The COP15 is in Copenhagen starting today

I wish I could be here for this. I'll be following it here on Denmark.dk.

It will be interesting to see what this week-long convention brings. The web site has videos of side events being held to promote sustainability and green-living. Being a journalist in Copenhagen right now would be amazing.

Learning about being abroad

Last night at an orientation, we learned that we will probably have something of a "W curve" of emotions while studying abroad. This occurs if one were to plot their emotions on a graph, and it would create a W, or a series of small Ws, depending on the person and their experiences. In example, someone would start high, fall when things get difficult, rise again when they become more comfortable, fall when they go home, and rise finally when they are readjusted to life back home. I suppose this will probably happen to me, and apparently it's a good thing, because I will be experiencing life, rather than just being a tourist. We'll see if it's true.

In studying the study abroad experience (which all feels very metaphysical) I remembered the first article I read about being abroad. The blog Stuff White People Like had a post about study abroad, and in re-reading it, I am more excited than ever. (Despite the fact that it completely discounts the experience as superficial.) I'm sure at some point I will be caught saying "When I lived in Denmark..." but who cares. I'm paying a lot of money to be able to say that. So what if it's viewed as a status symbol? So is a college degree, and I'll never apologise for getting one of those.

Class List

So after searching around Facebook for a few weeks, trying to find the other students in my class for the TV Semester, I finally asked Anna (the Coordinator) if I could just have a class list. She was lovely enough to send it to me, so I'll share it.

The font is really small, but the punchline is...I'm the only American. This is pretty exciting, but also kind of crazy. I think number 12 is the few Danish students who will also take the classes with us. Anna also said we would be getting more information on housing, mentors and other school information.

In headlines out of Copenhagen: Climate Change Summits.

49 Days and 13 hours until the day I leave, not that I'm counting...

Video Blog: I'm actually going to do one.

Enjoy. If you're having trouble you can view it here on Vimeo.

PS: I know it's totally cheesy, but I had fun making it. More professional videos will come soon.

Finalizing Plans

So the flights are booked! My dad was awesome enough to allow me to use his frequent flier miles to take this trip. I'm leaving January 21, STL to Dallas, Dallas to London, London to Copenhagen...31 hours later I'm there! I'll be meeting Katherine in Copenhagen, then to Aarhus a few days later. Visa application gets sent in this week, and I have two orientations to go to: Health and Safety and Pre-Departure. Hopefully the latter will let me know what I need to bring as far as apartment stuff. I really hope I don't need to bring bedding...it's so bulky. I'm going to try and be a minimalist while packing, but knowing me...and the fact that it's a five-month trip, I'll probably fail on a large scale. Oh well. (If you've got tips for packing for long trips, PLEASE leave them in the comment section.)

For Christmas I'm asking for a flip video camera, so I can add some video to my blog. I'd love to share as much of the experience as possible, and hopefully I can add at least a few "home video" style posts. So watch out for that. I'm also tweeting about my preparations, so you can follow the hashtag #Denmark2010 for other updates. (I'm a huge nerd.)

On a completely unrelated note: How 'bout them Tigers? Sorry KU, better luck never.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you...

Today was the first day I got to talk to anyone who I'll be studying with next semester. I became Facebook friends with four students from various European countries, and began to chat with a few of them. It's comforting to hear that some of them have the same concerns as I do: money, packing and being away from family. I was so impressed with the fluency of their English, and was a little embarrassed that my German is so remedial in comparison. Maybe I'll get to learn some other languages.

Another adjustment I'll have to make is the Fahrenheit to Celsius switch. I have no idea the conversion equation, so I set up two forecasts on my desktop for Columbia, one in Fahrenheit and the other in Celsius. Today, it's 42 degrees F here, and 6 degrees C. Hopefully I'll get some sense of conversion by the time I head to Scandinavia.

The latest headline out of Copenhagen: Summit on Global Warming Wraps up Today.

Study Abroad: a brief introduction to a long process.

After a good two years of preparing with advisers and planning classes, I'm finally on my way to studying abroad. When I was a freshmen, the first place I thought of going was Germany, because I'd been there just a few months prior, and was eager to visit again. Sadly, the Journalism School here at MU doesn't support any programs there. Next, I thought, France! But I don't speak french, and frankly, I had no desire to become near fluent in a year and a half. Then Brussels! That program was in English. Perfect. So Brussels it was for a long time, because it was a political reporting program, one which would hopefully mimic my career as a political reporter here in the states.

After I was accepted to my Broadcast sequence, I chatted with Emily, the study abroad adviser. She showed me a program in Aarhus, Denmark. It was not an internship program, but rather a semester at the Danish School of Media Journalism. Not only was it a very exclusive TV program, it was one of the cheapest programs we offered, second to only Hong Kong. Nothing against Asia, but I was pretty set on spending some time in Europe, and Hong Kong was an advertising program. I've since looked into the city of Aarhus, and it looks like it's going to be really great. It's akin to Columbia in that it's a comfortable distance from Copenhagen, but is still a city with a lot to do and a good place for a school.

So I applied. It was a long application, but the Friday morning when I finally turned it in, all 50-something pages of it, it was a sigh of relief.

A few weeks later, I met with the Danish Exchange students here at MU, and now I'm in the process of applying for a student Visa, and getting plane tickets and all that goes into leaving the country. Classes start February 1, and end June 5, but I've been told most people take a little while to have a vacation after with their classmates. I haven't contacted anyone I'll be in the program with, but there's only 14 others, and I don't even know where they live now. I'll be excited to finally meet them. All

things considered, even though I have about 70 days until I see Denmark, I have a lot to do still.

(Photo: Me with my completed application: Courtesy of Laura Xiao.)