9 months and 9 and a 1/2 countries

This semester I have updated as often as I thought I would, but none of that matters anymore. In less than three days I will be on a plane headed back to the US. I am still processing.

Last week I studied. Finals week is always a ball, and this semester it was no different. I turned in my last exam--take home for finance- on Friday at 2:30. Then I ran around the corner to the closing ceremonies for DIS. Closing ceremonies happens every semester, and it is like a graduation. There is music, speeches from teachers, and students. I skipped it last semester, but as I am actually leaving for good this time I went. I'm glad I did.

It was held in one of the oldest theaters in Copenhagen, very pretty. The speeches were alright for the most part. One speaker, however, caught my attention. He waxed poetic about his initial cynicism about study abroad, but then poignantly asked how are you going to say when people ask you about your time abroad? With my bags packed(everything in two massive, incredibly heavy bags--but two nonetheless!), and having relocated to Elisabeth's family house for the next two days(long story-but had to move out of kollegium today instead of Tuesday) I am feeling reflective.

Yesterday I turned in my books. I snapped a few pictures of the building as I walked around like a sap for the last time. I said goodbye to a few friends. I said goodbye to Kellan(whom I babysat for) and his mom. I said goodbye to the man at the grocery store around the corner from me. I am ready to get back home, but at the same time I cannot believe it is May.

Don't get me wrong, I do feel like I have been here for nine months. I now know where to get pastries, where the best running trails are, what gelato stand has the best hazelnut ice cream, what grocery store has the best food, what metro stop to take home. I have explored the city and have a wonderful time. Yet, I can't believe it is May. It is the date I thought about when I first booked my tickets last July. It seems surreal that I have not only been here this long, but that I came at all.

I know I wrote about this in August, but when I got on the plane to Copenhagen the first time, I had no idea what to expect. It was like heading off to freshman year at college, but without the visit before hand. I didn't know what the school would be like. I couldn't envision what life would be like. Freshman year, you head off with an image in your head--of you hanging out in the quad, or in the dorm you say on your tour, or at the cafeteria. Coming to Denmark I had no picture. The next nine months of my life were blank. I had no idea where I would be living or studying. I had no idea what the people, language, or city would look/sound like. It was blank. And scary.

Now, Copenhagen is not so scary. It's comfortable and manageable. I may not have learned to speak much Danish--nejtak--but I have experienced much of the culture. I have learned a great deal in the classrooms and through my travels. I have taken some great courses--Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism being the best-- and learned just as much from my professor as from my peers who were from different backgrounds and places.

I have also had the opportunity to travel. Here is the list, please don't ask me to list it on demand when I get back because I won't remember it: The Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Denmark, and 1/2 Sweden (+Greece from before). I have stayed in hostels, with relatives, at B&Bs, and hotels--for the record not the biggest fan of hostels, shocking right? I have run in two races, been on two continents, and have had many amazing meals.

So what does this all add up to? What is the proper response to: "How was your year?". Great? Wonderful? I learned a lot? It was live altering?(was it?) I am now a socialist? (don't worry, as as economics major I still believe in capitalism)

Here is what is true: I am feel lucky to have had this opportunity. I am incredibly grateful that my parents gave me this chance, I understand what a challenge it was for them. I feel I have learned so much about different cultures and what I want to do. Although I don't preciously know "what I want to be when I grow up" I am moving in that direction. I love being in Europe, but I can't wait to get back to the United States. There are so many places within the United States that I have not seen that I would like to visit. I have learned about myself and more about how others interact. There is no short answer to summarize all I have seen, all the people I have meet, and all that I have learned. But...


When I am asked this is what I plan to say: "It was wonderful.I learned a lot and meet great people. I love Copenhagen, but I am glad to be home."

Three days!

Tres Semenas

I have three weeks left. To the day. Craziness.

