"Bye!"

Another observation about Denmark: the doors work the opposite of the way they do in the States! You know how when you are going into a place you pull the door towards you? And upon leaving you push it out? Yeah, other way around here. When I want to go into a store or cafe, I push the doorknob in, and when I leave, I pull it towards me. Which is so confusing. Kinda like driving on the other side of the road, I guess. I've looked like an idiot so many times cause I will always pull when I'm supposed to push and vice versa. Haha oh well, guess I'll learn....

Anyway....
I went to Robert's Coffee after class today to finish reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which has been my fun book for like the past month, and the place was so crowded that I couldn't find anywhere to sit. Pretty much every single chair or couch was occupied or claimed by groups of people. So I was unsure of what to do cause I had just ordered a cup of coffee and obviously needed to sit down but I was walking around like a lost puppy. It's very uncomfortable to be in a social situation like that, you know, cause you're this American student--essentially a guest in another country--and you don't want to offend anyone or bother anyone and you don't want them to think of you as just another stupid American who says "Oh my God" all the time (slight digression: a Danish guy in the elevator told me that he thinks all Americans say this to no end). So finally I got up the nerve to ask a group of three Danes who were sitting by the window if I could sit down next to them cause there was some extra room on the couch. So they were like, Sure! And so I sat down with the three of them and we all read our books and whatnot and I tried to lose myself in Oscar and not feel awkward about the fact that I was a visiting American sitting amidst a group of Danish friends in a coffee shop. Truth be told I did feel intrusive the whole time, especially when they were speaking in Danish across me. But, here's what delighted me: I said no more than "Can I sit here?" to these people, but when they got up to leave, the Danish girl paused and said to me, "Bye!" and looked so genial and happy when she said it that I felt like we were friends in a strange way. I mean she literally paused and looked directly at me and waved and said goodbye. (You like me! You really like me!) So yes, that was my happy moment for the day: feeling included and welcome in a foreign country.

Oh, and I also finally bought a hair dryer. Now I won't have to get on the bus with wet hair in the morning. I think Danes find that strange. haha.