End of the Week

Terrorism class was very interesting on Thursday. We discussed irrational psychology of terrorism, whether they are acting with a goal or just acting in the norm(react to violence with more violence). We watched some Hamas children TV, which was horrifying. They showed a Jewish man beating up a character that looked like Mickey Mouse and then some three-year old called and talked about killing the Jews. We also watched an Iranian children TV show where a Palestinian becomes a martyr. It was scary that these shows about the purpose in life being to die, kill as many people as possible and never surrender are like our Sesame Street or Ninja Turtles.
At the end of class we went outside and saw an anarchist rally. Our assignment was to compare their motives to the psychology we had discussed. The anarchists were protesting that their house was taken away by the town. I talked to one of them and she said they were peacefully protesting and meeting with the mayor, but if they don't get their house back they will riot. It was cool to hear about that first hand. It was also my second anarchist riot in Europe. When I was in Prague, Neo-Nazis were supposed to hold an illegal demonstration on Kristallnacht. I think a few showed up, but it was mostly anarchists and communists and lots of police in Swat gear.
My week has a weird feel to it. Since I only have class on Mondays and Thursdays, I have a case of the Sundays on Wednesday and Sunday. I'm not used to getting up as early, so I don't sleep as well. Then half of my days are Monday mornings, I'm groggy and trying to get through the week. That's for my business class and my Russia class. About halfway through Danish, it starts to feel like Friday, the week is almost over. Then I coast through my remaining two classes. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my classes and don't feel like I'm suffering through the week. But, my mental outlook on days is different.
My week should adjust once I get my community service assignment. That is one frustrating thing I have found about doing short term community service(i.e. just one semester or a couple hours), is that you lose so much time just waiting for it to be organized. I am very eager to get involved with it though and it will be interesting.
Lacrosse once a week will also be added to my week soon. I was wearing my Haverford lacrosse sweatshirt at school and another student started talking to me about it. Turned out he was a perspective lacrosse player at Haverford and stayed with one of my friends. He went to Georgetown instead, but he told me about how he plays box lacrosse with Danes on Tuesday nights and I should come. I have my stick and they will provide me with equipment. He said it's not that far from me. Box lacrosse is a little similar to hockey in that it is more confined. I played in Prague and it was a great way to meet Czech people, so hopefully I'll meet more Danes. I am making a lot of foreign friends here, so it's not as important as it was in Prague, but the more people I meet the better the experience is. It' also good because I do miss lacrosse, but I really just wanna mess around with it once a week or so. Emily, I think your Kristian might be part of this lacrosse thing. I got in touch with him through Facebook about it.
I'm also going to a job fair at Copenhagen Business School(CBS) on Wednesday. I don't think I'll be looking for a job, but it'll be a cool way to see CBS, another part of town, and they have some clubs too, so maybe I'll find something. And, right after, the Chinese New Year dances and fireworks are going off. So, I will get to see that also.
The upcoming week also includes watching the Super Bowl. Some of my Danish friends are really into it and they are organizing a party. It's going to be a late night here because the game doesn't start here till about 1AM! Should make Monday even more fun.
Today, I'm probably going to explore some more neighborhoods of Copenhagen. Yesterday, I explored my town. It looked like the bad sides of Jersey with lots of factories. Then I followed one of the canals and found a cool park.
I also booked my flights for the second week of spring break. What an ordeal. So, I'm going with one or two of my fellow students here to meet Tom in Zurich. His dad lives there, so we'll have a place to stay. At some point, we'll take a train or bus to Milan. I'll fly back to Copenhagen from Milan. What was frustrating was that budget airlines don't fly to Zurich. And Copenhagen is also an obscure airport. There was still a reasonable fight there, but in24 hours it went up A LOT. It was still the cheapest flight, so I had to take it. Flying out of Brussels would have been equally as bad and would have involved a hostel. The cheap flight I saw from Milan had gone way up because of Easter weekend. So, I ended up getting a little screwed on flights. I booked a month and a half in advance, so that was a little frustrating. But, I worked and saved to come here, so there is no use to cry over spilled milk. One of my friends was freaking out and getting everyone to book in advance, so now I see why.
My spring break is three weeks and will be: London, Brussels, Zurich, Milan, Moscow, St. Petersburg. Very exciting. Unfortunately some of the most expensive cities in the world.