Meeting the Danes

Since my very first day at DIS, we have talked about "meeting the Danes." My Danish Language and Culture professor often opens class by asking, "Has anyone had the chance to talk to some Danes recently?" As students we have even taken to announcing to each other, "I met some Danes last night!" Of course since I'm living with a host family, I've had ample opportunities to meet Danes, but on Wednesday I had the chance to meet Danes who were my age!

On Wednesday night I went to see my friend Alex play in her basketball game. They were playing the best team in the league, and though they were down by only 6 at the start of the fourth period, they didn't manage to pull out ahead. However... I just found out that for her performance, Alex, who scored 34 points during the game, was named the player of the week! See her information here:

And regardless of the score at the end of the game, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Alex play. The best part was listening to the commentary; though I didn't understand any of the substance of what was being said, I literally laughed out loud when (every 30 seconds or so) the announcer would yell [with a Danish accent], "blah blah blah ALEXANDRA CHILI! blah blah" and then once (in English), "Alexandra Chili is on fire!" So much fun!

After the game, Alex invited me over to her host family's place to spend the night (note: her host family was out of town). Several of her teammates were also there, and so 6 of us sat up until 4:30 in the morning! We did several things over the course of the night:

1. We cooked!

We started by making a midnight breakfast feast! After all, the girls had all just played in a basketball game

Wine, omelets, and [of course] bacon! 

2. We talked [and talked and talked]! It was a lot of fun to get to catch up with Alex while also hearing about Danish culture from the Danes of my generation. We had many of the same discussions that I have had with my host family and their fam/friends, but this time I got a different perspective. It was also the first time that I noticed that the girls started off a little bit cooler and less forthcoming, but...

Deep in conversation 

3. After a couple of glasses of wine and some introductions, everyone (myself included) was more comfortable and open. We continued our conversations about parents, families, the welfare system, American politics, schools/academics, personal lives, etc.

Posing for a self-timer pic!

4. We did arts and crafts! What better activity for 3am then some painting and/or drawing?

At about 2:30am I started to feel a bit tired and knew that if I wanted to successfully fight off my cold I should probably have gone to bed. I also had a reading for my class the next day that I had not yet completed. However, I knew that there would always be more homework and figured if I was going to get sick, I was going to get sick (it was bound to happen given that EVERYONE in my classes is/has recently been sick). I can totally say I made the right choice.

At around 4:15am we each retired to different parts of the house to sleep. I made it to class on time the next day, though truth be told I hadn't exactly read the assigned text too carefully. However, I had plenty of insight to offer during our discussions of Danish culture! And now I can officially state that I have met the Danes!