Totally Tivoli

Tuesday night I had the pleasure of spending the evening with the host fam at Tivoli,
Tivoli is an amusement park right smack in the middle of Copenhagen. It opened in 1843 making it the second oldest amusement park in the world, with first oldest being another amusement park in our very own beloved Denmark. Tivoli welcomes millions of visitors each year from around the globe, it is the most visited theme park in Scandinavia and the 4th most visited in all of Europe.
Tivoli is really a fun experience for all. There are tons of thrilling rides but for the more faint at heart there are also lush gardens to walk through, a bunch of cute little stores and shops, and a wide variety of choices when is comes to food.
Tivoli also is known for their seasonal changes. Tivoli is open for a short period of time for Halloween and then again later for Christmas. The whole amusement park is dolled up in holiday fashion. We obviously were there for the Halloween season and so the park was covered with pumpkins and skeletons.

My visit to Tivoli included riding along on some really fun rides with Kylie screaming her lungs out next to me and Morten enjoying Kylie's fear. We went on some rides that flipped us upside down and others that twirled us til we were dizzy but it wasn't hard to tell that Morty's favorite was the bumper cars because he got to chase Kylie and I around and smash into us. Poor Kylie though her lame ankle was already in pain and I think head on collisions wasn't helping any. I can't if it was hilarious or terrifying see this face gunning for us ....

I also got to accomplish my goal of having one pic of all of us: me, Kylie, Morten and Kirsten. So now I have at least one picture to show of our happy little family.

And at the end of the night we got some delicious mini churros, a tasty end to a wonderful night.

Berlin - Long Study Tour (part 2)

So as we all know (because all of you, my millions of readers, check up on my blog everyday right?) I was on my long study tour. Our first stop was in Poznan, Poland- and if you haven't read about me being in an OR, chickening out on the nude sauna and drinking polish vodka... you should head on over to my previous post and read up. Anyway on Wednesday night we took a train from Poznan over to Berlin. It was a Hogwarts-ey train with little compartments we rode in. The commute consisted of me laughing uncontrollably at mildly funny things and discussions of politics, so that was a fun time for all I'm sure.

We arrived in Berlin and all played checkers and went straight to bed at 9 o'clock... okay are my grandmothers gone? good ... actually we had quite a bit of polish vodka stowed away in our bags and whipped that out which lead to a photo shoot in my hotel room and some good times at a bar after.




The next day we went on a bike tour around Berlin. Our lovely tour guide William was particularly cheery even in the icy rain which we all endured the whole day. We stopped at some lovely sights including the Brandenburg gate, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Berlin wall. I would love to say it was totally awesome even in the cold rain but to be honest I was a bit miserable in those conditions but I tried to pay attention to the amazing city around me as best I could.

After we all dried off and warmed up a bit we went to the German Heart Institute Berlin. Here we got an all inclusive lecture-tour experience with videos of live heart surgeries and a peak inside the ICU.
Next we went to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was destroyed in WWII but the remains stand as a reminder and the new church and tower are right next to it with beautiful blue windows that glow in the night.

That night we ate traditional German food at a restaurant that was described as having food served by grandma herself... well this grandma must have had her panties in a bunch because we were basically asked to leave after dessert for being too loud ( remember we are a group of 30... gonna be a little louder than usual off the bat) and she found an empty soda bottle in the bathroom which enraged her and she accused us of putting it there....Germans are strange.

The next day we went to a family planning center were we learned about German sex education. This plays offers a safe environment for classes of kids to come to learn sexual education, and it is also a place for women to go with questions about pregnancy and even get an abortion. After that we went to Charite Comprehensive Cancer Center where we were briefed on the centers activity and then were ushered into a medical museum. The museum was really cool, with lots of old specimens, but I was a little disappointed we didn't get to learn more about the cancer center. But oh well, I did get to see a megacolon so i guess that's pretty cool.

