Small Town Survival

Lost in Denmark is the most recent addition to my little web collection. I'm hoping to use it to keep in touch with friends and family while I spend time studying in Aarhus, Denmark. In fact, I leave in just a few short days (January 6th) and will be spending 6th months abroad. I'm sure most of you already knew that though. Here's to an interesting journey and time to record what's going on. :)

First things first. Happy Birthday, Dad! Thank you.

Yesterday was the big going away party. It was a fantastic event that was filled with laughter, food and drink. (Don't worry, no one was drunk - there wasn't even much alcohol involved.) Erika, Shelley, Allen, Brian, Shannon, Melisa, Kevin, and Dan all made it. Bethany was there in spirit and made her appearance with a phone call. We had waaay too many tacos for supper followed by chocolate pie with whipped cream, apple pie dip, cheesy sausage goodness (I don't know what else to call it) and vegetables and dip. Some were before others I think. The table was covered in cards, apples to apples, and trivial persuit (my team won!). By the end only four of us were left and we played Hearts and Euchre, then retired for the evening with a little Usual Suspects and finally falling asleep.

I think everyone had a good time and I'm so glad so many of my friends could make it. Everyone spent so much time wishing me a safe and happy trip that I didn't get to extend my wishes for all of them - and all of you to have a happy and safe new year. Thanks, gang.

I meant to publish/write this entry quite some time ago. A week maybe? I was packed and wondering how ready I really was to leave the country. Or I thought I was packed anyway. It's a weird thing to sit around knowing that you're going to be gone for six months from everything you know. I'm sure I was nervous and a little scared. I know I was excited to be somewhere new and of course to see Andreas again. I didn't write that entry then though, so I can only guess what it was about exactly. Instead I'll try to write about what it's like to be here and fill in where I can about my expectations and how they're being met or how I'm finding myself completely surprised. That's what it's all about, right?

Instead of writing one big long entry today I'm going to try and break it up by days. They're all written on the 11th of January, but they will be posted under the date they occured.

The key to a good trip is in being prepared. It's reasonable to want to look nice when you travel but if it is going to be a long trip you should never compromise your comfort. Luckily for me I knew this already and while I didn't quite go in my pjs I did manage to wear something comfortable. Layers are always a good idea too because then if you get hot you can take something off and easily put it on again if you get cold. As for me, I wore two layers and a coat because I'm always cold when I fly.

I arrive early at the airport and found Erika easily and we waited and talked and waited some more for my mom. I was checked in and was lucky enough to get a window seat. Woohoo! (They're best for sleeping, especially for me because I rarely get up.) Lufthansa flights serve good food but aren't as nice as Northwest (if you want to watch movies during the flight that is). I digress. Erika and I spent a lot of time watching people and commenting on outfits, shoes and guys we thought were attractive. Or children and old ladies we thought were cute.

I managed not to cry when it was time for my mom to leave and again when Erika left, but it was hard and I came close. I suppose my need not to cry in public is what really saved me. When I borded the plane I fell asleep almost immediatly and woke up only to see that we were delayed an hour and then again for meals and drinks as they went by. I even got used to them asking me what I'd like in german. Mostly it made me want to take a german class again when I return to the states - although I'm not sure if I will or not.

Because of our delay in reaching Detroit, the flight didn't arrive in Frankfurt until after my flight to Copenhagen had already departed. I sort of entertained ideas that it would also be delayed as I wandered towards the assigned gate. Surprisingly enough the flight had not left and was actually delayed about two hours by the time we departed. I think the most sureal moment was when I looked over at this woman and noticed she was smoking! You can't do that, I wanted to say. But she indeed could so I kept my mouth shut and turned away from her questioning look.

What I forgot to mention was that I ran into Ashley and Kellen (the other two students from MSU) at the airport and we were all on the same flights. Once we arrived in Copenhagen it was a different story all together though. Ashley was taking a plane to Aarhus, Kellen was taking the bus and I was meeting Andreas and we were to take the train.

As so many of you have asked already, yes I was excited to see Andreas and we did get to spend two days together. Arriving to see someone familiar was perfect. Besides that I hadn't seen him in so long and I missed him, I would have been lost without him. Both on the map, what to do and well, it's not like I could have gotten my own luggage on and off the train and then on and off the bus. I really should thank him again for that.

So I left Monday night in Michigan and arrive on Tuesday afternoon in Aarhus. By the time I got here it was evening again and I was tired and a little stressed. We missed the bus stop because there's a weird little stop that is after the actual last stop. Weird. So we drug the luggage a little further and managed to find the right place. Afterwards Andreas and I went to the grocery store where I almost lost it. I really just wanted to curl up and be tired and instead I was forced to decide what I wanted to eat and look for it in another language that I couldn't understand. And it's not really all that bad, but it felt that way at the time and I was ready to cry and go home.

Instead we managed to buy some sauce, pasta, milk, bread and butter. I never ended up eating that night because by the time I got that far I was feeling sick. Instead we went to bed and I had the chance to wake up feeling really tired the next morning. I had hoped to sleep more but Mr. Jetlag didn't agree. Either way, I was glad to have made it through my first night in Denmark.

Wednesday is the first day of class. The test our language skills and give us a tour of the city. I fall asleep on the bus briefly but I don't think I miss much. Did I mention that classes started at 8:30 in the morning? I was lucky enough that Andreas got up with me and we took the bus to the university. I won't mention that the driver told us the wrong stop, but we managed to get there with plenty of time to spare anyway.

After the tour we went back to the ISC and they split us into groups based on the month of our birthday. There were six or seven of us with birthdays in April, but none of us were born on the same day. We answered questions about Denmark and played games (to see who could eat the string of licorice the fastest without using his or her hands, who could guess the number of candies in the bowl, who could blow up the ballon the biggest and the fastest not using hands, etc.) and then we heard stories - two of which were lies and one that was true and we had to pick the correct answer. Apparently we switched back and forth with November for the lead but when it was all over April was the winner. We were proud of oursevles and had a good time but we were even more excited when we found out we won a free meal at the ISC. They have meals every Thursday for students, which sounds pretty nice.

I lingered around for another hour or so to chat with everyone. I remember coming home and being really excited that I got to meet such nice people and what a wonderful program it was because we had almost instant friends. And a free meal. How cool is that?

A few of us have said that we feel completely normal until we open our mouths. It's weird to be surrounded by a language you don't understand. I sit on the bus and I almost don't hear the chatter unless I focus on it because my brain has tuned it out already. Sometimes I try to listen for the words I know.

Did I mention the grocery store? I'm going to talk about it again because I like the grocery store and I hate the grocery store at the same time. Between understanding what I'm buying and standing around trying to convert things in my head I'm sure I look like an idiot. Karen said that we should make a little chart that has intervals like $5=, $10=, etc. Hopefully this will help me out a lot.

Mostly I'm glad that I'm settling in and will have a weekend to relax. Or explore, who knows.

I went out into the city today in hopes of taking pictures. I woke up early and the sun was shining (what seems like a rare occurence) so I was excited to try and get some pictures with my Lomo and of course the digital. I must have procrastinated too long though because by the time I got into town the skies were overcast.

Instead of turning around and going home I wandered around the downtown area, at first looking in the windows to see if there was anything I wanted to by and then looking into the windows to see what I could discover. I also managed to take a few photos (if I can ever get my camera cable in the same place that I am in I'll post them) when the sun peaked out or even when I found something interesting.

