Fin.

So this is it: my study abroad blogging journey has come to an expected, but still bizarrely shocking end. As I write this, I'm feeling pretty zombie-like after a full day of packing and seemingly endless cleaning, but have many things I need to get off my chest in order to properly close this portion of my life, and have a lot of personal reflections I'd like to share. Apologies if this is scatter-brained or stream of consciousness-y.

I learned a lot in Copenhagen, not just academically or culturally, but also personally. Last semester, I was so disillusioned at Mac that I couldn't wait to get away, meet new people, see new places, have a new life. However, upon my arrival here, I've realized that even though I felt slightly stagnant at Mac, it is the place that makes me who I am, and the people make me happiest.  I discovered a new part of myself while in Copenhagen - a shyer, less social version - and that wasn't necessarily bad. I needed a break from bubbly-make friends with everyone - social Sam, and I think I found that here. I learned independence: I can go out to dinner by myself and not feel weird. If I want to do something that no one else does, who cares? I can go alone and enjoy myself just as much (if not more than) as if I were with others. Sure, I had a hard time throughout the semester adjusting to a new lifestyle (aka living in a frat house and drinking usually 4 times a week... my liver hates me, btw), but I'm happy I got placed in shared housing. I encountered so many people that I immediately harshly judged and wrote off - something I now regret because I lived with some amazing people, and it took me a little too long to realize that. Fortunately, I saw this early enough that I could form bonds and build relationships with many in the house, but I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if I came into this situation with a more open mind. Then again, would have - should have - could haves are for suckers, so I'm happy with the relationships I've built, and hope to continue them in the coming years. I truly learned what the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover," or its skin tight dress with stilettos, means.

I also learned how much I love my family while I've been here. Of course I loved and appreciated them so much before I came here, but being alone, thousands of miles from home with a 6 hour time difference made me realize how lucky I am to have such an amazing mom, dad, and brother. Having a mom who will skype with me when I'm having a bad day even though everyday was a bad day at the beginning and she doesn't want to listen to me being sad anymore because I know it makes her even sadder makes me feel so lucky. Having a dad who spends his entire Saturday morning calling up friends to figure out what is wrong with the rash on my face makes me feel so  loved. Having a brother who relates to my problems because he's been there and gives you bomb advice makes me feel so important. Basically, Mom, Dad, and JJ, you guys are the best, and without you, I would have been more of a mess than I was.

I attended the DIS closing ceremony yesterday in hopes of finding closure to this experience and partially succeeded. Two students spoke, and they both touched me in very different ways. The second speaker talked about "metaphorical beers" and how Denmark taught him to relax - I, too, can relate to this. I've learned to stop and smell the hot dogs and fresh baked bread. I've learned to grab a street beer on a nice day and sit outside even though I have homework. I've learned that dancing on a stage at a club doesn't mean you're looking for attention - it means you're letting go and not caring what everyone on the dance floor things about you. I've learned that journeying outside of one's comfort zone is, well, uncomfortable, but the rewards are so much greater than the initial anxiety of leaving the familiar.
The second speaker, however, touched me in a very negative way. She talked about how studying abroad was the best experience of her life, and compared it to living a real-life fairytale. Pardon my French, but bull. shit. If she actually had that experience, wonderful, but I highly doubt she did. As my very wise friend Alyse said via skype date a few months back, "Just because you're abroad doesn't mean that you stop living life. It doesn't mean that you don't have bad days and that everything is perfect." Being in Copenhagen was fabulous, but I still had bad days where I hated the world and didn't leave my room. I still had arguments with friends, negative experiences with classmates, and just plain old bad moods. Studying abroad was no H.C. Andersen story - however, it was my own story, and once I realized that things weren't going to be magical and that little Danish birds wouldn't wake me up every morning, I began to truly experience being abroad.

