Over the last three days I have progressively hit a downward spiral with illness. I fear I have (another) virus or infection. Of course I do. It has to hit the moment I touch down in Europe for one of the most exciting four weeks of this year. I don't want to miss any classes as I do not want to fall behind, and I do not want to miss any of this amazing city as this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live like a Dane is exactly that.
I discovered that as a temporary foreign visitor I am entitled to free medical treatment in hospitals and emergency wards if I fall ill, provided that I have not traveled to Denmark with the intention of obtaining treatment and are physically unable to return to Australia. While I had no intention of falling ill, it was inevitable right? Have you met me? Anyhow, the time came yesterday afternoon I could not handle it anymore I had to go and see a doctor to determine the cause of my illness and if it had an 'easy fix' such as antibiotics.
My lovely Kitchen-mate lent me her bike and I set off for the 3 kilometer journey to Amager Hospital to seek treatment. Perhaps because I was a bit foggy due to the illness it took me a good few hundred meters before I realised that I was riding on the wrong side of the road, i.e. I was on the left which is what I am familiar with, when I should have been on the right. The rude gestures and bad tone of voice that the other cyclists were using made this quite clear. So over to the right, which felt very unnerving. I'm sure that this is going to me one of many awkward biking stories that I deliver, because they are ridiculous - they have no inhibitions whatsoever. They will gladly cut off pedestrians, cycle in front of traffic, and if you are moving to slow they will overtake in a very quick and dangerous fashion. So the key take-out here is 'Do Not Fall Behind!'. I have been contemplating wearing a jersey that has 'Sorry I'm Australian!' on the front and back so that they give me a wide berth.
Anyhow, the hospital. I arrived and went straight to the emergency ward (as per my instructions). There I was met with two lovely nurses who took my details and politely told me to wait in the wait room where I would be met with another nurse who would take my vitals and a drop of blood. I then proceeded to wait for three hours before I saw a doctor as I was considered 'low' priority (clearly, stupid Aussie has a mild cold and comes to an emergency ward!). The doctor who saw me was a teeny tiny Danish girl, and she looked me over, listened to my breathing, asked if I had tonsils and then told me to go home and rest for a week. 'No antibiotics?' I asked. 'No'. They are prescribed only when deemed 100% necessary in order to reduce the over-prescribing and potential immunity. This makes sense. 'You have two viruses fighting each other. Come back if you get worse'. Excellent. I could have told you that. But I don't want it to get worse. I'm in Copenhagen!! 'Too bad'. Thanks Doctor, see you next week when I have a serious chest infection.
So back on my bike. Rest for a week. Right.
Last night was horrible, I had to keep checking that my lungs were still in my chest due to the coughing fits. I have decided not to go to school today but rather spend the next 24 hours truly listening to the doctors orders. I'm drinking tea and eating warm foods. I am going to kick this thing!! Thankfully I have my vital greens here, so I've been downing them. Mum also gave me a care pack of cold and flu tablets and strepsils etc. Bless.
I won't be writing for at least two days because there's not a lot of content I can produce from sitting in this room watching The Good Wife. So when something interesting happens (most likely Katie flying in from London on Friday!) I will write again.
xoxo Kri
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Tilbage til skolen, tilbage til skolen for at vise far Jeg er ikke et fijols...
Which translates roughly to 'Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad I'm not a fool...' (note the accuracy is questionable as it is pasted directly from Google Translate)
I'm not feeling in much of a bloggy-witty mood as I'm sick with an unidentified head-mucus situation, however I will try, for you - my loyal readers - all 3 of you (Mum, Matthew and that creepy guy in the states who stumbled across this while trolling blogger).
Today was my first day of school. I had an introduction session in the morning where we learnt about how the Danish grading system works etc. as well as listen to a sales pitch about doing a complete masters over here - which I was oh-so-completely sold on and have been thinking about what kind of masters I could add to my impressive repertoire ever since. So far I've narrowed it down to Masters in Bioentrepreneurship or Communication. I'm serious. Mum, we should definitely talk. Matt, I think you should do one too. Masters of Politics perhaps? At the very least it would make your opinions valid.
