As my days in Copenhagen started dwindling down, I became more and more conscious of both how much I had accomplished in a mere six weeks - but at the same time, I also came to the realization that there was so much I still had yet to do. Although my personal and cultural experiences in Copenhagen had been pretty far-reaching, I wished I could have been able to stay for just a while longer. After all, I had really just gotten to know my fellow students, and I wished I had more time to continue building my friendships with them. I had also become accustomed to the culture of Denmark and the independence of living in a big city, and I assumed that going home after becoming so used to my European lifestyle would be a huge shock.
On Wednesday, a guest lecturer visited our class to explain what sort of qualities an investor might look for when considering whether or not to invest in a cleantech company. He then gave a number of examples of cleantech companies that the firm that he worked for had decided to invest in. After lunch, the class went to a lecture by a representative of the Municipality of Copenhagen who described a number of the sustainable projects that the city was involved in. However, the man mistakenly chose to give his lecture outside; the day was beautiful by Danish standards, and a lot of people in the class found it hard to concentrate on the lecture at hand. Afterward, we continued the lecture back at the Municipality of Copenhagen's Center for Environment, but I was supremely tired from how busy the past few days had been and started nodding off a few times. Once we were finished for the day, I headed to Paludan to write the last of the postcards and finish a country position paper due the next day, then headed back to Hoffmans. Later in the evening, after I had finished all my work, I headed over to Sara's place and we watched Memento (which we'd been talking about watching since we met). I was blown away by how good the movie was; I had been a Christopher Nolan fan before, but watching Memento increased my respect for him a hundredfold.
The next day, I woke up early to head to Paludan with Albert and work on the paper on LiqTech that was due the next day. However, only about an hour into working on it I received an e-mail saying that class had been cancelled for the day. The extra day was definitely a help; I spent nearly the entire day working on the paper. In that time I saw Kelsey, David, Jared, Philip, and few other girls from Gronjords (Charlie and Audrey), as well as a friend of Sara's named Meredith whom I'd been introduced to the day before. After finishing the paper, I felt extreme relief and went back to my kollegium to enjoy a bit of rest and grab dinner before I headed back into town where I hung out with Philip, Kelsey, and Ellen for a bit. then, we all met up with a ton of other DIS people at a more central location and had a great night. By far, it was one of the best nights I had spent while in Copenhagen.
Our last day in class was spent working on a group exercise on which each person in the class represented a country and was responsible for bargaining with other classmates to develop a clean energy strategy that would reduce emissions across the board in Europe during the next 50 years. The exercise was a fun and interactive way to finish off the session, and it clearly left me and my classmates feeling satisfied with everything we had learned in the class. Right after class was finished, I headed straight back to my room and began packing all my things (which took a lot longer than I expected). After finishing off everything in the fridge, I headed over to Gronjords for one last visit. There, I met up with Kelsey, David, and a Danish girl from the kollegium who was friend of David's. We all headed downtown to meet up with Dustin, Charlie, Audrey, Caroline, Ilya, and a few other people and said our goodbyes. Then, we headed into Copenhagen's old meat-packing district - an area of town that was much less sketchy than it sounded. Although it had been a very low-class part of town in Copenhagen's industrial past, in more recent years it had been converted into a more cultured area filled with cafes and bars. We spent a good deal of time there, then eventually said farewell and parted ways.
The next morning was supposed to be the day of my big flight back to the States; however, buying metro passes that would take me to the airport proved much harder than I'd imagined (the machines didn't accept either my credit card or my debit card), and the mix-up caused me to be LITERALLY a minute late for the baggage check for my flight. The Delta representatives I talked to did all they could to help, but overall the staff weren't very accommodating and I ended up having to switch my flight to the day afterward (a change that both me and my family weren't happy about). In the meantime, I said my goodbyes to Jill, Katie, and Ashley, hung with Allison and Courtney before their flight left, and chilled with Albert for a bit. Thankfully, when I found myself with nothing to do, Max called me and told me that he and Sam had found lodging at a hostel near the DIS buildings and that I'd be welcome to crash there for the night. I tried heading downtown to meet up with them, but a torrential downpour appeared out of nowhere and I quickly became stuck in the middle of it. Thankfully a kind convenience store owner gave me a few garbage bags to cover myself and my baggage in, and as soon as the storm subsided I found Max and headed to the hostel. There I met Sam and David as well, and we all played a few games of pool and darts before I headed in for the night. The next day, I woke up early and made it to my flight in plenty of time - and after a brief layover in Atlanta I arrived safely in Cincinnati, where I was met by my parents.
So now that the time's come for me to wrap up my blogging at last, I'd like to end by saying that I left Europe with very few regrets. True, I may not have had gotten to see all the sights that Copenhagen had to offer or gotten to know the people I spent time with as well as I may have wanted to (after all, my time in Denmark was rather brief), but I made the most of the opportunities that were presented to me and learned a lot both in and out of the classroom. Several years ago I never would have dreamt of spending a month and a half in Europe completely on my own, and now that I've conquered Copenhagen I feel like I could deal with anything I might face back home. Right now I've got my sights set firmly on the future and look forward to a great next semester, but I'll never forget my experiences abroad. Farewell, Copenhagen. It's been real.
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