Study Abroad: A SAIT Instructor combines travel and teaching in Copenhagen
Laura McIntyre recounts her travels through Copenhagen as the leader for 2024’s Diagnostic Imaging trip to Copenhagen with six SAIT students.
This was my second time as the trip leader for the SAIT Diagnostic Imaging Study Abroad Trip to Denmark, the first occasion being in 2019. I arrived in Copenhagen with the knowledge of the city I gained on the previous trip, although five years had passed since I was last there. I was excited about the opportunity to visit Copenhagen again, but I must admit I was also nervous about leading the students on my own. In 2019, I had the advantage of travelling with my fellow faculty member, Medical Radiologic Technology instructor Sidsel Pederson, who had extensive knowledge of both the city and the Danish language.
While walking with the group from the train station to the hostel, I was pleased to discover that the surroundings were still familiar to me. Like many European cities, Copenhagen is a relatively easy city to navigate on foot or with public transportation. There is a reliable public transit app that allows you to plan trip routes from your current location to your destination. The same app can be used to purchase your transit and train tickets. I was also able to use maps on my phone to help direct us as we walked around the city. There were many days when our group walked over 25,000 steps!
Those steps certainly came in handy. The food in Copenhagen is fantastic, and our group did NOT hold back from enjoying it. Most of us ate our weight in hotdogs, and none of us regret it. I said this the last time that I was there, and I will say it again: you have no idea just how great a hotdog can be until you have a hotdog in Denmark. We also enjoyed Smørrebrød (a traditional open-faced sandwich) at a local fresh food market, decadent cakes from La Glace (the oldest bakery in Denmark, founded in 1870) and a traditional Danish meal at Restaurant Karla on our final night of the trip.
At 857 years of age, Copenhagen is a city rich in both history and culture. On day three of the trip, our group purchased a five-day Copenhagen Card. This card gave us admission to a wide variety of historical sites and covered our cost of transit. We visited the royal family’s Amalienborg Palace and witnessed the changing of the guards, we travelled to Kronborg Castle (the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet) and we toured Rosenborg Castle, surrounded by gardens and housing the crown jewels. We climbed the Round Tower, as well as the 400 steps to the top of the Church of Our Saviour. From there, we appreciated panoramic views of the city. We had fun on a boat tour of the Nyhavn Harbour and Canal. We visited several museums, including the National Museum of Denmark, the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. On top of all of this, we also visited the Botanical Gardens and Den Blå Planet, the national aquarium in Denmark. It is safe to say that we went to bed exhausted most nights.
Culturally, the thing that I appreciate most when visiting Copenhagen is that the Danish people genuinely recognize the importance of quality of life, happiness and health. This was apparent when we visited the university college and the clinical sites. Their classrooms and places of work are well appointed with large windows, abundant plants and greenery and ample places to relax and de-stress. It is no surprise that the citizens of Denmark are frequently ranked as some of the happiest people on earth.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Copenhagen, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to explore its history, culture and cuisine. It was a privilege to visit this beautiful city again.
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SAIT is located on the traditional territories of the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot) and the people of Treaty 7 which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuut’ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney.
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