In the past few weeks I have been trying to catch up with work, which at this point seems like a losing battle. I have 1 take home test, 1 final, 2 ten-page papers, 1 six page paper, a debate, and an "extensive" quiz left. we have thursday and friday off this week so I will be buckling down and attempting to knock out two of those papers.

what has happened since i last wrote? well the weather and copenhagen changed. we now have more hours of sun than darkness. the gelato stand opened back up. i went the first day back at class from travel break. they recognized me. i am a regular to the point that when their credit machine wasn't working this sunday, they still let me have my cone. they told me to pay next time i come back--because they know that i will be back within days. the one good thing is that their price went down 5 kr, about 1 dollar, since last season.

i discovered a beach by my kollegium. very pretty. i also ran the half i have been training for. it was painful. i ran last sunday. my time was fine, the fact that everything was marked in kms made it harder to pace but i'm happy with my time. i finished which is always the primary goal. there were many moments when i didn't want to but i powered through. Now i just need to find a new race in maine to train for this summer.

the volcano hit iceland, as all those not living under a rock probably have heard. i disrupted travel in and out of copenhagen. it also changed the weather. volcanos have a cooling effect; this was evident when on last monday i was comfortable wearing sandals and two days later it snowed. Yes, snow. in april. i travel 3000 miles from maine and am unable to avoid the snow in the spring.

last friday i went over to a friends, ran, baked and made pizza. saturday i had two friends over for dinner. i made red lentil soup and flatbread. it was the first time i made that red lentil soup, and i was pleased with the results.

other news, i have an internship for the summer. it's nice to have plans and i'm looking forward to the work.

Around and Back

So I arrived back in Copenhagen Monday, exhausted. I was going to update yesterday evening, but I lost power(more on that later). Here is the wrap of my final travel break of the semester.

Last week I spent Monday through Friday in Paris. After my visit to the louvre Wednesday I headed over to the Museum Orsay. I love Van Gough and really wanted to see something of his. I was thrilled to discover that I could get into that museum free as well--thank you Denmark. As luck would have it the Van Gough exhibit was under construction, but they place his painting in a random hallway. It was a little jarring to see these famous works just placed in a regular hallway with little to no security, but nice, refreshing even.



Overall I think it was the best museum I have ever been to. It was overpopulated, I didn't have to wade around in the crowds to see a painting. It was quite, clean, and the selection was exactly up my ally. I wrote down a couple of names of the artists that I really loved--Armand Guilaumin, Jozf Rippl Ronai, Andre Deran, Edgar Degas, and of course Monet( how could I not love the artists who painted gorgeous sailboats?)

After the Museum I made my way to the Eiffel Tower. The weather was still beautiful so I figured I should take advantage of it. I got in line, a long line. I was only there for about 5 minutes when a couple and their teenager daughter approached the mother-daughter pair in front of me. They explained that they were American and accidently made a reservation for 6-not three and had three tickets to sell. I weighed my options--wait in line for 2 hours or speak up. I spoke up and joined their group. There reservation was at 7 so I had 45 minutes to kill. So I walked around the Eiffel tower and took some neat shots(see right).



At 7 we got to jump the line and head right to the top. Very pretty views--yet very windy. After that I headed back home. Next day I went into town into the Marsais- the old bourgoise district. Great people watching, great weather. Then later went for a run, had a final dinner with the family I was staying with, and packed up. The family was so great and really made the visit memorable for me.


Friday I traveled to Bologna. I arrived, got a bus into the city and then the confusion began. The public transportation in Paris is great. It is easy to learn, even when you don't understand the language. Bologna is the opposite. It is a bus system that stops at seemingly random places. People in the town try to be helpful, but they don't even know where to catch the line. I literally walked up and down a street for 40 minutes because people kept giving me contradictory directions. An hour after that I arrived at my hostile, which was 20 minutes outside the city in the middle of no where. Not joking, it was literally in the middle of a field. Oy. I washed up, emailed the family, and then received word from my friend Elisabeth that she was not going to be able to meet up with me tomorrow in Levanto because someone stole her passport and money from her in Budapest. That made me nervous. Like in Dublin, I slept with my passport and credit cards in the band of my sweatpants. That turned out to be useful because one of the girls in the room snored incredibly loudly. In the middle of the night, after already being woken up twice, I slammed them against the wall and rolled over. It worked, she woke up, and I had a chance to get to sleep.(See picture below of the hostile)




