Just finished another Saturday morning brunch. Brunch is always a delicate art of eating just the right amount, a skill that I have never really mastered. I guess if I have to stuff myself with something, smoked salmon scrambled eggs, rye breads, and cheeses are good items to do that with.
Today I need to start another one of my final papers. It's that time of the year, no matter where in the world I am it seems that the end of April will always be a time of panic. I turned in the first of four of my final papers yesterday morning, for my Bio. of Marine Mammals class. I chose to research Killer Whale ecotypes and speciation for my final paper, and I actually found the topic to be incredibly neat. Fun fact: Killer whales are currently one species (Orcinus orca), but years of research have shown that seperate groups of killer whales exist around the globe that are very distinct from each other. These distinctions are strong enough that the orca groups make up different 'ecotypes', these ecotypes don't interbreed or interact socially with each other. Mostly they differ by what they eat and where they live; fish eating coastal type, the mammal eating coastal type, and the fish eating offshore type. More recently there have been three new types distinguished in the Antarctic regions, the seal eating antarctic type, the whale eating antarctic type, and the fish eating dwarf Antarctic type. And, here's the coolest part, newest mtDNA research of today is showing that the genetic lineages of these different ecotypes are seperate enough that many biologists believe they need to be raised to seperate species of killer whales, with some divergences between groups showing to have occured over 700,000 years ago. Cool? I think so.
Anyways, enough nerd stuff. Last night my fellow American students at my hojeskole spent the evening at Tivoli in downtown CPH, our DIS sponsored night out together. Tivoli is the first theme park ever, so it's obviously very old. It was really pretty, and definitely a step up from six flags type parks, with a balance of historical classiness and modern type rides, if that makes sense. There was a concert in the middle of the park that was pretty entertaining, some type of techno rap.
Fingers of sunlight are filtering through the tree branch outside my window right now, a tree branch that is finally heavy with fresh green leaves. I keep telling people how amazed I am at how fast the world changed into spring time around here. They're probably getting tired of hearing me rave about it. But it really IS amazing. When I returned from Greenland two weeks ago, I could look into the forests on the train ride into town and see far into the depths of the forest, seeing nothing excpet bare brown skeletal tree trunks. Now, I can barely see past the first row of trees, as the leaves have created a flurry of a green wall. Dandelions, I mean big monster dandelions, line the sidewalks and populate the backyard of my hojeskole. It is a sight.
Alright, I guess I should go be productive. Cheers!

Enter: T-Shirts and Shorts

I returned from a long day of travels late last night. It was phase two of my spring break, spent in a completely different world than the first half. I was in Perugia, Italy with my old friend Shannon this past week, and I spent some time in the life of a study abroader in Italy. The days were framed by no schedules, lit by cloudless skies, and filled with pizza, gellato, wine, and much laughter. Perugia was a beautiful little town, two hours north of Rome, where I flew in. Shannon went way out of her way to pick me up at the airport, were we spent the night in a hostel.  A quick trip to the colleseum in Rome, as quick as such an experience can be, and then we were on our way by train to Perugia. Shannon lives in a stone apartment or town home type residence, so it made visiting a easy arrangement.

Shannon emphasizing the size of the colleseum.



A little park in Perugia we layed around in for a couple hours.



The days there were truley spring break, if I ever had one. I felt the first true warth of the sun in months, each day was in the high 70s. I even managed a little sunburn, a required token of spring break regardless of where in the world you are. The food was spectacular, as can be imagined. Most notably, is Tuesday night's meal. We went out to an "underground" restaurant, where we had a five course meal that lasted from 9 pm until almost midnight. Probably the best food I have ever had, consisting of a mix of bruschettas, shrimp pesto farfalle, italian sausage, fried mozzarrella, and tiramisu. I'm not exagerrating when I say it was delicious, and I'm not sure where else my food experiences could get any better. In addition to this, I ate gellatto and pizza on multiple occassions, of which are completely different than anything I've had in the states.

Lunch my first day.

I had a chance my last night there to attend Shannon's creative writing class' public readings at a bar. All of the pieces had to do with Perugia and studying abroad, and there were many a tear shed at the thought of going home. It made me that much more excited about still being out here, abroad, living in Denmark, something I may very well never do again. I have just under a month left of this unique time in my life, and I plan on savoring it. Today was a good start to that, as I sat around in the green lawn of my hojeskole all afternoon, enjoying my life with people from all over the world. My biggest stress being what time dinner is. Grill outs and eating outside are becoming standard each night. As I walked to the cornor store this evening to grab a beer for tonight's bonfire, there was not one house I passed that didn't have it's resident families sitting on porches or the front yard, enjoying the fading sunlight. Savor this I will.

