Carlsberg

A courtyard I found 2 days ago. There's a little Hong Kong stationary store on the right -->

I've been in Copenhagen for 5 days now and things finally started to get better. Not that it was bad before or anything, but life here has become a little more enjoyable. I had a pretty good day - and most importantly - the luggage that was left behind in Philly arrived!!! My mom sent it through airmail, which I'm sure cost a buttload, but I'm so grateful. I now have more than 2 pairs of dirty jeans and I don't have to wear my sleeping t-shirts under Gracie's yellow CU hoodie or my stained black zipup. Ooh and I have my own toothpaste and shampoo and vitamins and shoes and gloves and even the pink slippers YoonJu unnie bought for me. I am in all seriousness HEPPY about the two blessed brown boxes that I found in my room tonight.

Do you remember the controversial Mohammed cartoon that a Danish newspaper printed? The paper's called the Jyllands-Posten and they did an article about the Americans studying through DIS in Copenhagen. I made the article's picture, front and center-- at least that's what everyone said. I didn't get to see it because my host family doesn't subscribe to that paper, but people told me that they saw me in it. I've been in Denmark for 5 days and I'm already famous. heh.

I felt my day was going to be good today when I woke up after a whole night's sleep. The jetlag's gone! At least I hope so. Jessica and I rode our bikes that our family provided to the train station. It was awesome-- I haven't really ridden a bike since elementary school. But the seat was too high for me and after I pedaled once I fell over. Stop laughing. We switched bikes and the one I have is still a little tall for me- I have to be careful when I stop - but otherwise I like it. The harsh wind sucks but I felt freeeee and so organic (?) riding the bike to the train station to go to class. It felt so European. Classes were alrite - Danish, Criminology in Scandinavia, and Modern Scandinavian Literature. Tomorrow's Danish and Environmental History of Europe. I know - sounds like a ton of fun.

Afterwards a bunch of us went to the Carlsberg brewery. My program hooked us up and everyone got to go-- today was my turn. We walked into this huge auditorium and they showed us pretty much a propaganda video. The company's shares are 51% owned by the Carlsberg Foundation, so everytime we drink a Carlsberg beer, we're actually supporting the arts and sciences. mm Hm. There's a huge display of the company's beers - it's breathtaking. Seriously. I literally gasped when I saw it. And we made our way to the cafeteria where we had free beer tasting. You know how asian I am and how red I get, so I was embarassed. Oh well- it made things more interesting I guess.

Last night my little host sister Caroline was showing us her gymnastics and dance moves. We got to talking about her earrings - fake diamonds - and she shared with us a little Danish.

Caroline: "Oh, you like my earrings? In Danish we call it... bling bling."

I felt bad but we couldn't stop laughing at her. And tonight I mentioned MTV and Birgitte, the host mom, said she only saw Pimp My Ride.

Birgitte: "I want to pimp my ride!"

:)

Caroline liked my shoes and put them on right out of the box. She's 10. And yea- those are my gloves and scarf too -->