Second week updates

I’m still loving every minute of my time here. I went to a Copenhagen Business school social on Thursday and had a blast! It was so fun meeting Danes; I love their dry sense of humor and fun demeanor. Yesterday, I had my first volunteer shift at the Studenterhuest, which is a fun, trendy cafe/bar near DIS. I can officially make a cafe latte, chai latte, cappuccino, hot chocolate, panini, and also pour the perfect glass of beer. I had so much fun that I stayed an hour longer than I had to :-).

Today, I’m going to work on homework and explore the city I’m living in, Roskilde.

Here are some pictures:

Street in Copenhagen

Canal in Copenhagen

Ron Pope concert

Lounge in one of the buildings of DIS

A typical DIS classroom

Thanks for reading!

First Week Thoughts

I just thought I would give a quick update on how classes are going.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that in every one of my classes I am on the edge of my seat the whole time…everything we talk about is so fascinating! In my Positive Psychology class, we spent almost the whole period talking about cultural differences between Americans and Danes. In my Gender and Sexuality class, we talked about gender roles that society assigns to men and women and the difference between someone’s sex versus their gender. In my Sociology of the Family class, we had to come up with a definition of a family. It was interesting to see that many people disagreed on what to consider family. Many of the definitions were either too broad or narrow, which illuminated the complexity of what a family actually is. In my Religion and Politics class, we talked about how much religion has influenced politics in the last few decades and the effects globalization has on religion. As you can see, everything is super intriguing and relatable.

I’ve been impressed with how much each of my teachers want us to become immersed in the Danish culture. For a few of my classes, the homework has been to ask a Dane their view on a particular subject. I’m lucky to be living with a host family. We’ve had many meaningful conversations around the dinner table and I’ve learned a lot about Danish culture and just other perspectives in general.

Another piece of news is that my blog was chosen to represent my core class, Positive Psychology, for DIS. I hope perspective students find my blog helpful. Please feel free to ask any questions, I am happy to help!

My plans for the rest of the week:
– First field study for Sociology tomorrow. We will be watching two documentaries on international adoption.
– Ron Pope concert tomorrow night with some friends.
– Class from 8:30-6 on Thursday.
– First day of being a volunteer barista/bartender on Friday.
– Spend time with host family this weekend.

I will try to update again soon. Here are some pictures from my past week:

Fjord my host family took me to. We went on a hike in a Danish forest that surrounded the beautiful fjord. They also took us to a Viking museum in the town where we live!

My host family!

My host mom let me borrow her bike this morning, so I went on a long ride and explored the town I live in. I felt like a real Dane!

My friend, Chloe and I in Copenhagen by the canal.

Host Family and Welcome Week

I haven’t had much time to write because this is our orientation week. On Monday, I had a meeting about living with a host family and using the transportation. We also got to go out on a “scavenger” hunt and look at the prices for different items in cafes and stores. It was super interesting to see how expensive things are here. A cup of coffee costs about $6-8! I’m so happy I’m living with a host family because I can pack my lunch every day and they provide me with breakfast and dinner.

The meals my host parents have made so far have been incredible! Everything is homemade and made with fresh ingredients. So far we’ve had a salmon pasta salad, turkey pesto dish with rice, and tomato/noodle soup.

My host parents also took Liz (my roommate) and I on a walk around Roskilde the first night we got here. It’s a beautiful city that is on a fjord. The only downfall is that it takes almost an hour to commute every day. We have to walk to a bus stop, take a 10 minute bus ride to a train station in Roskilde, take a 30 minute train ride to Copenhagen, and then walk about 10 minutes to our school. It doesn’t seem that long though, I actually really enjoy doing it.

The orientation session also included something called “the amazing race”. We were put into groups of 5 people and given different destinations around Copenhagen to find. Once we got there, we were greeted by a DIS professor who told us a little about the site and then we were given free coffee and pastries! It was a great way to see the city. I have been so impressed with how organized DIS has been. Every person is very willing to help and they really stress the importance of getting to know the city and immersing yourself in the culture.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes. Luckily, all my classes are on Monday and Thursdays…no Tuesday or Friday classes! Wednesdays are reserved for “field studies”, which are field trips around the city with one of our classes. The classes I am taking are: Positive Psychology, Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia, Sociology of the Family, and Religion and Politics in Europe. Each class sounds fascinating.

On Friday night, I am volunteering at the Copenhagen Fashion Festival for their fashion week. It’s something I signed up to do through CPH volunteers before I got to Denmark. I’ve recruited a few new friends I’ve made, so I’m getting really excited!

That’s all the news I have for now. Here are some pictures of my host families house:

Last stop: Copenhagen!!

On Thursday we went from Florence to Rome by train, and then took an airplane from Rome to Copenhagen. We got to Copenhagen at about 6 PM. My first of impression of Copenhagen was: WOW…this place is really cool! I’ve never been anywhere else like it. All the buildings are super hip and modern. They really value unique architecture here. It seems like a very wealthy country too. For example, all the taxis are either Mercedes Benz or BMW’s!! There are tons of bikes everywhere and it seems like a much “healthier” country than the US.

