Viborg Week 6 Alanna

This has been a very fulfilling week academically and socially. This past weekend Jess and I attended Viborg's summer solstice festival. The Danes celebrate the longest day of the year by lighting a witch on fire. I thought that was the funniest thing when I first heard about it. Every year a witch made out of cloth and wood is put on a raft and sent into the middle of north lake in Viborg. The raft is then lit on fire and the people of the town celebrate. A long march through town opens the celebration and concerts and the witch burning end the celebration. This event comes from a pagan tradition that was celebrated hundreds of years ago. It has modified itself and has turned into a celebration that hundreds of people partake in. It's like Halloween in the middle of summer.

Work has been challenging this week. I am in the final stages of writing my research paper and gathering my thoughts for the final two weeks to come. It seems that one can never be truly satisfied with their own writing. After weeks of working on and editing my paper I still have much to revise. Although this process is very grueling I have learned a few things. This paper has given me the chance to learn how to write like a scientist. After years of writing essays and papers for my humanity classes I found it very hard to transition over to scientific writing. According to Jens writing a research paper is like a "march." You have to write in precise steps which are to the point and methodical. I'm still struggling to write like a scientist and I would love to learn how to integrate the science mentality with the smoothness of humanity writing. Some scientists have done it but it's an art. Hopefully I can bring back the skills of scientific writing back to school with me.

As the weeks come closer to an end Jess and I have been anticipating our travels to Copenhagen. After hearing such wonderful things about the capital I am excited to see what it has to offer. Hopefully we won't run into any troubles purchasing tickets and getting around. If all our plans come through I hope to share what we've seen when we come back!