January 25th 2024

It has been one very full week since the last time I have posted so get ready. Last Friday I had the day off from class and honestly spent most of the day doing homework and catching up for the week ahead of me (pretty boring). My floormates and I did go out for drinks Friday night though and stumbled across a cute little cafe (don't worry, family, I still have yet to have my first full drink and only drank lemonade on this night 🤭) . On saturday we went and explored a new neighborhood, Norrebro, which is just west of where we are staying. It was really fun and we stopped by a park (pictures below) where I absolutely got my butt wet (a parka does in fact fly up when you are on a slide don't let the length fool you 😖). We also stopped by the cemetery that Hans Christian Anderson was buried, but it was too muddy for my white shoes so I will have to go back to actually see his grave. We then stopped for kebab (bad choice I was up for several hours in the middle of the night) and it tasted so good for how badly it made me feel. We finished off the trip with some shopping in the vintage stores and I got a cute sweater (not pictured below unfortunately). For the rest of the night we watched barbie and talked about a trip to see the northern lights. Sunday was another homework study day. I just had a few readings to finish up so I went to joe and the juice and I asked the person behind the counter to just make me their favorite drink. This was a horrible decision as I got a pressed juice that contained bell pepper, ginger, turmeric, and other salty things that I would not get again in a juice 🤢. The rest of the day was spent looking for the cheapest flights to northern Norway; unfortunately the cheapest was $200. We decided that the northern lights were not worth that much money, and we decided instead to go south. We planned a trip to Milan! I cannot wait to go there will be seven of us on the trip and it was such a fun experience buying the tickets and finding an airbnb, I have never gotten to travel with friends in this capacity before so I am so excited. Monday and Tuesday looked very similar this week I had 3 classes on Monday which all went very smoothly and then proceeded to take the metro home all by myself for the first time (somehow I hadn't gone by myself despite being here for a week and a half). Unfortunately I didn't want to be by myself so I Facetimed one of my floormates to see what she was doing and in the process I forgot I actually had a stop I needed to get off on. I ended up walking back home because it was a gorgeous day and I got to see a bit more of Copenhagen that I hadn't seen before. Tuesday I attended two classes I had not been to yet which were my epigenetics class and neurological disorders and diseases. I really am looking forward to learning about both of these classes more especially as I have had a major interest in epigenetics since my senior year of high school. Wednesday got interesting again; I had my first field study of this semester (a field study is basically a field trip to somewhere that relates to the class in the simplest definition). I have to give a trigger warning to the pictures about this trip though. They are quite graphic and disturbing pictures of human body parts so just be aware! The museum was really quite interesting to me and our tour guide was even named Sabrina (I think it's the name because she reminded me a lot of my older sister ☺️). At the end of the night I met my visiting host (kind of like a host family, but I only meet with him once a month). He was very kind and prepared a meal of beef, potatoes, and green beans which was delicious along with a traditional danish dessert. The dessert is called citronformage, but despite the name was just made with some sugar, cream, and lemon zest. It reminded me of whipped yoplait yogurt it was so yummy 😁. Now we have finally made it to the present. Today was super filled for me! I went to my three classes and met two of my friends for lunch. All of my classes were really interesting and engaging rather than just straight lecture which was really good because I was feeling quite tired today. After my classes got out I walked about 20 minutes to Nytorv and saw the famous colorful buildings (yet again pictured below) which was a really pretty site to see and a very freeing walk. Then I walked another 20 minutes to see the famous little mermaid statue. I think the best part of seeing the statue was I got to facetime with Alex for an hour an a half and share the moment with him despite being 4,000 miles away from each other. It was a great walk and I hadn't yet gone exploring without my friends here yet which was a completely new experience for me. I really like to be around people and experience (especially new) things with those that I care about, but there is an appreciation to exploring by yourself that I had yet to discover. I took the metro home from a new station and taught my grandma how to video call on my way home which was fun to see her react to being able to see my face ☺️. Once I settled at home I rested for about an hour before helping (not so much) make a meal with my friends. We made crusted chicken, homemade gnocchi, green beans, a salad, and for dessert (the part I helped with) Katherine's amazing chocolate chip cookies. I think it's the way she browns the butter but these are the best cookies I have ever eaten in my life (sorry grandma 😅). I ended the night with an episode of percy jackson with Ishika and giggling with Francesca and finishing up this post. I have really had a great week and I hope you enjoyed catching up with me and enjoy the pictures below :)