copenAIDAN

Hej everyone! This past weekend, Claire, Lauren, and I had the most amazing time in Norway. I can honestly say that it was (by far) one of my all-time favorite trips of the semester. As soon as I first glimpsed the fjords from the plane window when we flew into Bergen, I was utterly in awe. The town only became even more beautiful as we took the train from the airport to the city center. The scenery was simply jaw-dropping – I was convinced that we had stepped into a postcard. Everything looked like a fairytale – I didn’t realize places like Bergen actually existed in the world. It looked like the Disneyland storybook land canal boat ride and felt absolutely magical.

On Saturday, we planned to do the classic Bergen “Vidden” hike – climb to the top of Mt Ulriken, hike across to Mt Fløyen, and then take the tram down the mountain. Climbing to the top of Ulriken was definitely a challenge – let me just say that hiking up 1500 stone stairs is quite a good measure for how in-shape you are (if you ever want to know, just try it). However, the climb was beyond worth it – the views of the city from the top of Ulriken were nothing short of spectacular.

Once we made it to the top, we started the next segment of the traditional Vidden trail – hiking across to Mt Fløyen, one of the other seven famous Bergen mountains. After hiking for an hour towards Fløyen, we happened upon a sign. When we tried to check how much further we had to go, Fløyen wasn’t listed on the signpost. Huh. We were a little confused. It was then that we realized we had gone the exact opposite direction of Fløyen and actually been hiking down the mountain for the last hour. Yep. Down the mountain. *face palm* *seriously?!* We were a little bewildered (I think we repeated “How did this happen?” about a million times) and logically decided that the best coping mechanism was to sit down on the rocks in the middle of the path and eat the PB&J sandwiches we had packed and marinate in our sadness. We knew we couldn’t backtrack, because it was already mid-afternoon and we would run out of daylight before we made it to Fløyen (and we wouldn’t want to be stranded in the Norwegian mountains in the dark, especially because we clearly couldn’t even navigate them in the day). When our brain food finally kicked in (thank goodness for PB&Js), we realized we might as well make the most of the situation and blaze our own trail.

However, what was initially a mishap actually ended up turning into a blessing in disguise (as always seems to happen) and my favorite part of the hike! We followed one of the other paths listed on the signpost and ended up hiking for four more hours through the idyllic mountains of Bergen. We didn’t hike the classic Vidden route, and we didn’t make it to Fløyen, the highest point in all of Bergen. Instead, we went off the beaten path. 🙂 We were the only people on our trail (as opposed to the hundreds of tourists that had been hiking alongside us on Ulriken). We had the freedom to explore where we pleased (“Let’s go toward that little red Norwegian house!” and “Just one more peak!” were both said way too many times to count). It was an absolutely beautiful day. The eight miles of hiking knocked us out super early that night after a dinner of authentic and homey Norwegian food (meatballs and potatoes and carrots and “mushy peas”) at Pingvinen.

On Sunday, we took on a three-hour fjord cruise through Mostraumen, a tiny picturesque village nestled amidst the sheer towering cliffs. It was really cool to be inside the fjords that we had seen from above the day before. The views were incredible and simply can’t be captured in words or even photos. If a picture’s worth 1000 words, then it would take 1000 pictures to do the real sights of Norway justice. October was the perfect time of year to visit – the leaves were just changing for autumn, and the cliffs looked like pointillism paintings with all of the different fall colors.

After our fjord tour, Claire, Lauren, and I spent the rest of the day walking around Bergen. We went to Baker Brun for lunch, one of the oldest bakeries in Bergen (est. 1893 – the original baker Ferdinand Brun learned his skills in a bakery in Copenhagen 🙂 ). I got a really nice feel for Norway that day – it’s a different kind of Scandinavian hygge than Denmark (think nature, rustic wood, furs, reindeer, Vikings, rugged mountains, snow, trolls, and Viking ships).

I arrived back from Norway Sunday night and had yet another wonderful week in Copenhagen! The time here is simply going way too fast. 😦 On Monday, my Medical Practice & Policy core course went to Herlev Hospital (the tallest building in Denmark) to learn emergency medicine skills at the Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation on the top floor (we did not have to climb the 25 flights of stairs to the top, although I was prepared to do so thanks to my journey up Mt Ulriken). It was an absolutely fantastic session – we got to role play as doctors and diagnose patients (AKA simulation dolls) in hospital emergency settings (heart attacks, GI bleeds, etc.). We learned how to perform CPR, run a “code blue,” and use a defibrillator. The entire session really reinforced for me how excited I am to be a doctor, which is what I love about my MPP class.

On Thursday, we had a “euthanasia debate” in my medical ethics class. I played the role of a politician against euthanasia – there were also lawyers, citizens, and doctors on the panel. We had moderators, a committee, name plaques, and Läkerol from flying tiger – the whole nine yards. It was cool to apply the ethical principles, theories, and values we’ve learned to a real case of the requested euthanasia of a Belgian prisoner. I’m also loving learning about the healthcare system here in Denmark – I’m continuing to work with my shared decision-making research groups at the University of Copenhagen. In my health policy class today, we had a guest lecture from a representative from the Danske Regioner (Danish Region). He talked to us about “value-based healthcare,” the use of Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) in Danish medicine, and the structure of provider reimbursement to help better incentivize valuing what is important to the patient.

My week came to a cozy close on Thursday evening when I visited my host family’s house for a SUPER hyggelig night. We ate some yummy lasagne for dinner (Line is an amazing cook! 🙂 ) and then carved pumpkins with Villads, Tilde, and Tilde’s friends. It was really fun to hang out with them (as always 🙂 ) and super cool to meet Tilde’s friends.

Some of my Notre Dame friends who are studying in Galway were visiting Copenhagen this week! I took them out to the meatpacking district on Thursday, where there are a lot of local Danes, and we went to Bakken at the recommendation of some of my Danish friends. On Friday, we went to Vinstue 90 for a “slow beer” – they pour your Carlsberg bit by bit over the course of ten minutes. It was super fun to hang out with ND people these past few days!

This was such a fun and cool week. Since I’ve done a lot of traveling lately, I’m excited to be staying local in Denmark for the next month and to appreciate autumn in Copenhagen (parks, bogcafés, and hygge 🙂 ). It’s starting to get darker and rainier – my favorite weather and perfect for snuggling inside with a cup of tea.

Gotta sign off now – my mom, dad, and sister just landed in Copenhagen, and I’m about to go meet up with them! I’m really excited to explore Denmark with them for the week and show them around where I’ve been living for the last ten weeks. (I spent most of Wednesday in Kaffebaren på Amager (one of my favorite coffee spots close to my kollegium) making a whole itinerary for their visit 🙂 ). Read along next week to see all of the places and things we do in greater København. Hade for now – time for me to pick up my family from the airport!