Break time!

Ah yes...travel break!! And so it is, the week is over and I survived the midterms. It was stressful leading up to them, but taking them wasn't so bad. And now...three weeks without work.

I leave Sunday morning for Luxembourg. We will drive all day and reach our hotel by 11PM or so. Looong day for sure. We stay there until Tuesday afternoon then drive to Brussels. There, we will meet with Danish political leaders and bureaucrats within the EU, visit NATO HQ, see Museums, and surely visit a pub or two. We leave Friday afternoon and drive all night and arrive back at Copenhagen around 9AM. Looong night indeed.

Thinking about the EU gives me a headache because the the body is so large and cumbersome. Even learning about the different parts within it--Commission, Council of Ministers etc.--brings little clarity because there are so many rules to each one and the EU has many rules itself. It is difficult to keep track of everything. But I have the main points down about current issues, big players, major functions of institutions, etc.

Monday, October 22 I fly to Warsaw, Poland for two days; Wednesday I fly to Zagreb, Croatia; Tuesday, October 30 I fly back to Warsaw; Sunday November 4th I return to Copenhagen. In between, the trip of a lifetime the motherland and an awesome baltic country. I'm meeting my friend Melissa and staying with Damir so it should be great.

50 years, later, her voice still echoes....Atlas Shrugged and today's politics.

Jagdish Bhagwati, Professor of Economics at Columbia, writes in the Financial Times about the durability of the free trade consensus.

Also, I recommend his book on globalization; a revised edition came out this summer with a new afterword responding to critics.

Lastly, recent articles and his credentials can be found on his website.

Christopher Hitchens on free speech. It is about 20 minutes and well worth your time.

The People I Meet

I met a few new people recently. About a week and a half ago, I met a Pakistani man who was working in his kiosk. Right as I was making my purchase, he asked, "You from Poland?" I thought I misheard, so I said to him, "What?" He asked again, "Are you from Poland?" in his not so great Pakistani-Danish accent. I think I chuckled or something, but said no unfortunately. That was a strange encounter because that is the first time I have ever been mistaken for a real Pol! Should I be honored? upset? confused? Haha. I don't know. All I know is I'll be in Poland two weeks from today and I'll see firsthand what it's like.

Also, I met another guy working at yet another kiosk (these are everywhere in my neighborhood). I asked him where he was from he said Trinidad and Tobago. Whoa! He added that he was born in Denmark and lived here all his life. He works at this store 6 days a week from 12-10PM. Wow! I couldn't imagine those days and those hours. He said he really likes it and he is paid well, so that is good. And apparently he doesn't get bored sitting behind a counter, waiting for people to come buy his products. I think it's great he has the job, he likes it, and he is paid well, but it's not for me.

These are just two people I've met here. Meeting new people is one of the things I like best about being here. Iraqis, Pakistanis, Somalis, Turks, Danes, Filipinos etc. etc. So many different stories to hear. So many lives come together in Copenhagen. This is quite an international city for sure.

The rest of this week is midterms/papers then I leave Sunday for the Luxembourg/Brussels trip. Should be great.

-TAD