Pre-departure musings

Hi there!  For the past month I've been hanging out back in Pennsylvania keeping myself occupied with friends, family, sleep, Netflix, and food.  Some highlights include:

• More trips into Center City, Philadelphia than I've ever taken in my life during which I've mastered SEPTA, the Philadelphia area's lovely public transportation system.  AND I SAW THE LIBERTY BELL FOR THE FIRST TIME!
• My friends Dave, Grace, and Lauren coming to visit from Massachusetts and battling with the (usually) lovely bus company they were using after their bus failed to show up at 11pm in Boston. 
• Visiting my high school and officially feeling old.
• Going to breakfast with my aunt and uncle to a place that makes Creme Brulee French Toast.  Speaks for itself.
• Having lots of coffee/lunch/dinner dates and catching up with old friends!
• Buying an infinity scarf.  They're all the rage in Copenhagen, and much less expensive at Old Navy HAHA.

Friends (since elementary school) in Philly :)

In other news, yesterday marked ten days until departure for DIS, meaning that housing assignments came out!  I've been looking forward to see who all my new housemates are and I was thrilled to wake up to an email first thing in the morning!  This semester, St. Kannikestraede is going to be a culinary-themed house, which I am so excited about!  We're going to work with the Green House and volunteer out in the community to harvest organic vegetables, et cetera.  Best of all, we're going to have cooking instructions and hopefully learn to make lots of delicious meals together.  Some of my best memories from last semester are from the times my roommates and I cooked together, so this should be a great experience for all of us.  

This time of year also gives me flashbacks to freshmen year of college after housing assignments came out.. everyone is all over the DIS Facebook page posting their housing and seeing who they'll be living with.  It's great to see how excited everyone is!  As a returning study abroader- I can promise that everyone is about to have the most awesome four months of their lives!  Be excited, be nervous, be whatever you want- it's all part of the experience.. just remember to be open-minded too.  :)

Also, I was thinking the other day about things that I had to get used to upon arriving in Copenhagen, so quick tip- in Denmark, you'll call your teachers by their first names.  You probably won't ever say "Professor So-and-So," which at first is super weird and took a lot to get used to.  It'll become natural though- I promise.