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!