Gosh I'm Old...

Hey!
So I really have enjoyed writing in this thing, more so than I ever thought I would ever enjoy blogging, so I think I am going to keep this up. I know that I do not have the best looking blog or the most interesting thoughts, but since I have some free time and have lost my journal  I thought I would write about life after studying abroad and life after college.

So I now have just one semester left and I will have my Bachelor's degree in Psychology. What can you do with a BA in Psychology? (Musical reference! 10 points goes to anyone that can guess what musical this is from) Not really much. There are unfortunately not too many jobs you can get with just a BA or BS in Psych. One who majors in Psychology pretty much MUST attend grad school and at the minimum obtain a Master's in Clinical or Counseling Psych if you really want to work exactly in Psychology. I want to become a School Psychologist and have been doing a lot of research, especially since being home, into what kind of grad schools I would need to go to. I need to get a Master's in School Psychology and then go on to get a specialists degree (Ed. S) in school psychology. Yay for more debt! But I know it is so totally gonna be worth it!

Being home has been really nice, but I also miss Copenhagen a lot. Since being home, I had never before realized how much I enjoyed the independence I had in Denmark. Sure, I lived with a host family, so I wasn't completely independent, I did not have to cook any of my meals, but it was nice to be able to go somewhere without someone asking me where I'm going and why I'm going there and what things I need to do before I go where I need to go. It is nice to be home with my family who love and care about me, but at times I feel trapped.

I also miss the awesomeness of European public transportation! Philly, and America in general really sucks in this area. I hate driving. You really need a car to get around in America.

Getting back into the groove of driving was way easier than I thought it was going to be. Like they say driving a car is like riding a bike- you never forget. The trains run once every hour. Unlike in Copenhagen with every ten minutes. I also really miss riding my bike everywhere.  I can't ride my bike anywhere here. First of al,l I would be killed by the millions and millions of cars driving around everywhere. Also, where I live there are so many steep, steep hills so biking just really isn't an option.

I am very excited about the upcoming semester. It should be a really relaxed semester. After the many stressful semesters, especially last year, with me going to school full-time and working at Panera, I deserve to relax. Even my semester in Denmark was a little stressful. I literally only need 6 more credits graduate from Eastern. Had I planned better, I could have graduated early from Eastern, but oh well. I am kind of happy to graduate with most of my friends.

In my semester abroad, I had lost about 12 pounds. I am trying to keep it off, though it is really hard. I never really realized how unhealthy my family eats and just how many snacks are available at my disposal until I lived in a house that had no food, and certainly no snack food in it. I joined Planet Fitness, which should help me to keep the weight off. It is only $10 a month and is open 24 hours a day! Sweet! Plus, this has a much younger crowd than LA Fitness had. I always felt so weird at LA Fitness, like I was so much younger than the rest of the people that went there. Also, I was constantly bothered by workers to sign up for personal training sessions. Yeah, with what money? I'm hoping they won't do that at Planet Fitness. We will see.

My birthday is today! I am 22 years old. It is so crazy how time flies. It feels like just yesterday I was graduating from high school- in May I will have graduated from college!

My computer screen has miraculously repaired itself. If you may remember, I spilled water on my computer screen when I was in Denmark. My screen was completely white and would not work unless it was hooked up to a different screen. DIS was nice and leant me a screen and cords to connect my screen to. Since I have been home though, I have not had access to my computer. For the past couple of days I have been trying to find the right cords to hook my computer up to my TV. I went to Best Buy in Montgomeryville and bought a HDMI cord and a converter to a mini- DisplayPort. Well, my computer does not have a mini- Display port, it has a regular sized DisplayPort. Okay. So I go onto the apple live chat thing at Apple and ask some guy named Giovanni what I should get. He tells me a mini-DisplayPort. He then tells me I should go to the Apple store to see what they say.

They Apple store is 40 minutes away from me. But I figure it is worth a shot. I wait. That store is so crazy. It is just so packed all the time every time I have ever gone, it is suffocating. The guy says they no longer make DisplayPort to DVI cords and does not know where I could possibly get one. Great. So helpful. Not. There is a BestBuy by the King of Prussia mall so I go there to return the cords that I cannot use and see if there is another kind of cable I should be getting. A very nice kid at BestBuy helps me to get VGA cord that can be hooked up to any monitor. Cool. Hopefully this works, I think.

