Mystery Streets and Buddy Dinners

The past two days have been filled with class lectures, mainly Sports Economics, and trying to kick this cold once and for all. In my Sports Econ class we talk about the differences in systems between mainly American pro sports and Euro pro sports. Our first guest speaker was so negative towards Americans it was sickening. Everything he said he acted like the American system was a joke. It definitely got people riled up and after awhile our actual professor raised the issues to the class to get some feedback. There was feedback alright.. tons of Americans and Canadians (even a few Europeans) raised really good points and at the end I think the guy felt a little stupid. If you ask me, his personal opinions about Americans got in the way of actual facts. After class, Elyse and I went to buy school supplies but wanted to go to a new stop instead of the one we always go to. We found a ton of really good shopping and local cafes along this pathway. We looked in a lot of stored but didn't buy anything except computer paper and our books for class but it was interested just to look. Some of the stuff was really weird but a lot was very trendy and reasonably priced.

Danish folk dancing was that night.. I wasn't really in the mood due to lack of sleep, having a cold, classes starting, etc but went anyways. I'm glad I did because we had some laughs at the instructors and at each other trying to dance. Kulorbar had free entrance and free beer for the hour after the dancing so the whole international student gang went there. I was not planning on staying any later than when the hour was over, but it got to be a great time again at Kulorbar..yikes!! The next morning we had an early 4 hour lecture, which was NOT fun at all!! More sports econ all day.. followed by a looooong nap and then the scheduled buddy dinner. We had to trek allllll the way to the countryside to meet other buddy groups for dinner. It was FREEZING and sleeting and pretty much just miserable the whole way there. The authentic Danish meal was pork, potatoes, salad, dessert, and their version of Sprite. It was an awkwardly planned social event and there were not all that many sociable people there so the dinner topics were a bit scarce and weird. I finally got to watch TV for a few minutes though.. it was sweet.. Simpsons! After dinner we went to Nexus, had to wait about an hour to get in, and it was techno night. Not my favorite of music but whatever, better than standing outside in sleet I guess. Me, Dino, Elyse, and a ton of our friends came back to our dorm and hung out but I was still sooo tired I fell asleep almost immediately. When I woke up this morning there was a plate of Danish crouissants (sp??) and orange juice waiting for me by my computer, a little secret elf tried to make me happy :) What a wonderful way to start a Friday! I think I finally got enough sleep because me and Elyse slept until 1pm! We rushed to get our Formal Dinner tickets from the International Office and then walked through more mystery streets to explore more of Copenhagen. We found Zara (store) with tons of sales..jeans for $20, etc. I found a really cute pair of black pants for $11 and a vest for real cheap too. Feels good to finallllllly buy something!! We were late for our "Ladies Dinner" tonight, which was for all the girls in our dorm...oops.. I guess I'm not so good with directions especially when shoppings involved. When that was over, we met up with the guys upstairs and played some games before going out. It was cold/windy/rainy all night so we didn't stay out too long. Elyse and I met some true Danish guys who we talked to for awhile and the one just annoyed me. He was SOO ignorant about America it was sickening. Everything he thought he learned from MTV. For example, that we allll have ridiculously awesome 16th bday parties, are all soooo rich, and that everyone gets a car when their 16. I tried to explain that a big part of getting a car is because we dont have public transport like they do here in the non-main cities and its essential to have cars for getting anywhere in most places. Here its a luxury to have a car but definitely not needed, there are ways to get almost anywhere in the city and in the outskirts/countryside without a car.
About politics... he asked "are you a democrat or republican?" Simple enough.. but I tried to explain that I feel different on different topics. Republican thoughts about government involvement and business, etc but more democratic views when it comes to personal freedoms and liberties. He kept saying "so republican or democratic?", I don't know whats so hard to get about its not just black and white! He just annoyed me..ahh! Another thing that gets to me is that alot of the time when people hear you're from the US, they say "Oh so are you from New York?". Have you seen a map of the country?! ITS HUGE! Everyone thinks Americans are the ignorant ones, but I definitely feel like there are many many more ignorant people out there than just us. The other thing while I'm on my rant--why the heck dont people say "Excuse me", "good morning" or "thank you" around this place?! Geeeeeeeeez! Some common courtesy goes a long way. And, why don't they have (the best meal in the world) Progresso Chicken and Herb Dumpling soup?! Or socks in a pack!? Sometimes I think this place is just nuts...

but most of the time I absolutely love it :)