It has been SUCH a long time!! It's amazing how fast 3-4 weeks go by! Here we go:
OCTOBER
Wednesday the 26th: Actually, there is little to say. I spent the day slaving away on my paper at the Black Diamond. I was in the West Reading Room, where there are all these nice table nooks each with lamp and individual outlet--perfect for laptops. I only just learned today (11/14th) that you can't use this room unless you have books reserved. Something to keep in mind for later :P.
Sunday the 30th: Consisted of packing and carving a pumpkin and buying flowers and making white chocolate cranberry walnut cookies. Hopefully I could cheer up host mum--she had tough days at work (coffeemaker breaks down, dishwasher breaks down, breaks down again, big parties, awful music from the visiting artists). All three of us DIS students wrote thank-yous to her, and I put this with the pumpkin (carved with tulips--her favorite--but not in season) and the cookies and the red gerberas and yellow spider mums. I am a big fan of SURPRISES! So I made sure to do this when she was gone from the house and I would be leaving before she came back, heh heh heh.
In any case, Grandpa Fleming (isn't that an awesome name???) drove me to the station, where I would catch the bus in the city to Czech Republic!! It's a DIS organized trip, so I knew it would be awesome. One student was late to the bus, and as punishment, he had to rap about why we shouldn't be late. Although he was terrified (he told me afterwards), he did a really awesome job, and another student dropped a beat for him. Fun way to start the trip!
Monday the 31: The bus was overnight, so I wake up in a different country! Our temporary home was the castle Hruba Skala in the beautiful mountainous countryside of Cesky Raj (Czech). The castle itself is on a mountain, so I was awake when the bus wound its way through great big beautiful yellow and red forests. Once there, we were immediately thrown into the activities: 1) rappelling down a small cliffside, which was different than Sweden because the 2nd half of the wall curved in really far, so that part was just sliding down the line without touching the wall. Also, the walk back up the cliff consists of passing through the goat/sheep area. They were rather tame to me, probably tired after chasing the previous students all the way to the gate. 2) zipline. I had had two other zipline experiences prior and none of them are alike. In North Carolina, you wear gloves and sit in the harness and control your speed by pressing down on where it connects to the cable. In Ecuador, you sit in a swing and hold on for dear life. In Czech, you wear an overall-like harness and shoot forward like Superman (hanging from your back). It was amazing in the 1st few moments and then I started spinning and heading for the landing backwards OHMYGOSHIMGOINGTOCRASHphew. 3) High rope bridging which is intensely SCARY and AMAZING. You are latched to a safety cable, but it's very slack, so it's like you're standing on that one cable clutching the two other side cables without a safety. One step at a time. Actually every movement wobbles the bridge, so I had the most fun NOT moving and enjoying the scenery. But I couldn't hold up the line, so I had to inch forward.
Then lunch with sauerkraut cabbage soup (unless you are a sauerkraut fan, I do not recommend), sour horseradish and coleslaw salad, pasta and mushroom and buttered steak. The vegetarians got a huge block of cheese (like massive cheesestick). It was tasty when I sampled it, but very much missing marinara. I think the Czech do not believe in vegetables (there were only like 4 mushroom slices in my plate). Then--instead of archery--I went for a run around the countryside. We followed the winding roads, saw awesome overlooks and cliffs and high glacier carved rocks. Ironically, we went on the exact same trail that we would hike officially the next day, so more description then.
Dinner was mushroom soup (the Czech are also really into soup), fried chicken breast and potato veggie salad and apple tart with french vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce. There is also a lot of butter in Czech food. As delicious as it was, I also cannot handle that much butter (or that much potato for that matter--although the vegetarians have more to complain about--see below), so I am glad I do not LIVE in Czech.
The castle as a hotel is not bad. The view is beautiful, and the rooms are warm, but I think they don't understand the concept of a towel. The towels provided were only large enough to wrap wet hair (think half of a normal American towel). Hmmmmm.
