Hi, it’s been a while! The last time I posted, I was at Wellesley finishing up my sophomore year in a whirlwind of assignments and parties and goodbyes – lots of goodbyes. As an international student I’m used to saying bye to friends and hopping on a plane to the other side of the world. It’s a privilege to be able to say I’ve been doing that my entire life. But in May, I said bye to Wells for a long time. Okay, you might say eight months is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but after getting so comfortable on that campus, not being back there until next January feels like a big deal.
It was a little disorienting getting to Narita Airport in Tokyo (my home town) with my overweight bags and getting on a plane headed to Copenhagen, Denmark instead of Boston. I’ve been in CPH for a little over three weeks now and it’s still surreal that I’m spending the entire semester here.
I am here with a program called DIS studying Public Health, a subject I only came to realize I was passionate about after taking Professor Galarneau’s Health and Society class at Wellesley last year. Other than my main Public Health course, I am taking these classes…
- Danish I
- The Thinking Lab: From Kant and Nietzsche to Surveillance after 9/11
- Barcelona: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity
- History of European Film
- Pregnancy, Health, and Delivery in Denmark
^I like all of these courses, but this last one is my favorite. We’ve had midwives and other maternal and natal healthcare professionals give lectures in class. Not to mention our professor brings her adorable baby to class because he is adorable but also because she can. Denmark is incredibly parent friendly. oh and bike friendly. But more on that in some other post.
As a Gender Studies Major, I had a good variety of study abroad programs to choose from, especially in comparison to my hard-science major friends. I chose DIS because of their well-established homestay program, public health course, and the low GPA requirement
*For me, Wellesley is difficult. The classes challenge me, as do my peers, but sometimes the challenge is more prioritizing and time management than the class content itself. I struggled a lot with that this past year, and so my GPA took quite a dip. I feel comfortable sharing that with you but know that grades are generally a taboo topic at Wells. Also, let’s spend our time and energy talking about things more important than a number that represents only a limited scope of your academic achievements!
During my semester here I want to get back into school mode but in a way that I feel challenged and passionate about the things I learn in and out of class. It’ll be a good semester being in a different and completely new environment to really think about what it is I want to study and do with my life. Can I figure all that out in four months? Doubt it. But I’m feeling inspired just being here already.
I just got back to Copenhagen yesterday from a three-day trip in Western Denmark with my Public Health class. One of my favorite things about this program is the amount of traveling we get to do, both for class and on our own. We have a “travel week” every month to go on study tours with our courses or travel alone. I’ll be taking full advantage of these traveling opportunities to visit my Wellesley friends who are studying in Europe this semester as well, and to visit places I’ve always wanted to go to. So far I’ve only been to Sweden outside of Denmark, but that was only a 40min train ride.
Nynika, my good friend, and Phi Sig Sister is here in CPH as well! I’m so glad we are able to experience this together. I know this semester is going to be another four months of growth and adventure. Hope to be able to process it all and tell you about it in a meaningful way here.
