A drop in the ocean – how I paid for a semester abroad

One of the biggest obstacles that people foresee to study abroad is how one will fund it. At the start of the planning process, it can seem really daunting. Especially for college students who may not be working full time or making a lot of money, it can be difficult to imagine.

However, study abroad can be pretty feasible, but everyone’s experience with this is different. It’s a pretty common narrative at my university that a semester abroad is usually much cheaper than a semester at TU. TU also does this cool thing where you pay them your tuition, and if the amount of your study abroad program is less than the tuition you paid, you get that difference back. Vice versa that if the program cost is more, you have to pay TU more. That being said, all of our university scholarships are still eligible to be applied to the semester abroad, and for me that was a great help – if this isn’t the case at your university, you may have to look into a lot more outside scholarships than I did.

Talk to your university’s study abroad advisors!

Most universities have peer advisors who have been abroad and can offer you some insight. If you’re really set on going abroad, then it may be more useful to ask them how they paid for it than it is to ask about programs or locations. There are also actual staff/faculty who will advise you and it’s important to let them know from the start that you are interested in scholarships and grants. They may be able to point you towards university scholarships specifically for study abroad students.

Consider the program that you are applying for.

DIS was really great and has several scholarships that are both need and merit based. If you’re curious about those, you can find them here. This is also common of study abroad programs, and since I didn’t look into any exchange programs, I can’t speak for the availability of those. I know other study abroad programs such as CIEE, SIT, ISA, etc all have scholarships that they offer students who are enrolled into their program directly. If the availability of scholarships is a huge deciding factor for you, make sure to throughly research the program that you are applying for.

Look for outside scholarships.

One of last the scholarships I applied for was the Gilman Scholarship. The Gilman is available to students who are Pell Grant eligible, and is through the US Department of Education. It’s also got a really great alumni network after your abroad program that you gain access to by being an awardee! Because of the scholarships that I received through my university and DIS, the Gilman scholarship was really the last one I needed to apply for, and with it my whole study abroad bill was paid for, including the flight!

Brush up on your essay skills + start early.

As college students, we really know the value of selling ourselves through our essays. Your essay should reflect your passions for not only travel and seeing the world – but also for the program that you are applying for and the place that you will be living in for a whole semester.

I can’t emphasize the value of starting early enough. Everyone that knows me knows I’m a serial procrastinator and I will wait for the last minute to do just about everything. But starting as early as you can really gives you a jump on the whole thing, from choosing a program to finding scholarships that you may be eligible for. Not only that, but once you decide you want to study abroad, if you decide your freshman year but want to go senior year, that gives you several summer breaks to save up as much as you can to go.

I wish you luck in planning your semester abroad! I’ll leave you with my favorite book quote, from Cloud Atlas – a really great read if you like fantasy and travel!

“My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

Wish you were here,

Rigel

 

How far I’ll go

Leaving Copenhagen, one of the many sentiments that were exchanged revolved around homesickness. I cannot even begin to explain just how homesick I am, however, my adventure continues on to a week in Italy, where I have family to stay with in Rome. Originally, I had many illusions about wanting to go to Greece, or maybe Zurich, or maybe some where in Eastern Europe.

Arriving in Italy, my body and my wallet demanded otherwise. Although I had done very well for myself with my budget this semester (this simply means that my bank account isn’t at 0.00, don’t be fooled, still broke), I just really couldn’t afford to do any of the other places I wished to see in Europe. In all honesty, I’m actually tuckered out. When I got to my aunt’s house in Rome, she told me, “When you finally get to rest, you’ll realize just how tired you are.” She couldn’t have been more truthful. Let me tell ya: I AM TIRED.

Making a home, packing up your suitcase and saying goodbye to it is no easy feat. I am physically and emotionally exhausted, but I knew I really wanted to fit one last adventure in.

As my graduation gift, my aunt brought me to Italy for 3 weeks. We spent most of it in Rome, but meandered our way up to Pisa, Venice, and Florence for a few days. In the scorching heat of that summer, we only managed to see Florence at night. This led me to make a quick stop to Florence on my way up to Milan, and it was worth the extra euro cents. The duomo in Florence continues to take my breath away in it’s grandeur, so much so that I didn’t even notice that the front had a fake facade. At Ponte Vecchio, I was greeted by the setting sun, and mustard warmth that seemed so foreign after living in Copenhagen. I spent entirely too much time basking in the sunlight, and then we were off to Milan.

Firenze Duomo (please look at how obvious)

Firenze Duomo

Firenze Duomo

Ponte Vecchio

Regrettably, I only slept in Milan for the night and swept through to Milano Centrale with a quick stop at the Duomo on our way to Switzerland. Although I would’ve liked to see the Galleria dressed up for Christmas time, I was bursting at the seams to get to Switzerland.

Obligatory Duomo picture, far far far away from the pigeons

From Milan we took a regional train (ONLY 13 EURO) to Lugano. Lugano has been on my bucket list since the summer I last came to Italy, as well as Switzerland for the better part of my life. I was utterly blown away by it. Although quaint, it was breathtaking in it’s simplicity and beauty. Mountains tower from every angle around the main station, and every street corner has hidden twists and turns, with peeks up to the peaks of the mountain. Although I really wanted to go up to Monte Bre, we simply didn’t have time and my aunt isn’t exactly a hiker.

The central station

Coming from and going home to Arizona for the holidays, I was truly craving the sight and the feel of a winter wonderland, and although Copenhagen with it’s hygge, Christmas decorations, and FIRST SNOWFALL did give me some semblance of that, the snowy peaks of the Alps and the snow on the ground in Lugano cemented the Christmas mood in my heart. Now all I need is my mom’s incessant Christmas music and my dog in her santa costume.

