the first time. I am living in a small town called Smorumovre with Dorrit and Dennis, my host parents, and thier two daughters, Celina and Cilie. Celina is 12 and Cilie is 10 and they are so adorable! They also have a dog named Lucky who is so well behaved. He even wipes his feet after he goes outside! The whole family is so nice and they have a beautiful home in the countryside. I haven't gotten a chance to explore the area too well yet due to the busy first week and fear of getting lost and missing the bus, but I'll be reporting back soon! It is so serene and pretty though, with lots of fields. I've been watching the sun rise during my morning runs (which usually start out in the dark) and it is so peaceful that I have to turn Kanye off for a while and put on something a little more meaningful.

I've never done a homestay before, so this whole experience is totally new for me. It is a little overwhelming at first, living in someone else's house in a different country, with people I have never met before this week. And although I miss going home to my dorm room at Gettysburg after class and seeing my friends at practice, it is simply an adjustment, like all new experiences.

This week has been pretty busy, with orientation and the start of classes. Orientation lasted from Monday through Wednesday. After the welcoming ceremony on Monday, we were sent into groups for our orientation sessions. We all had different meeting rooms in the heart of the city, which tooks us way too long to find, even with the combined effort of at least 50 college juniors each with a different map of the city. The first day was a bit of a snoozer and basically consisted of filling out applications for residence permits and the typical "Hi, I'm so-and-so, I go to this college and I like to ..." icebreaker types even though no one remembers the name of a single person they met. On Tuesday we were sent out in small groups to explore the city and find certain tourist hot-spots such as the castle where Queen Margaret lives, the waterfront, parliament buildings, etc. This was definitely my favorite part of orientation and it ended with a shopping trip to make a Danish lunch. It was a great opportunity to get a better feel for the city on our own. On Wednesday, my orientation was with my "core class," which is called Human Health and Disease. I am part of the Medical Practice and Policy program. Even though I'm probably one of the only ones in the class who doesn't want to go to medical school, I'm pretty excited about it. It's taught in a Danish hospital by physicians and offers a lot of hands of learning opportunities. Thursday was the first day of classes. Both of mine were cancelled. Obviously, it was a tough day. I ended up spending the whole day mingling back and forth at the Studenthauset (sp?), a cafe where a bunch of Danish and DIS (my study abroad program) students hang out, the lounges in the academic buildings and wandering the streets of Copenhagen.

Today, I traveled to Helsingor on a DIS trip with Kelly and Lexi (two friends from Gettysburg). It was a fun day (although we were very tired from the week and night before and missed the views on the bus ride over because we fell asleep...whoops!), but extremely cold. We saw the castle at Kornborg too, which is where Shakespeare's Hamlet takes place. Now, I am exhausted, but back in Smorumovre. I have finally warmed up after a cup of tea, fresh baked cookies, and a great dinner.

Rather than give you a boring hour by hour summary of my first few days here, I figure I'll share with you the most important or interesting things I've learned so far. That way, when you all come visit me, you'll be perfectly prepared and may even pass as a Dane.. don't count on it though!

1. Never walk in the bike lanes. I made this mistake the first day I was truly on my own (my host mom brought me into the city on Monday). There is one part of the city that I go through that is a construction zone and has a specific bike and walking path roped off. As I was walking through, I noticed a woman walking next to me in the other lane. I thought, "Hm. That's strange. I wonder why she is in that one." Then I turned around. To my surprise, I saw a stampede of about 100 bicycles barreling at me at tour-de-france time trial speed. My first thought was, "Oh my God, it's the first day and I'm actually going to die." Then I tried to escape but realized I had too many layers on to crawl through the barrier between the lanes, was too far away (and too slow of a sprinter) to run to the end of the lane without getting swallowed up, and blocked by a herd of crazy Danes on the other side. I was stuck, completely embarassed, and totally, "that stupid American." I moved as close as I could to the edge of the lane, leaned back, and gave my most apologetic expression to all of the passing bicyclists. After an eternity, I was able to back track and move into the walking lane and haven't ventured back since.

2. Do not jay-walk. (Okay, I'll admit, I don't obey this one still). Wait for the little walking man to turn green. In Denmark, people are in less of a rush to get places and won't run across the street with one second left on the timer. They probably wouldn't do too well in NYC. In fact, you can even get a ticket for it.

3. The Danes are very laid back people. They are friendly if you approach them, but they will not typically be the first to approach you. The trains are virtually silent, unless it is past midnight (not that I've been on the train past midnight or anything...). Unlike Americans, "awkward silences" are not at all awkward. They don't try to fill every dead space with chit-chat, which is something I cannot and probably will not ever get used to. I'm the queen of unsuccessfully trying to make awkward situations less awkward. On the streets, they are not very outgoing towards other people and may not even smile at you when passing by.

