begyndelse.

hello, dear friends!

let me begin this record of my time in denmark with a brief explanation of what i'll be doing during my time here.
the organization i'll be studying with is called the danish institute for study abroad (DIS). they're a non-profit education organization specializing in study abroad. each semester they take on about 800 students, many from the US but i've already met one girl originally from hong kong who goes to school in australia. there are 14 different programs offered by DIS that cover virtually every major program of study imaginable. because of their diverse course offerings, DIS attracts a rather eclectic group of students. for example, i've met more architecture, urban planning, and design majors than i ever dreamed i would.
the program i'll be participating in is formally called medical practice and policy (MPP). it's taught by danish doctors and has frequent field studies in hospitals with exposure to patient care and clinical skills. as part of the course, i'll be going on a short and a long study tour. the shorter tour for most courses is within denmark. in my case, i'll be exploring a couple danish hospitals. for the longer study tour, i'll be traveling to poznan, poland and berlin, germany to explore the state of science and health care in both countries.

in addition to the core course associated with the MPP program, i'll be taking four other courses. the first is called complexity of cancer, the equivalent of the cancer biology offered at vanderbilt. i'm thrilled that i have the opportunity to take this course while abroad since pre-requisite requirements prevent me from being able to take it at home. the course is a combination of tumor/cancer biology and an exploration of current cancer treatments.
my second course is a medical exploration of hiv/aids which offers both a scientific and a sociological exploration of the aids epidemic.
the third course is called gender perspectives on human rights which offers a global perspective of the treatment of women and general human rights. with this course i was hoping to take an additional study tour to amsterdam to tour the red light district and visit NGOs associated with the sex trade but the trip has been cancelled due to flight issues. fortunately, many of the other students who had signed up for the trip are still interested in going so we may find a way to get their on our own.
the last of my additional courses is danish language and culture. in this class, as the title suggests, i'll get the opportunity to study a bit of danish in addition to exploring the culture of københavn and denmark at large.

as i write this to you, i've successfully arrived in københavn and completed my first two days of orientation activities. my flight arrived sunday at 1:00pm local time and i somehow managed to maneuver three rolling bags over cobblestone streets and up to my room on the third floor. after unpacking and meeting my lovely roommate taylor, all of residents in our kollegium (think suite-style dorms, each with two people, a tiny kitchenette, and a bathroom) enjoyed a lovely meal prepared by our SRAs (social/residential advisers), lise and louisa. both girls are incredibly sweet and seem quite excited to get to know all of us and to assist us in our efforts to get to know københavn.

after going to bed at 9:30 and successfully sleeping off jetlag, my monday began with the DIS opening ceremonies. they were held at the ny carlsberg glyptotek, a sculpture museum established and funded by the carlsberg brewery. we were welcomed by the director of DIS, the professor for my human rights class, and the DIS strings, a small ensemble comprised of students from the royal music academy. after the ceremony we were unleashed upon the city to find the classrooms for our specific orientation groups. once we all found each other, we discussed our expectations for the program and then set out on the "DIS amazing race". our larger orientation group was divided into three smaller groups, each with an assigned list of places to navigate ourselves to. my group made our first stop at the royal library, affectionately called "the black diamond". the building was built in 1999 and is a symbol of national pride for the danes for two reasons. first, an international architecture competition was held for the design of the building which was ultimately won by a danish architecture firm. second, it stands as a symbol of the high value danish society places on education. a large portion of the high taxes paid by danish citizens are poured into the education system which offers free education for all students and supports students by offering them a monthly stipend so they can focus on their studies.

our second stop took us across the canal to christianshavn, a part of the city established by christian the fourth. there we saw the church of our savior which is very old and beautifully designed, a common theme for most buildings in københavn. the building is especially notable because of its spiral spire. there's only one other like it in the world, a much smaller one located in italy. the gold band around the spire is the banister of the 400-stair staircase that takes you to one of the most beautiful views in københavn. i say this on blind faith: the stairs actually don't open until april. but i already have mental plans to climb them.
our third unique location was new harbor, one of the more iconic locations in københavn. at the most inland point of the harbor is king's new square which is currently under construction. in the center of the square is the traditional equestrian statue. apparently it was originally made of lead because when it was being made they didn't have sufficient bronze.

since lead is such a soft metal, they were fearful that the horse would eventually fall to its knees so they placed a statue personifying envy beneath the horse. the statue has a palm facing up that would theoretically hold up the horse if need be. thankfully, they were able to recast the statue in bronze before the envy really had to serve its purpose but it's still present beneath the bronze statue.
our adventure ended with a stop at the royal palace where the queen and the crown prince and princess both reside. the crown prince is named frederik and his eldest son is christian. these are the two traditional names of danish royalty. they've been alternating between them for generations and the current frederik will be the tenth of the frederiks once he takes the throne. the crown prince married an australian non-royal named mary and the couple has four children including a set of twins born last january.

the queen has been ruling for 40 years this january and was allowed to do so because of a provision approved by the danish people permitting a woman to hold the throne. margarethe's (the queen)father was blessed with three girls so something had to be done. she has since become a beloved figurehead in denmark. the danish people are very proud of their royal family even though the country is now a parliamentary, representative democratic, constitutional monarchy. the danes are also very proud of the fact that they were able to negotiate a constitution without a revolution. they pride themselves on their ability to compromise.
our very full day concluded with a light lunch consisting of some traditional danish foods. i enjoyed my first bit of rugbrød or "rye bread". the danes apparently don't eat whole wheat bread. it appears that everything is either white or rye so i suppose i'll be consuming quite a bit of rugbrød this semester. we also tried liver paste, something no danish child goes to school without. our group agreed that it tasted like creamy sausage and that it would be best eaten between two slices of bread to prevent one from seeing the color/texture while consuming it.

monday evening i did my first round of grocery shopping with taylor. i've been blessed with a roommate that virtually mirrors my eating habits: loves vegetables, generally avoids meat, mildly lactose intolerant. we plan on cooking lots of lovely vegetarian dishes and may even get to enjoy them together at the tiny dinner table in our apartment. i was warned that prices in denmark were outrageous but i've been pleasantly surprised by lower costs than i expected. lots of veggies for about $13--cheaper than any of my grocery bills in the US.

today was full of optional workshops on ways to immerse yourself in danish culture and danish cultural norms. i find myself feeling more comfortable here already and i'm getting terribly excited to begin my exploration of københavn, denmark, and europe. i'm also inordinately excited to begin class. i love my course lineup and can't wait for the broader perspective my education in københavn will afford me.

time to do some pre-class reading. yes, i have reading already. and yes, i'm too excited to mind.

kærlig hilsen,
kati