Okay so I fail. I cannot bring myself to finish the rest of my tour blog entry right now. There is just so much! 6 Different countries in 12 days, 9 different cities!!! Its too much to talk about!!
Right now I am dealing with a frenzied blur of emotions. Of course I am excited to see my family...but I am really sad to be leaving this amazing place. I have made incredible friends that I will never forget, yet there is a very real possibility that I may never see them again. What a terrible feeling...
Yesterday some of my American friends and I went ice skating at Kongens Nytorv. It was soooo beautiful. The sun actually showered us with its goldeny light, the first time in weeks. We were there long enough to skate and watch the sun set. The rink is right in between the harbor and the royal theater, so every inch of it is surrounded with lights and decorations. I have never seen anything so perfectly christmas.
We explored the famous Nyhavn and drank glogg (sorry I don't have the crazy o with dots). It seems like everyday could be filled with something new and exciting here, and I am going to miss it. Nothing seems as stressful as it does at home. For instance, this is finals week and here I am blogging away and going ice skating. You would never catch me doing this in Lubbock!
Speaking of finals...I got a perfect score on my Oral Exam in a Masters Class that I wasn't even supposed to be taking!?!?!?! That might be my greatest academic acomplishment. Its all downhill from there. haha.
Anyhow...I better get ready for Christmas bingo with my Danish friends in a bit. Sigh. I am going to miss them so much.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Fermented Water and Bread Crumbs Lead You Home...
I wanted to post all of my travel stories under the "My Moat is your Ocean" title....but it was getting too long and I am not a fan of length. hehe.
Anywho...We left off in Berlin.
From Berlin...I made my way back to Copenhagen for a day. I did my laundry and repacked for a two week, European travel extravaganza. We flew to London and stayed the night in a hostel. This was my first time in a hostel and I was not a fan. We walked into a room with 3 bunk beds...so 6 people in one room. Our "roomies" had apparently already arrived and strung their belongings everywhere. But...it was just for a night, so I made my bed and tried not to think about the billion microbes I was collecting.
We had to wake up super early in London to commence our tour. We went to the meeting room and checked in with our tour leader and hung out with our fellow travelers. From here I will divide the blog into city-chapters....
Day 1: Amsterdam
From London, we drove to Dover where we caught a ferry to Calais, France. It was Molly's birthday so I bought her some ferry food. Once we docked in Calais, it was back on the bus for a few more hours. When we arrived at our hotel in Amsterdam we were pretty excited. It was the nicest hotel I've ever seen, the Blue Tower. We got into our rooms and marveled for about 30 seconds, then had to make our way to a dinner cruise. Being Molly's birthday, we of course could not pass up the opportunity. Sadly, the dinner cruise was not that spectacular. They served strange Indonesian food, kind of disappointing when you want to experience the food and culture of the city in which you are visiting. We couldn't really see any of the sights out of the canals, and we couldn't understand our tour guide, so we just ate and talked. After the dinner cruise, we walked around Amsterdam for a little while. We went to a "coffee shop" just to see the infamous selling of weed. I found it pretty funny, I knew it occurred but I guess I just never thought about the logistics of it. There were little brownies in saran wrap with labels that said "Space Cakes", I found that especially amusing.
We then proceeded to the Red Light District. Wowzers. That is pretty much all I have to say. I had always heard about the marijuana of Amsterdam, never the prostitutes. They just hang out in their windows, talking on their cell phones. That is...until they get a customer. Walking around Amsterdam, I really realized what a prude American I am. I don't really have a problem with marijuana being legal. If that is what you want to do to your body, then so be it. But prostitution?!?! That is not something that should be government regulated. Or perhaps it should, as a means of protecting both parties from disease? I don't know...but I'm just so thrilled that I live in a nice, conservative west texas town.
We got back to our splendid hotel and slept until we had rise again for an early morning walking tour. The walking tour was a proper tour of Amsterdam. We saw the historical sights and other items of interest. My grandmother travelled to Holland when she was younger, so I liked thinking about her seeing the same things that I was. Molly and I opted to spend our morning in Amsterdam souvenir shopping (which became a habit i fear.) I bought boat loads of delftware Christmas ornaments for my family. I also enjoyed the most amazing waffle I've ever had in my life.
To be continued...
Anywho...We left off in Berlin.
From Berlin...I made my way back to Copenhagen for a day. I did my laundry and repacked for a two week, European travel extravaganza. We flew to London and stayed the night in a hostel. This was my first time in a hostel and I was not a fan. We walked into a room with 3 bunk beds...so 6 people in one room. Our "roomies" had apparently already arrived and strung their belongings everywhere. But...it was just for a night, so I made my bed and tried not to think about the billion microbes I was collecting.
We had to wake up super early in London to commence our tour. We went to the meeting room and checked in with our tour leader and hung out with our fellow travelers. From here I will divide the blog into city-chapters....
Day 1: Amsterdam
From London, we drove to Dover where we caught a ferry to Calais, France. It was Molly's birthday so I bought her some ferry food. Once we docked in Calais, it was back on the bus for a few more hours. When we arrived at our hotel in Amsterdam we were pretty excited. It was the nicest hotel I've ever seen, the Blue Tower. We got into our rooms and marveled for about 30 seconds, then had to make our way to a dinner cruise. Being Molly's birthday, we of course could not pass up the opportunity. Sadly, the dinner cruise was not that spectacular. They served strange Indonesian food, kind of disappointing when you want to experience the food and culture of the city in which you are visiting. We couldn't really see any of the sights out of the canals, and we couldn't understand our tour guide, so we just ate and talked. After the dinner cruise, we walked around Amsterdam for a little while. We went to a "coffee shop" just to see the infamous selling of weed. I found it pretty funny, I knew it occurred but I guess I just never thought about the logistics of it. There were little brownies in saran wrap with labels that said "Space Cakes", I found that especially amusing.
We then proceeded to the Red Light District. Wowzers. That is pretty much all I have to say. I had always heard about the marijuana of Amsterdam, never the prostitutes. They just hang out in their windows, talking on their cell phones. That is...until they get a customer. Walking around Amsterdam, I really realized what a prude American I am. I don't really have a problem with marijuana being legal. If that is what you want to do to your body, then so be it. But prostitution?!?! That is not something that should be government regulated. Or perhaps it should, as a means of protecting both parties from disease? I don't know...but I'm just so thrilled that I live in a nice, conservative west texas town.