Copenhagen has shown me so much happiness, laughter, and genuine connections with people from all over. So many friends here have made a deep impression on me, and I can only hope that I've changed their lives in some minute way. My visiting family showed me the greatest kindness, and I will forever be grateful for their hospitality. Having a surrogate family outside of Copenhagen was probably my favorite part of this experience. Eating traditional Danish meals, chatting about everything and anything, and seeing local sites made my experience so unique. I'm so happy I was able to become close with one of my "sisters." She's still in high school, but it is obvious that she is going to grow into a woman I will (and already do) admire. When I said goodbye to the Mosegaards on Sunday, I had my first stomach churning OMG I'm leaving moment. Today, when I said goodbye to Bente and Maria, it was the sweetest sadness I've ever experienced. After sharing such a wonderful day/afternoon with them, I didn't want to let go of that, but had a feeling that I would be seeing them again. I hope I will stay friends with the Mosegaards and Hiuls for a long time. While studying abroad is ending, I think I will continue to apply what I've learned from the people I've encountered to my regular life in Scranton and at Macalester.

Overall, this year has been eye-opening for me: I found a huge chunk of myself fall semester, and thank God I did - coming here not having any idea who I was would have been torturous, though I did struggle a lot to stay true to myself (and I think I did a pretty good job!). However, after a lot of over-analyzing (that's nothing new), I've realized I like myself. Hell, I really like myself, and while I've still got a lot of self work to do, in some way, I've made it. I don't exactly know what "it" is, but I've made it, and Copenhagen has helped me get there.

Vi ses i USA!

I've Been Bad at Updating

So, it's been over a month since my last blog post - my sincerest apologies! After that time, life has been a whirlwind. Shane and Lizzie came to visit that weekend, and we had a wonderful time chilling out, eating delicious food, and dancing the nights away.

Old friends, new friends, all friends

After that, I had a ton of work due, and then our 2 week long travel break began! Here are some highlights of that.

Kelsey and I set off to Barcelona early Saturday morning and were greeted 80 degree weather and copious amounts of sunshine. We walked all over the city, visited a really awesome market, enjoyed some tapas and paella, went on a bike tour and met some crazy British guys on a bachelor's weekend, and went to a really cool bar that had 200 different kinds of shots that you could choose from.

Me at the Barcelona letters!

Kelsey having fun at the beach 

Sagrada Familia

Next, we were off to Venice! Venice was lovely, but it really only took a day to see everything. I was pretty bummed because it was super touristy and by the end of our two days there, I was sick of being harassed to eat at terrible restaurants and buy stupid noise-making toys. However, we rode the water buses around for hours which was pretty fun, and ate some good food at small Italian place deep in the narrow streets of Venice! We stayed at the most bizarre hostel in the world - 16 women to a room, no control over the lights (hello, 8:20AM unappreciated wake up call), and pretty unhelpful staff. Needless to say, we were very happy to depart for Florence after such an awful hostel! All in all, though, Venice was beautiful.

HOW WAS THIS CITY BUILT ON WATER?

z0mg so0o kewl

A nice Wisconsin man took this picture for us. Midwestern friendliness even in Italy!

Unfortunately, I suffered a a great loss in Venice. It was terribly sad, but I had to say good-bye to the best salmon colored fox-printed sneakers I've ever owned (well, the only ones I've ever owned). There was a brief moment of silence in the strange hostel, I said a few words, and buried these beautiful friends in the "all other garbage' container.

RIP Sneakers 4/13/2011

"May you never walk alone"

Anyway, we arrived in Florence by train. Trains are basically the coolest thing ever, and after traveling on them during our journey, I want to ride trains everywhere. Perhaps I'll go on a "train-America" journey after I graduate at Mac (terrifying thought right there!). Anyway, we saw Il Duomo, ate some gelato, went to the Piazza de Michaelangelo, and bought things at the Central Market. We also attempted to see the David statue, but the line was 2.5 hours long and we were not having that, so we went to the Boboli gardens instead.

Il Duomo

An from the inside!