Well I hook it up to my LCD TV screen. I can see the background of my computer, but not any of the icons or the dashboard. Perhaps the screen is too big for my laptop. I try to hook it up to a different monitor- same problem, when suddenly, get this MY LAPTOP SCREEN MAGICALLY WORKS! I kid you not. After 26 days (Yes, I remember the date of the awful, terrible day the water was spilled on my computer) my computer screen no longer is a white, blank screen, but is legit working. I do not understand, but I am not going to question it. I guess it is an early birthday present to me! I guess I will be returning those cables I just bought to Best Buy tomorrow. Or maybe the next day. I don't think I should have to go to Best Buy on my birthday. Just saying....

In conclusion, life back in America is... life? I planned so so much for this past semester and now that it is all over, I don't really know what is to come, but all I know is that I am going to take this one day at a time.

Thanks everyone!

Well- tomorrow it ends. My four month journey in Denmark. It is so crazy how time flies. By this time tomorrow, I will be flying over the Atlantic Ocean to Newark Airport. Philly I've missed you... oh but Copenhagen will always have a special place in my heart.

Things I will miss: My friends from small group at Copenhagen Christian, my DIS friends, my host family, the s-trains, hearing Danish, seeing candles lit everywhere, seeing so many blondes, seeing little kids in snow suits, all the black clothing people wear, gosh, I'll miss everything about Denmark.

Thanks all for following me on my journey abraod. I've actually really enjoyed blogging, so I may occassionally post, however I will probably change the "How I'm Copin' in Copenhagen" title. Mange tak everyone!

-Jenna

8 Days?

Hey everyone! Sorry my posts haven't been as frequent. I have been really busy with writing finals. Thankfully it is almost over! This week has been really stressful. I counted and over the past couple of weeks I have had to write over 8 papers. Ah! I am just so glad the bulk of it is over. On Monday, I have one final on Monday for my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class, and then I am done!

This is insane. I leave Copenhagen in 8 days. I know I keep saying this, but I cannot believe how fast my time abroad has been. I have had a wonderful experience, but I also am ready to be home and to see my own family and to go back to what I am used to and what I know.

Next week after my final on the 12th, I have about five or six days to do some last minute touristy things in Copenhagen. I still have not gone up the Round Tower, or seen the crown jewels in Rosenborg castle. I also need to go back to Nyhavn and check out the Christmas markets for longer. I also have some Christmas presents I still need to get for my friends.

Last Saturday was Jane's birthday (Dec 3rd). She turned 10. I also went to Tivoli with my buddy network. The buddy network is where they take 10 Danes and 20 DIS Students and we plan different events to do around Copenhagen. We got to walk around, drink some Gløgg, see all the pretty lights and decorations (Russian themed this year), and I even got to ride a roller coaster called the Demon. This was all on DIS. So awesome! Check out some of the awesome decorations-

After walking around in the cold, we went to eat at Grøften, a traditional Danish restaurant where many famous Danish celebrities eat. I eat a meal called the "Shooting Star" (I forget what it  is called in Danish, sorry) which has fried fish, shrimp, bread, caviar, and thousand Island dressing all on top. I am not the biggest fan of TI dressing (ha, TI dressing), but it was still really yummy!

Yummy!

The next day, my host sister, Jane was in a Santa Lucia ceremony. Technically, this ceremony is supposed to happen on the 13th of December, but for some reason, Jane's scout troop did it last weekend. The girls dressed up in white, usually wear a wreath on their head (they just had a star head piece instead) and walk down the aisle singing "Santa Lucia... Santa Lucia" and carry candles. One girl, usually the tallest gets to wear candles on her head. Unfortunately, the girl they chose to have wear the candles had wax running down her face toward the end. I think she is ok now. Technically this is a Swedish tradition, but I suppose the Danes have taken on this tradition, too.

Jane is the on the right, furthest from me.

Sorry it's kind of blurry. So many blonde little girls!

