General Updates

So these two weeks have been pretty much consumed with work and other daily things around Copenhagen.  I have been tutoring at the Copenhagen International School on Mondays and Tuesdays. I work with a little boy named James who is in the fourth grade and needs help staying focused and getting organized.  I taught him how to plan his homework and tasks for the week and make lists, things that at least I am pretty good at, haha. It's so refreshing to be in an International school because it is set up like an American school and I know the system, unlike working in Danish schools where the whole system is, well, foreign. Also, everyone speaks English, which is a huge plus for me! But yeah, he is already getting better at allotting time for different tasks, so I think we are making progress.  James' family moved here from the West Coast five years ago and are hoping to return to the US next year, which is why James and his siblings are at the CIS. It is really interesting, though, because they went to Danish preschool and kindergarten, which is really cool and very different than American kindergarten. The kids know Danish and have had a really cool preschool experience. For example, Danish children will eat with a knife and fork and drink from glasses by the time they are 2 years old and the kindergartens take field trips at least twice a week, often just on a whim.  James' mother thinks this is hilarious, haha. 

For my photojournalism project, I have been shadowing and taking pictures of a vice principal of an inner city school here in a section of town with a lot of minorities, which is very very rare for Copenhagen.  I have gone to the school once a week for the last month and a half taking pictures of all sorts of things that Ms. Jacobsen does, including running meetings, working recess, and teaching in classrooms. Because of this, I have become sort of a teacher's aid in one of the classrooms that she works in with 9th grade students.  It is really interesting because they are doing a unit on slavery in the US and the USVI, which used to be owned by Denmark.  They like having an American perspective on slavery and race relations today.  We talk about the triangle trade and we watched La Amistad. Today when I went, they  were having their class picture taken and they had me be in it!  And now my project is done but they still want me to come with them to do a tour in Copenhagen with them in a few weeks. I love that they've adopted me into their class. 

I am having a great experience because now I am working with three very different types of students in three very different schools in three very different environments.  I am working with mentally handicapped students at Maglemosen in a pretty middle class town a little ways out side of the city.  Then there is James in the CIS, which is in the nicest/richest suburb of Copenhagen, probably in all of Denmark.  Now I am in the school in one of the harder sections of Kobenhavn working with kids from not the best family situation, etc. It is very very interesting and I am learning a ton not only about education but also about the different subcultures.  It is really neat to see how the education system reflects the culture of the people it serves. 

Last Saturday, I went to the Carlsburg Beer factory with Angela, Jessi, Tessi and Adrian, and that was really fun. We went on a tour of the factory and learned some history about the beer and you can see how it is made.  At the end of the tour, you go to this nice bar and smell all these fragrances and mark the ones you like.  Then, based on the ones you liked or disliked, you pick two beers to have. We had a great time and then went back to the kollegium to cook dinner and hang out afterwards.  

Everyone has had a lot of work so it hasn't been as exciting as it used to be around here but that's okay. I've been keeping busy with swimming and tutoring and yoga and classwork, etc. I'm done with tests now and I turn in my last midterm paper on Friday and then we are on our two week TRAVEL BREAK! I am going to Amsterdam, Paris, and Milan for the first week and then to Istanbul, Turkey for the second! Can't wait to tell you all about the cities!! I hope this finds you well at home!  :)

Vienna!!

I spent this past weekend in Vienna with one of my best friends from Tufts, Meghan, who is on the swim team with me. She is studying there for the semester and it was so so good to see her. We had a really good time and she planned a weekend that had the perfect balance of touristy things (palaces and churches and markets, oh my!) and going out with her friends and just sitting, eating amazing food and catching up in little cafes.  Vienna is very different than Copenhagen.  The center reminded me a little bit of Rome or other kind more "typical" romantic European cities and outside of the center the city was much more Eastern European.  It was really interesting to see the effect that the wars (losing both of them...) had on the city.  Meghan is also having a really different experience than I am because she is living with all Americans and her program is very small. They all know each other really well, so it was really fun meeting her friends and just hanging out with them.  They are great! I stayed in her apartment and we cooked American meals and it was like being in an apartment near Tufts.. in Vienna.  Anyways, Meghan was a great tour guide and knew a ton about the city and it was fun seeing it through someone who knew it so well. 

Vienna is famous for their chocolate cake and expresso. I can personally vouch that both are amazing. The other cake we had is called Mozart cake, and had a picture of him in chocolate on top. Only in Vienna, haha. 
HofburgWe went Mass at the Hofburg Palace and saw the Viennese Boys' Choir sing. They were amazing!  Here we are with one after Mass/their concert. 
This is in front of the Schonbrunn palace.. the summer home of the royal family. This is the back side in the gardens. It was beautiful in the fall with most of the flowers past their prime.. I could only imagine what it looks like in the spring!
There is an outdoor market filled with food and trinkets.. Megs and I bartered down matching rings!

