Shedding the Winter Coat

People are out and about here in Denmark. Within the last 10 days the weather has done a complete turn around, and it would seem that spring is indeed here. At first I was hesitant to say this, as it was sure to raise false hope.  However, I think we can finally start to expect sunny days and lighter jackets on a daily basis.  Lately, the sun has been out most of each day and the daily temp ranges have been high/lows of 45/32 F. The daylight savings time shift just occurred today, so the sun is up much later than  usual. Soon dinner will seem like it's in the middle of the day, and it won't feel acceptable to lounge by the fire after eating until bed anymore.
This past Thursday my good friend Shannon arrived from Perugia, Italy. She is currently studying abroad as well, and we made plans to visit each other while living on opposite ends of the European continent. We spent a day in my town of Helsingor, and also checked out Helsingborg, Sweden. She was pumped to be able to check two countries off the list with one plane ticket. We then spent yesterday in Copenhagen, under blue skies and among many bustling people. It was the most crowded I have yet to see Copenhagen, Stroget, the walking street, was packed with shoppers and travellers of all sorts. We made it back to the Hojeskole for dinner, and then returned to the city to experience some of the night life. I took her to one of my favorite bars, "Den Glade Gris", or "The Happy Pig" in english. We found a table in the back, sat and people watched, talked about good times past, as well as our adventures abroad. Eventually a band began to assemble, four guys on instruements and an incredible female lead singer. They played cover after cover of American rock, alternative, hip hop and even pop songs, adding a little of thier own character to each. Of the bands I have heard here in DK, they all play mostly American music, which I still find so funny. They introduce themselves and talk to the crowd in Danish, and then burst out with perfect english in their songs. Really odd at first, but neat. Shannon left this morning after we went to mosey around Copenhagen a little more before her flight. It has really meant a lot to have both Mike and Shannon visit me this semester, and I know that there are others that would do the same if they could.
This next week is going to be very busy academics wise, I'm going to have to tighten my belt and stay focused. Once I survive that, I have a hiking and canoeing trip to the Swedish backcountry next weekend to reward myself with. Life is good, cheers to all.

Catching My Breath

Having just printed and stapled my last essay due this week, this is the first idle moment I have had in the last two weeks. And not a single moment of it has been dull. Last week I spent traveling on my Sustainability program study tour, a six day trip in Germany and the Netherlands around multiple cities. The morning I returned to Copenhagen, my friend Mike (buddy from the grade school days in Houston) arrived an hour after I did, and we have been trekking around Denmark non-stop until he left early this morning. Now, I sit.

The study tour with my class was a blast, we spent the first three days in Germany, around the little northern town of Flensburg. On the way there we had an afternoon at a marine center by the Wadden Sea, looking at the biodiversity and the dyke structures. Once in Flensburg we spent time at Renewable Energy research center similar to the one in Denmark, and toured multiple wind, solar, and biofuel companies. Particularily memorable was the solar energy company, which built circular wharehous type structures, with roofs that were made of solar panels tilted toward the sun.  The roof slowly rotated with the position of the sun to gain maximum absorbance. Taking up no more space than a residential house, the solar setup, during good conditions, supplies enough energy to support 40 four person Danish homes! If they find these to be effective and marketable in Denmark, than they are surely possible in the states. I would like to imagine that these would be very effective in Texas, should it seem so out-landish to have solar panels like these hooked up to residential communities in the vast Texan suburbs? I'd like to think it won't seem so much longer.

After Germany we drove to Gronnigen in the Netherlands for a night, where we then spent an afternoon at a sustainable forestry park. It was originally started by one of the Dutch kings to supply him with royal hunting grounds and lumber, and composed on only Scotch Pine. However, over the centuries the land has changed drastically and now has a strong amount of biodiversity and very little Scotch Pine, which was not endemic to begin with. They cut selected plots every ten years, cutting every few yards apart to ensure there is a variety of tree heights present just as would be in a natural system. It was surprisingly pretty and serene, and managed to shift my idea of forestry into a more positive light. Once in Gronnigen, I decided I would take a personal trip to experience the Dutch health system, which is superb I will say, because of graceful manuever I had attempted the day before. While leaping from a boulder in Flensburg, I managed to slightly miscalculate my landing and land face down on the pavement. Luckily I broke my fall with my right thumb, which suffered some bruising and swelling. The next day, when my ibuprofen stock was about gone, I decided to ask the teachers for thier opinion on the issue. Anyways, I spent a little time in the emergency room of a Dutch hostpital, which was very similar to a contemporary art museum, where it was determined that the tip of my thumb was indeed broken. So I currently have a great little plastic brace thing bandaged on my finger.

From Gronnigen we next went to Amsterdam to spend the last two days there. Amsterdam was as may be expected, a really fun place to be. I keep refering to it as a free-for-all version of Copenhagen, becuase they seemed pretty similar in some ways. While there, we spent time at the Van Gogh museum, went on a city bike tour, and canal coffee boat tour, and went to LiSER (living space for environmental refugees) to learn about efforts to deal with refugees/migrants moving due to environemtal issues. The sun was out on both days, and the temperature may have reached up to 50 F! It was so nice to be in the sun and enjoy just walking outside, there was period Friday when I even had my jacket off, it's a big deal.

Canal boat tour of Amsterdam.

After taking an overnight bus back to Copenhagen, I picked up Mike from the airport and took up the role as tour guide. He stayed at the Hojeskole for the weekend, and then we moved to a hostel during the week.  We must have walked 15 miles this past week while exploring the city, I don't think there was anything left to show him by the end of his trip. We also ate very well, between brunches at my place, shwarma shops, pastries, and one phenomenal pizza place in Sweden. It was a good week, and I think Mike was thoroughly impressed with Denmark. They have things pretty figured out here.

Spring, is that you?

I was awoken this morning by a strange sensation on my face, sunlight. It was 9 am, and I was planning on sleeping later (a lot later) after a bit of a late night. Despite the closed curtains, the morning rays still managed to wake me, partly from brightness and partly from how hot I was getting under my duvet. It's the brightest, clearest, most welcoming day I have seen so far here in Denmark. Could it be the approach of spring? I'll try not to expect anything drastic, although, we have been repeatedly told that February is the longest, hardest month to get through in DK (despite its least amount of days). The sun now makes it first appearance as we eat breakfast at 6:30 am (it rose after 9 when I first arrived), and we eat dinner at 6 pm with the last twinkling of twilight (the sun set at 4:30ish pm when I arrived). So maybe we can hope to experience more sunlit awakenings from here on.
After a cereal, yogurt, and cheese breakfast I decided to try and take advantage of the situation and go for a bike ride. It was about a minute and a half before I realized that the weather I had seen through my window was a little deceptive of the day outside, and I should have worn my gloves.  Despite the crisp air and steady wind, it was still extremely refreshing to be outside and practically feel the vitamin D being taken into my system. I found some woody areas to putter around in, and noticed that under the bed of dead leaf litter, all sorts of little green sprouts are in the process of uncurling, biding their time before they too wake up to a warm sunlit morning. I guess I'm not the only one noticing a shift in the weather.