Better Late Than Never

For this post, I'll be playing catch-up from the previous 2 weeks of my European adventures. So to begin, last week I started my 2nd session class called Medical Biotechnology & Drug Development (talk about a mouthful). In this class, we are learning about the different phases of the discovery and development portion of creating a clinical drug. I'm really enjoying it because it's so specific and it pertains to my future career in medicine.

On Friday the 21st, I went to the Tivoli Gardens to see 30 Seconds to Mars perform (one of my favorite bands). The weather wasn't that great throughout that afternoon, and remained the same until around 9:45pm, and the concert started at 10pm. Luckily, the rain cleared just in time for the show.
The concert was incredible, and it's so ironic that I came here to study abroad and they happened to be playing here during my trip; this made my experience so much more epic.

The next day, Red Bull was hosting a Cliff Diving competition, where competitors would jump off the top of the Opera House and free fall 27 meters before hitting the water. We sat on the side of the canal opposte of the Opera House to get a good view of the divers.

After the diving competition, I headed back to my apartment building. On the way there, I decided to walk along Stroget, which is the main pedestrian street in Copenhagen. The next thing that happens is either through luck or a major coincidence. I spot the members of 30 Seconds to Mars, the band that I had just seen the night before; my first concert to ever attend. So, of course, I got a picture taken with them.

After a small period of hysteria, I made my way back to my apartment. That evening, I had been invited to a Danish Christmas dinner with one of my friends who was staying with a host family. The whole experience of visiting a local family was definitely worth while; a huge taste of Danish tradition.

The following week, my class was going to Edinburgh, Scotland for our study tour. It was weird to say that we were going to study abroad while currently studying abroad. While in Edinburgh, we took a medical walking tour, went on a boat ride, toured a whiskey distillery, and even went on a ghost walking tour in the Blair Street vaults. Also, it was a nice change to see everything written in English. On two of the days, we visited 2 different biotech companies to learn about their impact and relevance to drug discovery and development.



As we drove from the airport into the city, we could see the Edinburgh Castle, a must-see landmark.


















During one of the evenings, we took a hike up to Arthur's seat which gives you an incredible view of Edinburgh.

We took a tour of the Glengoyne whiskey distillery, and we also got to taste their 10 year-old single malt whiskey.

Before the distillery, we took a boat ride on Loch Katrine, which was a 2 hour drive from the city center. The lake was amazing and it was completely surrounded by mountains and foothills covered in greenery.








After 5 days in Scotland, our whole class was super exhausted, and ready to return back to Copenhagen. It was nice to be back in a familiar place, even though it was technically foreign. So at that point, we hit the one-week-left mark. Its odd to say that we have been here for so long, and that everything comes to end. We all knew that we had to do as much as we could within the last week here in Denmark. So whats the first thing that comes to mind? Let's go to Sweden for a day!

This past Tuesday afternoon, a few friends and I decided to make a day trip to Helsingborg, Sweden. To get there, we took a regional train to Helsingor and then took a ferry over to Sweden (If only traveling were always that easy). Being so close, you would think that Sweden might use the same currency; but no, they use the Swedish kroner (SEK) instead of the Danish kroner (DKK).

Overall, Helsingborg looked a lot like Copenhagen. The architecture was very similar, but people weren't so dressed up all the time. Also, their was a slight difference in the language as well.


















Yesterday, it was a nice day outside, so we took advantage of it by going to climb up the Church of Our Saviour. This church is also known as the spiral church, because the steps go all the way to the top.

Well, it's July 4th, and I'm in Copenhagen. It's strange to not see everyone celebrating America's birthday with BBQ and fireworks. So in place of the usual festivities, we are going to make s'mores tonight (somehow lol).

With only 2 nights left in Copenhagen, it's beginning to sink in that I'll probably never again see the people I've met and the friends I've made. It's truly been a memorable experience, and I will deeply miss every aspect of it. But for now, it's time to enjoy my last few days abroad.

The City of Lights

After our final exam for our Human Health & Disease class, a vacation was needed. We decided to go abroad while studying abroad; a trip to Paris and Amsterdam fit the criteria. Our travel group consisted of about 10 people, most of which were in my session 1 class. We had a short flight to Paris on Wednesday evening, followed by a small commute by bus and metro to our hostel. From what I've seen so far, the hostels are fairly nice, considering we would only be there for a few nights. Half of our group was at one hostel, and the other half was staying in another.
















For our first day in the city of lights, the plan was to go see the Notre Dame, talk a walking tour of the city center, check out the Louvre, and take a walking tour of the Montmartre District. So thats what we did. But along the way, we found numerous bridges that were covered in padlocks of different shapes and sizes. And they all had writing on them, usually the names of a couple. The story is that you and your loved one writes your names on a lock, latches it to the fence, locks it, and throws the key into the canal. This then symbolizes that their loves will always remain. So we all pitched in and bought a lock, wrote something on it, and put it on the bridge.














