A lover of Jimi's

Yesterday I bought some hideous white pants from an old woman  who dated Jimi Hendrix only weeks before his death. She was a model in London, New York, and Copenhagen years ago. She has a little second hand shop in Frederiksberg--a pretty nice area of the city--just down the road from me. On the way back from the doctor I saw she had something I might want so I stopped in and bought the afore mentioned pants. All over her shop were these gorgeous black and white photographs and when I went to buy the pants I could instantly tell that the photos were all of a younger her. Among them were some candid shots of her and Jimi Hendrix just goofing around at what looked like a house dinner table. She was such a cool and genuine lady to have met. Talked about modeling in the old days and how it actually used to take some skills. The models typically did their own hair and makeup and the only technology they had when taking the photos was lighting. "None of this fake boobs and computers" she said. She said that it was a great time to have been young. I bet it was:)

And why would I buy hideous white pants in November in a city where I bike?
Sensation White is this Saturday!!!!

Touched

My mother needs a surgery that she can't afford due to our crappy ass health care system in the US. I was attempting to explain this all to Bodil, and how Obama's recent reforms really don't make that much of a difference in this particular situation. She then sincerely offered for my  mother--who is over 5,000 miles away and whom she has never even met--to borrow money from her so that she could get her surgery. That would never happen, but hot damn, I have some nice people in my life!

Svært

A little bit sad right now because Danish is so hard and I've reached a learning plateau at the moment. I really haven't felt this freaking retarded (excuse me being politically incorrect, but that is the only way to describe it) since way back in the day when I had to take math classes and that one time my freshman year of college when I tried hip hop. I am not used to struggling with things. I am going to really have to dedicate some massive chunks of time to this language if its going to be worth my while.

On a happier note, Christmas officially begins tomorrow! Its Jdag which means the Julebryg (Christmas beer) comes out. Elves come around and deliver the free beer everywhere and its a huge party. They used to have it on a week night but no one would come to work the next day so it officially was moved to a Friday and they made the trains free. I will be at a local pub tomorrow evening circa 8 o clock to receive free beer from elves and party party party.

On Men

http://www.xmel.com/denmark7.html

Given to me by a friend who is currently "dating" (the concept doesn't really exist here...) a Dane. Sharing it with you all. Just a teaser to a post that will come soon about the gender relations here as percieved by yours truly.

As of Late

         The International Educators Workshop took place at DIS this week. Its a week where 30+ faculty, study abroad advisers, administrators, etc. come to visit DIS and experience a mini semester. I was a little intimidated hearing about IEW because its all about big players in the international education world from schools in America (with dinero) coming here and us schmoozing them, but overall it was a nice week and everyone I met was so nice. They are humans just like the rest of us. 

         I had to do various things throughout the week like take them on tours of the DIS facillities (and managed to get a group of 5 lost in a stairwell of one of our new buildings), put together student Q&A panels, escort them to classes or sessions they want to sit in on, and the coolest thing I got to do was go on an exclusive tour inside Amelienborg palace. Amelienborg is the winter castle residence of the royal family and they only let special groups in to the castle and most Danes will never even get to go inside. It was a beautiful castle and its times like these that make my job worth it!

       I also got to ask some abroad advisers and such from all over the US how they got their job s and I got advised on how to continue a career in international education. Schmooze, schmooze, schmooze. A lot of the advice they gave me mentioned networking and getting yourself out there. Mmmm, so much of life is really about who you know. 

        One of out host moms has had her 100th and 101st student this semester. She has been hosting DIS international students for over 50 years. We had a lovely little reception for her with some of her old and current host students, her family, and my department. Det var meget hyggeligt. Talk about dedication!

        I also had a pretty cool opprotunity this weekend to assist one of my colleagues on DIS's first ever farm excursion trip to a local farm about an hour north of Copenhagen. More to be written about that later...A nice and brief introduction to what WWOOFing might entail :)

       So the honeymoon period of my job is certainly over. Don't get me wrong, I still love it very much, but its not always a walk in the park. Most things, even the greatest things, I suspect, have some sort of a honeymoon period and a more normal period. Anyway, there have been some times lately where I let the negative attitudes in the office, or other negative vibes get me down. I find myself getting annoyed with students. And I have to stop and take a breather to remember why I wanted to be here in the first place: to help students have the life changing experience abroad that I had. Recently there have been a few things that have made me love my job and help me remember the important things about this internship and this next year ahead of me. 

        I got a thank you email from a student that told me I was awesome for remembering to send him a certain list. He came in many weeks ago to get a  list which I didn't have at that time and all these weeks later, I finally sent it to him. I also got a little bag of American Halloween candy and a thank you note from one girl who has been in our office a lot lately for various reasons (one being a broken key, another being her hitting her chin on her beer stein at Oktoberfest and needing stitches from a German hospital). And finally, the most touching of them all: one student telling me about his terrifying coming out experience in Tennessee, how he had is own body guard more or less throughout high school so he wouldn't get hurt, and how he has tried to commit suicide before. There was a fair amount of wine involved on both ends, but I almost began to cry just hearing all of this and how impressively hard his journey has been. Its hard for me to believe that this kind of hate exists in this world. He says he feels so much safer, happier, and accepted in Copenhagen and at DIS. He has been an active member of a LGBT group we have an alliance with and just thanked me and another staff member for offering services and just being there.

Its nice to know that what we do is appreciated. Definitely a labor of love. For the longest time I have known that I want to help people in some way. shape, or form for the rest of my life, and it feels good to know that this is what I am doing :)