Searching for a silver lining

So the past few days have not been great. I guess I can rephrase that, so let me start again: The past few days have been full of great things; however several not-so-great things have sort of cast a very dark cloud over them. Let me explain...

For starters I have been struggling majorly with getting some academic work off the ground. The workload of five classes is very slowly catching up with me and seems more overwhelming on some days than others. This week (with several other stressful things going on) it all seemed much more unmanageable, but I am hoping to continue to get things under control this weekend. There is one paper for my Applied Psychotherapy class that is giving me the hardest time, but I have all my sources ready to go and an outline written... we'll see how it turns out.

My Developmental Disorders class had an AWESOME field study on Wednesday. We went to visit a child/adolescent psychiatric unit at a hospital in Copenhagen, which I will describe in much greater detail in tomorrow's post. I will say that the things I learned made me very, VERY skeptical of the Danish Welfare System. I was shocked and horrified by a lot of what I learned (in regards to mental health care) and I am eager to share with you all. The past few weeks have been full of experiences that have showed me that even Denmark is nowhere close to perfect. I guess that while the field study was really interesting and was a truly awesome opportunity, the subject-matter was so depressing that it didn't really contribute to an improvement in my mood.

I met up with Ilana after our field studies. We went to sit and have lunch at a market nearby, and talked for well over an hour. On the way we saw my FAVORITE site in CPH:

A GROUP OF LITTLE KIDS IN SNOWSUITS!

SO ADORABLE I CANNOT STAND IT!

We then went to the Royal Library to work for the afternoon (which has been on my bucket list of things to do in Denmark). The inside has many giant reading rooms, small study areas, cozy corners, and stunning architecture.

Going up the moving walkway to one of the reading rooms

Approaching the door

HUGE!

Where we finally found a table.

We went into one of the reading rooms (which are total and complete Quiet zones). Once inside we found that it was HUGE--even bigger than I could have imagined--and we needed to find a seat. It was so quiet that I was self-conscious about the sound of my footsteps and the way that my backpack keychain clinked. We kept walking back further and further and every single desk was taken. We went up a staircase within the reading room, wound around through a really comfy area with cool chairs and couches, and came into another area with even more desks.

We were both very productive with work and were able to keep each other updated over gchat (it would have been WAY rude to try whispering). It was a kind of strange experience; I've never been with so many people in total and absolute silence before. :-)

Shhhhh.....

Back at home I got the most disappointing news of the week: I checked my email and learned that I was not granted permission to live in an Off-Campus house next year at Dickinson, which creates all sorts of incredibly complicated problems that I won't go into here. Basically it means rethinking the way that I structure my senior year (for example, considering being a commuter student given that I am only taking 2 classes, one of which is an independent study), which of course is not ideal. I know something will work out and I am still searching for my silver lining (and I am trying to remain hopeful that I will find it).

Sorry if this post is lacking energy... I'm exhausted at this point and I'm not sure why... could be the work load, could be the paper, could be the depressing information about Denmark, could be the housing issue, could be the light (that is JUST starting to change). It's only 11pm here now, but I am honestly thinking about calling it a night.

To end on a more positive note: I'm glad to have a space here where I not only get to update my family/friends, but also have a chance to relax, unwind, and reflect. Posting here gives me a sense of purpose and provides me with a good enough excuse to take the time to consider the significance of the many parts of my days and overall experience.

Anyway, godnat! Tomorrow I have to present a Danish dialogue in class that I have been practicing with Mira all week. Wish me luck! Hopefully I shouldn't need it! ;-)