Senior Lab at DTU

Arrived in Lyngby, Denmark a little wet but safe and sound.  I had a nice girl help me find my way in the main Copenhagen station, but after getting off the bus at the right stop, I needed a few minutes to orient myself.  I'd run under overhangs so I could get my computer out without it getting wet.  The final sprint to my "container" was pretty epic because it had just started to downpour.

Since Friday, the weather's been great!  Clear skies and in the 70s.  The sun is kind of bizzare.  It doesn't really get dark until after 11pm and then it rises around 4 something.  I keep waking up at 5, 6 and 7 thinking it is much later in the morning.

Before I forget, there are 9 Case students (Libby, Jessica, Krysta, Phil, Alaina, Jacob, Jackson, Joe, and me!) and Craig, our lab manager from Case who will be our grader here.  The other schools include Virginia Tech with over 30 students, University of Alabama with 9, and Vanderbilt with 2.

Saturday, a few of the Case students walked into downtown Lyngby to go grocery shopping.  Later in the day, we headed into Copenhagen for dinner.  We kept passing (or getting passed) by these trucks full of recent high school graduates.  The students had on their graduation caps, kind of like sailor hats, and were very drunk.  They rode in the back yelling, cheering, and blowing whistles.  They ride from house to house where they get out and stock up on drinks.  At one point, the trucks pulled up to this square in Copenhagen and the students jumped out, stripped, and danced around in a fountain.  It was very interesting...

Sunday, we went with all of the Senior Lab students to the Viking Museum.  They started the museum when they found a lot of wreckage in the bay. We had a perfect guide who reminded all of us of an actual viking.  Some interesting facts about Danish Vikings: they invaded England numerous times, they bought their weapons from Paris, they made so many boats that they'd end up reusing wood because oak became a precious commodity.  The ships became the greatest weapon because most of the weapons among Vikings were the same from France.

Next we went to an old royal palace.  Denmark has the oldest remaining monarchy.  (Currently constitutional monarchy)  This palace is in the countryside and was made into a museum after Frederik VII died.  His third wife was of humble birth and the people of Copenhagen did not think highly of her.  She was never given the title of queen as their marriage was never officially recognized but instead was referred to as the Countess. Frederik was the king who turned the power over to the people and creating the constitutional monarchy.  He also had a lot of hobbies including hunting, fishing, and pipe smoking.  The Countess was into fashion and since they couldn't have children they had a dog, and began a children's home.  In the home, they taught the girls (eventually boys too) only up to a servant's knowledge.  The Countess knew what it was like to be in a higher class than you were born into and she did not want the children to have to endure the persecution that she did.  A little upsetting...

In the evening, we watched the Euro Cup Final on Libby's laptop since we didn't want to trek into Copenhagen.  In case Eric hasn't watched it yet, I won't spoil it.

Today, we finally got to learn about our actual class.  The laboratory is 3 giant rooms with much larger equipment than anything at Case.  There is anther room separate from these, which is comparable to our undergraduate lab at Case, well maybe a little smaller.  Joe will be my partner for all 7 labs.  Scheduling those was a big mess and took forever.  Joe and I were pretty lucky and got all the labs we wanted and almost all of the times slots we wanted.

Now I just have to buckle down for the next month and fall semester will be smooth sailing.

My train from Hamburg to Copenhagen went on a boat.  Bizarre...

Surrounded on all sides by wind turbines

Walking to Lyngby

Recent high school graduates

Vibrating Dance Floor. Yes.

Copenhagen

JACKSON WATCH OUT!

Jess being a tourist

Everybody getting their picture with Hans Christian Anderson

He wrote Little Mermaid along with some other stuff in case you were planning on Wikipedia-ing it

Just missed the finals of a street soccer tournament

Dress up as a baby in a crib and beg for money

LEGOS

Jackson really enjoying the ice cream

Jess waiting for dinner.  Even though it looks like the middle of the day.

Joe and Libby trying out the beers

Krysta looking fly

Dropping petals into the water and taking pictures...Such a tourist...

So much silver!

So many bikes!

It's a thermometer.

At the Viking Museum

Some swimming race was going on.  Must have been SO COLD.

Our awesome guide

Narrow warship

Behind them you can tell it is a bit wider, so not as fast and used for trading

Top panel is recycled wood

Minimal wood inside the boat so they have room for gold!

Jacob chilling in a replica boat

Jackson modeling the Viking fashion

Full size replica

The museum had a bunch of other craftsman things you could do outside like make these

Old Royal Palace

Elk Statue

Phil and Alaina waiting for lunch

Frederik was into hunting...

Pipes...

Dogs...

Weapons...

And little girl dress.  No just kidding about the last one.  But when he was little, they would dress him as a girl, because boys tended to die young so they were trying to trick death.

Countess' favorite room

The museum part for the children's home

the Countess couldn't be buried with her husband because she was not noble, so she was buried on the palace's estate.

Giant slug

Until next time,
M.e.