Best & Worst of Core Course Week

[spoiler there was far more best than there was worst]

B E S T

1. Making friends

Your core course is the class that you end up spending the most time in during your semester at DIS. You have both your week-long study tour and week-long core course week in addition class twice a week and field studies (basically field trips) throughout the semester. As I will be spending so much time with my core course - Humanitarian Law & Armed Conflict - I was hoping to make friends quickly, but was actually having a bit of a hard time. We hadn't been doing a lot of get to know you activities and it seemed like everyone was focused on just getting the work done so there was little time to really get to know my classmates.

But that all changed on this trip! After spending so much time driving in a bus together, eating together, and rooming together I got to know a lot of people and even succeeding in getting everyone's name right by the second night. We're already starting to plan what we are going to do for the long study tour to Bosnia in April and now that I have friends in the class I am getting even more excited for the trip.

It was a little throwback to Freshman year awkwardly meeting people and finding friends. And just like I was then - I am so happy to have this part over and can now look forward to getting to know everyone better while studying and traveling with them.

2. Aarhus

Aarhus is the second largest city in Copenhagen and was such a fun place to spend a few days! I doubt that I would have made it here on my own, so I am so glad that my core course gave me the chance to explore other parts of Denmark.

Aarhus has one of the best preserved 'old towns' and we were able to walk around for an afternoon and of course found the cutest cafe to stop in for some hygge. On top of that we walked along the canal, ate a fantastic dinner, and found a board game cafe! Aarhus is also known for having some awesome Museums - one of these that we got to see is their modern art museum. Most likely my favorite museum here so far and one of the best I'd been to. If I can make it back to Aarhus I am for sure going back here again.

3. Basically being royalty for a morning

As part of our studies during the week we got the head to an airforce base in Denmark, meet with an officer, and check out the planes. The first one we saw is most often used to drop off supplies to individuals in remote locations. Buuuuut the second plane we saw is a VIP airplane that the Royal Family here in Denmark uses! So much fun to maybe sit in the same spot that the beloved Danish queen could have traveled in before.

4. Sunshine

We got so lucky with such good weather during core course week! For as beautiful as Copenhagen/Denmark normally is, it is really something special with the sun shining.

W O R S T

1. Getting sick

I knew that this was bound to happen at some point but was not happy that I got sick while traveling! I think spending the weekend in Switzerland, staying up late to "watch" the Super Bowl, and immediately leaving on a travel week left me tired and drained. Queue getting sick on day 3 of core course week.

But after a few days I was back to normal and feeling extra grateful for my new friends, their supplies of Advil, and my bed in Copenhagen.

2. Am I really not cut out for Danish cuisine?

On the very last day of core course week our professor took us out for a traditional danish meal - Smorrebrod. I was very excited to try these "open-face sandwiches" that come with a variety of toppings and seem to be the quintessential Danish meal. I had prepped myself to maybe try some pickled herring or pate and was feeling good about it. Unfortuently the meal took a turn when they delivered our preselected smorrebrod. One of the options included shrimp which most people enjoyed but the next option came with raw ground beef and a raw egg yoke on the sandwich bread. I wanted so badly to be open to eating Danish food but I just could not eat this sandwich. With the large amounts of raw meat right in front of me, I was actually getting sick from smelling it for so long!

This meal turned into one of those awkward culture-shock moments. My classmates and I all felt so bad for not eating more of the meal but also couldn't bring ourselves to eat that much raw meat (it really was a lot). I'm gonna try smorrebord in the future and haven't given up hope yet but this was an experience I won't forget soon. Pros to the Danes that eat this on a normal basis!

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To end on a still food-related but slightly happier note, please enjoy the most ascetically pleasing food I've ever eaten (ordered the day prior to the now infamous smorrebord incident):