last week

So here is the post-Tivoli post I promised. Last week seemed to pass very quickly, as has much of my time here so far. After returning late Sunday night from Samso, I had to do all my homework for Monday which included studying for my first ever DIS test! YAY! I think the test went ok, but I will get it back tomorrow, so hopefully I am right about that. Tuesday I went swing dancing at the Studenterhuset. Jessica and Lauren, who both do that sort of thing back home at Claremont, told me about it, and while they were both going to be doing other things for the most part, I decided to check it out. I got there a bit late so I missed part of the teaching session, but I saw enough of it to remind myself of the basics, and I had a good time for an hour or so. Then most of the people who were clueless as I was stopped dancing and all the really good people were the only ones left. I was definitely intimidated, and was content to just watch. Even Jessica and Lauren were noting how good many of the people there were, and they actually know what they are talking about. But it was a good time, and I think I will go again, because if nothing else it is a good way to get to know some of the locals. And maybe by the end of the semester I'll be Lindy Hopping with the best of them. That is probably unlikely, but hopefully if I stick to it I'll at least be decent. Wednesday I had nothing, and I stayed home all day and finally got on top of/ahead on my homework. Not too exciting, but it has helped me feel a bit more relaxed. Thursday I had test #2, this time in my core course. Well it was really more of a quiz. In class graded assessment of knowledge, maybe that's what I'll call it. ICGAoK. I had my second ICGAoK, which again, felt like it went ok, but we'll see. Friday was pretty boring, although I did do my first day of wandering out and picking recyclables out of trash cans for half an hour. Not for fun, but for my waste management class. Yesterday I went to Tivoli! I am not really a big roller coaster/ride person, but Tivoli does have other things going for it, and seeing how it is a pretty big deal, and I walk by it every day, I decided it was definitely worth at least the 95 DKK entrance fee. Unfortunately most of my friends had already gone, and everyone in my host family was busy, so I went solo. I wandered around, looking at the gardens and the buildings and the various rides. I ate many sugar-rich snacks. I sat and people watched for a while. My evening was temporarily marred when I took a picture and a nearby man, in a somewhat threatening manner, asked if i was taking a picture of his kids. I told him no, that would be sort of weird, and he seemed to accept that, but still the random accusation got me down a bit. But then I decided I couldn't resist going on a ride on the 99 year old wooden rollercoaster, which was quite enjoyable. I think maybe I like such rides more than I admit/remember, and I was a little sad that I had decided against it, but really it is more fun with someone else, so I wasn't too bummed out. I stayed to see the light show on the lake, but the musical performance of the night was not inspiring, and I decided not to stay until the fireworks, 5 hours was enough.Today was a stay at home sort of day. It felt very subdued. I did some HW, took a bath, read my book, skyped home, and watched the Pats beat the Bucs. Nothing to special. My host mom was going to run a half marathon today, but woke up feeling not too great, and so she did not go. Kind of a bummer for her, but she's going to Noway tomorrow for work stuff, so probably a good plan. Mikkel did go on a 135km bike ride this morning, despite being out until 2 last night, so good for him. Also one of the chickens apparently died last night. Oh well. Also I have been informed that we now have reservations in Hamburg for the weekend after I get back from my Norway trip, so I will finally make it to Germany!
Looking ahead, tomorrow is my host dad's birthday. Since I have to leave early for class and my host mom is leaving for Norway, as far as I know the only special plan is maybe to have breakfast for dinner tomorrow. In my core course this week we are going to be learning about Greenland in preparation for our study tour, so that should be exciting, and then bright and early on Saturday I am heading off for Norway and my second adventure trip. Even further ahead, Jessica has informed me that she is trying to get a group of people together to go see something at the Danish Royal Theater. They have operas, drama, concerts and ballet, though right now she/the rest of the people in the group are leaning towards ballet. I personally didn't have a preference, and I think the two things being discussed, a ballet with Frank Sinatra tunes and the Nutcracker in December, sound great. I will feel very cultured, and at only 48 kr for a "young person" ticket, I'm sure it will be totally worth it!
Also thinking about feeling cultured, now that the weather has started getting colder, I am thinking about dressing up again. While well dressed wednesdays and fancy fridays will certainly be a thing, i am thinking about going all out for Dapper Denmark and dressing up every day. I would probably have to ease into it though. We'll see. Anyways, I am excited for all that is to come the rest of the semester, but since I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow, now is time to sleep.
One final thing to leave you with is if "My hovercraft has eels" is just not quite a useless enough phrase for your needs, you might try "Umiatsiaasara pullattagaq nimerussanik ulikkaarpoq" which is apparently that same phrase, but in greenlandic!