t-minus one weekish

I'm not very good with the countdown stuff, but I am less than a week away from my travel break. This week of classes went well; I always seem to keep myself busy with a lot of work. Right now I am working on a paper for my Terrorism/Counter Terrorism class on homegrown terrorism. The paper is due on Thursday, but I would like to have it done early in the week. I have taken all my notes and such so I'm just working on stringing my ideas together--I'm sure you are all riveted by this step-by-step explanation of how I write term papers.

On a more interesting note I had my first experience with danish health care this week. I am happy to report that it went off without any major hitches. When you get your health card in Denmark you are assigned a doctor, and that's who you call if you have any problems so that the state covers you. I looked up my doctor's number online, and I called on Monday to try to get a flu shot--regular not the swine flue shot. I had no luck. The was put on hold and given instructions in danish. On Tuesday I tried again. After not understanding what they were saying, I held out my phone and asked a nice danish man on the train what they were saying. They were just giving the same hold message as in the States--somethings don't change. So after being disconnected, the third time was a charm. I got an appointment for friday.

On Friday I woke up and ran to the doctor's office. Google maps said that it would be less than 3 km from my kollegium so I figure it would be a nice warm up. The thing about danish streets is that they say the name after you turn on to them. Thus, deciding where you should go is tricky. I made it to the main street, but was unable to find the office; I was looking on the wrong side of the street. It was a brilliant move. The doctor's office was very nice. When you come in you give your name and then you swipe your cpr card, your health card, so you don't have to deal with forms/paperwork. I got the shot with no problems. It typically costs people 150 kr., $30, for the shot, but because I have asthmas it was free. Thank you danish health care.

Today my friend Danielle came to Copenhagen. I met her at norreport at an hour that I do not recognize. Let's just say it was still dark, and I was not funcitoning well. After getting bread, we dropped her stuff off at the kollegium, had a nice breakfast, then headed back into the city.

I took her down Nyhavn street to the Royal Theatre by the water, to the Queen's castle, and then to the Little Mermaid. That was the first time I had visited it. I held out for over two months, but it is the 'most famous place in Copenhagen' ,according to the tour guides who blast their commentary from their boats. It was really pretty over there. We did not have the best weather today though. It rained this morning, but then let up and we settled for overcast. We did find a beautiful park over by the statue, which I plan to run to this week. I took her to the Royal Cafe for tea to warm up, then to the nice vintage stores. I am still looking for stuff for my halloween costume. Tonight we made pizza and watched some shows online.

I am looking forward to gaining an hour tomorrow! I hope it will give me an extra boast to get through the week.