This past Thursday through Saturday we had our short study tour to Western Denmark. A study tour is when all of DIS goes traveling with their core class groups. My core class is my special needs class and we went to Odense (on an island called Fyn) and then some cities in Jutland, the part of Denmark that is connected to Germany. As the study trips are supposed to be academically driven, we visited a few schools along the way. One of the schools was a main stream public school with a section for children with special needs. This school had one of the best playgrounds in the world and had been given a few prestigious awards for their facilities. The playgrounds are high tech, connected to the internet, have learning games involved and also can be used for team building activities. On top of that, they are handicap accessible. Another school we went to was a school for the deaf in Jutland. The school was also totally high tech and all the rooms were wired so that when teachers or other students spoke into microphones, the sounds were sent directly to the student's cochlear implants so that they could hear. It was very interesting because cochlear implants were extremely popular for the students in the school, but in the American deaf community, they are a hot topic of discussion. We also visited a Culture House for adults with disabilities. There was a cafe that was run by people with disabilities that hosted other people with disabilities and social events, etc. There was also an art studio, music studio and weaving room where the craftspeople (people with special needs) could create works that would then be sold. The music group has been together for 8 years and has even been on tour! We got their CD and heard them play.. they weren't bad at all. The last part of our academic trip was to meet some social workers who work to train faculty so that they could better work with students who have special needs. They had a very interesting message that worked very well into something that one of my professors at home focuses on. It is really cool to see things that I am learning across the world connect!
The non study parts of our trip included visiting the Hans Christian Andersen House, which is a play space where we could get dressed up as characters from his stories (complete w face paint if we wanted) and play around in sets with props like we were actually in his stories. It reminded me a little of the place I worked in high school, Playtime Village. 20 year old girls had fun... it would have been the coolest thing if I were 9. We also went bowling as a group, which was fun, and out to some really good dinners. We saw a castle in Kolding and also the Jellingstones, which is where the word "Denmark" is first written. We had absolutely gorgeous weather the whole time and the whole trip was really fun. My core class is all girls (surprise surprise, child development), so it was neat coming together as a group. Also, our teacher is hilarious and wonderful and kept us laughing the whole time.
These are my roommates, from left, Jamie, Leah and Julia, who I got to know really well over this trip. They are really great and we had a lot of fun together. This is after a long day when we moved into our first hostel. The hostels in Denmark are really nice! 
hahah a failed jumping picture with some of my friends from my program.. but notice how beautiful the sky is! Also, the flag.. there are Danish flags everywhere here.
Julia and I are dressed up as princesses at the Hans Christian Andersen house.. we stayed like this for a good hour.
Traditional Danish meal.. a hamburger type thick patty of ground beef with beats, onions, capers and horseradish ontop.. as well as a raw egg yolk. It may sound gross but it was really delicious. Obviously, finished off with a Carlsberg.
This is the band that we saw at the culture house! They played us a few songs... they even sing in English. They are called Bali III.
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