While I didn’t get as much done as I wanted on this little trip, I’m really glad to have taken it easy and gone with the flow of things. I have no regrets about how I’ve done and planned other trips during my semester, it’s nice to just go and see where your feet take you. Lugano was the perfect place to just walk around, because I gasped in awe around nearly every corner.

While the Alps and the winter wonderland were beautiful, one of my favorite views was still the lights of the city glimmering against the water at night. Regardless of where I go, the water always seems to call to me, and standing there on the shores of the lake looking out, I felt so peaceful and calm for the first time in a while.

Lake Lugano at night

If you ever find yourself with a free day in northern Italy, I would highly recommend going to Lugano. It was one of the most beautiful cities I have gone to this semester, and that’s really saying something.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

P.S. I’m really not sorry for all the subtle Moana references, I simply don’t know what happened.

How to: make a home in a new country

Hi friends.

As much as it pains me to say, this is my last blog post from the wonderful city of Copenhagen. Unfortunately for you I won’t quite be signing off yet as I have some post semester travel and I will be posting about that and also documenting some pre-departure stuff such as “What I wish I hadn’t packed” and “How I paid for a semester abroad”. Hopefully you’ll still tune in for that!

Anyways, this blog post is about how Copenhagen has shaped up to be home for me for the last 4 months. I truly cannot fathom how quickly everything has flown past me, at the beginning I felt like I had nothing but time, and now I’m counting down the minutes.

I’m no stranger to packing up my life and moving to somewhere where not a single person knows my name. That’s what I did when I decided to go to the University of Tulsa, and coming from a very close knit family, the move was throughly jarring. However, I learned about myself in that move, and ultimately, my choice in my university is what facilitated and encouraged my semester abroad.

So how does one just pack up and move to another country, let alone make themselves a home and find happiness there? I’m no expert but I think I might be able to give you a little insight.

Be courageous.

Honestly, we never really give ourselves enough credit for the things that we really can achieve. The first step to making a home abroad is to GO ABROAD. Don’t be afraid of what you’re leaving behind. Don’t lament it too much. Home will be waiting for you when you get back. Take the first steps and remind yourself that you can do it.

Be friendly.

I seriously don’t quite know how to make adult friends. College is this weird thing where everyone just kind of sees the same people and we all vaguely know each other and you have a cluster of people you see often. You know that thing that people sometimes say along the lines of, “if I could do that again with all of the knowledge I have now…” Meeting people while studying abroad is like that. It’s like college orientation all over again, except a little less awkward. Don’t forget that everyone is in the same boat as you!

Be open to a new experience.

One of the best things I opted in for was a visiting host family. I cannot explain to you how terrified I was to be going to this random family’s house 30 minutes away from our flat, but it was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever participated in. We met less often than I would’ve liked due to scheduling conflicts, but every single time I came over for dinner was a blast. They were even kind enough to invite Ian over for dinner when he was here and always sent me home with lots of goodies to eat. Being able to be in a family setting while abroad was undoubtedly one of the most comforting things I had here in Copenhagen. Just as my family back home, leaving is always difficult because the conversation never seemed to end. They even took me to a real life Scandi IKEA and explained every detail to me, making sure to include that IKEA owns their own wind mill and powers their store in some part with energy from that.

Part of the IKEA showroom.

Be patient.

Public transit isn’t really your best friend, but more like a frenemy that drives you to work. I was lucky enough to live in the city center, but had to commute to the hospital for MPP. I found the commute to give me a sense of normality and of (fake) productivity, but it was nice. However, transit in Copenhagen can really take you for a ride, and instead of a comfy S-tog ride on the A line towards Farum, you’re crammed into the 6A bus being threatened to be pushed out of the door and left at the station at each stop, all the while having to pee.

In a more eloquent sense, be patient in waiting for the cobblestone to feel normal on your feet. Be patient in waiting for the sun to come out because this is Scandinavia, not Arizona. Be patient in waiting for strangers to become familiar and welcoming faces. The feeling of home doesn’t manifest over night, but one day you’ll be walking to your favorite cafe or your friend’s apartment and you’ll realize that you’ve made a home for yourself here.

One of the very first photos I took out of our kitchen window.

Be unashamed in the things you enjoy.

On my last night in Copenhagen, I saw snow falling for the first time with Kripa, who is also a SoCal native. We ran out of the big green doors of our LLC screeching and squealing at the wispy flakes whirling around us and people who walked past us laughed at the sight. There have been many times through the semester that I’ve been in embarrassing positions because of something I wanted to do or a photo that I wanted but I’m really glad I went ahead and did those things anyways because I got the experience and a funny story about how I embarrassed myself in front of random strangers I will never see again.

Two SoCal girls see snow falling for the first time

Be a tourist!

Don’t forget to do the touristy things in your city. I didn’t get to all of them, but the ones that I did were worth all the effort. Most people I spoke to had a bucket list of things they wanted to see, as did I, which made prioritizing what touristy stuff I wanted to do easier. If you’re especially lucky, getting to show a friend or family member around your city is a great way to play tourist and see it through different eyes and fall in love with it all over again.

Church of Our Savior

THE STREET TRAMPOLINES

Nyhavn at Christmas time

Christmas on Stroget

Tivoli

More Christmas Tivoli!

Kastellet

So tiny…so underwhelming

Nyhavn at Christmas time

Tivoli

Copenhagen Contemporary

The fabled creme brulee donut at Paper Island

Be loving and kind.

Being kind to another person, whether friend or stranger just plain makes you feel good. I made an effort to help anyone who looked or sounded puzzled over public transit and what better way to feel more part of the city than to help someone who is lost in it? Whether stranger or friend, reaching out to those who are in need around you makes you feel part of something, and this can be as little as helping someone get on the right train, helping your flatmates put away the dishes in the dish washer, or even volunteering in the city.