This is on the balcony of Meghan's apartment. She has a really nice view when it's not so cloudy.. how cool, right?

Stockholm, Sweden

So we took the ferry to Stockholm, Sweden and it was one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to.  Although it was kind of cold, the sun was out and we got to enjoy a few beautiful days.  Stockholm looked so cool, too, because the buildings were so neat and they all looked different. Also, the leaves were changing color! It reminded me of home.. I'm so glad I get to see the change of seasons here, too. Anyways, we went and saw a really cool school called the Stella Nova school based on a certain educational theory and also go to an Autism center where they train caregivers to treat children with ABA therapy.  Both visits were really beneficial and I learned a lot.  We also got to spend some time on our own in the city and do a scavenger hunt to learn about the history, etc. My friends and I went to an Irish pub while we were in Stockholm one night and also ate at more really cozy cafes.  Also, on Thursday night, we went to the Stockholm Opera to see the Barber of Seville! It was interesting because the opera was in Italian and the little subtitle were in Swedish... so I had to rely on what I remember from Spanish to try and figure out what was going on. Those of you who have ever helped me with Spanish homework know about how successful I was... thank God for the notes in the playbill. 

This is the palace! It seems like all European palaces have these guards that won't smile at you...
This is the great group of girls I got to spend the week with. We had so much fun together! It is neat because we are all really different and from all different parts of the US (from Oregon to NYC to Tennessee to Arizona!) and go to school in spread out places, too. This is on the side of one of the main canals in the city. 
This was the national Art Museum next.. it's next to a canal, like most things here, hah.
The city's buildings were all so different! It was really cool to see all the different types of buildings along the streets. They are all so detailed!

This is the Wasa (pronounced Vasa) warship that was resurrected from the bottom of a canal and preserved. They built a museum around it once it was completed. It is so awesome, pictures don't do it justice. 
So pretty, and so what you would think of when you think Sweden. 
The subway system in Stockholm is called the T! and the lines are named by colors! I was so happy, it felt like home :)
Beautiful changing leaves in the fall! This was taken from the T. 

This is a 1000 year old viking rune.. on the side of a wall of a building on a walking street. There is no sign, no explanation, no glass.. I touched it. It's crazy. That is 3 times as old as the US.

Tallinn, Estonia!

Hi! So last week I spent in Tallinn, Estonia and Stockholm, Sweden with my class for our long study tour.  I have a ton to tell you but unfortunately coming home coincides with midterms and I have tests to take and papers to write so I am going to have to update in installments. Overall, the trip was great -- we learned a lot and had a ton of fun with my class. The long study tour is set up so that you travel with your core class (mine is Child Development: Children with Special Needs) and have some academic visits as well  as some cultural and fun visits.

Estonia is this really cool old medieval town stuck in the middle of a kinda creepy Soviet city.  The inner city was hundreds of years old but the country itself is actually younger than I am as it was recognized as a state after the fall of the USSR.  We went to a deaf/blind school, a school for children who have behavioral problems and also a Jewish school. The Jewish school was interesting because all of the Jews in Estonia had been relocated during WWII so the community started rebuilding from scratch when they moved back 20 years ago.  My short journey into Eastern Europe was eye opening to a world very different than the US and Western Europe. Also, I spent a lot of time with my roommates mentioned previously - Julia, Leah and Jamie. When I say we, I am most likely referring to them.

These are two views (inside and outside) of the wall around the city. It is so cool looking and could definitely keep anyone that wasn't supposed to be there out. Can you imagine the knights and damsels? 

The architecture was spectacular.. as was the weather for the most part. It was really sunny but really cold and windy.
This is inside a medieval restaurant we went to for dinner one night. We ate old fashioned food and had old fashioned beer in old fashioned steins. They spoke to us in Old English (normally they would speak in Old Estonian) and the whole place was lit by candles. It was a really cool night and the food was delicious and exotic. Among the strange/new foods I tried was their cinnamon beer and tongue.. both of which were really good. 