NOVEMBER
Tuesday the 1st: But you cannot have everything in life, so I put the towel issue aside and shamelessly enjoyed the nature hike for this day. In the morning, mist lay over the valleys surrounding the castle. It looked like we are on an island, surrounded by a diaphanous white sea. The trails open into wonderful beautiful curtains of tangerines, golds, and fiery phoenix flames of leaves (I have a picture where it seriously looks like the cliff side is on fire), jaw-dropping cliff outlooks, and gullies awash in beams of sunlight streaming through the tall tall trees. And then throw in the occasional leaf swirling down from above--IT'S SO MAGICAL!!!! The tour guide often pointed out things from the "Middle Ages", but I swear everytime she said that, it sounded like "Middle Earth". I would have believed her haha. My camera could not capture it. I (biased) vote autumn as the best time to visit the Czech countryside. The cliffs were actually a seabed that cracked over time to form gullies. Everything is all sandstone that easily erodes or sweats (absorbs water, which, when heated, pops through the rock). At one point there is a passageway of DOOM, where the urban legend is that only good people can pass through (bad people will be crushed), so bad people have to closely follow good people in order to get through. As it were, the rocks didn't crush anyone. The Czech also have a unique trail system, labelling trees and paths with a pattern of bands and separate walking and cycle routes.
So now that I am done waxing poetic, I continue: we walked down to the 7 health-benefit springs, passing by the slow dripping "male virility" spring to go to the bubbling "good metabolism" spring and the "good circulation" spring. There was also a memorial for climbers who died, most recently an 80 year old man who went off climbing by himself, had a heart attack and fell off the cliff just as he was readying the belay. Man was that a good death (at least I say so in his opinion).
Home then for lunch of egg flower meat soup with chicken broth, and chicken leg with potatoes and red cabbage and sauerkraut. This sauerkraut is just not my thing.
Afterwards we had icebreakers. They were a lot of interesting games, such as blindfolded or silent self-organizing by age/height/first name. Have you tried the human knot? Everybody puts their hands in the center and grabs different hands with each hand and then attempts to untangle without letting go. We triumphed the first time, and got stuck the second time until we realized we had made 2 distinct intertwined circles. The biggest icebreaking was the trust fall, standing on a 3-4 foot high wall and falling backwards into the arms of your waiting friends. The best way is to go very stiff and straight so that your weight is better distributed, but it's most everyone's natural instinct to squat or bend their knees so they "fall" a shorter distance, although it's harder for them to catch you.
And then it was darkness by 5pm. Dinner of meaty goulash with duck leg and cabbage and thick "dumplings" (but seriously, I swear they were sliced up steamed bread pieces) followed by thick crepe pancake with raspberry sauce. They seriously spoil us.
But Tuesday was not over. They held a freakishly dark candlelit treasure hunt throughout the castle grounds. The problem with only using tealights as your guide is that it blinds your eyes so you really can't see anything out there, making finding the clues extremely difficult. Several of the clues were down on the beginning of the hiking path, down uneven stone steps. Not safe. So I gave in and took out my flashlight. The tour guides were really into this, happily playing their roles of a ghost witch who lost her recipe and the black knight who held the keys to the clock tower, where the "treasure" was. I was cold and scared, so I was not disappointed when other teams made it to the treasure first. Great, the game is finally over.
Wednesday the 2nd:
I woke up too early. Because I didn't stay up and drink with the rest of them, I missed the late night decision to push breakfast half an hour later. Hum.
We got on a bus to Mala Skala for cliff rappelling/climbing and canoeing---too many people wanted to rappel first, so the bus had to be randomly divided. Well, it was probably better that way. I got to go canoeing (although I wanted to climb first, because if my shoes got wet I was not going to be able to climb). It is slow running water with occasional small tides, but it begins with a small slope/fall. My partner Stuart was fiercely determined not to get wet and to go canoeing all day instead of climbing. Down the fall we went and survived...except we didn't paddle out of the basin. We were sitting there congratulating ourselves when the boat got sucked in by the basin tides and FLIPPED. Cold.. 5 minutes of scooping out some water and then off we were. Oh the irony. We, the only ones who audibly voiced their determination to stay dry were the ONLY ones to fall, but we were troopers, warming up with paddling and belting out Disney songs. More than halfway down the river, we were getting turned sideways by some tides, and I was trying to turn us back by paddling backwards, and I think I used too much force plus unbalanced weight (these canoes were shallow!) and FLIP! >.< Cold... We were clearly not thinking and didn't flip our boat over before dragging it on land, so on land it was too filled with water to flip over. So we required the guide leaders' help. Now it was too cold and we shivered our way to the finish line without much singing anymore.
The two of us had to change under the bus---lol, getting close there, eh? At that point I didn't really care who saw me, and if the boys got a peep show through the driver's sideview mirror, lucky for them then. Those were my only pants, so now I was strolling along in shorts and flipflops.
