January 18th 2024

The last few days have been crazy! Yesterday was super fun because we had our core course orientation. This was basically just a syllabus day, but classes had not officially started yet yesterday. After we were talked at for a while we went down to a coffee shop nearby (The Living Room) and it had such a cozy and intimate environment. We were able to meet students in both sections of the class and just talk about our experiences here and with neuroscience and just whatever we wanted to talk about. (we also got a free drink and cheese sandwich... SCORE!) Half the floor also went out and got some ramen for dinner last night which was really fun as a wind down before the crazy semester speeds past us. Onto today though which is what this was supposed to be about 🫣 It was the first day of classes so I woke up around 7:00 and left around 7:45 ish for my 8:30 class. I thought I was going to have to significantly change my schedule from Gustavus, but so far (one day into it) there hasn't been a ton of change. My first class was psychopharmacology which is a little intimidating because I don't have a neuroscience background, but I really can't wait to learn more about this subject. My professor has made the class easy to ask questions in and I've been really good about making friends with who I sit around and the people I sit by are really smart (or at least seem so) so I have plenty of resources near to me. My next class was right after and it was my anthropology of food course. I am so excited for this course because I feel I will be able to really understand Danish culture to a deeper extent despite not taking a language course. I also am super excited to show my friends the fun areas we explore in my class for good food (some pictures of the glass market/ torvehallerne are below). I got a small chocolate croissant which I wish I could have shared with my Grandma today, I just know she would love it, so if we can ever make it to europe together, Grandma, I know where we have to go :) After that I was able to meet up with some friends (aka my favorite people in europe aka some floor mates) for lunch at the student hub. I made a wrap and brought some fruit that I packed last night. After lunch I grabbed a chai and met Francesca (my roomie) for our developmental disorders class we have together. It was in such an odd location there was a sign that said "no DIS students to the left" and the class was in fact to the left 😔. It was kinda funny trying to find it. Then it was time to head back home so I overheard someone in my class had to hit the metro so I went up to him and made a new friend. He doubted my navigating skills to the M2 line, but my friends here know I am quite good with my sense of direction so he did in fact have to apologize when I got us there much quicker than him wandering around. We then talked all the way to my stop and he got off on the one after me so I'm looking forward to having a new friend to ride the metro with on the way home. I don't know why, but whenever I go somewhere that I know nobody I get so anxious I won't know how to make friends, and then I never have an issue. My family likes to make fun of me for that so maybe I should take their advice and realize it will all work out, but it's much more fun to freak out. After classes we watched some phineas and ferb and then got ready for dinner. We had a floor dinner tonight and decided on one every 2 weeks. I can't wait and I am so glad our floor is so fun and willing to do things together! We (I say we and I just cut up a cucumber 🙃) made tacos tonight and just talked for like 3 hours. I also live in a building with local residents who are just (mostly) Danish college aged students who are incredible. There are four on our floor and it is so fun to get to talk to them and it is such a unique experience to get to live with local residents who can tell us about American Tuesdays (I'll tell you all about it another time) and laugh at the other DIS students learning danish. It is so fun getting to know students from all across America and also people who are much more familiar with the area. I'm so glad Denmark is so similar to midwestern culture and living because I truly haven't experienced much culture shock and I truly was preparing for a big adjustment. I even find myself judging people already for not being on the right side of the escalator (stay on the right side if you are not walking up the escalator and just want to stand). Anyways I have been having a really great time already and I can't wait to continue to document my journey of the next four months so thank you for reading :) Also especially as the semester gets crazy I am hoping to get a post in about once a week and it will be awesome if I can do more, but don't expect too many otherwise they'll get boring and I want to keep you on your toes 😉