This was it – my final week in Copenhagen – though I didn’t know it yet. On Monday, March 9th, it was announced that all future study tours were canceled – which meant that I would not be able to go to Normandy, the Czech Republic, and Austria with my class as planned. Despite the crushing disappointment at this news, I went about my life in Denmark, going to class and doing homework as I usually did.

Wednesday morning, I went into the city early for a visit to my favorite park in Fredericksburg before a class trip to a museum later in the day. I figured it would be a waste of sunshine not to enjoy my day before making my way to class.

As I walked through the park, I saw my beloved herons. Believe it or not, there are even more there than could fit in the frame of the photo. I’m filled with such joy every time I get to spend time with them.

This was my lunch spot for the day. I felt so at peace watching the geese float by.

Just as I was making my way out of the park, speed walking because I was cutting my timing close as usual, I received an email from my professor that our museum trip was canceled due to a train accident, and we had no other means to get there. I was stumped. I had an entire gloriously sunny afternoon all to myself. I decided to play tourist and went for a boat ride of the harbor.

On my journey to the boat tours, I passed scores of these Coronavirus health warnings. Just a week before, none of these were anywhere to be seen.

I found this sign to be most interesting. It was located at the front of the public restrooms in the heart of Nyhaven, the most touristy location in Copenhagen.

I didn’t let any of this slow me down. I was a tourist, and this was my day.

For the first time, I got to see Copenhagen from the water. The Queen’s Palace, the backside of the (very) Little Mermaid, and the other sides of all the places I had been exploring thus far. I was most fascinated by these houseboats I saw along the way.

When I arrived home that evening, My host family shared the startling news that the country of Denmark was shutting down for the next two weeks. They said that this was an unprecedented move that had never happened before. Oddly, I wasn’t too worried. I love my host family. It might get a bit boring after a while, but at least we had each other and board games, and I could do school work remotely.

I did my best to go to sleep that night, but I received a text from my study abroad program saying to check our email later, that an important email would be coming. To be honest, with all the excitement, I only made it two-thirds of the way through the film assigned for class the next day and decided I could figure it out in the morning. I set the alarm for 3:30 in the morning. I figured by that point, my professors would send out an email regarding how to move forward with classes during this shutdown. I could go directly back to sleep (and hopefully turn off my regular alarm for my 8:30 class).

When I woke, I was tossed into a completely different reality. In the couple of hours that I had been asleep, my phone had blown up. I could barely comprehend all that had happened. At the very top, I saw a message from mom. She said that she was sorry, but the news from my school wasn’t good. They were shutting down my study abroad program. Furthermore – the President just said that all travel from Europe was to be suspended for 30 days and I was to call her when I woke up – no matter the time in the US.

So that’s what I did. Mom was in Superwoman mode. She was set with a plan to get me out of the country before the twelve PM Friday deadline. She didn’t want to book the flight without talking to me. I asked for a few minutes to read the email messages and catch up. In the next thirty seconds, I was back on the phone, and I told her to book it. (Read mom’s post about this here.)

After that, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was stressed. My body was filled with tension. There was no way I was going to be getting back to sleep, so I started throwing things into my suitcase.

I spoke with my host family in the morning, and they were as bamboozled as I was. The world had shifted. I wouldn’t be getting to spend another two months with them. I wouldn’t get to be there for their daughter’s birthday coming up in the next couple of weeks—no more family adventures to the beach. No more playing with their four-year-old, making coins and little balls “disappear” out of thin air.

That Thursday was my last full day in Copenhagen. My host mom, a teacher, still had to go to work. School would become a sort of daycare for those children whose parents were considered essential workers. My host dad looked after the kids and tried to keep things in order. Later he went out yet again for supplies. I sat at the computer in the kitchen with a sense of unease. I tried to pull up my flight reservation on the computer, but Swiss Air said there was no record of my booking. This just made me more nervous.

With nothing else left to do about the situation, I took myself into the city one last time. I felt like this was my last chance to say goodbye.

The day was both rainy and incredibly windy – a fitting to match most of my stay in the country. As I walked, I took pictures of my commute. It would be the last time I would be making this trek.

I wanted to hold onto how everything looked. The path that had seemed so unfamiliar two months ago, I could now follow with my eyes closed.

The shortcut behind the school I know by heart that could get me between the bus stop and home about a minute and a half faster than the main roads.

My regular bus stop – moments after my bus turned the corner out of sight – without me.

The empty bus that I took to the train station. Fittingly, I missed my bus one last time and had to walk further to another bus stop to catch this one.

Norreport Station is the only station busier than the Central Station itself. The train I take home was arriving in two minutes. On a typical day, the platform would be packed, and I would have to fight my way to the front of the crowd in the hopes of getting a seat. Never in my time in Copenhagen have I seen this place like this.

As I was entering the city, my host dad called. There was some confusion about how people were being allowed into the US. The word was that the only flights being allowed into the US had to be routed through the UK – and my flight was routed through Switzerland.

