Patrice and Kultur Natten

When I advise my students about graduate school there are two things I always recommend: go to the best school you get into and find an advisor you trust. I am very blessed to have Patrice Buzzanell as my advisor. And, yes, I did graduate, but like parents, advisors are advisors for life :)

I was fortunate enough to have Patrice visit CBS the second week of October. She attended several research presentations, taught two classes, and met all of my colleagues. She was, as you can imagine, a wonderful guest.

And, I had a great time showing her my new home town. As it turns out, Patrice's last night in Copenhagen was Kultur Natten (Culture Night). Kultur Natten is a city-wide celebration of culture. Museums, parks, government buildings, theatres, etc. stay open all night and people are out and about enjoying the city. We made the most of the night (although we did end our night around 1am). Here are a few pictures from Kulture Natten:

Joel and I took Patrice to one of our favorite resturants, Spiseloppen located in Christiania. The food is excellent and the decore traditional Danish. And, the entrance is up these steps...

After our dinner we went to the Royal Library where they hosted several musical performers. The Royal Library is called the "black diamond" because of its diamond shape and the black granite used to build it. The building is beautiful and fun to tour.

Patrice and I are looking at the 36 page Kulture Natten program, plotting our next move...

We decided to get some drinks (chilled pear cider from Sweden -- yum!) and walk ALL OVER the city... just soaking up the fun!


Patrice did find the Museum Erotica... but decided not to take the tour...

It was a great night and a great visit! Thanks, Patrice for a wonderful week!

Here are a few more pictures of our night: http://picasaweb.google.com/JoelWKrueger/CultureNightWithPatrice

Rock the vote, baby!

A number of people have asked us about voting, so I thought I would take a picture of my absentee voter form. Joel and I voted in the presidential election using absentee voter forms from Texas, where we are registered. I sent in my form today.

It was, actually, a bit of trouble getting our absentee ballots. I never knew how hard it was for overseeas Americans to vote. But, we persevered and voted! Yea!

The election is a very big deal here in Denmark. A number of our friends are hosting all-night election watching parties, the American embassy is hosting several events, the Copenhagen Business School is hosting a lecture series about American politics, and the University of Copenhagen has a full 24 hours of events including back-to-back episodes of West Wing and streaming CNN. We are trying to decide if we are going to stay up all night to watch the election results. When else can we party with Danes and watch American elect a new president? More details in an upcoming post…

Creepy Flour Dude

Whilst slapping together some solo dinner tonight (Robyn's in the States at a conference), I happened to notice this chap leering down at me from the back of a bag of flour (click on the photo for a disturbing close-up):

That's not a particularly comforting face. I don't want to know what this guy was doing right before this picture was taken. Nor do I want to know what he put in my flour.

I'm guessing it wasn't an extra helpin' of TLC.

Fuzzy House Guest

We currently have a fuzzy house guest staying with us for a few weeks while his owners are traveling. His name is Sammy, and he's a Bijon Frise.

Initially, Sammy was a bit uncertain about his temporary residence. He seems to have a fairly nervous disposition by nature, and being plopped into some strange apartment with two strange people proved to be a bit unsettling for him. But that lasted all of about twenty-four hours. As the pictures below indicate, Sammy is now quite relaxed--and he has, indeed, very much made himself at home! In fact, when we go to bed at night, Sammy curls up at the foot of our bed and drifts off instantly (he sleeps roughly tweny-two hours a day). By morning, however, Sammy has, without fail, slithered his way to the top of the bed and has wedged himself between us, like a little fuzzy layer of Sammy mayonnaise in a Robyn and Joel sandwich.

We're going to miss Sammy when he goes home this Sunday.