After a long evening of learning to play poker, we were up for breakfast at 8:30 this morning, so that we could be in town for a meeting at city hall by 10:00. The drizzling rain discouraged some from biking into town, but half of us still decided to have a go at it. Jakob Bundsgaard, the city councilman we met with, spoke about national and local Danish policies, putting them in context of other policies around Europe and around the world (to the relief of those U.S.A. folks). Although it took the group a few minutes, soon we were all jumping in with points of discussion and really had a well-rounded debate.
Unfortunately, one must press on, and we made our way up to the tower of City Hall, where we could see all of Århus. What a breathtaking city! Once down, we were also able to take a gander at the mayor’s office and Aila, of course, explained all the fine local artwork there.
Once Jakob had to get back to his busy day, we walked (and biked, for those brave ones among us) to the city archives, a sit Aila’s mother recommended we see for the beautiful architecture of the building. Although it was a bit hard to find (we made a brief though unintentional stopover in the financial center first), it was worth it to see.
Now of course, time for lunch in Århus! Yesterday, we passed a Chinese stand which looked enticing, so we got “China Boxes”; just as good as they had looked. After this, time for more shopping for some and couches in Aila’s favorite café for the rest. Now, it’s really raining, but it’s time to head home, so the bikers head off towards the bikes and the others to where the car was coming (in the end, the bicycles end up getting home first).
After such a long day, some time for just plain old relaxation was in order. A mix of more poker, video games, emailing, reading, walking, and much more ensued until dinner, consisting of traditional Danish summer food. By the time we had finished, it wasn’t raining so much, so the boys decided to finish the fort on the beach they had started earlier, while some girls wanted to go for a swim farther down.
For the evening, we had planned a movie night, where we could all lie in the living room on mattresses with our blankets and pillows and watch a movie on the wall from Aila’s projector. We were all excited: we pinned a sheet on the wall, made popcorn, and settled into watching Hot Fuzz. The only thing is, only two of us were awake after about twenty minutes of it…still a fun night after all. Thanks once again to Aila’s parents for allowing us free reign of the house each night!
Much love; I am enjoying every moment,
Dana
(Minneapolis, USA)
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