I was impressed with the diversity of shops, not because I didn't expect to see them (I didn't know what to expect) but because I enjoy seeing all sorts of things. I ended up wandering around for nearly three and a half hours in all and managed to finally figure out that people were saying "Can I help you?" when I came into a shop. I found a paint store in case I want to paint my dresser. Sidenote: the thing is uuugly. I'm not kidding, it looks like it has smoke stains so it's sorta this yellow colour, but you can see the white behind it, a bit more if you use your imagination. Solveig (the girl who I'm renting from) said I could paint it or get a new one. Painting seems like the cheaper option, but it depends because I'll probably need to prime it. I thought about finding a primer in a light blue and maybe doing some stencil work on it. Who knows though, it rains a lot here and I might need a nice afternoon activity to keep me busy.

Anyway, I enjoyed the shops and managed to find a place that sold scented candles for a pretty low price. I also went into a flower shop, mostly because I'm toying with the idea of getting some more lucky bamboo (I miss mine!) but I don't really know what I'd do with it when I left. I could give it away I suppose, but people are going to get annoyed if they have to take care of my plants. Not to mention that buying one can lead to many. Here, have ten plants, I can't take them with me! No thanks. In the flower shop there was the cutest dog sleeping in a chair, the dog actually looks like sassy, for those of you who've seen her. It was really adorable, and I later found out that sassy seems to miss me because she'll follow my parents around the house looking for more attention and she has apparently taken to sleeping in my doorway, so cute. I really miss her too.

By the time I was done "exploring" I could consider myself lost. I had no idea where I was or which way was home. Instead of having my map with me, because that would be smart, I had two cameras and not much insentive to hurry. I used the bus stops to figure out where I was and just kept wandering in one direction or another thinking I was going the right way. Eventually I found the line that goes to where I live, but it turns out I was walking in the wrong direction! At least I only had to cross the street to go the right way and I made it home safe and happy.

It seems like a big city, but then again if you have to walk and take the bus it's going to seem a lot larger than when you can drive around wherever you want to go. Man, I miss driving (just a little). I read/have been told that there are around 289 thousand people in ﾅrhus. I'll let you figure it out. Comparisons to cities I know would be welcome (maybe you need something to do Mike?). I suppose that summerizes my weekend. I plan to go out again for more exploring (less getting lost) and more photos. Wee, fun!

Sunday is mostly a lazy day. As far as I can tell (or have been told) not much is open on Sundays here in Denmark. There are some small kiosks open and maybe the 7-11 or something, but you pay for convienece and it's a lot easier to stay inside and enjoy how nice staying in bed until the afternoon is. I checked in with my parents to say hello and see how things were going. I never realized how hard it would be to keep in touch over the phone until I got here. The weekends are fine if I'm planning on being home, but otherwise I have to wait until quite late at night to call home because otherwise my parents are at work. Who would have thought you would have to wait until a specific time to keep in touch with family. Or maybe it's only a new concept for me...

Church? Me? Are you kidding? Yeah, that's what I was thinking but part of the Denmark Today course includes cultural events. Today we were to visit a church and listen to a lecture on the Danish National Church. Some of the others were a little offended that they were being required to go to church. Maybe I was too, but really, how hard is it to go to a church, listen and be polite and then go home. This is part of the credit we can earn, I think we should all be able to manage. (Of course I would later learn that this was just the first of many complaints from some of the other students, the most common being -"Boring!").

So, anyone that knows me will know I haven't spent a lot of time in church recently, but I was surprised by what I found out at the lecture. We learned a little bit about the history of the church in general and in Denmark. I also came to realize that while most of Denmark belongs to the church they are fairly quiet about it. It's more of a tradition than it is an in your face relgion - then again, Danes have been stereotyped as reserved so I doubt they do very much that's in your face. The Church and State are very much united but only a small percentage attend church each Sunday. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what I got. I feel a little more comfortable with my understanding of how things work and maybe next time someone mentions a lecture on church I won't wish I could be somewhere else.

The Mellow Cafe takes place at the International Student Center (ISC) every Tuesday night. We get cheap beer, good music and lots of chatter with friends. I'm not sure who wants to drink on a Tuesday night, but then again I used to spend Tuesday with all my friends from home (Hey gang!) It's usually a good time though, mostly it's free if you aren't drinking anything. The funny thing is maybe that the beer is 12kr and soda is 10kr... why does that work out?

Anyway, it's been a great way to meet people and chat, etc. The bad thing was when I missed the proper bus stop because I was talking to a guy from my class and we were apparently pretty into the coversation because we managed to not just miss our stop, but go four stops past. He also didn't want to wait for the bus going back (it couldn't have been that long) and we decided to walk all the way back. In the rain. When we were almost there he asked me if I mided walking. I could see asking.. oh say when you were near the bus stop, but after you had almost made it? That seemed a little silly. Except arriving a little late, and a little wet, the evening was fine.

Mostly I think the ISC is great at organzing activities. It doesn't require any work on my part, all I have to do is show up, see who is there and have a great time. Easy. No, really. There are other things going on as well through out the week and you can always organize your own events and invite people. I've heard rumors that someone's going to have their birthday party there and make it some sort of a costume deal. Sounds neat (even if it's not until April - and no, it's not for my birthday, although having a weeklong party at the ISC sounds fun!).

We had a lecture on Greenland yesterday and while it was actually pretty intersting I did manage to fall asleep. What do you want? They turned out the lights to show us slides and I was already on the verge of not making it. Today we visited a sort of Folk High School, which I'll explain later, but instead I wanted to talk about the trip to the Art Museum on Friday (which I forgot to mention) and I found it to be really interesting. We learned about the Golden Age paintings and how they were set up to tell specific stories about Denmark. It's a bit funny because they tell these stories or show these scenes from typical Denmark, but mostly they were constructed to show what the people wanted to see about Denmark more than what really was. There were some tell-tale signs in the paintings and we discussed them, what they meant and how the people would have seen these paintings. I was totally fascinated by the whole thing. I suppose it would be easy to summarize it by saying that it was a romaticised view of what Denmark was.

Afterwards we looked at some more modern paitings that had a little bit of a theological discussion and were free to interpretation. Instead of being specifics in the paintings there were only hints about what was really in them and it would be up to the viewer to decide what he or she saw. There were a few that were walls with either an open doorway or a door that was closed. This is where a bit of the theology comes in because it was said that perhaps it was a way of looking at what was to come after this life. You could see when the artist was sure of it that there was light or a clear opening after the doorway that showered light into the distance and back to the viewer. Others it looked like a dark hole or perhaps that the door was closed, showing an uncertainty or maybe a bleak outlook.

People have asked what I liked best and I must say I really enjoyed the Golden Age paintings. Someone said she didn't like them because they were so specific and not really open to interpretation, but I think that's what I liked about them. Not that I couldn't find my own story in them but the fact that that is what the era was about. You weren't allowed to tell your own story but instead you were to reflect on this specific way of life that was so great. It was a time when they were building a national identity or telling you what the identity was without looking for input. And instead of feeling oppressed by it the people were inspired to take on this history. Or so it seems to me, the outsider. The stories are fascinating to me anyway and I wish I could have spent more time learning about them.

My creative side of course likes the modern art that allowes me to see what I want and make up my own stories. I'm not searching for my identity so much maybe, but trying to find pieces of me in everything that I'm surrounded by.

I said I was going to talk about the folk high school that I visited with the rest of the group and now I'm sitting here thinking about what I might have to say about it. Basically it's this school that you can go to for 4 months and study a variety of things. They seem pretty isolated and they also seem popular with people from other countries. I also understand that most things are taught in Danish so if you don't know the language, you won't slack on your learning.

As for today, there was a program at the ISC called EAT (Exchange at the Table), where we gather for a meal and chat with people about whatever we want at the table. There's a small fee, unless you cook and then you eat free and get a discount the next week. The other advantage is that you get to pick the menu.