Just be a pal.

Unlike college, my friends were spread out all over the city and even outside of it. To hangout and be together actually required effort, planning and communication. To find people to live with that you genuinely love and enjoy being around requires you to be that. To find people who enjoy traveling with you and will remember the time that you sang 80’s songs on a paddle boat, almost died in the midst of a tropical storm, mocked every statue you guys came across, spoke Spanglish to get food half off, got on a tram hoping it goes in the right direction and hurrying off at the next stop to catch the one that IS going in the right direction, and all of the mildly hysterical slap happy laughter at the end of each trip as you recount all of the things you maybe shouldn’t have done.

PH LLC recreates the Last Supper at our last brunch. 

Friendsgiving with my MPP section.

To each and every one of my friends from Copenhagen, tusind tak. Thank you for making this a semester full of growth, laughter, and joy. Thanks for being my sunshine in in the gloomy Scandinavian weather. I love you all so much, this simply isn’t goodbye, but a “see you later”.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

li-gá-ya: merriness and joy

Ligáya is one of my favorite Filipino words. It has such a joyful connotation, it’s part of how we say merry christmas, “maligayang pasko”. Especially with the Christmas spirit on full blast in Copenhagen, I cannot help but to describe the general feeling as such.

This isn’t to say that my heart isn’t holding on by a string, threatening to shatter into a million tiny pieces at all of the goodbyes being said, and all of the impending sadness that I know I will have to sort through.

However, as we push through to finals week and my professors say goodbye and we thank them for the great semester they’ve given us, I wanted to showcase some of the things that have brought me immense joy this semester, or have brought me ligáya.

Studying things I’m passionate about.

 

Lumbar puncture

My team!!

Success!

Cinnamon snails at Cafe Nutid!

My professors this semester have gone above and beyond to make this semester one that is a combination of fun and of actual learning. I’ve thought about occupations that I’d never considered before, I’ve cemented my dream of going to medical school, I’ve debated and listened. Outside of learning in class, I’ve learned when to take breaks, and that learning doesn’t have to be all stress and perfection.

My LLC and all my LLC friends!

Paper Island

Winter swimming

Parkour!

Dyrehaven

LLC fam goes to Amager beach, to “read” for class. A great mental break and destress.

Friendsgiving

I didn’t take choosing where I would live this semester lightly. I had such great luck back home with my roommate, and I also know how much it can impact someone’s life to have a living situation that doesn’t suit them or that they’re not happy about it. I’m so happy with my choice to live in the Public Health LLC. It would be false to paint it as all rosy all the time, but my friends and the community we’ve built in our flat far outweighs any negative thing that has happened.

All of my random adventures within Denmark.

 

A Livsrummet at Naevsted

A wonderful row of houses in Osterbro

The outside of the Lousiana Castle

The sea at Elsinore

Kronborg Castle

The Lousiana Museum of Art

Tunnel under Kronborg Castle

ARos Art museum

Dyrehaven

Bellevue Park

Cafe Nutid, one of my favorite places to study

Amager strand park

hot chocolate and cake at La Glace!

Katinka!

VEGA

I’m glad I saw more of Denmark than just Copenhagen. From Aarhus to Naevsted to Skanderborg. Within Copenhagen I’ve done the touristy stuff, have frozen my butt off in the Baltic sea at Amager Strand park, had indulgent hot chocolate at La Glace, steered clear of big bucks at Dyrehaven park in Klampenborg, spent too many hours at Cafe Nutid smelling like cinnamon rolls. Last week I agreed to see a Danish artist (Katinka) I had never heard of with Annabelle, who got tickets passed on to her through her Danish professor. I’m just trying to soak up all my time here.

All of my travel buddies.

 

Berlin with Ian

Amsterdam + Brussels with Kacey

Julia, Elise, and Tejas in Lisbon

Tejas, who put up with me all week in Spain + Portugal

Alex and I in Vienna

Julia and I in Prague

Julia, Ariana, Margo, and Emma

Kripa + Annabelle in Sweden

Traveling with people is not an easy thing. Spending every waking moment with someone can really cause you to dislike each other, but I have rosy rosy memories with all the people I’ve traveled with. Thanks for being part of the view and making me laugh, cry, and laughing at me every single time I almost fall on my ass.

My core course and all the friends I’ve made in it.

 

ARos art museum

Parliament

Fisherman’s Bastion

Schezenyi

Thruple at the Belvedre

Part of the walk to and from Bispebjerg hospital, a view I already miss.

Friendsgiving!

Outside of my LLC pals, I am so so overjoyed to have made the friends I have in my core course. A week and a half of travel with them and countless jokes, trust from letting each other be guinea pigs for IVs and nasogastric tubes (nobody actually got one of those we ran out of time), pure exhaustion, pure frustration because group papers, a lot of confused looks exchanged, and lots and lots of laughter. Friendsgiving where I got way too day drunk and experienced my first day of hangover. If you’re looking for your people abroad at DIS, make sure to get to know the people in your core course.

COPENHAGEN AT CHRISTMAS TIME.

Tivoli

Christmas on Stroget

Stroget

Fake snow!

Nyhavn at Christmas time

Christmas is my favorite season. My mom starts decorating in October, since the Philippines doesn’t celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. Christmas time here makes me feel a literal flurry of emotions because it makes me homesick, but brings me so much simplistic joy.

This semester has flown by for all of us. This is my last week in Copenhagen, and I am utterly taken aback. I’m trying to make the best of everything and take it all in, but sometimes the sad gets me and I have to try to remind myself how great my time here has been. Now I’ve written this post instead of studying for finals, but this isn’t the last of me yet!

Wish you were here,

Rigel

Through Annabelle’s eyes

Hey guys! Today I’m bringing you a special feature from someone very near and dear to my heart so that you can see Copenhagen from someone else’s perspective.