We got back to our splendid hotel and slept until we had rise again for an early morning walking tour. The walking tour was a proper tour of Amsterdam. We saw the historical sights and other items of interest. My grandmother travelled to Holland when she was younger, so I liked thinking about her seeing the same things that I was. Molly and I opted to spend our morning in Amsterdam souvenir shopping (which became a habit i fear.) I bought boat loads of delftware Christmas ornaments for my family. I also enjoyed the most amazing waffle I've ever had in my life.
To be continued...
Thursday, November 6, 2008
My Moat is Your Ocean
I always thought three weeks was longer. I always thought that Europe was bigger. These past three weeks I traveled to all of the places most people only get to dream about. Or at least most people I know. I am overwhelmed with awe and gratitude for those who have provided me the opportunity to do this. I've always been more fond of journeys than destinations, and the same rings true for these travels. The best memories of my life have been in a car driving to see family or in a bus going to some tournament or another. Even with all of the incredible destinations I visited, I still enjoyed the journeys. Cars and buses are conversation boxes on wheels, and conversations are my favorite.
The first week, I got to share a bus with fellow pre-med students and two very awesome doctors. My school here in Denmark organizes "study tours" in which they organize field visits tailored to your program. Being in the Medical Practice program we of course visited hospitals. I rarely hang out with pre-med kids at home, so it was nice getting a chance to connect with my potential med school classmates. They understand my academic life unlike most of my friends. They understand the desire to sacrifice so much time in the hopes of making a big difference later. It was nice to hear that they are scared and have doubts just like me about choosing to become a doctor. We talked tired to encourage one another. When it was time to get off of the bus, our first destination was Poznan, Poland.
Poland, Poland, Poland. By far the sketchiest place I have ever been. Poland was the first time that I have ever had exactly zero hold on the language. I have studied spanish for some years, and have dabbled in french, german, and now danish. Never polish. Its scary not knowing a single word in a country in which you are staying. I cannot imagine the guts it takes to immigrate to a foreign country without knowing the language. I felt arrogant trying to speak english and expecting them to understand. I am in THEIR country. I should try to communicate in their language. Poznan was a strange place. It looked just like every other european city. Cobblestones and statues. There was a Burberry store and big malls. Yet everything seemed to be on the verge of chaos, as if at any moment the whole place could erupt in disorder. I saw mothers holding half-dead children begging for money outside of these trendy shops. It really upset me. Apparently the water here was undrinkable, so I just imagined these mothers being forced to give it to their children and their children becoming sick because of it. Denmark has made me more and more socialist because I couldn't help thinking that the goverment should get a handle on this...at the very least provide suitable drinking water. In the hospital we learned that they are attempting to follow the Danish healthcare model, but in my opinion they are failing terribly.
We visited a pediatricians office and shadowed a GI specialist there. We saw a baby girl who had not been able to keep food down for quite some time. She was extremely tiny and her gaunt little eyes broke my heart. My sadness turned to rage, however, when I watched the doctor pass around a cathedar to all of the students in the room and then shove it up the baby's nose and down her throat, to test the pH of her esophogus. I understand that the nasal cavaty is not sterile, but seriously 15 people should not contaminate something going into a very sick baby's body. Not to mention, I don't know much about this field but I think that this test would be completely useless. If she is constantly vomiting than it seems apparent that her esophogus would be more acidic.
After this very traumatic experience, my dislike for Poland was further provoked. My leader only gave me one ticket to get back to the hotel using the Tram, so I assumed it only took one ticket. While sitting there thinking of that poor little girl, a man in plain clothes comes up to me speaking Polish. I have my ticket in my hand and he takes it from me. I tell him I only speak english and he begins to add numbers on my ticket. He takes out a paper "tram police" badge and instructs me and a couple of my classmates to get off of the tram. Apparenty in poland you have validate new tickets every fifteen minutes on the tram, even if there has been no stops. This non-english speaking man proceeds to write me and my classmates a ticket and demands a 100 polish zlote. Here is the miracle. I am cheap and was not going to take out any polish money, but let my friends talk me into taking out exactly 100 zlote! Apparently I would have gone into a nice and terrifying polish jail cell if I wouldn't have had the money.
That is pretty much everything interesting about Poland. I'm glad I went there, but I don't think I'll be rushing back anytime soon. Unless of course it is on some sort of Doctor exchange because goodness knows they need a hand. From Poznan we trekked on over to Berlin. Berlin might be the most amazing city I have ever visited. Seeing the Berlin wall has always been on the top of my wish list and I finally got to do that. Every where you look in the city you can see the effects of WWII. You can see where bombs destroyed everything and things have been rebuilt. You can see the chasm between communism and democracy embedded in every building. While we were there we visited the Charite teaching hospital. Pretty much we talked all about policy and government control...rather dull topics if you ask me. It seems the German healthcare system is quite ridiculous. Basically there you pay insurance PLUS the full cost of your healthcare services. Whack, right? Anywho...after this we visited a Medical history museum. This was actually pretty cool, and bizzarre. There were over 500 perserved specimins. Things like tumors, skeletons, even fetuses preserved for over 75 years. The fetuses were really terrible to look at. To end the day we had a mini anatomy lab where they showed us a cadaver. Had I not done 6 weeks of cadaver anatomy this summer I would've found this more interesting...but I just wanted to leave and see more of Berlin!
