My first impresions.

I’m already writing from Odense. Actually, I have been here for 8 days. So I can say I have survived to my first Erasmus week! I’ve been very busy during this week and I haven’t visited the Odense center or other touristic places yet, but I can explain you what are my first impressions of being here and I can show you how has been this week in order that you can imagine how my Erasmus will be.

I’m living in a dormitory called Rasmus Rask Kollegiet (RRK). It is too different from the student dormitories we have in Barcelona. RRK is like a small residential area formed by a lot of small houses. In each house live two persons, so I'm living in a house with two bedrooms and I share the bathroom and the kitchen with Iuliana, my flatmate. In addition the dormitory has a bar and other services, like laundery, a gym or a sauna.

You can see more information about my dorm in: http://www.rrk.dk/index.php

The dorm is located at, more or less, 3.7 Km (15’ by bike) from the Odense center and at 2.8 Km (10’ by bike) from the Hospital where I’m doing my internship.

In that map you can see my dorm (red), the hospital where
is the lab (green) and the city center (yellow)

So, besides applying for the different official documents, the first thing you have to do when you arrive is to buy a bike. You will use it every day. Usually what people do is to buy the bikes from other students that have finished their Erasmus or that have bought a better bike and want to sell the old one. You can be noticed of that in the second hand facebook group that the dormitories have. You can also buy a bike in the Odense police auction, which it takes part on Wednesday every second week and you can buy the bikes that the police have found into the streets for a cheap prize.  

My two bikes :) At first, I got the red one, but today I have
bought the other  one, because it works better.

I’m getting used to bike every morning to go to the Hospital, with low temperatures and snowing. I think it will be even harder in raining days.

My schedule in the Hospital is flexible. I usually begin to work at 9h and finish between 15-18h, depending of the amount of work I have that day, so when I finish my work I can leave. I’m in a neurobiology department, more precisely in Benedikz group and we are working with Schizophrenia. 

In the first link you can read about the Neurobiology department, while in the second link you can see the research group that I'm in  

http://www.sdu.dk/en/Om_SDU/Institutter_centre/IMM_Molekylaer_Medicin/Forskning/Forskningsenheder/Neurobiologisk.aspx 

http://www.sdu.dk/en/Om_SDU/Institutter_centre/IMM_Molekylaer_Medicin/Forskning/Forskningsenheder/Neurobiologisk/Forskningsgrupper/Benedikz+gruppen

I’m very motivated with my projects in the lab and very glad with my mates. There is a nice atmosphere and we do a lot of activities together. For example, at 10 o’clock we stop working and have breakfast together. Every week there are two people that prepare the breakfast (toast, bread, jam, butter, coffee, tea...) for the rest of people in the group. Then we continue working and at 12 o’clock we stop another time, now for having lunch. In addition, some Fridays of a month they do what they call the “Friday Beer”. I did it last Friday and it’s very funny. We drank beer and played games for few hours. They are a nice team.

In reference to the beers, you should know that I’ll write a blog entrance about them and other alcoholic drinks. There is a big tradition of drinking beers and there are different types. Maybe the most popular beer here is Carlsberg, but Albani is very tasteful and it is maked in Odense.

That is the website of Albani beer. You can see the different types of beer they make and compare their qualities (bitter; tough and dark) 

http://www.albani.dk/produkter/odenseclassic?PHPSESSID=5e070049d6175b89b57168d778183ce0

I’ve been in some parties and I can confirm that the Erasmus parties are special, they are awesome. The best are the ones that begin spontaneous in friend houses but there are also great discos in Odense. I am looking forward to going to LA Bar because everybody says is the best bar, but yesterday I went to a bar called “The gym” and I liked it a lot. It has 3 floors and in the top floor there are some table-tennis tables and you can play a tournament while other people is drinking and dancing. It’s very curious.

In other entrance I have to write about the prizes in Denmark, because the food, drinks, and all things in general are more expensive than in Catalonia or Spain.

In resume, I’m very happy of being here and I’m very lucky of knowing so nice people, who are always helping me and treating me very well. I will spend 6 great months in Denmark! And that has just began!