Do one thing each day that...

There is another picture of Nyhavn in
my previous post - the one with water
and colorful buildings behind it.

I need to catch up on my postings, so I will first back track to last Thursday.  I was done with classes at 11:30, and not really in the mood to go back to my room.  I was getting into a routine of going to class, working out, making dinner, and doing my work...but also felt as though I was not taking advantage of my time here.  I saw a girl from my Kollegium and asked if she would be interested in doing something before heading back to where we live, even if it was just going out to lunch.  We decided to pick up sandwiches and then sit by the boats on Nyhavn (a street on the water) to eat.  Nyhavn was originally built in the 1600s as a place for ships and fishermen to unload, but now is a "heritage harbor" where old wooden boats are docked. After finishing our sandwiches, and having a whole day ahead of us, we decided to be adventurous and hop on the boat bus to see where it would take us.


We ended up at Kastellet, which had been used as a military fortification, to defend against England, in The Battle of Copenhagen, in 1807.  It is now open to the public as a historical monument, but is still owned by the Danish Defense Ministry and is used as an active military area.  Within Kastellet there is also a windmill that was built in 1847, and is the only working windmill in Copenhagen today.  The two of us walked around for about three hours exploring the military base and the areas around it, and agreed that every Monday and Thursday we would try to visit some place new within Copenhagen.  It was so nice to finally have a chance to explore the city and finding the destination on our own made it even more exciting!

The first week of being here, I had been trying so hard to make my days seem "normal" by getting into a routine, that I reached a point (on my birthday, of course) where I saw no purpose to being abroad.  I was spending my days the same way I would if I were still at Northwestern, and was getting myself upset that I chose to leave the comfort of "familiarity" behind, for an unfamiliar everything (country, friends, language, culture, living situation etc.).

While having a routine works well for me in my normal life, I realized that each day of the next four months should be anything BUT normal!  While walking around the paths within Kastellet I made the decision that every day moving forward I was going to make sure I did something that I normally would not, and that I would take advantage of every moment here.  I envisioned myself walking down Sheridan Road, back at school in January, and thought about what I would want to say when someone asked me what I did while I was abroad.  That being said, I did not come to Denmark to do school work and go to the gym, I came to Denmark to have the experience of a lifetime....and the schoolwork is just enabling me to have this experience.

Following this "breakthrough" on Thursday, I then had the most unbelievable weekend in Sweden, but will write more about that in the next post.  Until then I leave you with my new motto: "Do one thing each day that  makes you happy  reminds you, you're abroad" .... and if that means buying pastries on a regular basis, then I will have to do just that!