I woke my mom up from her slumber, and we tried to figure out what was going on. The bottom line is that my flight could get me back to the US – but we were baffled if something was wrong or not. Swiss Air did not recognize my flight details, and there was no way to talk to anyone over the phone as the waiting queue was in the thousands, growing by the second.

At about 11 am, I felt my best option was to go to the airport and speak with a person. I hopped on the metro and set off. The entire way there, I was filled with anxiety. What if, for some reason there was a glitch in the matrix and I didn’t have a flight? What would I do? How long could I stay before my residence permit would expire – leaving me without healthcare in the middle of this crisis?

I walked through two terminals in search of the tiny area that housed Swiss Air. I waited in line for twenty minutes, and then I finally got to speak to a human being. He told me I was all set – he confirmed my reservation and said that there was a glitch with their website, which is why I couldn’t load my flight.

I cannot begin to explain the relief I felt. Everything would be okay. I just had to figure out what to do with the rest of my day.

I decided the only thing left to do was to take a stroll through the city. It felt very somber. I had about a hundred and fifty kroner in my pocket, which is a little over twenty US dollars. I decided to spend it on a treat that I’d been saving for a special occasion.

I procured some Eblskeivers – little spherical danish pancakes. I even splurged for Nutella on them. They were worth all of the carbs.

I felt like I was looking at the city through new eyes. I took more pictures that day of places I passed every day than I had the entire trip.

I made sure to get a few stereotypical tourist selfies along the way.

Oddly, it finally sank in that this was the end – the very last time I walked by one of my favorite movie theaters, the Dagmar. Although I never got the opportunity to watch a film here, I walked by on my way to class every day. I smelled the popcorn and the coffee, checked up on all the latest movie posters, and watched people sip their coffee in the cafe. Today it was closed with the lights off.

My last look at the big pink Palace Movie Theater that I passed each morning from my favorite train stop. It was sad to think I would never be watching another film there.

Of course, I had to get one last tourist selfy in front of the town hall before I went back home – even if the wind was about to knock me off my feet.

The next day I spent the morning finishing up my packing and spending time with my host family. My host dad, an engineer, was sure to inform me that stuffing more things into my suitcase would increase the weight. Extremely helpful information (not); he was very pleased with himself.
We sat and chatted for a while. It just felt so surreal. At the beginning of the week, we had so many plans for the rest of our time together. Now it was cut short. We were all worried about what the future would hold for each of us.

Finally, the time came. I hugged everyone goodbye, and my host dad drove me to the airport for my 2:55 flight. We had our final chat about our lives in Denmark versus the United States. While I don’t think I would like to live in Denmark permanently, this experience has given me a new outlook on the world.

I was so anxious about the day ahead that I couldn’t stop moving. I held my newly purchased cheap travel pillow in my hands, and I was squishing it like a stress ball the entire car ride. When we arrived at the airport, I looked down at my lap and found that I was covered in little beans. My massaging it had forced the little foam beans through the stitching of the pillow – oops!

I said my final goodbye and headed off. I had my mom on the phone with me while I walked the same path through the airport that I had taken the day before. While I’m usually okay flying, it was good to have someone to talk to to help keep me calm. I got my bag checked in, just one pound under the weight limit, and went through security without issue.

I’m always an early bird to the airport, so I took the time to go into the airport’s Flying Tiger, one of the shops I frequented most during my time in the city. It’s fun and moderately inexpensive. They have a little bit of everything from office supplies, soap, toys, and socks. I bought myself a little blue stuffed elephant. He was to be my emotional support companion throughout the day’s journey. I named him Humphrey.

With Humphrey in hand, I walked confidently through the airport, picking up a Starbucks and a sandwich along the way. I sat at my gate, talking with Mom as every five minutes, an intercom announcement with COVID19 warnings would interrupt our conversation.

My first flight to Zurich was only about a third full – I had an entire row to myself. One of the biggest perks was that because we were flying Swiss Air, we got free Swiss Chocolate, and because there were so few people on the flight, we could have more than one.

Although this was an ideal flying scenario, I couldn’t enjoy it. I had a very short layover before my next flight. My first landed after my second flight started boarding. I hit the ground running through the airport to get through passport control and onto my next flight. I clutched Humphrey to my chest as I waited in line to speak to the passport man. When it was finally my turn, I threw him my passport and told him that I had fifteen minutes to make it to my next flight, or else they would be taking off to Boston without me.

He let me through as fast as he could. I sprinted through the airport, Humphrey in hand, running up multiple flights on escalators as fast as I could. I made it to my gate with about four minutes to spare.

This was it. I was going home. After a very long flight with a less than stellar seat buddy, more Swiss Chocolate, and four movies later, I made it back on the ground and reunited with my mom in Boston.

I’m so sad that my journey in Denmark ended so abruptly, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. I’ve made lifelong friends in my host family and had incredible adventures.