Blog Bless America

Snail in the garden:

After a sleepless night followed by 20+ hours of traveling with 150lbs + of luggage... I made it home.

The plane touched down with no delays into bright and sunny Santa Barbara airport. I called Trevor when the plane landed...no pick-up. I called him when I got off the plane...still no reply. I didn't see him out by the curb and got a little worried. I called him after I got my luggage but still no answer. Well this is a little anti-climactic.... He calls back a few seconds later huffing and puffing he's on his way! He's running a little late....he had lost his phone. A happy and sweaty Trevor picks me 5 minutes later and I have officially made it home. I unpacked...



...and life is back to normal again.

The first few days back were cloudy, chilly, and rainy. Still warmer than Denmark though...

It was really strange to see American money again and I had trouble counting coins at first. I tried to buy a Twix bar from the vending machine and thought a nickel was worth $.10, but I was 5 cents short...

Driving a car for the first time felt a little funny for the first couple turns, but I got used to that again easily enough.

The first couple nights I had a hard time keeping myself awake past 5pm, but now I'm doing ok. It is a lot easier adjusting to the time zone when you travel east to west....

I forgot what it's like to understand everything strangers say. I miss people speaking Danish all the time and zoning them out as background noise. I remember thinking I wish I could understand what people were talking about, but now that I can I wish they would keep quiet. I don't want to hear other people's conversations. They don't have anything good to talk about...

I still instinctively say or at least think "Tak" instead of "Thank you."

I miss the Danish work culture a lot. I knew I would miss the coffee breaks, and the really nice people, and the group chats even though most times I had no idea what was being said. It at least made you feel like you belonged to part of a group. I noticed I've been hanging out in the CA break room more often and chatting it up with whoever comes in... trying to start up an American work social life... maybe I need to start bringing in bread...

In other Danish news, my Smashing Debut "I Love Science" video was played at the all-staff meeting today in front of hundreds of people. How humiliating that my awkward Danish experiences have come full circle. I was warned by the Danes who had their all-staff meeting the day before that the video was going to be unveiled.... I cannot help but cringe every time I watch it. I was shaking with embarrassment for the entire duration. I was reassured it was not as bad as I thought it was, but I still think it is unbearably awkward to watch. "I love science".....who says that?!

I was having a hard time deciding what to write for a "last blog entry" so I have decided to continue this blog past my Copenhagen experience. I can't promise it will be as fun, awkward, or interesting as Copenbloggin, but I will try my best and we'll see how it goes... I am going to keep the webpage as www.julieindenmark.blogspot.com since you already know where to find me (and since I have no idea how to change it).....but, I need to think of a new title since "Copenbloggin" no longer applies...

I was thinking "Blog Bless America" but a quick google search shows this blog title already exists. To be honest "Copenbloggin" already existed before I used it, but I swear I had not learned of this until after I started mine and I felt silly changing it mid-way.... And since since I am coming clean with my unoriginality, that fly thing wasn't my idea either. I never claimed that it was, but I never said that it wasn't.... The drawings in Copenbloggin were original. I drew them. But I got the idea from an e-mail...

So anyone have any other blog names I can plagiarize?