One of the coolest places that we went to in Berlin, in my opinion, was the Markt Halle Neun - a street food market. This places was lined up and down with booths of foods ranging from traditional German to Korean to Venezuelan. I decided to get a Korean ramen burger which had korean beef with kimchi and the bun was made of fried ramen noodles squished together.... It was to die for, AMAZING. I couldn't stop just there so I also got Moroccan veggie couscous which was also delicious.
 While at the market we also did a short brewery tour of Heidenpeters brewery,which is a homegrown business in a  small basement that makes craft beers. We got to try out 3 different kinds, so 2 thumbs up for pale ales! with full stomachs we headed to a bar recommended to us which was an upside down bat, sounds exciting... not so much, in reality there were just some tables with place settings glued to the ceiling, A for effort I guess?

On our last day we all met to discuss our experiences and come together on what we gained from this trip. Afterwards we went to visit an old airport - Templhof airport.WORST part of the trip BY FAR. we were lead from one creepy room to another that all looked the same and the tour guide talked endlessly of the most boring things. I couldn't wait for it to be over and I think everyone else was on the same page as me.
 Once free of that jail of an airport we all went our separate way for some free time, I went shopping with Kelsey. We first went to what I would say was a German diner and had schnitzel,yum.Then we went to a HUGE Christmas store which we got lost in for a good hour gawking at the sparkly ornaments. After our wallets were a bit lighter we met back at the hotel to head out to the airport.

I was really sad to see this trip end, I had really grown to love all the people I spent so much time with. Half of them I'll see in class everyday and the other half hopefully I'll see elsewhere. These study tours is what sets DIS apart, they are what make DIS great because they get it, they understand that we chose to study abroad to see the world and travel not sit in just another classroom. These trips made it so easy for us to see other parts of the world without the worry of planning flights and hotels which gave us more time to concentrate on what these trips have to offer and what knowledge we would gain from them. They also bonded us as a class, or 2 classes rather. The city setting of DIS, with all its housing options, does make it a bit harder to make close friends and these trips really help to foster friendships and give you great travel buddies. I can't thank DIS enough for the experiences they have given me so far, I appreciate the study tours more than they can imagine.

Poznan - Long Study Tour (Part 1)

As a student with DIS, you have 2 trips planned for you, one short and one long. As you may know my short study tour was to Sonderborg and Odense in Denmark. This past week was my long study tour and we visited Poznan, Poland and Berlin, Germany. I traveled with my section as well as another section of the Medical Practice and Policy Program, and I couldn't be more grateful for having such an amazing, fun, friendly group of people to travel with. So here's part one, our travels to Poland.

Poznan is a city in the western-central area of Poland and is the 4th largest metropolitan area of Poland. It is among the oldest cities in Poland. On Sunday morning we all boarded a small plane in 50s movie star fashion walking up steps from the tarmac. On our first day in Poznan we did a student guided walking tour, because apparently polish tour guides aren't the best match for solely English speaking tourists. Anyway we split into 2 groups and each of us presented on a stop of our tour. We saw the Imperial Castle of Poznan, the June 1956 Protests Memorial, the old city walls, the old market square (Stary Rynek), Poznan town hall with its ornamental ramming goats by the clock, and the Proserpine Fountain.

( me and my friend Kelsey)

 Monday began our academic visits, for these we had to split into smaller groups, and my group first went to Poznan University Pediatrics department, where we had a tour of the hospital and a very length lecture from a resident who was not afraid to be opinionated and honest. His answers to some of our questions were quite eye opening like his response to a possible ebola outbreak in Poznan - "when the time comes I think we'll just improvise." And if that doesn't make you a little uncomfortable with the Polish healthcare then their lack of hand washing and how they cram 5 patients with gastroenterological diseases into one room, to share one bathroom, may change your mind. Now I know I'm really ragging on the Poznan right now but it was a little alarming, but that's not to say the doctors didn't care for their patients, and I certainly still learned a lot and enjoyed my academic experiences in Poznan, especially my trip tot he Obstetric and gynecological department of Poznan University Hospital. 

