The following is taken from an email titled “Hallo von Køpenhavn” I sent to friends on August 19, 2006.

I’m waiting to go dancing tonight in Copenhagen, but my friend Jay is talking about free energy or some junk like that with some dude from Stuttgart. I apologize if my typing is a little weird, but not only are Danish keyboards different, this one is totally broken.

The trip so far has been unbelievable. Iceland is a crazy place. I can see how Bjork and Sigur Ros come from there. It’s right below the arctic circle, but it has something like 130 volcanoes. That seems like a lot for such a small country. I imagine they must be small, but I didn’t get close enough to any to verify this. I did, however, get to go up close to a geyser. In fact, THE Geysir, for which geysers are named. You would think a bunch of water shooting out of the ground intermittently wouldn’t be all that, but I have to say, it was pretty cool. We took a tour around southwestern Iceland. It’s gorgeous. We also spent a day at the Blue Lagoon, which is this amazing geothermal spa. You walk around in 80 degree water and it’s this crazy milky-blue color. Very relaxing.

Now we’re in Copenhagen, and this city is nuts. It’s a party all the time. Groups of people randomly start up singing on the street corners, and we saw a huge mass of rollerbladers going by. They were like SCUL times 50. Without the crazy bikes and getups, though, so not as fun. Still weird. Speaking of SCUL — you bike enthusiasts would LOVE it here. There are bicycles everywhere. People leave them lying around all over the place. At first, I was under the impression that it’s perfectly legitimate to just take a bike lying around anywhere and drop it off elsewhere in the city, but they just have very discreet bike locks. I guess anarchy is big here, tomorrow I think I’ll go to Christiana, which sounds like one big anarchic hippie commune.

…(We went out.) The club was great. The exact atmosphere you would see in a movie. The club had great music and was chock full of hipsters. Usually I’d be annoyed, but somehow, Danes lack all pretention. They weren’t mooning around like the world owes them something or acting like their lives are so effing tragic. They’re more excited about beer and foosball. And mullets. Oh, are there mullets here. And it is like they just never threw out their clothes from the 80’s. Or their parents’ clothes?

Danes, by the way, are all blonde and at least 6 feet tall. Even the children. You tall-man loving ladies would be in heaven. Jay and I stick out like tourists here. Which we are. Today, I think I’ll walk around with the Italian guys from my dorm, who are also short and brunette, but they are very excited! About everything! Even waking me up from a nap! Bonjourno! I didn’t mind, actually, because Italians look great! With their shirts off! Hmm, out of context that could sound indecent. If you’ve never been to a hostel, it’s pretty often that people are napping at the same time strangers are changing clothes next to them.

This is just going to keep getting longer, so I’ll keep it short and send now.

xoxo.