Visitors, Copenhagen, 350 Day!

Hello All, Sven Here!

 

Events of the Week:

Though booked with work and projects the past week, we were still able to make time for some fun.  Last weekend, Spud and I had visitors from PA, our lovely ladies- Ali and Leah!  We only had about four days together, so we tried to make the most of our time by neglecting all work and skipping class!  We spent the first few days in Sweden exploring the town, checking out the shops, and eating the local food such as kebabs and egg pizza!

 

On Sunday, the four of us went to Copenhagen, Denmark.  We climbed the Christians Church in Christianshavn, saw a 100 places exhibit in the town’s center showing pictures of places being threatened by climate change, enjoyed the botanical gardens, and even stopped by a local blues club for some “everyday” musical pleasure!  Eventually the girls had to head off from Copenhagen and fly back to Philadelphia, as sad at it was.

 The City of Copenhagen

Christianshavn

Yesterday, our class organized an event for 350 Day- a day devoted to raising awareness on climate change and attempt to create hope for the Climate Conferences in Copenhagen in a few weeks.  350 is the scientifically based safe number of parts per million of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  This is the upper limit to keep the earth safe from “runaway” climate change.  Currently, we are at 389ppm.    http://www.350.org/

 

Swedish Culture: 

When Ali was here to visit, we thought it would be nice to go see a movie in the theater.  I explained to her that even though we are in Sweden, the movie was from America and so it would be in English, and have Swedish subtitles- as all the other movies I have seen here were.  Although not convinced, she agreed it would be fun.  We went to see the Disney animation “Up.”  We walked into the theater, had to ask if Up was playing, had to ask for popcorn and a drink, had to talk to the guy checking the tickets- all in English. They gave us funny looks- but I explained to Ali that they all spoke English and were probably just stunned by our beauty!  The previews were all in Swedish, and Ali would not drop it that the movie might be in Swedish- so again I explained to her the whole story of how there are Swedish movies that they advertise in the previews, but the main movie is in English.   Well a few minutes later, the main movie came on- finally!  And do you know what the first words that were said were?

 

Me neither- it was in Swedish!  So we ended up staying the rest of the movie, watching it in Swedish, not understanding any dialog, but following the plot pretty loosely.  So Ali and I have our next date already planned- to go see the movie “Up” in English!

Ali, Matt, Leah, and Spud in Copenhagen

-Sven (Matt)