Thoughts Before I Depart

 It is about 24 hours before I am set to board my flight to Copenhagen and I couldn't be more excited! If I am being honest the whole thing doesn't even feel real yet. Biking has always been one of the main ways that I transport myself from place to place, and with this class I hope to gain a better understanding of what is possible to achieve with biking in cities closer to home. 

American cities have a lot of things going for them, but the biggest drawback in our urban culture is that cities have been built around cars. In most American cities, if you don't have access to a car (or some other motorized vehicle) it can be extremely difficult, time-consuming, and dangerous to get where you want to go. If you've ever tried walking or biking on a busy street you know what I'm talking about. Its just very uncomfortable to be a pedestrian or cyclist in a place that was not built for you. With this trip to Denmark and the Netherlands, I am excited to see just how it feels to be in a place that has been built for a human-paced lifestyle.

My future life goal to have a career in city planning will benefit greatly from my having attended this trip. I hope to be able to use what I learn abroad to bring greater bike accessibility to our car-cities in America. Right now, my hometown of Portland, OR is the best biking city in America, but it still has a long way to go before it can even compare to most of the European cities out there. In my lifetime I hope to see and contribute to American cities moving away from being car-cities to being people-cities. 

My journey starts tomorrow so wish me luck and follow along to see what I learn in Copenhagen, Svendborg, Korinth, Odense, Nijmegen, Utrecht, and Amsterdam (in that order).

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