For some reason the girl next to me wanted to talk about politics and maybe because she's Canadian she thinks she's better than me, the poor american girl. Now I'm exagerating here, but if you're American and you know any Canadians with a superior view of their country you'll know what I'm talking about. If you're Canadian, you're right, the Americans are crazy, I'm just used to it.

But really, what is it about people who don't know you wanting to talk about the tough issues? Isn't this little gathering supposed to be about small talk or the weather? (Yes, I suppose those are the same thing...) Instead we tackled affirmative action and how things work in theory but not always in action. I don't really feel like defending my views over dinner, but if I have to I guess I will. If you know me very well you know I'm not all that interested in politics, I try and keep my head above water at least, but I'm not going out for a swim. Still, I'm managing on my own.

I think Andreas had the right idea by not saying anything. Had I been able to, I would have been in that boat too. What's with all the water metephors?

After supper we watched a movie called, Blinkende Lygter or Flickering Lanterns. It's a Danish movie (in Danish with English subtitles) and I must say it was a really good movie. I'm sure I missed out on a little here and there because I didn't know the language and had to depend on the subtitles, but you can't have everything right? Andreas also said that they did a pretty good job with the subtitles. I think it had a pretty good message (sounds lame to say I think) and it was pretty funny with nice character development and a strong plot. What? You want me to tell you what it's about? How about you look it up instead?

And after a long week it was nice to come to Thursday, a day which was warm and relaxing all around.

Since I'm trying to catch up on all the days I haven't written about yet I'm going to start mushing some entries together.

Monday we had a lecture on Danish literature. I've heard from the majority of people that this was the worst one. I rather liked it, but I see where the others are coming from saying it was hard to follow. The guy was all over the place saying that this relates to this and comes back to this other thing and in the end it all points to this other topic. Mostly I got the impression that he was laughing to himself the whole time and that if we had a few months we could really have gotten into the topic and it would be fascinating. Most of the others seemed lost.

Today we visited the Jyllands Posten, which is the morning news paper. As I understand it you can get a version if it free. This version has condensed stories - a bit like summaries of some of the major stuff and then if you want to you can purchase a more indepth version of it. But why would you do that when you already got the news? I guess they aren't doing so well because advertisers aren't interested. Advertisers aren't interested in a lot of things these days, or maybe they are and it's just that their budgets are being cut, economy and all. When will people learn that to make money you have to spend money? And if you put out some nice ads and tell the nice people that they need these nice products then they'll spend their hard earned money and oh, look, the economy will pick up. It's all very nice in theory anyway. Speaking of theories, I can't tell you how many times I've used the phrase "well, even communism works in theory - perfectly actually." Then again, so does democracy. Damn, and I just typed it democrazy - freudian slip? Naaah.

Anyway, the neat thing about the Paper (which I keep wanting to call the Post) is that we got to see these huge machines that print the paper, and these huge rolls of paper that they use to uh.. put the words on to make the paper. It was really cool. We didn't really seem them working much, although we were supposed to, but I suppose the patience of the tour guide ran out since it was supposed to be "any minute now" or "I'll just go check and see if they're going to be starting soon" and they never did. Well, it ran slowly for a little while but nothing exciting per se. I enjoyed it none the less. Well except the part where I learned that my camera battery had died. Grr. Okay, so no more photos. Overall it was a nice day and I enjoyed the two programs. I like a lot of things. Basically if you teach me something new, I'm happy. Well, good sort of new. I don't want to learn to sacrifice animals or anything icky like that. ew. Sorry, I'm done now.

Yesterday there was a lecture on Danish History and Culture and while it involved a lot of maps and dates it was pretty interesting and I think he gave a nice overview of some of the generic stuff we should know. It's the kind of thing people should be aware of in case they're talking to a Dane. It'd be like talking to an American with the knowledge of when the Constitution was written or something or maybe being aware that there are 50 states. Maybe I'm making all this up, but the other night (see, I can talk about the future when I go back to write entries) I was talking with Andreas about the Danish flag and we were talking about it's history and while it's a nice tale it's probably comparable to the Indians (Native Americans - whatever you want to call them - aka the people who were there before the pilgrims and the explorers, etc.) and the Pilgrims sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. What do you mean they had to be taught how to plant corn? Had they never done anything back home that involved manual labor? I doubt that... maybe they just didn't know it was edible, but either way it makes a nice story to tell. It makes them look all cozy and friendly.

Anyway, that's why I find the Danish History lecture useful. If you can make sense of all that you're doing better than I am. :)

Today we cooked! And the cookery classes weren't exactly what I'd expected. I had wondered why they were putting them off, because if you couldn't learn some basic cooking skills in the first few days what was the point? And besides, who can't at least make pasta.. I mean it might not be perfect, but usually you can get it edible - or get someone to show you... Anyway, I digress. Instead of actually learning how to cook, we had a chance to try some traditionally Danish recipes. Oooh, I know! We went from the ISC to a school a few minutes walk away, lugging crates with eggs and flour and vegetables and knives and pots and chocolate and all manner of things. We settled in and found out which groups were going to be cooking which items and how many. My group was in charge of meatballs in a curry sauce, the chocolate cake and and onion pie. I'd rather call it an onion torte, but that's not right either. It's almost like quiche without the egg? No, that's not it either, but it's not sweet like pie and it doesn't contain egg. It's onion and a cream sauce on a pastry with cheese in it maybe. It was good either way so I'm not concerned. Ours actually turned out really well. Other groups were making salad or fish cakes or bread. The whole place was buzzing with activity and we all had a really good time. I will add that our cake got burned which is funny because the girl who claimed she was keeping an eye on it and knew how much time was left wouldn't let me check on it and when she finally got around to it, it was burned. Hee. I have a mean sense of humor sometimes, I know. It was still okay to eat, they just spent a lot of time picking off the outer coating that was mostly burned.

What I really like about the cake is that we took real strawberries and blended them in a food processor and then added cream and whipped it up again to make the topping. It's much better than icing and it's something I never would have thought of on my own. Most of the other food was really good. I loved the bread and the tomato soup, I was really surprised that I liked the fish cakes and the meatballs (not ours!) didn't look like they were done enough. I remember Sen saying that the more disgusting the food looked the more Danish it was. He was really funny and a great guy to work with (He's one of the ISC hosts).

All in all it was a fantastically fun night, we got to keep the little booklets with the recipes in them and we all enjoyed the food that night - once we managed to get it all back to the ISC that is. Fun!

On a side note, I'm thinking of starting a portal/webring for people living abroad. It sounsd like fun and I'd like to see a nice friendly group of people sharing the same sort of experiences. If you're living abroad or know someone who is that has a website, and you think they may be interested or if you're interested please email me or leave your info in the comments section. For my own future reference I wanted to hold onto this quote: "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." - Douglas Adams

As for today's entry... We had a lecture called Intercultural Communication. It turned out to be more about culture shock and I think the general concensus is that it was the best lecture we had throughout the entire program. It'd be hard to argue with that as it was fantastic.

She introduced us to some of the stereotypes Danes have about others and why they might have them. For example, the southern europeans are always touching and waving their arms about (talking with their hands, etc.) and since the Danes don't do that they see them as being overly dramatic (which I mightn't argue against..).

We discussed the idea of passing someone on the street and saying, "Hi, how are you?" and what the expected answer might be. It was suggested that Americans/Canadians/Australians may not want a proper answer but it's just an extended version of Hello. Which I think it might be for the most part, but when it's your friend or someone you're getting to know you typically want to know for real and it's okay for them to say.. "Oh, I'm not doing so well..." instead of just saying fine. I think the difference is the setting too, if you're just sitting around talking you can have more indepth conversations as opposed to when you're walking down the street and both you and the person you meet on the street are on their way somewhere. Sometimes you can stop to talk, sometimes you can't.