The next morning I headed into town, walked around for a bit, and then got on a train to Levanto. It was a 4 hour trip via the train, many stops. I do love traveling by train though, so it didn't bother me. The views out the window were very neat. Got to Levanto and had to find a place to sleep. I was going to stay at a campground with Elisabeth,but there was no way I was doing that alone--I could imagine a lifetime movie being made out of a decision like that. I got a room at a hotel-got the price down from 40 to 25 euro, went for a run and got a nice meal to eat on the beach. The next day was Sunday, Easter. I went to Church-it was built in the 1200s and had been operational since the 1400s. The mass was said in Italian but the hymns were familiar. I went to the train station after changing into hiking clothes. I bought a three day pass for the Cinque Terre. Seconds after I was on the platform and thought-what am I doing? I do not want to hike alone for three days. I am way to clumsy for that/have bad luck. So I sold my ticket to a fellow tourist, went to the hotel, booked a plane ticket out of Pisa the next morning, packed (I think packed in maybe 2 minutes, defiantly a record for me), and headed out.

My flight out of Pisa was at 10 AM, but the earliest train out of Levanto was at 6 something, getting to Pisa Central Station at 838, and then I would have to get to the airport. That was cutting it too close for me, so I knew I should just leave Levanto Sunday night and spend the night at the airport. I didn't want to get a room at the hostel because a) I would have to pay for a room and b) hostels aren't that much better then airports in terms of the quality of sleep(for me anyway). Levanto is 12 km away from Monterosso, the first town of the Cinque Terre in my direction. I decided to walk there. I took the roads because I knew there would be plenty of cars and people out-there were. It ended up being a two hour hike up such high windy roads. It was fun. Nice views, sunny weather(even though it was suppose to rain). I defiantly walked longer/got lost but it was fine. Got to town, got gelato, and put my feet in the water.






Next I got on a train to Pisa and made it to the airport. I washed up, changed into comfy clothes and settled in for the night in a section where fellow backpackers were sleeping too. Long story short didn't get much sleep. But in the morning I was got on the plane and got back to CPH safely. I was asleep before take off through the landing.


Yesterday was a catch up day, as is today. Last night I was blow drying my hair and the fuse in my room blew. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary and was using a danish dryer. fun stuff. They were able to fix it this afternoon, thus the reason I have power and a working computer.

Day twoish

Today I woke up and went for a run in the town I am staying in. I was sire from my activites in the past few days so I planned for three to four- I got lost so it ended up being over seven. Not surprising, right?  The town is quite lovely though. In the 20s it was the spa destination(has thermal spas and is on a lake). The town is well kept, plenty of people out and even some runners.

After my run i got ready and then headed into the city. As I write this I am at the louvre- taking a break because I have een exploring for nearly two hours. There is so much to see. My favorite part is the actual building, the arictechture is amazing. I am going to spend a but more time here, go to another museum nearby and then head to the effipe tower. My plan is to get there at dusk. Oh, did I mention that my entry to the louvre was free? I showed my Danish health care card, which proves my 6 month eu residency and that I'm under 25. I'm crossing my fingers that it works at the next musuem. 

first time in paris

I was in transit for 22 hours to get to Paris. Not ideal.

So Sunday I finally did laundry, packed, did a long run, and locked up. I headed into Copenhagen, had to stop at school to print ticket stff--because Ryan air is that obnoxious.I had to search for ,y bus; but was lucky enough to find it 15 minutes ahead of ti,e. Plenty of seats, so I grqbbed one to myself near the middle: away from the crying baby not near the bathroom. I feel right asleep. two hours later we make a stop, more people get on i get a seat partner. not just any seat partner, oh no, one that drives me slowly insqne.