Hey pals,

I have taken over Rigel’s blog today to write to you about making the most of traveling and being touristy while abroad. I live in the Public Health LLC with Rigel and am majoring in Public Health at the University of Rochester. Here at DIS, I only have classes on Mondays and Thursdays, leaving me ample time to travel on weekends and take day trips on weekdays.

My Danish Language and Culture instructor over heard a group of students talking about all the places they had gone outside of Denmark in the first month of being here and emphasized the importance of spending time in Copenhagen and Denmark. She couldn’t have been more on point. Up until last week, I hadn’t left Denmark once. I’m certainly eager to spend time traveling Europe, which I’ll have plenty of time to do at the end of the semester, but it’s so amazing to travel within the borders of Denmark. Island Zealand, the portion of Denmark that Copenhagen is on, is just one small part of this magnificent country. With trips to Odense, Middelfart, Northern Zealand, and Aarhus (the second biggest Danish city and the location of the — photo), my weekends and day trips within Denmark have been unbelievably beautiful, strikingly different for what is classically known as a homogenous country, and a magnificent reminder of why I couldn’t be happier to be living for 4 months in not just Copenhagen, but in Denmark.

Not every trip has been perfect nor exciting. Along with Rigel and another friend, I went to Malmo, a Swedish city 45 minutes from Copenhagen by train for a day. It poured the majority of the time, the so-called “Malmo Castle” was actually a brick building in the middle of a park that functioned as an expensive museum. For my trip to Aarhus, though it is the second largest Danish city, after a day and a half of active sight seeing, we had seen plenty and had run out of cost effective things to do. The trip ended with me coming close to tears as a train worker screamed at me for incorrectly asking a question. I mention these seemingly less than ideal trips to say despite the lack of things to do, the poor weather or scary men, I had a fantastic time on both trips, primarily because of who I was with. Travel with people that are enjoyable enough company that even in the pouring rain, you’ll be happy to go on adventures with. Walking around new cities, even when my feet are aching from endless steps and my jeans are wet from Scandinavia’s endless rain, is a thousand times more enjoyable when there there are people to tell stories with, enjoy the most mundane sights, and laugh about the absurdity of situations with.

Annabelle in Malmo

Aarhus ARos art museum

Being a tourist alone has undoubtedly lead to some of my most enjoyable day trips and in a highly cliched study abroad type way gotten me most out of my comfort zone. A month ago I visited Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland with my core course, Health Delivery and Prioritization for our core course academic week. While it was unexpectedly nice to travel with this group of people that I hadn’t spent much time with previously, one of the most enjoyable couple of hours of this trip was the two hours I spent on my own in Helsinki. While the majority of the rest of the class went to see a monument that I had seen the previous day while they rested, I saw three beautiful churches, including the Rock Church, visited a market on the harbor, and spent time meditating in Kamppi Chapel. With only a few weeks left of this four month adventure, I’m working to prioritize the experiences that I have and therefore getting more comfortable being a tourist on my own. That being said, if you ever find yourself in Helsinki, I highly recommend going to a karaoke with 16 other classmates (though be weary of creepy Finnish men ranging from 30 to 70 years old).

With a mere two weekends left in Copenhagen, I am eager to explore all the corners of this beautiful city that I have yet to see. I remain excited at the thought that by December 29th, the day I return to the US, I will have been to 13 new countries. As we come to the point of one month left of this amazing experience, I find myself thinking about how fortunate I am to be spending four months learning, living, and thriving in Denmark.

Alt det bedste,

Annabelle

How to: maintain a long distance relationship while abroad

One of the scariest parts about going abroad for me was leaving my partner behind in the states. Ian and I were practically living together during the school year and had really only spent time apart during winter and summer break. I came to see him in Tulsa for 2 weeks before I left, where I helped him move into his new apartment for the school year. I don’t think it made things any easier, but I really enjoyed getting to be part of the process and getting to spend time with him before I left.

Before we really agreed to be in a serious relationship I told him of my intentions to go abroad and since we were really close at the time, that he would have to be okay with being apart from me that long. He agreed to it and that was that, and now about a year later here I am, sitting in Copenhagen.

It feels like so long ago that we agreed to be okay with this, and there was a lot of crying and uncertainty on my part before I left that I would really actually thrive while abroad, and saying goodbye was terribly difficult. We spent our last night together debating about which variation of my black shirts I would bring (spoiler: I brought all of them), and watching Star Wars and the next morning he dropped me off at the airport and that was that.

We technically had been long distance over the summer and that was also really difficult. Maintaining long distance friendships is something I’m no stranger to, my best childhood friend and I haven’t lived in the same state together since we were 7, and I’m still pretty close to my good friends from high school. However, an LDR is a whole different ball game.

Establish your expectations!

It’s important to talk about what you expect from each other before you even leave. This can include many things – from how often and how long you expect to talk, how you want to talk, etc. This prevents a lot of small arguments that could crop up before hand. An unsaid facet to this is to speak up if you think an expectation is too great and may not be met! If your partner expects that you’ll call every night and you know that it’s impossible, then you should communicate this.

Mind the time difference and your schedules.

Really though, the whole “let’s talk everyday” is a recipe for trouble for most people, especially considering the time difference and how much both of you have going on during the semester. Whether your partner is in school, is working or both, it’s really difficult to find a time that works sometimes.

Even in the best of times, sometimes something just comes up, and it can become really difficult to deal with the disappointment of not being able to talk to your partner. It’s best to be realistic with your expectations but also understanding of your partner if something does come up.

Ian and I had planned on talking in the evening my time every Tuesday and Thursday and this worked out for us really well in the beginning, and then he was offered an amazing internship that would now take up that time. I can’t say I reacted with the most grace ever, but ultimately I knew that it would be okay. I altered my expectations and now we try our best to let the other know when some free time might come up to chat for a little bit.

