Hey! It's been a while since I've written a blog but I've also had a crazy couple of days. On Saturday I planned to have an easy trip to the airport with my friend Olivia to catch our flight to Amsterdam. What actually happened was the exact opposite of easy. When I got on the metro I checked my purse to realize that my wallet had been stolen out of my bag. Then I began to panic and have a minor anxiety attack (okay it was a major anxiety attack) because I had no money and was about to leave for an entire week. Olivia convinced me that we should try to get to the airport to catch our flight so we did. After landing in Amsterdam I spent about two hours on the phone with my parents and my bank figuring everything out. This was not easy, and it brought on a lot of tears because I was so mad at myself for getting my wallet stolen. Both my parents were so comforting during the entire ordeal and kept telling me not to worry and that it would all be okay. It ended up being okay but this didn't stop me from freaking out, and having a lot of anxiety! I came to the conclusion that this horrible situation was not going to ruin the great trip I had planned. Once we figured everything out Olivia and I went to our hotel, and then walked around before dinner. For dinner we met up with some of my sorority sisters who are studying abroad in Florence but were visiting Amsterdam at the same time as us, and it was really nice to see them! We did a lot of different things in Amsterdam but here are some of the highlights. Dam Square & Pancake Bakery On Saturday we woke up early to walk to The Pancake Bakery, which is known as one of the best pancake places in Amsterdam. Whoever made that statement was 110% right because it was UNREAL. I got a pancake with banana, chocolate sauce and whipped cream and it was huge! Our next stop was Dam Square. We walked around the square where we saw the Royal Palace of Amsterdam and the National Monument which was built to commemorate World War II in the Netherlands. We also walked around the streets that had stores and did some window shopping. Rijksmuseum & Van Gogh Our next stop was the Rijksmuseum, which is the museum behind the "I Amsterdam" letters. We didn't have time to see everything but we got to see a temporary exhibit on South Africa, Holland and apartheid, as well as pieces by Rembrandt and van Gogh. This museum had a lot to offer and I really liked the way they put together the temporary exhibit on South Africa and Holland. Then we went to the Van Gogh museum which was awesome. Some of his most famous pieces that we saw were The Bedroom, Sunflowers, and his many self portraits. The museum was very informative and focused on van Gogh's struggle with mental illness. Something that was very shocking to me was how many pieces there were in this museum, it was full of so much art, all done by Van Gogh! Also this was not even all of his pieces, many others reside in museums around the world such as the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Overall, both of these museums were very worth seeing. Heineken Experience & Canal Cruise
After a long day of sightseeing on Sunday we decided to take a canal cruise to relax and see the city from the water. It was a really cool experience and I highly recommend doing one if you go to Amsterdam! We also learned a lot about the city while on the tour. The last thing we did before leaving Amsterdam was the Heineken Experience on Sunday morning. It almost felt like entering Disney World because it was very interactive. I learned that a Heineken beer only has four ingredients: barley, hop, yeast and water. Also beer is about 95% water and it takes a really long time to make! I had never had a Heineken before the tour and I realized that it's a great tasting beer. After we finished the tour I was really happy that we did it because we learned a lot about something I knew nothing about before and got two free beers which was also awesome. Overall even though the trip did not start off on a good note, I still had an amazing time in Amsterdam. From walking the streets with canals, to seeing cool museums and eating pancakes Amsterdam was one of the best cities I've seen so far. I can't wait to come back in May when my brother visits!
