It’s officially core course week! For those that don’t know, with the DIS program you apply to a specific course with which you go on two traveling study tours. I am in European Politics: Game of Crisis and Survival, so I go to Hamburg for three days (this week), and then later in the semester I will travel to Brussels for a week. The first part of core course week is spent in Copenhagen, and I will end the week in Germany. Since this is a bit of an unusual week, I’m going to break the blog post into two parts. So, here is Mon-Wed in CPH!!!
Monday
Along with a regular lecture by our professors, the Former Chief Executive of the European Policy Institute came in to speak and answer questions for us. He was really interesting, and as a career politician focused on the EU, he provided good perspective on what it was actually like to work in that field and live in Brussels!!
Another aspect to the week, is that half of the people go on their trip the first part of the week, and half the second. So, the Kollegium felt really empty Mon-Wed. I have two roommates normally, so having the room to myself was bizarre, and it made me realize how glad I am to not live alone or in a less social living environment.
Tuesday
I started out Tuesday watching a short film on the president of the european council. However, the highlight of the day was definitely going to the Parliament building to meet with the former Minister of Taxation, who has been a high profile member of the Socialistisk Folkeparti (a green, left-wing political party) for over 30 years. It was super interesting to talk to him, especially because he was one of the people who most strongly pushed against Denmark joining the EU, then reversed his decision and pushed his party towards a stance of more EU integration. We met in the actual room that his party meets in every day, and he also he took us into the meeting place of the Danish People’s Party, the anti-immigration populist group on the rise in Denmark. It was insane to just be able to walk into the rooms where the decisions that we have been reading about in class are being made. We also got a tour of Parliament, which meant that we saw the constitutions and sat in the gallery for part of an actual Parliament session, as well as toured the building itself. All in all, it was a really interesting experience and I feel like I actually learned a lot about how the politics in Denmark actually work, just by sensing out the atmosphere (long story short, its a very different from the US).
Wednesday
Wednesday I had off from classes, as a way to prep ourselves for going to Hamburg. It was the birthday of a boy in my Kollegim, so I went with him and another friend to get cinnamon rolls, then we went to the Danish Design Museum, and then to a board game cafe (turns out settlers of Catan can get really intense). A fun relaxing day before the hustle and bustle of traveling!
Tomorrow, bright and early, I leave for Hamburg! So, hej hej until then!
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Maya is a senior International Studies major, spending the spring 2018 semester in Denmark through DIS Study Abroad in Scandinavia.
Read more from Maya at travelingpapaya.wordpress.com
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