The Nicest time

For the second travel week, I signed up for a DIScovery trip to Southern France and it was 100% the best decision I’ve made. Before leaving, I was hitting the point in the semester where I was feeling homesick and getting stressed about classes and travel planning and internship applications (the list goes on). Let me tell you, there is no better (or Nicer) cure to mid-semester blues than a trip to Nice.

The whole trip was planned and it was amazing to take a break and not stress about having to figure out activities and transportation. They booked our week so every day was full of wine tastings, beautiful views, amazing feasts and a ton of hands-on learning about food and wine. I can’t do this post without a huge shoutout and thank you to our trip leader, Russ (the same Russ that leads my wine club). He is actually the best.

Pictures don’t really do it justice but here are some glimpses into the best parts of the trip:

Food

The theme of the trip was “culinary exploration,” so I came in with pretty high expectations for the week. The trip completely exceeded those. I am pretty sure I had a food baby for 5 straight days and I have not one complaint. We had some pretty extravagant dinners, and I tried a lot of foods that I wouldn’t typically order (such as raw seafood). Although I didn’t love every single thing I tried (re: raw seafood), I was excited to get the opportunity to try new things and step out of my comfort zone.

White pizza with black truffles & seafood spaghetti. Both were INCREDIBLE.

Me and my dinner. This was not a family style dish.

Yes, I tried all of these.

Chloe eats a raw oyster and hates it.

Mussels and french fries were served after the raw seafood, thankfully.

Cinnamon and speculoos gelato (not the only cone I ate that day)

60+ gelato flavors to pick from

Wine Tastings

A trip to Southern France would not be complete without wine. The region is known mostly for their rosé wines, but we got to try a good variety of red and whites as well. We visited three vineyards, where we were given tours and tastings. It was great to build on what I had learned in wine club and actually get to see how the wine gets made.

More tastings

In addition to wine tastings, we also got to do a cheese tasting and an olive oil tasting, two things I had no idea even existed before this week. For the cheese tasting, we were given several varieties of cheese and 4 glasses of wine. We tried each cheese with each wine and it was really crazy to see how differently I felt about the cheeses and wines based on the different pairings. For the olive oil tasting, we tried eight different kinds of olive oil. They would come around and put a small drop of each oil on your tasting spoon and tell us a bit about how its made and what recipes you could make with it. I had no idea that olive oil could be so nuanced, but ended up loving the lemon, garlic and truffle varieties.

Cheese tasting in Nice

Picnics with a view

We spent the first part of the trip in Fayence and my favorite part was the picnic. We had a “market challenge” where we broke into groups and each group focused on a different part of the picnic like breads, cheeses, spreads & tapenades, etc. We were given cash to spend on our part of the picnic and we reconvened as a group around lunchtime. Russ picked a spectacular location for a picnic. It involved a lot of walking, but we had incredible views and so much food. Russ also got six different kinds of rosé wine, so we did a tasting of our own.

French cooking class

One of the coolest activities was the French cooking class. We got to help French chefs make a three-course lunch, and every course involved something with flower petals. We had a cold tomato soup with rose petals, violet-stuffed duck breasts and a rose tiramisu.

Nice times with nice people

We also had some time to explore and see Nice, which is a beautiful city. I went on the trip with my friend Kelli, but we left with some nice new friends, too (pun intended).

Tak for Copenhagen

Hi friends! It’s Friday night and I’m currently on the plane flying back to Copenhagen after an awesome week in Holland with my graphic design studio. It’s crazy to think that at this time two months ago, I was flying to Copenhagen for the first time, anxious to arrive at this unfamiliar new place. Now, I’m anxious to get “home.”

The past two months have really flown by. Copenhagen really does feel like a “home” to me now, as unbelievable as that is. I always thought that people were crazy or exaggerating when they said that studying abroad changes you, but it’s true. Adapting to an unfamiliar place isn’t easy and learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable is something I know I’ll carry with me after this semester.