I wish I could get a better grip on why the lecture was so good, maybe because she was talking about things we had already experienced or were curious about as well as it was more a conversation where we could jump in if we wanted and share our experiences too. Some of the others were really more of a lecture where you sit and listen until the designated "question time" and that's fine for some things, but it's not always as exciting.

I'm having a hard time believing there's only a week of this program left.

Monday we visited the Brewery. I suppose in a nation that drinks so much it really is part of the culture, it also makes the surrounding area very stinky. We learned how beer is made though, which I thought was kinda neat. The sick part was inside one of the rooms it was a bit warm and humid and it smelled worse than outside. It started out as a sweet smell but had this underlying rot that wasn't nice at all and gave the overall impression that many people had been very sick in the same place for about 3 months. Ew.

Afterwards we saw where the bottle beer and I learned that they can reuse the glass bottles 45 times before they melt them down to make a new bottle. Impressive. We were then invited down into a nice little room to have beer on the house for the next hour. They had bottles and beer on tap, they also had a variety of cola, juice, sodas, etc. avaliable. I tried the beer, which was good, but then moved on to some of the other drinks since I didn't think I'd get the same chance to try so many things for free. I found a few I liked and a few I didn't. Now I know what to buy when it's on sale at the store. : )

Tuesday was the tour of the Town Hall. We had a little overview of the political parties in Denmark and how they work. The most important part though? Free lunch and coins on the gov't. Neat. Oh, and Andreas? I lied. I had coffee at the Town Hall, so it's only been a week, not two. I totally forgot. I only had half a cup though because it wasn't that good. I'd rather drink the Coke anyway.
We took a tour around the hall and learned about the architecture and then we were invited up into the tower. I really enjoyed the view from the top (Denmark's so flat!) even if the weather was a bit crappy. It couldn't decide if it was going to snow or rain and the wind felt like it could blow you right down to the ground. I'm glad I had the chance to see it though. We were told we could try and come back and join another tour later in the year if we wanted. I'd like to do that in hopes of taking my camera along and getting some great pictures in nicer weather.

On the way down the woman pointed out that there was a little pigeon house. Apparently they keep pigeons because if there's a group of them they keep the others away. So they have a warm little house in the tower of the Town Hall and those birds are FAT! They could be chickens they're so large. I suppose they're happy at least. Fat, happy pigeons protecting the Town Hall in ﾅrhus.

Sometimes I try to be a Good American. I don't go waving a flag around or declaring 100% support of the President or anything crazy like that, but I do try to keep up with what's going on in the US. In fact, I've probably read more news since I've been in Denmark than I did from September to December last year. I wish I was kidding.

Anyway, since I'm also not crazy enough to stay up late to watch the State of the Union Address (besides, who needs to hear all that applause.. it's not like I've never heard clapping before. Settle down, people! oh, and on another note - it's not like the officials don't have other chances to express their support of the President. They have all sorts of outlets so they shold shut up already with the clapping. I could see if it was the general public - if the American public could express their thoughts directly to Him while He's giving His speech, then fine. Otherwise? Enough. I'm sure some of us were expressing our opinions btw, it's just that he can't hear us yelling at the tv.). So, where was I?

Oh right, I read the State of the Union this morning and it was almost more than I could stand to get through at 7 a.m. I also managed to fit in some reading on what the different news sites had to say about what he said. It's easier to get a summary sometimes than read through those long speeches, and you know they're long even without the clapping (but I won't get started on that again).

So I'm a little proud of myself for taking time out to be clever or bored or an American, or just a little homesick and I'm thinking about the lecture in the afternoon because it's on Danish politics and I'm wondering a little bit about whether or not they're similar or if it's just going to be one big crazy mess than I can't understand. (Do I get an award for the world's longest sentence?) Instead of making it to the lecture before I'm hit with more politics I make it to about 9:45 during our first break during the language classes. You'll never guess where it came from. From the North - those damn.. er.. I mean it came from the Canadian girl, the one that wanted to talk about affirmative action, etc., at the dinner the other week. Yeah. And she wanted to tell me how we could improve the country and how things certainly worked better in Denmark and probably Canada for that matter than in the States.

Er, so Denmark is a lot smaller than the US - I mean, in case you hadn't noticed. I pointed out that it would be hard for fewer people to have cars (at least right away) because for example, I worked 30 minutes by car from where I lived and there wasn't any public trasnportation that actually went that way or even close to that way, or even a little out of the way. Car pooling wasn't an option because I didn't work with anyone that lived near me - or if I did (duh, my dad worked there) we worked different hours so there wasn't really anyway that we could go in together.

In the end I got tired of her saying the same things to me and trying to come up with creative ways to say the same things back to her so I suggested that maybe she'd like to come to the US and tell the nice people there how they should run their lives. Or maybe she should run for Pres.. oh wait, Canadian.. she can't. Hee. This isn't really about Denmark is it? I hate politics.

Oh but wait, it doesn't start there. After I point out that I don't want to talk about politics anymore what happens? That's right, Alfonso (the spanish guy) decides that it's a great time to talk about what? Yes, politics. I'm not kidding. So I spent a half hour talking about them, again. Again. Again.

This was followed by a lovely afternoon of listening to a lecture on Danish politics. I actually learned quite a bit about the way the system works and the different parties. It wasn't painful, then again people weren't telling me I should change the way the President runs the country. Instead I got to think about the decisions someone else made that affected another people. wee. Sometimes politics aren't that bad. And speaking of, this entry is why I usually stay out of it, look at me go on and on and on about nothing at all....

I should run for office.

So... The Denmark Today program ended today. We had a nice little morning full of games and performances by each class to show off what they've learned. One of the classes (the advanced class - oooooh!) did a rendition of the Princess and the Pea, it was very funny. We also had a little game where everyone wrote a sentence in Danish and then someone read a story where the characters said "whatever's on the paper." In other words if you had a paper that said, "I like Aarhus!" (in Danish of course) - the story might go something like this: Peter was talking to his sister who had stolen his shoes, he was starting to get angry with her and exclaimed, "I like Aarhus!" As you can see, it doesn't make much sense, but it was entertaining, moreso for the teachers and advanced students I bet.

At the end the Advanced Teacher said something that I'm sure was very nice, but because my Danish isn't that good I was forced to guess. I made up my own version of what she said and she congratulated us for making it through, learning, having a good time and then she thanked us for not driving any of the teachers insane. I'm sure ours would have been pulling his hair out before the end if it had been long enough to do so.

After the long morning of only knowing about half of what was going on.. oh wait, our group? Yeah, we decided to sing a song. In English, Estonian, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Danish. Not kidding. Anyway, after the morning er.. fun, we went to this nice little cafeteria type thing (they call them Kantine - if I've spelled it right) and had a nice meal. It was actually really really good. There was free beer and wine too and that left a lot of really drunk exchange students. As for me I was just drinking Coke - c'mon it was free and I don't get it otherwise. In fact, I drink milk (in hot chocolate) or water (all the time) and not much else because I don't want to pay for it. I know, it's sad.

Let me remember the food... some type of roast beef with a hint of cheese and spices on top, bbq chicken legs, a fish thing wrapped with some vegetables, pastry puff things with salmon and spinach, all kinds of chocolatey deserts, a broccoli salad, and a variety of sliced vegetables. I'm getting hungry just thinking about how good it was. Think of the best meal you've had in the last month, make it 5 times better, now make it free. It was that good.

