Bonjour! (Or bonsoir)

Thus begins my adventure into my second college semester. I am so so so happy to be returning to Copenhagen — I’ve said it a million times, but I would have been horribly disappointed if I didn’t get another semester in this wonderful place.

I departed from North Carolina on January 9th and met up with my cohort friend Bella before flying together to Paris!!

Bella and I both placed Paris on the top of our lists to visit so you could imagine how excited we were to spend five days there together. We even managed to stay in a small, authentic feeling French hotel per recommendation of our fabulous art professor. The shower was so small that we had to bend at the knees to pick up soap, our hotel provided breakfast which was an option of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate with half a baguette, and we carried our heavy luggage up wobbly stairs, but we loved it! Most of the guests were French themselves and it was located in a quaint area left of the Seine.

What’s really awesome is that we were able to cross practically everything we had planned to do off our list (and successfully avoided any effects of the riots occurring) My favorite things were spending hours at the Musée d’Orsay. Hanging there was some of my favorite pieces we had studied in art history that are now some of my personal favorites. I felt giddy turning corners and coming into contact with paintings I had oggled and analyzed for the past couple of months.

On our last day, we sat for over an hour on a park bench, crepes in hand, watching the sun go down and waiting for the Eiffel Tower to twinkle on the hour. My back was turned away from the tower to talk to Bella when mid-sentence, her eyes lit up with the reflected glow of the twinkling masterpiece. In those five minutes, we snapped pictures, took videos, and smiled at how beautiful it looked in real life. It’s silly sounding how happy this moment made both of us.

It was a magical trip that lived up to my expectations, and it was interesting to see how the portrayal of the riots in France compared to reality. While there is extreme and important demonstrations taking place, the city functioned regularly and we simply avoided the Arc de Triomphe on Saturday evening. Each night Bella and I hopped into bed to read our books and chat about how excited we were to return to Copenhagen.

We got back on the 15th and classes began on the 17th. It was super easy to get reacclimated with the city and lifestyle again. Walking from the Metro station to my apartment felt like a proper homecoming.

With the waves of new DIS students among us, the youngest students in the building now have become the most knowledgeable. It’s kind of funny reflecting that we were in that position just five months earlier. At this point, we all have our routines and knowledge of the city, culture, and language, but in a way, I’m jealous of those new students; little do they know what’s in store. Also, as of today, I’ve been to all of my new classes twice. All of them are super interesting (Humanities Through Film and Literature, Research Methods, Sustainability, Islam in the West, Economics, and Global Politics.) but might require a bit more thinking effort on my part because there are so many thought-provoking topics being introduced in each class so soon.

Looking forward to another adventure.

Talk soon,

Chrisann