Tomorrow, I finally fly home to the United States, after almost five months of living in Europe. I almost can not believe that the semester has ended, and I will be back in my old home, living my “old” life, which is soon to be my current life once again. It is a very strange feeling, and while traveling (which is what I have been doing for the past month) is very tiring and it will be nice to finally have a break, the feeling of leaving Europe for who-knows how long, leaving the life I was living here, full of new places, new people, and new experiences, is, for lack of a better word, heartbreaking.

It will be hard to explain this semester, and all that it was comprised of, to the people back home. I’ll say that I went to class, worked at Københavns Universitet, lived with two Danes and two Americans in a Kollegium, traveled to Italy, Germany, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Portugal, and enjoyed every minute far more than I ever believed I would when my plane landed at Copenhagen airport on that cloudy, cold day so long ago. 

However, this doesn’t even begin to encompass what made these few months so extraordinary. In reality, it is all the little moments, the bike rides to school surrounded by other bikers, the conversations with random Danes about American culture, the times spent laughing with my Danish housemates when they misuse an English word or I butcher Danish pronunciation. It is hard to explain all the little moments that add up to create the love that I have for Copenhagen. However, I want to try, so here are some of the things I will miss most when I leave tomorrow.

I will miss the beautiful historic buildings, which make the city feel so small and cozy, despite its size. I will miss always being close to the water, crisscrossing canals every day on my trips around the city. I will miss the sense of freedom that comes with fast and reliable public transportation, opening up so many possibilities to get anywhere I want to go at any time.

 I will miss seeing the men and women dressed in their elegant and stylish fashion while biking to work every day. I will miss feeling safe and content walking around at night, even when I am alone. I will miss the beautiful parks that fill the city with lush greenery in the summer. I will miss seeing such strong bonds that my Danish roommates have with their family as well as their friends who they have known since ten years old. I will miss the overall sense of well-being that seems to permeate every part of the city, from the laughing children running around the streets to the couples sitting and enjoying the fresh air together on the riverbanks as the sun sets.

I am not sure yet if it is in the cards for me to move back to live in Copenhagen at some later point in my life, but I really hope that it is because it is such a special city and one that I will forever keep thinking of coming back to.

Isle of Skye, Scotland

While I loved Copenhagen as a city to live in for four months, the other great thing about studying in Europe is that it is very easy to travel around to other countries. Even if you have a pretty tight budget, it is still definitely possible to travel, and Europe is a great place for beginners and people who are first learning the ins and outs of traveling due to the fact that it is generally pretty safe and it is easy to get almost anywhere with the public transportation in Europe. In addition, the main cities that are visited generally have all the main sights located in a historic center of the city and are therefore very walkable once you get there. Here are some of my main recommendations for future travelers!

Hostels

I want to begin by explaining hostels because they have honestly been one of the most amazing things I have experienced this semester, and one of the best parts of traveling in Europe. Every major city in Europe has lots of them, most being about $20 per night. You get a bunk bed with sheets and a pillow in a communal room, usually co-ed, and access to a kitchen so that you can cook your own food. The wonderful thing about hostels, besides allowing you to travel cheaply, is that they are meant to be social. In most hostels, in the evening once people come back from seeing the sights, everyone convenes in the common area to share some bottles of wine, meet each other, and talk. English is often the common language (although there are often multiple conversations happening in multiple languages at the same time), so as an American it is really easy to meet and talk with everyone. Even though I am an introvert, it was practically effortless to meet so many people just due to the fact that I was so interested in where they were from and how their lives differed from mine while living in France, Germany, Mexico, Switzerland, or wherever they were from. Once you meet the other people in the hostel, you can go out and enjoy the nightlife together in the city, and the next day, explore the city together as well. Most people who I have met in hostels are solo travelers and are eager to meet other people, and everyone is generally in their twenties. I can not explain how cool it is to meet other people my same age from all over the world, who are living such different lives but essentially share this one common interest of traveling and seeing the world. The fact that we share the happenstance of being in the same hostel in the same city in the same random part of the world creates a bonding experience of sorts I think.

