First Day of School

You know it's been a rough couple of days when waking up at 7:30 AM is considered "sleeping in". Breakfast is served between 7:45-8:15 AM here at the International People's College. When Danish people give you a deadline, they mean it. A gorgeous spread is waiting when you arrive at 7:45 and promptly whisked away at 8:15. People who mosey in late don't get fed and receive no sympathy. It takes some getting used to. As a slow eater myself, finishing a meal in 30 minutes sounds like a precursor for indigestion. I sat down to breakfast this morning with three Japanese, one Czech, one Bulgarian, and one Danish student.    We were told during Orientation that Danes aren't ones to make small talk. I think the same applies to many other cultures as well. I have definitely noticed that when I sit down to meals with the other American DIS students, we are often the only table having conversation while eating. At the IPC, the students come from all over the world, so perhaps the silence can also be attributed to a language barrier or unfamiliarity. I look forward to testing this theory and seeing if conversation over meals will make an emergence once we get to know each other better.

My class schedule today:
Gender and Sexuality in Scandinavia
Sociology of Family
Service Learning Seminar
Human Health and Disease (Core Course)

As a Neuroscience major and a pre-med, it isn't often that I get the chance to take humanities courses, let alone ones that I am actually interested in. My first two classes absolutely blew me away. I don't know if it was because of the small class sizes (around 20), but the professors were very approachable. They seemed to really enjoy the topics they were teaching and genuinely invested in the exploration of our own ideas and interests. Very different from the rote memorization that I am accustomed to. There was this one embarrassing moment where I ran into my Sociology of the Family professor in the stairwell and mistook him for a student. I even asked him if he could get out his ID card and swipe me in! Imagine my horror when I saw him begin to unpack his things in the front of the classroom! In my defense, he was wearing jeans and this amazing pair of blue and black high tops. The Danish classroom is definitely a bit more casual than its American counterpart, but I feel that it helps to facilitate more authentic and uninhibited discussion.

I also received my volunteer assignment today during the service learning seminar. The idea of this class is to enrich the volunteer experience by bringing it to an intellectual level. We are expected to devote three to four hours to our volunteer site each week then meet once a week to discuss what we have done, the difficulties we have faced, the cultural differences we have experienced, etc. I was assigned to Cafe Paraplyen, which translates to Cafe Umbrella. Its mission is to provide discounted meals and activities for those who are either socially or economically disadvantaged. I look forward to seeing how I can get involved!

My core course actually takes place at Gentofte Hospital, a short bus ride away from the DIS.

I found this gem on the bus. I love how ice
cream is such a primary feature of the
Danish diet that it merits its own category.

The bus ride was well worth it because when we arrived at the hospital, there was hot coffee, cookies, fruit, and candy waiting for us.

The doctors said we needed a sugar boost in
 the middle of the afternoon in order to
function. I agree 100%.

Even though it was my fourth class of the day and I was exhausted, this class made me look forward to the rest of the semester. Today I learned that in Denmark, doctors actually do not get paid a lot. They may enjoy a higher status in society because of the nature of their work but in most cases are driven by a legitimate desire to help others, not monetary gain. Also, the ratio of women to men in the medical field is actually in the women's favor! The two doctors that lead the class are both working mothers -- three children each! As a young woman looking into becoming a doctor myself, I hope to learn from their perspective on balancing work, play, and family.  This may be more do-able under the Danish healthcare system because a doctor's workday ends at 3 PM except for days in which they work the night shift. Anyways, I look forward  to weighing the pros and cons of different healthcare systems, especially when we visit Budapest and Vienna! Heeeeyyyy.

Pssssst, the doctors also informed us that we will gain hands-on experience such as learning how to put in an IV over the course of the semester. The pre-med geek in me is doing mental backflips of excitement. Yee! I can't wait!

Anyways, I just verbally vomited all over this blog. Justified, I hope, since it's the first day of school. Tomorrow, I only have Neuroscience of Fear but since I'll be making the commute all the way down to Copenhagen anyways, I might as well take the chance to explore the city some more. Time to charge my camera battery and start Googling sights in Copenhagen. Woot!!