Scoring bohemian points

While I was in Kangerlussuaq waiting to return home, Martin went on to Nuuk, the largest town in Greenland, to give a talk about our research. The woman who invited him to Nuuk thought that it was ridiculous that Air Greenland was refusing to change our tickets to Copenhagen, so she stormed into the office and demanded that they change our flights. They gave in and changed Martin's ticket, but they weren't able to change mine since I wasn't there.

Martin flew back through Kangerlussuq en route to Copenhagen. I met him at the airport, thinking that he'd be spending the week with me. It was then that I learned that he was flying on the next flight to Copenhagen, which was scheduled to depart in one hour. I ran back to my room and packed everything as quickly as I could. Then I came back to the airport and "stormed" into the Air Greenland ticket office and asked a third time if they might please change my ticket. But this time I had the name of somebody important and the knowledge that they had just changed Martin's ticket. 10 minutes and a couple of phone calls later I had my boarding pass and I was cruising through security and up the stairs onto the plane. I had made it! But how would I spend the next week? I was becoming skeptical that I would be able to change my return flight to Fairbanks to an earlier date, and besides, I thought the best thing to do would be to take advantage of a free flight to Europe.

Martin and I arrived in Copenhagen Monday evening (June 26) and found a place to sleep. The next day we met with one of the most well-known Greenland geologists (who is Danish and lives in Copenhagen) to discuss recent changes in the Greenland ice sheet and also to try to track down some old aerial photos. No luck with the photos, but it was an interesting conversation that culminated with cake and coffee. Yup, I'm learning how to drink coffee. I figured that all Ph.D. students have to drink coffee. Besides, its pretty good with a little bit of sugar.

Later that afternoon I returned to the airport to figure out how I'd spend the rest of my trip. I called up my friends in Switzerland and asked if they'd be around over the weekend - they said yes, and that'd be happy to show me around. 10 minutes later I had a ticket to Zurich, but the flight wasn't leaving for two days. That gave me time to see a little bit of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is a really nice city with lots to see and do and its easy to get around. Everybody speaks English (better than I do), so there's really no point in asking somebody if they speak English. In some countries, people are offended if you assume that they speak English. In Denmark, people seem to be offended if you think that they don't speak English. The streets are very lively - you can sit and have a drink at one of numerous outdoor cafes while you listen to a street musician or watch some other performance. But you have to drink slowly, because Copenhagen is expensive and most people probably can't afford to drink several beers in a row.