Denmark: Jason Bourne Is My Inspiration

[Composed 8/13 - 8/14]

So it has been another good day (8/13). This time I spent it at Fuglsøcentret, hearing lectures on the control systems for a turbine and the integration of a turbine system into the national and global energy markets. These lectures ran from 9am to 3pm, with a 1 hour lunch in the dining room in between. During every lecture so far, the speaker has given at least 1, sometimes up to 3 five to ten-minute breaks for us to get coffee, chat, stretch, and use the restrooms. I wish classes in America worked like this, giving little breaks here and there to break any monotony. I felt most like this during these lectures because the speakers were not very interesting and they bogged us down with lots of equations and complex explanations, all the while working to make their Danish-accented English understandable.

Outside the lecture hall, I had another day full of cultural mixing and learning. I found out the 'urinal game' played in the U.S. is also here in Europe. In some of the men's bathrooms, there are no dividers between the urinals and when you stand at one, and another guy comes in, he always goes to the one farthest away if he can help it. Germans, Spaniards, Italians, the lot; they all play the same game.

On a more interesting note, during one of the coffee breaks we had, a few of us started talking about the quality of life in the Scandinavian countries. While Norway has a very high standard of living, they also have the highest suicide rate among young people (18 - 30). One of the students, Andre (from Poland) told us how in Norway, drinking is the pass-time, and the liquor stores are run by the state. To curb the massive amount of drinking going on, apparently the state only allows them to be open some 5 hours a day and there cannot be any two stores within 5 km of each other.

One of the Danish students, Helle, had her birthday today. We had a cake and sang Happy Birthday (mostly in English) to her. The cake was shaped and colored like a smiling person lying down and, according to Danish tradition dating back to Viking times (so we wer told), to cut the cake Helle took the knife and slit the 'throat' of the cake person. While she did this, we were told to scream a battle cry of sorts. I thought it all very odd, but this is an old Danish custom.


I am learning more and more of the languages around me. The Spanish students are the easiest to learn from, for me, because I took 4 years of it in high school. They keep talking to each other and I keep listening and imitating. I also make rudimentary conversations and they are very nice and willing to correct me. I have been trying to learn some Italian, Portugese, and Danish as well. I am sometimes reminded of the movie character Jason Bourne as I try to learn the languages. I'm not certain why that image is in my head, but I think about all the times he switches from English to German to Russian to Spanish and back and forth and I sort of feel like I'm vaguely connected to that mysterious American internatioanl hitman...except for the radically cool and awesome traits of course.

I ended my day by playing pool and drinking free beers with the other students in one of the center's common rooms. We exchanged mores stories about our travels to Fuglsøcentret and what education is like in each of our countries. I tried to learn som Finnish from Joonas, but that language is quite difficult. The words are long and describe many things at once.

I finished this post on the 17th, very very tardy. But, onto the next one!