So then I had my first class on Business Model Innovation and that was fun, our lecturer has a fantastic philosophy on teaching, and she is passionate, interesting and easy to follow. Tomorrow we are doing a case study on Zara - I feel like she must have known how to get my attention from the get-go.
Enough about that because I have a few more observations:
1. I am literally the oldest person here outside of the teaching faculty. Most of the students have come here to take an undergrad. I have learnt that throughout most of Europe and America, business students generally go into Masters straight after their undergrad, which means that even the post-grads are younger than me (either that or their beautiful European skin is telling me lies). They are all quite shocked that I am a real-life working person who left my relatively successful job to do a masters and start all over. To be honest, I'm starting to get a little shocked myself.
2. Everyone rides bikes. I decided that I must have one and as such I hired one today, it will be delivered tomorrow. Given that my cycling experiences to date have been fitness or competitive in context, it has occurred to me that I am going to have to water down my competitive nature as I believe that racing people off at each intersection would be inappropriate and frowned upon. Either that or I will have to make it as subtle as possible, so that they don't know we are racing but I will. Kri for the Yellow Jersey.
3. I really wish I had bothered to catch public transport in Brisbane because the system here is really owning me. Apparently it's one of the easiest, yet somehow I keep ending up on the metro that is going in the direction opposite to the way I need to be going. There are only two lines (M1 and M2) and there is only one platform at each station, with the trains heading in one of two directions. I think I deserve some sort of prize for still managing to balls it up.
4. The local students here get paid to study. So they don't pay tuition fees, and in addition they also earn a wage for showing up. I have learnt that it is not enough to live the 'cultural life' but it is more than the average Aussie gets on the dole - so it covers rent and food. You are entitled to receive this for up to six years, and for up to three course changes. You are also entitled if you have worked in the country for two years or more. So upon learning this (Matt, are you still reading this?) all I have to do is work here for a few years and I can take that Masters and it's all on the Danes. If this isn't the greatest place on earth I don't even want to know about it.
5. The dairy here is outrageous. So far everything I have trialed; yogurt, cream, sour cream (or creme friache as they call it) has blown my mind. Sorry Paleo you should close your ears - or eyes - at this point because I have been eating dairy at every meal. And the bread - WOW. It's not the kind of white spongy bread that I avoid back home. It's dense and seedy, but in a good way. You only need one slice and you're full up. I'm trying to figure out how to send some home.
That's it for today. Tomorrow is another class day and my bike arrives!
xoxo Kri
Which translates roughly to 'Back to school, back to school, to prove to Dad I'm not a fool...' (note the accuracy is questionable as it is pasted directly from Google Translate)
I'm not feeling in much of a bloggy-witty mood as I'm sick with an unidentified head-mucus situation, however I will try, for you - my loyal readers - all 3 of you (Mum, Matthew and that creepy guy in the states who stumbled across this while trolling blogger).
Today was my first day of school. I had an introduction session in the morning where we learnt about how the Danish grading system works etc. as well as listen to a sales pitch about doing a complete masters over here - which I was oh-so-completely sold on and have been thinking about what kind of masters I could add to my impressive repertoire ever since. So far I've narrowed it down to Masters in Bioentrepreneurship or Communication. I'm serious. Mum, we should definitely talk. Matt, I think you should do one too. Masters of Politics perhaps? At the very least it would make your opinions valid.
So then I had my first class on Business Model Innovation and that was fun, our lecturer has a fantastic philosophy on teaching, and she is passionate, interesting and easy to follow. Tomorrow we are doing a case study on Zara - I feel like she must have known how to get my attention from the get-go.
Enough about that because I have a few more observations:
1. I am literally the oldest person here outside of the teaching faculty. Most of the students have come here to take an undergrad. I have learnt that throughout most of Europe and America, business students generally go into Masters straight after their undergrad, which means that even the post-grads are younger than me (either that or their beautiful European skin is telling me lies). They are all quite shocked that I am a real-life working person who left my relatively successful job to do a masters and start all over. To be honest, I'm starting to get a little shocked myself.