View from Piazza de Michaelangelo

We departed Florence for our final stop: Rome! Again, we took a train (super gorgeous!) and easily found our hostel. They told us that the Colosseum was a 15 minute walk, which it was. However, a sign pointing the wrong direction caused us to take an HOUR AND A HALF detour. Needless to say, I was pretty annoyed.

Very unhappy.

However, we perked up a little bit, went inside, and walked around one of the coolest places I've ever been. We were pretty tired after getting so lost, so we chilled at the hostel and enjoyed a free pasta dinner and bought some cheap wine. A boy in our program was actually in our same hostel room, so we ended up going to a bar with him and his friend later that evening. We also met a wonderful guy from New Zealand who was traveling with his family. He liked us so much he wanted to meet up with us again the next night (I mean who wouldn't? Kelsey and I are a pretty awesome team!). Anyway, the next day, we went to the Vatican Museum. We used our sneaky skills and skipped the line so we only had to wait an hour. I was pretty disappointed in the museum - they didn't have any descriptions (unless you bought the audio guide. Yeah, right!) and the guards in the Sistine Chapel ruined the experience (perhaps it was them screaming NO PHOTO. BE QUIET YOU ARE IN A CHURCH the whole time). We saw Vatican City and then headed to the Spanish Steps and Treve fountain. However, right as a girl was about to take mine and Kelsey's picture in front of the fountain, my camera died. Womp womp. Then we took a nap - sightseeing is hard work! We grabbed some dinner, and met up with our Kiwi friend and drank the night away!

Looking happier at the Colosseum

Spanish Steps!

Our last day in Rome was spent laying in a park next to a castle that we wanted to go into (the line was too long), seeing the Forum and the Pantheon, going to a really cool view of the city, and seeing one of the prettiest churches I've ever seen. My visiting dad actually recommended it to me, and Kelsey and I kind of stumbled upon it on our way back to the hostel. The remainder of our evening was spent waiting in the Rome airport until midnight because our 10PM flight was delayed.

Enjoying the tiniest coffee ever.

 I got back to my place in Copenhagen at around 3AM and then headed straight to the airport to pick up the DelSerra family for their Danish adventure at 7AM! Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures of us in Copenhagen, but got some nice photos from France! I took my family to all my favorite restaurants (Suppenatural, Paludan, and a hot dog stand), and we also ate some amazing Australian steak. It was the best having them here - as I've said, I've been pretty homesick most of my stay, and having home come to me was exactly what I needed. There was lots of bickering, but their trip wouldn't have been complete if it lacked silly arguments :)

The second half of their Euro-trip occurred in Paris! Dad's BFF from residency lives there with his fam, and we showed us around town the way Parisians do - in a mini-van with 3 screaming French children hitting each other in the backseat. Theirry's wife, Lucia, made us an amazing Italian meal our first night there, and we ate fantastically teh whole trip (French cuisine one night and tapas the next!). We went to L'Orangerie, where some of Monet's most famous paintings are held. 

Sibling love at the Eiffel Tower

The way it should be

Theirry and Lucia's kids,  Mateo and Angelo (center and right), and their mischievous cousin, Hugo, playing on a grate.

The next day, the grownups ate a 5 hour lunch while JJ and I explored Paris on our own. We went to Notre Dame and walked around the islands in that area. We then got caught in the middle of a thunderstorm, so we grabbed a beer and some pomme frites (while soaking wet). 

JJ being cool

Me being the hunchback.

We departed on Sunday, and spent their last 2 days in Copenhagen exploring the viking museum and eating thai food in the red light district. I wish they were still here!

Since then, I've been pretty much doing work - I had 4 papers due the same day, and just finished finals on Thursday. YAY SUMMER! However, I'm now sick that I've got 5 days to do whatever I want for the last time in Copenhagen. Karma? Who knows. Anyway, I've been watching a lot of TV, sleeping, and taking multiple kinds of drugs my GP prescribed me. That was the only cool thing - going to my GP for the first and (hopefully) last time during my stay. It was strange - her office looked more like a really big apartment building. She was knowledgeable and very nice, so I'm pretty grateful. I just hope I'm better before I go home (or even before that-- I've got a  bucket list I want to complete!). 