4. Learn through observation. I wasn't aware that if you push the button in the center of the train door, it will open. Instead, I spent the first few days walking through cars of trains until I found a door that people were entering or exiting on. I'm kind of embarassed to admit that. I also spent ten minutes on the bus debating whether or not I needed to push the "STOP" button in front of me to make the driver stop, or if he would automatically stop at every station. (In case you're wondering, it's the former). Thankfully, I figured these two handy tips out both on my own, without having to ask and be the "stupid American" again -although I've been that person too many times to count so far.

5. Speaking of trains, put your iPod on when you get on the train, and make sure to set the alarm. I've dozed off a couple of times already, but have yet to miss my stop...or get on the wrong train :)

6. The streets are still impossible to pronounce. Make an effort though. I'm trying my best to pronounce Vestergade as "Vesta-gal" (still not sure if thats even the correct way) despite my inability to mimick any accent, which I've inherited from my mom.

7. Trying to learn a card game in Danish is virtually impossible. I decided the best way to attempt to get to know my host sisters and have them warm up to me was by hanging out with them. The language barrier was a bit hard though, so after a nice dinner of rice pudding (prepared by the kids) I played a couple of rounds of go-fish and spit with them before they decided it was time to show me one of thier games. I didn't understand one rule of it, but somehow I ended up winning...(I didn't realize I won until a few minutes after the fact either). Turns out we even have some similar taste in pop-culture (they love Avicii, Adele, Taio Cruz -they even danced for me, and like to watch Friends!)They also enjoy playing on thier keyboard. I tried to teach them Heart and Soul, but it didn't work out too well.

8. Exercise is not the reason Americans are obese. We eat a lot. Yes, the Danes are very green and ride thier bikes all the time, which probably keeps the pounds off as well, but I swear I've eaten single meals that are bigger than what some people here consume in a day. (Disclaimer: My host family cooks really good meals and provides plenty of food!) A lot of Danish people eat a slice of toast for breakfast -thats it! Then they bring a very small sandwich typically for lunch (thier packages of lunch meat probably contain about five slices (not a joke) of either ham or chicken -no turkey) and maybe a piece of fruit, and they do not eat that much at dinner time. They do eat a lot of meat though! All of the DIS students noticed this very quickly. We didn't want to feel like the "fat Americans" so we have all been very conscious of how much food we stuff on our plates. Since our stomachs are probably super stretched though, we were starving the first day of orientation. As we've gotten more comfortable in our families, the size of our portions has also increased. We also started hoarding the free pastries we got during orientation. They are delicious!! European Nutella is also ten times better than in the States, and my host mom loves peanut butter (which is not commonly eaten here), so thats great news for me!

9. On the subject of food, we also have different ways of eating our food. When Americans get a piece of steak, they cut it up into small pieces. In Denmark, this is considered childish. They eat using thier fork and knife the whole time, cutting as they go. I haven't mastered this yet, and probably will still cut up my meat like a five year old.

10. Wear comfortable and warm walking shoes, always. Once again, my mother was right and I am eternally grateful I brought a pair of supportive shoes that have a sole. I'd also like to take this time to thank my Aunt Emily for disproving of my shoe fashion taste and the greatest pair of boots I will probably ever own. I've worn them almost every day and they have not only kept my feet warm, but stylish as well!

I could ramble on for awhile, but I'm tired of typing and your eyes are probably tired of reading. I'll try to keep up with a weekly update, but I can't make any promises! Hope all is well back home and in Gettysburg. And, good luck to the Gettysburg track and field team at your first meet today!

Savner jer alle! (Miss you all!)

Day 1: Metros

Well, we made it! I'm actually still in disbelief that I'm in Copenhagen and ready to start my abroad experience! The past two days have been so surreal. The official start date of my program isn't until Sunday, but Mikaela, Emily, and I accidently booked too early of a flight (in our defense, the dates were really unclear in the information packet and we found a great deal) so we are kind of on our own for the first two nights and exploring the city. For anyone who didn't know me freshman year, it was probably really good that I had those two at the airport with me, else I would have been a lot more nervous than I was. Anyways, we left Newark around 5:30 pm on Thursday and arrived in Copenhagen just before 7:00 am Denmark time (about 1 in the morning in PA) on Friday morning.  EJ read and studied all of the emergency procedure picture cards on the plane that nobody actually looks at but thankfully, the ride was pretty uneventful. I accidently dropped my pre-departure manual that I had just started reading (it has lots of useful information in it!) during landing though, so I was going to have to make it without my handy language and culture cheat sheet. Aside from a quick 1 hour nap, nobody slept much on the plane, but we decided to tough it out and not nap at all when we got there so that we could get adjusted to the time zone as soon as possible. Needless to say, I'm exhausted and have been up for 28 hours straight right now, so there is a good chance that what I write will make no sense, or I'll just drift off completely.

