Autumn 2015
I finished my first week of class! And for me, a "week" is just 3 days--Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I am taking 3 different classes, and they each meet for 2 or 3 hours, so it feels quite long. Even though I'm a biochemistry student at UT, I am interested in Public Health, and the University of Copenhagen has a great Public Health Master's program. When signing up for classes I was given the option of signing up for master level classes...so I did. My first class has only 15 people in it... much different than UT! It is titled "Body and Technology." We will be discussing medical enhancement technologies and other biomedical advances, like prosthetics, and their implications on health. There're are two of us working on our bachelor's in our home country. The rest of the students are probably between 25-40 years old. It should be interesting because most of the students have lots of experience in the field. I am taking a Danish culture course where we will be learning lots of history. There are 4 or 5 excursions planned throughout the semester to go see what we study. The class is all international students and is in a lecture hall with around 70 other students. My third class is called "Psycho-Physiological Responses, Disease and Social Stressors." Most weeks we have a new guest lecturer for the first hour of the class. This week was a lecturer from Sweden, who spoke about the different Health Models and the meaning of Health. This lecture was extremely similar to a class I just finished at UT last semester, so it was nice to hear familiar topics. There was a lot of biochemistry incorporated into the lecture, so I enjoyed that. There are many different campuses belonging to the University scattered around the city. I have class at 2 different ones-- one at a very modern site not too far from where I live, and the two Public Health courses are at an older site closer to the city center. The formats of the classes are very lax. No stress of tests or quizzes--at least for a while. One class has a final test, and one a final paper. Other than that, nothing tested during the semester. It is the student's responsibility to read in order to contribute to discussion. I like it so far, I'm just not used to reading so much!
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I have finally made it to Copenhagen, Denmark! Blake and I both had early morning flights. The airport of Vienna is outside the city so we took the metro to the city center where we caught a direct train to the airport. I was able to check my bag in at the train station and check it all the way to Copenhagen....or so I thought. When I got off the plane I was to meet a mentor from my university who would take me to where i was staying and help me get situated. However, my large suitcase never appeared on the conveyer belt, and it ended up taking nearly 2 extra hours to exit the airport after I filed my claim. It was difficult to fill out the forms because I do not have a Danish phone number, so I put my mentors. I currently just have texting over wifi. Outside was dreary and sprinkling. We took a train from the airport 2 stops to my kollegium (apartment). I live in Signalhauset. I think about 200 people live here, and 90% are internationals. It is outside of the city by about 2.5 miles or a 15 minute bike ride. I was shown my apartment, who I share with 3 other girls. One from Denmark, one from the Netherlands, and a girl from Indonesia, but studies in Japan. No one was home when I first arrived, so my mentor stayed with me and we discussed how to find classes and campuses since the university is spread out over many campuses. I was really tired from traveling the last 8 days that I really didn't do anything the first day...and I didn't have any of my stuff.... The next day was much better! I went to the Danish Agency to turn in my paperwork for my residence permit and then headed to a bike shop. I am really happy with my bike. It is 3 speeds with back pedal brakes and one hand break. It has a basket in the front for my backpack. It looks very similar to most peoples bikes. It has a lock that is permanent around the back wheel that slides up and down with a key. Most people use just this lock when they park, so their bike isn't physically attached to a bike rack or fence, and they just leave it on the streets! I didn't feel too comfortable with this idea so I also bought a normal lock to string though the body and around a post or bike rack. Its also odd that probably 80% of the many, many bikers to not wear a helmet... Biking in Copenhagen is a lot of fun. I had read about how biking here works, so I knew what to expect. Still, I people watched while riding (and still do) to make sure I do everything right. When trying to turn left, a biker first goes straight across the intersection, and then swings around to face the desired direction at the next bike lane across the street. It takes some practice to end up perfectly straight and not cutting anyone else off. Most bike lanes are raised above the street, like a side walk. In some places, a walking side walk is raised up even more from the bike lane. There are special, shorter street lines at most intersections for bikes. While the light is still red, a yellow light comes on to signal that the light is about to turn green. (red and yellow simultaneously). Everyone mounts their bikes, ready to take off as soon as the light turns green. After I bought my bike, I road around a little bit, then eventually made it to one of the campuses, where I would have class the next day. I found where my class would meet and then walked around a bit. At this time, my large suitcase had still not arrived, and I still did not have a phone number. When exploring around the town, I would constantly check my texts when I was in range of free wifi in case my mentor had any news concerning my bag. Finally in the late afternoon I was told that my suitcase would arrive by that evening....and it did! I was finally able to unpack and set up my room! One of my roommates had not arrived yet and came the next day. We got to meet Marvin's mother's "famous" cats! They currently have about 10. They are very fluffy and their ears are rolled back in a particular fashion. We had a very unique experience staying with Marvin by having the opportunity to travel outside the city a bit to his Oma and Opa's house. When we arrived his Oma was busy in the kitchen making knodel, a kind of sweet dough with, in this case, a fruit filling of apricot or plum. It was great and filling! Their house