The nest day on my visit to the OBGYN department we were lead around by a fast pace doctor who was on a mission to show us everything she could. In our time there we got to peak in on a C-section of twins. I saw that second little baby fresh out of the womb purple, though I only caught glimpses of the surgery through the window. Next we saw the end of a hysterectomy and the doctor picked up the uterus on a tray for us to see. The removed uterus had a very large tumor on the left ovary. And the surgical show doesn't stop there, next we were invited into the operating room (standing in the corner and told not to touch ANYTHING) and observed the entire procedure of a hystoscopy in which the surgeon removed polyps from the woman's uterus. It stood in awe watching that screen, thinking is is so awesome that I get to watch live surgery right now, as our guide constantly asked if we were feeling okay and not about to faint. On a different note from the rush of surgery, we also got to experience the more human side of a hospital. We got to speak (through translation) with women who were having difficulties in their pregnancies and had to stay in the hospital with fetal heart monitors strapped to their bellies. We heard them tell of how they got there and how its hard worrying about their child. We also experience the joy of new mothers as we visited with mom and baby who were going about their one of their first breast feedings. The bond between mom and newborn and they joy you feel from the love they already have for that brand new life was amazing to see.  Overall our visit with the OBGYN department really showed me the ins and outs of a day at a hospital and I really got A LOT out of it. It reassured me this I want to be doing, working in medicine combines the exciting mental stimulation of surgery and diagnosing and the compassion and connection with other people that you get from interacting with patients. 

Aside from academic visits we also went on a trip to an indoor water park and sauna. Now to be totally honest I was not psyched about this, getting in a bathing suit not during bikini season... no thanks . But, I really had a fun time. We all enjoyed the water slides and pools together. And we all got a little closer when we went to the sauna together. So Europe is a little more open about nudity and so sauna-ing in the nude is a totally normal thing, but for modest american values me, being naked with all my class friends was not ideal. I did however try it out when we all went in one with just towels on, but when some daring souls wanted to lose the towel and try out the other steam rooms, you could count me out. Even with out the full sauna experience, I really had a lot of fun.

We also got to make our own pierogis which were heavenly. We we all donned some aprons and rolled some dough and then enjoyed a traditional Polish lunch. This was Tuesday which was also the Birthday of our tour leader Stephanie and one of my classmates Tucker. So we celebrated the big 25 and 21 with cake. Tucker celebrated his 21st in the American fashion later that night, but Steph celebrated in the Danish fashion. On your 25th birthday in Denmark, for some reason, you bombard the birthday person with cinnamon. so she woke up to a cute decorative plate of cinnamon at breakfast from our other tour leader Karen, but then was feeling paranoid all day of the looming attack of cinnamon that awaited her from Tucker and some others. Though she got the cinnamon she was promised eventually she still said it was a birthday she'll never forget.

Some other events of Poznan include all showing up at the same Mexican restaurant when we were on our own for dinner (including our tour leaders who may or may not have not been happy to see us), enjoying 30 cent shots of polish vodka in a particularly good fig flavor, shopping, and enjoying some really cheap tiramisu flavored ice cream.

- Also look out for part 2: the second half of our trip, to Berlin

Norway-My Trip to the Motherland

Standing on the shores of the fjord, I feel overwhelmed by the beauty of the world. Every landscape view I have seen before pales in comparison to the views I saw all around me in Flåm. Norway is jaw-droppingly beautiful, every time I turned my head, I was smacked in the face with another awe-inspiring spectacle. And though I can show you photo after gorgeous photo from my trip the beauty of  the Norwegian fjords can not be encapsulated into such a 1 dimensional matter. It's not just the view, which is stunning in the photos yet still falls short of the real thing. It is an entire experience: the sights, the sounds of the water and sheep baa-ing softly from a far, the sun peeking over mountains, the crisp chill that makes you hug your scarf around you a little tighter, the rewarding tightness in your muscles as you push yourself to explore further on your hike, the taste of salt on your lips as the water sprays you in your kayak, and breathing in air so fresh it feels as if it is actively cleansing your lungs. It was a rejuvenating experience being engulfed in nature and it also renewed my faith: what a magnificent earth God has given us for a home.

