the land of the Danes

Nearly a week later, I might finally have recovered from jetlag. Maybe. It's still damned hard to get out of bed before 10am which makes me look pretty lazy from the work perspective but I can work anywhere there is a computer so as long as I turn out results I don't think they care. Am I turning out results? *cough* no. not yet. I'm re-learning IRAF with which I've only had the briefest experience, but it's going well so far. I'm also working on an introduction to a paper, and I'm reading other papers that have been recommended by my thesis advisor. Paper reading is a pretty slow process because it's intensive--I swear authors are more concerned about spouting vocabulary than actually communicating. I take extensive notes on each paper I read as I translate it into something logical, but I try not to over-summarize; one of my bigger problems, on the citizen side of the citizen-scientist thing, is that I tend to try to sum up the whole thing I just read in a sentence. maybe two. There's usually a lot more detail and that detail is usually pretty significant in terms of the broader picture into which the research fits, so I'm trying to keep careful track of it.

ANYWAY. You're here for pictures, right? right. I took a lot of pictures and it's only been 4 days and a couple of hours, but I'm sure that will trickle off eventually.

Despite my enthusiasm for international travel, I was very numb for the whole trip--a combination of a very stressful semester full of burnout and a whirlwind week and a half of vacation, seeing family and friends and many many cats. I'm also still healing; it's been six months since Dad died, and it feels like it was yesterday, but at least I'm beginning to have feeling about that again. I sometimes can't believe that I made it through December exams and January qualifying exams at all--looking back now I can see how intensely broken down and numb I was. It was like I was floating the whole time....



ANYWAY. Since I was out of it, I only got one shot of the whole flight. That's the chicago-to-copenhagen airplane, and while it is bigger than it looks, it's really not all that big. 8 or 9 seats across/two aisles, sure, but so was the one I flew down to CA a few years back. It's probably the plane construction itself that makes it capable of international flight--something about how much altitude it can withstand, and how much fuel it holds, and maybe even where the wings were positioned (they were further back than I expected).

The flight was surprisingly easy, and I have to mention that the United representatives on my short flight were very helpful--they moved me up a flight and transferred all my luggage at no charge just to make sure I'd be early enough for the international flight. Albeit they put me on a plane full of people who had been waiting on the causeway for an hour and were probably pretty grumpy, but that was due to bad weather in Chicago.

The international flight was good. Shorter than I expected (8 hours or so, though reported at 15; I must've moved through 7 time zones then), and very smooth. The plane had cameras that you could watch on your screen showing the forward and bottom view, so I did get to see the ocean even though I didn't have a window seat. The staff were very polite and helpful, and I did indeed get two meals and a warm wet towel, which is probably the best thing ever after 7 hours in an air-controlled environment when you are very crunchy and dehydrated.

(there's a tip for new flyers: drink a lot of water on airplanes. I used to get horrible migraines when I travelled, and I thought it was my ears not popping, but it was really dehydration. I always bring an empty water bottle through security and fill it up by the gate. On this flight I had three bottles of water and a couple of cups and probably could've had more). Food on international flights is also better. Which is reasonable, because if I'd gotten a dry bagel with whipped cream cheese for breakfast I probably would've gnawed someone's arm off. Probably the kid sitting next to me.

Downsides? mainly the kid sitting next to me. It was an overnight flight, 10pm to 1:20pm the next day, and this 8 year old brat tossed and turned and twisted and rattled and kept sticking me in the side or trying to lean on me, jerking me out of sleep. I finally gave up entirely and knit in the dark. Oh, and I recommend headphones+ music, just to fill the space with something peaceful and classical instead of thrummy and talky. Anyway, I didn't sleep more than an hour or two despite my headphones, so I was pretty loopy when I arrived.