OK. This is long enough. Sorry if I've starved you of entertainment, but I think this entry will probably take you the same amount of time as my hiatus. Peace, love, and antibiotics.

ketchup part 2

What do Chinese lanterns and large, stuffed polar bears have in common?

Absolutely nothing, but I traveled to Switzerland this past weekend and there was a window display for something (a clothing store? a chocolate shop? I still don't have a clue) that combined these two very random objects. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture, but I'm sure you can all imagine how bizarre it must have looked.

Anyway, we had Friday off, so Thursday evening, my friends Kait and Becca and I boarded a flight to Zurich! We kind of dropped the ball on booking a hostel, so when we had to find a place to stay the week before we left, we knew we'd be paying a little more for lodging. However, we stayed in the most beautiful hotel in the cutest neighborhood right next to the water- and it was SO worth the extra billz. 

Kait was really excited about the room

Teddy liked to relax 

 (slappe af as they say in Danish)

Zurich was about 70 degree and extremely sunny, making for a wonderful outdoorsy  day! After wandering aimlessly through most of the city (and stopping to shop, of course) we got some supplies to make a picnic and sat near Lake Zurich.

Olive bread, ham, grapes and cherry tomatoes - yum!

Basking in the Swiss sun

Then we went on a hike up Mount Uetli - however, our hotel manager said it was more of a hill than a mountain which was partially true. We ended up walking through a residential neighborhood (an extremely steep one, at that) and then finally trekked around the mountain. We never made it to the top because we couldn't find it - yeah I know that sounds stupid but it was really confusing. Anyway, here's a picture of the view!

Zurich from Mount Uetli

Saturday we took a train ride to Basel, which is pretty much in France but still technically in Switzerland. After taking the tram waaaay to far, we stumbled upon some type of bazaar/festival in the city/town of Allschwil. It was actually perfect - we bought some homemade goods (I got a bracelet) and ate delicious brats and other festival foods!

Bazaar

Brat - my new goal is to eat a "hotdog" in every country I visit since I am beyond obsessed with Danish hotdogs

The epitome of a Swiss village

We ended up staying in a bed and breakfast which was actually just a guest apartment of some woman. We were sorta freaked out at first,  but then realized it was legit and were very happy to have a bedroom and full kitchen at our disposal! We were all pretty beat, so we decided to run into to town, grab some supplies at a farmer's market, and then make our own fondue and munch on Swiss chocolates! It was probably my favorite part of the trip - spending some quality time with my 2 closest friends here, eating, laughing, and drinking wine all night. 

Mmmm cheese

Our spread, minus the fondue!

Swiss chocolates! The ones with the white on them were my favorite :)

We departed Sunday afternoon and I returned to the reality of writing (more) papers. However, all of that is pretty much done, and I am so excited to spend this weekend with LIZZIE AND SHANE! Both are visiting me, Lizzie from France, and Shane from home, and I couldn't be more excited!

ketchup part 1

So, I've been pretty sucky at updating, but things have been so busy! However, I now have an afternoon free and am writing all about the second half of March. I'm probably going to split this up into 2 entries so it's not just one outrageously post - it will be two moderately long entries! ha.  I'll begin with my trip to Poland for the second half of my study tour.

So, you're probably all wondering, Sam, why did you go to Poland? And why, of all places in Poland, did you go to Poznan? Well, all of my classmates and I were asking ourselves the same thing. However, I think I learned more in Poland than I did in Berlin, both academically and culturally.

We shadowed 4 doctors at 2 different hospitals - a gynecologist, an obstetrician, and 2 GI pediatricians. We were really able to see how poorly funded the medical program is in Poland - the facilities, while acceptable from a sanitation standpoint - were dark, overcrowded (there were some rooms with 5 children in them), and both under and overstaffed; too many nurses not doing anything while there weren't enough doctors  (we barely had time to talk with one of the pediatricians because so many other doctors and nurses were consulting them). Also, Poland has loose privacy laws, and some of my other classmates in a different group got to walk into an emergency c-section as it was happening without having to fill out any paperwork. What also struck me about Poland was the fact that not everyone spoke English - I guess I'm a little spoiled here in Copenhagen. It was really a wake up call, and now, whenever I travel, I don't immediately assume people know English.

