Settling In #HogsAbroad

After a couple of weeks here in Copenhagen, I’m starting to finally get used to a routine of classes, coziness, and coffee. Lots of coffee.

The people I live with in my Arts Living & Learning Community (LLC) are a pretty cool bunch. They range from a national circuit cyclist who studies architecture to a genders studies major who is currently in a class here where her homework includes watching porn. I’ve gotten along very well with these people, and for the meantime, this’ll do just fine. It also doesn’t hurt that our place (pic above) is pretty sweet and accommodating with its living room, full kitchen, two bathrooms, and rooms for pairs. We’re situated right in the middle of the København K district, and classes at DIS are ~3 minute walk away. There are also two large, beautiful churches just a stone’s throw away in either direction of our place. You can tell because of their enveloping hourly bell tolls.

My classes include the following:

• Medical Biotechnology & Drug Development: my core course, which means notes but also study travel weeks to Western Denmark and London (!)
• Epigenetics & the Environment: DNA methylation, DNA acetylation. Lots of notes, but we get out and do a lot. For example, last Wednesday, we went to the Copenhagen Agricultural & Veterinary Institution to learn and see some stem cell development.
• Medical Exploration of HIV/AIDS: I’m actually pretty interested in this one due to my interest in molecular biology and how viruses work by just being proteins and nucleotides. The epidemiology aspect is also pretty cool.

and my Science Research Practicum at Roskilde Hospital. At first, I wasn’t too thrilled about working on an ophthalmology project, but my professor, Dr. Torben Sørensen, has been really excited and helpful for me. So far, I’m learning about the causes of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and how some proteins and other things work behind it, but mostly, I sit at a desk and input retinal tissue data into an Excel spreadsheet. I actually kind of like this because it’s pretty much what I did over last summer and it gives me a chance to listen to podcasts.

Besides classes, we’ve had opportunities to go have some fun at clubs in areas of the city like Nørrebro (foggy pic above) where I’ve done my normal club thing:

1. Second guess paying 100kr ($15) to get into said club
2. Get in, realize how crowded it is, don’t fit in
3. Try in vain to have conversation with friends with blaring DnB overhead
4. Order one drink for $8 (rum & coke)
5. Listen to local band (not bad, actually)
6. Impress a couple of people with my bag of 4 dance moves
7. Lose friends in crowd, get bored, go home on bus with strangers (not a terrible idea in a city as safe as Copenhagen)

Today, I went to the Glass Market where there is a wide selection of food vendors. I had a slow-roasted duck sandwich from a French stand called “La Poule” which was delicious. I’ll close this post with a sign I saw at this eclectic, vibrant market with its diverse culinary treats.

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Read more from Jake at http://jakernaut.tumblr.com/
To find out more about the DIS Copenhagen, Denmark program, visit http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/