A week in Odense

So I've told you a bit about the arrival and my study, but I'm sure those things don't actually tell much of what living here is like. So, I thought it would be nice to tell you of the whole of my past week this time. There have been more and also less eventful weeks, I think this week was kind of "normal".

Starting last Saturday, I spent much of my time cleaning, doing the laundry, such tasks, besides also resting a bit from the week before. My dorm mate initiated a dinner party at our dorm in the evening, with a some friends of both of us. So everybody cooked or brought their own thing - there was French quiche, Italian couscous, Polish vodka, and, Dutch pancakes. The Polish one insisted we had a shot of the vodka, luckily I got away with drinking just a small bit. Anyway, the evening was filled with talks and eventually also the "Who am I" game, it was very enjoyable. I had to go to bed a little early though - church was to start at 10 the following day.

I go to a fairly traditional church here, in all honestly in large part because I simply know many people there, since a few friends from KFS go there too. They're so kind to translate for me, as well as the other internationals from KFS. Which is actually quite a growing number - really mostly because I keep inviting people to come there. Tomorrow we're with five, which will make translating a little difficult maybe... But I know they will try without hesitation. After church we, as usual, went for a cup of coffee or tea in the adjacent building, where we also have the KFS meetings. We just chatted until they closed somewhere in the afternoon. After that it was off to home, though sometimes we also do other things like have some lunch, or play some game. (And with some game I mean uno.)

Mondays, quite sadly, I have to wake up early. I have to be at uni at 8:15, which means I have to wake up at 7 at the latest. It's quite a full day, with some eight hours of college. After that though usually comes a nice evening: me and some international friends meet at Monday's Cafe to have dinner. Monday's Cafe is a cheap-ish restaurant on Monday only, specifically for international students. They have nice meals, though often I wish they were a little larger... After that we went to Dexter's, a cafe where they often have life music. They had a really great jazz combo that night, it was very enjoyable. Loud, if you're sitting just 5 metres away, but enjoyable.

Tuesdays I can fortunately sleep in a bit, have a calm morning, though with class starting at 12:15. (All classes start a quarter past the hour by the way, to truly account for the "academic quarter".) This week I decided to spend some of that morning cleaning up too though - it's really one of the things you'd rather not think about when it's very busy, so things stack up a little from time to time. After class we had to work on a report until we were through, the deadline is coming up coming Monday, making for a bit of stress... The evening I had off at least, allowing me to send some emails.

The following day was again one to wake up early on, 6:45 as I had to bike a bit further. With four hours of class and four and a half hours of working on the report the evening approached quickly, but I wasn't done: after this I still had Danish lessons from five until a quarter past eight. You can probably imagine with what kind of roaring stomach I come home at 8:45 pm, still having to prepare dinner...

On Thursdays I currently have the first two hours off, but after that it's usually class until four. This time the teacher got ill though, which meant we... Could work on the report some more. I did take a little nap too (something I never did in the Netherlands), because after that was a great KFS evening. We had dinner first - bread with sausages that had exploded (they blamed it on the kitchen, they were edible nonetheless) - then a talk by a speaker about God as a father. After that we chatted a lot... It was really such a situation in which you know you have to go, but to actually leave is impossible since you as well as the ones you want to bike home with keep on getting involved in conversations. I'm really not good at saying goodbye.

I did manage eventually, but it was far too late: the following morning again I had to wake up really early, and had a presentation right at the first class... It was about our project though, so I knew the stuff well enough, and it wasn't graded either. Sadly we got to hear that we actually still have quite a lot to do... After this we had more class, and, after some homework, it was already time to go home and have dinner - I agreed to meet at six at the university with two new friends, just to talk, relax, and mostly listen to music all evening.

Today I should have worked on the report and the project... Well... I did the former at least. Which means tomorrow evening I'll be occupied. The afternoon should be nice though, we hope to just... "Go do something" after church. It'll probably involve food, a walk, and maybe uno or another game. After having been at home all day, I'm quite looking forward to it. This night there is actually a party at my "Kollegiet" (group of student dormitories), but unfortunately it's a "Kinky Party" and involves strippers... So I decided to stay at my dorm instead. Nice and safe. Safe from people lacking clothing.

Anyway, that's all for now. :) If you'd like me to tell of a certain topic, by all means, ask!