What a Weekend!

I really enjoyed this past weekend. It was just the right mix of excitement and relaxation (though maybe not quite enough homework-getting-done).

On Saturday, there was supposed to be a rugby practice, but the field was covered in snow and ice, so that was canceled. Tomorrow, I think I will actually be able to make it to a practice for the first time. I'm hoping I will anyway, since I've been anxious to play since finding out that there is a rugby club here.

I did get to spend some time outside, though. Erling is part of a running club, and he took me with him to a municipal park, where he and his friends ran around a skiing loop and I walked. It was really fun - there were a lot of skiers out and about, some of whom were very young, which was fun to see. The weather was beautiful! The woods reminded me quite a bit of Wildcat Mountain, except they're right in the middle of a suburb rather than a rural setting.

Saturday night, Bronwen, Owen and I met up in Copenhagen and went to The Dubliner, an Irish pub on Strøget, one of the main "walking streets." It was really fun to just sit around and chat and have a couple of beers. It's so funny that what they consider cheap beer is so much better than cheap American beer (also, not that cheap, at least not at The Dubliner). But we had a lot of fun talking about differences between Macalester and DIS and other such things. Owen and I also got hot dogs at one of the stands (they're open until 6 am!!) The hot dogs were basically like the foot long hot dogs that I sell at the Minnesota State Fair. In other words, the best, longest hot dog you'll ever have! The ketchup was weird, though, so I think in the future I'll avoid that.

On Sunday, I went on a trip to Esrum Abbey, which was incredibly fun! We took a tour of the Abbey, and then we made teams to participate in medieval games and challenges. My team, which consisted of three boys, another girl, and me, was called Bad Romance. Our battle cry, as you might guess, was "Rah-rah-ah-ah-ah, Roma, Ro-ma-ma, Ga-ga ooh-la-la, Want your Bad Romance!" Here's a picture of my team:

We did a lot of fun things, including swordfighting with an ex-Danish-Army-Recon-man who fought in Bosnia and in Afghanistan and is the master swordfighter in Denmark. Our swordfighting game was an imitation of the games that would be played at a medieval tournament. We "won" by hitting him in the head five times. I found the best strategy was to avoid thinking, let the rage take over, and aim for his head. It was quite fun. We also launched a trebuchet (using cabbage as ammunition), climbed a siege ladder, did some weightlifting, jousted, threw javelins, and shot a medieval-style bow and arrow.

Then, we retired to the abbey to taste the famous Abbey Ale, which is brewed using an interesting combination of spices (including lavender) that are grown in the abbey's garden. When monks actually lived there, water was of course unsafe to drink, so they brewed beer. It was quite good, and rather unusual tasting. I also, strangely enough, was sitting by two other folks with pumps: Sarah-Anne, who I met on the first day here but hadn't seen until Sunday, and Phillip. We talked about diabetes for a while, and marveled at how many people with pumps are doing DIS. Sarah-Anne has met 7 so far, which is more than 1% of DIS students.

Overall, though, it was a great weekend, at probably the most fun I've had so far, when it's all added up.