On Wednesday, in between all the craziness of my paper writing, I went on a field study with my Livability class to Malmo, Sweden. It may seem crazy to many of you readers, but think of it like this, Malmo is only a 30-40 minute ride from Copenhagen. It's kind of just like going to another state, believe it or not. Souther Sweden looked very similar to how Denmark looks. Supposedly if you go up towards Stockholm that's a little more different.

Jakriborg, a cute little residential community built to look like it was from the 1800s. There is are currently 1,000 on a waiting list to get into this community!

The turning torso tower. When you looked at it, it looked like it was moving and was going to fall down on you.

It was really cloudy, but that is the Øresund bridge which takes you between Denmark and Sweden

 I have to return my monitor back to DIS sometime this week, so my access to a computer will be limited (see last post about my water spilling on computer drama). I will try to update one more time before I leave, but can't promise anything. If not, thank you all so much for reading my blog and sticking with me through this incredible journey! I can't believe I am leaving so soon. I will miss Denmark very much and I feel that I have grown and changed greatly in the four months that I have been here. Vi ses, Danmark! 

London!

Hi everyone!

It is time for another post. This week has been very crazy for me. I got back from London on Sunday. I will write more about that in a little bit. I had a lot of work due this week and have a ton due next week. Thankfully, my last final is December 12th and then I have about six days to explore Copenhagen. I return to the United States December 18th. Man this time has gone so fast! It feels like I just got here.

On Monday Leah and her friend Kirby came to Copenhagen! I met Leah when I went to visit my friend Meaghan in Switzerland back in October. Leah had told me she was coming to Denmark in November and so I had her and Kirby stay at my host family's house. Leah and Kirby are from Alberta, Canada.  It was so nice to have them here! On Wednesday, I had them come to my Danish field study where we watched a movie about the WWII Danish resistance and got to go to the Danish Resistance Museum. Later, I showed them Christiania, an old military barracks turned hippy commune. I took them to Pusher Street where marijuana is legal to sell and use. There are around 900 inhabitants of Christiania. Christiania is pretty cool and has some great artwork. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures on Pusher Street, but if want to learn more about it Google it. We also went to Nyhavn and I finally got to go on a boat tour. It was really nice. I'm sure it is a bit nicer in the summer, but I still enjoyed it. There is a Christmas market at Nyhavn, which I am going to have to visit again before I leave.

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I brought my lap top to school so that I could work on my Positive Psychology paper. I filled up my water bottle, but did not apparently screw it in all the way. It spilled all over my backpack and got on my laptop. I thought it was done for. I NEED my laptop to finish my work. I let it dry and today, it is not 100% but will at least last me until I leave Denmark. My screen has significant water damage, but DIS was nice enough to give me a monitor to use until finals are over. I am going to have to buy a new laptop, though, but with what money, I don't know... I'm sure it will all eventually work out.

Anyway, so let me tell you about London! First of all, let me just say, it was way too short! I NEED to go back in order to experience it all. I didn't have time to do all of the touristy things I wanted to do, but this just gives me an excuse to go back.  It was so nice to hear English again and to be able to understand the announcements on the Tube.

Highlights: Drinking high tea at Fornum and Mason, Going to the globe theater and doing an acting workshop (felt just like Actor's Lab at Eastern), Going to a football match West Ham vs. Darby. West Ham won! Seeing Billy Elliott on the West End. Eating fish and chips. Getting a tour of the East End. Trying to find a pub and instead eating Dominoe's pizza. Shopping on Oxford Street.

Sorry it's sideways...

West Ham vs. Derby!

Gosh it was amazing! I NEED to go back.

Oh and today I went to my host sister Jane's school about what being an American is like. Except Jane was sick today. Poor thing. I still went and it was so funny talking to the kids. I tried to explain how small Denmark is compared to the US and they were like "But what about Greenland?" haha. I got asked if I was afraid of spiders, what I like most about Denmark, what I like to do, what school is like in America, and many other questions. I showed them where Philadelphia is and some famous things about Philly. I hope they liked it!

Tomorrow I am going to Tivoli with my buddy group. My host family is supposed to go too, but since Jane and Eva aren't feeling well we'll see if that happens.