Afterwards we stumbled out, some of us tripping, some of us leaning on others, some of us singing - badly, and others just trying to make their way down the street. It was decided to go to the teachers bar. We went and were lucky enough to see a live band - they played a bit of music that had a hint of country, but was way more fun and just to see everyone dancing was worth it no matter what the music was. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like it to be honest - a cross between line dancing and folk dancing and a mix of I-am-doing-whatever-I-feel-like. I was impressed and I laughed and laughed at everything I saw, and then I joined in.

I doubt the people at the bar were expecting it but they all seemed impressed or drunk or just willing to let everyone have a good time. They ended up moving the front table back so we could all have more room to dance. There wasn't much room to begin with... I would guess maybe less than 10 feet wide and then we had the length of the room. Eventually the band packed up and so did we. I can only imagine that some of the people went on to the next place and others of us went home to relax or maybe to recover. There was no mistaking that we were celebrating something - even if we didn't all learn very much Danish. We did manage to make it through 3.5 weeks of getting up early though.

You might not be surprised to find that the majority of my problems here in Denmark arise from the kitchen, or cooking to be more specific. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I like to cook but haven't been at it very long. Or rather, I've been cooking a long time, but I'm just now getting into the habit of looking for new recipes and trying new ideas.

Problem One: I don't have all the ingredients I need. Now, I know what you're thinking - no one has everything they need every time they start out to try something new. That might be true but I'm talking about the basics. I had to go out and buy pepper. I bought cinnamon. I bought garlic, paprika, lemon pepper, oregano, flour, sugar, eggs and milk. Some of those things run out eventually, but I didn't have them to begin with and it's difficult to start out. Now I know what it must be like when you move into your first apartment. Lack of spices, baking dishes, pans, bowls, etc seem to make life difficult. It's also an investment that you're going to make all at once if you're going to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Part of Problem One is also that I'm leaving in 6 months and if it's not something I can take with me I don't want to spend the money on it now. What's the point if I'm going to have to leave it behind. For this reason I will eventually be borrowing cake pans or random other dishes. Of course, anything I can find for super cheap I'm going to buy because it's not a big deal to leave it behind. IKEA is my new best friend.

(that's going to lead to a lot of weird search results. Hello! If you're looking for IKEA you might try here or here [although I can't guarantee how long that second link will be around.] Speaking of IKEA there's a mattress pad I'd like because, well the bed here kinda sucks. I'm being nice when I say that.)

Anyway.

Problem Two comes in when I'm trying to measure stuff. Why oh WHY is the United States still using cups, etc. instead of ml or whatnot to measure things. WHY. I have since learned that one cup is 250 ml and it's making things a lot easier. I also found a fantastic site with all kinds of fantastic recipes that also contains this wonderful thing called conversion. That's right, I can go from US Standard to Metric. It also converts temperatures. You know why I like that, because everything here, including the oven is in C. Not F, C. CCCCC. I'm getting used to it. In fact, I've started keeping a little section in my notebook for recipes that I like (biscuits, lasagna - just ask if you want them.. mmm they're good) and I put the temperature in C and F which means I can use them when I get home. Just wait until I get home, I'm going to be the best cook you've ever .. known. I was going to say something else but it sounded bad. Moving right along.

Problem Three. So many recipes require things that are pre-made. That doesn't happen here in Denmark. Sure, you can find a few things here and there that are already set up for you, but they like to do things from scratch. That means you get out the flour and mix your own pancakes batter. Yep, and I did. You know what? It was really good. So, now I can make pancakes without bisquick. They seem a little heavier, but I think that's just a measuring problem I'm having. One more time and they're going to be perfect. Well that is if I could get syrup without SALT. Ew. The good old Canadian maple syrup (who buys that anyway?) is really expensive, so instead we bought something else, I think it's made from.. beets? Is there such a thing as beet sugar and should I know this already? Well, it's all find and dandy until they added salt. Who knows why.

I think what it comes down to is when you can have pancakes for breakfast, you know you're living the good life. I can and I am. One last question: Where's Mrs. Butterworth when you need her?

Warning: This entry may contain sexual references, including but not limited to pornography. This entry is also parent- and friend-safe. If I had to give it a rating it'd be PG, you know, because of the sexual references. There will be no sex in this entry. (I bet I could get some crazy google hits from that sentence alone.)

Side Note: In deciding to rate my entry I've decided to check up on the actual movie ratings and what they mean. You can find a more detailed explanation here. When considering the actual rating of this entry I might take the following into account.

1. I am not a parent, but am an adult. Most of my readers are adults. All of them? (actual age or mental age? :)

2. G rating states: Nudity, sex scenes, and scenes of drug use are absent; violence is minimal; snippets of dialogue may go beyond polite conversation but do not go beyond common everyday expressions.

Hmm, no nudity or sex scenes here, no drugs, no violence. I don't think I'm required to be polite and I certainly won't be going beyond every day expressions.

3. PG rating states: Some material may not be suitable for children. This signifies that the film rated may contain some material parents might not like to expose to their young children .

I suppose what I'm going to talk about isn't something I sit down and discuss with a child. I suppose it's not suitable.

4. PG-13: Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. This signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens.

Yeah, okay, this isn't for kids. I can also get bumped to this level is I swear, more than once. I think so anyway. They say, "one use of the harsher sexually derived words may be heard." I suppose that's swearing? Where's my formal training on this stuff. Damn.

5. R: An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a film's use of language, theme, violence, sex or its portrayal of drug use.

Oh, here's a problem, I think the theme could be about sex. Does that make this an R rated entry?

6. NC-17: This signifies that ... the film is patently adult.... [It] may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of sexually-oriented language, or scenes of excessive violence. The NC-17 designation does not, however, signify that the rated film is obscene or pornographic.

First this is great. This entry is .. er, intended for an adult audience. It may contain sexually-oriented language, no scenes of sex or violence though. As far as I know it's not going to be obscene or pornographic. Although like I said before, you may find references to pornography. Are you curious yet?

How about we stop with this rating system and get on with the entry? Yeah, I thought so too, after all, it's only an entry.

My classes started today; nice and early. The first class is called Saved from Desire (ah, now you know). It's also subtitled: Censoring, regulating, and rating sexual representations in film in the United States. There's also a full description of the course available. I think the best part was when we spent a lot of time the first day talking about porn. It comes up later in the course because, of course, we're talking about censorship. (I told you I would make sexual references.) Mostly what we're doing is taking a look at films and how they evolve along with the American Culture. I think so anyway. It looks like a really exciting class.

The second class of the day (starting right after the first in the same room with the same teacher) is a Media Studies class and from what I can tell we're learning about film composition. The elements that go into a film, including all the things I never noticed before. I'm sure if I could remember to pay attention I'm going to look at movies in an entirely different light. I probably said that about magazines too when I had my magazine journalism class. We did learn how to take an article apart and look at the bare bones of it so to speak.

So, those are the classes I've had so far and I'm really excited about them. Okay, I'm a little tired too because they start at 8 a.m. and I'm in class 4 hours straight (with little breaks of course). I think class-wise this school year has been or will be one of those most rewarding years to date - this is including the fall semester of course.

Sweet.

Since I finally got a battery for my camera (Thanks Kevin!!!) We'll go back in time and take a look at a few photos I snapped at the party back in January. Sadly, I seem to have forgotten I had a camera until only a few people were left. I apparently like to take photos of Brian and Erika. Anyway, here they are!

Erika and Brian (it's really hard to get him not looking at the camera).


Erika and Brian's ear.

Dan without his floppy hair.

Brian, not looking at the camera, for once!

I could go on about the classes I'm taking (they really are really interesting and exciting) but I can also do that later. Instead I will answer all your questions: Where do I live? What does the place look like? Do I have electricity and running water? - you know, all the good questions. Well, without further ado, I present to you Skejbyparken: Where Jenn Lives. So go on, take the tour, and thank Andreas, because I used something he previously wrote to make your navigation easier. Enjoy!

