Ja, det kan jeg godt.

What a weekend!

Friday night, DIS hosted a semester kickoff party at a bar called LUUX, which, aside from some very strange videos on display, was quite classy and very fun.  The best part was dancing to techno-ish remixes of American pop songs, like "We Will Rock You."  I didn't even know you could do that to a Queen song.

Saturday brought a lot of wind and rain and busted umbrella that my sisters had so kindly decorated for me.  Seriously, if I wanted this weather, I could've just stayed in Providence.  But that didn't stop the walking tours to "the Other Copenhagen," i.e. the downtown area on the other side of the central square from where I'm living (which is still only about a ten- or fifteen-minute walk from home or the DIS complex).  The tour included several cafes and shops and stores worth going to, as well as a general sense of what comprises 'downtown Copenhagen' and the nearby neighborhoods.  I also discovered, at a mosaic-and-mirrors-encrusted cafe on Vesterbrogade, that a chai without the latte is actually very good.  

Saturday afternoon included a trip to the Danish Design Museum, which was small but very funky, and I had the fortune to wander into it with a few architecture/interior design students (one of whom was really into chairs), who provided some additional insight.  The day ended with a trip a bit outside of town to one of the kollegiums (big dorms for students at various local universities including DIS), where Dara (one of my roommates who also goes to Brown), Hannah (a neighbor from William & Mary), and I joined some random people for ice cream and a screening of "10 Things I Hate About You."  It's one of my favorite movies, but it proved a bit bittersweet given this week's events.  It's a shame we aren't living among Danes or in singles here at Skindergade like the kollegium residents do, but this building is so much nicer and about a half-hour closer to everything than that kollegium is, so it made the three of us really glad to be where we are, all things considered.  I think they were banking on that when they assigned us all to such tight quarters.

Today, I rolled out of bed with just enough time to run over to the gym (how is everything so close to home?) before nearly missing the bus to Roskilde.  Roskilde is home to Roskilde Catherdral, sort of Denmark's version of Westminster Abbey.  It's really, really lovely.  Rather than lots of gold filigree crosses and imposing figures, the main chamber is whitewashed with some small flowered frescoes on the ceiling.  The front area is elaborate, of course, but most of it is exquisitely hewed wooden reliefs.  The windows were apparently stained glass at one point, but now they're simply lined in brick Gothic arches.  The side rooms were a little fancier (and colder!), but even then, all of Denmark's deceased royalty rested peacefully without too much garish decoration.  I'm not a big church person, but I did like this one.  There was also a big column in one room on which numerous luminaries' (including the current Danish monarchs, Peter the Great, and Constantine) measured heights were marked.  I'm a huge fan of whoever came up with that idea!

Roskilde is also home to the Vikingeskibsmuseet (Viking Ship Museum), which houses five reconstructed vessels unearthed from the depths of the sea, where they had been sunk to block unwelcome ships from entering an important Danish port something like a millennium ago.  The museum is situated on the water, so you can look at these ancient partially-skeletal ships through the windows and really let the imagination go.  If that's not enough, there's a side room with partial replicas (including shields, chickens, and costumes) to play on.  

I'll put up pictures of all of this soon, I promise.

However now, unbelievably enough, I have schoolwork to do.  But apparently my Danish pronunciation's not half bad, according to several sources-- thanks for the head start, Mum!  As at least one native speaker has described the tongue to me as a throat disease (someone definitely said the same thing about Hungarian when I went there in 2004), so this is rather exciting.