“Uhm. Bleed.”
“Yes. Bleed. The less we bleed.”
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This was the start to a beautifully-crafted dialogue that lasted about an hour, conducted by two extremely attractive (sorry, Jackson) Danish soldiers/ sergeants-in-training. Not a bad way to begin a Wednesday, if I do say so myself…
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But how did I come to interact/ spy upon these two tall, blonde, uniformed “funny-guys,” as they called themselves? All through the patronage of DIS, my friends. I mean, Mom.
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I had a field study with my Danish Language and Culture class to the Danish Defense College, where Denmark trains 15-25 men and women every year to become linguistics officers–that is, the soldiers who will translate/ interpret for others on foreign missions. It was my favorite academic DIS-organized trip to date! The college organization was interesting, and I learned quite a bit. We were also taken on a tour of the training obstacle course, hence the sweating/ blooding (or bleeding..) motto. ‘Twas quite entertaining, and I managed to bruise my shin.
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We also got to throw some practice grenades! (I took pictures instead… HA!)
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Then I met up with Tessa from UW and a couple of other girls to visit Den Blå Planet, or The Blue Planet. It is the laaaaargest aquarium in all of Scandinavia. Whoop whoop! (Unfortunately, there is only so much water one can contain within panels of glass before it makes more sense to rent out snorkel gear, so the overall effect of its vastness was meh.)
Swim away!!!
A tank tunnel. Quite impressive. (Note the senior citizen group that we were essentially following around the entire time.)
These…. Are…. Piranhas…. And the strangest thing was that they didn’t move. At all. They just sat there with their beady little eyes unblinking, as though waiting for some sign of life TO KILL. Although, upon reading one of the high-tech touch-screen displays located at every single tank, I learned that piranhas mostly eat only dead creatures. Very interesting, indeed.
Beware the suction!!!
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On Thursday, I listened to some more hipster street musicians. I tell ya, they are out in full force right now.
They even sang Treasure. 10/10.
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Soon, I am off to see the Royal Danish Ballet perform “Short Time Together: A modern ballet about the speed of life.” Color me excited. I am finally going to whip out one of the three dresses that I normally wear all the time at home but which are considered grotesquely over-the-top amongst my fellow legging-clad and sweater-wearing DIS students. Yippee!
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To close the day, I will leave you with yet another fascinating dialogue, this time conducted between myself and The Significant Other:
Jackson: Jonathan’s going to let me build a gardening plot when I get back!
Me: In the dead of winter…?
Jackson: Yeah. But you know what does grow in the dead of winter?
(Simultaneously) Me: Love. Jackson: Onions.
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The romance is overwhelming. I can almost not handle it myself, at times.
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Venlig hilsen/ best regards,
Lizzy-wa