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This past weekend I took a trip with my Holocaust and Genocide class to Hamburg, Germany. As a Jewish woman, I've always been interested in learning more about the Holocaust and I figured taking a class while abroad would be one of the best ways to do it. Before the trip, DIS sent us a detailed agenda for the two day trip to Hamburg. The main event on the agenda was a trip to the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. I had never been to a concentration camp, so I was particularly interested in seeing this. Day 1: Saturday February 18th Our trip to Hamburg started early. We met at the bus at 8:45 near DIS (which is a 30 minute commute for me). Once we got on the bus I immediately fell asleep and woke up when we got to the ferry. Taking the ferry was really cool, and it was much bigger than other ferries I have been on. We weren't on the ferry very long until we got to Germany. We were on the bus for about two more hours until we reached our first stop, the Bullenhuser Damm School. In April of 1945, twenty Jewish children, their four adult caretakers and six Russian POW's were killed at this location. These children had participated in medical experiments at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp and were taken to the school to be killed. This visit was incredibly sad to see and hard to listen to the stories at times. We visited the Rose Garden which serves as a memorial to the 2o children and 4 adult caretakers who were killed. We also went into the museum located partially in the basement where the murders occurred. While it was not easy to read more about what happened, I found it to be a valuable use of our time to see this site. Our next stop was the Hostel where we checked in and had time to rest before our group dinner at, Hamborger Veermaster. We had a traditional German meal consisting of mostly meat and a beer of course. I enjoy trying new things so I liked the meal a lot. It was nice to get to know my classmates better and our professor Torben. After dinner we split up and my friends and I walked around, stopped in a souvenir shop and headed back to the hostel. Day 2: Sunday February 19th
Our second (and last) day started with breakfast at the hostel. Our first stop was Nicolai Kirche, which was originally a church but now serves as a memorial to the destruction and deaths of WWII. Hamburg was heavily bombed in 1943, which killed over 46,000 Germans and took out most of the city. This building was one of the only things that was still standing after the bombings. Torben educated us on the area and the various parts of the memorial, then we took the glass elevator up to the viewing tower. This church tower is the 5th highest one in the world! Unfortunately there was a lot of scaffolding so we couldn't see much but we learned a lot about Hamburg and the war while we were there. Then we headed to brunch but before that Torben showed us his favorite Holocaust memorial, stumble stones. Stumble stones are stones in the ground outside of apartments or houses where people killed in the Holocaust once lived. They include their name, birth year, and information about where they were deported to and killed. These stones are very powerful because they may be small but they are powerful reminders to never forget what happened during the Holocaust. Our last stop on our trip was the Neuengamme Concentration Camp. We walked around most of the camp and then visited the two museums on site. This visit was by no means easy, hearing about what the SS did to the prisoners was heartbreaking and we were standing on the very grounds where it happened. My professor Torben told us that this was not a camp for Jews which was shocking to me because I thought all concentration camps were for Jews. This camp had mostly Soviets, Poles and Germans, and any Jews in the camp were shipped out in 1942 to Auschwitz. While walking around Torben showed us where the wooden barracks were, the crematorium, the bunker, where the bricks were built on the camp, and the railroad where prisoners were brought in. I found this visit extremely important. Hearing stories and reading about the Holocaust certainly gives you an idea of what it was like, but actually seeing the camp gave me an entirely new perspective. After a long visit at Neuengamme we headed to the bus to make our way back to Copenhagen. This trip made me take a step back and realize that studying abroad has so many benefits and being able to learn more about history in the place where it actually occurred is one of those benefits. While I have enjoyed the traveling I've done on my own, I also am very thankful that I'm on a program that offers such incredible experiences. Every students study abroad life is different, and it is also very different from my typical week at IU. Just to give you a little bit of an