If you ever had my grandma's sponge cake or my mom's cranberry relish, you too would be heartbroken to be spending Thanksgiving on a different continent than the people you love the most.
Scratch that, everyone I know who is studying abroad was bummed about the prospect of a family-less Thanksgiving in a country where turkey is mostly MIA. Luckily, most of us had a great evening. Let me tell you about mine:
DIK, one of the kollegiums (Danish dorms), was having a potluck, so I bought an obscene number of vegetables at Netto and made not one, but two giant salads. There was a pretty big crowd at DIK (30 people or so), with people from all over the USA, plus Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Romania and Poland. Poland represented big time. Dinner was great: We had 2 kinds of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, creamed spinach, peas, garlic bread, clementines, gravy (no, not on the clementines, silly), mini apple pies, ruggelach, cookies, raspberry cheesecake, pumpkin pie, cranberry bread... and, yes, even turkey. Plus wine. Lots of wine. All kinds of wine. Holy crap we drank so much wine.
After eating ourselves into the requisite food coma, one of the Polish guys busted out an acoustic guitar and we sang dorky acoustic guitar songs, like "Wonderwall" and "Save Tonight." Astrud even managed to figure out the chords to "More Than Words," which added to the evening's nice 90s power ballad flavor. But in a good, hygge kind of way, ya dig?
Sadly, we never went around and said what we were thankful for. So I think I will do that in section #2.
2. Things I am thankful for in Denmark
- Sankt Peders Bageri - the best pastries and coffee I have ever had. A day without St. Petes is a day without sun. Truly. This is by far the best thing about Denmark.
- Cafe Culture - few things are more delightful sitting in a warm, cozy spot with an overpriced beverage. Plus they don't kick you out after 5... hours
- Watching the sun rise over the ocean - I kind of hate waking up before the sun (6:30AM), but its almost all worth it to watch it come up over the water while on my bike/bus. Something I would never do at Wesleyan.
- Open container laws - it never gets old! Drinking beer in public whenever you want (saw a dude with a Tuborg at 7:45AM, bless his heart) never. gets. old.
- My little kids at practicum - so cute. Can't handle it.
3. Field Trip to the ExperimentariumWe went to the Experimentarium, which is an interactive, science-themed children's museum in Hellerup ("the Miami of Copenhagen," according to Pearse).
The experimentarium is AWESOME. They have a WIND TUNNEL. And DISECTIONS OF EYEBALLS AND BRAINS. And stuff that spins and other stuff that goes up and down and other stuff that shakes and lights up and makes noises. Oh! And a lion that you put your head in its mouth and it registers how loud you scream! Oh man. Seriously, if physics class were like that at Winsor, I might actually understand the universe. Maybe not, but I would definitely be more inspired to continue the science thing further.
The two best sections were a station about exercise and burning calories. I challenged Seth to a simulated triathalon: biking, ERGing and wheelchair racing. (He won, but I came pretty close in the wheelchair race!) As you move the machine, a drop of sugar water falls into the cup, depending on your heartrate and fat burn. At the end, the amount of sugar water you get represents the calories you raced off. Pretty nifty - good workout, too.
The other was the "Sensetunnel." John and I went in without knowing what it was. That was scary. The "touch" room is pitch black, and you have to feel your way around. The "sight room" is all mirrors (see photo), the "smell room" reeks - things like that. Awesome.
And speaking of being blinded with science...
4. Stiff by Mary Roach
So, I just finished a book about cadavers. It was awesome - totally worth all of those weird looks I got on the train every morning. And funny.
No, really! Check it out:
"The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan. But here are forty of them, one per pan, resting face-up on what looks to be a small pet-food bowl. The heads are for plastic surgeons, two per head, to practice on. I'm observing a facial anatomy and face-lift refresher course, sponsored by a southern university medical center and led by a half-dozen of America's most sought-after face-lifters." (p. 1)
Roach goes on to describe topics ranging from testing the "stopping power" of bullets on cadavers to crucifixion experiments to medicinal cannibalism. You learn about the ethics of organ transplant and anatomy studies. Every day I wondered whether I should drop my majors and pick up studying
5. MGMT concert
I almost forgot! It was pretty good - the crowd was big and really into it. They sounded tighter and more confident than when they opened for of Montreal, but the complete lack of between-song patter was kind of awkward. The backing band was great, and they even played "Kids"! Well, kind of. Andrew and Ben just boogied around stage to a vocal track while the band played live. They must really hate that song. Too bad for them, its a crowd pleaser.
My biggest complaint was that the show was short, which is to be expected, seeing as they only have 1 album. They didn't play any covers, though - I was sort of hoping for a reprise of "Brown Eyed Girl." But the Danish hipsters were out in full force and ate the whole thing up. And we all boogied to "Electric Feel." Videos are up on youtube. And you know what else is on youtube?
6. The bald guy from Aqua (you know, the "come on Barbie, let's go party" guy) is on a Danish reality show called "All Stars" in which he competes against other Danish has-beens to see who can direct the best choir. His group of all-white Danes from the lovely island of Bornholm decided to sing "They Don't Really Care About Us," Michael Jackson's ode to depressed conditions in the ghetto.
You must see this.
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