A lot of pictures

The calcium pills I take are these huge plastic pills, of which I'm supposed to take 6 daily. I consider myself lucky if I take 4. But I remembered to take it this morning, and it got lodged in my throat. I wasn't choking, but it was hella uncomfortable and I seriously contemplated throwing myself against the back of my chair. But I decided against it and asked my host mom what to do since she's a nurse. She gave me Pepsi so the gas would help it up or down, and I was as good as new. It's amazing what carbonation can do.

This past weekend was my short study tour. Each of the programs have specific trips that they go on throughout the area, and I went to Jylland (Jutland, the part of Denmark connected to Germany). We stopped by a naval base, Odense (Hans Christian Andersen's hometown), Sønderberg (border of Germany and Denmark), and Ribe (Denmark's oldest town, the first founded by the Vikings).

There are torpedoes behind those doors.

Just like in the movies. The lone flipswitch.

We took this picture when our guide turned around. That Danish control room is MINE.

1. Out of Space exhibit in Odense. The museum was of modern art and it was built in 1987, so it sucked. But I liked this.
2. Streets of Odense.
3. Just enjoying my cinnamon bun as I get into the SmartCar.




1. Pee pot with the faces of two brothers who were considered traitors. So the people peed on their faces. 2. Sønderberg Slot (Castle) 3. Danish kid biking. They're everywhere and everyone in my group freaked out at the opportunity to catch one in action. It was crazy. 4. Grand Hall of Sønderberg Slot






1. The Queen who lived here built her own chapel, which Martin Luther wrote about as being the way a chapel should be. That's his opinion, I guess. But it was enchanting. John14:6-7 2. The chapel's ceiling and organ. 3. One of the first editions of the Bible in the commoner's language (German). 4. Getting schooled at Sønderberg Slot.






1. Gammeldansk. It's a tradition to go out to the dikes that prevent the country from flooding and taking shots of this nasty drink. I felt like an old fisherman after a little shot. 2. A little pier in Ribe. 3. All the houses in Ribe looked like this. 4. The river crossing where the Vikings killed a bishop.







1. Hotel Dagmar. The oldest hotel in Denmark. 2. From the top of the town tower. 3. The altar of the oldest church in Denmark. 4. Beautiful. Yea it's the same old church in Denmark. It's where Christianity started in the country.




This part's just for you Nay. Look, I have friends. haha . 1. The guy with the finger was wasted beyond waste. This is the only picture I have where his eyes are open 2. My head's covering a boob on the poster. Scandalous Europeans. 3. My trip buddy from Nepal. He kept trying to talk like Borat. weird. 4. The guy in the middle's name is Egil. Rhymes with bagel. I thought that was interesting. Oh and he's balding at the age of 21/22.

Video Gamer

So it snowed a lot two days ago and there was like 3 inches of snow. There's a little slope to the side of the bike path that I take to the train station every day, and chunks of ice and snow are scattered on the path now. Coming back from the station, I felt like a Mario character or something. I dodged all the little chunks of snow, curving left, then right, then right again, and then another left. Then I came upon this HUGE one that was cut like a raw diamond or something. I went around it to the right, but I cut it really close. The front wheel didn't hit the chunk, but I forgot about my foot and pedal and I almost flew off the bike. I screamed a little bit, and there was another biker on the street, and he looked at me weird. But whatever- I didn't fall and that's all that matters. But I was laughing because I really felt like a video game character or something.

I bought Skippy Crunchy Peanut Butter today at the Americana Store. It was 50 kr. A little less than 10 dollars. I know wth. Oh well. Time to make another pb and j sandwich

Oh yea it's Copenhagen Fashion Week. There's even more tall beautiful people in the streets now.

-

Ugh. I just had my host dad's version of Korean food. It was barbeque-flavored chicken in stirfry with noodles and Chop Suey sauce. A meal completely of sodium.. I feel so nasty. And they got sushi from the supermarket, you know the type that's ready to eat in the platters. It's nothing like the real thing-- at least at home... and since Danes eat with fork and knife in hand at all times, I cut my not-really-tuna sushi and ate the small thing in 3 smaller pieces. I'm not writing this to complain-- just want to note all the differences. It's so weird how the States and Denmark - anywhere - can have common grounds/themes, but the way they carry out things are yet so different. But now I REALLY want Korean food :(

I went to Prison

Denmark has an open-prison policy; there are 69 prisons in the whole country and most of them are open ones. This basically means that there are little to no bars-- it looks more like a rehab center than a prison. The inmates don't have to wear any uniforms or anything. They get their own rooms with tvs and beds (it looks just like college dorms), and they have to cook their own food with access to these huge knives that just hang on the walls. Most of them are in for drug abuse or trafficking, but there are also some murderers in there who got out of closed prisons for good behavior. I went with my class to an open prison called Jyderup Open Prison this Wednesday. We were given the tour by two guards and two inmates, and walked in on a routine drug dog-test. The inmates- after having served at least 1/6 of their term can get permission to leave the grounds and go home to their families for the weekend. The goal of the open prison is not so much to punish, but to rehabilitate. For this country, it seems to work. I like it.

I've been having wine with my meals recently. It was madd weird at first- I've never had wine with my food before. White wine with fish soup and red wine with pizza. It's pretty good.

I take Danish every day of classes (MTTHF) and it's my favorite one. There are around 11 girls in it. No guys. Just like Bryn Mawr. ha.

Look how ridiculously red I am. The other Korean girl came over so we can take an asian flush picture together. It's so embarassing that I can laugh at it. Laugh with me.

So I kind of joined this church -- the people are amazingly nice and are from all over: France, Germany, Holland, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania, Czech Republic. So far I haven't met any Danes in the group. But the oldies took us for yet another tour around the city today and I finally took some pictures. We crashed two weddings, and the bride of the first one surprised me. She definitely looked like she was getting married since she was wearing a white dress, but her hair looked like she was going on for a modeling shoot or something. It was a huge wave on the top of her head and her hair just flowed down. She looked good though. We made our way around the city and ended up in Cafe Zeleste, where they have pure Belgian chocolate varm chokolade.

There are babies everywhere. Danes love their kids-- and they love to incorporate their kids with nature. This place and culture is just so small and trusting that they leave their babies to nap outside coffee shops and bakeries and banks. You see strollers outside store doors with a baby Dane inside- and you have no clue where the mother is. My host parents left their kids at a fountain in Las Vegas before and went to try some of the slots. They were used to leaving and trusting that strangers won't bother their kids, so they were madd surprised when a cop came dragging their son and daughter. haha. It's kind of sad- what does that say about America? hmm. It seems like babies are also fashion statements here-- there are all these fancy strollers, and puffy snowsuits are popular for the little kids to wear in this crazy weather.

Me and Jessica my room/house mate at the top of the Round Tower, where you can see all of lille Kobenhavn. Yea-- the wind was a little strong.








The Queen's Garden.



Cafe Zeleste's 100% Belgian varm chokolade.














Thinking about Danish philosophy. Kierkegaard was a lot better looking than I imagined.