Tak for dag!

Tak for dag!

Thank you for today!

This has been the spirit and energy of the group so far - feeling excited and grateful for all that we are learning and experiencing.

We are settling into a nice routine of having breakfast together at Bagerdygtigt, a sustainable bakery that provides breakfast for us every morning, before heading into the Copenhagen city center on the metro. Though the students in our group come from all areas of the U.S. and have various levels of experience using public transportation, they are all quickly acclimating to commuting via train during weekday rush hour. We have had a few folks get left behind once or twice but it is all part of the learning experience and traveling as a big group!

We are three days into our classroom lessons and it has been inspiring to watch the students engage with each other and with our instructor, Daniel, over big issues related to climate change. Daniel has a fascinating background and has spent time learning from and working with Native Americans, marine ecosystems, and artificial intelligence. So far we have discussed issues like waste management and wind power and the students are working hard on their projects for Week 1, a 5-10 minute presentations on an introduction into their burning climate change questions. As a Program Leader it is a great environment to be a part of and I feel hopeful and excited for the future of climate policy, knowing these students are our emerging leaders.

In addition to our climate change lectures we have also been getting out and about. Earlier this week we did a Danish lesson and got a tour around the city center from the Danish instructor Niels. He taught us to recognize the street names and important words that would help us find our way in the city if we got lost. Right now our biggest challenge is making sure we don’t cross against the red light and do not get hit by all of the bike traffic! 

We also did a canal tour by boat and got to see some of Copenhagen‘s most famous landmarks from the water, including the Queen’s residence, Amalienborg Palace, and The Little Mermaid statue. It is wonderful to be in a city surrounded by so much water. Did you know that the harbor surrounding Copenhagen is clean enough to swim in? This is a result of a many-years effort to clean up the water pollution from boats and other sources.

I hope you enjoy these photos from our first few days of excursions. We have really hit the ground running and are looking forward to some much-needed free time coming up, but for now we are enjoying taking in all that this dynamic city has for us.

Tak for dag!