Perhaps you, a dedicated reader of this fine work of blogness, wonder what is that I do all day. I too have posed this question to myself many times. So, to answer both of our curiosities here is what a typical day is like (presented here as a Monday orThursday):
6:20AM – I wake up to my wonderful cell phone alarm (no really, this thing is amazing). I quickly press the snooze button, allowing for the precious 10 minutes of additional sleep.
6:30AM – I realize that I must make it to the shower in order to keep the shower routine on schedule. And yes this means that I must crawl out of the warm depths of my duvet. Oh, how I love my duvet.
6:30-6:45AM – There really hasn’t been a stated time in which I need to be out of the shower, but I try to keep my bathroom time on busy morning to 15 minutes. It’s probably for the best as it keep me from spending too much time in the bathroom.
6:45-7:00AM – I finish getting ready in my room- back my book bag, check my e-mail, organize, clean.
7:00-7:15M – Head upstairs to have breakfast with the family (or whoever is up). This is quite different for me. Typically in the States I eat breakfast alone. But it can be nice to have company in the morning.
7:15-7:25AM – Now that I have mastered the lunch making process, I can do this quite efficiently. So, sometimes it doesn’t even take 10 minutes. But in any regard, I use this time to pack my lunch.
7:30AM – I depart for the train station. It is about a 10 minute walk, maybe even a little less. The train I catch most mornings leaves at :41. It’s actually a quite complex system I have in my head, whereby I check to see if I am on time. You see the path goes along the train tracks, so when the train going the other direction passes me I know I have ~6 minutes until my train arrives. So, as long as I am past a certain point on the path when the other train goes by, I’m in good shape.
7:41AM – My train arrives and I hop on, find a seat. Most mornings I use the time on the train to do a bit of reading for class. Other mornings I use the time to collect my thoughts for the day.
8:03AM – Norreport Station. I hop off the train and make my way to the street. In the mornings if you walk up a certain set of stairs there is a guy that plays a violin. It’s actually quite nice, and I look forward to it in the morning.
8:04-8:15AM – It’s a quick walk from Norreport to DIS. I walk down a pedestrian shopping street and in the mornings all of the stores are getting ready to open. It’s actually quite neat to see each morning.
8:30-9:50AM – Class – Medical Consequences of a Western Lifestyle. It’s a good class, and if anything has stressed the important connection between lifestyle and disease. In the profession of pharmacy, and in particularly retail pharmacy, we have a chance to help patients make positive lifestyle choices to improve their health. In that way I’ve found the class to be relevant to my professional career.
9:50AM – 3:30PM – On Mondays and Thursday I have a large gap in between classes. It has actually turned out to be quite nice. Typically I catch up on some e-mails, check my mail, and maybe run a few errands in the city. Then I eat my fantastic lunch I packed earlier in the day. I try and reserve the last few hours of the break to quite studying in the library.
3:30-4:50PM – Brain Functioning and The Self – This class is simply wonderful. I love it. It has been a challenging course though, and she expects a lot from us. But the content of the course is fascinating and presented in a thought provoking way. She does good job of mixing traditional lecture, with discussion, with group activities, with videos. I never leave this class the same in which I came. My understanding of the psychology of the self, while not comprehensive, has grown tremendously.
5:00-5:10PM – Typically I try to make it to the train station to catch the :16 train home, but this never really happens. Normally there is always someone to stop and talk to on the way out of DIS, or someone to make plans with, etc. But lets just say on this hypothetical day I walk directly to the train station.
5:16-5:38PM – Ahhhh, the train ride home. Oh how nice it is to relax at the end of the day. If I am really ambitious I use this time to journal, but generally I use the time to collect my thoughts, and reflect on the day.
5:38-5:48PM – Walk home. I have noticed since I have been here that it is gradually getting darker on my way home. The sun is normally still up at this time, but in the next weeks it will probably be getting darker.
6:00-7:30PM –ish – During this time I typically spend helping prepare dinner and having dinner with the family. Dinner is an important part of my host family’s life. It is ok to miss dinner, but it is not ok to miss dinner and not tell them. Generally dinner is pretty low key, where we all tell stories about what happened during the day. I practice my little Danish, and they practice their advanced English. We both learn new words, and learn about the others cultures.
The rest of the evening is pretty much random. Sometimes I will do homework upstairs on the dining room table, sometimes watch a movie or TV, or sometimes just spend time in my room working on things – like typing this blog post.
But really right now, I should be doing homework. I’ve got an exam tomorrow (on eyes, OB-GYN, and radiology). Next week I have: a paper and exam on Tuesday, and another exam on Thursday.
But then it is the much needed travel break. If I can make it through the next week, then it’s all downhill from there. They sure keep us busy!
From your procrastinator abroad,
Anna