At the local restaurant, there was HOT CHOCOLATE and HOT SOUP and meat and rice, again no veggies. It was very much needed, especially since it was followed then by a brave hike up to rappel cliff in the same socks and flipflops and shorts (although many nice people donated layers to me). Slip and slide up the mountainside. And cold. Watching the others rock climb, the rest of us had massage sessions under the Tuborg blanket. Oh mai. At some point I was warm enough to do more singing (Circle of Life). And more hiking back down in flip-flops in the treacherous twilight. But it was great exercise and was rewarded with a warm bus oh mai gosh. then dinnah. so sleepy. soupppp with leftover chicken and duck and doughy noodles, then delicious pork steak with cream sauce and wild rice and lettuce. followed by ice cream. and pickled plum, except not really. giving stuart the whipped cream. and taking oh so wonderful hot showah. and now sleep.
Thursday the 3rd: So I was not very coherent for that last part. Too exhausted.
This was the last day of the Czech Trek, and they were letting us loose in Prague for the day.
Bus to Prague (Praha). None of my clothes had dried (the radiators were not very radiative), so I continued in shorts and flip-flops....highly NOT recommended on the cobblestone streets.
I went with the tour leaders to the big shopping street with the intention of buying proper shoes, then discovering that all the shops were high-end shops. I was not here to spend $50 on shoes, so nope. Lunch at the chain store Pizza Factory (sizable chicken steak sandwich 109 CZK---about $6.00), then wandering to the street market on Havelska. So fun! They were all selling the same things but whatever. I really liked the berry boxes for 45 CZK ($3)--they provided a spoon and the box was filled with blackberries and raspberries and strawberries and blueberries! "Bohemian" glass/crystal, garnet, and puppets are the big thing in Prague. Czech it out! llollololololol Then to Old Town Square for city tour. It is so beautiful in the square!!!! clock tower with apostle puppets waving at the windows and bugler at every hour. How nice :D. These hourly buglers must be an Eastern Europe thing. Then down through to Charles Bridge with blackened sandstone statues (it's because they absorb pollution!). It was pretty crowded, but apparently it's impossible to move on the bridge in the summer. Their Saint John Nepomucnh? got thrown over the bridge for not revealing the queen's secrets to the king. Touching his statue = good luck.
Across the bridge to Mala Strana (little quarter). We climbed up the winding streets towards the castle, and the cathedral inside is half and half (half was built back in the day, but never finished. 2nd half built recently but they imitated everything...except for the blackened color of the old sandstone). In one of the office buildings was the 2nd of 3 Prague defenestrations: 3 royal officials of the Hapsburg kings were tossed out in protest of the king. Lucky for them they landed in a manure pile in the royal gardens, though their pride and reputation were certainly not so immune. Then we saw the Maria Teresa church, a place where people got interrogated and executed because it was STB headquarters (the Czech counterparts of the KGB). Across another bridge and we ended up at a big concert hall, which was Nazi 2nd in command Reinhard Heydrich's headquarters. All the statues on the roof are famous composers, and one was the Jewish composer Mendelssohn?. The Nazi, slightly miffed, sent a demolition team up to the roof to demolish the Mendelssohn statue. Unfortunately the statues were not labeled, so they just chose the statue with the biggest nose. Later it turned out that was Richard Wagner, Hitler's favorite. Hmmmmm. Then to the Jewish quarter, where the ghetto was in place back in the 13th century. Prague has the oldest synagogue still standing (it survived the Holocaust because it was supposed to be turned into the Musuem of the Exterminated Race). The tour finished and it was back to more shopping. I reconvened with the tour leaders and we went down a narrow alley to find dinnah at U Skirpu. Czech dark beer is not so bad, not like light beer, and with brewer's pork chop and green beans and bacon, it was a satisfying dinner. Also I got to nibble someone's Prague noodles (rather like normal thin flat noodles) and fried veggies (actually they seemed more like grilled veggies). Finally, the day was over and we would return on an overnight bus drive.
Friday the 4th:
The bus dropped us off in the middle of København, and it was a painful hike to the museum (to find my host mum), where I walked right past the guard (who was distinctly missing from his post) and carried my bags of doom into the cafe. Security?? (I have even walked into a hospital without getting a visitor's bracelet and no one notices... but I'm sure that won't happen with a govt building). I assisted with potato and carrot peeling, then having nothing else to do, I also swept the floor, cleared tables, put bacon sheets in the oven, folded napkins, and washed the tables and put up the chairs. Waitress experience! All in flip-flops and socks (the Danes are very good at MYOB). PARENTS!!! They came to Denmark!!! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! SO tired though. We had a delicious dinner with cheese and wine afterwards and very quickly descended into sleeppppp.
