Nightlife in Aarhus

Last night I realized that I forgot the feeling of coming home drunk by bike at 5 o’clock in the morning. There are usually two options, you either become more responsible, because you know you are drunk and by the time you get home the alcohol effect is totally gone, or you fall off the bike several times or forget the way home. Because it was Alice’s birthday, the first weekend when we were all here, the last weekend before school starts and the last weekend before me and Marketa start work…we had pretty good reasons to go out last night. Before going out, we met at the kolegium for Alice’s birthday. We ate some cake and very good Turkish breads (which I will learn how to make), we sang karaoke and drank Becherovka (a strong Czech herbal alcohol).

Aarhus on Saturday night looked the same as before holidays and probably the same as it has always looked and will look. Drunk people everywhere, there is no age limit for being drunk in the middle of the night on the street here, so the landscape is very diverse. Usually you expect a lot of violence in such a scene, but there is non here. People are talking to themselves, screaming, falling etc…but nobody is violent. The difference this time is that they seem to have a new rule about age limit in clubs. Before leaving the age limit was 18 or 21 in some clubs, but now they have 20 on Friday and 23 on Saturday both in clubs and bars. We managed to sneak in a bar when the bodyguard left for a few minutes. The atmosphere inside was a bit unexpected. This was a regular bar turned into a club and it was full of Danes. We were the only strange international people there. Though I was only with friends, the club’s vibe was bad. They were playing only old or new, but crappy, Danish pop and just a few older English songs, and there wasn't a style of music…they were playing rap after house after pop and oldies…it was chaotic. We weren't really enjoying, but the Danes seemed to be more than excited about the music. Everybody was dressed very posh, as if it was some expensive club. The girls here look just like the girls who everybody talks about some much at home. They wear a tone of make up and colourful  showing off clothing. They are eager for attention and hit on guys. They clearly come out because they want to leave with someone and they get really wasted. They seem to enjoy it, even if from the outside it looks disgusting. But, from what I understood, the habit of girls hitting on boys is very common in the Northern countries. They are usually the ones who invite out boys and buy them drinks…These are all pure observations and I might be wrong because I didn't leave here for so long. This semester I will maybe focus more on the behaviour of Danes and go out more. In my “circle of trust” things are working better and better. Yesterday something really nice happened. Because we weren't in an international, but a purely Danish environment, protection instincts came to surface and every time a guy was getting to close to one of us the others would step in and slowly rescue them. It was a very nice feeling of inner protection and trust, realizing that you can rely on the people that don’t speak the same language as you.

Poker face

Sometimes life gives or takes away more than it should. Hanging on to the past has nothing to do with change and progression, both personally and professionally. Not being able to let go of the past doesn't necessarily mean that it left a positive mark on you, but that you regret it. You regret it happened or you regret that it’s over. It is no shame to admit that you would like to go back there and continue or just want to experience it again, because it was good. It is worse when you preach about letting go and living in the present with your eyes on the future. This might make you a hypocrite without noticing. It could be forgiveable if you preach to the right person…one that should be able to see that you don’t preach because you try to convince others, but to convince yourself. I've seen this in many of the people that surround me, very close people, and it bugs me, because going out of the denial of not thinking about the past with some sort of remorse, might help improve mutual understanding and it might not make every conversation become a tornado of pain and confusion. Sometimes preaching to others doesn't work on convincing yourself. You should just admit it and say it out loud…”yes I would like to go there again and do that again or continue what I started”… But than again we are all different in expressing ourselves and maybe this is just me.

I generally regret not being able to share and be able to take some people with me in my luggage at this point. I also sometimes regret spending time and money on insignificant stuff that give me lightning pleasures.

My lucky day

After yesterday I was at the top of depression, today I tried to put myself together and start doing something instead of crying. Before going to bed I asked Marketa to cut off 3-4 cm from my hair. I did it because I had to cut it anyway, but also because this is good therapy for me. My other problem solving therapy is shopping, but since I don't have any money... I woke up thinking about home as usual, but I knew I had no time to start crying my eyes out, so I opened my e-mail fast to see if any good news will make my day brighter.

The accountant from school still didn't solve the problem with my money for rent, but I wasn't going to let this ruin my day...I acted quickly and sent her an e-mail explaining as best as I could that what I am saying is right and provable. I didn't wait for an answer, as I had to meet with Laura, my Romanian friend here, and go search for a job.

Our tour of the warehouses in the harbour was without success. We first went to a place we found on the internet, where they were suppose to hire people to wrap fruit. But to our surprise when we got there a man in a white gown covered with blood greeted us. We realised that it has nothing to do with fruit, but still we asked about a job. He smiled warmly and told us "we don't have any women working here...this is a slaughter house". The sound of that, sent shivers down my spine and when we turned, we saw a truck full of cows and one of them was sticking its head up...I realised that it was going to be someone’s dinner in a few days. We continued our job trip and ended up in a movie producing office. A big office, with lot of very posh looking people. Laura didn’t want to go, but I perused her. I knew we wouldn't find a job in there, but I was curious about what the offices looked like. We left convinced we aren't going to find anything. Still I was optimistic...today had to end well...I had that in my mind and it had to go according to plan. After crossing the city with our bikes we decided to head home. On my way home I met Marketa, who was just coming from school. I told her about my great adventure and we decided to go to another place where we knew there were some offices. Most of them had to do with cleaning and I knew about ISS (an international cleaning company). We went through each and every single one, but nothing. In the end we went in ISS. Of course at the beginning they said they don't have anything for us, but we can fill in a form and they will call us. I heard this a thousand times and was a bit disappointed that my day wouldn't be as great as I thought. But after we handed in the forms the lady asked us to wait for a few minutes and went in the back. Later a nice girl came and took us for an interview. In half an hour we were out with our new uniforms and a job contract for at least one month.

So, I will work together with Marketa in a school, everyday from 5 to 8 in the morning except weekends...cleaning. I will finally feel useful...and I will have monnnneeeeyyyyy. I hope that in this way I will come to peace with my cleaning obsession and maybe even start hating it.

Other things that made my day:

- I found a mobile phone

- I solved the problem with my money for rent

- I got an offer to join LSRS for some projects

- Alice returned

- I am going to a small party