observations

last night several people and i went to christiania to see this 20+ piece french brass band that had elements of zydeco, yiddish, mediterranean, napoletana, and whatever the stuff comes from the casbah is called. in a word: amazing. i don't have any photos, but i think your imaginations can picture it.

here, in no particular order, are a few observations after one week of being in copenhagen :

1) yes, the women are beautiful. but they are not as angelic i was told they would be. i honestly see little difference between the gals here, and in boston or nyc in that they are both beautiful yet (for someone of my stature) unattainable. and i'm perfectly fine with that. really.

2) the danes express patience on the trains - something that is nonexistent in any american city with public transportation (or any american city at rate). i was waiting at norreport station one day, and the train that was stopped was held up for about 10 minutes, and people kept getting on and off. one lady even opened the doors just to take two puffs of a cigarette! i cannot even fathom something like that occurring on the T or the NYC Subway. either the conductor wouldn't let anyone else on, or the fellow passengers would pummel those holding up the train.

oh, and speaking of similarities to boston the trains here also stop at 12:30am. which is really frustrating because i have had to learn to take the night bus home, which has resulted in 3am-ish arrivals at my apartment (hopefully this doesn't continue - and don't worry mom, there isn't any crime here.)

3) i've had to learn punctuality. when people here say something starts at 10am, they mean it. i met this dude from newcastle england the other night, and we discussed this fact (including the english premier league) for some time. we were both completely befuddled by it, and how it has led to some fairly awkward situations.

4) speaking of awkwardness, i am on par for making every transaction as humiliating as possible. hooray language barriers!

5) shops here close on saturday afternoon, and remain closed through sunday. and they call us americans being puritanical! after working in retail i learned that being closed on saturday and sunday is suicidal, yet here its perfectly acceptable. i'm quite ambivalent about this.

6) does anyone know of any danish or scandanavian musicians besides jens lekman? while i am here, i figure i should listen to music characteristic of denmark or sweden, and not britian or the us.

7) i have to register with the local kommune here to get some cpr number. dont be suprised if i am forced to change my name to comrade tim or start wearing a beret.

8) oh yea, i AM going to school here. sorry, we just started so there is not too much to report. although my kierkegaard professor was astonished that i read training in christianity before any of his other works. i'll be sure to keep you posted on my academics. ...