Saturday the 5th: My parents and I flew to Riga, Latvia. Why? Because an overnight layover in Riga from Copenhagen to Rome is cheaper than a direct flight (and this includes the hotel fee!!!! What???) At least Latvia has cheap foooddd. We wandered around the forum area (Hotel Forum) and ended up in the Galeria mall. Inside, we stopped in dAdA restaurant for dinner--they stirfry your choice of stuff filled in bowl (you can pile the bowl as high as physically possible). The decor is very entertaining and all the tables have intentionally mismatched chairs, and they give you your bill in a baby shoe. SOOOO CUTE!! I recommend this place.
Sunday the 6th: Finally we fly to Rome. Their train system is like the rest of Europe, except no one NO ONE checks tickets -lame- The Roma Italians speed around in their tiny cars (someone speculated they have tiny cars in order to pull the tight turns necessary through all the twisty streets) and so far it looks like China (high rise squeezed apartments, little ground floor shops offer cheaper goods than chain grocery, dirty streets, graffiti). This is in Trastevere, the region south of the Vatican across from the Tiber River. Most shops closed on Sunday!!! With the parents, we had prearranged apartment from airbnb.com. No wi-fi though.... and we cooked our own dinner. According to the owner, apparently "wi-fi is not important to italians." What??? and rain....
Monday the 7th: We were rushing around the Vatican area like Robert Langdon in order to make it to the Vatican museum because our tickets had a timestamp (tip: buy online if you go in the morning, or just go in the afternoon---there are big lines in the morning). Inside is a great many halls and corridors of sculptures/busts/collections. The most popular trail is going towards the Sistine Chapel, through halls and halls of more sculptures, paintings, a hall of maps, a hall of tapestries, other stuff, and then FINALLY when your legs are very tired, you reach the chapel and it's CROWDED and the guards shush you constantly and you have to crane your neck to see everything and at the end, all I wanted to see was God touching Adam. Apparently if you go on the guided tours, they explain all the inside jokes and political rubbing hidden in all the paintings. Ah well. Afterwards we took a peek at the extremely royal/rococco Pontifical vehicles (so much gold and finery dedicated to this place of worship and the vehicles, but you would think as Christians all this stuff should be sold to generate donations for the poor or the starving in Africa and all that) sorry bit of cynicism there.
On the other hand, the Basilica was very much worth seeing. It's free just to go in. SOOOOO GRAND AND MAGNIFICENT. Of course overloaded with finery but the vastness of the basic structure itself is beyond words and and and and it must be seen. Period.
Gelato!! I dunno, not an ice cream conoisseur. ice cream is ice cream....is tasty.
Afterwards we wandered into Campo de Fiori and the decaying remains of the morning market (oh well). It was getting windy and cloudy (the morning was warm and sunny) and we nipped our lunch from Aristocampo, a slightly cheaper food place (we got paninis, except in italian land, they are simply called sandwiches). Then to Piazza Navona! It is a beautiful fountain area and filled with 1) tourists 2) caricature artists and 3) cafes. Definitely a must see, if only for the enormous grandly-sculpted fountains. Also there are the homeless musicians playing lovely background music, so it makes for a very nice place to sit or stroll.
Tuesday the 8th: We began at Palatine Hill, which is filled great awesome structures: I have fun imagining the Romans in their togas and stuff strolling up these great stairs that you can walk on but are not allowed to sit on (I guess they prefer dirty shoes over cloth-covered tushies---it's not even a religious place!!!). There are also these fruit stands---I read in a magazine that these square vans convert into the fruit stands like a Transformer. Then to Colosseum---the bathroom is very crappy (point to note, we could not find public toilets in Rome, although there were plenty of potable fountains. Their philosophy must be water in, water no out). The Colosseum is also disappointing from the inside. The stadium seats are all gone (or covered by weird moss carpet) and the gladiator fight floor is gone, revealing the underground tunnels. HOWEVER, the surrounding exhibits are interesting. Apparently the Romans engineered pulley systems to pull up the gladiators from underground through a trap door to emerge onto the stage. Very cool. Next to the archaeological area or Roman Forum, basically a park filled with grass, olive trees, and ruins. I was very tired (why is traveling so tiring?), so I probably didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. A quick exit and we were walking to Bocca de Veritas: a large face in the stone wall of a Maria church. The myth is that if you put your hand in its mouth, it will do nothing if you are truthful, but it will chomp down if you are a liar. There is a neatly bordered line and boxes for donations, and the only exit is through the church. I think the ploy is to get you to donate more in order to see the crypt. We had no interest and quickly left. By the way, you may be fooled by the center city signs of free Wi-Fi, BUT it requires a complicated registration and calling to verify Italian phone number process that, while free, is too time consuming and annoying and asks too much private info. So we just jumped a bus to Trevi fountain in the cloudy rain (once again, Rome is sunny and warm in the morning, dreary and freezing and rainy in the afternoon). Taking sanctuary in another church for 20 minutes, we took some rainy pictures of the fountain and made our way to the Pantheon (this one is beautiful, with an interesting hole in the ceiling, so the center of the Pantheon was transformed into a lovely fountain puddle) and the Spanish steps (not particularly impressive in the rain).