I followed the signs, in English, through immigration, which involved a 30 second wait while the official stamped my passport (!) and absolutely no hassle, and then around past customs (nothing to declare, so no line there), and picked up my luggage. My advisor was waiting for me with a sign, so we shook hands and he navigated me through a rather confusing train ticket system and got my dropped off at my apartment. I greeted my landlady and two slightly grumpy small dogs, dragged my luggage up three flights of stairs, and goggled.

The apartment is really nice. REAAAALLY nice. Also furnished by IKEA. that made me giggle a bit, but I guess it's appropriate.

Bedroom above.



It is simply *full* of light, which I love. White walls, white curtains, white couch, pale birch colored floor (that's not right... what is it, pine, that looks very pale when cut?) all unfinished. Pardon this picture, my camera was unable handle the glowing light and decided to make everything look dismal instead. I assure you, I don't need to turn the lights on until an hour after the sun sets; sometimes not even then.

The kitchen is also very light, and lots of utensils. There's an induction cooking element that takes some getting used to but is very scientifically cool, and a.... well. oven-substitute, which is to a real oven what Splenda is to sugar. It's about the size of a microwave and has a pretty short cord, but I used it to make garlic oven roasted potato-and-hotdog-casserole, so it works all right. I'll try baking some cookies in it or something this weekend. (don't judge me! the local market didn't have much meat that I recognized so I got some hot dogs. They're not very good. I should go to Germany.)

The bathroom is normal. I also have a tiny balcony and a couple of sun-roof-windows, which sound GREAT when it rains.

After I took a quick nap on Sunday, I dragged myself out at about 4 in the afternoon to see if I could find a place to get food for supper. My landlady said that there was a grocery store around the corner, so despite feeling like death I went for a walk. I ended up going about 3 miles, past the market and a bakery, a park, a museum, and then a long way by some train tracks. I was feeling a little lost and hadn't yet seen an ATM so I stopped in a hotel where a bunch of tourists were getting out of a bus and asked about money exchanges. They told me point blank that their rates weren't very good, and I mentioned I heard ATMs had good rates, so they told me where to find one. And the rate was very good--I think 1%, even better than the airport (why am I surprised by that?), so I took out 1000dkk and wandered on. I still felt like death because I hadn't eaten for six or seven hours and I was getting pretty thirsty, but I found my way back to my apartment and went to the market.

it's a very small market but it has essentials, so I picked up cereal and pasta. Apparently Denmark has good milk and dairy products, so it's a bit like going home but in a totally foreign language. Then I went over to the bakery but they were closed for the day (who closes at 6pm??? even if it IS a Sunday?), so I had cereal for dinner and then collapsed.

I slept in and went to work, and met a lot of friendly people; participated in an astro-ph discussion within 15 minutes of walking in the door; and got my computer set up. Left at 6pm and made some food, played around on the internet and called some people, then went to bed again.

This time I slept until 3 the next afternoon, and I could have slept more. I think I understand what people mean when they say jetlag, now. Exhaustion like a wave, and it takes several days to recover.

It's just been work and sleep and internet for me since then, but I'm planning to explore the city center this weekend and hit up a real/bigger grocer store for something simple, like meat, tomorrow or at least this weekend.

Oh, and for your daily yarnporn fix, here is a pic of the last skein I picked up on sale in MPLS before I left, and the knitting that I did on the airplane. The first flight was an hour long, and I got maybe 3 repeats of feather and fan done before I figured out that I'd joined with my stitches twisted :P dammit! I pulled it back and recast on, and this is pretty much all from the international flight, knitting in the dark.


I haven't touched it since I got here. I'm not liking the way it's going--the feather and fan looks less awesome and more dorky than I expected. This yarn is Aslan Trends Bariloche, which I haven't heard of before. It's worsted weight, very loosely plyed (or rather, it doesn't appear to be more than one strand wrapped around another; it's just twisted around itself), and it knits up very quickly. So far it's not too fuzzy, and the colors in-ball are great, but they look very eclectic when knit up.

Anybody want a cowl?