Choosing Where to Go

I traveled to eight different counties outside of Denmark this semester, and one thing I learned is that figuring out what you particularly love about traveling and choosing where to go based on that makes a much more memorable and enjoyable trip than just hitting the main cities for the “I’ve been there” gratification. Whether it be the food, the language, or the weather, traveling somewhere because it has something that is particularly meaningful to you is the way to go. I figured out that one of the things I care most about is natural beauty, and my trips to Scotland, Spain, and Portugal, which I planned based on this interest, are some of my most memorable because of this. I recommend thinking about the things that you particularly like, finding others with those same interests, and going from there!

Scotland had fantasy-like landscapes

The golden cliffs of the Algarve coast in Portugal

Beautiful turquoise water in Mallorca, Spain

My office at the lab

I have been wrapping up the project I have been conducting as a Research Assistant, so I think it is a good time to write about what I have been working on. As mentioned previously, I am taking three classes and working as a Research Assistant for 6 credits. I have thoroughly enjoyed the balance of my course load and research experience here. In my academic courses, I spend time studying politics, culture, and medicine in Denmark which I really like and appreciate since they are so applicable and give such valuable insight into the experiences I have had while living in this new country. It is really very enjoyable to be learning about another culture and the politics of another place while simultaneously experiencing it first-hand. 

All this is also balanced out really well by this research experience during which I get more of a taste of “the real world” (although it is still academia) since I get to go to work and meet with the graduate students and the PI in my laboratory to work on my project, which is a completely different experience than any other schoolwork. 

I work in the NeuroMet laboratory at the University of Copenhagen, studying neurometabolism in neurodegenerative diseases alongside 5 graduate students and the PI of the laboratory. Each student in the lab has their own project they are working on, and mine concerns the Free Fatty Acid Receptor 1 (FFA1) which is found throughout the brain. A main characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease is hypometabolism in the brain. The brain needs large amounts of energy, most of which is provided through the metabolism of glucose, but in Alzheimer’s disease, this metabolism of glucose declines dramatically and contributes to cell death and functional impairment in the brain. I have been investigating how, as Alzheimer’s disease progresses and brain energy metabolism is disrupted, brain cells can use other metabolic substrates, including amino acids, ketone bodies, and fatty acids in order to provide fuel for the brain, by looking specifically at FFR1. I have been using cell cultures of astrocyte-like cells to investigate how activating this receptor with an agonist affects cellular metabolism through measuring mitochondrial respiration.

Just a few days ago I completed the data analysis for my project with the help of one of the graduate students in the lab. It is really a great experience to work with young people who are just a few years ahead of me in the career/academic path that I am considering. It gives a sort of vision of what my future life could look like, especially when working with people who are just a few years older and therefore very relatable. I have also especially liked working in the NeuroMet lab because it is very international. Only about half of the people who work with me are Danish, and the rest are from all different parts of the world, which made me realize that perhaps pursuing graduate school in Denmark could be an option for me as well. 

Performing a protein quantification on my samples

Practicing IV insertion with my Human Health and Disease class

The month of March was a whirlwind of traveling for me, part of which was made up by the Long Study Tour, in which DIS students all travel with their core course to other parts of Europe in order to expand their intercultural experiences and supplement the core course material. This was just one of the many experiences that DIS organized for us to have hands-on learning. 

One thing that I did not think about much when choosing DIS, but which I am really impressed with, is how many experiential learning activities are incorporated into the semester. The Short Study Tour earlier this semester was filled with visits with practicing physicians and other professionals in the medical field in Denmark, each of who gave us unique insight into their professions and the advantages and disadvantages of Denmark’s welfare system.

On the Long Study Tour, my class went to Berlin, Germany for a week. We learned about the different welfare system there, met with physicians, and had various cultural activities such as a food tour, a bike tour of the city’s history, and museum visits. We had an ongoing project which involved talking to locals in both Denmark and Germany about their thoughts on their country’s healthcare system, and comparisons between the two countries. It was overall a great balance of getting to know the city and Germany’s history as well as healthcare in the country, which further allows us to understand Denmark and the United States’ healthcare systems. 

Talking with a cardiologist at a hospital in central Denmark.