Find support!

Chances are, there’s many people who are also in long distance relationships while abroad. Find friends who can relate to you and understand your struggle. I’ve been really lucky that many of my friends here know and understand my struggle and can emphasize with me when I’m sad simply because I miss my partner. It really helps to know you’re never really truly alone.

Create “dates” and things to look forward to.

Sometimes things can feel like they’re dragging on and that the time between now and when you’ll see them again seems like eternity. One way to make it feel less like a chasm is to plan dates and things to look forward to. Sometimes for us this is as simple as picking a movie to watch together at a certain time and just being together.

Speaking of looking forward to – Ian’s parents were gracious enough to have him come to Copenhagen to visit me for the semester! He came for a week over Thanksgiving break and we were able to spend 5 days in Copenhagen and 2 days in Berlin.

Knowing he was coming made it feel significantly better, but understandably not everyone gets this. However, you do get to return home to them soon.

Cherish every little moment

Being away from your partner is difficult. But looking back at the last year, Ian and I have spent more time apart than we have together and yet I still beam with happiness thinking about how much we’ve grown together.

I’m grateful for all the meals we’ve shared, whether at a nice restaurant or takeout in our bed with Netflix on.

The infamous creme brulee donut at Paper Island

Spatzel and a burger in Berlin

hot chocolate and cake at La Glace!

Duck it delivery from Wolt to our hotel

I’m grateful that I got to play tourist and show him around the wonderful city that I’ve been living in for the last few months.

Copenhagen contemporary

Tivoli

Norrebro lakes

Tivoli

Kastellet

So tiny…so underwhelming

Street trampolines!

I’m grateful that he got to see my day to day life, my commute from my apartment to the hospital I have class in, to see interactions with my friends and my flatmates, and to understand how all of this has made me grow.
I’m grateful to have taken him on a whirlwind 2 day trip like I have on several weekends during my time here and get to show him one of my favorite European cities.

East Side Gallery

Me at the Brandenburg Gate

Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe

Berliner Dom at Museum Island

Ian at the top of the Reichstag

East Side Gallery

I’m grateful for a partner who is patient, kind, understanding, and who is waiting for me to come home.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

 

 

Waddling our way through Spain and Portugal

So, long time no see. This last week has been incredibly i n s a n e. As I may have said, DIS gives students a week to travel and sight see in Europe, and this last week was my travel week. I intended to right a blog post on it, but I just never found the time, as you can see.

And, to be quite honest, I still haven’t quite got my life together hahaha. I came home late Sunday night after a 5 hour train ride from Hamburg, promptly fell asleep, and upon return I tried my best to adult. I unpacked and threw my clothes in the laundry, which is a real accomplishment for me because I’m really known to live out of my suitcase for as long as humanly possible. Upon return there were several tests and assignments that were needing to be tended to, so I was absent from my blog for even longer. So sorry about that.

The sun is setting in Denmark around 16.30 (4:30pm) now, and it’s really made me feel a little robbed. My friend Jordan remarked that I look a little tanner now, and I’m lamenting my loss of sunlight honestly. As an Arizonan, it’s really jarring. It’s also fairly chilly now, so we’ll see how I adjust to all of this new found information.

Anyway, my travel week was to various locations in Spain and Portugal. The itinerary was packed and crazy, but I don’t regret a single moment. My body aches and my mind is really fatigued, but I knew I needed to give you guys a peek, so here’s how we waddled our way through our travel break with random photo dumps.

1 – Holding your pee waddle

If you didn’t already know, in addition to water not being free, in most places the bathroom isn’t either. Public places like train stations usually have a small fee to use the bathroom. So you have to pay to intake water and expel it in Europe, wooo. We found ourselves doing the “have-to-pee-right-this-second” waddle many times throughout our journey, and it was hilarious and humbling all at the same time. Why pay when you can waddle desperately back to your AirBnb?

2 – “It was colder than I expected but I won’t admit it” waddle

I know mom, I should’ve brought a jacket. The days were sooo wonderfully warm and sunny though, and it was just such a bother to drag a jacket with us all day long. So, like the reckless young adults we are: we just didn’t. It was fine most nights, but man, some of them really really tested us. Especially our first night back to Copenhagen, as we weren’t going to back a bunch of cold weather clothes for a trip that had not a single day under 60 degrees F.

3 -“It’s raining and I’ve slipped on the cobblestone/tile more times than I can count” waddle

Lisbon’s tiles were eye catching, and complimentary to Barcelona’s colorful Gaudi, but man, the tiles and cobblestone on the ground were not friendly to our strides, and there was precarious waddling to get up and down the hills without actually busting our asses. This waddle consists of a lot of short, controlled strides and angry locals murmuring behind you for being an amateur.

This one is also applicable when you find yourself in the middle of a tropical storm headed to Cabo da Roca, the most Western Point in Europe. There was a lot of nervous laughter on our bus over as there was lighting and thunder at the same time, signaling that the storm was directly over head. This waddle was prevalent as we ran around trying to see the sights without getting hit by lightning and slip on the mud, but our luck turned around and the clouds broke for about half an hour, and we even got a rainbow!

4 – The Hangry waddle

If you’ve never done this one in your life: you’re lying. The one where you cross your arms and don’t speak to anyone in your group because someone might get murdered. There were more than a few of these moments on the trip, and in Spain we learned a very valuable lesson: the city has a siesta, and this means that when for some reason, you decide that lunch is to be served at 3pm, everything will be closed.

There was a sign at the THIRD tapas bar we tried to go to that actually asked people to be considerate of sleeping neighbors. The Hangry waddle was out in full force on our last day in Madrid, but that’s okay, we eventually scouted tapas and a whole jar of sangria.

