Pre-Departure Happenings

As a part of the DIS program, every class during the second three-week session goes on a week-long study tour to a country other than Denmark. These study tours all fall on the second week of session 2, and are meant to give students a firsthand look at the issues discussed in class (as well as broadening their cultural experiences while abroad). The destinations of the study tours ranged from Amsterdam to Scotland to Poland, but for Sustainable Technology class we're visiting Norway. I've actually been in Norway for the past few days, but because of the tightness of our schedule I haven't been able to blog at all. Here I'll just cover some of the events leading up to the study tour, then on the trip back to Denmark I'll get around to recounting my experiences in Norway.

On Friday, I went to class as usual; we ended up discussing the results of the UNFCC and the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol. After class, Sam, Jason, and I all met in the DIS cinema and discussed our views of the material covered in class. Our discussion devolved into an hour-and-a-half long intellectual debate about how best to change American culture and people's perceptions in order to promote environmentalism. It was actually one of the most interesting experiences I've had while abroad; it's not often that people passionately engage each other about intellectual issues like this. Afterward, I went back to Hoffmans, got some laundry done, and made dinner. I then headed downtown with Albert, Jared, and a few other girls from our Kollegium who had just arrived for the second session, and we went to visit Tivoli - the renowned Danish amusement park centered in downtown Copenhagen. As I had just learned a few days before, the band Aqua (of "Barbie Girl" fame) were going to be playing a free show that night, so we were all excited - though also apprehensive about how good the concert would be, considering the band's status as the epitome of one-hit-wonders. Once we arrived, Albert and a few of the girls managed to sneak into Tivoli through through the back entrance of a restaurant adjacent to the park; however, me, Jared, and one of the girls decided to play it safe and pay the entry fee. Thankfully we made the right decision, since one of the other girls ended up getting caught in the act of sneaking in and was almost kicked out of the park. Once we were all inside, however, we realized that ride tickets were extremely expensive, so we only paid to get into the fun house - which was indeed fun, despite being a glorified children's playhouse. After exiting the fun house we ended up seeing Chris, Nia, and I girl named Hannah (whom I had met a few weeks ago), as well as Jill, Ashley, and Katie; it was definitely cool to see so many fellow DIS students there for the concert. We then staked out a spot for the concert early, only to find that one of our instructors (Pam) was also there - so chatted with her for a while before Aqua came on. I was surprised by how good of a show they put on - though it was infinitely more amusing because Pam knew all of Aqua's obscure songs and danced along the whole time. After they played "Barbie Girl,"we all headed back to Strøget, met up with Kate Schratz for a bit, and then went to a venue near DIS to hang out with Jill, Ashley, and Katie for a while. After that, the night got pretty interesting - I ended up chatting with a few Danish guys, hung out briefly with Andy Tucker and his friend Jay, and was hit on by a few unattractive Danish girls (whom I managed to escape from after smoothly passing myself off as Matt Wolschleger). Eventually, I headed back to Hoffmans with Katie.

Defying Gravity at the Tivoli Fun House

The next day, I slept in and spent a good portion of the day working on a paper for class with Albert. Early in the afternoon, we headed over to a cafe called Paludan Bøger - an old bookstore that had been converted into a cafe, where I had met up with Sara and worked on a paper a week earlier. After working for a solid 5 hours, we headed back to Hoffmans where I finished up my laundry and napped before making a delicious dinner of pesto-doused pasta. Then, I hung out with Albert, Jared, Kyle, Hirsch, Ryan, and a few other people from our Kollegium and played card games before Albert and I headed over to Gronjords to hang out with Sam, Dustin, David, Kelsey, Jason, and a few other girls from their Kollegium whom I had met before. We all talked and danced for a while, and eventually found ourselves chatting with a British guy named Neil who was in charge of organizing social events for the entire Gronjords complex (in total, Gronjords consists of 5 or so high-rise buildings). Me, Albert, a guy from our class named Dominic, and girl named Melissa whom we had met that night all hung out in his apartment for a while and made popcorn until it was almost 4 AM; seeing that it was so late, we decided to crash in Gronjords for a while. Neil grabbed a few spare mattresses and bedrolls from his room, and me, Albert, and Dominic all got a few hours' rest before getting up early and heading back to our respective kollegiums.

Me and a Couple Girls from Hoffmans Waiting for Aqua