idea of what my weeks in Copenhagen look like I'll walk you through it! Monday 7:00: Good morning! Monday's start bright and early (at least early for me) so that I can make it to my first class at 8:30. I wake up, eat breakfast at my RC and start my commute to DIS. This commute includes a 10 minute walk to the Svanmollen train station in Osterbro (see below map), then I hop on either the A,B,C, or E train to the Norreport station then walk around 8 minutes to DIS. The majority of Danes bike, and I've definitely thought about getting a bike but I really enjoy my morning commute. I love walking, listening to music, and it's the perfect amount of time. Eventually I end up at DIS for my first class which is my core course, Competing Narratives: Modern European History. 9:50: Once my first class ends I head to a coffee shop to eat lunch, do homework, plan trips etc. Some of my favorite coffee shops near DIS are The Living Room, Next Door Cafe, Cafe Paludan, Big Apple and The Coffee Industry. When I'm not sitting in a coffee shop during my break, I'm usually walking around either shopping or exploring the city. 13:15-17:45: Starting at 13:15 I have three classes in a row. I start with Holocaust and Genocide, then head to Activism, and I end with Strategic Planning for Leaders. This is definitely that hardest part of my week to get through because three classes in a row can be tough! 17:50: After a long day I meet up with my friend Olivia to begin our commute home to Osterbro. Once I get home I typically cook dinner in the common kitchen and eat with the people on my floor. After dinner I do homework, facetime with family or friends back home, or hang out with my friends on my floor. Tuesday
10:00: I am so thankful for Tuesday's because I get to sleep in! I only have one class on Tuesday's, Leadership Across Cultures and it starts at 14:50 so I have the morning to explore the city or hang out at my RC. I like to head into the city before my class to walk around or meet up with friends for lunch/coffee etc. I start my commute into the city and then around 14:45 I make my way over to my only class on Tuesday's: Leadership Across Cultures. This class is three hours long so I'm happy it is my only class that day! Once the day ends I'll head home, cook dinner and depending on how I'm feeling I might go out with friends on my floor. Wednesday Wednesday's are very different than a regular school day because they are reserved for field studies. Field studies are basically field trips with any one of my five classes around Copenhagen. I've only had one field study so far that went to the Red Cross, I liked it a lot. The days that I haven't had field studies I've spent exploring. This past week I walked from my RC into the city which is about a 50 minute walk and met up with my friend at Sankt Peders Bageri for cinnamon rolls then went to Rosenborg Castle. Wednesday's are definitely one of my favorite days of the week because it takes me away from my routine and allows me to see the city either with my classes or on my own. Thursday ~Thursday's are exactly the same as Monday's so I wake up early, have 4 classes, experience a good coffee shop and usually eat dinner at home~ 20:00: The only different thing about Thursday's is that if I'm feeling up to it I'll head into the city with some of my friends on my floor to go out. It's definitely a commitment to go out at night because we take the bus which takes about 30 minutes. Sometimes I just end up staying in my RC and hanging out in the common room. Friday Hello Friday! By the end of the week I am so happy to be able to sleep in and have the day completely free to do anything. Friday's can usually go one of two ways: exploring or traveling. Traveling: when I leave Copenhagen on Friday my routine consists of packing a small weekend bag and heading to the Norreport station where I buy another train ticket and hop on the metro to the airport. Getting to the Copenhagen airport is so easy and for that I am beyond thankful. Exploring: exploring on Friday's could mean visiting a castle, trying a new restaurant, walking around and enjoying the beauty of Copenhagen etc. So there you have it! This is what my weeks at DIS usually look like, the main thing I try to do each week is explore and see something new. I'll keep you updated on what I find next :) Ahh core course week. You're probably asking yourself, what is core course week? Welllllll...at DIS every student takes one core course along with other elective courses. So core course week is one week devoted to your core course, which also includes a short study tour to another city. My core courses study tour went to Southern Jutland and Northern Germany. But before we got there we spent two days in Copenhagen. Core course week was five days long so my class did a lot of different activities! Some of my favorite parts of core course week were...