(I had to go to sleep before I had a chance at finishing this post...except we all woke up again at 1 am ready for dinner..)

After dropping our bags off, we set out to explore the city. First challenge: tackling the metro system. Thankfully, Emily is a frequenter to NYC, so she's used to the subways, but navigating your way through a metro system completely in Danish seemed to be a bit more challenging. There were like 15 different types of tickets to choose from and not surprisingly, we only made it one stop before we were (kindly) asked to leave the metro because we only punched three holes in our group ticket instead of the more obvious five. Thankfully, two very nice ladies on the metro saw how confused and completely out of place we looked and directed us in the right direction. We decided that the first thing we would do when we got back would be to look up the translations for thank you (tak) and sorry (undskyld).

My first reaction when we first stepped out into Copenhagen was just pure amazement. The city is BEAUTIFUL! It is unlike any city I've ever been to in Europe. I love it already!  Everyone here is so nice and they all speak such good English. It's incredible (and makes me feel really stupid and totally un-cultured). The buildings are gorgeous and so colorful. The canal runs right through the city and everything is so clean, cobblestoney, and just nice. Everyone bikes too...Dad, you would love it. The streets also smell like freshly baked bread, which is an added bonus (I probably won't be loving it as much when I move up a jean size...).

Our first mission was to find a coffee shop because the three of us were exhausted, but determined to get through the day. We found a cute little market area with a bunch of pastry shops. I was actually in heaven. There were so many different danishes, croissants, muffins, breads -basically carbohydrate central, which is perfect for me. I got a coffee and a mouth-watering chocolate danish. Of course, this didn't go without incident. While trying to pay the cashier, Emily accidently dropped 50 kroner through the crack between the counter and pastry display. Unfortunately, her desperate attempt at saving it was to no avail as we sadly watched it slip away. The barista must have felt very bad for us after Emily exclaimed, "Oh no! I dropped my 50 dollar bill down there!" so she began to remove the glass casing and pull the counters apart to try to find it for us. It was nowhere to be found though. Thankfully, 50 kroner is actually only worth 8 or 9 dollars (not 50), so butterfingers got over it eventually.

Next, I decided to lead us so that we could find DIS, our school. I'm not the best map reader, so naturally I led us in the completely opposite direction, but we eventually found our way back. Navigating here is pretty difficult when you can't pronounce any of the street names. It's like trying to pronounce seven syllables of consonants with your mouth full of peanut butter. I did however, manage to find a beautiful park, so we stopped to take some pictures there.

Eventually, we began to get the hang of it (okay, Emily did) and we were able to find some really pretty churches, harbors, and squares. We did some window shopping too, but were pretty content just walking through the streets. We had to take a second coffee break (where I bought the smallest and most expensive coffee I will ever buy) before having "dinner" at 2 pm. Emily ordered her first legal drink, an Irish Coffee. It was more like pure whiskey with a little bit of coffee. We decided to make our way back to the hotel around 3 so that we wouldn't have to find the metro station in the dark. It took us so long though that that plan was basically shot by the time we found it. I think our exhaustion made it way more difficult than it needed to be. We managed to get some sleep last night though and are ready for another exciting day exploring (in the rain)!

More to come soon... Tale med dig senere!

New Year, New Experiences

Hi everyone! In a few short weeks (17 days, to be exact!) I will be on my way to Copenhagen, Denmark to study abroad for the semester! I never expected to travel abroad, but I am looking forward to spending the rest of my junior year in a totally new place with new people and trying new things. My mom, who is extremely tech-savvy suggested that I create a blog to document my experiences studying, living, and traveling in a new country and throughout Europe. This is my first attempt at blogging, so we'll see how it goes and I'll try to remember to write more than once a month. But for now, I will be enjoying my last few weeks at home with family and friends, so I probably will not update this until my departure nears.

By the way, for those of you who are a bit confused as to the title of this blog...at my study abroad meeting, we were asked to share a fun fact about Denmark. I decided I would volunteer first, but quickly realized I knew virtually nothing about the country. So, I replied that they "spoke Dutch."Apparently, they do not.  (who knew!?)  My program coordinator advised me to do a little reading up on the culture before I leave. I guess I'll be investing in a travel book as well before I head over! Thanks for reading!