Note: My room and I came to an agreement that it would pose for these photos. They should not in any way imply that my room always looks this neat, or even that it regularly appears in this way. Thank you.

I had my first experience with a concert here in Aarhus. Pia, a girl from the Denmark Today program, suggested that it was something that I might enjoy. I had no idea who the guy was but decided to give it a try. She had said that it was sorta jazzy/blues with a bit of rock thrown in and I can't really disagree with that. I asked Andreas if he'd like to come along and he agreed. We met the others at a small cafe before the show where I was tempted by the hot chocolate but ended up passing. I only mentioned it once later in the evening that I should have tried it. I can always go back though, right?

The concert was at a place called Voxhall (click on Kalendar in the upper left to see some of the shows they have/will have) and it's down by the river. We saw a show by a guy called Daniel Lemma. If I had to compare him to someone it would be Domestic Problems (a Michigan Band). Andreas said he sounded like a modern day Marvin Gaye. I can agree with that too, especially when he expanded by saying that it wasn't as slow and a with a little more rock. Either way the show opened up with a lot of energy and I wasn't even aware that I had been standing for more than an hour by the time it was done. In fact, I was surprised that it had ended so early until I found out what time it was and realized it wasn't exactly that early.

Sadly the evening for us had to end shortly after the show because we wanted to catch a bus before midnight. The night buses are twice as expensive and who wants to stand outside for that long only to pay more? Besides, I got what I wanted from my ticket cost. It was a fantastic show and I'm glad I went. This is what they talk about when they say you'll take home your memories

My dad asked me what I did with my time off. I'm not really sure to be honest. The first week of classes didn't count in that sense because there wasn't really homework or reading or anything to do so it made it seem as if there was a lot more free time for me to to take advantage of than there was in reality. I suppose I spend a bit of time browsing around online if I'm home. When I'm already at the university I spend time walking around the area or I walk downtown and see what I can find down there. Now that I have my camera again I'm waiting for a nice day with sun and not too much cold to head down into the city to take more photos.

It's a bit odd because I can look at it and wonder what makes it so different than the towns in the US. I know it's different but nothing is shockingly so. Or maybe it's because it's a bit what I'd expect from a large city. It's not Manchester by any means and I know it's different than Ann Arbor. Maybe it's because the cities I know have parts I stick to. Here I don't know where anything is so I can wander about and everything is new, but also find myself following the same paths - even if it's not intentional. Even though I can't pinpoint exactly what it is I can show you what it looks like. Click "more" to see the photos.

I mentioned before that I'll be watching a lot of movies this semester. They have since started. The fist movie we watched is American Beauty. I will also be seeing Lolita, Citizen Kane and Taxi Driver in the next week or two. I certainly can't object to the chance to see a lot of classics that I probably wouldn't have otherwise watched. I'm also not supposed to admit it, but all this study of film has peaked my interest in Film School. I'm sure between that and the "pressure" I have from a friend to attend I might eventually make up my mind.

While I'm watching a lot of movies in class, I'm not seeing many at the theatres or on video. I of course don't have a TV here so I'm stuck with what I can view on my laptop. That would include Region 1 DVDs and while I have a few with me, I've been through most of them already and I can't rent region 1 here. I've also seen a few that Andreas has on CD in a format that can be read by windows media player. This has expanded my options, but once again, we've been through most of those already too. I think it's what you do when you stay in on the weekends because it's too cold to go out and wander around the city. And until I go out and learn more about the city we'd have to wander to learn anything new. I'm pretty sure he's pointed out that I now know more about the city than he does. Weee, that's useful. ;)

Movies we've watched include: Miss Congenialty, Dogma, and Practical Magic. We'll probably see Amelie this weekend. I also have the Others and the Matrix on DVD but I haven't been in the mood for the Others and while I love the Matrix, I think I'm saving it for a rainy day.

Something odd about Denmark and movies (at least for me) is that they're behind the US when it comes to release dates. For example, the Others just came out here in the theatres not too long ago and I've owned it on DVD for quite some time. A better example is that Two Weeks Notice comes out on the 21st or so Of February and it was out just around Christmas in the US. Right now movies I've already seen in the theatres because of the holiday break are coming out here, so there isn't that much I want to go out to see and I can't rent things on video - but even those I've probably already seen.

On my list: Lord of the Rings the Two Towers and Adaptation. One is on it's way out of theatres the other we have no idea when it'll show up. At least I get my movie fix in class.

I've been working on these entries for some time now, on and off but mostly I haven't felt like taking the time out to write. If the entry is linked to this one it means that I wrote the majority of it sometime on March 25th. Obviously I won't be able to recall all the details, but I'm trying so I can remember all these things when I return to the States, etc. Thanks.

sidenote

Tim, the teacher of my Teaching English class, asks me if I've heard the good news. I look at him a bit puzzled and say, "No, I don't think so...?" he informs me that the Friday bar is taking place at 2 p.m. and couldn't be more perfectly timed. A few people in the class chuckle. It's true; our class ends at 2 p.m. which provides us with the chance to head directly to the Friday bar, we don't have to waste time, go home, come back, or wait around. We won't even be late or miss any of the festivities. But what is the Friday Bar? I think I've been wondering about that too. I was given a general idea of it, but it's something you really have to experience.

It's also something we could never do in the United States because of the drinking age limit. Well, a lot of people at the university here are older. I'm, in fact, quite often one of the youngest and I'm going to be 23 in April ? think about that for awhile. Anyway, I think because of the drinking age in the US and the fact that I could never see the universities wanting to be involved with anything that involves alcohol this thing couldn't happen in the States. What does happen is that we all go to a room in the English building that has been set aside for students. It's open to both teachers and students and there's beer and soda. I think they have a variety of snacks hanging around as well. So we all head upstairs, place our coats in the coat room and sit down at any of the tables and chat about whatever crosses our minds.

Near the beginning it's usually something to do with class or some higher learning type stuff because the teachers are there and we like to get their viewpoints on things outside of class. At some point they leave and the students remain. I find the conversation to be just as interesting and I haven't actually seen anyone that's been trashed at the Friday bar (although I've heard of it happening ? quite regularly too).

Today's Friday Bar was my first and apparently the reopening of the English Department's Friday Bar (each department has their own). They had free wine and beer for the first hour or two and a variety of special snacks. When I say special I mean better than chips or cheesy poufs and free. I chatted with Kim from my English Teaching class and enjoyed the quiet music and twinkling fairy lights. (Christmas lights, whatever). At this point I can't remember what we talked about but it included a lot of the usual: what I'm studying, what I think about Denmark, how is the US different, anything I like better about one over the other, etc. Eventually I left so I could be home when Andreas arrived.

Everyone's been asking me if we're going to do anything for Valentine's Day and I guess I could answer that. He gave me a nice red book. Well, actually I'm borrowing a nice red book because it's the Danish/English dictionary. It is red though. We probably had pizza for supper and I joked about making it heart shaped. Mostly we ignored the whole thing and just enjoyed each others company.

sidenote

I forgot to mention yesterday that we also went to the grocery store to buy candy because it was on sale. It's hard to pass up that much good chocolate when they lower the prices, that's all I'm saying.

