I was somewhat more excited to wake up Wednesday because I
knew I was going to have leftover pancakes for breakfast. My trick to making
leftover pancakes taste fresh is to microwave them a little bit and then toast
them to give them a nice crispy outside. Carlos, one of my neighbors that also
goes to DTU, came into the kitchen and we decided to bike together to campus.
He had followed the bus route yesterday, but I wanted to try a route I had
planned last night to avoid some of the traffic and stops. We did get lost once
but that was because we missed the very last turn and went a little too far.
This morning was the activity fair where some of the campus groups had info
about them at different stations. There weren't as many as I was expecting, but
after running into Ronja I found out these were only some of the larger more
well known ones. She was disappointed that the smaller, perhaps more interesting,
ones weren't there. Not too long after I arrived there were a couple of ladies
that got up to talk about their group. Kim was first to speak and during her
introduction she explained she was from Texas and was finishing her PhD at DTU.
She then went on to explain that she was a Christian and shared some of her
testimony. Also she wanted to invite the students to a prayer group that they
had started on campus just a month or two ago. This of course spiked my
interest and I went to speak with them after their presentation just as they
had suggested. I wrote down my contact info so I could get more details about
the prayer group. Kim invited me to her church called the Christian Center
which was one of the few free churches in Copenhagen (and one of the English
speaking ones too). The official religion of Denmark is Lutheran, but sadly it's
just a status for most Danes and they don't live out their faith. That happens
in the U.S. too but not in such proportions. After the activity fair everyone
was headed down to Copenhagen for the rest of the day. Ronja, Tannis (one of
the guys from Spain), and I rode our bikes all the way to Copenhagen and the
rest took the bus. Our pace was fairly casual partly because Ronja was
convinced that Tannis and I were not used to biking (and had tiny biking
muscles) and partly due to Tannis's bike not being able to shift into higher
gears. We reached Norreport station and had to hunt around for the rest of our group.
We had some trouble because it was busy as usual and there was a lot of
construction, but fortunately I remembered where I had seen the bus they would
have taken drop off its passengers and we found them there. We stopped at a
nearby passport photo making machine because some of our group members didn't
have a photo of themselves and would need them for getting their CPR (central
persons registry) number tomorrow. I already had one and I would have to obtain
my CPR number at a later time because what DTU had planned for tomorrow was
only for European students. We also went into a grocery store to pick up a few
more things to add to our lunches that most of us packed. Then we had lunch in
a nearby park and were entertained by a group of college age kids doing some
team building games. They must have been from another one of the universities.
We had to cut our time at the park short because Ronja received a call that our
canal tour was actually a little earlier than we had originally been told. Thus
we rushed there and ended up being the
first ones there. We took the seats in the back completely exposed to the
weather and then enjoyed the tour in the sun. Later we went shopping because we
had some time before our free dinner at Jensen's Beef House. I bought some soap,
but didn't find speakers that I could use with my ipod to make an alarm clock.
I was also looking for some biking shorts, but Ronja said most of the bike
shops would be really expensive and suggested some alternatives. We made our
way to another park and after all that walking decided to sit down on the
grass. However, after a while we threw a Frisbee around and when it was time
more walking. It turns out our restaurant was right across from the City Hall. We
were given four choices to choose from the most intriguing of which was called "fitness
chicken". No one actually ordered it because we heard from other groups
that it was a smaller amount of food than the other ones. I was surprised I had
to pay for water, but I had long since drained my water bottle so I did get
some. For dessert we were all allowed to get some soft ice (soft serve ice cream)
and added as many toppings as we wanted. I only wish they had given us larger
bowls because mine was overflowing and melting. I suppose it would have been
overflowing no matter what size bowl though. The last event of the night was a bar
with free beer for the first two hours. I did get a beer called Tuborg Classic
which of the ones I had tasted I disliked the least. As you can imagine with
all of us international students and free beer it was very crowded, but I
eventually made my way to the other side and met some new people from another
group. It was very loud though due to the dance music and some of us found a separate
room on that side and it was at least quiet enough to talk. Ronja found me
later and I met some of the other international buddies. Maggie had mentioned yesterday
that she probably wanted to leave around 10:00 and I went to look for her
around that time. Again it was very hot and crowded and... well Maggie is not
very tall. After pushing my way to the other side I hadn't seen her and I
waited outside for a while. I decided I would take train with or without her,
but when I decided I had waited long enough I rode my bike to the train station
(the trains allow bikes except during peak hours). If it wasn't dark and I had
a map I may have tried to ride all the way back, but I was also tired from the
long day. I also was able to enjoy some time reading while on the train. The bike
ride home from the Herlev station wasn't too long and I was already familiar
with it so no wrong turns this time. I found Dang was still awake and we talked
for a while about both of our days. He was working hard on a long paper and
would be tomorrow as well so he said I could borrow his bike again.
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