Copenhagen Synagogue On the first day of core course week my class visited the Copenhagen Synagogue, which is only about a five minute walk from DIS. We met and talked to the Chief Rabbi, Jair Melchor. Talking with Rabbi Melchor was particularly interesting to me because I am the product of a Jewish father and a non Jewish mother, but I was raised Jewish. Rabbi Melchor brought up a story about a Bishop whose ancestor on her mothers side was Jewish so technically she was Jewish. Being the daughter of a non Jew, Rabbi Melchor said he could technically not consider me Jewish because of Jewish law but he knows that I am Jewish because I was raised Jewish. Talking to Rabbi Melchor about my personal religious identity was rather interesting to me. At the end of the visit we saw the Synagogue, and the ark and torah's within it which were all beautiful. Sønderborg Slot Our first visit on our short study tour was Sønderborg Slot, a castle that is also a museum in the town of Sønderborg. We heard from the museum director, Carsten who then took us on a tour of the museum. We learned a lot about the war of 1864 which was fought between Denmark and Prussia/Austria over the land that is now northern Germany. Unfortunately Denmark lost the war, but Carsten told us that there was physically no way that Denmark could've won. The museum featured a lot of cool things including paintings, statues, clothing worn during the war etc. The museum was not only about the war of 1864 but the history of Denmark as well. Frøslev Internment Camp On Friday morning we woke up early to get ready for the long day ahead. The first stop on our visit was the Frøslev Internment Camp. When I saw this on the agenda I thought that we were visiting a concentration camp, but I found out that Frøslev was very different. It was built to avoid sending Danes to Germany concentration camps. Most of the people who were sent to Frøslev were communists, prisoners, or members of the Danish resistance. However, there were over 1,000 people sent from Frøslev to German concentration camps during the war. The living conditions at Frøslev were much nicer than that of a German camp. The food and living conditions were much nicer than a typical concentration camp. While walking around the museum I noticed some interesting things. The picture below of the chess board has pieces made out of chewed bread by members of the camp. Also the beds seemed relatively nice because they included actual mattresses to sleep on. Overall, visiting this internment camp was difficult but definitely worth while. New Friends :) The last highlight of core course week was getting closer with the members of my class. Together we spent hours on the bus, ate meals, stayed in the hostel, and saw museums! Basically we spent a lot of time with each other but it helped us get very close. I met people from towns all across the United States and got to hear about lots of different college experiences. I am looking forward to spending more time with my classmates on the long study tour! How do you conquer Paris in 36 hours? The answer is simple, you don't. I knew this going into my second weekend trip so my friend Nicole and I tried our hardest to jam pack a lot of stuff into the 36 hours we had to sight see in Paris. After dropping our bags off the first thing we did was head for the Eiffel Tower. We decided to figure out the Paris metro system in order to save time walking there. After walking out of the metro station we looked up to see that the Eiffel Tower was right in front of us, and it was huge! I've only ever seen the Eiffel Tower in movies and pictures so I had no idea how big it was. Nicole and I took lots of pictures, ate a crepe nearby, and then headed for the Arc De Triomphe. On our way there we came across Champs-Elysees which is a famous street in Paris lined with stores from Zara to Louis Vuitton. We walked up Champs-Elysees on the way to the Arc and also popped into Laduree for some macarons. Unfortunately it started raining when we got to the Arc so we weren't there for long before we headed to dinner. We met up with Nicole's friend Leah who lives in Paris for dinner and she took us to her favorite restaurant to take guests. It was called Le Refuge de Fondus, we had to climb over our table to sit down, but the fondue was great and the wine was served out of large baby bottles. It was definitely a fun experience! Day two started early because we were determined to fit in at least four or five sights into our day. Our first stop was Notre Dame and on the way we quickly got breakfast (croissants of course). The line for Notre Dame was short so we decided to go in, it was breathtaking! The inside and the outside were absolutely beautiful. Next we walked over to The Louvre, to my surprise students get in for free so that was sweet! We only lasted about an hour because we had so much on our schedule but we managed to find the Mona Lisa. I knew that there was no way we were going to make it through even half of the Louvre because it's huge (782,910 square feet to be exact)! We stopped for a quick lunch and then our next stop was the Palais Garnier which is the Opera House in Paris. This was also beautiful, I know I've said that about everything but Paris as a city is unreal, even in the rain. Our last stop of the day was the Musee d'Orsay, where we came across pieces done by Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and more! It was very cool to see the pieces that I remember learning about in my art classes as a kid. I also loved seeing Degas' "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years" because it is one my favorite pieces. After seeing four Paris landmarks Nicole and I were exhausted so we headed back to where we were staying to take a break. We ended our time in Paris in the Jewish Quarter with falafel sandwiches. I know what you're thinking, why would you get falafel in Paris?!? Because it's unreal that's why! After 23,877 steps and a whole lot of pictures Nicole and I were ready to relax. After seeing Paris I can most certainly agree with Audrey Hepburn when she says...
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AuthorHi! My name is Annie and I am studying abroad for four months in Copenhagen, Denmark!
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