Jack Barkhurst - Blog Abroad
Blog #1
I arrived in Copenhagen on Sunday and was greeted at the airport by DIS staff who helped me book transportation to my apartment in Amager, the southern island of Copenhagen. Once I entered my apartment, I was welcomed by all of my new friends in the Green LLC, a living space for those interested in sustainable living. After eating brunch together, we went on a walk in the nearby Amager Fælled, a landfill-turned nature preserve that locals have fought hard to protect. I wasn’t completely prepared for that walk—I didn’t have my beanie or gloves. The 30-degree weather with wind chill felt more like 15, but I’ve now learned that warm gear is a necessity for every trip during these first few months. Later that day, I explored parts of Copenhagen with my new roommates. I went to IKEA for the first time, where I picked up meal prep containers, command strips, and had my first Danish pastry in Denmark. The next day, I went to the Student Hub to get my eSIM sorted out and set up my commuter card. Then I picked up my books for classes and got to see the area where they’re held. Around sunset, I went on a canal tour around Copenhagen. It was amazing seeing the city from the water and spotting famous landmarks like CopenHill, the Little Mermaid, and the Royal Residences. Yesterday, I checked out the gym in my apartment, which even has a steam room. I think I’ll have to start using it after runs to loosen up. Later, I attended the “Living Like a Local” talks to learn about biking and food budgeting in Copenhagen. They covered bike laws and etiquette, then shared tips about the best grocery stores and affordable meals to plan around our 6,000 Danish Kroner grocery card (about $600 USD for the semester). Today, I went to orientation for my core course, European Urban Experience. We were told this might be one of the last times we meet in a physical classroom. By the end of the semester, the professor hopes we’ll completely forget where our classroom even was because the city itself will become our classroom through biking, walking, and using public transportation. Afterward, we were taken to a book café where they served chicken sandwiches and tea. Later in the day, we took a boat bus over to Nyhavn, the famous waterfront area. So far, my experience here has been lovely. Despite the cold, the Danes light up the city with warm lights that make everything feel cozy, even though it gets dark from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. The language barrier hasn’t been too difficult since most Danes speak English. My only struggle so far has been grocery store labels—I accidentally bought sour cream instead of yogurt. I’m hoping to rent a bike once the next winter storm passes, but for now, I’ll be using the metro and buses to get to class as the week continues. Until next time!My First Days in Copenhagen
January 2026
Blog #2
I'm now on my third week of study abroad in Scandinavia, and this past week I took on my first adventure outside of Denmark – to Gothenburg, Sweden! The program I'm on has a week in February called “Core Course Week,” and for my core course, European Urban Experience, we traveled as a class to the second largest city in Sweden, and a major port for Scandinavia. Before leaving for Sweden, however, we did two tours of the north and south harbor communities of Copenhagen, known as Nordhavnen and Sydhavnen, to get a feel for how they were developed. We learned about how these communities were built in human-scale and tend to have more interactive ground levels, which create a welcoming feeling and sense of safety. A major issue we learned about within harbor communities in Copenhagen is the lack of affordable housing. In fact, a majority of Copenhageners cannot afford to live in harbor communities, and the affordable housing units that do exist have 40+ year waitlists. These insights were great to look into as we could later compare them to the harbor communities of Gothenburg: Lindholmen and Älvstaden. After a day of rest on Wednesday, we got up bright and early on Thursday to catch a 3.5-hour train ride to Sweden. It went over a stretch of sea between Copenhagen and Malmö which was surreal to see. Once we arrived in Gothenburg, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and then went to a restaurant for lunch called Taverna Averna. We got Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, and cucumbers, paid for by DIS, which provides almost all of our meals while on our study tours, so we were very well taken care of! We had our first tour in the historic Haga neighborhood of Gothenburg which was characterized by the 'county-governor style' residential buildings, with one brick floor on the bottom and two wooden floors on top. Historically, they had height restrictions for wooden buildings to reduce fire risk, so they used brick on the bottom to allow for an extra level to be built. The next day we had breakfast in the hotel, and