The most interesting experience I had in Berlin was a meal at the Unsicht Bar....or blind restaurant. Here, all of the waiters are blind. You start your eating experience by sitting in a dimly lit room choosing either beef, chicken, or vegetarian. That is all you know about your meal...the rest remains a mystery. After your selection, a waiter comes out and introduces him or herself to you. My waitress's name was Sevem. She was probably about 4'6" and quite adorable. She asked each of our names, as this is how she would identify us later, by our names and the sound of our voice. From here, Sevem lined us up and led us into a very dark room. When I say very dark, I mean completely pitch black. The darkest dark you can imagine. I am not so fond of the dark...so it made me a little jumpy. Sevem walked incredibly fast, as this was her element. We struggled to keep up and Sevem had to re gather us a few times. Finally we arrived at our table and had to grapple for our chairs. Upon sitting, my m any apprehensions began to settle. I became familiar with my place setting and those around me. Conversation became vital and very strange. If a person does not talk in this setting, they do not exist. I usually don't talk much so I just ceased to exist for most of the conversation. Then the food arrived. I started out trying to be civilized. I used my fork and knife, blindly stabbing and cutting mysterous foods on my plate. I have quite a few texture issues and must eat everything one at a time, so really this was a large ordeal for me. At one point I ate what I thought was an eyeball and nearly had a heart attack. A quiet heart attack though, because I didn't want to scare my fellow tablemates. They tried to include as many different textures as possible with this meal, so you were always thrown off gaurd. At the end of the meal, Sevem collected us again and led us out of the darkness. How glad I was. They then allowed us to look at a menu to see what we had been eating. My eyeball was apparently beet niocci. Disgusting. Bleh. You definitely eat at this restaurant for the experience and not the food. I'm so glad I got to experience this. And in Berlin of all places.
The next day we visited the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. I was quite obsessed with WWII and Hitler when I was younger so this place was wildly interesting to me. Jesse Owens win here defied everything Hitler built his empire on. How amazing. And now we've got Obama as a president. I wish Hitler would've lived to see this day. We got to go up into the VIP lounges and sit where Hitler might have sat. Gross. But really neat to see. Our last Berlin visit was to a concentration camp. As can be expected, it was deeply haunting. What surprised me was the vastness of it. Sachsenhausen is not even one of the biggest camps, but there were just huge wide open spaces. It was cold and grey when we visited, so it felt even more haunting. I really hope we have learned our lesson. I hope Berlin is preserved forever.
(Will continue later)
The first week, I got to share a bus with fellow pre-med students and two very awesome doctors. My school here in Denmark organizes "study tours" in which they organize field visits tailored to your program. Being in the Medical Practice program we of course visited hospitals. I rarely hang out with pre-med kids at home, so it was nice getting a chance to connect with my potential med school classmates. They understand my academic life unlike most of my friends. They understand the desire to sacrifice so much time in the hopes of making a big difference later. It was nice to hear that they are scared and have doubts just like me about choosing to become a doctor. We talked tired to encourage one another. When it was time to get off of the bus, our first destination was Poznan, Poland.
Poland, Poland, Poland. By far the sketchiest place I have ever been. Poland was the first time that I have ever had exactly zero hold on the language. I have studied spanish for some years, and have dabbled in french, german, and now danish. Never polish. Its scary not knowing a single word in a country in which you are staying. I cannot imagine the guts it takes to immigrate to a foreign country without knowing the language. I felt arrogant trying to speak english and expecting them to understand. I am in THEIR country. I should try to communicate in their language. Poznan was a strange place. It looked just like every other european city. Cobblestones and statues. There was a Burberry store and big malls. Yet everything seemed to be on the verge of chaos, as if at any moment the whole place could erupt in disorder. I saw mothers holding half-dead children begging for money outside of these trendy shops. It really upset me. Apparently the water here was undrinkable, so I just imagined these mothers being forced to give it to their children and their children becoming sick because of it. Denmark has made me more and more socialist because I couldn't help thinking that the goverment should get a handle on this...at the very least provide suitable drinking water. In the hospital we learned that they are attempting to follow the Danish healthcare model, but in my opinion they are failing terribly.
We visited a pediatricians office and shadowed a GI specialist there. We saw a baby girl who had not been able to keep food down for quite some time. She was extremely tiny and her gaunt little eyes broke my heart. My sadness turned to rage, however, when I watched the doctor pass around a cathedar to all of the students in the room and then shove it up the baby's nose and down her throat, to test the pH of her esophogus. I understand that the nasal cavaty is not sterile, but seriously 15 people should not contaminate something going into a very sick baby's body. Not to mention, I don't know much about this field but I think that this test would be completely useless. If she is constantly vomiting than it seems apparent that her esophogus would be more acidic.
After this very traumatic experience, my dislike for Poland was further provoked. My leader only gave me one ticket to get back to the hotel using the Tram, so I assumed it only took one ticket. While sitting there thinking of that poor little girl, a man in plain clothes comes up to me speaking Polish. I have my ticket in my hand and he takes it from me. I tell him I only speak english and he begins to add numbers on my ticket. He takes out a paper "tram police" badge and instructs me and a couple of my classmates to get off of the tram. Apparenty in poland you have validate new tickets every fifteen minutes on the tram, even if there has been no stops. This non-english speaking man proceeds to write me and my classmates a ticket and demands a 100 polish zlote. Here is the miracle. I am cheap and was not going to take out any polish money, but let my friends talk me into taking out exactly 100 zlote! Apparently I would have gone into a nice and terrifying polish jail cell if I wouldn't have had the money.
That is pretty much everything interesting about Poland. I'm glad I went there, but I don't think I'll be rushing back anytime soon. Unless of course it is on some sort of Doctor exchange because goodness knows they need a hand. From Poznan we trekked on over to Berlin. Berlin might be the most amazing city I have ever visited. Seeing the Berlin wall has always been on the top of my wish list and I finally got to do that. Every where you look in the city you can see the effects of WWII. You can see where bombs destroyed everything and things have been rebuilt. You can see the chasm between communism and democracy embedded in every building. While we were there we visited the Charite teaching hospital. Pretty much we talked all about policy and government control...rather dull topics if you ask me. It seems the German healthcare system is quite ridiculous. Basically there you pay insurance PLUS the full cost of your healthcare services. Whack, right? Anywho...after this we visited a Medical history museum. This was actually pretty cool, and bizzarre. There were over 500 perserved specimins. Things like tumors, skeletons, even fetuses preserved for over 75 years. The fetuses were really terrible to look at. To end the day we had a mini anatomy lab where they showed us a cadaver. Had I not done 6 weeks of cadaver anatomy this summer I would've found this more interesting...but I just wanted to leave and see more of Berlin!