He gets on, choses to sit with me-fine. then his mother comes on board shoves stuff in the seat, gets off. then he seats down on the edge of the seat the edge nearest me. so now im plastered to the window. then he waves goodbye, almost knocking me out in the process. then he stays that close. i turn and motion to the contour of the seat. he scouts over for 30 secs and then i get his elbow in my ribs. this goes on for a fez ,inutes. i ,ove over and fall asleep. i wake up to his whole body leaning into ,my seat. I tell him "im s,all but not that small", and get him to move over... you get the icture. the next bus stop is at 2; i move. i must say i was really too close to snapping at him.

get to stockholm central station at 630, head to stockholm airport for 4 hours. why i sit okay to put a box with three wall, but an open front in the middle of an airport and let people smoke okay? there wasn't a door, nothing to block the smoke. fly to paris, outside the city. take an hour bus ride into the city? then got to figure out the metro system on the fly. qa rando, girl gave me metro passes, very nice. find my way to the trains, manage to find the correct house. miracle. soo hungry because in 22 hours all i ate was almonds, bowl of cereal, and an apple.

the family that i am staying with lives 15 ,inutes from paris. two kids, the girl is a freshman--french eq.- in high school, the son is a senior-like my younger brother . they are all very nice. the house is very neat; i am staying in a study room lined in books. how perfect right?

today i slept in till a few before 10 and then headed into the city within the hour. spent all day walking around. i the rain held off until my walk home from the metro. i even had sun for a bit.

paris is beautiful; i saw so,e of the major sites like the arc de triu,p, notre dome; louvre, any ,many more.my plan was to spend the day in the louvre but it is closed on tuesdats, so either wed or thursday. my legs are tired, so im going to run in the am tomorrow so my legs dont give out on me. i did meat some nice women on the train home-got to use my broken spanish. sorry if the sentances are short-french keyboards and me are not a good combination. thats why the ms are ,s.

okay update again soon.

Packing Pains

Okay, I am officially terrible at updating this semester. i'll recap the past two weeks.

Two mondays ago my friend Jackie from home arrived in Copenhagen. She had two weeks off for spring break and decided to come for a visit. I met her at the airport. I got there at 7, am. That's right. 7 am on a Monday. Those who know me, know just how painful that was for me, but she did travel 3000 miles so it was really the least I could do.

She got here, settled into the room, and she took a nap while I went to my two morning classes. I came pack, had lunch(which was really good in my completely unbiased opinion--I made meatballs and flatbread. Then we went into the city in time for my 3 hours finance class. The walk was lovely because it was sunny. Sun in Copenhagen. I am not kidding.

For the duration of the her stay we had great weather, only rain 1/2 days. It looks as if it's warming up, no more snow for Copenhagen. The ice has melted from the harbor.

So we went to class, and got out an hour early. I kept telling Jackie that the sun and the early release were anomalies. But come Tuesday there was sun again. We repeat that patten, class, met up, walk around to different sites, for the first week. That Saturday we went to the Louisiana Art Museum, modern art. It is located 40 minutes by train from the center of town. When you see the museum it's deceiving because it looks like a small cottage, but in the inside it is very large with twisting corridors. It's like a maze. Very neat.

Sunday we went out by my old dorm, seeing as everything is closed here on Sunday. Monday we went inside the black diamond library after failing to get into Tivoli(closed till April 15th). Tuesday after my classes we went to the Hamlet Castle which was really neat. You can see Sweden from the embankments. It has moats.

Jackie left on Wednesday, and classes ended on Friday. Now I have two weeks off. Oh, on Friday I was walking home from class, I think it was Friday anyway, and this store front has people streaming in and out of it, so of course I went in. It was a sample sale. It attracted Danish women of all ages, shopping with such intensity that I felt scared. The clothes were very danish, and now know where Danish women get all there black clothes.

I leave in a very hours for Stockholm(via a 9 hour bus ride-fun stuff). I'll get there at 630am walk around(if I'm functional) for an hour or so, and then make my way to the airport. I'm flying to Paris! first time visiting the city, and I'm excited. I'm there Monday through Friday, then I head to Italy. I'm flying in and out of Bologna and in between I'll be visiting different cities. I'm going to go hiking for a couple of days in the Cinque Terre. Looking forward to the break.