Wednesday the 9th: Here is a bit of Italian for Asians: senza formaggio! "No cheese" for mum. We flew out of Roma, taking some not very good Italian pastries (they are beautifully layered but tough and chewy, not light and crispy and fluffy, and wayyyyyyy too much creme). A quick flight to Paris, a city that is totally tourist friendly. We got so many maps handed to us, the train systems are ON TIME and list which stops it stops at and all the free and self-cleaning public toilets have maps of the local area and all the bus stops have maps of the bus routes and and and and Paris is just more accessible (for some reason other people don't like cities that are too touristy. I just appreciate the convenience).
We had another apartment from airbnb, so much warmer (the Rome one was chilly and there was no way to turn on the radiators......despite being beautifully warm in the morning, it was frightfully cold at night), and this one had WIFI!!! So--unfortunately--needed. Throw in an epic 7th floor sunset view over the city (along the canal) and YES. We visited Quai Gourmand (across canal) for dinner of la Galette---otherwise known as crepes for meals as opposed to dessert/breakfast. They have the enormous Nutellas EVERYWHERE!!! It makes me rather jealous since I don't have the luggage space to bring one back to the US. We strolled around and discovered the major chain grocery "marche franprix," as an FYI to you tourists. ALSO, although you can buy pastries at all specialty patisseries, I still recommend the packaged wholesale cheap pastries at the grocery. Save some money and still enjoy delicious French master baking. 1 pain au chocolat for 1-2 euro or a pack of 8 pain au chocolat for 2.50 euro. HMMMMMM. We also found an organic chain called Naturalia and purchased some fruit/nut/fig rolls. They are hard as rocks outside and, ironically, my dad nearly broke a tooth on a pebble inside one of them. They are VERY organic.
Thursday the 10th: Everyone here seems to drink coffee from tiny cups and saucers. We jumped on the super easy/every 2 minute metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Everyone was taking pics from the middle of the street. Tip: the underground entrance to the Arc is right at the metro stop. We missed that one and walked ALL THE WAY AROUND to the opposite side and then found the entrance. Arc de Triomphe close up is extremely impressive. I am awed (although the inside ceiling decoration is eerily like the kind inside the Roman buildings, a square pattern with a flower in every center). Going up to the top of the arc is not necessarily a must-see (although I have heard you should do this at night), but just standing beneath the arc is amazing. Then a quick metro to the Eiffel Tower!!!!! You wait at the crosswalk and see this old building, and once you pass the building BAM big huge metal thing rising into the cloudless sky. The Eiffel is awesome. Imagine watching the Eiffel being built back in the 1880s, when you don't even have the telephone! (not sure my history is correct, but go with it) and climbing the stairs in bonnets and long petticoats. Yes, it is much worth it to climb one of the tower legs rather than wait forever for the tightly packed elevators. Did you know? They repaint it every 7 years (taking 18 months with 25 painters---you would think they should hire 300 painters or something like that...).
Then we strolled along the Seine---but it's not like the San Antonio river walk. You walk above and slightly separated from the river (the docks are closed to the public). I think they should invest in a river walk. As if they didn't get enough tourism. OH apparently selling junk on the streets is illegal. There are signs encouraging you to support real businesses and museums rather than the underground organizations selling street junk (dangers of exposing yourself to unregulated chemicals, etc).
The weather was beautiful all day, so unlike Rome. Next was a quick bus ride to Notre Dame. I think if you want to see the gargoyles close up, best to climb the towers. Otherwise, a walk around the inside is good enough for me. After seeing the Basilica, I think this was a little less impressive for me, but it did bring back some awesome Disney memories.
