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Thor and I at Roskilde
Concepts in Denmark!!!Hej med dig. Hvordan går det?
Pictures included here and for all entries backwards to mid-May (where I still haven't gotten those from my dead camera).
Travel update:
I've been in and around the Copenhagen area (staying in Nivå) and will leave on the train tomorrow (June 8th) to Berlin (the train itself boards a ferry!). In Berlin, I'll meet Dr. NoJoke and perhaps a German friend from UBC named Frank who will also be in town. I'll be there to watch Germany for the 3rd place game and then will be at the Fan Fest in Berlin for the final on the 9th. On the 10th, I'll travel to meet Ute in Minden and it appears as if I'll be staying there until I fly to Vancouver at noon from Frankfurt on the 13th. I'll couch-surf in Van for 9 days before going to work in Chicago for 10 weeks.
Stories
I watched the World Cup quarterfinals and semifinals here in Nivå on television and have filled my days with biking, swimming, concerts and hanging out in what has been the most familiar place on my trip so far. It's familiar because I lived in
this very place at one point and afterwards visited often when I lived in Ireland. Coming back, some small details have changed but more or less it's been playing the catch-up game with people in order to understand what those actual differences are.
The first several days of my trip were times when Birgitte had just finished her exams but was getting ready for travels herself to Prague. She was here a handful of days when I was but always having various events in her dorm in the evenings so mostly we hung out various places in the days. One of the days, we explored the island of Amager which actually itself has the Copenhagen International Airport on it at one point but at other places has a variety of bike paths through nature not to mention the service of the fairly new Copenhagen Metro. In fact, in order to get to her dorm, I had to get off at the stop that I used to when I studied abroad only instead of going up to the surface, I instead descend a set of previously non-existant stairs to the new Metro track. The Metro is sleek and fancy but
more importantly links parts of the town more efficiently. So in a 15 minute Metro ride, one passes Birgitte's dorm, important squares (Kongens Nytorv, for example), Christiania (the famous squat), connecting trains as well as Copenhagen Business School. In my time here, I've explored all of these, so it's been nice.
One day I went to Roskilde festival, Europe's largest outdoor rock festival. The day I went, I got to see The Strokes as well as Franz Ferdinand but previous acts included musicians the likes of Kanye West and even Guns'N'Roses. I met up with Thor, who is now nearly 21 (I think) which is a stark contrast to when I originally knew him (meaning we were more something like the same age now, if that makes any sense). He had been at the festival for nearly a week with the exception of some parties he escaped to since he recently graduated. He showed me to his tent and gladly supplied me with some cheap beers as we walked around.
One of the first things in our tour (which is actually how you pronounce his name) was going to the part of the west campground where all sorts
of activities were setup. Some activities included a climbing wall (that you can see in the background of our photo), hockey, fooseball, frisbee golf, and even this beer crate climbing game that I've pictured below. You are passed a beer crate from a string attached to a crane. You are also attached to a crane. Once you receive the crate, you simply stack it in front of you, then climb up and ready yourself for the next one. It was quite entertaining and quite frankly amazing to see how high some people were able to go. It was also quite dramatic when they fell because the crates would go everywhere and bounce in all directions.
We made our way to the fooseball table. I actually secretly think I'm pretty good at fooseball having played daily at lunch when I worked in Ireland. So I approached the table with confidence and re-equipped myself with Danish soccer vocabulary so that I knew how to yell GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL correctly. In practice though, it was a slow start. Like all professionals, I'm going to blame everything else but my own abilities. The ball we played with was made of a sort of cork that
really stuck to the table. Contrary to the plastic ball, you need to strike the cork ball with it well in front of your player. With the plastic ball, I usually strike it when it is almost behind me in order to generate the funkiest of spins however the same approach with the cork ball simply yields an injured wrist and embarressment. So these are what were gained after game one, but I can say that it was a one goal game in the end. For game two, we were on fire so we left the arena victorious as world champions.
Oh ya, there was music there too. I've been to a lot of concerts in the past but this was by far the widest scale. The bands that we saw like the Strokes and Franz Ferdinand are of course very likeable; that's why they are so damn popular (that and a little something called MTV). But personally, I don't actually know too many of their songs but rather know that I WOULD like them, haha. Nonetheless it was quite fun groovin along to them. They were probably the only two acts I really watched that day, but I
typisk dansk
boats cruising on a warm day in Copenhagen also caught a glimpse of the Raconteurs, Jack Black's new band. Also, we heard Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) in the distance too as we ran around the campsites later watching people set fire to their tents.
Thor was actually volunteering at
the Anima tent, an animal right's group. One flyer they had was actually quite interesting (several were but one caught my eye); it speaks about the seal clubbing that happens in eastern Canada and goes through its vastness and degrees of cruelty. It even goes as far as to suggest boycotting Canadian products, something I had never actually heard before because Canada is supposed to be the North American country that people like rather than my homeland, haha. It is certainly something I'd like to read more about (in English).
In the days since Roskilde, it's been pretty hot. I've still been trying to jog and swim and cycle and excercise in an attempt to get back into shape since I haven't been able to fit in such things having previously not exactly been "at home" on my travels so much, or just not having appropriate ammounts of time (as in Croatia). In fact, after I read this,
I will once again return to the beach (about 4km away) to meet Viktor (who is now about 14!) for a swim. He took the picture below of me breaking the law at the Nivå havn, so I'm hoping I make it over the boarder tomorrow in due time before the authorities receive this key evidence.
Around the house, it's been business as usual as if I have been living here for years. I've spent a lot of time on the computer getting ready for the next steps of travel but also I've been doing sudoku and reading and watching old comedies (like for example Triggerhappy TV) that I watched when last in Europe. Nightly, we are blessed with Peter's excellent cooking sampling dishes from the around the world and now we even have the odd dish or two from Thor since his vegetarianism as well as his father's interest in cuisine has also sparked a cooking interest. Randomly, the fam goes to various parts of Zealand altogether so for example we went to Christiania at one point and at another to the neighboring town of Hillerød to check out a pub that Ulla likes. Today, we awoke to
climbing game
recieve a beer carton, stack it, climb, repeat! find that there was no water in the house because the plumber needed to turn it off in order to prepare for kitchen renovations, however it was soon back on. Later, we went up to Helsingør for a bit to sort out my ticket for tomorrow to Berlin. Tonight I'll go out with Thor and some of his friends before I ride the train all afternoon tomorrow.
Overall, it will be difficult to say goodbye to my Danish family as it has been a long time since we've seen each other. I think we have established how we've all moved on and all changed and in the end, I think we are just as good of friends as before if not better. It's nice to know such kindness and connection exists around the world but that's one funny part about traveling so much and having moved around; yes the experiences are unforgettable but often those you are "close" to are literally on the other side of the world. This just makes it even more rewarding when you actually do meet up with them after some years.
Future plans
Along the same lines, I'll be heading to Berlin then Minden then Vancouver (Cambie July 17th!) all within the next week. Within the next two, you could add Chicago to that list. At every one of the places, I greatly look forward to meeting various people and catching up and having a good time. I'll even be in Ohio Aug 18-20 for the first time in about 10 months. So with the Euro leg of my trip coming to a close, it'll be more of the same in North America until things gradually settle down, as the fall arrives.
To repeat what I always do in the exact pattern that I always do, I'd like to thank those for their comments and emails and support. Keep'em coming and continue having a good time on your own ends as well.
brad
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That "CONCEPTS" garment looks like it may be getting tired! That's the beauty of Pics. Keep up the exercise program . . . Do Pics lie?