The one thing is that I had to pack one backpack as a carry-on. For two weeks. Me. I am a horrible packer. I bring two bags for a day trip. I don't like to play favorites with my clothes; I love them all equally. To complicate it I need running stuff, stuff that won't scream tourist in Paris, and warm stuff for hiking. In one bag. I took 8 pairs of shoes to Turkey. I wore at least 6 pairs. So narrowing it down has been tricky. Especially because I only did laundry an hour ago. My aversion to packing makes me procrastinate. I did it though--look! Only three pair of shoes(1 running, flats, sneakers to walk in) and two pairs of jeans.



Now I need to shower from my long run, put on an outfit that I can sleep in and head into town.

I'm sure I'll have withdrawal from leaving my computer behind... but I will update when I get internet. Bye Copenhagen!

Asia for dinner

I am back from Turkey. I arrived home--which after a week away I think of Copenhagen as my European home-base-- yesterday evening after a long day of travel. I left on Sunday after dinner, and because we did so much this week I am consulting my itinerary for assistance.

Monday morning I went to a rural community center, in a part of town where immigrants from Western Africa and minoirty groups live. It was not the best part of town, but it was an interesting look at Istanbul away from the tourist sites. We had a meeting out on the deck of the building(see photo below).

The weather was amazing. Around 60 degrees and sunny. After the meeting we went grabbed a quick lunch and went to Bilgi University for a lecture. Biligi university is one of the large universities in Istanbul--some professors are quote in this new york times article. To be honest I didn't get much out of the lecture, dry and nothing I hadn't heard last semester in Brussels.

The evening,however, was an adventure. We had the option to either meet with young Armenians from a local radio station for tea and hookah or take a ferry across the Bosporus to the Asian side. Take a guess which one I did...

So upon getting on the ferry a group of five of us stayed outside on the railing to take in a unobstructed view of the sea and the fresh air. The ferry ride went by quickly, and as we neared shore people began crowding around us. It turns out that we were leaning on the exit rail, so we were one of the firsts off the boat. We got off in Asia, snapped a few pictures, waited for our group, who didn't come. We realized this as the boat was pulling out of harbor and watched them go away. Turns out there are two port stops, something that our guide failed to tell us and that we failed to realize. We attempted to communicate with the attendants at the dock, but they didn't speak english and didn't understand our attempts to say Asia. In any case, we were allowed on the next boat, and a lady approached us who spoke english. She grew up in the US and lived in Turkey. She offered to show us where to go to eat. Myself and Ian were hesitant to follow her, but we had no idea where the group was and the streets were packed. We decided that if she led us off the crowded pedestrian pathways we wouldn't go. It turns out that it was fine; she led us to a row of restaurants where our class was. I would have normally never have followed her, but with the group it ended up being fine. In the end we had a great-and inexpensive- dinner, grabbed bakalava and went back to the hotel.

Tuesday we had a tour of the Hagia Sophia in the morning. It was first a Christian church, later a mosque, and now a museum. It is so large and really beautiful (see picture).



We had a guide take us there and the hippodrome-large gathering place where sporting events and gatherings used to be held. We had wonderful weather. It was a good thing that I choice the group that went in the morning, but in the afternoon is rained. After a lunch at a place that Bill Clinton had been to(according to the place) we went to a Greek minority school and then the Grand Bazaar. The grand bazaar is really large,but still smaller then I expected. I bough three small things. Everyone was doing heavy duty shopping, but I was enjoying walking around. The prices are 25% higher then you expect, at least that's what the guidebooks say. I think it is much more then that and wouldn't have paid some of the prices my classmates did, but to each his or her own I suppose.

We had dinner and a lecture at 8 that night. It was still raining, which is a pity because the place we went had a great view of the city and it would have been even better if we could go outside. The food was alright. I'm pretty picky about meat, but the salad and soup were okay.

Next day we had another meeting in the morning, a group lunch at a place right along the water. Sun was out and we went up on the terrace after eating. I could have taken a nap there. Beautiful (see picture).



We went to the spice bazaar, which was neat. Highlights: a sign that said Obama approved(picture), being asked if I want to spend money(as if that's a great sales technique), being asked if I was Russian, and finally being asked if I wanted to buy poison for my mother-in-law. Tempting right?