At the top of the world

I just returned from my week in Greenland. Accompanying my class "Greenland: A Scientific Expedition" was a one week trip to Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The trip was aimed to (from the itenerary itself): "Provide a close encounter with the ice sheet, discuss climate changes, see magnificent wildlife, experience incredibly starry winter nights and learn all about the aurora borealis". The past five days have been incredible, I have never experienced a more brutally magestic place; Greenland is staggeringly magnificent, and intoxicatingly beautiful. It is hard for me to describe it in text, pictures and emotions are probably more adequate. I will at least provide a brief list of the activities the 12 of us did.
Day 1: arrival, introduction to Kangerlussuaq, population 556. Tour around area, lectures on local fauna and geology.
Day 2: Morning hike up snowy peak near camp, dog sledding all afternoon across a frozen fjord.' Kaffemilk' at local Greenlander's residence, a coffee and cakes social tradition. A visit to local museum of the history of Kangerlussuaq. Late night sky gazing, successful aurora light show.
Day 3: Departure to the Russel's glacier and the ice sheet. Many stops and discussions along the way.
Day 4: Morning hike. Muskox safari and hike to lake and grazing grounds. Visit to 'Kellyville', an atmospheric, ionospheric and climatic research station run by the US science foundation and Stanford. Amazing Greenlandic closing dinner and slideshows.

I had many long conversations with people, and got to hear many of the past adventures of our professor, who spent many years studying ecology in Greenland. I think that I really want to look into arctic ecology, there is so much going on up there. In a world that seems to have so few mysteries left, it was amazing to be in a place that still has so many of them.
I put selected pictures in an album for anybody to see on snapfish. Here's the link: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3416108028/a=4402702028_4402702028/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

At the ice sheet's edge. Massive.

The first day's group shot.

Swedish Adventures

I refuse to believe that it is April, that I am registering for me senior year courses back at Trinty, and that I have six weeks left abroad. I don't understand this passage of time phenomenom, and I sure as hell hope that real life doesn't happen this fast. This time next week I will be on spring break, a vacation from vacation that lasts for two weeks. After that, I have only a few weeks of classes left here in CPH, with all my course work being wrapped up by the 6th of May. End of term papers are in our midsts, and thier discussion is a common theme among most of my classes lately. At least the stress from those deadlines are enough to make the end of my time here seem distant.

I spent this past weekend on a hiking, climbing, and canoeing trip to the Swedish back country. We spent Saturday canoeing until noon on a very lazy river, which made it seem more like a social excursion on water than an outdoor excursion. After lunch, we set for the rocky coast to find an area called Nimis. Built over a period in the '80s, Nimis was hidden by its only creator for two years before being discovered by the Swedish government. The 'park' consists of over 70 tons of driftwood nailed into massive building and walk-way like structures. I didn't think much of this description, but after a 30 minute hike to its secluded location on the shore, I was, bewildered. We entered the location one person at a time, as the entrance walkway was barely large enough for me.  Very similar to a giant tree house, you walk along pathways that are way off the ground, held up by snarled twists of driftwood nailed together in absolutely no orderly manner.

There were towers and tunnels, some set walkways among the clutter of wood, but mostly you just climbed it like a jungle gym.  We spent a good hour clambering around the shoreline structures, I snapped some great pictures from the top of one of the towers. On the climb back of the steep rocky slopes, I had to take off my jacket. With the excercise and mid 50s F weather, it was too warm! That night we stayed at a hostel out in the middle of farm fields, and we had a giant fire pit set up for a barbeque. The weather was just right, jeans and a long sleave shirt was all that was needed outside while we played volleyball and then ate our bbq chicken, sausages, and potato salad dinner. S'mores (on digestive bisquets, a scandanavian thing due to the lack of graham crackers here) and ice cream followed, and the sun made its final farewell at around 8:30 pm. Playing some cards until a ripe hour of 11:30 that night (we could have sworn it was 2 am), I even manged a full night sleep. The next day was spent repelling over rock faces and orienteering. The repelling took place on giant rocky cliffs along coves at the coast. We went down two cliffs, one more of a practice for the second much more precarious descent. Only once or twice did I wonder what in the world I was doing there, usually after looking down. After we had an afternoon of orienteering, a scavenger hunt type of competition using compasses and maps to complete activities all over the hillsides. The day was very foggy, and at times you couldn't see more than 100 yards ahead. There were many references to Frodo and the Ring, as it felt very similar to wandering around Middle Earth. If only.

It was a refreshing weekend to say the least, and really got me thinking about planning my trip to Norway in May, somewhere I really hope to get to before the end.

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.