Pre-departure

My plans regarding this semester have changed many times, therefore I am settling for the thrill of the unknown and will be packing extra memory cards, a "Let's Go Europe!" travel book, and some great stiletto heels for nights out on the "towns" of Europe to help me along. But, me being me, I do have a tentative agenda and some trip ideas as follows:

January 11th: I leave Denver to visit my lovely Mac friend Ira in her home town of Kiev.
January 18th: I say goodbye to Eastern Europe and head to my semester home in Copenhagen.
March 21st: I head off to London on a week long Study Tour with my Media Studies group.
March 28th: This CO girl will be shredding up the slopes of the French Alps for a whole week.
April 4th: Who knows? But I will have a whole week off of school with Europe at the tips of my fingers.
May 15th: Finals are over and I will be headed off on five and a half weeks of backpacking.
June 22nd: Goodbye Copenhagen and hello USA.

Somewhere in there I am hoping to find my way to visit friends in Belfast, Brussels, Paris, Rabat, Madrid, Sevilla, St. Andrews, Amsterdam, and Istanbul...along with adventures to unknown places with unknown people. Of course, the semester won't all be traveling. I will be taking 5 classes in Copenhagen: News Media in Transition, International Advertising in a European Context, Creative Industries, Photojournalism, and Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Political Conflict. As I understand, most of these classes will be taught by professionals and will use Copenhagen as a classroom through field studies on Wednesdays. I have also applied to volunteer with an NGO or school and am excited to be hearing back about that.

As for my living situation, I still have not heard where I will be living but I am hoping to be assigned to one of the student apartments (I will keep you posted.) And although I didn't sign up for a host family, I have already been assigned a Danish visiting family who I will get to spend time with throughout the semester. The parents are Claus Andersen and Birgit Svensson and they have 3 kids around my age, who I am very excited to meet.

Every day that this trip gets closer, I realize that my long-time dream will very soon become a reality and I'm sure that the next week will fly by as I shop, pack, and say good bye to the US. 8 days and counting...

written by  shelfields on January 2, 2009 from Greeley, United States
from the travel blog: European Semester Abroad
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