Later we went to a meeting with sociology students from another part of Biligi University. We talked about differences in culture and politics as a big group and a smaller ones. One girl had told her classmates that if you studied in the US as a foreigner the US government made you get a tattoo with a barcode. A guy in my group thought that the American government had sent us to spread ideologies--that we had ulterior motives for visiting their school. It was very interesting and eye-opening. After we all had dinner.


The next morning was our last day. I was pretty beat. We went to the blue mosque in the morning. We were suppose to meet with the Grand Mufti to Istanbul but he went to his office and we went to the temple-miscommunication ensued,so our guide just took us around. In the afternoon we had free time and then a late dinner.




Friday was just traveling all day. I had a great trip, but I am glad to be back. Although it is still freezing here, the sun is out today. I'm going to finish a few things in my room, run, and then go o the grocery store--I have no food!

Constantinople- Here I am

The lack of blogging in the past few weeks can be attributed to the fact that nothing eventful has occurred. Don't get me wrong, still having a great time in Copenhagen, but the general lack of sunlight, bitter temperatures, and daily precipitation has made the month blend together.

Friday night, however, was something different. A couple of my friends hosted a Vegan dinner party. For all those who know me know, I am not vegan. I am a proud steak loving american. But the high price of meat in copenhagen coupled with my aversion to germs has made a vegetarian by convenience. So upon being invited I thought easy, I can do vegan.

Not so easy. Do you know how many things they cannot/will not eat? Milk, okay. Eggs, in anything i.e. baking. Cheese. Now that is a challenge. I was going to make some bean based soup, but Friday I had my long run. I ran right after my last class, then picked up groceries and went straight home. I threw on a clean shirt and got cooking. I made crisp rosemary flatbread, hummus, and vegan oatmeal cookies. Everything turned out to taste amazing. You couldn't even tell the difference with the cookies. I altered the recipe on the back of the quaker oatmeal container, no big differences. Everyone else made great stuff as well, and it was a fun night.

Saturday I lounged around, ran, did laundry(I was out of everything), and packed, because today I flew to Istanbul. As I right this I am sitting in my hotel rooming waiting to use the shower. No problems with the flight. I slept, of course, for the duration of the three hour flight. We had to wait in such a long line to get a stamp through customs and then had to buy a visa(DIS bought it). We were bussed into the city, put our stuff in the room, then headed to dinner, which was amazing. Such great food. We had four courses, salad/appetizers, these doughy crispy things stuffed with cheese and spinch, entrée, and dessert. I didn't really eat the dessert, but everything was the right portion so I felt good not stuffed after dinner. Our teacher led a group of us back to the hotel, 30 minute walk. The weather is cool, but in the 50s. Not bad at all. The views crossing over were picturesque. Tomorrow we have meetings in the morning and then free time in the evening. Looking forward to it!

Gray and Snowy--but pretty

Another long overdue update, at a time of night where I should be in bed. I am up catching up on emails and readings for my classes. The past few weeks have been, of course it goes without saying, busy. From when I last posted I went on the short-study tour with my core course. We went to Arhus, the second largest city in Denmark to study migration. We left bright and early--not so bright because of the lack of sun here--but quite early from Copenhagen. We stopped at a museum and viewed an exhibit about islands which featured the symbolic kind "man is an island onto himself" but also literal pictures, slide shows of islands. It was a neat show--at the door way was a stuffed parrot hanging himself so I knew it would at least be lively.

The second stop of the day, after lunch, was to a lecture. The professor was suppose to be answering, or attempting to answer, the question: Are Danes racist? Suppose to is the key word. He did not. He instead compared Denmark to the US and said that because Denmark has a different history/political/economic climate than the US it couldn't be considered racist. He was factually flawed to the point that even if some of his subsequent ideas could have been accurate they couldn't be considered so on his basis. He made the "economic" argument that immigration policy should be based on the needs of a country: example if a country needs doctors only let in doctors. He said the all the "blacks in america" would agree with this policy because they don't like immigrants because immigrants take their jobs. Yep, so both factually inaccurate, offensive and ridiculous. I always find it interesting when people try to make "economic arguments" to justify things that go aginst basic principles of economics. But then again me and my facts, simply details...