Our hostel here is amazing; it has a huge bar and restaurant area and the rooms are very clean and comfortable. We ate some pizza at the restaurant and ended up going on a “pub crawl” (hop from bar to bar) with some other people from our hostel. We went to 5 different bars and a night club. We made wonderful friends from Australia and England that we ended up hanging around with the rest of our time here. I also met tons of people from Denmark at the bars we went to. They were all very friendly and I hope to meet up with them soon!

 

The next day we walked around the city a little bit. We then made a spontaneous trip to Sweden with a guy that we met the night before from England! It was pretty crazy to go to another country for dinner, but that is one of the perks of living so close to Sweden! We took a 30 minute train and ended up in Malmo, Sweden. It was a beautiful, quaint little town. There were still Christmas lights everywhere so it seemed magical.

We found a really nice restaurant and I had one of the best meals of my life! I tried the cod that had beets, anchovies, and a creamy sauce. I know my mom will be surprised to hear that I liked it so much 🙂 We came back to the hostel and hung out with our group from the night before and ended up at a karaoke bar! It was really fun.

The next morning we went on a bus tour of Copenhagen. We saw some famous attractions such as: Rosenborg castle, Tivoli garden, the little mermaid statue, the harbor, opera houses, etc. It was a nice introduction to the city, as I know I will get to go to each place and explore it more thoroughly throughout the semester.

After the bus tour, we took a train to Roskilde and met the family that I will be staying with this semester. They are honestly two of the sweetest people I have ever met!!! They picked us up from the train station and drove us around the city. There is a very famous cathedral (1,000 years old!) and a beautiful harbor. We went to their house and I got to see the room I’ll be living in the rest of the semester! Their house is a charming place. Dorte, the mother, made us tea and the four of us (Dorte, Jesper-the dad, Courtney, and I) sat around drinking tea and getting to know each other. Jesper made some homemade bread and we ate it with homemade jam. I can’t even describe what a wonderful time I had! They are both very outgoing and humorous. We laughed and joked for almost 3 hours and then they took us back to the train station. Later that night we hung out with more people from the hostel and had a blast.

 

I am currently waiting at the hostel by myself since Courtney left this morning to go to London. Dorte and Jesper will pick me up here and then we will go to the airport and pick up Liz, the other study abroad student I’ll be living with. The past two weeks have been the best two weeks of my life. It is crazy to think that my experience has only just begun!! I cannot wait to see what else this semester brings.

 

Thanks for reading!! I will update sometime this week after the orientation sessions that DIS (Danish Institute of Study Abroad, where I’m studying) is putting on for us.

 

Here are some pictures:

Copenhagen Airport!

Copenhagen City

Train ride to Sweden

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo, Sweden..gorgeous!!!

Cod

Hostel group

Copenhagen

Little Mermaid

My new room!

Roskilde train station! I will be coming here every day to get to my school in Copenhagen.

Florence

Courtney and I were in Florence from Monday to Thursday. We unfortunately missed our train from Rome to Florence on Monday morning because we were in the wrong train station. To make a long story a little shorter, we went to the wrong train station, and then on our way to the right train station, we got lost again and ended up in a part of Rome where no one spoke English…after walking around for 20 minutes and failed attempts at finding out where our right train station was, we caved in and got a taxi and ended up making a different train to Florence.

 

Once we got to our hostel in Florence, all we wanted to do was relax after such a hectic morning. However, the hostel that we were staying at was in (what we thought) an old insane asylum building. It was a very scary place and we suspected there were bed bugs. So, we ended up leaving that hostel and found a B&B near the city center. It was run by the cutest, older Iranian man. I’m so happy we stayed there, it was a blast!

After all the commotion from the morning, Courtney and I just leisurely walked around and explored Florence on our own. We went to a little restaurant we stumbled upon and I had the best ravioli ever.

During our second day in Florence, we stumbled upon the most amazing wine and cheese bar and stayed there for a few hours eating different bruschetta that the women working made us and trying different wines. We ran into American students studying abroad there and that was fun to talk with them about their experiences. We went to Michelangelo Hill in order to see spectacular views of the city. (See pics below.)

The next day we went on a bus tour. We went to Siena and received a tour of the city from a sweet, old Italian woman. Next, we went to an organic farm and winery in the Tuscany region of Italy to have lunch and wine taste. Everything we ate and drank is made right at the farm. The pasta was miraculous and the wine was incredible! Next, we went to a small town also in the Tuscany region and we explored there for about an hour. Courtney and I tried some wine as we overlooked the beautiful mountains and rolling hills. Lastly, we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. It was crazy actually being in front of the real thing after seeing so many pictures. We also got to go up into the tower and look over all of Pisa from the top. It was unforgettable!

