Monday marks the end of Session 2 at DIS. Although three weeks seem like a short time, I’m surprised by how eventful it all was. From biking across the canals for class to late night Netto groceries shopping and cooking fiascos. To reading my class papers in an outdoor cafe basked with Copenhagen sun to navigating the always packed and lively metro at night back home. To eating freshly baked pastries and breads in the morning to having double servings of Danish hotdogs from food trucks. Yet, there’s still so much I want to see and do in Copenhagen, so I’m lucky that I’ll be staying here for one more session.
My Session 3 course is Mediterranean Food, Tradition, and Nutrition, and follows the theme for my summer: gastronomy (i.e. fancy word for food). I’m excited to take my second culinary based class here at DIS; given how amazing my class on Nordic Culinary Culture was this session, I only see good things going into the next one. In particular, the class I’ll be taking will be partnering up with the College Year in Athens (CYA) program, and I’ll be spending my latter two weeks of Session 3 in Athens, Greece. I’ll also be having two short, weekend study tours instead of the traditional weeklong tour. My first tour will be at Samsø, an island on top of Denmark, and Naxøs, an island in the South Aegean.
While it does certainly live up to DIS’s mission of making Europe the classroom, it also means I have only so much time at Copenhagen. On my bucket list, I have to ride some of the oldest amusement park rides, hunt for wooden statues, and pretend to be in Hamlet. First on the list is Tivoli Gardens, started in 1843, it’s the second oldest amusement park in the world and the largest in Denmark.
As for the wooden statues, the second item on my list, refers to the work of Danish artist Thomas Damon who created six large wooden sculptures and hid them in the suburbia of Copenhagen (people are supposed to use clues on his website to track them down).
Lastly, an hour and half ride away from the city, there is the Kronborg Castle, which is the castle that Shakespeare’s Hamlet is based upon.
Of course, it can’t all be sightseeing and travel! I have to first finish my final paper assignment for my Session 2 class. It’s a detailed, qualitative analysis of a food space in Copenhagen. It’s different from the work I do back home, which is more quantitative and problem-based, but I enjoy the novelty of it.
I like being pushed out of my comfort zone, and I’m grateful that I did so with DIS. The professor, the DIS staff, and the students all help cultivate a supportive community, so even when things ventured into the unknown, I could tackle it with confidence.
I’ll be blogging for Session 3 as well, so don’t fret, you’ll be hearing from me soon. But as of right now, I have a final paper I really have to finish. Until next time!