Card reader, check!

YO I found out that the computers in the computer lab here have card readers so I can share more pictures and stories! WIN.

OK. SO.

Phase two of my travel break gave me two nights in Copenhagen to recharge and do laundry and sleep. A lot. I also treated myself to a day in the city where I left for lunch and decided that I wasn't allowed to go back until dinner time. I walked from the metro stop west, just kind of meandering, until I found a really neat coffee shop, where I VOTED (fuck yeah!) and filled out some other paperwork for a few hours while enjoying hot chocolate and feeling happy. Then I meandered around, although thanks to the fact that I had meandered there without paying attention to where I was going, and to the fact that the sun was obscured by the clouds, I mistook north for east, and went essentially perpendicular to where I thought I was going. On the plus side I accidentally went to Nørrebro, one of Copenhagen's more ethnic neighborhoods and the site of the recent spate of gun related crimes that has put the city somewhat on edge. You can see a linear approximation of my route here, although bear in mind that since I walked and this is for driving, I was not nearly as efficient as Google would have me be. Total trip? closing in on 20 km, or about 12 miles. Hot damn!

Laundry followed, as well as frantic cleaning efforts. My last night before shipping out again happened to be the birthday of a girl in my building who is on the Party Committee with me, and we went out to dinner at a restaurant across the street from my kollegium. I ordered what was described to me as a kind of smørrebrod, or open faced sandwich, featuring fish and shrimp. It sounded sort of like a Danish fish and chips. I received absolute mounds of fried fish with an aeoli esque sauce, topped with those teeny shrimp and a spoonful of caviar. The bread portion of the sandwich was a lone piece of toast buried under this vast amount of seafood. All the meals were, I was informed by my table mates, far larger than is customary. It was delicious! I couldn't finish, and I couldn't get it to go because I was flying out early the next morning, but I was almost there. I have been avoiding eating out due to the expense, and in fact this was my second sit down experience in Copenhagen, and I am very glad I did it. So much fun, and I love spending time with the people in my building. One brave soul ordered dessert, and it too was gigantic - an ice cream dish the size of my head. Next plan: don't eat starting Thursday, come here Saturday for dinner.