Musings

Danish children are adorable. They wear insulated full-body suits in the winter that look so cozy! And they get pampered in huge "prams" with all kinds of frills. There's a baby store near where I live (it's about the size of a large bike shop), and the entire window (about 2 and a half houses long) is filled with prams. The other half of the store looks like car seats/carriers. These kids have it all! That was one of the first things my friends and I noticed--Danish babies and small children are adorable, almost simply because of their accessories, and the fact that they use public transportation by themselves. It's not uncommon to see groups of smaller children on my commute home Tuesday and Friday afternoons.

Who doesn't love a little bundle of joy? The winter suits remind me of Randy, Ralphie's brother in a Christmas story, except I haven't seen any children fall and not get up because of these suits. They look pretty comfortable. Still, I laugh and think of that movie every time I see one.

But the weird thing about Danish kids is that parents will leave the pram outside a shop or something ... WITH THE BABY STILL IN IT. I don't understand it, people say it's a Danish trust thing and that they are just more trusting of the general public. Something with the welfare state--Danes are very trusting people. People don't usually lock their bikes up outside of buildings and such. Don't worry, I am being careful and locking all my doors and stuff, I'm not getting lulled into the Danish sense of security, but I find it really interesting that even bikes that are locked still get stolen on my campus, whereas it doesn't seem to be a problem here...

It might be me just getting my hopes up, but I think it's starting to get warmer here! The ice on the driveway of the school has melted! Spring is approaching (hopefully)! I didn't even need to wear gloves today. I'm ready for some warmer weather. Reading my friend Catherine's blog about Spain is making me jealous--60 and sunny! And my friend Zach was complaining about the 'tough' Mediterranean winter in Tel Aviv. No, sir. It's the real deal up here in the North country.

On another note, public transportation is not all it's cracked up to be. After about a 30 minute delay this morning, I miss getting around in my (or my dad's) little black Sebring. I miss a lot of other small things, but I have some photos with me and some packages to look forward to that help. Alex sent me a nice little package the other week, with some photos of friends and some chocolate, so I feel like I have a little bit of home with me. And I'm looking forward to my next package, which is rumored to contain a certain chocolate-covered treat. Can't wait!

Hope you all are doing well! Working on getting some video uploaded to the blog, I think I've figured it out! Now I just have to work on my steady hands while shooting ...