In Danish, “tak” means “thanks,” and because there isn’t a direct translation for the word “please,” people say “tak” much more than people say thanks at home. I just wanted to write a quick post about all the things and people I want to say “tak” to as I reach the halfway point in the semester.

Tak for friends

I am thankful for the friends I have made at DIS and my friends from Syracuse who I’ve become even closer with since arriving in Copenhagen. We have had so many laughs and fun times while exploring together.

Tak for host family

I am so thankful for my visiting host family. Helle and Johanne are so nice and I love hanging out with them. Johanne is the same age as my younger sister, Kyra, and she reminds me a lot of her. She shares many interests with me, like design, journalism and cooking, so it couldn’t be a more perfect match. They make me feel so welcome and at home when I spend time with them. A couple weeks ago, they took me to the most amazing sushi restaurant and I had a great time trying their favorite kinds of sushi and talking about the differences between Danish and American culture. I’m usually a little bit picky when it comes to sushi but I trusted their judgment and while I still have no idea what I ate, it was all so good. We are currently trying to plan a weekend for me to visit them at their house and I’m very excited!!

Me and Johanne at dinner

Definitely the best sushi I’ve ever had

Tak for beautiful weather

All the Danes have been warning us that it hasn’t been normal, but we had beautiful weather all the way into October. I only had to get out my scarves and warmer jacket about two weeks ago. I’m glad I waited to plan trips until later in the semester, because the weather has been too perfect to miss out on being outside and exploring around here. A few weeks ago, a few friends and I rented a Go-Boat and we got to sail around the harbor with wine and snacks for two hours on a Sunday evening. With sweaters and blankets, it was absolutely perfect. So hygge. Also, tak for Anya, the real MVP of the day. She drove the boat the whole time and we were ALL thankful for her!!

Tak for food

I’m not totally in love with all Danish food yet (it’s a often bit too much meat and fish heavy for me), but I have found so many cute cafes and bakeries that I love to hang out in. I’m thankful for Danish brunches and pastries, GRØD, and of course, Wednesday snails. So basically, I have a thing for breakfast food and I’m thankful that I get to try all these wonderful things with my friends.

Brunch at Paludan

Coffee Collective & Meyers Bageri

I love porridge.

 

Tak for design studio

I love my DIS design studio course. It’s a wonderful group of people and our professor, Jeanette, is the best. We finished up project one, and got to do formal presentations for a panel of student and professors. The process was slightly stressful, but getting to present in a more formal way felt much more rewarding and like we were doing something bigger than just a school assignment. And there was no better way to celebrate finishing assignment one than taking our long study tour to Holland! I am thankful that DIS has such a cool program and that we got to see so much in our week-long trip to Amsterdam and Rotterdam. (Another post about this trip will be coming soon!)

Graphic design studio and foundations students outside the EYE Film museum in Amsterdam

Me with my humongous presentation board!

Tak for travel

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to travel while I am here. My main goal is to experience as much of Copenhagen as possible of course, but I am happy that I have some time to travel to other nearby European cities that I would probably not go to otherwise. Planning these trips has been more challenging than I realized, and it’s also making me realize how short a semester is, but I am really excited about the places I am going to visit. In two weeks, I have a travel break and I’ll be going to Stockholm, Sweden and then Nice, France for the week. I’m also hoping to make it to Norway and Germany before the semester ends.

Tak for home

I am thankful to have so many people supporting me from home. I miss my family so much and I’m thankful that they let me move to another country for a few months. I’m so excited for them to visit me here next month. I am also thankful for my boyfriend Brett, who is the best and most supportive friend in the world, even though we’re spending 5 months apart. Shoutouts to modern technology for making staying in touch so easy.

Ellie fell asleep during our FaceTime date…

Tak for Copenhagen

I couldn’t have picked a better country to study abroad. I love Copenhagen and the experience I am having here. Thank you, Copenhagen, for being such a beautiful and wonderful city and for being a great home for the past two months.