The Berlin wall

Food tour in Berlin

Practicing CPR, overseen by a medical student

Beyond just the study tours, Wednesdays are set aside in DIS students’ schedules in order to go on Field Studies. Recently, my Human Health and Disease class went to a nearby hospital where medical students are trained and learned how to do various basic medical procedures such as IV insertion, catheter insertion, and sutures. Just last week I went on a trip to Herlev Hospital in which my health class put into practice what we have learned about diagnosing patients and performing CPR. We used medical anatomical models and were taught by current medical students. 

All of these trips and activities combine to result in a significant amount of our learning being done outside of the classroom. And, not only is a large percentage of our learning hands-on, but what we learn is so much more memorable due to the fact that is it linked to engaging activities and cultural experiences.

Taken by a fellow DIS student photographer for our project on “daily life in Copenhagen”

As the semester has progressed, I must admit I was expecting life to fall into a repetitive rhythm, as it normally does during the school year. I was planning to write here about what I do on a daily basis, but as it turns out, I have so many things happening other than classes that most of my week is unpredictable. Despite this, I will try to give a realistic impression of what daily life often consists of.

Tuesday and Friday: These are the only days I have classes, and therefore they are really the only days that I can expect a regular schedule each week. I have class from 10 am – 5:30 pm with a couple of hours free in the middle.

Monday and Thursday: I work in my research lab at the University of Copenhagen. My work there is very sporadic since it depends on what experiments have to be done, how long they will take, who is working, whether the required supplies are available, etc. I will talk more about my research in a future post. 

Wednesday: Field studies day. Professors have the option to take their students out on a field trip to somewhere in the city, such as a historic monument, a guided tour, or a museum. Recently, the professor of my Danish Politics class took us to The Workers Musem in Copenhagen, which shows the history of the Danish working class, including the Danish labor movement and how that has shaped the welfare state. I generally have a study tour every few weeks for 1-3 hours, and the other Wednesdays I have off. 

Evenings: I often spend the evenings meeting up with classmates to work on group projects, hanging out with friends and roommates to cook dinner, or working on homework. I also am a Student Photographer for DIS meaning I was hired by DIS to take photos of student daily life, so I spend a lot of time editing and sorting photos to send in as well. In the evenings I also attend volleyball practices. There are quite a few clubs in the city, with all different types of sports.

Weekends: Often, I am traveling to other European countries during the weekends. However, during the weekends that I spend in Copenhagen, I often do activities with my apartment-mates, such as playing cards, going to a museum, or cooking “family” dinners. In the evenings, we go out to enjoy the city’s nightlife.

Playing cards in my apartment.

The street where I bike to class (my classroom is around the corner)

apartment dinners

Saturday night

A canal near my apartment

Welcome friends, family, and future students,

I made it! I have been in Copenhagen, Denmark for about 2 weeks and am just about settled in. Now that the whirlwind of arriving has died down a bit, I would like to talk about why I chose this program. My main hope for this blog is to help future study abroad students, so perhaps my thought process can add some insight into the complicated and (at least for me), overwhelming process of choosing an OCS program.

Since I am majoring in Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, my choices when choosing a program were to either take a semester off from science classes and choose one of the many programs where I could complete my distribution requirements, or choose from the smaller number of programs that had science courses which would transfer back towards the BBMB major. I chose this second option, and upon seeing the very cool science classes as well as research opportunities that DIS Copenhagen had to offer, decided that this program best suited my interests and future goals.

Here’s the deal. I really have no idea what I want to pursue after Whitman. Do I want to go into medicine? Research? Pharmaceutical industry? I saw DIS, with the many classes relating to health and medicine, as a perfect way to learn about the medical field and get a better idea of my interests in that. At the same time, I will be working in a neurobiology research laboratory, where I will be able to get a better idea of how much I enjoy research. Hopefully, I will finish this semester with a clearer goal for the future.

Now that I am here, I know it was a good choice. I am taking three classes, Danish Politics and Society, Danish Language and Culture, and my core course, Human Health and Disease: A Clinical Approach. My health class is taught by a practicing physician who works in the neurology department of a local hospital, and I can already tell that the professor and the hands-on type of learning that we will do in the class will give me excellent insight into what the medical field is really like. I am also especially excited to get to know the professor of this class since neuroscience is one of the scientific fields I am especially interested in, and is the field in which I will be conducting research throughout this semester. So, everything seems to be connecting quite perfectly!

Until next time,

Isabella