Skt. Hans Aften, etc.

Last night was Skt. Hans Aften, when the Danes celebrate the longest day of the year by lighting bonfires on the beach. It was really windy and cold, so rather than biking all the way out to the beach, some friends and I just decided to go watch the fires at the lakes, which are right in the city. The one we went to involved a floating raft with a lot of wood and a painted witch on it -- see the pictures. After that one burned out, we went to Islands Brygge, where they were going to light a much bigger fire -- but I guess because it was so windy, they decided it wouldn't be safe and didn't light it. Too bad. So we just sat by the harbour for a bit until we got to cold, and then gave up. Not the most exciting of evenings, but when the weather is nice everyone goes out to the beach and barbecues and then lights their own bonfires afterward. Too bad the weather didn't really work out this time.

The race last week was fun -- I think it's amazing how many people participate in these. This one was just for women, and held on three consecutive days. Over the whole time, 21,000 women ran, which is really a lot for a not-that-big city like Copenhagen. They have versions in Århus and Odense, as well. It's fun; you get a running jersey and a goodie-bag, and before the race they have an aerobics instructor leading warm-ups to loud music. It's quite impressive to see a group of 7000 people all doing coordinated aerobics together in a big field...

Copenhagen: The world's most livable city

Monocle magazine has released it's 2008 list of the world's top 20 most livable cities, and Copenhagen has emerged as #1, displacing last year's winner, Munich. See this article and this blog post (from Copenhagen cycle chic, my favorite blog on the topic of Copenhagen's bicycle culture!) I'm also happy to see that Minneapolis is the only US city to make the cut (well, glad that it's Minneapolis, but somewhat ashamed that the US only has one city on the list, and that's at #19. Maybe it's all the Scandinavian influence in Minnesota?) It's some comfort that upon my (all too quickly approaching...) arrival in the US, I'll be going to the best city in the country!

What else... I just got back from Amsterdam on Thursday night, having had quite a pleasant week among the Dutch on an HIV-related study tour with a group of 23 students. It was particularly exciting to be there when Holland beat Italy in soccer for the first time in 30 years or something like that. And 3-0 at that!

On Saturday I went with another group of students to Malmö for the day, which was fine. There isn't all that much to do there, it's basically a suburb of Copenhagen. But I had a nice time walking around; it's a cute town with some nice old half-timbered buildings. Also enjoyed laughing at the funny-sounding Swedish being spoken around me, and seeing everyone decked out in their blue and yellow for the Sweden-Spain match that evening (Sweden lost). Then that night I went to a fun CD-release party for my friend's boyfriend's band. It was in a parking garage under a mall... weird.

Not too much more going on, just working a lot and getting ready for the next study tour, which will be to London, with another HIV class. Tomorrow I'm doing another women's race, this one put on by the magazine Alt for Damerne, and trying 10k this time -- we'll see how that goes, since I haven't worked out since before the last study tour...

Off to Amsterdam, again

Well, it's once again been a while. If I've ever complained about being busy before, I didn't know what I was talking about -- the last couple of weeks have been the most hectic time so far for me at DIS. Tomorrow I'm off to Amsterdam for a week leading a study tour for the "HIV in Europe" program, and planning for that as well as some other study tours while also keeping two programs running on a day-to-day basis has been crazy. But on the plus side, the weather has been amazing for weeks, so I've been spending as much time as possible outside. I hope it holds out! The days are also getting longer and longer, as we approach Skt. Hans Aften (midsummer's eve -- I'm looking forward to going to the beach to see all the bonfires). At the moment it gets dark around 11, and then starts getting light again by 3.30 or so -- such a huge change from February, which seems like it was just yesterday! It's really nice to have so much light though, although I feel like it means I get less sleep. But it's just so much easier to get out and do things when it isn't dark by 4 -- I remember in the winter always feeling like the day was over when I was done with work, because it was already dark. So this is much nicer.

Anyway, not too much to say now, but just thought I'd write a quick update post before heading off on study tour. Oh, and I've also decided to go to Roskilde festival after all (I was debating it since I'll miss the first day on another study tour, to London -- but I've decided 3 days is still worth it, and that I deserve the reward after getting through my summer session!) So I'm excited about that -- it should be quite the experience.

Hope all is well with all of my worldwide fans :)