Maybe you're wondering about the title of this blog post now, so let me explain. Norwegian is part of my heritage. Though we have no direct relatives in Norway at this time, my family,going back generations, came from Norway. My brother and mother have put loads of time into tracking our ancestry back and we have learned about our family's lineage coming from Germany and Whales and Norway.. and some other places? I don't know I'm not the one who did the research. But I am definitely a good part Norwegian as proven by my surname "Jacobsen" highly Scandinavian in origin as I have been told numerous times here in Denmark. So this is why I call Norway "The motherland" and getting to visit here was a dream come true, and the only thing that would have made it better would have been to share the experience with he rest of my crazy viking obsessed family.

Now you probably want to hear about what I did on this trip besides just stare with my mouth open like an idiot. So I would describe this trip as an adventure trip, and by that I mean we did a lot of physical outdoorsy exploring kind of things including tons of hiking (ranging in difficulty), kayaking, biking, cheese making... you know the usual. It was arranged through DIS so my itinerary was set which I loved because I think it would have been hard for me to plan out seeing all these great places on my own. We flew to Bergen and then took a bus to a very small town called Flåm (pronounced like foam with an L in there ). Flåm, is a remote town with  one restaurant, one store and a handful of houses. It was a really beautiful area and I felt like I was in the middle of no where, which was actually a delightful change of pace from Copenhagen. The weather wasn't great in the beginning but it cleared up towards the end of our stay.

One of our first activities was a tour with a company called Fjord Safari. This tour was on a speed boat and it raced around through the fjord stopping to point out landmarks and porpoises in the water. It was a really beautiful tour but unfortunately for us it was rainy and cold, though we stayed pretty dry and warm thanks to the ridiculous gear they had us wear. We headed out from Aurlandsfjord and went further into the stunning Nærøyfjord,our turning point was Gudvangen, the end of the fjord. We were actually in an area were apparently they filmed the landscape shots for the TV series "Vikings" which of course my family watches. Though the weather was bad and was a little miserable by the end, it made everything look really cool. There was like a misty fog thing going on that made everything look awesome and bad ass.  I'm not really sure how a fjord can be a bad-ass but like those mountains were looking ominous and the water was so still you just think " aw man I don't wanna mess with that fjord." therefore I stick by my description of the fjord as bad-ass. So too sum that weird explanation up, the fjord looked really cool in the fog.

The next day was the main hiking day. We hiked the Rallarvegen trail which was first created and used by the railroad  workers who erected the Bergensbana and Flåmsbana railway lines at the turn of the 20th C. Long in disuse, it has since been reborn as a recreational trial which winds through the hills and dales overlooking Aurlandsfjord. We took the Flåmsbana train up to Myrdal, the top the mountain. This train ride is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world, and I would certainly agree. Once at the top we slowly hiked our way down and back to Flåm, 21 kilometers.  The hike was more physically demanding at the top, with a more sharp decline, but otherwise it was a mild hike, by the end it turned into paved roads. But it did call for some major endurance, 4 hours of hiking and the fatigue starts to set in, in your muscles.

The next day we went kayaking. I love being in the water so this was a part of the trip I was super psyched about. We suited up in wet suits, jackets, and grabbed a partner and a paddle and hopped in the kayaks. It was a beautiful day compared to the previous days of rain. We kayaked through Aurlandsfjord and paddled to Fronneset which
had viking burial mounds and a waterfall we climbed up to. I loved being out on the water, with the splash of salt water in my face and the smell of the sea. Even though it was so different it felt just a little like home, which was nice after missing my beaches and the somehow comforting smell of low tide. Back to the viking burials mounds, way cool; the more important vikings were given a ceremonial funeral where they would send them on their boat with their things. The boat was set on fire and pushed away to sea, but the fjord is not that wide and so people were sent to catch the boat on the other side of the fjord and then they would bury the burnt ship under loads of rocks. Some of those mounds of rocks are still there today. The guide said it was important to the vikings that they were buried always looking back to where they came from and  I thought that was a really nice idea. The guide also recognized by tattoo which just made me super happy, I have a viking/norse/icelandic protection symbol on my arm that is all about never losing one's way or being lost in the world. Anyway back to kayaking, lots of fun, go water sports!