By the way, prior to reach Notre Dame, we paused by the restaurant Le Quasimodo for lunch. It's not particularly French---has lots of French fries and steak and filets and other normal things (although the French fry IS French). I tried this "croque-monsieur,"a toasted ham sandwich with the cheese on the OUTSIDE. It's tasty but extremely filling and heavy. I was glad for the side salad.
After Notre Dame, we walked up hills to find the French Pantheon. It costs money to enter! We decided that, having seen the Roman Pantheon for free, it was not necessary. Ah well. Couldn't pay our respects to Victor Hugo.
At night, we returned to visit the Eiffel Tower, but the sky had become extremely cloudy, and you couldn't even see the top of the tower anymore. The light reflecting on the clouds made a halo around the remaining half of the tower. A very holy picture.
Friday the 11th: Today was not sunny. It was cold and grey. So it was perfect that it was museum day! First to the Louvre. We got there at like 10 am, and the line was not particularly long and it was fast-moving. European Union residents get free entrance! (which sucks for the people living in Switzerland). The museum is HUGE! I think it would be impossible to stay interested for such a long time that you can cover everything. So we made a beeline to the Mona Lisa. Why so small??? It is the size of a normal school curriculum painting. Also, the Mona Lisa was the only art piece who had glass plate shielding and three guards on either side. Hmmm. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Egyptian exhibits (not the Roman ruled period--it is my personal opinion that Roman occupation ruined Egyptian culture and quashed whatever might have been left of the ancient speaking language).
So after three hours of Louvre (one of the entrances is actually connected to a mall!), we went to Musee D'Orsay. Now that one had a HUGE line. I think we waited 20-30 minutes. The museum only has exhibits on the 5th, the 2nd, and the ground floor. Strange. We came there because my mum is a big fan of impressionism (Monet more than anyone else) and nearly the entire 5th floor is dedicated to that. It is very cool to see in real life what you only saw from textbooks or overhead slides in class. There are, of course, many other interesting things to see there, but you must go there to enjoy it yourself. I was also recommended to visit the Rodin Museum, but alas, no time. Therefore I pass on my recommendation to you.
Saturday we flew out and Sunday I practice piano the entire day.
Monday the 14th. I have been catching up with work while my parents roam Copenhagen :D. They leave tomorrow :( but then again it is only less than 5 weeks until I go home too.
Tuesday the 15th: I was invited to see the Liszt Festival concert at the music academy. Some of them were exceedingly skilled, but the one piece I had played before, Les Cloches de Geneve, it was performed so...disappointingly. The pianist had skill, he had interpretation, he had expression, he just didn't have strength. So for the climactic section, he played it very melodically, just without...climax. No inspiring trumpeting of greatness. Disappointing. But on the other hand, the following piece Vallee d'Obermann was performed so beautifully I realized why my previous piano teacher had been obsessed with this piece. So I'm glad it ended well.
Wednesday the 16th: Handball game!! DIS organized a very subsidized trip ($5) to a handball game (a sport whose fandom is only surpassed by soccer). I drowned under the overwhelming noise of thousands of people smacking their paper fans provided at each seat. The crowd is so involved! Every moment of the game some upbeat music was playing and everyone was fan smacking to the beat. Whenever the visiting team was haggling on the hometeam's side of the court, there was a three beat pattern accompanied by drums. Whenever the home team scored, some pop music played. Whenever the home team stole the ball and dribbled it back to the visiting team side, a different beat played. Whenever there was a time out, we had to give the beat to the middle school jump-roping cheerleaders. It was a lot of fan smacking, and definitely made it more fun and engaging. Maybe that's why I think watching baseball is boring. It was AG København (the national champs) vs. Nordsjaelland. It was a close game in the first half, but the second half the visiting goalie got worse and worse, so at the end, AG won 29-19....something like that. The halftime show was Sound of Sunday...if you knew them.
Friday the 18th: I had RSVP'd for DIS's Networker's Lounge. I came dressed to studenterhuset to properly network, but instead it was more like chilling and 'laxing with a beer (soda for me) with my friends and some Danes they knew. The Danish tradition is not to introduce people to other people (reveals inequalities, read prior posts), so being American and desiring to be social, I demanded introductions and the evening passed much more fun than I had expected.
Today, Saturday, is catching up on work day.
Enjoy your days even if you are not traveling! There is adventure in the quotidian (i.e. how to secretly feed the cat table scraps when no one else is looking).
