A post...finally.

Number 22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better-Kerouac

This quote from Kerouac's 30 essentials is very much so on my mind these days. I've come to this site to write a blog several times, and found the words haven't really been coming to me. I've experienced quite a few different and wonderful things since my last post, and I'll do my best to express them into words, and maybe later add some pictures. I'll start from yesterday, and go from there. Yesterday was a wonderful day! I woke up early and headed out with a few friends to see Copenhagen from its famous harbors. Very tourist, yes, but I took some really great pictures, and it got me into the city early. After that we walked around the harbor a bit, sat on the edge, and watched the people pass as they walked or sailed by. After that we went into the Free City of Christiana, a fascinating place if you're interested in reading more. It was a military bunker that a group of hippies took over in the early 1970s, and still live in and assert their independence today. The entire place is made of art, houses, stores, walls, paths, everything. I'd love to show you pictures, but they are not allowed because of the fairly open drug trade that happens there. It has been cracked down on in the more recent years, but from what I saw, it is still thriving. After exploring the city a bit, including a market of beautiful handmade jewelry and scarves, we got some falafel and headed to our next destination.
After our atypical European afternoon in Christiana, we headed to a very typical European expeiernce, my first football match! The teams were two Danish teams, including FC Københaven, my new favorite team. Everyone was in their team colors, loud, spirited, and clearly having a blast. As much fun as I had with my friends, I wished I would have been sitting in the spirit section, where they were jumping up and down, arms around each other, singing, and waving huge flags. I hope to maybe go to another game before I leave Europe, maybe a national match!

This Friday I went to Tivoli gardens with Dean, Becca, and Zoya. It was an experience like I've never had before. It is a garden/amusement park/concert and arts venue. It isn't like going to Disneyworld though, it's small and the rides are there for pure innocent fun, not really to be the fastest or best rides in the world, but to just relax and smile, a very Danish mentality. After going on some great rides, and sharing some pretty quality waffles covered in ice cream, we saw a modern ballet interpretation of HC Anderson's The Little Match girl, fun, and sad. The best part of the night was the giant swings which take you up all the way over Copenhagen and you can see everything! If you looked really closely, you could actually see Sweden! AMAZING! Unfortunately, it was too windy to take pictures, or even bring a camera up, but the pictures in my mind will last forever!

Other things-I went to northern Germany and southern Denmark with my program to visit the border region (each has some German and some Danish minorities on either side) and talk about the issues that arise there. This is a very good basis for the study of minorities and migrants that we will be covering, and it was an interesting experience for me to visit Germany for the first time. It is a challenge, but an important thing to go through. I'll probably talk more about this later.