Copenhagen

Alyssa and I are home in Edinburgh from our week in Copenhagen!

Day 1 (Wednesday):  Fantastic Italian dinner @ Ristorante Italiano.
Day 2:  Got to meet Yeager's FANTASTIC colleagues from Eitzen Chemical at St. Peters for lunch.  Had delicious open face sandwiches with pints of my favorite local brew (Tubourg) and Aquavit.  Spent the afternoon touring Carlsberg Brewery, followed by a night out to Wall Street Pub and dancing at Rust.
Day 3: Met up with Dr. Brandauer, my Gettysburg Anatomy Professor, at Panum in Rigshospitalet- the Health Sciences University at Copenhagen- where he is doing a year of research.  We had lunch and got a tour of his lab.  Picked Alyssa up from the airport and went straight to an FC Copenhagen game (vs AC Horsen).  The score was at 1-1 when Claudemir snuck in a game winner at the 90th minute...INSANE! Had phenomenol, unique, expensive cocktails @ Madame Chus!
Day 4:  Tourist day! Took the famous red bus tour around the city. Highlights were the Little Mermaid,  the parliament building (Christiansborg Palace- the old palace for royal family), Nyhavn with lunch in one of oldest buildings- Nyhavn 17, the Marble Church,  and Amalienborg Palace (current residence of royal family).
Day 5:  St Patricks Day! 3-legged bar crawl to the 5 Irish pubs in Copenhagen.  Lys, Yeager and I were scouting out a partner when one of the coordinators assured us he would find us not 1 but 3 lovely gentleman, and he made good on his promise.  I'm proud to say that my partner and I crossed first in just 14 minutes! On the way back, we stopped at Ben and Jerrys to check out the local flavors...I got two new Denmark exclusives:  Nordic Water Peace and Fairly Nuts!
Day 6:  Went to Freetown Christiania, an autonomous neighbourhood in Christianshavn (borough of Copenhagen).  Definitely worth a visit!! Yeager took us for samosas and schwarma for dinner!
Day 7:  Spent at Rosenborg Castle, impressive Dutch Renaissance architecture from the early 17th century.  A project of Christian IV, king of Denmark (1588-1648), Rosenborg was FULL of INCREDIBLE artwork, furniture, and of course, the crown jewels!

Photos from the week below :)

The Little Mermaid



Danish cuisine: open faced sandwiches!

 

Christianborg Palace

 

Newhavn

Carlsburg Horse!!



St. Patty's three legged race crew

Rosenborg Castle

Panorama of Amalienborg!

Let it snow!

Woke up to a beautiful, snow covered Edinburgh this morning...the GOOD snow too- the kind that crunches under your feet and packs really well for snowballs and forts :)

I've just submitted a 35 page (!) paper, the final assessment for my gender class.  My group project proposal for another class is due Wednesday morning and then...OFF TO COPENHAGEN, DENMARK! I am going for a week to visit my roomate from Gettysburg College who is currently working there, and a good friend from home is joining to make a terrific threesome taking on Copenhagen together for St. Patricks.  I've been looking forward to it for weeks!

I'm midway through my favorite module yet- Sexual and Reproductive Health- and really enjoying all we're doing.  On February 26-27th, the Royal Society of Edinburgh held a conference "Women's Reproductive Health Across the Lifecourse": 2 days full of incredible lecturers...it was extremely thought provoking and I learned so much.  There have been a number of great lectures in the city as of late and I've been attending as many as possible...I'm feeling like a true 'academic' and for now..really enjoying it!

Last night, the Rotary Club of Costorphine shared their 'rink time' with the scholars to introduce us to curling! Like golf, Scotland is birthplace to curling, thought to have origins in the early 15th century when it was played with rocks on thick sheets of ice.  I can now say from personal experience, the grace of olympic curlers must come with a LOT of practice and will never go under-appreciated by me again! I may or may not post a select few photos once I get them from the other scholars...my first attempts at 'delivering the rock' weren't pretty...the sweeping was a whole 'nother bird...
Fiddle classes, ceilidhs and hashing are still happening on a weekly basis and making time FLY so quickly! I can't believe we're mid-March. SLOW DOWN!!!

Yesterday, March 10, was my Uncle Bill's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) as well as Mother's Day in the UK.  I think celebrating at LEAST two days a year is appropriate...so big hugs to the special mothers in my life, and thank you for all you do!!

Fun Scotland Fact:  Ailsa Craig is a small (220 acre), now uninhabited island off the west coast of mainland Scotland. Blue hone granite is quarried here to make the world's curling stones.  Check out some pictures here: http://www.maybole.org/places/ailsa/craig.htm

One Billion Rising

One Billion Rising is an international movement against global violence towards women and girls.  On February 14th 2013, communities all around the world joined in raising awareness about this issue, which is I think a part of the greatest battle of our generation- realizing the violation of ('invisible') women's rights around the world. QMU had a flashmob in the afternoon (Bucketlist:  flashmob- check!) organized by the Dance Movement Psychotherapy students.  It was small, but an incredibly powerful experience and reminder of how lucky I am and how much I have to celebrate as a woman! Here is the link: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX2GJc2wwis
I am the one in front that (clearly) missed the dance instruction...
More info about One Billion Rising:  http://onebillionrising.org/