Today we went to a concert. When I say we I mean Andreas and Jenn (that's me) in case you didn't know or unless it's otherwise stated. In this case, Andreas and I went to a concert tonight. The artist was Dicte and some opening act that I can't remember the name of right now. Andreas has a nice entry about opening bands up including the one from tonight so I won't go into that too much. As for the main act it was good. I've looked online for something about her, but it's all in Danish. I guess that's what I get for going to see Danish artists. Overall I had a really good time but I was so tired by the time the show started that all I wanted to do was sit down and relax. Instead we ended up standing for most of the show and even though we were up in the balcony we had to stand a ways back because of the tables so I still had an obstructed view. Oh well. I wouldn't say that this show was as good as the Daniel Lema show from awhile back but they're different types of music and I'm not sure I feel right comparing them. Plus I was tired and couldn't sit down ? so of course I enjoyed the other one better. I'm glad I went though and it was very worth my time. Wee. Fun.

Afterwards we decided to stop at Burger King for a Coke and some fries because we had over 20 minutes to wait for the bus. It was a good idea since I hadn't had any Coke in about 2 weeks and was craving both fries and Coke. Damn advertising.. Hee.

PS I'm so counting this as my Valentine's gift. You know, because then I can say I got one. Not because I needed it. You can decide on your own if I'm talking about the Coke and Fries or the Concert.

sidenote

This one doesn't have a lot of point except that we watched American Beauty for my class and then we talked about it today in class. I was a bit amused when the question came up about what made signified that it took place in America. See, we're studying film composition in class and establishing shots, etc.; the sort of things that tell you what's going on and where you are in a film. There are a lot of things that I never thought about before, probably because I'm not supposed to. For example, when you're watching a film and it's set in the old west on a ranch, you see a part of the fence where the cattle are, well you just assume that the fence goes on and is complete to hold in the cattle. They don't have to show you, you're just supposed to believe it's there. It creates space and we believe in the off-screen reality of it.

So, in some opening shots, while the credits are rolling by, we're watching the establishing shots. Or occasionally watching the credits for big names, who knows. In American Beauty you see an aerial shot of a suburb and then the street, etc. What makes this American? How should I know... the fish is the last to notice the water, you know? It turns out it has a lot to do with the layout of the streets, it's very American to have a grid with blocks and whatnot. I've since learned that people here don't think of blocks. They might say, oh it's 4 stoplights down but they won't say it's 4 blocks. Now I'm the weird one because that's the only way I can think about streets and whatnot. Oh man, I'm so American.

So, did this make any sense, or should I have left this bit of information in my head?

I decided to get out and take some pictures of the neighborhood today. Surprisingly it was pretty warm. I wore about four different shirts and a hat but went without my jacket. If I stayed in the sun my hands didn't get too cold while I was snapping away. I was glad to get out into the sun for awhile and happy to get some ice covered shots before the sun got to them first. The last photo was a lucky accident. I just stumbled across the scene and for once I wished I was taller so the branches wouldn't be in the way. It's at the end for a reason, wait for it. Of course, you'll never see it if you don't get to it.

sidenote

Today I went to the university to watch Citizen Kane. I waited around for 20 minutes for anyone else to show up like I normally do and then we waited around for another 20 minutes for the people that were in the video room to get out. I don't mind waiting a little while, but when we have the room booked at 2 p.m. I would expect to be in the room using it by 2:15 as opposed to.. you know.. 2:45! Ugh. So, we finally get in the room and I'm pretending I'm not annoyed, it's not like I had a ton of things to do in the evening...

Sidetrack: My danish classes have started (this week) and they take place on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7:00 p.m. to 9:35 p.m. This would be fine except that on Thursday I watch a movie from 2 p.m. until hopefully 4 p.m. unless it's longer, but the idea is I'd like to be home by 5 so I can get something to eat and be out the door again at 6 to get to class on time. Yes. It really does take an hour to get there, the Divine only know why. What the hell. Anyway.

So I'm a bit worried today about not having time to eat, especially because I'm not sure how long the movie is. It starts and goes on and on and on and then it's about 30 minutes into the movie when people start leaving. By the 40-minute-mark 6 or 10 have left. The rest of us decide to sit it out except of course the guy next to me. For some reason he's decided to volunteer to take the movie back to the room where we check them out. He's also decided that he doesn't really want to be watching the movie because he's messaging with someone on his phone. Constantly. Now while I can understand his annoyance with the movie (c'mon, it's slow and slower) I don't appreciate him being such a distraction. The movie is hard enough to pay attention to without having to deal with him. He's turned the phone to vibrate at least, so when he gets a message I don't know about it right away. I do however find out when he starts replying because he's neglected to turn off the little tone that sounds every. time. he. pushes. a button. Every. Time. Stop! Dear God make him stop. This goes on for over an hour. I tried sighing loudly and giving him dirty looks but to no avail. The worst part? He's sitting right next to me and he's one of those dorky kids that's oblivious to the world. Spare me. Yay for me the movie ended and I could get away from him. I even managed to fit supper in before my Danish Class.

The weather was pretty nice this weekend, or I should say that the sun was out. It's still February and still a bit cold out (especially if you get out of the sun). We (that's Andreas and I again) decided to go into town, mostly I wanted to take some photos and he's a good sport about going with me or encouraging me to do so. We didn't exactly get into town though because I remembered the university park and thought it might provide me with some nice photo opportunities without having to go all the way to the city center. It might have been my lucky day.

We wandered down to the lake and saw that people were feeding the ducks. Sadly, I didn't have any bread so I couldn't join in but we managed to get a few shots.

This little girl was very excited to be feeding the ducks and was very enthusiastic with her bread throwing. I think the ducks appreciated it too since she tended to toss out the occasional large piece of bread.

There were a lot of ducks out there, this picutre doesn't even show half of them I bet. I like to see their shiny green heads in the sun though, it reminds me of the pond near my mom's old office building where I used to spend quite a bit of time.

I didn't know ducks played follow the leader but they surprised me with their organization when they know there's bread to be had.

sidenote

As I mentioned before my Danish class has started. I was a little excited about it when it first started and a little annoyed that it took me so long to get there and home. The first day I left at 6 (it starts at 7) and got there 20 minutes early and then had to sit around waiting for the class to start. The class ends around 9:30 and I couldn't catch a bus until 10:06. I don't get home after that until close to 10:30. Talk about frustration, this class was taking up 4.5 hours of my night - twice a week. I thought it was bad enough that I couldn't go to the exchange at the table (Thursday night dinners) but to take up so much time?

And for what? We were covering things I'd already covered in the 3.5 week course I took when I got here. If this is all we're going to do I might as well have learned everything they had to teach me in Denmark Today and stopped there. It was a little better because we focused less on writing and more on pronunciation but still... I can say my name is Jennifer and I have a brother named Peter. Okay, so I don't but I can say it.

This week however I discovered a secret. Well, after missing one class because of a bus incident that involves spending over an hour on the bus and then getting locked out.. we probably shouldn't get into that. Anyway, I found out that I can take the 6:30 bus, walk down the hill and be there just about when class is starting. I also learned that if I sneak out a few minutes early I can catch the 9:36 bus and be home by 10. That's much better if you ask me.

[and as of March 26th we've started covering things I didn't know andI'm finding the class not only useful but enjoyable. Now if only the time were different.. I mean, who wants to go out that late at night? Me? I just want to put on my pjs and watch tv. Good thing I don't have one, I have Danish instead.]

sidenote

Today the English Department hosted a nice little brunch type gathering to go over the exam process here at ﾅrhus University. There were rolls and cakes and different types of bread and cheese and butter. There was also some melon and coffee, tea and juice. It was set up very nicely and since it took some of the students awhile to arrive the rest of us talked and ate to our hearts content while we were waiting. They told us it wasn't going to be very formal. I think that my mentor was the only one that showed up (why would any one turn down free food?! plus it took place at 10, so it's not that early.) but I'm not sure so don't quote me on that.

As for me? I always get excited about the cheese because I refuse to buy it here (it's expensive and I don't know which kind I would like). I get teased about it a little bit and I even get the occasional suggestion about what sort I might like - I obviously know that I like some of it, but mostly I refuse to pay the price.

