clåsses! big håts! lists!

so i wrote a whole long post that was basically a blow-by-blow of my life since the last post. then i realized that was pretty boring. so i'm just gonna post lists and pictures instead.

LIST #1: things that i learned on the international student bus tour of copenhagen

1. in denmark, there is one bike for every foot. ie. 5 million danish people, 10 million bikes.

2. the military marching band thing that i saw before class on wednesday happens every day, just before noon. they march from somewhere (i can't remember where) to the huge house place where the queen lives.

3. the soldiers' comically huge, totally ridiculous fur hats are made of "canadian bear skin"... i kid you not. when i accidentally gasped loudly, i was told that they only use bears that have "died of natural causes" (.... ummmm... ok?)

4. when the previous king of denmark had three daughters and no sons, they changed the constitutional amendment so that they could have a queen (i like how it was so casual (at least that is how danes talk about it, casually but with pride)... i feel like anywhere else it would be such a huge big deal to amend a constitution (especially in such a way that puts a powerful and traditionally man-dominated position into the hands of a woman)... but here it was like, well whatever, let's have a queen then) (interestingly, it is totally normal to hear danish people say "our king is a queen")

5. on the first and third monday of every month, at 9:45 am, danish people can go to the queen's house and meet her. she receives about 50 visitors each time. the only prerequisite is that you wear "your best clothes outfit"... but no appointment is  necessary. apparently it is usually scholars and diplomats and people with important things to say that go to see her. however. enter alie, from the land of the bear-skin hats.... i'd better just pencil that in my agenda right away ("monday, feb 16, 2009: go say hi to the queen, remember to scrape old food off sweater first, wear fanciest running shoes and least hobo-esque pants").

6. by 5 pm it is too dark to really appreciate a bus tour

LIST #2: to be added to the master list of interesting things here:

5. people leave their babies (in the stroller/buggy things) out in the streets a lot when they go in to shops and cafes. ... like, if the place is too small for a buggy to get around, or has stairs at the entrance, and the baby is asleep, they just park it outside then go in. it makes me nervous. i feel like i should stand nearby and discretely guard the baby. but also, i think that's pretty cool.

6. at the supermarket, people always ALWAYS always put the divider stick down at the end of their order on the conveyor belt. always. i've never seen anybody forget. i get so nervous that i'm going to forget. i'm pretty sure that all of copenhagen would stop, turn towards me, point, and make that 'hoh hoh' noise that they make at people who don't obey the pedestrian traffic lights. 

7. at the Netto supermarket nearest to my house, they don't sell peanut butter. i'm not sure how a store can claim to be a store, let alone a supermarket, and not sell peanut butter. i'm also not sure what i'm going to eat tomorrow, since i ran out of PB today. what if i starve?

8. i've had two classes so far (i only have three courses this semester and one of them doesn't start until april, when one of the ones that i have now ends... it's confusing but i only have five hours of class each week, and i have a five day weekend, so whatever) and the first one, that was supposed to be three hours, started 45 minutes late, ended 1 hour early, and had two 15-minute breaks. the second class was supposed to be two hours but it started 30 minutes late and had a 20 minute break. i feel like i am missing some vital piece of information ("psst alie, your watch is set to the wrong time zone..."). but actually i like it. it's very relaxed.

9. my extended interactions with danish people (and by extended, i mean over 5 minutes, so more than just ordering food or paying for something or asking directions - but never really very long at all.... mostly i only talk to myself and other international students) have all followed a certain pattern - the dane at first comes across as unfriendly and mildly annoyed with my existence, and then i try to say something in danish (such as my street name, or "hello"), or i respond with "no! i am canadian!" when asked where in the US i am from, and they laugh and become the friendliest person i've ever met. it's very strange. they are all (or at least the four or five that i've spoken with) very very friendly and full of questions, but first their i-think-you're-an-annoying-tourist shell needs to be cracked.

ok sorry, picture time.

lost in copenhagen. i like the huge danish flag that is hanging right out over the road.

this is called "the palace" and it's a movie theatre... also, it's a very offensive shade of bubblegum

"the thinker"... very famous sculpture that i stumbled upon on my way home from class today

whoa! see that little rail thing on the left side of the stairs!?!? that is for bikes! cool! so that when you are walking your bike down the stairs it doesn't smash into each step, instead you just put the tires in the rail and it rolls down smoothly. holy moly clever.

the class that i had today was on this really weird far away campus, south of the city, on the other side of downtown from where i live. it was this strange barren wasteland (not even fields, WASTELAND) everywhere, and then out of nowhere there is this huge, brand new, university complex with all kinds of fancy space-age buildings... so i took pictures of course. that one is the black one.

this one is the one with the crazy bridge... also note the human-made river/canal thing that is running through the middle of this campus... so random...

not sure what these are... maybe construction headquarters.... but i just thought they were super cute and colourful

the hats! they are huge! enormous! ... why aren't these men toppling over!? (ps. moment of silence for all of those black bears that "died of natural causes")

i climbed up "the round tower" a few days ago, and this is taken from the top, looking down at a portion of the main pedestrian street.

these are the stairs right near the top of the tower. mostly i was impressed with the lovely shade of dark blue on the walls.

competition for who can come up with the best caption/meaning for this strange warning sign (it was at the top lookout level of the round tower). i think it means "be impressed with the view"... what do you think?

another shot of the pedestrian street (these pictures are not exactly in the right order)

before the cool blue stairs, there is 200 meters of windey going-up ramp (instead of stairs)... it's pretty cool, i've never seen anything like it.

haw haw.

more cute and colourful buildings... the novelty still hasn't worn off for me yet, so i continue to take many pictures of places like this... sorry.

ok, this sign i understand.