Here’s a gif I made that was inspired by Nyhavn, my favorite place in Copenhagen

Tak for reading and tak for your patience between my posts this week. It’s been a little bit busy!

 

Top 10 things I love about my LLC

Here at DIS I am a member of a living and learning community, or an “LLC.” My LLC is a culinary community, full of people who are interested in cooking, eating and food culture. Only a handful of people are actually “good cooks” but the rest of us are here to just learn. Or eat. I’ve picked up a surprising amount of cooking skills from just watching what everyone else is doing. I am really happy I ended up in an LLC and here are a few of the reasons why:

1. It’s a great location. I can walk just about anywhere. I’m 5 minutes from my classes at DIS, 10 minutes from Nørreport (a big station with metro, train and bus stops), and 15 minutes from Nyhavn for whenever I want to feel like I live in a postcard.

2. We live in an apartment-style dorm. Although our LLC is a dorm, it only has 10 people on each floor, and it feels more like an apartment. And it’s REALLY nice. We have a big shared kitchen and common room, three shared bathrooms and laundry on our floor. People are always hanging out together in the shared spaces.

My bedroom in the LLC

Our shared kitchen

3. There’s so much free food. There’s always someone cooking, and people love to share! The other day a guy on my floor was making his own pickles, and I got to try some. That same day, my friend Cara made challah for shabbat which we combined with my Nutella for a tasty late-night snack.

4. And there’s always new recipe ideas. When I’m not busy stealing other people’s food, I’m busy stealing their recipes. When we have 10 of us sharing a kitchen and making different meals, it gives you new ideas for things to make. I saw someone making fish tacos one night, which is something I never would have thought to do, but when I heard how easy it was, I decided to give it a shot.

5. We have fun weekly events. Part of being in an LLC involves attending weekly events and workshops. Every Thursday night we have one. Our coordinator Linn is super cool and she plans great things for us. My favorite event so far has been making homemade ice cream with Danish ingredients. This week, we’re doing an event with the Arts LLC and doing “food styling.” And this weekend, we have our LLC retreat, which will involve a “food walk” through Copenhagen, cooking Danish dishes and attending a food photography workshop.

6. We’ve become good friends. Because we have so many planned activities together and we’re a relatively small community, our floor has gotten pretty close. We do non-food related events sometimes, like movie nights. So hygge.

7. But mostly, we enjoy doing food-related events together. One Saturday, our whole LLC went to a munchies festival together for fun. It was awesome to go with 30 other people who also wanted to try everything and take pictures of all the food they were eating.

8. We have family dinners. We have a rotating schedule where every Monday a different pair of roommates cooks dinner for the whole floor. They’re my favorite part of every week. It feels very hygge to sit down and relax with everyone and enjoy a great home-cooked meal. People have been going all out with the dinners so far. We’ve had roast chicken, bangers and mash, spaghetti with homemade meatballs… and rumor has it, next week might be tikka masala!

9. We get the chance to experience Danish food culture. I’m starting to recognize Danish ingredients in the grocery stores and I have tried a lot of Danish foods. I don’t love them all (some of these meat and fish combos are a bit much for my palette) but I’m happy to get to try new things.

10. I’m becoming a better cook!!! I’m trying new creations all the time, frequently without recipes. The other day, I made ramen and it was not your classic college kid ramen. I stir-fried some vegetables and soft-boiled an egg for it — highly fancy. It took me four times before I could soft-boil the egg successfully and not have to throw it in the microwave before adding it to the soup, but my friends in the LLC were a huge help. When I finally got it, I had several people celebrating the accomplishment with me.

