"I should be sleeping instead of keeping these late hours I've been keeping"

Haha, no, I'm not "love sick" but I should definitely be sleeping. However, wedding pictures were available for the Doty wedding and I couldn't resist reliving a wonderful and blessed experience like that. :-)

Today was great. Sleeping was a bit rough because my body apparently likes getting up at 6. So when I woke up at that terrible weekend hour I also discovered a fly was trapped in my room. Not a big deal except the buzzing was a bit annoying. I eventually fell asleep and got up around 8:30. Got ready and was off and at Hellerup to meet Brandon, Burcin and Patrick at 10. We were then off to Roskilde!

The drive was pretty good; we chatted the whole way. We made a stop at the Roskilde Cathedral and were lucky to arrive before 11 because that is when it closed today (there was a funeral or wedding or something going on after that). The cathedral was beautiful. We only had twenty minutes there but the tombs and detail and decoration were inspiring. From there we headed to the Viking Ship Museum. We were a bit disappointed in it on the whole but I'm glad we went. There were many replicates of different ships from the Viking Era and we all got a chance to try some archery. I missed the target all three times BUT I overshot in the same place twice, just above the target, and then aimed a bit too low on the other one. The kids who went before us all hit the target...we were a bit ashamed of our own performance. :-P

We decided to grab lunch at that point and I had a delicious salad with steamed salmon and lovely veggies. We also missed 4 or 5 short, but intense, rain showers while eating. Then we had a chance to see the actual museum. It was built for the sole purpose of displaying the excavated and preserved remains of 5 ships from the Viking period that were deliberately sunk (scuttled I think is the proper term) in one of the Fjords. Pretty cool. To preserve the wood pieces they were soaked in warm water and glycol was slowly added. Over time (some pieces took years!) the glycol replaced the water in the wood, preserving them. The long boat was the most impressive as far as size goes but few pieces had actually been recovered. Still, impressive on the whole.

While inside it poured again and we saw the tour right before ours rowing furiously to get back and out of the rain. None of us wanted to go on the tour if it was going to pour! But the weather was with us and we got into the boat, rowed out a bit, raised the sail and enjoyed the peaceful water. Rowing was pretty fun, though a bit tiring on the way back into the harbour. It's a full body workout, though, and, yeah, I would probably do it more often just for the physical benefits.

We made a stop at the gift shop and then were off, back to the downtown of Roskilde. We walked around, saw some giant flower vases and then headed back to Copenhagen. We picked up Thai take away and ate at Brandon and Burcin's place. It was great to hang out with other Americans because we "commiserated" on things that make us feel more foreign than usual and out of place. Most importantly, though, was that I could talk at whatever speed I wanted and say "normal" phrases and not have to explain them. I also got a lot of advice on furthering my studies, how industry works, and suggestions on how to get a Topsoe representative to come talk to AIChE. We also laughed about silly things Danes do or situations we'd found ourselves in to which only other foreigners could relate. Brandon then from Patrick to Hellerup and me home. I had planned on blogging and going straight to bed but, as I said, I looked at wedding pictures instead.

I also chatted with Paul, who at the moment is on a bus to Madrid to catch a plane here to Copenhagen. I'm pretty excited about that. But I need to get to sleep because I have some cleaning to do before Paul arrives, plus Yujie is having people over for dinner and the house needs a bit of cleaning.

My prayer requests remain the same but I add humility, open-mindedness (is that a word?) and grace. I add these mostly because it is easy to play the "pity me I'm a foreigner" card and to complain about the things that make you feel out of place but I really do like it here and want to fit in and give all Danes the benefit of the doubt. Living in the States we are very blessed. Yes, we have our issues and they are both global and national but overall diversity is key to our great nation, something that is not so easily embraced here abroad. At least, not in my Danish experience so far. Also pray that I would begin prepping for the impending job search. There are certain things I know I want and do not want in my future job but other things I have not even given a thought and they are probably going to be important.

Okay, time to sleep. Have a great day/night/afternoon!
Bekah