was very cute and the neighborhood scenery reminded me of Vista, CA. On the drive back to the city we stopped at a lookout tower with a grand view of all of Vienna. Back downtown there was a "parade" going on. And by "parade," I mean more of a rowdy party scene on wheels. Most of the entries in the parade were sideless 18-wheelers with loud DJ's playing American pop songs filled with people drinking beer. It was very...interesting. One of them reeked of weed. This was all happening right downtown in front of City Hall. The impressive part was immediately at the end of the parade was a brigade of street cleaners efficiently sweeping up the cigarette buds and beer cans and washing the roads. Marvin took us to Prater, an amusement park in the city. Unlike Six Flags or Disneyland, you don't have to pay an entrance fee. The rides and games are more carnival style, which means you pay for each individual ride. There were lots of people. On our last full day in Vienna, we had a nice breakfast at Marvin's, then went out to the river because is was hot--unusually hot for Vienna and no one has air conditioning. We had a scenic drive back though the country side and through cute little towns. We stopped for drinks and for Austrian food on the way back. That evening we met Clara downtown. When I was a junior in High School, she was an AFS exchange student for a semester and was in band with me. We had delicious gelato while Clara led us around town and to a sweet local hang out place were we chatted and learned more about life as a Weiner. ;) After napping in the morning after arriving on the night train at 6am, Marvin lead us on a unique tour of Vienna. We started by visiting Schonbrunn Palace, which is the summer residence of the Empress Sisi. It was very beautiful! Outside the palace gates was an interesting street performer dressed in all gold from head to toe (including face paint), standing on a stool acting like a statue. We wondered around the grounds a bit and then visited their Maze and Labyrinth gardens. Some of the courses had checkpoint games to play in the middle of the path. This picture is taken from the top of the fountain, with the Palace in the back. At the top of the hill is the Gloriette. There is a cafe up at the top now, but they used to host fancy summer parties. We traveled to downtown Vienna by metro and walked down a very popular and bustling Shopping Street. There were many street performers that have to audition and have a permit in order to set up your act. There were bubble blowers, small orchestral ensembles, and mimes that made bird sounds. After walking around and seeing many beautiful buildings (pictures below) we met up with Marvin's mother, Oma, and Opa. Vienna was having a film festival outside in front of City Hall. There were booths with food and drinks. We all had beers and pretzels that were delicious. Here are some photos from the night train from Prague to Vienna.
This was last Thursday. We were really tired from the previous three days so we had a pretty slow day. We did think it was important to "practice" going to the train station from where we were staying so we would know where to go and what to do. The station was small, but we didn't think anything of it..... Our train was scheduled to leave at 11:50 and we arrived at about 11. When we look around we didn't see our train on the schedule....we asked a girl working in a small yogurt stand if we were at the right station...and we were not! The station we wanted was one bus stop away though! When we arrived, it looked MUCH more like a station that would have international journeys. Good thing we left plenty early. Once at the station we still had to wait for about 30 minutes before the platform was assigned. We had a 6 person couchette. It was VERY crowded and there was barely enough room for everyone and their luggage. It was pretty hot at night, and then with the window down it was loud. I slept alright. Blake and I met Marvin (AFS exchange student who lived in Helotes with my family last year) at the station that took us to where we stayed. Even with our metro passes, we ended up doing more walking on Tuesday. Blake and I traveled back to Old Town Square and huddled in the drizzle with other tourists to watch the Astronomical Clock go off at the hour mark. It wasn’t that great. A few figures glide though a door that opens and then the show is over. After breakfast we met our tour group to explore the west side of the river. Both parts of the tour were through Prague Airport Transfers, the service we used from our flight to our AirB&B. Highly recommended! From the Charles Bridge, there’s a spectacular view of Prague Castle. The tour led us through “Prague Venice,” and over a love lock bridge. The story goes that once a lock is placed on the bridge, the only way to leave your lover is to jump in and retrieve the correct key. I really enjoyed the walk [hike] up to the castle. The streets are lined with Gingerbread shops, Trdelnik stands, and restaurants with cute patio seating. Closer to the Castle, the street become more narrow. At the top, there is a Starbucks. The view is grand. Nearly every roof of the city is an burnt orange and picturesque. The tour was timed so we arrived near the hour mark to watch the switching of the guards. On the Castle grounds is St. Vitus Cathedral. Anyone can enter the atrium, but to walk the perimeter and then have access to the rest of the grounds requires a ticket. Blake and I needed to pick up our night train tickets nearby and it was getting late, so we planned to explore the ticketed portions the next day. We walked a long ways south, still on the west bank, enjoying the buildings. This side of the city seemed a little less touristy, but had plenty to see. We stole some WiFi from a park bench to look up restaurant ratings on Yelp. Potato pancakes are the French fries of Czech cuisine. In the evening we stumbled upon a neat outdoor bar down by the river with a two-person cover band singing classic American songs. We hung out for a bit, then had a good time building our own 5 sampler at the Beer Museum.
Hello! Today I start my journey in Europe! I will be posting updates and photos here (more so than Facebook) if you want to keep up with me! Blake and I started in Tampa, we where took Megabus to a public transport station in Fort Lauderdale. From there, we boarded a light rail (just like the Coaster) to another station, and finally met a shuttle to the airport... 260 miles for just $7! Czech back soon! sbohem, Xochitl |
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