Later that day we biked through town to a point were we hiked up to another waterfall and got some sweet pictures from a great viewpoint.

The next day we biked to Otternes Farm, one of the oldest farms in Norway, a collection of 27 farm houses perched high above the water. It was a major struggle getting up there, we were all feeling a bit sore from the previous days of activity and now we were faced with a steep incline all the way up to the farm with our bikes. Though each step I thought I couldn't go any further I made it to the top; and it was worth it, it was the cutest thing ever. On the farm we got to wander around first taking in the sights, taking a ton of photos and giving Mary-Ann the little lamb LOTS of attention. She was the cutest thing and a total attention seeker, what a diva. when we got close to her pen she would run right up to us and stick her head through the fence slats to get as close as possible.





Next comes the awesome part, or just the next part if you don't get as excited about cheese as I do. WE MADE BROWN CHEESE or "brunost". Now there are multiple reasons why this was an awesome experience.
1. it's cheese and who doesn't love cheese?!
2. we got to be part of a process that Norwegian people have been doing for years and years
3. my family has a tradition of eating this brown goat cheese which we call "geitost", especially around the holidays and so it's really significant to me
[and] 4. it smelled AMAZING in that little room as we stirred the hot cheese
So, basically to make brunost they take goat milk and caramelize it, and so we sat in the little room where it is done and each got to take a turn stirring it and we learned about the cheese making process and sang songs - I whipped out some of dad's repeat after me camp songs when we didn't know what to sing. The white milk slowly but surely turned more brown and thickened and reduced into a more brown paste. The cheese was finished by the farmers and then we got to take a little of our homemade cheese with us :)

After our hard work watching cheese simmer, we ate a huge lunch in a barn. There was soup and meats and potato salad and smoked fish; there was Norwegian flat bread and brown cheese and other cheeses; there was organic fresh bread with fresh farm butter that was damn good. And after all that wonderful food we had traditional norwegian pancakes,"lapper", with jam and creme fraiche on top. It was heavenly!!! I asked one of the ladies from the farm if they make Krumkake, a Norwegian dessert I have learned to make at home, and yes they do actually make that and she brought over another woman who makes them especially well and she talked to me about it for a bit. I felt so in touch with my heritage and it was so great experiencing the farm culture because even though we think of vikings as only pillaging brutal peoples they were actually  farmers most of the time. All in all the farm was just wonderful, the people were so very nice and it was a great cultural experience.. and tasty!

After the farm we rode our bikes to the next town over, Aurland. Some of the group rode over to a special look out spot, but it was a difficult path and would require more strength to get up some steep climbs... so, some of us stayed behind and hung out in the town. We found a lovely spot by the water and I had the lovely idea to roll up my pants and get in the water, because I just HAD to be able to say that I was actually IN the fjord. So I stood calf deep in the FREEZING water and that was as close to swimming in the fjords as I was gonna get.

That night we also went to this cool viking themed brewery that had a lounge area with a fire place and fur pelts to sit upon. Drinking beer like the vikings... dad and Tim eat your hearts out (though it'd be more accurate it we were drinking mead I guess)

The last day of our trip, we said good by to our Flåm sweet Flåm, and headed back to Bergen. We spent the day in Bergen, where we road to the top of Mount Floein and then had sometime to wander around the city. 

Norway was probably the most amazing place I've ever been. It was unbelievable trip and I am so grateful for the opportunity to experience Norway like this. I had so much fun hiking and kayaking and biking; and even though all that physical activity made my muscles really sore, it was a rewarding ache that radiated through me body. It's amazing to see how far you can push your body and the ache in my legs was a reminder of the awesome experience I just had. The chance to travel a lot like this and to do and see so many great things in Denmark and in other European countries is such a great gift and each day I am more thankful for the experience of study abroad. Norway was probably #1 on my list of places I want to see in the world and I'm so glad I can check that one off, now I just have to get back there to share the experience with my family.