danmark

i left exactly a week ago, yet i feel like i can hardly remember a time before humanity in action. during the past week i haven't slept more than six hours a night, and have had perhaps 15 minutes of down time, though no alone time. until tonight. new york was intense, paris was insane. we went from being a group of 50 giddy, excited americans to a group of 120 flustered, exhausted, and utterly nervous americans, danes, germans, dutch, french, bosnians, poles, and ukrainians. quite a mix. the three days in paris were so cram-packed full of lectures, workshops, site visits, and general discussion that the socializing with strangers became oddly easy and secondary. because of that we all bonded quite quickly and i felt surprisingly sad saying good-bye to some of my new friends. it will be really interesting to see them again in paris for the closing program, full of stories from our different experiences across europe.
copenhagen is adorable so far - full of nauseatingly stylish danes, tons of bicycles, cute shops, a shocking number of ethnic restaurants, and a generally laid back attitude. problem is, it was about 60 and rainy all day. did i bring appropriate footwear? of course not. gotta deal with that at some point. after our first day of the program here (during which we heard lectures from a former danish ambassador who now sits on the board of the danish institute for human rights, one of the top 5 scholarly think tanks in the world, and the editor-in-chief of the largest danish newspaper) marissa and i made the confusing journey out to our dorm in outer copenhagen. with many bags, crazy rain hair, and absolutely soaked shoes we arrived in the strange little place that is to be home for the next month. we each get our own room, which i'm happy about, but i'm also really thankful to have her down the hall. it's a really strange place - no one in charge, very little info, and you have to bring your own toilet paper and soap every time you go to the bathroom. i was told this was a socialist country... anyway, it's late, and i'm shooting for a glorious 7 hours of sleep tonight, so i'll update later on intergroup relations, my odd living situation, and pictures! love to all!