SO you might be wondering where I've been living while I've been in Copenhagen for the past 2 months, or maybe not but I'm going to talk about it anyway! There are a lot of different housing options here at DIS. There's homestays, living learning centers, residential communities, Kolligeums (dorms with Americans and Danes) and rented rooms. I live in a residential community (RC) in Osterbro, which is about an hour walk away from the city. There are a bunch of different kinds of RC's at DIS and mine is the most similar to a college dorm. I live with around 50 other people and three SRA's (social residential advisors). My floor has doubles and singles, I live in a double. My room is very cozy and I've come to love it a lot.
One of the best things about living at Tasingegade is the common room. We have one of the best common rooms within DIS and the common room serves as a great place to eat dinner, socialize, do homework, watch a movie and so much more! We also share a huge, very nice common kitchen. This makes it a lot easier to make group meals and share food, because shopping and cooking for one can be difficult. Having lived in a dorm my freshman year and my sorority house the past year and a half, I've never had much of an opportunity to cook. So I've tried my best to do a lot of cooking abroad. It's definitely been interesting an a learning opportunity in general. I've learned that dropping your salmon on the floor when you pull it out of the oven is most definitely not the best way to cook salmon! Ha ha, jokes aside learning how to cook has been fun and I've gotten a lot of help from my floor mates. Tasingegade is one of the reasons why I love Copenhagen so much. I'm lucky to live with an amazing group of people who have made this experience so worth while.
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Hey! It's been a while since I've written a blog, because I've been really busy traveling. This past week I had my long study tour to Warsaw and Berlin with my core course, Modern European History. We did so many different things over the course of our six days so I'll just talk about some of the highlights...
Warsaw, Poland Palace of Culture and Science: We visited the Palace of Culture and Science on our first day in Warsaw. It is a high rise building that was given to Warsaw by Joseph Stalin in 1952. The building today serves multiple purposes. It is the home to movie theaters, libraries, clubs, universities etc. As a class we heard about the building and then took the elevator to the top to see a 360 view of Warsaw. It was really cool to see a view of the city. Warsaw has a lot of high rise buildings and does not look like other European cities. This is mostly due to the majority of the city being destructed during the war and having to be rebuilt. Museum of the History of Polish Jews: We visited this museum on our last day in Warsaw. I found this to be one of the most beneficial and interesting visits throughout the entire study tour. We got to go through the museum on our own with the use of audio guides which were very beneficial. My favorite part of this museum was that it focused on the life of Polish Jews from the beginning. Obviously there was a large focus on the war and the Holocaust, but there was a lot of information about how to Jews got to Poland and their lives there. Berlin, Germany Olympic Stadium: As a class we were very lucky to get a tour of Olympic Stadium from a visiting faculty member at DIS, Bill. Bill visited our class during core course week to discuss the 1936 Berlin Olympics, so being in the stadium made the discussion come full circle. This was something I appreciated because I never would have gone to Olympic Stadium if I had been in Berlin on my own. Today the stadium is a place for concerts, soccer games etc. Sachsenhausen: In the morning of our last day we visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp outside Berlin. Having been to the Neuengamme concentration camp, I had an idea of what to expect but this was a very different experience. First off Sachsenhausen is a much bigger camp, and many executions occurred there. It was incredibly difficult to hear the execution stories and to stand on the grounds where it happened. I found this visit to be very important but by no means easy. Over the course of the study tour and my core course in general, something I learned was that the Holocaust was not just about the murdering of European Jews. Thousands of others were killed along the way as well and Sachsenhausen was one of the places where this occurred. Stasi Museum: This was our very last visit on our long 6 day study tour. By the end of the tour I was exhausted and very much ready to relax. However, this last visit was definitely the coolest museum we visited between Warsaw and Berlin. We had a great tour guide who was originally from San Diego but had been living in Berlin. She had a lot of energy which is what made the museum so interesting. Basically the Stasi was the secret police agency of the GDR (German Democratic Republic). The museum showed a lot of different day to day items that were used by the Stasi as cameras to spy on people. They used watering cans, belts, cars etc. as cameras! The entire museum showed how the Stasi managed to spy on people all over the city, it was fascinating. Overall, this trip was very educational but also tiring! We visited a lot of different museums and walked all over Warsaw and Berlin. I would love to talk about all of it but we did so many different things this blog would be way too long. If you have any questions about my study tour feel free to comment or fill out the contact form on my home page! If someone asked me what I miss from back home, Starbucks would definitely be in my top 5 things. If you know me you know that I am a Starbucks junkie. I hate to admit it but I usually go at least once a day, sometimes even twice. BUT, before I went abroad I set a goal for myself to NOT frequent Starbucks while in Copenhagen or other countries. I've done a pretty good job of this, I only went once and it was in the airport after my wallet was stolen so it was necessary. Being away from my Very Berry Refresher's and Skinny Vanilla Latte's has forced me to find alternatives here in Copenhagen. So here is a guide to some of my new favorite coffee shops/cafes that I've found here in Cope.
