Things I’ve Learned
1. How to cook…sort of…lots of messups along the way including pasta floating in warm milk instead of pasta alfredo.
2. How to get around Europe on trains
3. To pack everything I need into a hiking backpack
4. Keeping kosher in Denmark…just as hard as it sounds.
5. How to speak Danish! (“Hej! Jeg hedder Jess! Jeg kommer fra USA! Jeg laeser englesk og psykologi! Hvad med dig??”)
6. That my body is not cut out for cold weather…(3 toenails fell off in 1 week in Denmark’s winter…gross…I know)
7. That garlic goes well in prettyyyyy much everything
8. Computers are annoying to shlepp around in a bag for 2 weeks, especially if you forget your charger
9. To check the safety of living arrangements before you go somewhere….(think: Amsterdam Hostel in red light district…whoopsy)
10. to buy train tickets and book hostels ahead of time or you will end up having to get an expensive cab to a hotel on top of a mountain far, far from where your actual hike is (see: Cinque Terre blog)
11. how to open a beer using a soda bottle (party trick!)
12. if things seem to be going our way in terms of travel, that is sure to change soon thereafter (especially with train schedules)
13. How to give directions in Copenhagen! (The other day, two nice asian women approached me asking for directions to the metro station, and I gave it to them not only because they were nice and reminded me of my grandma Shirley, but because I actually knew where the metro was!)
What I’ll Miss
1. Holly!!!!!(she finally learned the best way to wake me up is not softly knocking on my door, but pounding on it, bursting in, and waving coffee in front of my face…works every time!)
2. Tivoli theme park!!!! (amazing!!!!!!!!!!!)
3. Getting lost on nearly every trip I’ve been on
4. the metro….America needs to step it up with public transportation
metro!
5. MY BIKE!! especially when Holly rides on the back of it…haha (I plan on buying one when I return home)
In Denmark, they do EVERYTHING on a bike…I’ve seen people on phones, eating, holding hands, and much much more
6. Free health care (I walked into a hospital in Italy, was treated within the hour, and given meds, and walked out with the same amount of $ in my pocket)
two thumbs up for free health care! (sorry Grandpa, that's one thing commy-pinkos do well)
7. Not having to tip.
8. The incredible museums with weird art all around Europe
modern art in Prague
9. my Hans Christian Andersen class about fairytales! and having the final test be writing my own fairytale
hans christian andersen statue...back when it was freezing!
10. communal kitchen (+ kollegium parties)
11. my Kollegium hallmates…funny bunch- O- Danes and non Danes
arni and christoffer, from my hall
Arni and Jonas
12. babies in snowsuits
13. The green rooftops and beautiful multicolored buildings and canals
Nyhavn Canal
sunny day, at long last
14. traveling around Europe in general…just so much fun
15. bakeries opening at 3 am…perfect timing for when we get home
16. Not having class on Wednesdays ever, because it’s Field Trip day!!!!
17. Not having class tuesday, friday, sat, or sunday either.
18. “Hygge”! (“coziness”…huge concept here)
19. Copenhagen parks (even though it’s still cold, they are so pretty and fun)
20. hot waffles with soft ice next to the dock on Nyhavn
21. the cute statues around Copenhagen, especially my favorite of the bronze old couple sitting next to each other on a bench in the middle of town people watching
22. passing by castles as I take a stroll through the city
castle! one of a few in CPH
23. having a 100 reasons to update my blog (I can’t imagine how boring it would be if I blogged about going to class everyday at Vandy)
Things I Won’t Miss
1. paying $15 for a box of American cereal (I ate weird Danish cereal all semester instead…they eat raw oats in milk…what we call oatmeal…but without it being heated)
2. Taxes (25% on EVERYTHING you buy in Denmark)
3. the weather
4. having to fix my bike chain every time it falls off and getting my hands oily (if I pedal too fast or try and stand up and pedal, it falls off every time)
5. herring: smoked, slimy, in mayonnaise, pickled….I just don’t like it.
6. my brick of a phone…(which I lost at 7am while biking home after a [long] night out)
7. the smelly, tiny fridge we share with a guy in our hall who failed to tell us that the mysterious foiled bowl in the fridge that was there since the beginning of the semester was not actually his like we thought it was, but was from the DIS students before us, and is therefore now a foiled bowl of MOLD. we threw the entire bowl down the trash chute…which brings me to…
8. the smelly trash chute and it’s handle that always falls off…AND…
9. fruit flies in our kitchen
10. when you turn your water on to brush your teeth in the morning, the shower turns on and drips all over you
11. the flies stuck to our bathroom ceiling and the constantly wet floor because we have no squeegie…only a handle bar.
12. tap water that costs $5 in every restaurant
All in all, this has been the most incredible semester I could have asked for, and I am so thankful I got to experience Copenhagen not just as a tourist but as a Dane…other than the blonde, flowing hair and being 6 feet tall.
Thank you to everyone who allowed me to get here in the first place and also to everyone who made this semester so special for me. I look forward to traveling in the future, but for now, I am happy to come home to Atlanta/Nashville and see all my family and friends. See you all soon, or as they say here:
HEJ HEJ! VI SES! TAK FOR HYGGE!
Holly and me on the airplane ride at Tivoli
more Tivoli
