Robin and Jon move to Denmark : May 2014

Canal tour around the city

Our friends from NY came to visit and we decided to tour all around the city

Crazy line watching the changing of the guard at the palace

On a boat

Beer festival. The first two of 40 tastes that we shared.

Full of beer and sunburnt

The Risø campus is beautiful! But of course I went to visit on the most beautiful day of the year. It was a nuclear test facility way back when, and is now the research wing of the DTU campus that mostly focuses on renewables.

Solar and wind together at last

Cows grazing near the offices. They belong to someone nearby and are supposedly fenced in

View of the fjords - not a bad spot to sit and relax

View out of one of the office windows

The department has a bunch of bikes to lend out. Such a nice thing considering the campus is huge.

People fishing in the fjords

Bulls? Just chillin'

Science and Cocktails

Science and cocktails - two things that are great! "Science & Cocktails is an initiative that brings science and entertainment closer together by creating a series of public lectures intertwined with music/art performances and smoky dry-ice chilled cocktails in your hand." What can be better. I caught the last one of the year (sad I didn't go to more). It was a talk given by DTU professor Sune Lehmann about complex networks. Some neat stuff!

Neat intro movie

He gave out cell phones to every first year at DTU and is currently tracking a ton of behavior (movement, calls, texts, etc). Amazing dataset, I hope some good stuff comes from it.

Copenhagen Marathon

The Copenhagen Marathon snaked through 42 beautiful kilometers (26.2 miles) around the center of Copenhagen. Well, it would have been beautiful if it hadn't started pouring rain. I did not train properly, so I knew it would be a hard race no matter the weather. I am happy I did it, it was fun to be part of the city-wide experience. About 12,000 signed up, probably closer to 10,000 finished. You can check out the video they produced (although I don't think I'm in it). Also, the national broadcaster created this neat website where you can watch the top runners complete the race.

I have to give a very hearty thanks to the best husband in the world. Jon met me at around 27 kilometers and at that point I basically decided I was doing poorly enough to walk the rest and just barely make it under the cutoff. I don't think I would have been able to finish unless Jon had biked and walked along side me as I completed the race. He kept me entertained the whole time and stayed with me until the last few meters. Did I mention this was all in the pouring rain? It was so uncomfortable and the rain never let up. Having biked after, I have to say it was worse biking than running. So in conclusion, Jon is the best.

My proposed hair style - I went for the only Americana thing I could find, red bandana = Rosie the Riveter

Crazy marathon nails - not bad for a first try

Pre-race expo

Neat wall of names

Me!

Inside, not quite as big as the Phoenix marathon

My outfit

Sparkly blue 'stars' and stripes

Marathon start from the office

So many colors

We can do it!

Wait, how far is the race?

Right before I decided to walk (hence the smiling)

My friend took this photo during the race - notice Jon on his bike. Not sure if it's obvious, it was pouring rain. Walking was the best decision, unlike everyone around me, I was still happy. Yay for sucky weather and long runs.

Finished! Slowest marathon ever, but who cares, I have a medal!

Karneval in Lund

Every four years there is a huge festival in Lund, Sweden, put on by the students called Lundakarnevalen. From their website:

Lundakarnevalen takes place every fourth year and is arranged by about 5,500 students from Lund called karnevalister. The first Lundakarneval ever was arranged 1849 and since than it has amused generations of both karnevalister and visitors. During Lundakarnevalen 2010, 80,000 persons visited the Karneval area in Lundagård and 400,000 persons watched the Karneval parade passing through the city center of Lund. Every Karneval has its unique theme and this year’s theme is Futuralkarneval. The vision of the Karneval is to create a life long Karneval feeling in all participants (visitors as well as karnevalister).

The future theme wasn't quite clear to me at first, but after a quick discussion with a Lund University student in line for the bathroom, it was a bit clearer. Most of the photos are from the parade through the streets before the carnival opened. Overall, a great day!

I found out about it through a friend from ASU who is visiting Lund for a semester after doing a Fulbright last year. Crazy how things work out! After about an hour train ride, we came out into the beautiful weather in Lund...

Brought along some Fulbright friends, Denmark goes to Sweden

The line to get tickets in the center square. Thankfully my friend purchased some before the carnival started

Found a good spot to watch the parade, right next to the fish and chips spot.

The very crowded main street awaiting the parade. We were walking to get beer from the state-run liquor shop (a real surprise, since alcohol is available almost everywhere in Denmark).