copenAIDAN

Hellooo and time for another update! This week, I finally feel like I’ve settled into daily life in Copenhagen – I’ve been biking to class every morning, cooking in my apartment, and shopping at the corner grocery store.

Last Friday, we went to a concert at Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park in the center of Copenhagen. We got to the park early and were able to walk around – it was absolutely beautiful in the evening with all of the twinkle lights. We got season passes, so we can come back anytime during the next four months (and we definitely will, especially during Halloween and Christmas)! The artist we saw was named MØ, a famous Danish singer-songwriter (she sings “Final Song,” “Nights With You,” and “Lean On“). My personal favorites were “Don’t Leave” and “Blur.” It was a super fun show – Tivoli does free summer concerts all the way through September.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and took a train for only $12 to Malmö, Sweden. It was fun to be able to say, “Let’s go to Sweden!” and then just do it a couple days later. I got to add another country to my “been” app (I’ve now been to a whopping 2% of the world). We went out to lunch at the #1 restaurant in Malmö; walked around Malmöhus castle, windmill, and gardens; and got gelato at an indoor/outdoor food market called Malmö Saluhall. It was such a cute town and perfect for a short and relaxing day trip.

After Sweden, we went back to Lauren and Claire’s apartment for dinner. They live with two Danish boys, and we got to talk to one of them about life here. I told him how much I love koldskål (the cold buttermilk soup), and he replied, “Koldskål… now that reminds me of Danish summer. It takes me right back to my mom’s kitchen.”

On Sunday, I went on a run in the park by our house and ended up running into Freetown Christiania, a community that has declared their independence from Copenhagen and where no photos are allowed. I also went to Mass in Danish at Skt. Annæ Kirke (St. Anne’s Church). I’ve been using the app DuoLingo to learn a little bit of Danish, and I actually understood a couple words in Mass! It’s amazing that in the Catholic Church, you can go to Mass anywhere, and it’s exactly the same (the universal church).

skt. annæ kirke

That evening, I went to dinner at the Absalon Community Center, where they seat you with other community members – I sat with a Danish dad and his daughter, a traveling Italian woman, and an elderly Danish woman. The meal was quiet at first, but the Danish dad made friendly small talk. Soon, it was just the Italian woman and I, and suddenly, she completely opened up. She talked about the mentality in Europe compared to the U.S. – much more relaxed, lower work hours, and more time to enjoy life. Both of her children live and work in the States, and she visits them three months every year. She said that in the States, it always seems to be a “go, go, go” mindset – very work-oriented as opposed to life-oriented. It reminded me of the saying that in the U.S., people live to work, whereas here, people work to live. She also talked about Copenhagen being a very functional city, which is exactly what I’ve been picking up on, too. “They study everything, right down to the details” – we talked about the traffic flow, the insanely low poverty rates, the healthcare system, and the cobblestones and sidewalks. She also talked about how Rome (where she’s from) is a more historical city, so I’m excited to visit there this semester!

absalon community dinner

Sunday began the 48 hours of flødeboller. I had one with lunch and one after dinner, because Netto (the corner grocery store) was selling 6 for 3 DKK (only 50 cents, so I had to, right?).

Monday morning in my medical ethics class, we discussed the principle of justice and how to allocate scarce resources (i.e. who should get the liver?). My professor surprised us with flødeboller for the class, but with a caveat – there were 22 people in the class but only 20 flødeboller. How would we allocate it? Turns out she had enough for everyone, but I had two during that class (I tried a café latte one and a raspberry one).

On Monday evening, I went to my visiting host family’s house for dinner. Once again, this was definitely my favorite part of the week! I absolutely love my host family – they are so friendly and welcoming. I told them about the “been” app, and they immediately got so excited. Turns out my host dad has been to almost 20% of the world. They love traveling and showed me their book of the 500 best places to travel. We played a game on our phones in which you have to click on the fifty U.S. states as fast as you can – my host dad & sister beat me in both time and accuracy, which was pretty funny and ironic (granted, they had been practicing 🙂 ).

After dinner, we walked around their neighborhood and saw their school and the surrounding area – it was fun to take their dog Buster on a walk and hear about life in a Copenhagen suburb. A striking difference that we talked about was how much they prioritize family dinner together every night. I’m not as much used to that with families in the U.S. (I picture parents getting home late from work, separate dinners in front of the TV, people grabbing fast food on the way home). I think this is a really nice mentality to have – everyone coming together over a meal at the end of every day and then playing games or going on a walk or reading together after dinner. The relaxed and family-oriented way of life here is absolutely fantastic.

After dinner, my family told me they had gotten flødeboller for us for dessert (I ate an original and a coconut). I realized I had had 6 flødeboller in 36 hours. But it didn’t stop there.

Tuesday night, we had Lauren & Claire over for dinner. We cooked salmon and zucchini in our apartment. We also made WAY too much rice (we now have enough to feed us for several years #accidentalmealprep). For dessert, I wanted to show them what koldskål tastes like (thanks host fam!), so I made it for them. But we also bought flødeboller. And I had three later that night. So moral of the story is, don’t get addicted to flødeboller, because believe me, it can happen (nine in 48 hours is most likely a problem… pls send help).

My classes this week were absolutely amazing, once again. Besides talking about justice and allocation in Medical Ethics with some serious ethical dilemmas (Who should get the treatment? What if you have to decide between two people, one being 36 years old and the other 16? What if the other were 96 years old? Or 6 days old?), I also loved my core course this week. We had our first “clinical case” in which we got to interview an actual patient at Rigshospitalet and put our medical history-taking skills to use that we had learned the week before. It was such a cool experience to be able to diagnose a real patient, and it definitely solidified for me how excited I am to enter the profession of medicine in the future. To be able to have conversations like that with people in such vulnerable moments is truly meaningful. In my Neuro of Fear class, we had to approach strangers in Gammeltorv (the “old square” right by DIS) and ask them questions about life in Denmark. Afterwards, our professor told us that the exercise was meant to stimulate social fear and demonstrate elevated levels of cortisol due to the activation of the HPA axis. Pretty cool hands-on learning, if you ask me. My Neuro of Religion class this week started out with our professor showing his bike helmet to the whole class and saying, “Wear these – they protect your brain.” Noted.

Next week is already “Core Course Week,” when we’ll be traveling to Western Denmark (my class will be going to Kolding and Esbjerg). We’ll be meeting with various physicians there (ENT, general practitioner, and ortho) to see what it is like to practice medicine in a more rural area of Denmark as opposed to urban Copenhagen. My Health Econ professor showed us a funny video about how to be less “touristy” when we travel next week:

We also have a study tour project that we’ll be working on for the rest of the semester – my group will be studying differences between the places we travel in terms of access to care for patients of low socioeconomic status, which fits in really well with my Poverty Studies minor. Stay tuned for updates on my travels next week!