Finally everything worked out - I'm in the states!

I have just bought myself a laptop, so now I'm finally able to update this thing.

Much have happened since my last post. The secretary finally sent me the documents I needed, so I ordered another airline ticket for the 1st of september. I spent the last week packing down our appartment and waiting for my visa. I got it friday the 31th. Very typical for this whole process. I should probably consider writing a book about all this bureaucratic mess I've been through, but I don't think I have the skills to spice up 350 pages of 'then I sent the paper back to the secretary once again, this time signed in purple ink by every one of my oddly aged cousins as required by American federal law'. I mean no disrespect to the American country, because I know that it is probably a lot harder to get into Denmark as a foreigner. It was just so frustrating to be kept at home because of bureaucracy, when I just really wanted to go.

In spite of all the trouble and postponing, I was actually able to make my plane saturday morning. I said goodbye to the family and flew across the atlantic. I was a bit nervous when I got to the american visa check, but the paperwork seemed to be in order, so they let me in no questions asked. Saturday evening I landed at Providence airport at 6:30, where I grabbed a cab to and headed for the auxillary house I was supposted to live in. I had to stroll a bit around campus (which fortunately was nearby), before finding the place to pick up my key. The campus seemed very nice. Actually it was not far from what I had imagined (and from what you see in American College movies).



EDIT(sunday, sept 16): I have just added some photos of the city and where I live. Be sure to check out my Flickr account.


When I got back to my room, I unpacked my stuff and wandered about what to do to keep myself from falling asleep too early (I was six hours ahead and I had barely slept for 24 hours). I went down to the kitchen where I met one of the other residents of the house. It turned out that she and her boyfriend were meeting up with some friends to go to a student bar. They instantly asked me if I wanted to come along, and I did. The timing could not have been better. I had a really great time, I met a lot of nice people and I managed to stay up until 2 AM.

I spent most of my sunday strolling around trying to get to know the neighborhood. The city is really nice. It's comparable to the danish city Århus in size but more metropolitan with skyscrabers and stuff. Brown and RISD (Rhode Island School for design) has got their own part of the city, 'College Hill', and it's apparent that they are of great importance to the city aswell as the entire state. (Rhode Island is the second smallest state in the country, but still...)
When I got back from my sightseeing trip, I hooked up with the guys from the day before to play some poker. I had a great time, and thanks to the internet, our humor was similar in many ways.

Monday was 'Labor day' and therefore the University was closed. I spent the day preparing for my first day at the lab and I also bought me a cell phone. (I actually only needed the sim card but you can't just get that so I had to buy some crappy motorola.) Anyway, I've got a local number now, so you can write me an email if you need it.

Right now I'm sitting at the local coffee shop trying to stay awake (even though it's only 10:30). Tomorrow I will hopefully write something about the laboratory and what I will be doing there etc. It's all very exciting and I'm sure that I will eventually understand what is actually happening in there.

Good bye for now. I hope to get some comments from some of you. Danish aswell as english.