"Hump Day" is a term that is commonly used for the day of the week, Wednesday. The "hump" refers to getting over the middle of the week hump and getting closer to the weekend. However, Wednesday's at DIS are so much more than a hump day. Wednesday's at DIS are reserved for field studies. A field study is basically a field trip with one of your DIS classes to a cool location in Copenhagen. DIS field studies happen all over the city at places like parliament, power plants, homeless shelters, etc. I like having field studies because it's a great break from classes and it allows students to see parts of Copenhagen that we might not have even known about! For example, my first field study went to the Red Cross in Copenhagen. This was an interesting visit for me because I'm studying nonprofits and fundraising at IU. Another one of my field studies was put together by one of my professors at DIS, it was an international career night. Basically we heard from five individuals who grew up in America but now live and work abroad. It was cool to hear their stories but they also reassured me that I am not interesting in living abroad after college.
On Wednesday's without field studies there are so many things to do! Copenhagen has lots of castles, museums, shops, etc. In general it is also an amazing place to just walk around and explore! So far on my Wednesday's without field studies I've seen Rosenborg Castle and Amailenborg Palace, walked up the Round Tower, found some great coffee shops and restaurants, and explored Copenhagen by walking around. The opportunities in this city are endless. That's all for now-stay tuned because I'm having more field studies soon! Here is something that people don't tell you about studying abroad: planning trips is not that easy. SO much goes into planning trips even if you're only going a train ride away. In the rare case that someone who is studying abroad in the future is reading this I'm writing my top 10 travel tips to help future study abroaders plan!
After a great weekend in Amsterdam, I headed to Barcelona! I've never been to Spain so I didn't know what to expect. Immediately after arriving I was blown away. My friend Olivia and I only had 2 days in Barcelona so we tried to fit as many things possible into those two days, and I think we did a pretty good job. Because we saw so many different things and I want to talk about all of them here is one word and one sentence about each!
Casa Battlo: Colorful. We couldn't go in but we appreciated the architecture from outside and it was amazing. Brunch & Cake: Eats. Unreal brunch place in Barcelona, got a free piece of red velvet cake and then proceeded to walk over 20,000 steps after because it was so necessary. La Sagrada Familia: Barcelona. I feel like Barcelona is know for the Sagrada Familia, it was HUGE and not similar to other churches I've seen in a good way. La Boqueria Market: Fresh. If I could I would move to Barcelona and go to this market every day; so fresh and cheap! Parc Guell: Views. This park was very worth all the walking to see the amazing view of Barcelona; Gaudi's architecture is also so unique. Barcelona Cathedral: Religion. The cathedral felt like much more of a religious place rather than the Sagrada Familia which was more touristy. Arc de Triomf: Huge. I've seen the Arc in Paris and it was interesting to see another Arc de Triomf with Spanish architecture. Parc de la Ciutadella: Fountain. This park was so relaxing, the best part was the fountain which had cool gold architecture. Barceloneta Beach: Warmth!!! Being able to sit outside and have a meal near the beach made this trip so worth while. Camp Nou: Sports! I'm actually a huge football, basketball and baseball fan but it was so cool to see a European soccer game, a sport that I previously knew nothing about. |
AuthorHi! My name is Annie and I am studying abroad for four months in Copenhagen, Denmark!
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