The most interesting experience I had in Berlin was a meal at the Unsicht Bar....or blind restaurant. Here, all of the waiters are blind. You start your eating experience by sitting in a dimly lit room choosing either beef, chicken, or vegetarian. That is all you know about your meal...the rest remains a mystery. After your selection, a waiter comes out and introduces him or herself to you. My waitress's name was Sevem. She was probably about 4'6" and quite adorable. She asked each of our names, as this is how she would identify us later, by our names and the sound of our voice. From here, Sevem lined us up and led us into a very dark room. When I say very dark, I mean completely pitch black. The darkest dark you can imagine. I am not so fond of the dark...so it made me a little jumpy. Sevem walked incredibly fast, as this was her element. We struggled to keep up and Sevem had to re gather us a few times. Finally we arrived at our table and had to grapple for our chairs. Upon sitting, my m any apprehensions began to settle. I became familiar with my place setting and those around me. Conversation became vital and very strange. If a person does not talk in this setting, they do not exist. I usually don't talk much so I just ceased to exist for most of the conversation. Then the food arrived. I started out trying to be civilized. I used my fork and knife, blindly stabbing and cutting mysterous foods on my plate. I have quite a few texture issues and must eat everything one at a time, so really this was a large ordeal for me. At one point I ate what I thought was an eyeball and nearly had a heart attack. A quiet heart attack though, because I didn't want to scare my fellow tablemates. They tried to include as many different textures as possible with this meal, so you were always thrown off gaurd. At the end of the meal, Sevem collected us again and led us out of the darkness. How glad I was. They then allowed us to look at a menu to see what we had been eating. My eyeball was apparently beet niocci. Disgusting. Bleh. You definitely eat at this restaurant for the experience and not the food. I'm so glad I got to experience this. And in Berlin of all places.
The next day we visited the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. I was quite obsessed with WWII and Hitler when I was younger so this place was wildly interesting to me. Jesse Owens win here defied everything Hitler built his empire on. How amazing. And now we've got Obama as a president. I wish Hitler would've lived to see this day. We got to go up into the VIP lounges and sit where Hitler might have sat. Gross. But really neat to see. Our last Berlin visit was to a concentration camp. As can be expected, it was deeply haunting. What surprised me was the vastness of it. Sachsenhausen is not even one of the biggest camps, but there were just huge wide open spaces. It was cold and grey when we visited, so it felt even more haunting. I really hope we have learned our lesson. I hope Berlin is preserved forever.
(Will continue later)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Dead Leaves on a Dirty Ground - Jack White
It is officially my favorite time of year. Autum.
Its the colors, its the leaves, its the chill, its the breeze.
I like watching the trees explode with color just before they shed their coats to brave the winter bare.
I like knowing that soon it will be cold and all there will be to do is to sit inside with warm drinks and warmer conversations.
The experience is only intensified in Copenhagen. The ancient ivy covered buildings are now on fire, yellow and red. Walking to school on century's old cobblestone, withering leaves descend from durable branches to grace those stones below my feet. And instantly everything feels surreal again.
Not much to say except that I am about to leave for travel break. I'll try to update if I find a computer to use, but it might be about three weeks until I can blog again. Anywho...here are some lyrics to a white stripes song that reminds me of Fall. Enjoy! Vi ses!
dead leaves and the dirty ground
when I know you're not around
shiny tops and soda pops
when I hear your lips make a sound
when I hear your lips make a sound
thirty notes in the mailbox
will tell ya that I'm coming home
and I think I'm gonna stick around
for a while so you're not alone
for a while so you're not alone
if you can hear a piano fall
you can hear me coming down the hall
if I can just hear your pretty voice
I don't think I need to see at all
don't think I need to see at all
soft hair and a velvet tongue
I wanna give ya what you give to me
and every breath that is in your lungs
is a tiny little gift to me
is a tiny little gift to me
I didn't feel so bad 'til the sun went down
then I come home
no one to wrap my arms around
wrap my arms around
well any man with a microphone
can tell you what he loves the most
and you know why you love at all
if you're thinking of the holy ghost
if you're thinking of the holy ghost
Its the colors, its the leaves, its the chill, its the breeze.
I like watching the trees explode with color just before they shed their coats to brave the winter bare.
I like knowing that soon it will be cold and all there will be to do is to sit inside with warm drinks and warmer conversations.
The experience is only intensified in Copenhagen. The ancient ivy covered buildings are now on fire, yellow and red. Walking to school on century's old cobblestone, withering leaves descend from durable branches to grace those stones below my feet. And instantly everything feels surreal again.
Not much to say except that I am about to leave for travel break. I'll try to update if I find a computer to use, but it might be about three weeks until I can blog again. Anywho...here are some lyrics to a white stripes song that reminds me of Fall. Enjoy! Vi ses!
dead leaves and the dirty ground
when I know you're not around
shiny tops and soda pops
when I hear your lips make a sound
when I hear your lips make a sound
thirty notes in the mailbox
will tell ya that I'm coming home
and I think I'm gonna stick around
for a while so you're not alone
for a while so you're not alone
if you can hear a piano fall
you can hear me coming down the hall
if I can just hear your pretty voice
I don't think I need to see at all
don't think I need to see at all
soft hair and a velvet tongue
I wanna give ya what you give to me
and every breath that is in your lungs
is a tiny little gift to me
is a tiny little gift to me
I didn't feel so bad 'til the sun went down
then I come home
no one to wrap my arms around
wrap my arms around
well any man with a microphone
can tell you what he loves the most
and you know why you love at all
if you're thinking of the holy ghost
if you're thinking of the holy ghost
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
LegoLand and The Art of Travel.
Soooo did you know that Legos were started by a carpenter from Denmark? Its true WIKIPEDIA it. hehe
Anyhow...that is where I went this past weekend. I never was a Lego fan as a kid, but I have now seen the possibilities that those colorful little blocks hold. Although I think that all of the creations could easily be a scam. They could just have a mold and then draw lines in between all of the bricks. They could save a lot of man hours that way. I think being a Lego architect is probably the coolest job on the planet, though. I wonder how much schooling that requires.
I think the coolest part of Legoland was that rebuilt parts of Copenhagen and also told the history behind each building. It was probably a more thorough tour on Copenhagen than I had actually walking through Copenhagen. It was cool to see American statues too. There were some tempting BBQ restaurants in the "Wild West Section" and I lusted over a BBQ sandwhich. Sadly it was 150 DKK....aka...about 30 dollars. Outrageous....and creul.
