copenhagen train station II

here i am again. more tired than ever. my feet ache! spent 9 hours setting up the exhibit. i will not go into the gory details, but this was the worst experience for setting up because of the lack of help, language barrier, missing tools and equipment and several pieces needing to be repaired, replaced or removed!

i didn't get shopping done last night because it was too late for most places. i agreed to stop by the church thursday but i plan to spend the day seeing the sights in town. no legoland visit for me. i swung by the parliment building and the stock exchange. quite impressive. everything here looks a little like london's younger cousin. it's cool, but i imagine london to be more impressive. but i am still loving it here. going to get some dinner now and then off to the hotel. not much to do at night unless i wanted to visit a couple strip clubs or dance places. not my scene! tomorrow i plan to visit the queen's palace. do some last minute souvenir shopping. stop by the city musuem where they have a display on kierkegaard (saw a nice bronze statue of him today), an art museum and maybe cross over into sweden. i did swing by a sweater market. the norwegian sweaters are more expensive here than back in the states! everything appears to be a little pricey.

oh well... i think that's all for now.

copenhagen train station

i'm sitting at a internet place in the train station. the rate for using the internet is much more reasonable here than at the hotel. i still hope to find a place where i can use my own laptop.

a couple quick observations about copenhagen... there are a great many bicycles all over the place. i am quite impressed. i wish i would see that more often in the states. actually, parts of downtown are for pedestrain use only. cars are only allowed for deliveries and emergencies. since i have not been to the suburbs i don't know what it is like there. they also have a city bike program. you insert a 20 kroner in the machine and get a bike. when you return it to another machine you get your 20 kroner back. i haven't tried yet, but i would like to.

most people here speak english so it is easy to get around and navigate. although i wish i knew a little danish. it's easier to find places and talk to people here than in greece, but i had some idea of vocab in greece which helped. so i guess it's a toss up.

after i finished writing yesterday i walked north and visited another church, the marble church (keyboards are diff. here so i am using all lowercase). that was quite impressive. and there were statues of luther and kierkegaard outside. i also walked by some nice fountains near churchhill park and, of course, the little mermaid statue. what a waste! i got back to the hotel for my mtg. it went well, but lots of translation. someone from denmark is overseeing the exhibition, and he speaks danish, english and germany. someone from germany came up for the exhibit but he doesn't speak danish or english, and i don't speak danish or german! we had a beer later and i returned to the hotel. my feet were sore. it turns out there is maybe 5 hours of night here. my sleep kept getting interrupted.

today i did some shopping in the AM. then went to saint peter's church, a german church in the middle of copenhagen. had some lunch and supervised as professionals unloaded. tomorrow we'll set up the exhibit so it doesn't look like i'll be going to legoland. still some stuff to see in copenhagen. we'll see how i feel tomorrow. going to do some more shopping tonight. had dinner at hard rock. been craving something american. i like to mix it up, something danish w/ something non-danish.

k... that's all for now. later!

hotel maritime. copenhagen.

i have like 5 mins to post. interesting first day in town. i didn't sleep well. woke up around 6am because of noise in street outside window. of course my watch is broke so i had no idea what the actual time was. and turns out my laptop doesn't like my power adapter. working on it. had a quick breakfast and went for a walk down the stroget. stopped at a couple interesting museums and churches before wandering to find a place for lunch. it's after 3 right now and i am meeting with some people at 6. i need to go back to my room and check on some things before i head out again.

i'm loving copenhagen. i just wish i had someone here with whom i could share the time.

i promise more later!

Amsterdam Airport. It all looks like the US!

I know it has been a while since I posted on here. I know my friends completely understand. Since I'm traveling overseas right now I figured this would be a good way for people to hear about my trip, as it is happening. I am sitting in a cybercafe (communication centre) at the Amsterdam airport. It's around 1pm local time, just before 6am back in Omaha. I am tired. And I have a bad ache in my neck. I tried to sleep on the flight across the pond, and I think I managed to doze off for a little while but I had a few problems along the way.

The day started okay, I guess. I woke up from a 4 hour nap and got everything ready. I was feeling a little anxious about everything because the whol trip felt rushed. Mom took me to the airport and just getting there helped calm me some until I walked inside and found a huge line for the ticket counter. It was about 1/4 the length of the concourse. I ended up standing in line for 2 hours. There was some kind of delay in Detriot and Memphis so they were rerouting almost everyone. I ended up on a 6:30 flight to Minneapolis instead of my 4:55 flight to Detroit. From the Cities I caught a 9:15 flight to Amsterdam, landing just before noon, local time. The flight wasn't bad. I was stuck in the 2nd to last row of the plan but that was close to the lavatories. I didn't get an aisle seat like I was originally supposed to and the woman on the aisle was a French speaking elderly woman and could not stay in place. I tried to speak with her but my French was just way too rusted. To my other side was a married couple, both in the Army. Chris offered me some free, unsolicited advice about visiting some brothels in Frankfurt and trying to get to the upper floors. Anyway... here I am waiting for my connecting flight to Copenhagen. Exhausted!

I'm starting to get excited about the whole thing. Now I just have to get some food before my flight. Looks like a BK is nearby. One of the last places for American "civilization" I suppose. :)

Alright... I'm about to end my available purchased time. So until later... somebody send me some extra sleep!

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going."

I’m afraid of being alone. I’m afraid of being pushed to the side. I’m afraid of living a life and having no one or nothing around to testify to the fact that I lived. I am terrified of not living and yet, but more terrified of living but not living well, not living right. I look around me for someone to really talk with and I find people busy. I find people who scare me. I find myself scared of being open w/ another person. I find myself hiding in the darkness of my soul. The irony being that this dark night in my soul is the place where God's true light shines. And yet I run afraid from the light because I have grown accustomed to the darkness. I seek solitude to understand and then fill up my silences w/ emptiness, instead. The emptiness that comes from this world. I read about Thomas Merton and who he was and who interacted w/ him and I fear I will never be great. And I want to be great. I want to be known. I want to be loved. Is that really too much to be asked? This is what scares me when I heard Lauren is engaged. This is what frightens me when my friends can offer me nothing more than “maybe you should see a counselor again.” This is what frightens me when whatever counter-argument I think of merely confirms their suggestion. So I seek counsel in the words of spiritual mentors. But shouldn’t I be seeking guidance from the source not the stream broken off from the source. I am lost. I am alone. I am confused. “Get help.” “I can’t help you. Only you can help yourself.” “Seek counsel.” “All I can provide you is advice.” “Get laid.” “Move out.” “Be gentle.” Where is the truth behind the clichés? Where is the power behind the platitudes? Why do I lash out, why do we lash out, at that which is closest to us? Where is the comfort in words? Where is the comfort in the distant arms of friends? Where is the possibility for openness with family? Where is the chance of being real with coworkers and people who inhabit my daily life?