We went to a wool/linen market in Tallinn.. they are famous for their linen apparently. I bought handmade mittens :)

Marzipan was invented here! This was at the marzipan museum/shop that sold some really delicious marzipan treats. I like marzipan a lot better here in Europe than I did in the US. 
We had dinner one night in the Beer House, a brewery in Estonia. The current food of Estonia is a lot like Germany. 
We also went to a special small cafe to enjoy some Tallinn Coffee, which is a lot like an Irish Coffee. It includes some special Tallinn liquor with coffee and whipped cream. It is supposed to warm you up from the cold outside. If the drink itself didn't do it, the cozy atmosphere of the cafe will do it. Everything is candle lit and you sit in really cozy big comfy chairs next to fireplaces and they have blankets for you if you want to use them. It was really really nice. 
This is looking out over the city from a high point! So cool. 

So not all of Russia's influence here was bad. This church is absolutely stunning on the inside. 

This is the ferry we took from Tallinn to Stockholm. It was really fun and had a bar, a night club, a disco and a few really night restaurants on board. We had a great night doing karaoke and just enjoying getting to know everyone in our class.  I'll talk about Stockholm later!

Olympic Decision in CPH

Tuesday night after yoga with Ida and Helle, I went to Christiania with Kendall and some other friends to see Slightly Stoopid, an American band, in concert. The venue was a small bar called Loppen and the stage was literally just a raised platform.  We were so close to them, they were sharing drinks with the people in the front row. Their music was a mix between OAR, Reel Big Fish and Bob Marley and we had a great time with a lot of other DIS kids and Danes dancing and hanging out.  I also got to catch up with a friend from Tufts, Jill, who is also in my program but I haven't been able to spend a lot of time with yet, so that was really nice, too.  The whole night was just very fun and relaxing. 

We were literally right next to the stage.. so cool!

Yesterday was a huge day in Copenhagen because the International Olympic Committee made the decision of who would host the 2016 Olympic games here.  The Obamas, Oprah and a ton of American athletes (ie Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Brandi Chastain, etc) came to Copenhagen for a few events and to make a presentation to the IOC on behalf of Chicago. Copenhagen could not have been more excited that our president was going to be in the city.  On Thursday, all the students in my practicum wanted to talk about was the fact that Obama was coming to town and anyone that figured out I was an American asked how excited I was to see him.  Although Michelle came for a few days, (and stayed at the ambassador's house a 10 minute bike ride away from my house...) Mr. was only here for 5 hours and the things that the city had to do for security purposes was insane.  The Danish Prime Minister rides his bike when he travels in the city and when I was sailing, we saw the Crown Prince Frederik sailing openly on his boat in the sound between Denmark and Sweden.  When Obama came to town, all the streets in one section were shut down, hotels and government buildings were inspected every few hours beginning a few days before and helicopters patrolled the sky the entire day.  Anyways, there was a huge festival in the City Hall square, about a minute walk from where my program is.  Throughout the day there were performances from Danish youth athletes of different sports that are in the summer games on a huge stage next to where they were streaming coverage of the meeting and presentation happening in another part of the city.  After class, my friends Angela and Jessi and I showed our Chicago 2016 support and went to vollunteer, aka just wear our t-shirts and show our support to cameras and reporters and things.  We were interviewed by some people and go to be loud and proud Americans, hah.  The fans of the cities were crazy.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died (so unlike me, I know) so I could not capture the costumes.. but for Tokyo, there were a dozen pikachus running around and guys with red polka dotted white wigs.  The Brazilians were all out for Rio wearing flags and dressed all in green and yellow.  The Spainards represented Madrid with lots of signs and painted faces.  It was a really cool thing to be a part of because there was a ton of energy in the crowd.  Angela, Jessi and I got pictures with all the different groups, which was fun.  Jessi even got one with the Japanese version of Dane Cook who was out in the crowd rooting for his city.  Before the final decision was made, there was a concert in the square, where some Danish DJs and rappers opened up for the main show: Aqua! Aqua was awesome.  They dressed like they did back when they were very popular about 10 years ago (wow I sound old...) and sang some songs that reminded me of middle school, ie Barbie Girl.  Finally, the committee made their decision and when Rio won, the fans went CRAZY.  There were Brazilian people screaming and singing the national anthem and crying and throwing beer and dancing and it was really amazing to see.  It was a really emotional moment for them and it was cool to see them so proud of their country.  Everyone was sad (and surprised) that Chicago was knocked out first, but we were happy for Rio because it is a great opportunity for them.

Aqua, up close! We were in the very front of this huge crowd and it was awesome -- Ida even saw us on TV when she was watching the concert from home! 

from left, Angela, me, Adrian, Jessi and Mollie before the concert/announcement.  Look at those bright orange t-shirts.. hah. The volunteers were in orange and the official Chicago people were in blue.. they were trying to get as close as we could to the Illinois flag.  Too bad we didn't do too well..