After a full day of Legoland we went to our much anticipated birthday party for two lovely girls on our floor. The rented out the entire bar that is in the basement of our kolligium. They had a Colombian DJ and other latin americas tried to teach the joint how to reggae dance. You just can't find that in the states...
School is getting down to the nitty gritty. Its midterm time. I have a BioMed ethics and a Danish test next week. BioEthics is really interesting to me. I like being forced to apply my morals, and I think I am getting better at articulating my motivations. I think the worst thing would be to be put in a situation where I have to make a life or death decision and then not be able to explain myself to a patient or her family. Danish is going to be really hard, but doable. We have a written and an oral portion. I think I can do well on the written...not so much on the spoken. You should look it up if you've never heard it. It sounds like they are just throwing vowels and gutteral stops around at random. I wish I could stay here longer and become fluent. Its fascinating.
After all of those inky tests....TRAVEL BREAK!!! I am so excited. First I have to go on my study tour to Berlin and Poznan. I'm so glad I have made good friends with people in my group, that will make it far more fun. I am really excited to see Berlin. Its my secret dream to own a piece of the Berlin wall, but I will settle with seeing it. After the study tour, Molly and I embark on discovering the rest of Europe. London, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Belgium...we're doing it all :) I am going to enjoy every minute of those three weeks. I probably will fall behind in my blogging, but I promise to provide a full an thorough update when I return.
So next week will be relatively slow. Much studying, not a lot else. I can't believe it is October already. This is going by way too fast and I'm already getting sad thinking about having to leave all the amazing people I've met and all of the spectacular places I've seen. I stumbled upon a movie the other day called "The Art of Travel". It wasn't necessarily groundbreaking, but it described the situation in which I find myself. It is about a 20 year old guy who, after an attempted wedding, goes on his honeymoon alone and deviates from his college plans to travel. He ends up going to any place that interests him and pursuing challenges that most people wouldn't dream of taking. The tagline of the movie is to "find yourself through travel". Having been here a while, I can say that this exactly what happens when you travel. Especially for Americans. Being away from all the petty convieneces of American life you realize that you don't need any of it, you can survive on so little if you try. Conversations are precious, especially if they are with people who share nothing in common with you. That is how you learn what really defines you. It is scary and risky and infinitely rewarding.
Well...I better get studying for those tests I mentioned. Until next time.
:)
Anyhow...that is where I went this past weekend. I never was a Lego fan as a kid, but I have now seen the possibilities that those colorful little blocks hold. Although I think that all of the creations could easily be a scam. They could just have a mold and then draw lines in between all of the bricks. They could save a lot of man hours that way. I think being a Lego architect is probably the coolest job on the planet, though. I wonder how much schooling that requires.
I think the coolest part of Legoland was that rebuilt parts of Copenhagen and also told the history behind each building. It was probably a more thorough tour on Copenhagen than I had actually walking through Copenhagen. It was cool to see American statues too. There were some tempting BBQ restaurants in the "Wild West Section" and I lusted over a BBQ sandwhich. Sadly it was 150 DKK....aka...about 30 dollars. Outrageous....and creul.
After a full day of Legoland we went to our much anticipated birthday party for two lovely girls on our floor. The rented out the entire bar that is in the basement of our kolligium. They had a Colombian DJ and other latin americas tried to teach the joint how to reggae dance. You just can't find that in the states...
School is getting down to the nitty gritty. Its midterm time. I have a BioMed ethics and a Danish test next week. BioEthics is really interesting to me. I like being forced to apply my morals, and I think I am getting better at articulating my motivations. I think the worst thing would be to be put in a situation where I have to make a life or death decision and then not be able to explain myself to a patient or her family. Danish is going to be really hard, but doable. We have a written and an oral portion. I think I can do well on the written...not so much on the spoken. You should look it up if you've never heard it. It sounds like they are just throwing vowels and gutteral stops around at random. I wish I could stay here longer and become fluent. Its fascinating.
After all of those inky tests....TRAVEL BREAK!!! I am so excited. First I have to go on my study tour to Berlin and Poznan. I'm so glad I have made good friends with people in my group, that will make it far more fun. I am really excited to see Berlin. Its my secret dream to own a piece of the Berlin wall, but I will settle with seeing it. After the study tour, Molly and I embark on discovering the rest of Europe. London, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Amsterdam, Belgium...we're doing it all :) I am going to enjoy every minute of those three weeks. I probably will fall behind in my blogging, but I promise to provide a full an thorough update when I return.
So next week will be relatively slow. Much studying, not a lot else. I can't believe it is October already. This is going by way too fast and I'm already getting sad thinking about having to leave all the amazing people I've met and all of the spectacular places I've seen. I stumbled upon a movie the other day called "The Art of Travel". It wasn't necessarily groundbreaking, but it described the situation in which I find myself. It is about a 20 year old guy who, after an attempted wedding, goes on his honeymoon alone and deviates from his college plans to travel. He ends up going to any place that interests him and pursuing challenges that most people wouldn't dream of taking. The tagline of the movie is to "find yourself through travel". Having been here a while, I can say that this exactly what happens when you travel. Especially for Americans. Being away from all the petty convieneces of American life you realize that you don't need any of it, you can survive on so little if you try. Conversations are precious, especially if they are with people who share nothing in common with you. That is how you learn what really defines you. It is scary and risky and infinitely rewarding.
Well...I better get studying for those tests I mentioned. Until next time.
:)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
From Coast to Coast
Well, since the last blog I have been all the way across the great Denmark. As a part of the DIS program we have short and long study tours built into our (ridiculously expensive) tuition. This past weekend was my short study tour where we went to Jutland (the big one) and visited a General Practitioner and the Regional Board of Health. After all of the studying, we were rewarded with trips to museums and delicious food!
