Hi! I’m Grace and I’m spending my summer studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. Let me tell you a little more about how I ended up here.
I was born and raised in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. I go to Elon University, the #1 school in the US for study abroad experiences. At Elon, I major in Strategic Communications and Media Analytics with a minor in Spanish. While not being required to study abroad, I deemed it a challenge I accepted the moment I stepped foot on campus.
My grandmother grew up in Denmark. Her six siblings and their families still live throughout Denmark. I decided to follow my roots and spend the summer there. I am so excited to spend time with my family and exchange stories with my cousins from my family growing up in the US and their lives in Denmark. I cannot wait to learn about the culture, walk the streets of Copenhagen, try new foods, and take on this new adventure.
We arrived in Denmark a week ago today. When we first arrived we had to quarantine for a few days, where I got to know the lovely Clarion hotel. After the mandatory quarantine and two negative tests later, we were finally able to start our Copenhagen journey! It feels like an actual dream strolling through Copenhagen, nobody pinch me. Copenhagen is colorful, exciting, vibrant, and so many more adjectives I can’t find the words to describe.
Day one started out strong. I am fortunate enough to live in an apartment with DIS Students and Danish students. I’m eager to have them show us all the cool spots and places they love. An hour upon our arrival, we jumped into the water of a canal close to our place. Here, people can lay out and jump in the water, so this canal access was packed due to the recently sunny hot weather Copenhagen has been longing for. Afterwards we grabbed some poke bowls for lunch and spent some time unpacking. I have yet to taste bad food here, I am obsessed! Everything tastes so fresh and yummy.
The next morning was my first day of in-person class! I am currently taking Food and Identity, where we learn about the anthropology of food and how the food we consume and how we consume it shapes our identity. For our first assignment, we were asked to go to a specific market and report about some of the different identities we noticed about it. My group was assigned to go to Torvehallerne, an amazing food hall with many different individual vendors. There were two buildings all with different vendors, and in between the two buildings there were many stands with flowers and fresh fruit and vegetables, it was so beautiful. We found the freshest strawberries and had to try some. I also got my first iced coffee and a pastry of the trip (there will be many more of those).
After our class a few friends and I went to the Rosenborg Castle Gardens, the most dreamy place to eat a veggie sandwich and enjoy some sunshine. A sunny day in Cope and a sandwich and friends, what else could you need?
I’ve only been out of quarantine for two days and I am already in love with Copenhagen. I love all of the architecture in the city, all of the amazing food, the people, and I’ve only just begun my journey. I am still getting my bearings, and trying to not get run over by a bike, but that will come naturally in the next couple of days. Walking everywhere is great, but I can’t wait to rent a bike and explore even more of Copenhagen in the coming weeks. Follow along with me and my journey of navigating the city!