Legos in the Freezer

So I decided it might be fun and useful to keep a journal of my stay here in Denmark. These entries won't be very well put-together, but I figured jotting down summaries of my experiences here will be sufficient.

On my first flight from SFO to LHR (London), I met a charming woman who conscripted me into her pre-flight ritual of wiping down our tray tables with a wet-wipe. Some time after we'd taken off, she took out a sheet of staff paper, set a violin/piano duet up, and soon after was accosted with questions from me about her life and music. Turns out she was a piano teacher and composer who specialized in "jazzeltic," a fusion of jazz and celtic music. You can check her duo out here and listen to a few samples: http://coastsidevideo.com/sites/Colyn-Shauna/pages/Colyn-Shauna--Astronomer-091011-Coastside-Video-512x.html

Anyway, I slept on the entirety of the flight from London to Copenhagen, but when I woke up, I noticed that people weren't speaking English anymore. This was when the fact that I spoke almost zero danish really started to hit home. I struggled a little riding the trains home, not understanding that I had to ride a separate set of trains to get to Lyngby from the central Kobenhavn H station, but made it with a little help from one of the conductors.

Upon arriving at Lyngby station, I wandered around for a little while looking for my hotel and again was forced to ask for directions (I've really underestimated how much I depend on google maps via my phone at home), and was again helped by a friendly dane with impeccable English. There was some confusion at the hotel about my room, but we sorted it out and I finally was able to put my luggage down.

After getting settled and relieving my major internet withdrawal, I decided it'd be a good idea to eat something, considering I hadn't since the London flight. Unfortunately, the supermarket next to the hotel was closed, so I settled for a falafel I found a couple of blocks down.

After waking up the next morning, I took a short journey to the Netto grocery store a few blocks away and bought some groceries. I noted that, in the freezer, next to a large selection of sausages, were a similarly large and varied selection of legos. I also purchased a kilogram of nutella.

In general, I find the experience of purchasing things here to be a little like trying to execute a computer program. You expect something to go wrong, and when nothing does, you feel a little like a thief who's successfully plundered something.

Anyway, I'm leaving here soon to walk to the campus of DTU and meet with my contact here, Jan Rossmeisl, so I'll conclude this for now. More updates to come!

-joey