The drive there was quite spectacular, vastly different from driving the plains of west Texas. There were rolling hills with lush grass and endless coastline. We also crossed the worlds 2nd largest bridge, only surpassed by that tricky one in Japan I think. The first night we stayed in a folk high school. These are curious little institutions. After high school, some Danes choose to attend a folk high school where they take courses on all sorts of interesting subjects, but are not tested over them! These originated in the days when democracy was first spreading its wings over tiny Denmark. It was known that in order for democracy to succeed, the people had to be educated. Therefore, these folk high schools were created to educate the commoners so that they could be informed and participating citizens. I think this is an interesting concept and that it illustrates how Danes seek knowledge not just to be competitive in the job market, but for the simple pursuit of having knowledge. The students were really friendly and you could see how close they were. They attend classes, cook, eat, clean, laugh and play together. They welcomed us with delicious food and Beatles songs. It felt like time stopped while we were there. Set in the picturesque country side, all of the words problems seemed unreal.
We attended several museums, including one in Ribe the Viking Town, but the most interesting to me was the Trapholt Art Museum. It might be my new favorite place. It is actually part furniture museum as well, because the Danes are known for their chair design you know. We saw works from the designers who created the signiture IKEA look and learned their history. The most interesting exhibit, however, was entitled "Fair Fashion" which provided insight on how wasteful our obessession with clothes is. They also displayed inventions from Danes that were aimed at making the world a better place. The most interesting of these was a straw that people in third world countries can use to suck up water, and the straw eliminates 90% of contaminates including viruses such as AIDS. Amazing, right?
That night we ate at this fancy restuarant by the beach, by far the nicest restuarant I've ever been to in my life. It was a welcome break from trail mix and rice. My group leader, a very nice Dane named Andreas, then hung out at the hostel with us playing Apples to Apples and taught us cool phrases to say when speaking to our Danish friends. Sadly I have forgotten all of them. :)
I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I LOVE IT HERE. I think it is going to be really hard moving back, and if it wasn't for my family I probably wouldn't.
Oh yes and here is a link to all of my pictures. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/KeeleyLane173/Denmark02#
The drive there was quite spectacular, vastly different from driving the plains of west Texas. There were rolling hills with lush grass and endless coastline. We also crossed the worlds 2nd largest bridge, only surpassed by that tricky one in Japan I think. The first night we stayed in a folk high school. These are curious little institutions. After high school, some Danes choose to attend a folk high school where they take courses on all sorts of interesting subjects, but are not tested over them! These originated in the days when democracy was first spreading its wings over tiny Denmark. It was known that in order for democracy to succeed, the people had to be educated. Therefore, these folk high schools were created to educate the commoners so that they could be informed and participating citizens. I think this is an interesting concept and that it illustrates how Danes seek knowledge not just to be competitive in the job market, but for the simple pursuit of having knowledge. The students were really friendly and you could see how close they were. They attend classes, cook, eat, clean, laugh and play together. They welcomed us with delicious food and Beatles songs. It felt like time stopped while we were there. Set in the picturesque country side, all of the words problems seemed unreal.
We attended several museums, including one in Ribe the Viking Town, but the most interesting to me was the Trapholt Art Museum. It might be my new favorite place. It is actually part furniture museum as well, because the Danes are known for their chair design you know. We saw works from the designers who created the signiture IKEA look and learned their history. The most interesting exhibit, however, was entitled "Fair Fashion" which provided insight on how wasteful our obessession with clothes is. They also displayed inventions from Danes that were aimed at making the world a better place. The most interesting of these was a straw that people in third world countries can use to suck up water, and the straw eliminates 90% of contaminates including viruses such as AIDS. Amazing, right?
That night we ate at this fancy restuarant by the beach, by far the nicest restuarant I've ever been to in my life. It was a welcome break from trail mix and rice. My group leader, a very nice Dane named Andreas, then hung out at the hostel with us playing Apples to Apples and taught us cool phrases to say when speaking to our Danish friends. Sadly I have forgotten all of them. :)
I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again. I LOVE IT HERE. I think it is going to be really hard moving back, and if it wasn't for my family I probably wouldn't.
Oh yes and here is a link to all of my pictures. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/KeeleyLane173/Denmark02#
Thursday, September 4, 2008
My Love of Copenhagen Increases Daily
Its really true. If my love were plotted on a graph, it would resemble the graph of exponential population growth in the human species! Only my love shall NEVER reach carrying capacity. hehe. I love nerdy science analogies...
Anyhow, adjustment continues and all is perfect. Last night, thanks to many lucky coincidences, Molly and I went to a local UNDERGROUND DANISH HIP HOP SHOW! And we even knew one of the freestylers...who is Danish! We only understood about five words, but it was an experience of a lifetime. I refreshed my rusty hip hop dancing skills and danced to ancient American hip hop with some really funny danish people. They called me crazy legs, which clearly illustrates that hey need to come to America because in reality...I can't dance! I hope to go back to this tiny little venue sometime. It more less epitomized what I imagine to be the infamous Danish "hygge", or coziness. Good friends, good music, good times.
Academics are also turning out better than I ever could have imagined. Danish class is so much fun. We go on field studies on Wednesday that force us to break out of our tiny American shells and experience Danish culture from the front lines. This Wednesday we were given a list of about 40 things scattered all throughout the city that we had to find. Walking around you cannot help but be overwhelmed by the beauty and history of this place. I hope I never become immune to it. My medical class is also more fun than I was counting on. While it is a lot of very technical reading, it is well balanced with hands on learning. This week we learned how to do chest examinations, listen to the heart, take blood pressures, history's, and what questions to ask to illicit useful information from our patients. Next week we have to give each other injections. I'm strangely excited...
My HIV/AIDS in Africa course is really interesting as well. The professor is actually an ambassador of sorts to Africa so she has boundless knowledge on the topic. Since I have always desired to do the kind of work she does, I find her truly inspiring. The class was designed as a Master's class, so I just hope I can handle the amount of work required. Then lastly but not least, there is biomedical ethics. Honestly, I was kind of dreading this class in the beginning. The first few readings were dry and I lethargically forced myself to read them. However, the class discussions absolutely captivate me. For example, I am not a good notetaker. Usually I sit in a lecture and perhaps write the key points of what the professor is saying, but mostly I doodle....elaborately. If I ever were to become an artist, my academic years would provide enough doodle-ridden notebooks to fill several thousand museums. However, the only doodle you will find in my bioethics notebook is a single peace sign that I drew merely because there was blank space at the top of my paper that just screamed to be anointed with peace. I feel that I can never articulate myself as well as I would like. I think this class will spur me into formulating my decisions and, equally as important, be able to explain and defend them.
