Week 1 (26/01/16) –
Personal and Cultural
As I woke up on the
morning of Monday 18th January, I could not believe that the time
had eventually arrived when I would have to say goodbye to my friends and
family and embark on the biggest adventure of my life to date. Having been busy
with Christmas festivities and exams, I had not had much time to think about
what the next four months of my life would entail. However, as I travelled to
Dublin airport with my parents that Monday morning, everything suddenly started
to feel very real. I was both nervous and excited; anxious that I would miss my
family but also eager to experience a new culture and lifestyle in Copenhagen
and beyond. My faith gave me great comfort at this time and an encouraging
Bible verse given to me by a friend that morning rang in my ears the whole day
as we flew to Copenhagen and arrived at our apartment in Kastrup. After nearly
ending up in Sweden due to confusion with the taxis at the airport, we were all
relieved when we set foot inside our apartment and, after a customary McDonald’s,
we quickly took to decorating it in traditional ‘Stranny granny’ style.
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| Goodbye Northern Ireland... |
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| Hello Denmark! |
Living independently away
from home for the past week has created some memorable experiences. On Tuesday
morning we did our first grocery shop, which was a challenge to say the least,
due to the fact that everything was in Danish. A run-in with the Danish metro
system also resulted in each of us receiving a £75 fine; not the best start to
our adventures in Copenhagen! However, on a more positive note, we have taken
to home-cooking really well and have proven ourselves to be extremely
domesticated. We have also met many new people and two induction days with the
students in our international class were topped off by a particularly memorable
‘International Dinner’ on Friday evening. We were asked to bring a delicacy
from our home country to this; needless to say when we arrived with a box of
top-hats we got a few strange looks. Despite our poor efforts, however, we made
up for it with a special performance of ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ and introduced our
classmates to the country song ‘Hit the Diff’; this went down an absolute
treat.
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| Our first grocery shop |
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| Our first meal |
We have also had the
opportunity to experience the cold weather whilst visiting a number of
different tourist attractions in Copenhagen, including the beautiful Nyhavn and
the infamous statue of the ‘Little Mermaid’. After attending a service at the ‘First
International Baptist Church’ in Copenhagen on Sunday, we visited Christiana; this
was a real eye-opener and a striking reminder of the harsh realities of life
for some people.
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| Snowboarding |
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| Meeting the Austrians at Nyhavn |
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| The Little Mermaid |
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| Walking tours with our International class |
Kaye (2015, np.) notes
that “To travel is to take a journey into yourself.” I can confidently say that
this journey has been a fantastic one so far and I am both thankful and very
excited for what lies ahead. But, for now, farvel!
Reference List