 

When we got back to Florence, we had a final meal at a wonderful little Italian place and once again I had fabulous ravioli 🙂

We left for Copenhagen the next morning and I will talk about that in my next post.

Here are some pictures from Florence:

 

Best ravioli ever!

 

Florence

Florence

Courtney and I

Duomo (famous cathedral in Florence)

 

 

Cute wine bar

 

Amazing sample of appetizers made by the women working at the wine bar.

 

 

 

Views from Michelangelo Hill

Siena

Organic farm where we had lunch in Tuscany

More photos from Tuscany

 

When in Rome!

I have been in Rome since Thursday night and we have been busy ever since we got here! We took a beautiful train ride from Scotland to London. The rolling hills were breathtaking. We got to London and explored where my friend Courtney (the girl I’m traveling with from my college) lived last semester. That was really fun to explore the city.

We then took another train from the center of London to an airport about an hour away. Then we took a flight to Rome. We got into Rome at about 11:30 PM and then took a bus to the metro and then a taxi to our hostel. If you can’t tell, it was a long travel day!! We literally took planes, trains, and automobiles and visited 3 different countries in one day!

The next morning we met up with our friend, Elizabeth, who is studying abroad in Rome this semester. It was so great seeing her. She showed us around the city all day Friday, Saturday, and today! Here is a list of things we did:

Borghese Gardens
Via del Corso
Spanish steps
Trevi fountain
Roman forum
Coliseum
Pantheon
Vatican/ St. Peter’s Basilica
Tiber River
Angelicum campus (where my friend is studying)
San Giovani Basilica
Piazza Navona
University of St. Thomas Bernardi campus
Lots of gelato and pizza/pasta places

I have absolutely loved Rome..the people here are so nice, the food is incredible, and there is SO MUCH to see. I could sit and stare at all the old buildings for hours.

We went to the Vatican and got a tour by Elizabeth because she is studying Catholic studies here and knew a lot about it! We also did confession there which was a cool experience.

Right now, the three of us (Courtney, Elizabeth, and I) are sitting on the terrace that’s on top of her apartment. It looks over all of Rome and it is breathtaking. The weather has been wonderful, in the high 50’s and sunny every day!!

Oh, I forgot to mention that I sprained my ankle! It really hurts and I limp everywhere, but I’m trying not to think about it and I don’t want it to ruin my trip. Tomorrow Courtney and I will leave Rome for Florence via train and stay there until Thursday. Then we leave for Copenhagen!!

I will try and update again soon. Thanks for reading!

Looking over Rome from the gardens

The Vatican

Scotland!

Greetings from Scotland! Our trip so far as been out of this world. I’ve been having the time of my life!!! Here is a little summary of our trip so far:

We arrived on Sunday, December 31st at 8 AM. However, our backpacks did not. They were still in Newark, NJ. That was a bummer because we did not have anything except the clothes on our back and our electronics. We did not let it bother us though! We explored Edinburgh during the day and stumbled upon a local tea shop and had pie and tea.

The reason we came to Edinburgh for New Years is because they have one of the largest New Years festivals in the world called Hogmanay. So later that evening, we attended a torch lighting ceremony. Thousands of people got torches and walked around the city..it was absolutely beautiful!

The next morning we were expecting to receive our luggage, but it was still in NJ. At this point, we were a bothered because we had been in the same clothes for over 2 days! Thus, we went on a shopping spree to some trendy shops in Edinburgh because United Airlines said they would reimburse us for anything we had to buy. So, we made the most of it and got some super cute New Years outfits!

We got back to the hostel to shower and get ready, and then went out to the Hogmanay New Years Eve festival. We attended a street party that had thousands of people partying and listening to the music. Thankfully, we had bought tickets to the concert in the gardens, so we got to go into the area where the music was playing and watch all the bands! We met some friendly English guys that we hung around with for the majority of the night. We went back to the hostel and hung out with new friends from Australia and Scotland. It was a great way to bring in the new year!!

The next day we just bummed around and explored more of the city. We got to go on a ferris wheel that looked over the whole city of Edinburgh.

Finally, today (Wednesday, January 2nd) we did a 12-hour tour around the country of Scotland. The bus drive itself was breathtaking; so many beautiful green hills, mountains, and waterfalls. We stopped at a few scenic sites throughout the “highlands” and then made our way to Loch Ness, where the Loch Ness monster is thought to be found! We took a boat cruise on the lake and tried to spot Nessy, but we didn’t have any luck. The views were incredible though. Our tour guide was a character and it was interesting to learn more about the Scottish history. I also met a lovely couple from Sweden and they were able to tell me all about Denmark.

Tomorrow we leave for Rome and will be there until Monday, visiting my friend from college. Then we are off to Florence for a few days, and then finally to Copenhagen!

This has been the best experience of my life and I am only 4 days in! I cannot imagine what the rest of the semester will hold.

Thanks for reading! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year!

Caitlin