While on our walking tour, we got to see the glass pyramids that are inside the Louvre, which is always a cool sight. Also, it was raining during most of the tour, which is the reason for the lack of pictures from that timeframe. Later that afternoon, we headed to the Montmartre District. In the tour, we learned a lot about the history of the area as well as memorable landmarks, such as the apartment where Vincent van Gogh lived.

The next morning, we enjoyed  a nice European continental breakfast at our hostel before heading to our Versailles tour.  Our tour wasn't taking us inside the palace, but rather through the gardens, which were still incredible. The gardens have a very symmetrical feel to them, surrounding the scattered marblestone sculptures and ponds. Overall, the tour was a great experience and it was cool to see how the previous loyalty lived in Paris. 

The palace from the outside was very extravagant, with the large entranceway and detailed architecture. This was one of my favorite places that we visited while in Paris.

Towards the afternoon, we had one more place to visit: the Eiffel Tower. We had thought prior to arriving in France that we would have enough time to take the elevator to the top, but the line ended up being several hours long; this didn't stop me from getting partially up to the top. I decided to take the stairs to the first platform instead of the elevator to save some time. The climb wasn't that difficult, but it was definitely windy when I made it to the first deck. I told the rest of my group to go find a place to relax in front of the tower so that I could take a picture of them from a birds' eye view. I could see the line to go up the escalator as well, which looked like a bunch of ants lined up.

Later that evening, we had a nice italian dinner and talked about our plans for the train ride to Amsterdam the following morning.








Paris was definitely a treat to see and a great place to learn about. I'm sure that I will be back there eventually, so that I can finally get to the top of the Eiffel tower.

Conquering Berlin in 36 Hours

 

This past weekend's trip to Berlin was a real adventure, literally. We took an overnight bus from Copenhagen at 10:30pm to Berlin, arriving at 6am Saturday morning. In most cases, when you arrive in a foreign place early in the morning with 10 sleepy American students, it becomes a real challenge to get places. Our hostel that we stayed at, Wombat City hostel, was roughly 6 miles from the central bus station; and yes, we walked to it. On the way there, we had mapped out a few sights to see, such as the Charlottenborg Palace and Museum Island. 

The long walk to our hostel 

 We started off walking through a large suburban area with lots of greenery everywhere you looked. Our first stop on the way was the Charlottenborg Palace, so when we saw it, we knew that we were headed in the right direction. Our trek to the hostel was definitely taxing on our feet, but it was logical because of the sights along the way.

The next landmark that was crossed was the entrance to Mitte, the middle section of Berlin. Of course we had to stop to take some pictures. I was always glad when we stopped for photo opportunities so that I could give my feet a break. The architecture in Berlin is very modern with that historical feel, very similar to designs in Copenhagen. In Berlin, they actually have real street signs, as opposed to the name of street written on the side of a building.



Our next location to visit was Museum Island, which was very cool to see. But first, a break was needed to rest for a little while. We decided to relax in front of the Berliner Dom, Berlin's main cathedral, located near the city center.

Exhausted travelers

Berliner Dom

After a short break, we headed over the Pergamon Museum.

This museum is the home of special Classical European antiquities. Afterwards, we walked through the Memorial to the Murdered European Jews. Under the memorial, was an actual exhibit to go through as well. Throughout the afternoon, we soaked in a lot of history visiting the different landmarks or sights in the Berlin area. After seeing everything on Saturday, I didn't regret walking the 6 miles to our hostel; it was worth it.

By the time we arrive at the Wombat City Hostel, our group needed a well-deserved nap. Surprisingly, our hostel was a lot nicer than I anticipated, considering it was relatively inexpensive to stay there. A few hours later, after recharging our feet, we headed out to explore/find a place to eat dinner. We ended up at a cafe called Marcus Brau, which had really good food. Many people in our group were determined to find a place that had some sort of schnitzel, which is a boneless meat , thinned with a hammer, coated with flour, beaten egg, bread crumbs, and then fried. It is a popular food made from veal, chicken, beef, turkey or pork. This place had really good schnitzel.

The next morning, our goal was to go see the Berlin Wall. We used the train system rather than walking to save some time. 

We walked along most of the wall, and I really enjoyed it. Before catching our bus back to Copenhagen, we enjoyed a nice late lunch at a restaurant called Alex. Then our group met up back at the central station to head back home after an exhausting weekend.

The cool thing about heading back to Copenhagen was that our bus had to board a ferry for about an hour-long ride to Denmark. We all took this time to grab a bite to eat and reminisce about the weekend. We made it back to Copenhagen around midnight, and then walked back to our building. We all looked forward to sleeping in our own beds again, instead of small bunk beds at the hostel. Tomorrow afternoon, I take my final exam for my class and then I'm hopping on a flight to Paris, and then a train to Amsterdam on Saturday! I'm super excited to hang out with new friends and to see what else Europe has to offer!