This week was a very special week for DIS students – it was Core Course Week! For those of you reading at home, Core Course Week is one of the two course-integrated Study Tours that you will go on with your Core Course (main academic program) while studying at DIS. For one half of the week you and you’re class will be meeting in Copenhagen – having longer class sessions, traveling around the city, and hearing from guest lecturers. For the second half of the week you’ll be traveling to another city with your class. You can go anywhere from Aarhus, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden or even to Hamburg, Germany (where I went!). Core Course week is really a great opportunity for you to get to know your classmates and professor better while learning from the real world.

My Core Course is European Game of Politics: Crisis and Survival. In class we’ve been discussing how the EU came to be and what the future of the EU might look like. In the beginning of the week we heard from a professor at Copenhagen University who talked to us about the various levels of political identity within the EU. We discussed how some people identify as European, Danish, Nordic or none of the above and how that impacts the politics of the EU. While in Copenhagen, we split into groups to conduct street surveys where we asked local Danes what there thoughts were on Brexit, the EU and its future. It was interesting to hear just how much most of the Danes we spoke to fully support the EU and how upset they are that the UK might leave.

Hamburg Day 1

To get to Hamburg, my class boarded a coach bus at Frue Plads near DIS and drove about two hours to a ferry. Our bus boarded the boat and then we were able to walk around the decks. It was definitely a better way to get around than an American school bus.

After about another 4 hours of driving, we arrived at the Airbus factory. Airbus is truly a European company, different parts of the aircraft are made in France and the UK and then the planes are assembled in Hamburg. My class got to go on a tour of the factory and see dozens of planes in different stages of production but we weren’t allowed to take any pictures. We then all went to dinner as a class at a very nice waterfront seafood restaurant before heading to our hostel.

Hamburg Day 2

We started our day by heading over to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Tribunal is an intergovernmental organization created by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Currently, 168 countries have signed the convention and abide by the legal framework laid out by the UN and can consequently be brought in front of the 21 judges. Surprisingly, the US is not a member state but does voluntarily follow the laws laid out by the UN. Though I was a bit hesitant going into the visit, I have to say the presentation we heard from the Press Secretary of the Tribunal was incredibly informative and engaging. Afterwards, we had some free time to walk around city center where we happened upon a police society concert band that just so happened to be playing Frank Sinatra as we walked by.

After a great lunch, we went on a two hour walking tour of the city. We learned about the Great Fire of 1842 that destroyed a quarter of the city and then fire bombings during WW2 almost a hundred years later. We also learned that Hamburg is one of the richest cities in Germany and is home to over 40,000 millionaires (for a city of a little less than 2 million that’s pretty impressive).

Hamburg Day 3

On our last day in Hamburg, we drove to Bullenhuser Damm. Located about 20 minutes from the city’s center, the school was a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. In April of 1945, it was also the site of the mass murder of 20 Jewish children, who had been forced to undergo medical experiments at Neuengamme, as well as 24 Soviet prisoners. After the war, the school was used for classes once again before becoming a permenant memorial in the 1980’s. The exhibit was moving and I think my entire class appreciated the opportunity we were given to honor the victims. Our last stop in Hamburg was a delicious Israeli restaurant called Neni where we got to have falafel and sesame seed ice cream.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Hamburg this week. Though I wish I had a little more time to see the city, l really enjoyed the visits we had and the opportunity to get to know my classmates better. I think my whole class had a great time this past week and it definitely made us all even more excited for the long travel week next month when we’ll all head to Brussels and the EU Parliament.