That is about all I have for today. I added pictures to my post from a while ago, but it was about as quick as waiting for molasses to drip in a blizzard (thats an original simile right there). So, I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. I will investigate a good picture hosting site so that you may see what I see. Until then...Hej Hej!
Keeley
PS...If you ever want to email me any comments or questions...you should!
Its (keeley . bramblett @ ttu . edu)
Just take out the spaces. I did that in hopes of thwarting out those evil phisher deals that get email address. Look forward to hearing from you!
Anyhow, adjustment continues and all is perfect. Last night, thanks to many lucky coincidences, Molly and I went to a local UNDERGROUND DANISH HIP HOP SHOW! And we even knew one of the freestylers...who is Danish! We only understood about five words, but it was an experience of a lifetime. I refreshed my rusty hip hop dancing skills and danced to ancient American hip hop with some really funny danish people. They called me crazy legs, which clearly illustrates that hey need to come to America because in reality...I can't dance! I hope to go back to this tiny little venue sometime. It more less epitomized what I imagine to be the infamous Danish "hygge", or coziness. Good friends, good music, good times.
Academics are also turning out better than I ever could have imagined. Danish class is so much fun. We go on field studies on Wednesday that force us to break out of our tiny American shells and experience Danish culture from the front lines. This Wednesday we were given a list of about 40 things scattered all throughout the city that we had to find. Walking around you cannot help but be overwhelmed by the beauty and history of this place. I hope I never become immune to it. My medical class is also more fun than I was counting on. While it is a lot of very technical reading, it is well balanced with hands on learning. This week we learned how to do chest examinations, listen to the heart, take blood pressures, history's, and what questions to ask to illicit useful information from our patients. Next week we have to give each other injections. I'm strangely excited...
My HIV/AIDS in Africa course is really interesting as well. The professor is actually an ambassador of sorts to Africa so she has boundless knowledge on the topic. Since I have always desired to do the kind of work she does, I find her truly inspiring. The class was designed as a Master's class, so I just hope I can handle the amount of work required. Then lastly but not least, there is biomedical ethics. Honestly, I was kind of dreading this class in the beginning. The first few readings were dry and I lethargically forced myself to read them. However, the class discussions absolutely captivate me. For example, I am not a good notetaker. Usually I sit in a lecture and perhaps write the key points of what the professor is saying, but mostly I doodle....elaborately. If I ever were to become an artist, my academic years would provide enough doodle-ridden notebooks to fill several thousand museums. However, the only doodle you will find in my bioethics notebook is a single peace sign that I drew merely because there was blank space at the top of my paper that just screamed to be anointed with peace. I feel that I can never articulate myself as well as I would like. I think this class will spur me into formulating my decisions and, equally as important, be able to explain and defend them.
That is about all I have for today. I added pictures to my post from a while ago, but it was about as quick as waiting for molasses to drip in a blizzard (thats an original simile right there). So, I don't think I'll be doing that anymore. I will investigate a good picture hosting site so that you may see what I see. Until then...Hej Hej!
Keeley
PS...If you ever want to email me any comments or questions...you should!
Its (keeley . bramblett @ ttu . edu)
Just take out the spaces. I did that in hopes of thwarting out those evil phisher deals that get email address. Look forward to hearing from you!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Throw away your television...and your textbooks.
Hej fra Danmark! (That and about 3 other phrases constitute my knowledge of the Danish language.)
What a week. The jet lag I first mentioned persisted far longer than I had hoped, but things are looking up on all fronts!
I found my way to all of my classes without a hitch, which is quite an accomplishment here in Copenhagen because there is not a centralized campus, just a smattering of classrooms throughout the city. My classes are going to be extremely difficult, but hopefully with some magical time management skills I will be able to handle it. My medical class is going to be fun and absolutely terrifying. I wasn't aware that they were actually going to let us perform small clinical procedures...but they most certainly are. Next week we have to do injections on each other. Oh goody...
Danish class is also quite intensive, but I am so glad! I wish I could continue it back at Tech because it is a crazy and interesting language. It makes even less sense than english! One downside to the way this DIS program is handled is that they start out with this terror campaign that tells us American students "Don't approach a Dane! Don't introduce yourself! Don't ask a Dane's name!". They claim that they will perceive you as rude and from that they hint at a whole list of other socially frightening possibilities. So all whole week I've been hearing this and reading in my book how miserable an American will be at a Danish party....knowing the whole time that Saturday I was invited to a Danish party! So basically I spent the whole week worrying, imagining all of the wonderfully awkward situations that my attendance would entail.
But, just as I originally suspected, people are nice! I decided that they would just have to get used to my weird Americanness because theres just not an ounce of European behavior in me. And guess what....it wasn't weird! They were not creepy and socially inept! The books lie! We hung out in the kitchen talking until 4 am! Impressive, eh? I told them of the terror campaign and they found it silly and rather irritating. We spent the night discussing the different stereotypes Americans have of Danes, and even more interesting, the stereotypes Danes have of Americans! Its really sad how Americans are viewed globally. The danes at the party were really surprised that I could actually speak intelligently on American and global political matters. Apparently the americans that lived on the floor previously took no interest in politics or global affairs. Apathetic Americans. These Danes are the same age as I am, and know more about the upcoming election than the majority of my peers, they would jump at the chance to vote. Yet who knows how many votes will be squandered by Americans on election day.
The other thing I've noticed about danes is that they really are happy and they like their system. They had many questions about how much money I have to pay to go to college and what my studies are like. When I told them how much I pay to go to school, they were shocked. When I told them the average debt of an American medical school student, they were appalled. They are perfectly happy with high taxes and free social services. Even the doctor who teaches my medical class happily pays over 50% of her income. That is so interesting to me. I have yet to see the ghastly evil of socialism in this place. In the hospital, there is no one left waiting. All public facilities are clean, modern, and efficient.
Well I will continue with this later and post pictures. I MUST do homework now.
Peace & Love,
Keeley
What a week. The jet lag I first mentioned persisted far longer than I had hoped, but things are looking up on all fronts!
