Denmark: Beware The Thick Milk!

[Composed 8/12]

Okay, so here I am on Day 3 (8/12), trying to fill in the blanks about yesterday. I wanted to finish the post on the right day, but it was 2:30 am and my computer battery was dying (I didn't bring a European adapter, I've been borrowing my roommate's). So yes, I noticed my blog clock is on California time, so this post will say 8/11, but it's really 8/12. I'm asleep (hopefully) when the clocks are right. So, think one day ahead.

Anyway, thanks Mike, for telling me I would not want to come back to the U.S. You social prophet you! I do want to stay here! It's a wonderful place. Yeah, I miss Golden, friends, family, Micki, the lot. But, I've never been to Europe, and I'm addicted to all the new information, language, culture, history, and the scenery.

Starting with the native language, Danish is hard. Learning it here is harder because nearly every Dane speaks good English. There are similarities to English, I can see it in words like 'fish' to 'fiske', 'red' to 'rød', 'me' to 'mig' to 'me', 'geometry' to 'geometri', 'half' to 'halv', and on and on. I think there's a sharing, but Nordic languages influenced English, so it makes sense. Anyway, the Danish slurr many of their sounds together in words and the same letter has different sounds in different words. I've been praticising what the Danes say to each other, but I think I'd have to live here for a while to really pick it up.

I have learned already that Danish food is quite different. Fish is the staple. Salmon, tuna, as well as shrimp, fresh all the time, often uncooked, but spiced and sauced. Seafood is served as part of every meal here. There's also lots of bread, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. One thing I haven't liked is one of the two milk types. I tried one carton, green, and the milk is thick, a little more liquid than mayonnaise. It's bitter and bland--no good. The other brand is like milk in the U.S.

After my first Danish breakfast, we all got on a bus and rode about 25 miles to the Engineering College of Århus. Here we attended several lectures on aerodynamics, fluid mechanics, and wind turbine construction. One of the professors reminds me of Dr. Wood. His name is Søren, and he's not as crazy, but he's just as animated. We also looked inside an old turbine nacelle (the box containing the generators, yaw motors, pitch motors, and other electronics). All through the lectures and practical lessons, I continued to ask the other students about their countries, their lives, their languages. I have picked up words from Portugese, Spanish, German, Danish, and even some Russian. I'll probably forget all of it soon, but it's fun to ask about their customs, their universities, and their lives. Lunch consisted of sandwiches. I had a salmon one. I found out after starting it that the fish was uncooked, but, I'm not sick yet. I ended up tossing half of it downing two cups of coffee to stay awake in the afternoon lecture. The coffee here is really good, and it's everywhere.

After 5pm, we all piled back on a bus and traveled back to Fuglsøcentret. Dinner was more delicious than the raw fish sandwich. Potatoes, salad, bread, deviled eggs, fruit, and sliced meats were served. There was fish again too, but it tasted better. We had an evening class, a more relaxed time, where we discussed our team exercises and the case studies we'd be working on in the next week. Christina, the supervisor opened up the bar afterwards (something she says will happen each night) and offered 2 free beers to everyone. I stayed up late with all the other students; it's common to talk and walk around and sing until midnight or later. We all went down to the beach of the Baltic Sea, about a half-mile from the campus, drank beers, and told stories about our countries. Since we are at about 55º latitude, 10pm is the new 8pm! On the way back from the beach, I talked to Francesco, an Italian PhD student who is working on a project with the European Space Agency, researching more stable material construction for a re-entry pod's hull.

Getting back to my room, I found a good way to pick up more Danish: Seinfeld. One of the channels on the wall-mounted 12 inch television is in English, with Danish subtitles.

Ah well, it's after 1am, so I'm off to bed. I'm a day behind, but I'll try to talk about Day 3 tomorrow evening, and continue with Day 4. Goodnight all.