If you have been following me on any form of social media or have had a conversation with me in the past six months then you have probably gathered that my entire freshman year of college at Wake Forest University will be spent studying in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I know. I'm wild.
Sure I've travelled somewhere new for an average of two weeks every summer with my family but living in another country on the opposite side of the world without my mom, dad, doggo, daily kombucha and the comfort of having a Target right at my beckoning call is ambitious even for me. As part of my personal journey into this transition from summer into college I have been keeping up my personal practice of journaling (almosttt) every night as a way to brain dump or way to sort through the thoughts floating around my head. I have come across a recent theme that I thought would be interesting to share with the internet about my time abroad thus far. Are you ready? The reoccurring theme is that this whole experience does not seem like reality.
Let me backtrack.
It still does not seem real that I am no longer in high school taking AP classes and driving my bug to yoga as a way to avoid doing homework.
It still does not seem real that my [high school] friends are almost 5000 miles away. I'm not used to this after seeing them almost every single day and being in the same time zone. As much as I was ready to leave my home state of South Carolina for new adventures and to meet new people, I realized the importance of not abandoning relationships that I have worked so hard to make just because some distance may separate us. Thank God for social media and the internet to keep us connected since we are all on a new journey together.
It does not seem real that I am not living at home. I'm not waking up to my doggo in my bed or groceries from Whole Foods that my mom picked up. I've lived in that place my whole life and to be transplanted here it seems so so foreign - and I've been to Europe many many many times.
So now that you kind of know where a lot of my headspace is located we can now chat about how much this new adventure means to me. I am honored to be part of the inaugural program at Wake Forest for freshman to take classes in Copenhagen with a more global perspective. International themes have always heightened my interest in high school and now that I am going to be studying these interests full time, sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that this experience is really real. Along with the 16 other people who happen to be my roommates, classmates and new friends, I think we could all agree that our orientation at Wake Forest before we left made us realize how much we underestimated the importance of this program we get to be a part of. This program is our university's baby: an idea turned to reality that was kindled through the work of many people and two countries. Kind of fitting isn't it?
We've been in Copenhagen for a few days now but for some reason it feels both like an eternity and a minute. Classes started August 24th and we arrived the 19th and have basically spent these past few days going to orientation and exploring our new city. Again reminding myself constantly that I live here now. I live here now. We've explored our Holmbladsgade neighborhood discovering the ins and outs of the grocery store, the mall where I've purchased several things to make my corner of the room seem more like my Scandinavian home. We've taken the metro, gotten lost a few times trying to find our way there. In these past few days trips to Christiansborg Palace, The Danish Royal Library, Nyhavn, Christiania and Papirøen have also been squeezed in. My favorites have been seeing the colorful and classic buildings of Nyhavn come to life after seeing them in photos for so long. Surprisingly I have loved Papirøen, or Paper Island, which is basically and island of artful street food. We have been there twice so far and I have gotten a pasta dish from a homemade pasta truck and a vegan burger from a vegan truck. Both of these dishes were so delicious and I could definitely taste their high quality ingredients and techniques used to create these culinary masterpieces. Next time I would love to try the fresh juice truck ... or the donut one if I am really getting wild. Did I mention that we have seen all of these sights by foot averaging about 17000 steps per day and 10 miles?
Writing down my experiences and sharing them with myself and with you will be such an amazing way to document my time living here so I can see what I've learned and how much I have learned. But for now this is another outlet for me to try to ground myself and see this fairytale as my new reality.
I am so excited to be here and to share this new journey with you.
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