Sweden, Copenhagen Night Life, and so much more...

I e-mail with my Mom pretty regularly. She's a beautiful woman who is absolutely in love with Europe and in one e-mail said to me, "Isn't Europe simply glorious?" Yes, Mama, it truly is.

I've been here for three weeks and have become more humbled and aware of my surroundings. In Boston/Medford I'd see something I like and walk past it. Here, I always have my camera on me to capture anything I can. Nights don't start at 9 or 10, they start at 12 or 1. Seeing the sun come up on a Friday or Saturday is normal. Life is (and should be) more simple. Here girls don't worry about how they look as much as we do in the States. A black sweater, jeans, and your hair in a ponytail is simple but beautiful. The nightlife is colorful and Danes are so social and want to get to know you, regardless of your nationality. Last Saturday Sydney and I went to a club called Rust and danced until 5 AM. As we waited for the bus the sun came up and I knew I'd never forget that moment and how great a night it was.

I've already had the opportunity to just hop on over to another country for a little visit: Sweden. DIS does a short study tour and long study tour to places that pertain to your program of study (Migration and Conflict for me) and this weekend our program went to Southern Sweden to study and get a firsthand look at immigrant life and learn about Muslim  culture. It was not only an amazing experience but pretty life-changing. Our group went to Sweden not knowing each other too well but left Sweden being so excited to go to Turkey in three weeks and feeling like a family. We left early Thursday morning and toured a mosque and Muslim private school in Malmo, Sweden. I was so taken aback by how "normal" the Muslim school was. It reminded me so much of my elementary school at home. The kids were happy and didn't have a care in the world, regardless of their religion. After our tour we had some free time in Malmo, which is such a beautiful city.

I have to say the highlight for me was the visit to the immigrant ghetto in Rosengard. We were greeted by individuals who run the social aspect of the community as well as another immigrant from Somali named Ishmael. He was so knowledgeable and insightful about religion. It really took my breath away. As we were touring the community, I told him that I'm the "product" of a Jewish man from Brooklyn and a Christian woman from a small and quaint Upstate New York town and he was so interested and delighted about the fact that two different religions could manage to find love. Aside from that discussion with him, I was blown away by how happy and joyous the kids playing on a beaten up playground were. I'm not sure if I'd ever to be able to live in their conditions or even merely as an immigrant in a foreign nation where I would be subjected to negative criticism. It was humbling to powerful to be a witness to all of it.

On Friday we visited the cultural museum in Gothenburg and had a round-table discussion with a Religion professor at the University in Gothenburg. It was a great discussion about Islam and the issue of Islamic immigrants coming to nations such as Sweden and Denmark. The more I'm here and the more I learn about the various issues within religion, the more I want my concentration to be Islam. It's such a controversial yet fascinating religion. We then took a boat tour around Gothenburg, which we luckily had amazing weather for. After we had a three and a half hour dinner together at an Italian restaurant as a group. At the end of the dinner I felt as if everyone in my program was like my family. We talked about any and all subjects over bottles of wine and had an amazing meal. Afterwards all of us (including our professors) went to a bar to celebrate a successful trip and toast to what I'm sure will be an amazing time together in Istanbul. The next morning we went kayaking in the Atlantic Ocean, which was tough but a great experience (when else will I be able to say I went kayaking in the Atlantic?).

There are already so many great things that are going on this semester for me to look forward to and a lot has to do with traveling and seeing those who truly mean a lot to me. In just eleven days, one of my greatest and best friends from Tufts, Shelby, is visiting for the weekend. I'm beyond excited to see her and just be able to spend a weekend with her walking around, shopping, talking, and going out at night. When you're away from your college friends you realize how many nights of talking and hanging out you took for granted. It's very small things too. I miss Hannah's random and hilarious remarks about any subject. I miss Shelby texting me about lunch or dinner. I miss Shauna giving me life advice. I miss simply being around A.G. and calling her my BRE. I miss Veronica's stories (enough said).  That said, I've made some amazing friends here who I'm blessed to know. I don't know how I'm going to be when I see Shelby at the airport. I'll either be smiling from ear-to-ear or crying out of sheer happiness. Next month I'm going to Istanbul and Amsterdam to see my best friends from Tufts. In November my family is coming for the first half of my travel break and I'm making plans to go to Madrid to see Shelby for the second half. Lastly, I get to spend Thanksgiving here with Dan which I'm so excited for. I can't wait for him to see Copenhagen.

I suppose that's all for now. This weekend Sydney and I are going to venture out to some flea markets around the city for a change of scenery and then see what adventures we'll go through on Saturday night. On Thursday night some of my good friends and I are having a typical "girl's night" in Copenhagen with some drinks and dinner at a great restaurant we found...

Europe is glorious.