I can't believe I only have a little more than two weeks left! Too fast!

Sorry

Hej everyone! Please don’t kill me…. But I don’t think I am going to writing about Part II of my trip. ::runs away as people throw things at her::. I am just really swamped with work and it has been almost two weeks since I have even been in Paris and Vienna that I don’t even think I could write as well-written a report of my time there then I could have a week ago. I have pictures up on Facebook you can check out and feel free to send me a message or ask me about any part of my trip- I would be happy to tell you anything. My one or two (or three or four) sentence thoughts on each city:

Paris- The Eiffel Tower is beautiful, but this city is totally over-rated. The way Hollywood portrays Paris as some super wonderful, fairy tale land, in my opinion is not necessarily true. As I have been told, Parisians do not like Americans, and I felt that with most of the French I dealt with in my 3 days there. Also, two my friends were pickpocketed so that also has a big affect on my view of the city, too.

Vienna- Way less touristy than Madrid and Paris- reminded me of Copenhagen in that respect. Great metros, run 24 hours on weekends, which is really nice. The show we saw we saw was a total tourist trap (they made it seem like we were seeing a show in a huge theater), but it was still really good, heard some Mozart and some opera and saw some ballet.  Also, I got to see where Sigmund Freud worked and saw “the couch”. Very cool!

Anyway, I am now back in Copenhagen and back to a pile of work. I can’t believe I used to update this thing one every five days! I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving! Tonight I am going to my friend Elise’s house to have Thanksgiving dinner. It will be really nice. Tomorrow I am going to London with my Literary London class! I am so pumped! I love British culture. I think it started when I was seven with my love for the Spice Girls and grew with Harry Potter when I starting reading that at age nine. I also really love British music like Kate Nash, Lily Allen, Oasis, Keane (well they are actually Irish but w/e), Katy Tunstall, just to name a few. I will write about that on my next blog so stay tuned!

I cannot believe that I have less than a month in Copenhagen. It has been such a wonderful experience. I wish I could stay another semester, but that wouldn’t really work since I am graduating in May. It’d be like oh yeah… Eastern University? I go here? Haha I almost feel that the traveling I have done has taken away some of the cultural experiences of being in Denmark. I was thinking about it- when this experience is over, I will have been traveling almost four weeks of my time in Europe. I am here for four months, so that means ¼ of my time has been spent outside of Denmark. I feel like I am just beginning to understand Danish culture and now it is almost over! I don’t know if this necessarily a bad thing, I just think that I never expected to feel that traveling around Europe may be hindering my cultural immersion into Danish culture. Just something I have been thinking about…

Well thanks for reading. Coming up next time- my whirlwind weekend in Londontown!

Portugal and Madrid: Travel Break Part I

Where do I even begin? So as some of you may or may not know, I have been gone for two weeks traveling Europe. It was such an amazing experience! I am going to try to post some pictures from my journey, but for some reason, my computer takes forever to load pictures, so I am not going to be able to post as many as I would like. Check out my facebook to see the rest of my photos of Portugal, Madrid, Paris, and Vienna.

I got back to Copenhagen around 8:30PM on Sunday. It was so nice to come back to my home away from home, though I miss exploring Europe terribly. The leaves have all fallen from the trees since I have last been home and it now definitely feels like winter. It is crazy to think about how I have been away for three months already and will be home in one month! Time flies...

To make this easier on me, I think that I am going to split my blog into two parts. The first part will include my week-long surfing trip to Portugal and my three-day trip to Madrid. From October 29th to November 4th, I was surfing the Atlantic Ocean in Portugal! I met with my fellow DIS students on the trip in the afternoon and flew to Lisbon.

After a 3 and a half hour flight, we finally arrived in Lisbon. We set off to have a group dinner, though got desperately lost through some very sketchy parts of town trying to find the restaurant. In one particular place, some men looked at me and Carrie, another girl from my trip and said evilly "Welcome to the jungle...". Ok thanks Lisbon. That's a great way to welcome me to your country. I suppose worth things could have been said to me.

