Guest Blog: Diving in Denmark by Sofie Fencl

Today we hear from one of our Session 1 students, Sofie, who learned a new skill while in Denmark!

Prior to arriving in Denmark, I had binged all 5 of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. As a result, one of my primary goals in life was now to do a Jack Sparrow-esque swan dive. While this was not my primary focus while studying in Denmark, I did my best to take every opportunity to work on my outside goal of learning to dive. Even though I had never actually learned how to do a simple dive, I was set on learning the pirate plunge. On a few of our excursions, my group and I had the opportunity to swim. When we took a trip to the beach to learn about wind turbines, we could jump off a pier into the clear, cold water. Many of my groupmates took the chance to dive in the Baltic Sea, including myself. When we visited Youth Island, we could swim in the ocean and even jump off of two platforms. 

On both of these excursions, I slowly improved my diving skills with the help of my groupmate Trevor, who is an expert swimmer and a torpedo in the water. This took a lot of courage for me, and the tons of jellyfish in the water did not help my hesitation. There are two things to expect when swimming in Denmark: the very cold water, and the exhilarating feeling of diving beneath the surface. Although gathering courage and shivering were not pleasant, I did not regret it at all. 

The experience I had diving is one that I will never forget, and I’m so glad that I have the opportunity to learn in such a beautiful place--with such clean water! Additionally, I am so grateful for my amazing groupmates that cheered me on in my efforts, especially Trevor. While I am still improving my diving skills, I am confident that one day soon I will achieve my goal of diving like Jack Sparrow.

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Thank you, Sofie, for sharing your experience!