We had a lot of free time in Poland (more than in Berlin), and I bought some really cool wool socks from a Polish "mountain man" cart for the equivalent of $2, as well as some cute spring clothes. Everything was SO cheap - 3 zloty was equal to 1 USD, and for a total of 7$ I got a fantastic meal of vegetarian pierogies, a beer, and dessert: something that would cost an arm and a leg in Denmark. We also had a wonderful dinner at one of Poznan's finest restaurants, and were given lots of free alcohol. I think DIS did this purposely in preparation for our 12 hour bus ride home - they just wanted us to get moderately drunk and pass out. Unfortunately, there was an accident on a Polish or German highway and we missed our 6AM ferry to Denmark and arrived back to Copenhagen 3 hours late. I was pretty cranky (me? cranky? never!) by the time we got back, but after a shower, food, and reunion with my roomie, I felt a lot better!

The main square in Poznan - pretty reminiscent of Nyhavn in CPH!

Just my friend Nina and I sitting on the golden goats of Poznan (they love goats there. and potatoes).

The day immediately following my return from Poland, I hung out with my visiting family. They made me lunch (where I discovered that I am now in love with beets) and took me to the Viking Museum in Roskilde. The Viking Museum is pretty small, but it's really awesome! It was super informative and you were able to see excavated viking ships they found. I also learned that the Danes were pretty ruthless vikings - sacrificing slaves when their owners died, raping and ravaging other lands, drinking blood out of their dead enemies' skulls (that's where the Danish word for cheers comes from - Skål! were so They even have a place where you can dress up like a viking... and oh, did I dress up...

Skål!

After that, I had a pretty busy 10 days or so - all of my teachers decided to give exams and make due dates for the same days which was really poopy. I stayed in one night last weekend in order to write 2 papers. However, I had a bit of a break on Tuesday night was able to go out and celebrate my completion of 3 papers in 2 days (one of which was on a book I didn't read). 

Next entry: Switzerland!

Bees are too busy for my liking.

Okay, so I know I owe an entry about my travels to Poland, but schoolwork has been kicking my pretty little butt this week, and I've been busy as a bee! I've got 2 papers due on Monday/Tuesday and had a lot of assignments due last week, so blogging has been put on the backburner. I promise I will update you all about Poland (I know you're dying to know) ASAP.  Here is a video to entertain you while you anxiously await my next post.

http://www.youtube.com uu_zwdmz0hE/watch?v=

Bearli?. Bierlin? Brrrln? So many puns!

Note: I wrote this on Thursday but was unable to upload pictures due to bad internet connection! Entry on Poland coming soon.

So I've decided to split my study tour entries into a separate post for each city. Why, you ask? Well, it would be one reaaallly long entry and I don't feel like writing that much right now. I am currently in Poznan, Poland hanging out in my hotel room having some hermit time. Being with a group of 30 people for 5 days straight is exhausting... especially when some of them aren't exactly who you'd choose to hang out with... but I digress.

We left Copenhagen around 8AM on Sunday morning and began our journey south to Germany. We took a ferry from the south of Denmark to the north of Germany and then continued our bus ride to Berlin, arriving at our hotel around 3:30PM.  After unpacking and hanging out for a bit, we went on a very long walking tour of Berlin's highlights and ended up at our restaurant for dinner. We had some traditional German food, including pork of some kind, potatoes, and sauerkraut (which I've discovered I love). Three other girls and I shared a pitcher of the restaurant's special brew (which was delicious and quite wheat-y). Afterwards, we walked back to the hotel and crashed.