We also remedied our tensions with a sunset and a view from the top of Madrid, which was a fitting way to end our time in Spain.

5 – “I’m trying to take a photo and walk at the same time” waddle

My personal favorite, and maybe my predominant gait at all times. Really I could only marvel at some of the amazing sights that we saw. This was especially the case when Tejas took us on a 10 minute tour of Valencia which he thought was marvelous and I almost had a heart attack, as we arrived to our train to Madrid 5 minutes before it left.

There were many occasions where we would just gasp and laugh because how did we get so lucky to travel and see what we saw? It really blows my mind. From all the Gaudi and gothic architecture in Barcelona, to Valencia’s vaguely Rome-esque vibe, to Madrid’s hustle and bustle, Lisbon’s peaks and valleys, and Sintra’s breathtaking views, it’s a lot to process.

One of these days when I’m not slammed with work I will hopefully have some more reflective writing to give you guys about this trip, because man was it the trip of a lifetime. But for now, enjoy this little peak into what a week of sights and sounds was like. I’m so excited to be back in Copenhagen.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

Playing doctor

Being a pre-medicine student is really difficult, people who are pre-med know that, people who aren’t pre-med know that. Before I came abroad I really felt the burn out hitting me, which was my own fault because I took a full semester of exclusively really difficult science classes. I will never forget the time I failed my genetics test so hard that I had to drop the class because it was my 5th exam of the week after physics II, organic chem II, biochem I and multivariable calculus exams. Yeah, I really didn’t think that one through.

It was humiliating and humbling, and it also made me realize how jaded I was becoming towards science and how burnt out I was at only the half way point to my undergraduate career. Studying the theory before applying it is a necessary evil, but that is a long time coming for those of us that want to be doctors.

I try my very best to find doctors to shadow in the States because it helps me remind myself what I’m working towards and how much I enjoy medicine. I also do my best to try to get to as many clinical skills sessions at OU-Tulsa community medicine so that I can do something more hands on.

One of the best parts about being abroad and doing MPP at DIS has been how hands on I’ve gotten to be with my learning and with our clinical skills. We’ve done a number of workshops and sessions that have allowed us to flex our clinical muscles and it’s widely accepted by my peers that it’s refreshing to be able to play doctor, and to remind ourselves why were slogging through all the theory based, tear inducing learning.

Here’s a look into what I’ve (informally) learned to do at DIS by playing doctor.

Lumbar Puncture

Lumbar puncture

Beware the bent needle

Lumbar puncture was taught by one of the professor of my MPP course. Having talked about meningitis so much, it was awesome to get to actually try it. Of course, the doctors make it seem so easy, but most of us were cringing the entire time thinking of having this super long needle inserted into our backs. There’s also a lot of uncertainty: is the resistance you’re hitting just enough to be the ligament or is it bone? Case in point, Julia bent the needle several times because we told her that the “hard” thing she was hitting was just ligament but it was definitely bone. Sorry, fake volunteer.

Sutures

Limbs & Things is quite possibly the cutest name

I really love suturing. I want to do surgery, and being able to use my hands is something that I really treasure. It’s probably why I like to write and practice my calligraphy. Suturing is a great thing to practice, and we’ve done it a couple times this semester. In Vienna we even got to do it on pigs feet!

Catheter Insertion

IV Insertion

I was brave and I let Margo try to insert one on the back of my hand

Along with suturing, and the catheter insertion, we did IV insertion as part of our clinical skills session. The fake arm we did it on is the cover photo for this blog post, but he allowed us to try it on each other. Margo and I were supposed to try it on each other but I never got a chance to. These are real life skills y’all.

Emergency Medicine

My team!!

Alex performing CPR

In another one of our sessions, we did an emergency medicine simulation. We did the ABCDE method on a patient that is alive, in the sense that their heart is beating. It’s used in the acute setting in the hospital, and we managed to get Judy who was puking blood out of a life threatening blood pressure drop.

We also had one simulation in which our patient had chest pain and suddenly went into cardiac arrest. In what was not the best of moments, there was at least 30 seconds of complete panicked doing nothing, but once we got going into the CPR and defibrillating, things got going, this time without all the Office references.

OB-GYN Procedures

Cutest anatomical uterus ever

Assisting with birth

Success!

During our OB-GYN lecture we were able to simulate a pelvic exam, assisting birth, and the insertion of an IUD. It was a unique experience, because it was so different. Most of the time when you do medical simulations it is something like suturing or needles, which is fun, don’t get me wrong, but part of the experience is learning to see medicine from many angles.

Where do we go from here?

These are just the things I’ve seen in my core course. I have another class that has a heavy clinical aspect to it: Complexity of Cancer, where we will be visiting the department of radiology at a local hospital soon.

As a pre-medicine student, it’s important to seek out experiences that remind you of why you’re doing what you’re doing, as well as giving you the opportunity to reflect on if this is really what you want to do. Medicine is a huge, life long commitment, and this class has made me eager to continue to take it on, but it’s also made me realize that I need to take breaks in between.

Not having all of my science classes is weird but a welcome change of pace. Last semester reminded me that I really need to learn how to slow down, and that it’s O K A Y to slow down. Being abroad has allowed me to be more confident and independent, which has in turn given me the boost I needed to make a really big decision: taking a gap year.

The phrase gap year makes the hair on a lot of pre-medical students neck stand up, but here I have yet to speak to a doctor who didn’t take at least a couple. Obviously the financial security in Denmark is a huge contributing factor, but I’ve begun planning how I will make it work and how I can take some much needed time to myself before I try to make the plunge into medicine.

