hugemajorincredible post time, huh? refreshed after a bowl of oatmeal, leftover salmon quiche, and three of jolly's hershey kisses, having put down my bag, made plans to go for chai with eric, read a charming piece of sarah c. correspondence, and chatted with sapna, i'm flexing my fingers, ready to update. but chai awaits. let me try to simply hit highlights:
first of all, wednesday afternoon, heather, newkatie and i trekked to christiania for a cheap vegetarian lunch followed by what turned out to be an expensive dessert. after lingering for a bit, we went down to the glyptotek art museum, until the effects started to warp us and we decided it would be wiser to make it to our respective homes. the feeling steadily worsened, in my case into a harsh reaction. not knowing how to handle it and being by myself, i paced my apartment for three hours, struggling to make my brain perform small tasks like dialing the phone and packing, the latter out of pure necessity as we were leaving the next day. at 8, exhausted, i finally allowed myself to sleep. at 12, the phone rang. jarred, i stumbled to it. ben. calling. chills shook me, i could barely hear him and i felt like i might collapse. i managed to convince him through apologies and his confusion that i had to go. all right, he said at last, well, happy valentines day ....
i landed with a thud on the cold tile of the bathroom floor. calmed down. slept.

the next morning, still thick and hazy, i got myself to the bus on time and slept some more. 24 hours after subjecting myself to it, i emerged. never again. i felt rotten on and off for the rest of the day, crying on andrea's shoulder out of frustration, homesickness, and regret. but when i wasn't too distracted, i noticed the gentle green of denmark's hills whose grass never turns brown and enjoyed the modern art museum (newkatie and i smiled and shrugged as we entered, saying, 'art museum, take 2.' she'd had a rough time of it as well but she recovered sooner.) viborg, the 3rd largest city in denmark, is beautiful and the hostel where they put us up was one of the more comfortable i've ever been in.

all in all, a subpar valentines day. yesterday was better. i woke cheerful, and cheerfully prepped, dressed, breakfasted, and hopped on the bus. we visited a pre-school in the morning and a folk college in the evening, both filled with around 60 healthy, blond, vigorous individuals, separated only by about fifteen years in age. both featured unique pedagogical methods which, if one may judge by the participants, seem effective. overall i enjoyed the folk college more as we could interact on a more mature level with the students there -- we folk danced for an hour and a half, i was surprised at my own energy and at how much fun it was, danish dances as well as the virginia reel, and later we sang.

today we had two more guided tours, saw some of �rhus, the 2nd biggest city in dk, the best-preserved bogman around and a recreation of a medieval city. bussed home. it was a fun trip. they promised us great group bonding some of which occurred. i guess that's a topic for another time. for now, congrats to lana for a supposedly fabulous production. i have no idea how the swat one went, did anyone see it?
and congratulations to benandme -- one year old tomorrow. wow.