The early bird does not get the worm...

Indeed, the early bird gets an uninterrupted shower! So, I should start this off by saying I did not get to see one of the Midsummer fires last night. Jin and I figured they wouldn't start till it got a bit dark, which doesn't happen till like ten, so we chilled at the house and went out at ten. As it turns out the fires were at 9. So we just missed it. Instead we explore the park/lake by our house! We saw SWANS! They were beautiful. Plus, Jin got so excited she practically squeaked! Wow, that's a weird word. Anyway, so we had a little adventure around the park and found a quaint little neighborhood and took lots of pictures. It got dark, though, so some of them didn't turn out. We're going to go back one of these days and take more decent pictures. So yeah, got home and was in bed about 11:40. I decided to sleep till 6:40 and, because it was going to be warm here (75ish) I decided to wear capris. Now, that required shaving. So I'm showering and at about 7 my host says something in Danish and knocks on the bathroom door. I've only done one leg! So I quickly do the other one and hop out. Takes me another minute to get decent and grab my stuff so I can keep getting ready in my room. All she ended up doing was using the bathroom. I didn't really know what to think but, in the end, it all worked out and I didn't have to worry about my pants. I don't think I'll sleep past 6:30 ever again unless I'm not showering. You know, just to be safe. :-)

Even with the sleeping in and the incident I left for work before 8 and caught everything at least ten minutes early. So when I got to my final train I ended up meeting two of my coworkers on the platform. We all sat together but it was a little weird. I mean, I've known them for two days: what do we talk about? We discussed the fires and how the politicians in Denmark like to build big highways and bridges that don't get used. Once at work I got started right away checking samples and then made another set of standards and got them rolling. By then it was lunch and, boy, was I glad. I either need to start eating more for breakfast or bringing a snack to work. Anyway, lunch was fun. Esben came to get me again but this time Arkady was with him. I met Arkady yesterday. He's another young guy (by young I mean old enough to be a PhD but younger than like 30), Russian and very cool. We ate with Clas (a Swede) and another guy who I either met before or no one cared to introduce to me. I'm beginning to notice a pattern: I live with all women and spend most of my time in groups of men. This is not only true here but, with the exception of my ChemE family, also true at Madison. Anywho, we talked about why I'm there, how long, and who we know. For those of you from Madison, all of them know Lars Grabow (he taught us for a week in 211 when Mavrikakis was gone). So it was fun to have at least some connection. I was also credited with not only coming during the best weather in Denmark but also bringing it here. Since we were on weather, I told them it was in the 90's at home, which was highly unusual. Immediately Arkady says: "Can you talk in human degrees?" Anyone realize my mistake? Yeah, that's right, 90 degrees Celsius would be REALLY hot--unhuman if you will. We all laughed a bit and I tried to quickly figure out a ballpark Celsius temp. Clas answered a lot of my questions about his studies at Stanford, why he came to DTU and Topsoe. They all kind of answered the one about Topsoe, which was cool.

After lunch we started our first experiment, which will run until late tomorrow morning, and I got my computer! Ha, just thinking about it makes me laugh. I looked at the lone post it left with the pc to find my username but no password. I find Jesper, the man who ordered the computer for me, and we head down to IT. The nice guy at the help desk has other things he has to do so he says he'll send someone down. 5 minutes later a young guy walks to my desk and tries to help me out. He can't get the login to work so he has to make a call and ends up having to repeat my initials 80 billion times to the point we start doing the whole smile-and-laugh-because-this-is ridiculous bit. Eventually I get to reset my password and he leaves. Ha, the fun doesn't stop there. I couldn't log into Lotus Notes and the only handbook I'd been given was in Danish! So back I go to the desk, explain my dilemma and the young guy who had helped me happened to walk up and so off we went to talk to an upper level IT person. He talks with her in Danish while I stand there and eventually she asks me a question, which he repeats in English for me. She caught on and when she gave me the info I needed it was all in English. I thanked them quite a few times and on the way back he asked where I was from (a common question), why and for how long I was here. I really want to make friends, guys. I want friends who will tell me cool things to do and then say I could join them to do it. I honestly don't know how to put myself out there to do that here. I don't want to be that pushy American or the stereotypical loud, obnoxiously out-going American female (though I've already been told once I don't match that second one). But I very much want people to hang out with; how do I do that? What's the right way to say: "Hi, I know we've only known each other for 3 days and you're at least 5 years older than me but could we hang out sometime?" Ha, that sounds ridiculous just writing it. Ugh, if you think of it, please pray that I will find a group to be a part of or at least the courage to try and ask to be a part of something. For how much I love people I feel like a complete chicken when it comes to this.

Speaking of loving people (and a happier topic than my current lack of hang out partners), I met another guy at Topsoe who has only been there a few weeks. He must have either noticed me running around with the Lotus Notes handbook and some other telltale sign and came over to introduce himself. His name is Radik and he's originally from Poland but is studying at Glasgow in Scotland. He is only working at Topsoe till the end of September and then going back to finish his degree, which based on his probable age I'm going to guess is his PhD. He was really nice and had a great smile and was very happy to know that there was finally someone newer than him at Topsoe. We work in the same room so we'll most likely see each other every day. Yay for making friends at work! And by friends I guess I should say acquaintances? I don't know; I just love people.

I ended up working till 5 and riding the same train as Xiaobo, though I got off earlier. Remember that monthly pass I mentioned before? Well, I went in and asked about it and did a little cost analysis and am pretty sure that I will get one. I only go through 3 zones to get to and from work but it's still cheaper overall to get a 4 zone pass so I can go into Copenhagen whenever I want. Now I just need to get a picture. There's no Walgreens around so I don't know where I'm going to get one except for like 100 kr ($18) at the train station, where I'll get like 20 pictures of my head. Still, I'm pretty sure the 4 zoner is the best, even with the added cost of a picture and it will be convenient. So yeah, I came home and Lise and Jin were gone. I made dinner right away and fully intend on going to bed in an hour.

I feel like I should apologize for these being so ridiculously long. One reason they are is simply because the little things that happen to me throughout the day are the ones I want to share. They are what get me the most excited. Another reason could be that I have do not currently have other ways to spend my time besides coming home, making food and checking e-mail and writing. It has, however, only been a week since I left. There's still time to change this routine. :-)

Your prayers, thoughts, encouragement and messages are thoroughly loved and enjoyed. I hope you are having a terrific day wherever you are!
Till Tomorrow,
Bekah