A week in photos: 8/20-8/27

Here’s a few things that I saw in my first week in Copenhagen:

Pictured above:

• The beautiful Nyhavn. I have already walked along the harbor so many times, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the view.
• Bubbles being blown outside Illum, a huge department store on Østergade.
• Barburrito, a small Mexican restaurant that is located near DIS. We decided to go there for Mara’s 21st birthday and it was super tasty. We ate so many little tacos, and we also ordered margaritas and plantain chips with guac — something I had never tried before!
• Trampolines on Havnegade. We walked along the harbor in a new area and found trampolines on the sidewalk! No wonder they call Denmark the happiest country in the world.
• First day of watercolor class along the canal. Even though most of us didn’t have experience with watercolor, our professor said we needed to take advantage of the beautiful day so he took us out to paint by the water.
• Danish candy from Flying Tiger. Tiger is like the dollar section of Target only a million times better.
• Design studio classroom at DIS.
• Torvehallerne (the Glass Market). After walking around and checking out all the different food stands we ended up getting more smørrebrød. I have no idea what was on my sandwich (some kind of fried fish? Maybe??) but I really enjoyed it!
• Pebble Lake. We passed this on our way to Nørrebro and spent awhile just admiring the view and all of the swans.
• The beautiful cemetery in Nørrebro, Assistens Kirkegård. This is where famous Danish writer/poet Hans Christian Andersen is buried.
• Jægersborggade in the Nørrebro neighborhood. This street was full of cute shops and cafés. It was a lot quieter than the busy street we live on in central Copenhagen and we saw a lot more families. I definitely want to spend more time exploring this area.

DIS-covering the city

This week has been jam-packed with orientation activities, but my favorite one so far has definitely been “DIScover Copenhagen.” On Tuesday, we met in the courtyard below my LLC and we formed groups of six. We were given four locations to visit in a specific order: Christiansborg Palace, Nyhavn (New Harbor), Skuespilhuset (The Royal Danish Playhouse) and Amalienborg. At each location, we were told to find DIS Faculty to learn more about it.

To get in the exploring spirit, my group stopped at Studenterhurset to get caffeinated. Studenterhurset is a small café/bar about two minutes from where I live. It’s a non-profit organization that gives discounts to students in Copenhagen. You can get drinks, snacks and attend activities like quiz nights or craft nights. It’s very accessible for both Danish students and international students and looks like a really neat place to hang out and study. I got a coffee for only 12 kroner (less than two dollars!! Score!!) and DIS students were given a complimentary flødeboller! A flødeboller is a delightful little chocolate covered marshmallow. Mine had coconut on it. It was super tasty and I regret inhaling it before I could snap a picture.

After we got our caffeine and flødeboller fix, we headed off to our four destinations. We had a great time getting to know the city and getting to know each other. Some things I learned from the DIS faculty at the stops:

• Copenhagen is originally a viking fishing village and it was founded in the 10th century.
• Even though Copenhagen is a very old country, there is technically no “old city” in Copenhagen. There have been several fires and things have been rebuilt to replicate original buildings.
• Christiansborg is a palace and a government building that houses the Danish Parliament (Folketinget), the Danish prime minister’s office and the supreme court of Denmark.
• You can go to the top of Christiansborg and get a great view of the city. That’s on my to-do list!
• If you’re trying to guess which Danish king did something, guess either Frederick or Christian. Almost all Danish kings share one of those names.
• Historically, Denmark has only had two real enemies: Sweden and Germany. Denmark never really won against either, which explains why both those two countries have significantly more land than Denmark does.
• Nyhavn is pronounced “New Haven.” It means “new harbor.”
• Skuespilhuset opened in 2008. It is a theater building for the Royal Danish Theater. It was designed specifically for dramatic theater and now these shows don’t need to share the same venue as opera and ballet.
• Amalienborg is the home of the royal Danish family.

Christiansborg Palace

Group picture in front of Nyhavn. The six of us all live in the Culinary LLC.

The Royal Danish Playhouse is that beautiful shiny building on the left. On the right is the Royal Danish Opera House.