our professor Bettina, promised us that the Swedish hotel breakfast was top tier, and I can assure you that she definitely wasn't lying. There were three counters that were spread with all kinds of breads, butter, cheeses, jams, as well as smoothies, chia seed pudding, waffles, crepes, sausages, eggs, potatoes, pastries, and so much more. I left the breakfast buffet very full. On this day, it began to snow in Gothenburg, and it was very interesting to see how they prioritized clearing snow from different transit methods more quickly. For example, they cleared the tram lines and roads first in Gothenburg and then the pedestrian and bike paths last, whereas in Copenhagen, the bike paths are prioritized much before the roads and sidewalks are. After our journey through the snow, we took a ferry through the almost-frozen river towards our next tour of the harbor communities Lindholmen and Älvstaden. We noticed similar patterns to Copenhagen, with the human-scale areas feeling more enjoyable. When we approached the massive 74-floor Karla tower, it made us feel smaller and it provided less for those passing through on the ground floors. After that tour, we received a public housing talk from Framtiden. They’re a company created for the public good and own about a third of the housing units in the city, but make relatively low profits, just enough to keep the company going. They're facing similar issues of affordable housing with long waitlists, but what sets them apart is that they intervene to help schools with low performance, work to improve safety in crime-ridden areas, and clean up trash in the city, all at their own expense. It’s a very different model from what we have in the US, where profit is maximized over the well-being of people. Later that day, we had dinner at Boule Bar, where we had a three-course meal. The appetizer was ground celeriac, caviar, and seaweed pearls, which weren’t the tastiest, but fancier than anything I’ve ever eaten. Then we had steak and potatoes for our main course, and served lemon cream dessert on the court to play a Boule tournament. Boule is a popular game in Sweden (similar to bocce ball), where you throw a green target ball, called “the Jack” (also my name). The goal is to try to throw your team’s metal balls as close to this “Jack." My team got 1 to 10 points in the first round, and then we made our redemption in the second round with 11 to 5. Saturday was our last day in Gothenburg, and we went to the Museum of Design and Craft. It was very interactive, and my favorite part was the collective room where you could add a piece of string to help create one of the design pieces, which was on this tree-like wooden frame. There was also a doomsday prepping exhibit that showcased bunker designs and had a table with disasters around the world. A lot of the highlighted disasters on the table were in the US, most recently including the insurrection at the Capitol. After the museum, we had lunch at the food hall, and it was an open-faced avocado-shrimp sandwich, which was very tasty. I learned how to play the card game Presidents at this lunch, which was a lot of fun. Then we got back on the train to Copenhagen, and just like that... my first study tour is now complete. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to study for my degree in Europe, it’s changed my perspective on a lot of things, and I still have so much left to experience and learn. I’m missing home a lot right now – my family, my friends, the warmth of the desert sun, and the green chile, but don’t worry too much about me. I’m very safe and hygge here.First Adventure Outside of Denmark
February 2026
Blog #3
It’s now March and the canals of Copenhagen have started to thaw. It’s soon to be spring, meaning I’m almost halfway through study abroad. It’s so crazy how fleeting time can be. I often fall victim to knowing I’ll miss a moment while I’m still living in it. I think I need to learn better to live in the moment, or “nyd nuet” as they say in Danish because I’ve been missing home a lot more than usual recently. Everything was so exciting at the start that I forgot about all that I’m missing out on back home. A few weeks ago, I listened to a song that I used to sing on a summer trek two years ago, called New Mexico by the Zuni Mountain Boys and it struck me just how special that place is. The stars, the mountains, the ponderosa pines, the smell of rain after weeks without, the food, the people, my pets… it was very overwhelming thinking about it all and it made me sob for a few minutes. I’ve mostly been highlighting all of the best parts of study abroad but I’ll admit it’s also very hard at times. I’m so grateful however that I have friends to visit because that has definitely helped. Last weekend I visited my friend Taty in Edinburgh. I met her on this same summer trek where we backpacked through Utah and New Mexico. She told me on the tram ride from the airport that she had been smiling