Wonderful Long Day

Oh my goodness! I had such a wonderful day but it's late and I'm leaving for Sweden tomorrow and I'm super tired from not sleeping much this week and oh I have such things to tell! Forgive my spelling errors but I'm typing fast and without contacts in because I want to go to bed!

I got up this morning and had one of those mornings where whatever you put on just doesn't feel right or doesn't look right. I knew if I didn't pick something I'd be "late" for work. I finally left and caught everything "on time." I have this habit of starting to write this blog entry while I'm on the bus and train in the morning and I was doing that and realized that maybe I wouldn't have a "bad" day. And I didn't! When I got off the main train I ran into Klas and Arkady. We chatted and Arkady and I talked about the different places I planned to travel (Sweden this weekend and Munich in August). I really cannot tell you how nice it was to chat with a smiling person this morning. Arkady actually hasn't been feeling too great this week. We both know it's to make up for all the fun he had last week at Roskilde. :-) I told him you'd never know he wasn't feeling well because he's always smiling and he said that's how he fights it. One really sweet thing he said, when I told him I have trouble asking people to do things with me (like go to Munich for a week), was that all I have to do is smile. That put the biggest smile on my face and is what turned my morning around.

Got to work and started right away with prepping two reactions. Both were running by 10:30 which means one of them will be analyzed before lunch tomorrow and the other shortly after lunch. And I'll have another reaction set to run over the weekend and then I'll be off to the airport! But that's tomorrow. Anyway, I spent the rest of the morning working on PowerPoints (doing good, thorough work), a bit on the paper and taking observations. I also spent time thinking about how this project came about and how it would be scaled up. I love working here.

It was a bit after noon when I went to see if Esben was going to lunch. I was hungry and knew it was "late" for them to be eating. Arkady met us and off we went. Lunch was very quiet. I don't think we had much to say. Hin joined us and we chatted about weekend plans (me to Sweden, Esben watching the Tour du France, Arkady sleeping). Back to work in the afternoon which meant observations and me not doing much of anything.

I left about 3:40 and caught the train and went all the way to the central station where I met Maria, the business woman from the airport. I've been with her since then and got home about 10 minutes ago! I had such a blast. We chatted the whole time, though things weren't totally comfortable till we ate dinner. I made my first big, non-food or transportation purchase: a cute, light green sweater top with lace-like fringed sleeves! She took me to one of her favorite stores (though she does most of her shopping in the States or other countries because it's way cheaper) called Noa Noa. I love it! It's middle of the road as far as price but I definitely spent like $40 on this sweater. But as soon as I saw it and she said it would look good I had a feeling I'd be buying it. And I'm wearing it to work tomorrow and on the plan to Sweden! Oh goodness, I'm going to Sweden tomorrow! Anyway, we walked around, did some site seeing, ate at a place called RizRaz that has a pretty cheap buffet that is delicious. Many young people (university students) go there for the good, cheap food. It was fun! I also heard how she met her husband (whom she married like two months ago and just took their honeymoon last week because she had to travel right after the wedding!) and loved every detail of the story. She also told me that it was strange she helped me in the airport. She said it must have been because I reminded her of herself. After hanging out with her for 6 hours I would say that I've found a slightly older, slightly different version of myself. I am the one who, when asked to tell a story, will give you all the little details because I know they lead up to wherever I am. I talk a lot and love history of little things and just hearing about people's lives and sharing my own. And she was the same way. :-) Just 7 years older and not an engineer. After dinner we walked around a bit more then went to Tivoli. It was beautiful! She treated me to a ride on one of the older coaster where we both screamed like little girls and couldn't stop giggling when we got off. Let me tell you, the next two-three hours were just like girl chat time, except we'd never hung out before. It was quite fun. There was a HUGE crowd watching a tribute to Michael Jackson on the main stage. It was ridiculous! So many people! We had an ice cream (or Italian gelato made with cream--not quite the real thing but still delicious) and just sat and chatted for a bit.

It got colder and I hadn't brought a jacket so we walked around a bit, saw a couple making out in an interesting way, and then had some warm lemonade-like drink. She bought that too. Oh! And she bought me a cute little key chain from Noa Noa as something to remember Copenhagen, her and our evening out. Like I would forget in the first place! Oh man, it's 5 to midnight. I need to wrap up! We sat, drank, and then she walked me to the station. I missed the train by like a minute. So she waited twenty minutes with me till the next train came. It was packed but I made it safely to Hellerup where I waited twenty minutes for the bus and then got home and started laying things out to be packed. I'm really grateful I did laundry the other day because all I had to do was grab a couple shirts and such and throw makeup in my bag and shampoo and such in one of those quart sized bags and I'm practically done.

I am so blessed. I had a fantastic night, though I spent at least $60 if not $80, and it won't be one I forget any time soon. She is taking holiday at the end of July so we are hoping to get together again before I leave. I love people. I am so blessed to have met her in the airport where she helped guide me to the train and all (I apparently looked very lost--I tried not to though!) and now she's met me and taken me about central Copenhagen and treated me to some of her favorite things. She thinks she'll be back in Chicago for another conference in the next 6-8 months so she will let me know and I hope I can drive down to meet her. She's not had deep dish Chicago pizza and I'm going to change that. :-)

Well, I need to finish this. I will not be blogging for the next two, possibly three, days as I am not taking my laptop to Sweden. So this is a warning that the next post will be longer than any other (I'm sorry, I write a lot). I am super excited and super nervous. Going to Sweden means another currency and also lots of exchange charges on my debit card (not cool, Chase. Not cool). Please pray for safe travels, piece of mind for my family, good health for the next couple days and patience as I navigate another country.

Have a fantastic weekend and I will "see" you Sunday or Monday!
Bekah