Amalienborg

After we finished our DIScovery activities, we decided to discover some things on our own. All the walking made us hungry so we headed to Papirøen (means “paper island”) which is a big building of street food vendors along the water. Papirøen has every kind of food you could think of: Thai, American, Danish, Moroccan, etc. Everything looked fantastic. Honestly, my biggest challenge in Copenhagen thus far has been deciding which stand to get food from. So I guess that means I’m doing pretty well here so far.

Outside of Paper Island aka my new favorite place

I decided to get smørrebrød, which is a traditional Danish open-faced sandwich. Mine had potato and red onion with fried onions on top. I also got a mojito because they were too pretty to pass up. Sure enough, we ran into another group of students from the Culinary LLC we live in. I think it should be our new hang out spot.

I made the right choice.

After lunch, we decided to explore a little art installation that was near the edge of the harbor at Nyhavn. There were two soccer ball shaped domes, and you had to crawl in a tiny door and put on weird slippers in the tiny dome before entering the main dome. It was seriously one of the coolest things I’ve seen so far. The art installation featured painted glass and lots of mirrors. I don’t even know how to describe it but hopefully my pictures do it some justice.

All in all, it was such an awesome day. I’m so thankful that DIS has such a well-thought out orientation. This past week, I’ve gradually become more comfortable wandering through Copenhagen. I can’t pronounce the street names, but I am usually able to get back to where I live without Google maps now. The activities have also really helped us get to know everyone we’re living with, which is great because of how many shared spaces we have in our apartment-style home.

I was already mesmerized by the beauty of Copenhagen but the DIScover Copenhagen event made me really begin to love the city. It was a chance to finally get a bit of guidance and learn some background to all the sites we’ve been seeing. I’ve studied some European history in the States but I keep feeling surprised by fundamental pieces of Danish history that I’ve just never even thought about. Understanding a bit of context and knowing more about where I’m living for the next few months certainly helped make me appreciate things more. 

 

Goals

I’m publishing a list of goals for the semester so that I can hold myself accountable for accomplishing them:

1. Explore as much of Copenhagen as possible: I want to see places all over the city and areas nearby like Jutland and Bornholm.
2. Visit at least three countries during the semester: Not counting the Netherlands (the location of my study tour for class), I want to travel to at least three countries during my study breaks or long weekends. Hopefully even more!
3. Learn some Danish: I won’t be fluent (or graceful) but I’d like to be able to read some street signs or the names of items in the grocery store.
4. Ride a bike: I haven’t been on a bike in like six years. I don’t know why that is, but I feel like I need to ride one somewhere in Copenhagen to experience the culture. They say you can’t forget how to ride a bike, so let’s hope I don’t prove that wrong.
5. Challenge myself creatively: I want to try new things in design, art and photography and be inspired by my surroundings and by what I learn about Danish and Scandinavian design in my classes.
6. Explore my inner foodie: I love eating so it’d be cool to learn some things about cooking, too. I also want to learn more about Danish food culture, become a little more knowledgeable about wine and better my skills in food photography.
7. Meet Danes: Getting to know Danish people is how I’ll be able to learn about the culture. I am excited to meet my visiting host family, SRAs, DIS faculty and many others!
8. Visit Politiken: News design is what I want to find a career in after graduation and looking at the designs of other newspapers is a great way to get inspired. The Danish newspaper, Politiken, is extremely well-designed and I met the paper’s art director at a Society for News Design (SND) event last February. Getting in touch with him and visiting the paper is definitely on my to-do list.
9. Be flexible and keep an open mind: Living in a new city with a language barrier and an unfamiliar culture is bound to have its challenges. I want to approach new situations in a positive way and learn from these experiences.
10. Live in the present: I want to make the most of my time abroad. I know I will miss my family and friends back home, and keeping in touch is really important to me, but they will be there when I get home, whereas Copenhagen will not be. I will be sure to take in my surroundings and enjoy my time abroad.