Almost three weeks in and time is still flying by. I have a feeling the whole semester is going to be like this. I am loving it here more and more everyday. We are still experiencing unusually warm and sunny weather but I think that's about to change. It has definately started to cool off but still very nice.
Last friday we went to what we thought was a circus in a big courtyard at one of the other residences. After watching it, I am not sure if it quite qualifies as a circus. There were 5 or 6 people dressed pretty ordinary putting on a play while doing some acrobatic stuff. I will do my best to explain and I put up a couple pictures which might be the best way to understand. One lady was climbing what looked like two sheets hanging from a window and was twisting and flipping around while holding onto the "sheets." One of the guys climbed a pole and was doing horizontal handstands and another guy was playing a drum. I laugh as I type this because it sounds so bizaare and thats exactly how it was. Not very exciting but we had a good time.
On Saturday we learned about a World's Strongest Man competition that we just HAD to go to. It took us about a half hour to get to the location only to learn it had been cancelled. It really drives me nuts that the internet and websites are very rarely used here, otherwise we may have been able to figure out it was cancelled beforehand. Oh well.
Since everybody is getting settled in we have started talking about and planning trips to visit other parts of Europe. October 30-November 1 CBS has made arrangements with a cruise ship for a 3 days cruise to Oslo. The whole boat is reserved for international students (the first 500 to sign up) if I understand correctly. While we do have to pay for it ourselves we got a really good deal and we feel this could be one of the highlights of the semester. Some friends and I are also talking about going to Prague sometime in November. There is also talk of going to the Netherlands and I may go home with a Belgian friend of mine to Antwerp at some point as well. If anybody has any recommendations please let me know.
I was a couple european friends the other day and I was talking about how I wanted to be able to buy a gallon of milk when the biggest container they have is a liter. One of them said, "You are just used to everything in America being bigger." He was absolutely right. Food portions, washing machines, milk, cars, even text books are bigger in the US. Not necessarily a good or bad thing, just another difference between the US and and Europe.
On monday night a group of us went to see Inglorious Bastards with Brad Pitt. Great movie except for one little problem. Much of the movie is in French and German since it's about a group of American "Nazi Killers." In the US this would not have been a problem since the subtitles would be in English but since the language here is Danish the subtitles were in Danish. I am sure the movie would have been better if I could have understood everything but it was still great nonetheless.
Several of us Americans introduced one of the guys, Mathias, from Belgium to his first PB&J sandwich and his reaction was great. He absolutely loved it. The very next day we was on a mission to find peanut butter and jelly at the store which is not as easy as it sounds here. Only a few stores carry peanut butter.
I had my first real class on Wed and it went well. Most, if not all, of the class is international students, several of which live in the same building as I do. My three other classes are all second quarter classes and don't start for several weeks so for right now I only have class from 12:30 to 3:20 on Wednesdays.
I think I jinxed myself by saying the weather is great as the sky just opened up and started pouring. I think it may be about time to finally invest in a rain jacket and umbrella. I have added more pictures so feel free to check out the album again at http://picasaweb.google.com/cliggett86
I wish everyone a fun and safe weekend. Take care.
Cooper