I’ve finished my first two days of classes! They seem like they’re going to be amazing. Quick recap of what I’m taking:
Core course- A Sense of Place in European Literature- AKA the class that goes to Russia. And also a small Danish island called Fanø (pronounced fan-new, if you’re saying it out loud). This one we started discussing our reading in the first class. We’ll be reading a lot of contemporary Russian and Danish literature, meeting with authors, and writing about places. On Monday, we’re actually walking around Copenhagen and doing our first writing exercise, which should be pretty cool!
Danish Language and Culture- Our professor went through Danish pronunciation, which is literally nothing like how it’s spelled. The field trips in that class are going to include a tour of Christiania and a ballet, so I’m pretty excited about those. The language will be tough but I think it’ll be good. It will be nice to not feel completely baffled every time someone speaks to me in Danish (which is at least 3x per day).
Hans Christian Andersen- The vast majority of our homework for this class is reading fairy tales. We’re going to talk about Copenhagen during the 1800s, and analyze his fairy tales and other works. It seems like it will be a bit reading heavy, but I’m definitely still looking forward to it!
Scandinavian Crime Fiction- We’re reading four crime novels, from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. Yesterday’s class was just a recap of the genre, which I am an avid fan of, so it looks like it’s going to be right up my alley. Our first book we’re reading is Jo Nesbø’s “The Snowman” (update: turns out I’ve been pronouncing his name completely wrong. oops.)
Criminology- This was the only class I had today. I cannot even begin to describe how excited I am for this class. My professor grew up on the grounds of a Danish open prison, and we’re visiting one during the semester and getting a guided tour! Even though I thinkmy personal views on criminology are pretty different from Scandinavia’s, I’m really excited to hear about their perspective on everything.
Last night I also went on my first “field study” (the DIS version of field trips), which was a dinner with my Danish class. Although I didn’t eat the chicken, it was cool to see what a nicer restaurant looks like here. I also got to the harbor extra early and got to wander around for while while the sun was setting. It was gorgeous, and I even managed to give someone directions! (am I a local yet?)
Today after class I decided to go cross something else off my list, and so I went to the Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour) and climbed the stairs all the way to the top of the tower. I highly recommend that, the views were incredible! I could see pretty much all of Copenhagen. All the pictures of the cityscape in this post are from the top. I even got to use my French skills because I was behind a couple that spoke French the whole way up and I asked them to take a photo of me. Now that I’m no longer concerned about getting lost, I absolutely love exploring the city on my own, and I can’t wait to explore more places over the coming weeks!