The next day, we went on a bike tour of Lisbon. I loved it! The weather was beautiful and it was a great way to get a view of the city. Our tour guides had us try a typical Portuguese partry and ginjinha, which is a cherry like drink fermented in brandy. Loved the pastry, but was not such a fan of the ginjinha... It kind of tasted like cough syrup to me. I supposed I'm not a brandy drinker. The rest of the bike tour was amazing! We got to ride along the water and it was so gorgeous!  Here are a few pictures from the bike tour.

Apparently this bridge was made/ designed by the same architect as the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. 

After the bike tour, me and three other girls Carrie, Charlotte, and Alex tried to find the oceanarium. Unfortunately, we got super lost trying to get there and never made it in time. Oh well! We had a little mishap where we got on a train thinking it was the tram, but it all worked out in the end. By the end of the day we were exhausted! Lisbon's metro stops were VERY spread out, unlike many other cities, which was a downside, but the city was gorgeous!

That night we left for the surf lodge in Ericeria, Portugal. During this week, Europe had gone through daylight savings time, while the US had not yet, plus Portugal is one hour behind Copenhagen time, so I was only 4 hours ahead of the US that week, which was very strange to think about.

The rest of the week was spent attempting to learn how to surf. First of all, let me just say, surfing is definitely NOT as easy as it looks. The surf boards are really heavy. I definitely gained some arm strength after this week. Attempting to stand up on the board is also not so easy. Some of the DIS kids in my group were able to do it, but most were not. You really need to have very good upper body strength to be able to stand up. The waves were really rough and kinda scared me. I probably would have enjoyed surfing more in the summer time, but c'est la vie. Yeah, I'm whipping out French here. You won't be hearing about Paris until next post, however.

Yeah, man, We're totally surfers.

Anyway, I had a really fun time surfing! Sure, it would have been awesome to have had better weather and calmer oceans, but now I sound totally cool when I say, I surfed in Portugal. You should see the bruises I got for mine/ other people's surf boards hitting me in the water. Be thankful that I don't have any pictures of that.  One guy from my group got a bloody nose and chipped his tooth. He's fine, though. I saw him in my Virtual Worlds class the other day so I guess he's fine now.

On Thursday, we went to Sintra, which was this cute little town near Lisbon. I think it would have been more enjoyable had the weather been nicer, but it was still neat to walk around the town. After that we returned to Lisbon. I got to go to the Oceanarium which was a lot of fun. It has been a while since I have been to an aquarium. After that, we were headed for the airport! Most of the group took the flight back to Copenhagen, but I took a later flight to meet up with my friends Victoria and Emelye (and later Rachel) in Madrid!

I spent about four hours in the Lisbon airport waiting for my flight. I read some "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell (definitely recommended if you a Christian like me who is trying to figure out where I fit and what I believe in this world), tried to get some Wi-Fi, and generally was very bored for hours.

Finally my flight left. I met a very nice Chinese man who was telling me of his travels around Switzerland and France. I had to try to explain that I was an American who was studying in Denmark. My flight was nice and short flight (I almost wonder if I could have taken a train to Madrid in the amount of time I spend waiting around in airport), I made it to Madrid!

It was nice to hear Spanish again. I miss speaking and learning Spanish a lot. It is SO much easier than Danish. I was very nervous because I was traveling all alone and hoped I could successfully handle all the various changes on the metro I had to do in order to get to the hostel to meet my friends. Luckily, I got off at all the correct metro stops and made all the right changes. I called my friends after I got off at Tirso de Molina metro stop and they met up with me on how to get to the hostel.

The following day we went to Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace. Plaza Mayor was really neat. Emelye, Victoria, and I got some great pictures in front of fountains and the Cervantes statue. Being in Madrid brought me back to Spanish class with Senora Hoffman. Here are some pictures of our first day. Unfortunately, like most of the the things I saw in Madrid, I was not allowed to take any pictures, but here are some of the pictures I took.

Later that day we met up with Rachel. We also met Tim, a guy who lived in Rachel's room from Germany. We had some sangria (not the only time, I promise) which was absolutely delicious! we also went to The Prado (again bring any Upper Morelanders back to Senora Hoffman's Spanish IV class?) I got to see THIS painting (Las Meninas) by El Greco.  I know you're jealous. I also saw some Valasquez, too. Ring a bell? That night we went out with our hostel which we had a lot of fun. Spain definitely knows how to have a good time.