To all the pre-meds reading this: please make sure to make time for yourself. You don’t have to take a gap year, but don’t forget to learn and grow outside of academia, as well as in other realms within it. Also make an effort to engage yourself within the world of medicine if you know it’s what you really want. It’ll help keep you from burning out.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

 

How to: Spend 8 hours

Welcome to another installment of “how to” aka, probably terrible life advice from Rigel. In was some poor planning on my part, I got home from Prague on Monday morning, and left for Brussels on Friday night. It was rough, and my body hates me, my feet are swollen but I loved my experiences. You’re only young once right? Here’s how you can spend 8 hours in two different cities or another really really persuasive argument.

In Amsterdam:

Kacey and I took a Flixbus from Brussels to Amsterdam. We ran like hell to the bus because they’re always off to the side of the station and sometimes it’s just a draw of luck, or if you’re like me, you’re too optimistic about how much time you actually have to do things. We got on the bus and luckily there wasn’t a lot of people on it and I got two seats to myself so I slept for almost the whole bus ride.

Our only tickets and trains for the day was the one from the station the bus dropped us off in to the central station. We spent the next 8 hours on foot or sitting. I still really haven’t fully recovered from long study tour + Prague and my feet are actually going to fall off, but #noregrets.

We actually legitimately had no plans for the day except for the two things we had booked for the day, so here’s our city guide as told by two people who combined: a) didn’t know that Amsterdam was famous for having weed and b) didn’t wear thick soled shoes and suffered. Names have been removed for confidentiality.

The train dropped us off at Central Station and we just let our feet carry us and ultimately we ended up doing:

• The Red Light District
• The Botanical Gardens
• The Auschwitz Memorial
• All of the canals. Every single one.

Just kidding, I’m sure we didn’t see all of them but we saw some really beautiful ones. Here’s my photo drop:

 

From here we made our way to our two appointments for the day.

The Van Gogh Museum:

Now, this was probably the most I’ve ever spent on a museum ticket, but it was so worth it. (~$20) I’ve always really loved Van Gogh, although I’ve never studied art history or any kind of art technique besides using basic mediums. I guess that’s why I love Van Gogh so much, his art is accessible and his story is a humble (and sad) one, on top of that I find it very aesthetically pleasing. The museum is also laid out in a manner that makes it engaging and also a learning experience. It’s chronological but strategically broken up into periods of his life. I didn’t take photos of the things in the museum, but you can find them on Kacey’s blog if you’re interested.

Some of Van Gogh’s letters

The Anne Frank House:

This was one both of us wanted to make sure to get to, and I heavily recommend you do too if you’re visiting Amsterdam. My history background focused mostly on everything from WWI to the end of the Cold War, so this was something of particular interest to me. Anne Frank’s Diary was one of the first non-fiction books I read, before I even knew what the Holocaust or WWI was. I think it was within the first year that I learned how to read in English. As we waited to get into the museum, it had poured down rain, and the gloomy chilly sky was a fitting precursor. An audio guide through the house is part of your admission ($9!!!) and it’s an immersive and emotional one. To walk through the rooms that this family stayed in and try to imagine the terror that they were gripped with is harrowing. Although it was grey when we left, leaving the house after the sun had set really put the emotions we were feeling in frame.

Outside of the Anne Frank house

I only took a photo of the outside of the house, it felt really personal and emotional to be inside, so I just really found myself not reaching for my phone as I often do.

In Brussels:

Eat your way through Brussels. That’s the answer. Although, don’t do it on a Sunday. Kacey had a lot of difficulty finding vegan places that were open, as the city isn’t the most animal friendly on Sundays. A lot of places were closed and we think that definitely impacted our impression, especially since we came from bustling Amsterdam.

Either way, we still had a good time. Again, only transportation was pretty much from the Airbnb to the city center and the train station where our buses would pick us up/drop us off. If I was to say Amsterdam was walkable, Brussels was even more so. Most of the touristy stuff was within a 5 minute walking radius of the Grand Place, which was a really nice break for our feet. Although we wanted to get to the Atomium, I was aggressively pushed aside by middle aged men at Delirium cafe trying to get a beer, and it took way longer than expected. I had a yummy red beer and a Trappist beer which I didn’t like as much, but I think it was my fault for trying another hoppy beer.

Kacey and I essentially wandered the radius around the Grand Place and ate everything we could get our hands on. I had a Liege waffle with dark chocolate and bananas for breakfast. There are two kinds of Belgian waffles, the square doughy kind and the Liege – crispier with bits of sugar inside that caramelize while cooking. It was heavenly.

Waffles for breakfast is never a bad idea

We then continued our circuit and had our body weights in chocolate by going into every single chocolate store we found and picking up samples. I picked up some truffles to take home, and we briefly saw the Tintin boutique.

 

Tintin

Grand Place

The Pissing Girl

Random Hall

Grand Place

The Pissing Boy

Then I got to the star of the show: BELGIAN FRITES. Apparently if you call them french fries the Belgians get really offended, as they do theirs special. I had classic fries with curry ketchup which is a special delicacy I fell in love with in Berlin two summers ago, that I could easily make at home but don’t. Belgian fries are double (or triple) fried, and I really love my fries crispy so this was a total hit for me.

Belgian Fries

We finished off our trip with our stop at Delirium, which has over 3000 beers and they hold the Guinness world record for most beers available. It was a cool atmosphere and we sat at a barrel table. From here we made our way to our shuttle to the airport, and it really was a wonderful, whirlwind of a trip.

In bed:

Alternatively to all this, you could get your full 8 hours rest in bed, which I think I’ve failed to do since going on study tour. Sleep is important y’all.

Wish you were here,

Rigel

 

 

How to: be “spontaneous”

If I’m being quite frank, I planned to go to Prague after study tour in what was a whirl wind of a bus ride during core course week with a few girls I hardly even knew. A few texts back and forth and our airbnb was booked without a train or plane ride to and from Prague.