The second day was great. We went to a school where 85% of its students are not ethnically danes. We went to a bazzar for lunch, got great humus, and then a lecture in the afternoon. That evening we had dinner as a class at a greek place and then went out in the town for a bit. Arhus was very pretty. I went for a run on Friday and saw quite a bit of it, very modern in some places, in others, more historic.

On Saturday we went to another museum(so cool, I'll upload a picture at some point), lunch and back to Copenhagen. It's nice being away but I do love to sleep in my own bed, have my own bathroom.

Last week I just classes all week, nothing to exciting, thus the lack of postings. I have been dealing with internship applications, running a ton( I'm running a half in Copenhagen in April), babysitting. Last weekend I went to fashion night out on Friday, but this weekend I think I'm going to in my room writing numerous essay/working on a project. But on the upside one more week until Turkey!

A cold and the cold

So it is Saturday night, and I am home. I have a cold. I woke up on Wednesday and couldn't swallow. Yesterday I made a batch of chicken and barley soup. Today I slept in, lay in bed pretty much all day--with the exception of the 40 minutes I spent running outside, couldn't help myself. I'm about to get back into bed and do readings until I fall asleep.

Despite the cold, I had a pretty good week back. Copenhagen is currently experiencing its coldest January in 23 years. The harbor froze for the first time in 14 years. When we arrived here people told us that it didn't get too cold or snow, just rained. To which I replied that this year would be the exception. I was, as it turns out right. It snowed roughly 7 inches on Wednesday. I was on a field trip at the time. It took us over two hours to get to the site; 30 to get back. We went to the Sandholm(spelling?) where asylum seekers are sent when they get to Copenhagen. It is a small, make shift town. It has a dinning hall, a school, preschool. It is well kept, but it was quite evident how the peoples living there could get stir crazy. I visited it as part of my Migration and Identity course; we study immigration. As part of that course I will be going on my short study tour to southern Denmark starting Thursday. I'm not quite sure what is planned for the trip, but the people in the class seem nice so it should be an enjoyable trip.

Between battling the cold and getting back into the swing of things I managed to do a few new things this week. I went ice skating down by the harbor with the full-year students. It was beautiful. We went out night and looked out onto the sea which had a very Titanic-esq vibe with the chucks of ice floating strewn across the surface of the entire harbor. My classes went well, although I think I changed my schedule four, maybe five times. Now it is settled, which is such a relief. The trouble, as I previously mentioned, is that I was signed up for transition economics. It wis taught at the copenhagen business school, as doesn't start until Feb. 2. Well DIS's add/drop period ended Friday, thus I wouldn't be able to switch into another course if I didn't like it. Additionally there was only one graded work for the class, meaning one assignment that would be 100% of my grade. One paper worth 100%, an unknown professor, and only 12 classes , not for me. I switched, even though the subject seemed interesting. I am now taking International Financial Management, so econ/business.


Well I am fading fast; I shall update on the short study tour.

First Week Back

Sorry for the delay in writing, but I figure now is as good a time as any to recount the activities of my first week back in Copenhagen.

I flew out of Portland on Monday--three hours earlier than scheduled. That's correct earlier, not later. On Monday I had a plan: wake up, run, shower, finish packing up the odds and ends scattered around the house. Mother nature had a different plan, one that was at odds with mine. At 8 am I woke up to a world of white, a mini-blizzard. lovely. continental called and told us that if I wanted to get to Newark in time to make the one and only plane continental plane flying to copenhagen on monday that I woudl have to get out of portland earlier. as in get to the airport within the next two hours for a flight out a few minutes before 11. so much fun. no run, my dad was working in the morning so he wasn't home to drive down with my mom and i. and oh yes, driving down to portland. in a mini-blizzard. as in 30/40 miles on the high way. thank goodness my mother is a patient driver. we got there on time, around 50 minutes before the plane ended up taking off. the plus side was the guy at check-in didn't weigh my bags(it would have been pretty close). so I was good to go.

I slept on that flight, arrived in Newark with roughly 6 hours to kill. finish a book, bought a couple of american magazine. the flight over to copenhagen went well, no major problems. my luggage arrived, so that was good.