I found my way to all of my classes without a hitch, which is quite an accomplishment here in Copenhagen because there is not a centralized campus, just a smattering of classrooms throughout the city. My classes are going to be extremely difficult, but hopefully with some magical time management skills I will be able to handle it. My medical class is going to be fun and absolutely terrifying. I wasn't aware that they were actually going to let us perform small clinical procedures...but they most certainly are. Next week we have to do injections on each other. Oh goody...
Danish class is also quite intensive, but I am so glad! I wish I could continue it back at Tech because it is a crazy and interesting language. It makes even less sense than english! One downside to the way this DIS program is handled is that they start out with this terror campaign that tells us American students "Don't approach a Dane! Don't introduce yourself! Don't ask a Dane's name!". They claim that they will perceive you as rude and from that they hint at a whole list of other socially frightening possibilities. So all whole week I've been hearing this and reading in my book how miserable an American will be at a Danish party....knowing the whole time that Saturday I was invited to a Danish party! So basically I spent the whole week worrying, imagining all of the wonderfully awkward situations that my attendance would entail.
But, just as I originally suspected, people are nice! I decided that they would just have to get used to my weird Americanness because theres just not an ounce of European behavior in me. And guess what....it wasn't weird! They were not creepy and socially inept! The books lie! We hung out in the kitchen talking until 4 am! Impressive, eh? I told them of the terror campaign and they found it silly and rather irritating. We spent the night discussing the different stereotypes Americans have of Danes, and even more interesting, the stereotypes Danes have of Americans! Its really sad how Americans are viewed globally. The danes at the party were really surprised that I could actually speak intelligently on American and global political matters. Apparently the americans that lived on the floor previously took no interest in politics or global affairs. Apathetic Americans. These Danes are the same age as I am, and know more about the upcoming election than the majority of my peers, they would jump at the chance to vote. Yet who knows how many votes will be squandered by Americans on election day.
The other thing I've noticed about danes is that they really are happy and they like their system. They had many questions about how much money I have to pay to go to college and what my studies are like. When I told them how much I pay to go to school, they were shocked. When I told them the average debt of an American medical school student, they were appalled. They are perfectly happy with high taxes and free social services. Even the doctor who teaches my medical class happily pays over 50% of her income. That is so interesting to me. I have yet to see the ghastly evil of socialism in this place. In the hospital, there is no one left waiting. All public facilities are clean, modern, and efficient.
Well I will continue with this later and post pictures. I MUST do homework now.
Peace & Love,
Keeley
Monday, August 25, 2008
Truly Terrifying Beginnings
It started with a plane ride. We flew all day...just to start another day. We left Amarillo at 7:30 am....and when it was 11:00pm in our brains when we arrived @ Copenhagen. Sadly it was 7:30am the next day in Copenhagen. Aye, Aye, Aye. Talk about jet lag.
My first impression of Copenhagen was that I had landed in the wrong country and was smack dab in the middle of communist Russia. Buildings by the airport were run down and starkly modern. I was truly worried.
When we got back to our little home sweet home, we quickly learned that the danish kollegium bathroom is a scary thing. I don't really know how to describe it, besides that there is just an extension of the sink that constitutes a shower, and the sink, shower, and toilet all drain into a mysterious hole in the floor. Oh the terror.
Oh and lastly...the worthlessness of the dollar is truly horrifying.
Now that I've got all the negative out of the way...it really is amazing here. The buildings from the medieval period are gorgeous. Its awesome to walk down a street older than your country. We had an awesome tour guide today that knew EVERYTHING about the city. His name was Anders and I love him.
Everything is so different. Haven't really figured food out yet. There is an unnatural amount of Indian food restaurants. I think its just going to be trial and error on that front. We do have a kitchen. A very strange socialist kitchen. We pay 50 Kr. every month to share it with 15 other people. It is stocked with spices and the like, but it appears less than sanitary. Theres a party in it on Saturday, so we will get to meet our floor mates and see how this place operates.
Other than that there really isn't much. Besides the fact that we have avoided "hostile" Danes thus far. Apparently they are around. I've noticed, though, Americans are loud and annoying. I'd be hostile too if they were always in my tiny happy country.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Inspiration
Oh and I figure I better post from where I stole the Title and URL address.
The greatness that is Death Cab for Cutie of course!
In the song "The New Year" Mr. Ben the Genius Gibbard says,
"I wish the world was flat like the old days,
then I could travel just by folding the map.
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back."
This might be one of the greatest lyrics I know. And it more or less epitomizes my greatest wish: to not be held back by distance.
The greatness that is Death Cab for Cutie of course!
In the song "The New Year" Mr. Ben the Genius Gibbard says,
"I wish the world was flat like the old days,
then I could travel just by folding the map.
No more airplanes, or speedtrains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back."
This might be one of the greatest lyrics I know. And it more or less epitomizes my greatest wish: to not be held back by distance.
A few more Dawns til Denmark
Creating this blog is really the last thing I need to be doing today. But alas, it is created.
A little over one month until I leave. Wow. Between now and then I must complete all of the following:
1.) Pass Physics I with an A
2.) Host my best friend, Cassie Rae, nephew-pup Igby, and the boyfriend Steven.
3.) Take the most important test of my life so far, the revered MCAT and receive a score good enough to get into Med School.
4.) Locate sufficient funds on which to live while in Denmark
5.) Have my Birthday!
6.) Pack and leave.
AWESOME, EH?
Clearly this is the last thing I need to be doing. So I shall say adieu for now and catch back up in a month having (hopefully) survived all of this.
Love, Peace, and Everlasting Nirvana,
Keeley
A little over one month until I leave. Wow. Between now and then I must complete all of the following:
1.) Pass Physics I with an A
2.) Host my best friend, Cassie Rae, nephew-pup Igby, and the boyfriend Steven.
3.) Take the most important test of my life so far, the revered MCAT and receive a score good enough to get into Med School.
4.) Locate sufficient funds on which to live while in Denmark
5.) Have my Birthday!
6.) Pack and leave.
AWESOME, EH?
Clearly this is the last thing I need to be doing. So I shall say adieu for now and catch back up in a month having (hopefully) survived all of this.
Love, Peace, and Everlasting Nirvana,
Keeley
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