The next day, we went to the Reina Sophia museum and to El Parque de Retiro. I got to see some Pablo Picasso among others. Anyone remember La Guernica? I'm sure you do. Such an amazing picture. I was really looking forward to seeing el Palacio de Cristal, but it was closed for renovations! I was so sad. But it's okay, I still had fun in the park. El Retiro is such a huge park! Really easy to get lost in... That night we went to a Flamenco show. I loved it! Sorry I didn't get any pictures. Once my friend Victoria uploads her photos on Facebook, maybe I can steal some of hers. Soon, it was time to leave Spain. Eating tapas and paella, drinking sangria, and being able to sometimes speak and sometimes be understood in Spanish was so great! Guess I need just four more years of study of Danish until I am fluent ha ha.

Cool painting in the Reina Sophia. 

Walking along in El Retiro Park!

The outside of the Crystal Palace. Which I couldn't get in to see :(

Cool cave. Tried to get a picture in front of it, but my camera refused to get a nice shot.

Rachel with Elivs in Plaza Mayor!

Travel Break Part II will be coming hopefully soon! I have procrastinated writing my Psych paper on sexual double standards long enough. Apparently, Matt Lauer came to Plaza Mayor just one day after we left! Darn! Thanks for reading. Adios!

~Jenna

Peace out Copenhagen!

Hej hej! Almost time for me to go on my super fun Euro-trip to Portgual, Madrid, Paris, and Vienna! I leave October 29 and I will not be back until November 13th. Ah!! I am so excited!

 I just have to get through my Danish Oral Exam tomorrow and I will be free. I am so proud of myself and have finished my Positive Psychology paper, which isn't technically due until tomorrow.

Just wanted to say thanks for reading my blog, my faithful readers. Haha I kid, I kid. I have probably one "faithful" reader, and that is probably my mother. See you in two weeks!

~Jenna

Ice, ice, baby

Hej Hej! So another week has begun. This is going to be a very difficult week for me to get through. I have two papers due this week, one for my Livability in the Modern City class and one for my Positive Psychology and an oral midterm in Danish. However, on Saturday at 2:30 PM my time I will be leaving for Portugal for one week from October 29th till November 4th!!!! Ahhhh! I am so excited. I will be spending a week learning how to surf, doing yoga, riding bikes, and other exciting things. Should be so fun!

Then, week two (Nov 4-13th) I am meeting up with my friends Victoria, Emelye, and Rachel in Madrid and Paris, and then my friend Bianca will be meeting us in Vienna. I am kinda nervous, but I was successfully able to navigate Switzerland and Germany without anything major happening so I can just hope that nothing too awful will happen during my two-week break. I am so excited to see more of Europe.

Last week, nothing too eventful happened. Just back to the old routine of classes and what not. This weekend I had a good time with my friends Kyra, Jen, Emelye, Rachel, Hayley, and Molly. On Saturday, night we went to a bar that was completely made out of ice! It was so cool! The glasses, the tables, the bar, EVERYTHING was made out of ice. We even had to wear these cool blue coats with gloves attached. We had a great time! Here are some pictures:

Sunday, I went to church at Copenhagen Christian in Nørrebro. I really enjoy attending church there and like that I am starting to forge friendships with some of the attenders who are around my age. The church is going to celebrate 100 years of being a church next Sunday and is having a really awesome dinner and many fun activities planned. I, unfortunately, will not be able to attend as I will be in Portugal next week and then will be traveling Europe the following two Sundays. After church, I got to spend time with Jessy. She moved to Denmark about 7 years ago, but she is originally from Chicago. I really like talking to her because she understands what it is like for an American to live in this country, yet has been here long enough that she can answer any questions I have about Danish culture. Sunday was very fun!

To close- here is a video that my group made for my Virtual Worlds and Social Media class about myths we have about Danes. Hope you like it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6Vin94RjQY

I will try to maybe update while I am traveling these upcoming weeks, but I cannot promise anything. Vi ses!