My memories of my trip to Denmark are doing what most of my thoughts do: fade. I'm writing them here in an attempt to keep them in some sort of captured state.
On the airplane to Denmark I didn't sleep at all, for two reasons. First, I was sitting next to two talkative siblings and Second.... well, I have something to confess. I love airplane food. I know a lot of people will be screaming in shock and disbelief, because I've met so many people who hate airplane food. But I guess its like how some Japanese people are crazy about [http://www.ekiben.or.jp|/ekiben/] (I kind of lunchbox you can buy near or on trains) However you explain it, I love getting the little packages of burned food, wrapped in endless plastic with a beautiful mix of food from where you are coming and where you are going. So how could anyone sleep? If you do, you might miss the airplane food!
As we got close to Denmark, I opened my window and I could see the shadow of the long airplane on the clouds below us. As the plane moved back down toward Earth the shadow, and the clouds, rushed up to meet us... growing and then we smashed into the thick clouds, cutting through them and rushing into the air above the city of Københvn. It was about 8:30 at night, and the sun was just starting to glide down a bright warm sunset glittering on a huge harbor below us, and then thousands of little buildings with red tile roofs, in strange patterns of squares and rows. The plane made a big swoop around the harbor and then we were on the ground hardly before I had a chance to realize it.
I walked through the airport, finally found the exit... and there were no customs officers, no one putting my bags through an xray machine. Nothing. I waited, and several people just walked out the exit, still that seemed to easy. What was going on? Finally someone came out of a backdoor and waved me forword through the exit. I'm not sure why, but that was the easyest entry into any country I've ever been to. It felt like going to Denmark from Korea was like being in America going from Washington to the next state over or something.
My friend from college, Diana, met me at the airport, and we went to the train station. She lives with her Denmark family (she is their nanny) on the island of Fyn. The train was bigger and more impressive than ones I'd rode in Japan or Korea, it seemed heavy. Right away I noticed that neon signs and technology wasnt as common as I was used to. Eventually I would notice that technology seemed to be as deeply prevalent in day to day life, but in a background sort of way instead of a foreground kind of way... atleast this was my impression.
The next day we went to the Hans Christian Anderson Kid's Musuem and stuff like that around the area she lived. The city Diana lives in is oddly named "Belinghe" which is close to my college town of "Bellingham"... Anyway, it was wet and rainy but not so cold.
The next day was about the same, just seeing the local area, visiting a shopping mall, and enjoying some local food (hotdogs come in bread-tubes, with the sauce inside) and walking around the total countryside near the house. In the evening I helped the family make some [korean food]. We made kimbap and korean style BBQ... and also some Korean silkworm bugs from a can (eaten by old korean people) it was fun to introduce this style of food to some friendly Danish people, although it didn't end up being perfectly like what I have to eat here.
The next day brought me and Diana into Københvn to meet her Korean-Danish friend Hye Jin (I forgot her Danish name, I have a bad memory) She was adopted to Denmark, but she has recently tried to learn some Korean and has been to Korea to try to connect with her birth family. After meeting her Diana got tired of hanging out with me so she went home. I didn't know where to find a cheap youth hostel, so I went to the airport to wait for my airplane the next day.
All in all, I had a fun trip and this LONG summary doesnt really capture all my thoughts but hopefully it will help me remember those moments. SAMPAI JUMPA LAGI
