FRIDAY FREBRUARY 10th

Yesterday was busy. I woke up and had breakfast then went for a run. Nothing huge in the news here. It's fashion week in Copenhagen. The princess is getting married again after divorcing the prince (who is really part of the royal family) a few years ago. I was running through a more residential area and it was very pretty. I'm starting to know my way around better.
Went to classes.
In Environmental history we learned about the shift from hunting gathering to agriculture and the societal changes resulting from that and when different areas developped agriculture. It all started in Mesopotamia/Iran,Iraq, Turkey now and spread from there slowly after adapting to different climates. Deforestation had huge effects as did domestication of animals.
In 20th century euro. history we learned about imperialism and the development of empires to get material resources and to increase national pride.
In Danish we talked about the cartoon controversy. I don't think I ever really heard that it started from someone trying to promote multiculturalism by writing a children's book about Islam. He need pics so they asked the Danish Artist group of 40 people to draw pics. Only 12 did. Many were abstract but there were the 2 controversial ones of Muhammed with a time bomb in the turban and Muhammed with a black strip over his eyes and two women in burkas only showing thier eyes. In some ways I think its good that the caroons did come out because it got people talking. It is true freedom of speech instead of the political correctness that seems to occur more in the US. It doesn't help that Denmark is so homogenous so picking on one group makes it seem more like an attack than in the US where there are so many different groups. What made it really interesting was that my Danish teacher is Jewish and on a Nazi group in Denmark's list of hated people. She thought the cartoons were funny for what they were and that it was good to allow people to express themselves. We were talking about Danish culture also and saying that Danes get an idea in their heads and must follow through and come to a resolution. We also were wondering if the younger generation/Danes in general feel responsible for integrating all the diverse groups into the culture, why the divorce rate is so high when friendships last forever, and why small talk in the US turns into long drawn out conversations here. Danes seem to have close groups of friends but the peripheral huge networks that Americans tend to have.
After that I went to a market with Elizabeth. She got stuff to make chocolate chip cookies for her host family. I went to her host family. We/She made cookies and we talked. It was very nice to meet them. The area Elizabeth is in isn't that far from the city but it feels MUCH more rural and is so much more quiet and quaint than where I am. All the houses in this area are white and they have more of a yard and typical American feel than where I am. Elizabeth's house has 3 floors. The houses are not boxy and have character. They are very cozy. The roofs have this funny corregated cardboard like stuff as shingles. Elizabeth has 3 host sisters. I met them all but only briefly.
Her host family has travelled a great deal especially in south east Asia. Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore etc. etc. Pretty cool.
We had leftover chicken pot pie, a fish casserole and a salad of tomatoes and peppers for dinner. After dinner we made reservations for hostels and planned the trains to take for the two weeks vacation. We are going to Vienna, Florence, Geneva and Paris in that order for a few days in each. I'll email you a definite iterary eventually. Hostels are pretty cheap only 30(ish) dollars a night typically. I cannot wait to do that trip. It will be amazing!
I finally have taken the S-train. My first time. It is very easy and clean. Everyone is very quiet on the train also.