In my wanderings since entry last, I have seen more hope for my project; a 2 sides advertisement board devoted to selling TVs for the World Cup, and a small street court in the middle of the City Hall square. I also forced a child on a bicycle to bump into me, which resulted in an innocent smile from him and his father, which made me feel much better about an otherwise awkward pedestrian face-off.
The period since my last post has been like a good week worth of stories. I showed up at my room in the hostel, and though there were remnants of people, no one was there; bags were lying underneath beds, but they were uninhabited. Now, I am not a “jump to make conversation” kind of person, but as soon as someone walked into the door of my room with its five beds, I wanted to talk. I figured that would be the only way I could really get anywhere with this city; despite its multitude of sights, it seems I would have been at a great loss without this conversation.
In walks Joe, a man originally from Wisconsin, but someone who has lived around Europe for over two decades. We talked about the economy back home, the politics in Europe, and the pace of life and food in this continent. It was a great insight at this, the gateway of my trip, of what to expect. One of the quotes I will keep from this entire experience came from him, stemming from a discussion of my laziness to cook back in Dallas: “You have all the time in the world, but no time to waste. Just do it”. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was one of those all encompassing life philosophies that I’d have to adopt in Europe. All the planning of my trip was complete; it was all about going with the continent’s flow from now on. On a more specific note, he told me to avoid the area around the most visited tourist site, the Little Mermaid of Hans Christian Andersen; apparently it’s in Shanghai for the World Expo. In any case, that gives me time to just walk into a beautiful accident of an experience. So, I’ll take it.
All you have to do in Europe, no matter who the person, is ask and/or respond. I was just sitting in the hostel lobby, eating a sandwich and heard these American accents (more than faintly, mind you, because I had been disappointing in my ability to identify the languages people spoke until then). So, I decided to be the most out of character for what I had learned about strangers, and walk up and invade their table. I had walked into more of a mélange than I thought; a Canadian, an American and an Australian. My fellow countryperson was working as a graphic designer in the city, and the two others were well-traveled backpackers. I had merely mentioned that this was my first day in Copenhagen and they were all raring to take me out. It was the best first night I could’ve asked for.
We spent about 4 hours discussing differences between America and Australia, comparing them to Europe and just shooting the breeze in general. Being the devoted surveyor that I am, I planted a few questions and comments about my quest for the essence of football here. I heard a story from the Australian, Andrew, about some Germans in Dresden plotting with all seriousness and great fervor to murder the man who injured Michael Ballack, Germany’s captain (even though the guilty party was a German himself, NOTHING excuses taking out the driving force of a powerhouse national team). Furthermore, I got to talk about cricket seriously for the first time since I was at home with my dad, which got me more excited than anything could at that moment.
My motto or adage from this post, I guess, is to not be afraid to wander towards the familiar in this continent. In some cases, their experience or lack thereof can tell you more about Europe than your journeys or the citizens of the countries. All you have to do is talk.
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