August 23, 2017: Orientation and the Round Tower
Following academic orientation, a few of my classmates and I decided to pay the $2 fee and climb to the top of the Round Tower. This 17th-century tower is located just around the corner from DIS and it was built by Christian IV as an astronomical observatory. Instead of stairs it has one giant winding ramp all the way to the top!
August 25, 2017: Islands Brygge
One day when we didn't have class, a few of my friends and I decided to go to a diving area on the side of the harbor. Thankfully we made it there on one of the last nice days of the summer so it was the perfect weather for a swim (ok so the water was actually freezing but according to the Danes this was perfect swimming weather). There were three levels to dive off of: 1 meter, 3 meters, and 5 meters. It was crazy to see the fearless Danish children jumping off the high dive like it was nothing! I started out with the 3 meter dive - which was was already pretty scary - before climbing all the way up to the high dive. It was seriously terrifying but I'm so glad I literally took the leap and tried it - it was so fun!
August 29, 2017: Exploring & Paper Island
The weather during my first week in Copenhagen was literally so beautiful that I started to doubt what everyone had said about it raining all the time (which was later proven wrong because it now rains pretty much everyday). This day my friend Carly and I biked all the way over to this cute brunch restaurant on the water only to find out that it was rented out for a corporate event. So we biked over to Paper Island and I got to try the pulled pork everyone had been recommending (definitely worth the hype) and sat in the sunshine along the harbor. It was actually so sunny that I ended up getting pretty sunburnt! But it was a perfect way to spend the last summer day in the city.
September 1, 2017: Botanical Gardens and Go Boating
After Maddie got out of class I met her at Rosenborg Palace, a renaissance castle that was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 for Christian IV. We walked around the palace grounds and then went over to the University of Copenhagen's Botanical Gardens and Conservatory. The Gardens reminded me a lot of Longwood Gardens! At the conservatory you could climb a spiral staircase up to the very top and get a great view of all of the gardens. Afterwards we got ice cream and then headed home. That night I met up with some friends to go Go Boating! Go Boats are solar powered boats with tables in the middle that you can rent to ride around in the harbor. You can bring your own snacks and drinks (read: cheese and wine) and they only go about 2mph so they're pretty easy to drive. We went right as the sun was setting so it was a beautiful ride!
September 2, 2017: Louisiana Museum of Art
This was one of my top Copenhagen bucket list items! It's a modern art museum about an hour outside of the city that's known for its interactive art pieces. Most famous is probably the Kusama Installation, a mirrored room full of changing multi-colored lights. They had a special performance art exhibit going on as well which was interesting to say the least. The museum is right on the water so you can actually see Sweden from the museum grounds!
September 3, 2017: Getting a bike!
After a week-long saga of attempting and failing to rent a bike for the semester, I was finally successful! I'm now the proud owner of a spiffy used bike which makes me feel like a true Dane. Like I said before, they bike everywhere here, no matter the distance or the current weather situation. I'm definitely still working on motivating myself to bike in the rain :) but it's seriously the best to not have to rely 100% on the buses anymore. I don't have any pictures of me riding my bike (safety first!!) but here's one of my new ride.
September 6, 2017: First Field Study!
DIS structures our program so that we don't have any classes on Wednesdays! This day is reserved for field studies for our elective courses. On this particular Wednesday I went to TwentyThree, an advertising software startup here in Copenhagen. They showed us around their very modern office and gave a presentation on the company and how we'll be using their platform. My Digital Media in Marketing class is working with the agency this semester to make promotional videos for the American Pie Company, the second destination of our field study. I spotted this pie shop while we were walking around during our first few days in the city and knew I needed to try it! Luckily for me we got to try all of their sweet pies on this day :) I'm definitely going back to try their savory pies too (if you know me you know my love of chicken pot pie). The shop was started by an American living in Copenhagen who missed having the pies she grew up with at home. Our mission for the semester is to promote pumpkin pies to the Danes, who aren't familiar with the traditional Thanksgiving concept.
September 9, 2017: Ice Bar!
One of my flatmates' friends was visiting Copenhagen and happened to be staying at the hostel here that has an ice bar! I've always wanted to try an ice bar so when she invited me to come with her I couldn't pass it up. The bar is 19 degrees Fahrenheit and and you're only allowed to stay in for 45 minutes. Everything, from the bar to the shot glasses, is made of ice! You get a giant parka when you go in but I was still freezing by the time we left. Another bucket list item accomplished!
September 10, 2017: FC Copenhagen Soccer Game
DIS got us free tickets to a FC Copenhagen vs FC Midtjylland match last Sunday. I'm not the biggest soccer fan, but I am a fan of free activities :) Soccer is such a big part of the European culture and I think half the fun is seeing all of the die-hard fans cheering on their team. After raining the entire week, we got a beautiful day of sunshine and the game was the perfect way to enjoy it. And Copenhagen won!
September 11-15, 2017: Core Course Week
My Core Course went on a trip to Western Denmark! You can read my post about it here.
September 16, 2017: Church of Our Saviour
This weekend Carly and I ventured over to the spiral tower at the Church of Our Saviour. This tower was opened in 1752 and for $5 you can climb the 400 steps to the top. The first part of the climb is inside the bell tower and the last 150 steps are on the narrow spiral staircase on the outside of the spire. The view at the top is insane - nothing beats seeing Copenhagen from almost 300 feet in the sky! I didn't think I was that scared at the top but once we got back down to the ground my legs were shaking for a good 30 minutes.
September 17, 2017: Go Boats (again!)
We were blessed with beautiful weather again this Sunday so my flatmates and I rented Go Boats again! This time we docked at Paper Island and got food to bring on board. I don't think Copenhagen by boat at sunset will ever get old!
I hope everyone has a great week! More adventures to come, so stay tuned :)
No comments:
Post a Comment