Too much has been happening!

First of all, I apologize for the very long amount of time with no entries. It has been a VERY busy three weeks since I've returned from my travel break, and it's probably going to get even busier from here on out, but I'll make an effort to jot down a few thoughts from my remaining days in Denmark.

Here are a few quick points of interest:

1. Travel Break: amazing! I learned a lot about EU politics while visiting Brussels (more on this later?), and had a great time in the various cities I visited. Here are pictures: Brussels and the Hague, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Munich, Prague, and Vienna.

2. Watching the American elections from Europe: enlightening, wistful, and inspiring. The day of the election, I had the opportunity (along with a few other political science students) to be a guest speaker at Rysensteen Gymnasium, a high school in Vesterbro, near DIS. The 50 or so students (who were there voluntarily, packed into a tiny classroom) amazed me with their attention to detail and knowledge of the American political system. I came in expecting to explain the electoral college system yet again (as I have to more than a few Danes, who end up utterly baffled). But the very first question was: "Do you think the Bradley Effect will come into play in this election, and why or why not?" The following questions from the sea of hands were equally well-informed. I was floored and impressed - most American high school students have no idea about most of the concepts the Danish students were eager to discuss. The world really was watching this election with a tremendous investment.

That night, I got together with some other poli sci kids at my friend Erin's kollegium (dorm-like housing shared with Danish university students). We're 6 hours ahead of EST, so we stayed up until the morning watching the returns and coloring in a huge electoral map. The mood when Obama won was so intense! All the Americans went nuts (I won't pretend there's much diversity of opinion among those of us who have come here to learn how a social welfare state works - this has been confirmed by informal polls in some of my classes). All the Danes (who stayed up in impressive numbers with us) went nuts too, and we all cried, and the Danes (while crying) took pictures of the Americans crying. I've heard reports from various other friends abroad that there was spontaneous dancing in the streets in cities across Europe. I'm kind of sad that I wasn't at home to experience the feeling there, but I learned so much from watching it here.

(Election party pictures!)

3. More about America: I visited my host sister Zenia's fifth-grade class (plus two more classes at her school) a couple of weeks ago to present about America - mostly to help them practice their English. I showed them some pictures from Seattle, some of my other favorite places around Washington, and Garfield (my high school). When I was brainstorming the presentation, I had no idea what to talk about - where do you start?! - but I ended up mostly discussing the education system and summer vacation, things the students were particularly interested in.

At the beginning of each presentation, I asked the class what they knew about America. Here are the results:

Class #1: Burgers; Coca-Cola; Barack Obama; Orlando Bloom; Hollywood.
Class #2: Burgers; San Francisco/Golden Gate Bridge; Barack Obama.
Class #3: Barack Obama.

One 10-year-old girl in Class #3 asked me if I was worried that Barack Obama would get assassinated! What do you say to that?! I told her that I hoped not, and she said that a lot of Danish newspapers were worried that he would.

At the end of the presentation, a girl came up to me and asked me to write my name on a notecard. I thought it was for an assignment they had to do about the presentation or something, so I wrote my name really clearly. But then another asked me to as well... and I realized I was signing autographs! And then the whole class lined up and gave me hugs! We shared flødeboller (chocolate-covered marshmallowy cream balls) and they had fun teaching me to say "vi vil være venner" (we will be friends). It was possibly the cutest thing I have ever experienced.

4. It snowed here this week! And I biked through it and felt REALLY Danish! But now it's mostly gone.

5. Happy Thanksgiving! I'm celebrating tomorrow with Dean's host family, who are attempting to make a Thanksgiving meal. They are incredible cooks, so I'm sure it will turn out great, even if it has a Danish twist. Oh! And that reminds me - a couple of weeks ago was a Danish "holiday" called Mortensaften, or "Morten's Evening," in memory of St. Morten, who was forced to become a bishop and hid in a barn to escape. The noise of the geese gave him away, so now you traditionally take "revenge" on them by eating a goose (or a duck) on that evening! (The duck was delicious.)

More to come soon (if finals aren't too crazy!)