Be cool. Ride the bus.

Danes know how to be cool.*

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* You may need to enable the subtitles (click on the "CC" button in the bottom right corner of the video).

I ❤ hearts, vol. 8

I found this heart of stone..

.. amidst a handful of other stones, a chestnut and a few sticks.

All those treasures were in a friend's car, in the "pocket" of the door.

A Danish child had left them there, then my friend bought the car (unaware of the present he was getting) and drove all the way from Aarhus to Sofia.

When he found the treasures, he thought they should stay where they are...

Only so, a few years later, far away from Aarhus, I can find this heart of stone and get it as a present..

Choose your own cinnamon quantity

As always, the Danes have their own way of doing things. In this case, in making you go vote this Sunday.

Dreams of Efterklang

I had never heard of Esfterklang before I saw a poster advertising their upcoming concert in Sofia.
First I checked who they were.. then I learnt they are from Denmark.. then I realized they have been around for more than a decade.. Then I typed "Efterklang" in Youtube..

..and that is when I was on my way to buy my concert ticket.

Know your Dane

In case you're on your way to Denmark, you may want to read this DOs and DON'Ts list. I have a thing or two to add, but the article pretty much covers some of the most interesting peculiarities of Danes in general. Like this one:

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* Link thanks to Vlado!

Be my superhero

Spider-man holding a Spider-man (on a deserted shop window*). All the evil in the world is trembling with fear.

* in Aarhus
(click on the picture to view it bigger)

Wanted

 This poster was put up the boards in the dorm where I used to live.

(click on the picture to view it bigger)

Tomorrow I'll be gone

Early morning I am heading to Copenhagen - one step closer to being home! Yay! :)

Exam - Danish style: 2

Today is the fourth day of my last exam in the MSc program. Yes, you read correctly, 4th.

This is a 5-day take home assignment and it basically works like that.. They upload a case, (usually) describing a company and important relevant information about it, plus the exam questions. Then you have a certain amount of time (I have had from 12 hours to 5 days) to write your solution and upload it back on the website.

Meanwhile you can use any source of information you can think of (including your classmates), but trust me, even this does not make it easier than the ordinary exam.

Well, now the end is near... but, please, keep your fingers crossed for it to be a happy ending! :)

Comfort taken to a new level

This is a bus stop in Aarhus.
No, no, they don't normally look this way.
That's just a great symbiosis between a Scandinavian practice (to leave your old furniture on the street, where it gets collected either by furnitureless students, or by a garbage company - whichever finds it first) and some lazy genius' mind.
Hooray for creativity born by laziness!

(click on the picture to view it bigger)

Exam - Danish style: 1

This is how an average open-book 4-hour exam looks like in Denmark.

You are allowed to use any source of information that you find appropriate.. including the internet. You can also write on your laptop, instead of paper. Then you upload your file on a USB stick (which they give you on your way into the exam room).

I suppose that's not something that one can experience in Denmark only.. but I never heard of such a practice in Bulgaria. Also, for my open-book exam in Belgium I was forced to print some 1000 pages, because: "if you are reading from your laptop, I can never be sure whether you're not on the internet"..

(click on the picture to view it bigger)

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* Roberta, thank you for making this (though blurry ;)) photo for me! :)

Be happy

The Danes are once again the happiest in the world. Norway, Sweden and Finland are also in the top 10...
The more I think about it.. the more I get convinced that I've got to be missing something in the picture..

 * I found the photo by searching "happiest people ever" on Google.
 

A joke!

A girl is packing her bags for a 3-month stay in Denmark. She is thinking: "I will be there in spring and probably the beginning of summer. I should take more light clothes.. and sandals too."
So she takes more light clothes and sandals.

Ha-ha-ha!

Happy!

This is the message that was coming from a cushion, left on the sidewalk of a gloomy Sunday.

(click on the picture to view it bigger)

It's a lovely day inside

Rain and greyness in Aarhus..

What would MacDaner do? s01e03

Here's the plot to another episode** of the action-adventure television series "MacDaner".

Anders MacDaner is an average* Dane, living  his average* Danish life in an average* Danish city.

~~~~~*~~~~~ 

The buses in MacDaner's city have ticket machines inside. One can either travel with a monthly card, a 10-trip ticket, or pay for the trip through the machines on the bus. As a rule, if the "billetautomat" is broken, the traveler is supposed to tell the bus driver about it (he already knows). Then the citizen can calmly continue his ride.

MacDaner gets on the bus for 2 stops. He needs a ticket from the machine. He pays for the trip once with his credit card and once with a 20 DKK coin - both times getting no ticket in return.

What would MacDaner do?

Get worried he has no ticket. Ask the ones around if they knew the machine was broken. Realize that everyone knows. Go to the driver and tell him about it. Receive an answer "I know, you can continue your ride without the ticket". Smile to the driver, and get off on the first stop. He will get on a bus where he can buy a ticket.

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* MacDaner is just a unit, representing the central tendency of all data items. It must be stressed that there are many units which deviate from the observed values, attributed to MacDaner.
** Click on  "What would MacDaner do" from the labels below to find more episodes.

What would MacDaner do? s01e02

Here's the plot to another episode** of the action-adventure television series "MacDaner".

Anders MacDaner is an average* Dane, living  his average* Danish life in an average* Danish city.

~~~~~*~~~~~ 

A foreigner is obviously lost in an average Danish city, looking at a map. MacDaner sees him and heads straight to him with a smile and readiness to help. The foreigner says: "I want to get to Vestre Ringgade".

What would MacDaner do?

Say: "Where?!" with the most confused expression a human face can get. Look at what the tourist's finger is showing on the map, then smile and say the exact same way the foreigner (thought) he pronounced it: "Aaaah, you mean Vestre Ringgade".

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* MacDaner is just a unit, representing the central tendency of all data items. It must be stressed that there are many units which deviate from the observed values, attributed to MacDaner.
** Click on  "What would MacDaner do" from the labels below to find more episodes.

What would MacDaner do? s01e01

Here's the plot to another episode** of the action-adventure television series "MacDaner".

Anders MacDaner is an average* Dane, living  his average* Danish life in an average* Danish city.

~~~~~*~~~~~ 

It is raining. It is raining so heavily that a citizen of any other country in the world would just stay home until it stops.

What would MacDaner do?

Get on his bike and ride for 10 km to meet a friend for lunch.

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* MacDaner is just a unit, representing the central tendency of all data items. It must be stressed that there are many units which deviate from the observed values, attributed to MacDaner.
** Click on  "What would MacDaner do" from the labels below to find more episodes.

What would MacDaner do?

Here's the plot to the pilot episode of the action-adventure television series "MacDaner".

Anders MacDaner is an average* Dane, living  his average* Danish life in an average* Danish city.

~~~~~*~~~~~

It is late spring. MacDaner is watching the weather forecast in the morning news. They are saying the temperature is going to rise up to 12° C this day.

What would MacDaner do?

Get excited. Put on shorts, a sleeveless shirt, and flip-flops. Then he would arrange a barbecue event in his garden.

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* MacDaner is just a unit, representing the central tendency of all data items. It must be stressed that there are many units which deviate from the observed values, attributed to MacDaner.

Coffee attraction

That's the window of a shop for secondhand books in Aarhus.
It seems that it knew I was gonna pass, because it had this coffee book staring at me from between the others.

(click on the picture to view it bigger)