Undskyld

Hej fra København! Hi from Copenhagen! Undskyld, excuse me, for not actually posting since I've been here! Our last two days have been absolutely PACKED with orientation activities, so today we finally have had a moment to breathe. It's been very nice.  I don't want to bore anyone with TOO many details, so here are some highlights:

Sunday & Monday were both filled with crazy amounts of orientation activities. In those two days we had orientation, moved into our Apartment (details on that to follow...), ate our first not danish meal at McDonalds (thank you, Copenhagen, for shutting down the city on Sundays), had an opening ceremony in the planetarium and a program orientation, took a crash course in Danish, ran around the entire city (somewhat aimlessly), and had a party at school--beer included! Those are just the small details...

Today we had our first class (Children with Special Needs: Danish Theory & Practice), which proved to be very exciting. I can already tell that I'm going to really enjoy everything we do--even the reading and papers. We have two professors: Anne Lise (pronounced Anna Lisa), who is Danish, and Judy, who is from Cornell (ever heard of it?). In Denmark, all teachers are recognized by their first names, regardless of their educational accomplisments! This whole country seems to be very casual, friendly, and class-less. The dynamic of the two teachers is really, really interesting, so I'm very anxious to see how that works out through the three weeks. Anne Lise is Danish, but she was born in NY and lived there until she is 16, so her English accent is almost perfectly American. I can tell that she is a pretty spectacular woman, which is associated by the fact that she has an uncanny resemblance to my Aunt Nancy (who is also a spectacular woman, if you don't know her). Her tone, voice, behaviors, and blue eyes are exactly like Nance. I wish the two could meet. 

The other main highlight is that I received my practicum assignment today. I am going to be working in an afterschool program for children ages 6 and up at Fritidshjemmet v/ Strandparkskolen (I can't even imagine saying that 1 time fast, and yes...those are real words). This afterschool program is for children with ADHD, children within the Autism spectrum, and children with other physical/mental handicaps. We were assigned to our practicum centers based on a survey application that we'd filled out at home, and were told that there would be a rare chance that we'd be able to work with children with Autism, so I was certain to emphasize my experience in order to increase my chances. I'm super excited to visit the center tomorrow! We'll be doing about 20 hours there over the three weeks of the class. 

So those are some highlights, but aside from that, I'm pretty much settled, and really happy here. I'm definitely in the right place for study abroad, and I couldn't be happier to have made the choice to study here. 

Here are a few pictures, too, and I promise there is much more of everything to come! Thanks for reading :)

The Copenhagen Airport

Allyson (another girl from MC) and me on our Scavenger Hunt through Copenhagen

Next to the harbor--I actually got to see it for myself!