2. Everyone rides bikes. I decided that I must have one and as such I hired one today, it will be delivered tomorrow. Given that my cycling experiences to date have been fitness or competitive in context, it has occurred to me that I am going to have to water down my competitive nature as I believe that racing people off at each intersection would be inappropriate and frowned upon. Either that or I will have to make it as subtle as possible, so that they don't know we are racing but I will. Kri for the Yellow Jersey.
3. I really wish I had bothered to catch public transport in Brisbane because the system here is really owning me. Apparently it's one of the easiest, yet somehow I keep ending up on the metro that is going in the direction opposite to the way I need to be going. There are only two lines (M1 and M2) and there is only one platform at each station, with the trains heading in one of two directions. I think I deserve some sort of prize for still managing to balls it up.
4. The local students here get paid to study. So they don't pay tuition fees, and in addition they also earn a wage for showing up. I have learnt that it is not enough to live the 'cultural life' but it is more than the average Aussie gets on the dole - so it covers rent and food. You are entitled to receive this for up to six years, and for up to three course changes. You are also entitled if you have worked in the country for two years or more. So upon learning this (Matt, are you still reading this?) all I have to do is work here for a few years and I can take that Masters and it's all on the Danes. If this isn't the greatest place on earth I don't even want to know about it.
5. The dairy here is outrageous. So far everything I have trialed; yogurt, cream, sour cream (or creme friache as they call it) has blown my mind. Sorry Paleo you should close your ears - or eyes - at this point because I have been eating dairy at every meal. And the bread - WOW. It's not the kind of white spongy bread that I avoid back home. It's dense and seedy, but in a good way. You only need one slice and you're full up. I'm trying to figure out how to send some home.
That's it for today. Tomorrow is another class day and my bike arrives!
xoxo Kri
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Just a little update to make note of a few observations that I have made of Copenhagen...
1. I was looking for somewhere to buy some take-away food. After searching and asking I managed to find a salad shop in a department store in Kongens Nytorv. As I was waiting for my salad it occurred to me that everyone was so lean. I actually started playing a little game which was 'spot the spare tyre' - I gave up after 15 minutes because it became evident that I was never going to win that game. Apparently they have a tax on food that is high in sugar or fat content, and as such it is easier to be healthy. In saying that, the food is still really expensive due to a living tax, but this covers their medical etc. This is the way forward. I love this place.
2. Everyone is so friendly, there have been several occasions when I have asked for directions and I have found that people are so obliging to tell you how to get to where you need to go, I swear one woman almost walked me to my destination she was so determined to help me!
3. Everyone has beautiful eyes.
4. The fashion is well designed and inexpensive. This must makes up for the expensive food I guess.
5. The wine is cheap. Last night the most expensive bottle of Cab Sav I could find was 37DK which is $6.50 AUD
6. Their Summer is colder than our winter - it is 14 degrees outside.
Anyhow I'm off to do a walking tour of Copenhagen which includes a tour of the canals... I will write more soon.
XOXO
1. I was looking for somewhere to buy some take-away food. After searching and asking I managed to find a salad shop in a department store in Kongens Nytorv. As I was waiting for my salad it occurred to me that everyone was so lean. I actually started playing a little game which was 'spot the spare tyre' - I gave up after 15 minutes because it became evident that I was never going to win that game. Apparently they have a tax on food that is high in sugar or fat content, and as such it is easier to be healthy. In saying that, the food is still really expensive due to a living tax, but this covers their medical etc. This is the way forward. I love this place.
2. Everyone is so friendly, there have been several occasions when I have asked for directions and I have found that people are so obliging to tell you how to get to where you need to go, I swear one woman almost walked me to my destination she was so determined to help me!
3. Everyone has beautiful eyes.
4. The fashion is well designed and inexpensive. This must makes up for the expensive food I guess.
5. The wine is cheap. Last night the most expensive bottle of Cab Sav I could find was 37DK which is $6.50 AUD
6. Their Summer is colder than our winter - it is 14 degrees outside.
Anyhow I'm off to do a walking tour of Copenhagen which includes a tour of the canals... I will write more soon.
XOXO
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