I got to the kollegium at 9, picked up my key. the kollegium is really nice, but i was not thrilled to the arrival scene. my floor was smokey, had to use my inhaler. my room was dirty, towels, sheets left over from the person who lived there last semester, dusty. at that point all i wanted to do was sleep and then run/shower, but i trekked into the city( short trek-20 minutes door-to-door) and talked to housing. they were very nice about the situation. they give me new towels, sheets, bedding and sent a cleaner over. i ran while the people cleaned my room. they did a nice job. i checked for dust afterwards because apparently i am my father's daughter. the room is quite nice. one wall is all windows. it's large. probably as big as my room freshman year and my closet of room from sophomore year combined. the people on the floor are very friendly.

wednesday i went into the city, got books, ect. i'm babysitting this semester for an adorable boy so i met with him and his mom and went over their routine. he is such a happy baby; it will be fun.

thursday and friday i had my first classes. this semester should be good. i am taking transition econ, health econ, migration and identity(cross-cultural encounters), war crimes and human rights, and environmental history of europe. i just switched into environ history because danish politics ended up conflicting with transition econ and i want to take that for my econ major. the teachers seem nice. it's odd being back in a history class, haven't taken a strictly history course since high school, and history teachers are an interesting breed. it should be fun though.

last night DIS had a welcome party at a club downtown. my friend elisabeth came over before and we made dinner then went into the city. it was nice. it's an odd feeling being a full year. i'm enjoying not feeling overwhelmed all the time. i'm still learning new things, and living in a new area is nice because i am discovering things i didn't know before. yet, i don't feel disoriented. the other day I was at school and I gave someone directions. me. so odd.

today I just relaxed, ran, grocery shopped, after i planned my menu for the week. there is a non-chain grocery store around the corner. very rare over here, it's great. low price by copenhagen standards, and great quality. i didn't most of my shopping there.

tomorrow i will read, run, and relax. i love the beginning of the semester. the reading are exciting and the work has begun to drive you insane yet. there's plenty of time for that...

Round 2

So since I dropped off the face of the earth, well at least cyberspace, for the past few weeks, I have been quite busy.

I spent my last few weeks in Copenhagen studying for finals and writing papers. When I wasn't glued to my computer or in class, I was able to experience the COP15. If you are interested on my thoughts/what I saw, I wrote an article for the regional paper in Maine about it: http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2009/12/24/features/doc4b33ab4840030492335321.txt

I have been home for a little less than a month and have been enjoying the time with friends and family. I was able to squeeze a lot into this break; friends came up to visit from CT and VT, I stayed with a friend outside of Boston, went to the Daily Show in NY, saw my sister, skiied a couple of days, and went to the pancake place featured on Throw-down with Bobby Flay(sooo good). Having been subjected to Danish grocery stores, I have loved being able to drive to stores where the produce is organized and where milk always seems to be in stock. I have also experience a major snowstorm, got to love New England winters, losing power, not so much fun.

Tomorrow I will once again fly to Copenhagen. This time around I am a bit less anxious. Going into the experience i had no idea what to expect. Studying abroad was a different experience then going to college for the first time. At the start of my freshman year I was clueless about many things, but I could imagine myself on campus. I had taken a tour of the school, I knew what the town looked like, I could mentally imagine myself there. Going to Copenhagen, I was heading into the big unknown. I had no idea what the classes would look like, where the school was located, and how I was going to get to my classes. This time around I know what to expect. I know where what my walk to classes will look like, I know where to pick up my books, where I can get food. Yet, this is not to say that it will be business as usual when I get to Copenhagen.

I will be living in a different Kollegium this semester. My new building is still of the metro, simply a different line. It is still close to the city, 3 stops outside. I chose to live in a different building because not only was my old room no longer available, but also I wanted to switch it up a bit. Also this semester I plan on running a half marathon in Denmark, so I will get to see more of the city when I train.

Tomorrow I fly out of Portland early in the afternoon to Newark and then straight on through the night to Copenhagen. I arrive Tuesday morning. I will update from the road(air).