Monday morning we went to a human gross anatomy lab. On our walk to the building, all of a sudden I hear "OMG SAM!" I ended up seeing one of my very good high school friends, Marie, in the middle of Berlin! She is studying in Dublin and is traveling around Europe - how weird! We didn't really talk because we were both so surprised to happen upon each other in Germany after not seeing the other in about 2.5 years. What a coincidence! After that impromptu reunion, we parted ways and I caught up with my group. The anatomy lab was really awesome - it didn't smell as bad as the U of M one I went to last semester, and we got to hold the different organs and parts of the brain. Afterwards, I grabbed lunch from an Asian noodle cart (had Sriracha for the first time in FOREVER) and grabbed a "lunch beer" with of my groupmates. The weather was amazing, so we sat outside and talked until we needed to meet for our bike tour. The tour was AMAZING and I'm so happy we did it. Our guide was amazing (and very attractive too!) and so knowledgeable. Here are some pictures from the tour:

 I felt like Mary Tyler Moore all day.

Check Point Charlie!

That night I went out to dinner with my friends Nina and Wendy and Nina's old German exchange students she housed that live in Berlin. After that, Nina, Wendy, and I, along with two other girls from our group, went on a phenomenal pub crawl. We got really great drink specials, free shots, and met a good group of people (mostly older than us, but some close to our age). We ended at a really sweet club in the red light district, and I didn't get home until about 4AM. Though it was an amazing night, I probably should have come home earlier  since I was miserable the next morning. However, I guess since I was only in Berlin once, I had to live it up!

Tuesday we had 2 academic visits. First, we went to a research center that I really didn't enjoy (not just due to my lack of sleep and slight hangover). Though their research was interesting, it was completely unrelated to what we're learning about (to the point where they couldn't tell us how it was practical to medicine) and took far too long. Did I mention we saw another MRI? Ugh. Anyway, after some lunch, we went to a family planning center and had an amazing lecture and tour. It was really interesting to see how family planning is carried out/viewed in Germany. Afterwards, we grabbed another traditional German meal with another group that's in Berlin and then I called it an early night since I was pretty exhausted from the fun I had had the previous evening.

Wednesday we visited the Jewish Museum and got lunch at the Reichstag (German Parliament building). The meal was AMAZING!! Who knew a government building could have a four star restaurant on its roof?? My favorite part was the banana ice cream and chocolate molten lava cake. Omg I'm still drooling. Here are pictures of teh building and it's really awesome dome where you can look into parliament (a symbol that the people are always in charge!).

Finally, we departed around 3 from Berlin and began our 5 hour journey to Poznan, Poland. More on this part of the trip later!

Puns are hard when you don't do anything besides watch TV

I am still boring. However, my next post will be more exciting because I'm going to Berlin and Poznan, Poland this week with my class! We're exploring a bunch of different medical facilities (and unfortunately seeing another MRI... really? We didn't see enough on the short study tour? Whatevz). However, I'm more optimistic about this tour than I was the last - we have a lot of free time (almost every night) and we'll be in Germany/Poland!

Thursday night, I went to another ballet with my class - it's called Dans2Go and it was so amazing. It consisted of 3 different, short ballets: Serenade by George Balanchine (a really famous ballet and choreographer), La Corsaire (a pas de deux) and Jord (which means Earth) by a Finnish choreographer and was danced to a cello band that covers Metallica songs. It was absolutely AMAZING and I was so sad when it was over. After the show, I went out to celebrate some big news with all of my friends - I found out that I got my number one choice of summer jobs - I'll be researching with a professor at Mac! This means I have to get  SCUBA certification which I'm both excited and afraid to get, and that I'll get to be in Saint Paul all summer.

Other than that exciting news, I've just been watching a lot of Criminal Minds (best show ever!) and living life. Last night some of my roommates and I went out for a really nice dinner at a Thai place called Spicylicious - it was soooo delicious! I haven't gone anywhere that I can upload pictures, so this entry is going to be rather short. However, the next entry will be super long since I'll have a week's worth of pictures and stories to tell!

Vi ses!