all day knowing that I was coming to visit and that it felt like we were back on trek and no time had passed at all. For the short time I was there, we hiked to Arthur's Seat, a big green hill in the middle of the city. We also took a few strolls through the city and saw some castles, got Ben and Jerry’s, and went to Baa Baa Sheep Shop, where I got a little sheep for my sister Polly. (shhh don’t tell her... it’s a belated surprise for her birthday coming up). After Scotland, I headed south to London to meet up with friends from UNM. We stayed at a 10-pound (per night) hostel that, at first, had some questionable guests and living conditions, but we survived and came out of the experience more resilient. We saw most of the major landmarks: the Big Ben, London Eye, and Buckingham Palace, as well as the British and Natural History museums. Also, the 9 and ¾ platform! We found lots of tasty food to eat there: fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, and carbonara to name a few of my favorites. We had a lot of fun on the double decker buses in London and played charades on one of the rides which made the trip go by so fast. Right now, I’m currently on a FlixBus to Berlin for a quick solo trip. I’ve gotten good at saving money while I travel, maybe a bit… too good, because I now have 7 hours left on this overnight bus which is also my accommodation for two nights. The seats are much more comfortable than the planes I’ve been on though, so I have high hopes that I’ll be able to get to sleep after the ferry crossing. The neck pillow that my sister got me has been a lifesaver for situations like these. I’ll update more on my Berlin travels in my next blog. To fill in what’s been happening in Copenhagen since I’ve last written. I ran an ‘old Danish mile’ at the Light Festival, which is a 4.6mi run that passes through a few dozen of the light installations throughout the city. They gave us string lights to wrap around our bodies to bring some light back into the dark winter nights. It has definitely been one of my highlights here so far. Another highlight was that I did my first cold plunge with some new friends that I met in my apartment building. We live about a 3-minute walk from a harbor bath, so we quickly walked there and dipped in between the sheets of ice. I felt so numb afterwards that the walk back wasn’t even bad, and the sun was thankfully out. It was very invigorating afterwards and we’re lucky to have a steam room in our building, because we were able to warm up there. There’s also been a few more Green LLC events (my living learning community). We did a saunagus experience, where we sat in a giant barrel sauna with music, hot stones, and essential oils. Each session in the sauna was about 10 minutes and then we transferred to ice-cold tubs for a few minutes in between. We did three rounds of this, and it definitely made me feel alive and took my mind away from stress. Then more recently, last week, we volunteered at a paint recycling nonprofit that collects old paint and distributes it to those in need, and this week, we learned how to pickle vegetables! In terms of my classes, every Wednesday, we have field studies and my most favorite recently has been our visit to Permatopia, an eco-village south of Copenhagen. They focus on permaculture, growing their own food, and they produce wind energy on-site which they use and then sell out to nearby communities. They had this circular chart with responsibilities for eco-village members, and it was very cool to see how they collaborate and live so sustainably with the land. Another field study that I enjoyed was visiting Bybi, a social-based enterprise that invites people to become part of the urban solution to increase bee populations and biodiversity. First, they led us into a room that was illuminated by honeycomb light installations, and we listened to a bee song that they created with recordings from the bees. We were then invited to try the honey using double-ended ceramic spoons. The only caveat to this was that, to try the honey yourself, you first had to feed someone else, and then they could feed you back. It was very intimate and made you rely on another person that you barely know, just like the bees rely on each other! Lastly, we were able to decide on a fair price for the honey, because they explained that they don’t believe in the honey as a “product” but rather an “invitation.” Afterwards they gave us free wildflower seeds which I’m going to plant right after the last frost so I can help the bees thrive! So, so much has happened that it’s hard to fit everything in these blogs and there’s still so much left to experience here, so you’ll be hearing from me very soon! If you’re reading this, know that I miss you so much and please text me to check in. It’s not a bother. I'll send lots and lots of more pictures than the few that you see here. Love you guys! Bye, JackAlmost halfway through study abroad...
March 2026
