Submitted by Clara Hernandez on the 2020 spring semester DIS program in Copenhagen, Denmark…
As a part of my program here in Denmark, we have two long study tours that alternate between students. While one half of students have their tour this week, the other half have the week off. My long study tour is not until mid-March, so I had this week off! Instead of taking the week off to hang around the house, I made the decision to break out of Denmark and explore a different country!
Keeping with my love for Scandinavia, I decided to travel to Bergen, Norway! I am so glad I chose this location since I completely fell in love with the landscape. Differing from Denmark and Delaware, this area of Norway is filled with forests, fjords, and mountains! I have been in Copenhagen for a little longer than a month now, and I did not realize just how much I missed green spaces and fresh air. Being in Bergen was a nice cleanse for my mentality.
It was nice to experience such grand natural landscapes that I had never been able to see before! You can view pictures of snow capped mountains online, but it really cannot fully depict just how massive they are. You can also look up forests of Norwegian Spruces, but it cannot express how strongly the air smells of them, it nearly knocks you over.
I did not embark on this journey alone, however. I did travel with a recently befriended girl from one of my courses. It was a new experience having to plan excursions with another person, so there was quite a bit of compromising involved. At the end of the week, I could definitely feel myself becoming worn down. I was homesick, but not for the United States, but for my house in Copenhagen. Being in Bergen with my friend was nice, but I craved for the familiarity of “home”. I missed my own bed, my routine, and my host family. It was very intriguing to me that I was not homesick for the United States. I suppose this means that I am settled in Denmark and have finally made Copenhagen my home.
