And now nothing remains for me but to assure you in the most animated language of the violence of my affection

The week in review:

1. For all intents and purposes, I'm done! My presentation to the University Librarian went really well. It was super informal (and I would like to say surprisingly so, but everything in this place is informal, so, actually, no surprises there). We ate frikadeller (Danish meatballs), talked about my recommendations for the library, and had coffee on the pier where he sang to me a little Danish jingle about the fickle summer weather. (And for the next two weeks I'm be doing some field research on the study environments of the different University libraries and starting an English guide to the Library. More on that later).

2. And since my boss is going on vacation until August (like the rest of Denmark), I went down to the Social Sciences library to check out my new digs. I no longer have my own office (there go my dance breaks), but now I have people to talk to (Two old guys, but whatevs. I suspect my presence and chatty demeanor will likely be less enjoyable for them, forcing them translate jokes and puns to me in English). However, when I went to introduce myself, the bearded man who I'll be sitting next to made a joke about them putting on Academy Award winning performances of normalcy--which was on the border of laughsville and creepsville.

3. I got into my first biking accident on Wednesday as well. With my boss. I was following him to another library, when the light in front of us turned yellow. When I bike, yellow means shift gears and push it through the intersection, but he takes yellow as a conservative stop. Anywho, he didn't make the stop hand signal and I crashed into him. Only minor scratches sustained.

4. So the University Librarian's secretary came down to say goodbye to me before she herself headed off on holiday , and was shocked to discover that we don't get six weeks vacation in the States. She was legitimately flabbergasted, asking when do we have time to fix up our houses, or visit family, or, like she and her husband are doing, spending a few weeks at their summer home on Bornholm then another week in the south of France getting to know their son's new girlfriend. "Weekends," I told her, "or retirement." (But that last one's starting to look a little shaky with the baby boomers spending all the social security money on Viagra and Neil Diamond CDs).

5. So I was biking to visit the FARMA library across town, and I'm stopped at the light, and I've got my headphones in (Perfectly safe, I promise! Everyone does it!) when this guy comes up to me on the curb and starts talking. I can't really hear him for all of Britney Spears' gimme more's, and so I hope he'll just go away. He doesn't. (And yes, this is an exceptionally long light). So, he's still staring straight at me, waiting for me to respond, so I take my earphones out and say, "I'm sorry?" And he's like, "Are you African-American?" I cautiously answer, "Yes." And he starts smiling and says, "I knew it! God bless you." And then walked away. (And at that moment the light turned green.)

And at this moment, I'd like to thank Barack Obama for making it cool to be a black American. (And don't worry, even when you mess up, I won't call you the half-white guy like Wanda Sykes will).

Off to Norway in the morning. Anecdotes and photos upon the return!