When everyone they expected had arrived one of the teachers gave us a run down on how the exams work. I can tell you that as an exchange student writing essays seems to be the best answer, even if you do end up writing two or three or four 15 page papers. Otherwise the options include a written exam or an oral exam. The written ones are short answer or short essays as I understand it but they can last 4-6 hours. Who wants to spend that much time in an exam? Yikes! The oral sound a bit better since they only last an hour or something and you have some time to prepare before you start. On the other hand you draw a question at random and get to answer it. I just don't like the idea of one question determining my grade for an entire semester. I'm curious to try it, but I'd hate to fail and screw something up.

They also reminded us not to plagerize which they treated more as a delicate subject. The teacher mentioned that we'd probably already heard so much about it in the US (which is true, it's really beat into our heads that something really bad will happen if we do it). I was surprised that it wasn't the same everywhere. Not that I'd do it anyway, but you'd think it was common knowledge. Mostly they reminded us that it's not usually the student's intention to copy but they see exactly what they want to say already written out so they just slap it in there.. er.. no, please don't do that. I'm not worried about it though, that's what quoting someone is all about. Just say, hey! this is a quote! Thanks!

So, Danish Exams are scary and the food (especially when free) is good.

Are you tired of these yet? This one means I've written the entry, looking back, on or between April 5th and April 7th. Or so.

anoter sidenote

Something very interesting happened today. I went to the house of one of my teachers (the English Language Teaching one) with a large number of my fellow students. I was a bit surprised when he proposed this idea as it's not really a normal thing at my home university. I've been told since, that this teacher tries to do this on a regular basis. I must agree that it's a good idea as it gives both teacher and students a chance to get to know each other outside the classroom setting.

Andreas told me he'd be okay if I left him in Skjeby alone and promised not to go through my things so I set off to the city center (where the town hall is) to meet with some of my classmates. Meeting together seemed like the best idea since most of us would probably end up on the same bus anyway. This was a better way of making it friendly! I wasn't sure exactly where the cafe was where we were going to meet but I didn't have to worry since they were sitting in the window and waved to me as I passed by. I went in and joined them for a few moments as everyone put on their coats and gathered their things before heading out into the cold evening.

The weather was anything but pleasant that day. It might have started out sunny, but soon the clouds overtook the sky and it began to rain. As the sun went down the rain turned into ice and I wasn't sure I even wanted to go out. I was in the middle of a cold and couldn't stop sniffling for more that 5 minutes. Now I was supposed to take my sick self out into the bad weather and then be social? You're kidding, right? No.. okay, so I found reassurance in the fact that the gathering was inside and chances are we wouldn't spend much time outdoors. This was certainly the truth as I noticed the bus we wanted to catch pull up to the curb. I pointed it out to the group and we all ran for the bus before it could leave us to wait another half hour for the next one.

On the bus I sat with Martha and we talked about differences between Denmark and the US, a common topic for the first few months of my arrival (and still a common topic these days!). She wanted to know if there was anything I thought that was "Danish" specifically. I still can't pick it out, but sometimes I can really spot a Dane. Of course, that's totally silly because I'm in Denmark. It's hard to notice the water when you're in it. I mentioned a few things that I'd noted, but I wasn't sure if that was a Danish thing or something European or maybe just belonging to a certain group. I also think that people in my age group are generally the same throughout the Western (and probably the rest of the) World.

We arrived at Tim's (the teacher) after a slick walk down an ice covered path. At least it had stopped raining and the house was very spacious. We enjoyed chips and dip for awhile and then a nice curry soup over rice. I had a chance to get to know the students in my class outside of their views on teaching English and even got to know one of the other exchange students (Peter from Louisiana) a bit better. We listened to him recount his days of growing up as a preacher's son and how he was kicked out of quite a few schools. He told us about his experiences as a cook and what he knew about French.

Some of the students talked about other classes they were in and what they thought about them and eventually we had ice cream and bananas. The highlight of the night may have been when Tim's wife came out of the kitchen and saw that Tim had put a large quantity of cream on the bananas and she said, "Tim, what have you done to them?!" We all laughed and she suggested that no one would want to eat them. A few chimed in to say they would and if no one else would, of course, there would be more for them.

Eventually the group started to depart and around 10 I decided to do the same. I was getting too tired to pay attention to much that was going around me and my sickness was asking me to please get some sleep. Between my two bus rides it was going to be awhile before I even got home. On the way to the bus, Martha commented that she was glad it didn't get out of hand because sometimes the students parties turn into drunken craziness. I suggested that maybe because it was a teachers house people were showing a bit more respect, or at least restraint. Overall it was a nice evening and I'm glad I went, even if I was a bit sniffly.

anoter sidenote

First, I loved this movie. I still haven't finished the book, but I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually. Here's the deal, I'm almost done with school (I have a degree! wee!) and I don't have a job lined up. I'm pretty sure someone told me that's not the way to do it, but in this economy, who wants to hire anyone? There are people out there with a million years of experience and they can't get a job either, so why should I be able to? Oh, right. Point. I figure between job hunting, side classes and whatever other projects I get into I might have some spare time this fall to read a really long book.

Even without having read the book (and please don't get on my case about it) I knew a bit about the story and what was going to happen, but other things were also a pretty big surprise to me so it was exciting.

We also saw this movie in the smallest theatre I've ever been in. There were 8 rows and maybe 10 seats to a row. I might be mistaken about the number of seats, but it was small. The neat thing here is that you can reserve your seats when you buy the ticket. This means you don't show up and wonder where you're going to sit, you don't have to be there an hour early to get a good seat and if you're not going to get a good seat, you simply don't buy a ticket and go to another showing. Fantastic.

We were in the 8th row off to the side a little ways and it was actually pretty nice. The space between rows seemed wider than most theaters I've been in in the US but it must be nice for tall people to have a place to stretch out their legs. There are also a lot more commercials at the begining of the film. I'm not talking about trailers/promos, I'm talking about actual commercials. I remember when they started that in the states and I was annoyed, and then I had to sit through about three times as many here.. No thank you. But I guess if that's what I get for getting to reserve my seat, okay.

As far as the actual movie goes, I won't talk about some of the attractive male leads or the plot or anything deep and meaningful about it. Instead I want to talk about my experience with subtitles. You see, movies in Denmark have subtitles. I think it is useful in case someone doesn't understand the english of if things are moving too fast to follow. It's also interesting because sometimes I couldn't hear what someone was saying because they were mubling or because it was too quiet/far away/etc. and yet there was a subtitle telling what was being said. I was fascinated. On occasion I was distracted by the subtitles, mainly at the beginning but eventually I got used to them and could ignore them or chose to look at them as I pleased.

The problem I really had presents itself when the Elvish scenes came up. Either someone expected me to learn Elvish between now and the last movie or something was terribly wrong. They would speak and I would think, why can't I understand what's going on. Andreas told me later he noticed I looked confused, but didn't put two and two together to figure out that what I normally would have seen as English subtitles to translate the Elvish was only appearing in Danish. By the second time I managed to get my confusion across and he was nice enough to whisper the translations in my ear. Thank goodness I wasn't seeing the film on my own.

Now I just like to talk about the incident because it strikes me as really funny. Or maybe it's a sign I should learn Elvish...er, Danish.

We also went out to dinner at a nice burger place/steak house. I won't go into a lot of details because mostly it inclues Andreas and I talking about the movie, the menu and the people around us. I'm sure we covered some other things, but I can't remember them now. I do remember, however, that the waitress continued to speak to me in Danish even when she had hear the two of us speaking in English. Did she think we were practicing?