One month down...

Looking at my calender this morning I realized today was February 21st... meaning I've been in Denmark for an entire month... one month down, three to go. Anyways, even though I've been in the country for a month, it didn't dawn on to me until this week that I actually live in Denmark. The exact moment I realized this fairly obvious fact was when our bus rolled back into Copenhagen from Sweden, I believe I may have even referred to this city that speaks a different language than my own, "Home."

Want further proof that I am a honoary Dane for the next 3 months? I bought a bicycle. My friend Lily's host father took us shopping for bicycles. First we went to the "Little Man" store. He likes to refer to the corner store, mom and pop operations as the "Little Man," unfortunately the only offering they had for me was a rusty green cruiser from the old days. I think Christian IV may have actually riden this cycle. We moved on to a home depot of sorts that sells bikes and I got a "grandpa cruiser" for 1000 kr - $176 - not bad considering they tack a 25% tax on that. Lily's host dad said its about the cheapest you can buy a new bike for. If I sell it back to someone at the end it will definitely be worth the cost, if only to get a little consistent exercise and explore the city some more.

In all seriousness, my life certainly has started to settle into a rythm of sorts over here (except for the weekend travels). I'm starting to learn my way around the supermarket, and the meals I make are getting better and better. Tonight I made a swiss chesseburger with garlick, oregano, and onion laden home fries with salsa. Last night was our Tuesday Family Dinner, a new tradition for my friends Nate, Eric, Lily and I. And we had garlic teriyaki chicken stir fry with salad and rice. So I'm eating pretty well. I even took a picture of a dinner from the other night... I think this was a ham and swiss melt with can corn (my favorite) and home fries(as you can tell home fries is becoming a common link in all these meals). So my eating habits have become more regular, a good thing I think.

Today I had a pair of field studies, they were a little lackluster or probably would have gotten their own post. The first was a visit from the Turkish embassy. We discussed Turkey's plans to join the EU, which couldn't happen until 2015 at the earliest. But there's some major roadblocks... mostly Turkey's inability to recognize the existence of the Republic of Cyprus, which is an island off the coast of Turkey and a member of the EU. Personally I feel that the fact that Turkey's not physically in Europe should be a factor, but I guess we're ignoring it. I don't think there's any solution in sight, all of our questions about the Cyprus situation were met with an answer along the lines of "Accession into the EU is a technical process and Cyprus is a political problem." I have news for you Turkey, the EU is a political organization, and so a political problem is a big problem for you. I also had trouble taking these two lady diplomats seriously, considering they denied the existence of the Armenian Genocide when questioned about the political implications of Turkey's history of ignoring human rights.

Then I visited KRIS Denmark, a halfway house of sorts for convicts being released back into society. Not nearly as interesting as the Open Prison, but we had a lengthy discussion of alot of the pyschological aspects of crime.

On a lighter note, Copenhagen had its own version of the blizzard that the northeast got last week today with howling winds and snow drifts of two to four... inches. I think we'll be okay. On an even lighter note, I realized I never posted a shot of my apartment inside Keops so there it is... in its present condition. You can see my bedroom on the right, my study in the far right corner, and my office over there on the left. Behind that curtain is my balcony (which is approximate 1.5 square feet wide)... and my living room is on your immediate left. The kitchen is somewhat pictured in the first picture, you can see the stove top, sandwich maker, dirty dishes (quickly becoming a permanent fixture), and a piece of my refrigerator.

Finally, I'm going to Berlin this weekend; I'm flying out with a couple friends Friday night (it's only a 50 minute flight) and coming back before class on Monday (see that Dad? before class). It should be a fun weekend, as well as a chance for me to see some WWII sights and what not. So if I don't write for a while, it's probably because the Cold War was started up again and I got trapped on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall... but I'll take my chances.