Even getting my ticket booked was kind of a disaster, Norwegian Air bugged out but charged my card and I was a nervous mess about it, but upon calling them I got a refund and managed to snag a ticket for cheaper than I had booked it the first time. It was a long road to getting a train to Prague from Vienna because there was one that left earlier that was a bit cheaper, and DIS said we couldn’t leave before the group collectively left for the airport. Ultimately we were grateful for a little extra downtime to relax and see Vienna.

Although study tour is really cool and our itineraries are really good, it can feel a little bit like you’re in a high school teen tour. If I’m being down right honest, I had no idea what to see or do in Prague. I usually extensively research the places that I’m going to before I go, but I was down right exhausted from study tour and figured it’d work itself out. A friend of mine who studied abroad sent me a list of things to do there, and it really facilitated the process of deciding what to do, but man were we really grateful for the opportunity to just do our own thing.

Getting to Prague

The train ride filled me with dread because I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to get a seat and would have to sit on the floor for the 4 hour journey after being exhausted from study tour, but it worked out that the train was particularly empty that night. Everything after that point seemed to just fall into place so wonderfully. We got an Uber from the central station who was chatty and lively, gave us some recommendations and told us how to say thank you in Czech (which we promptly forgot, forgive me.) Our host greeted us at the door to an apartment with AN ELEVATOR (our LLC doesn’t have one and I dread lugging my suitcase up each time), and to a wonderful room with a remote control light switch. We had a restful sleep and a slow morning, and we were off on our first adventure.

Hangry: the driving force

The original plan was to meet for brunch at the Prague Castle as it was a good halfway between our two airbnbs. Getting a metro pass was kind of confusing for all of us, and time slipped away and suddenly it was almost 13.00. At this point Julia and I had climbed up the hill (to a beautiful view and a peek into the oldest Czech vineyard) and the climb back down made us realize that we were really really hungry. Someone had suggested Cafe Savoy which I was recommended to go with a reservation to, and she was right because after ~15 minute walk there, we were greeted with a 30-50 minute wait to be seated. That was a fat NOPE, and we found ourselves at Cafe Lounge, where I had amazing batch brew coffee and poached eggs and avocado salsa on “prague bread” for less than $9.

We had no regrets about where our hungry feet led us this time. We looked on Google Maps (honestly, where anyone would be without it? lost.), and we had the perfect loop around the city.

• John Lennon Wall
• Nerudova Street – part of the main shopping street called Mala Strana
• The Prague Castle
• Old Town Square

John Lennon Wall

Another view up the street

Julia and I in Prague

Some of the buildings on Nerudova Street

View from the top

Emma – climbing on walls and being majestic

Prague Castle

Cathedral

Cathedral

Old Town Square and the Town Hall

All of these just aligned themselves in a way that ultimately landed us back at our friends’ airbnb, where we had drinks before going to a bar that was recommended to me. It’s called AnonymouS bar where all of the bar tenders wear the V for Vendetta mask and have a secret menu that you have to ask about. It was a little weird to find and maybe even a little gimmicky, (definitely expensive), but the cocktail I had was suberb. I was told there was a way you could get a cocktail where you smell different perfumes and based on the scents you like they would make you a drink, but the bartender then told me that wasn’t a thing. He just asked me what I liked (mojitos, moscow mules, white russians?) and said he’d surprise me.

Secret menu at AnonymouS bar

The drink I had was really sketchy because the only thing I heard him say was “egg whites” and the alarm bells were ringing in my head, but it was really wonderful. It was fruity, kind of milky, and definitely had coffee in it but it wasn’t heavy like White Russians tend to be. I didn’t become ill from the egg whites, and it was really unlike anything I’ve ever had before. If spending a lot of money on alcohol is not your jam though: don’t come here. It’s definitely pricey even for just a beer or something.

Driving force #2: Paddle Boats

Afterwards, we parted ways and took a really long tram ride back to our airbnb (the metro makes it a lot faster, but stops running at midnight). The stop was right outside the apartment, and we enjoyed another restful night of sleep. Our only tentative plan the next morning was to not buy breakfast out and to meet at the Charles Bridge.

Julia and I wandered over to the neighborhood Billa and got yummy bread and hummus, and some apples. We haphazardly ate our breakfast while listening to some violinists on the bridge and overlooking the wonderful view.

 

Upon meeting with our friends, we took our time making our way across the bridge, which was unfortunately packed with tourists. It was recommended to me to walk it at 4am when it’s empty, but we really just didn’t get a chance. Maybe you’ll be able to! The views from the bridge were marvelous and fall was in the air.

Fall foliage from the bridge

Margo – being Dora the Explorer

We planned on getting lunch at Peklo, which is an underground restaurant by the castle, but the wait to get our food was over an hour again and we were starving. We ended up at Cafe Savoy again, seated and realizing we actually didn’t like anything on the menu. We scrambled to get out of there undetected (and were probably stupidly obvious), but ended up being saved by Yelp. We then moved on to our only actual plan of the day: PADDLE BOATS. Margo suggested we go around sunset, and we got lost enough trying to find them that we got the timing perfectly.

Sunset

On the river

We played old music (note: Africa by Toto, Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, etc.), and jammed out for an hour, and it was just the most amazing time. I felt so content, I couldn’t stop giggling I think. It was magical and dreamy, kind of Hogwarts-esque.

Hogwarts

We returned to our friends airbnb with groceries and wine that ended up costing us $3 each, and had a good roasted veggie meal. It was a wonderful way to end the most amazing weekend trip. I think Prague stole a little piece of my heart that weekend, and even though it was packed with tourists, I feel like I tunnel visioned on my friends and the sights and sounds.

Wish you were here,

Rigel