After a wonderful closing night to the JCI European Conference in Aarhus, I set off with Erik and Valérie for Copenhagen around noon. I dropped them off at the airport for their flight back to Nice and managed to get myself a map of Copenhagen to figure out what to do next.
Jacob had introduced me to two friends of his, Malene and Susanne, members of JCI Copenhagen International, whom had offered to host me a night or two (thanks Jacob!). Now I just needed to get in touch with them. Malene apparently wasn’t receiving my SMS messages because I had the wrong number! Thank you Facebook--I sent a message to Malene before I left Aarhus with my number and she ended up calling me!
I planned to meet her at her place around 8 pm which meant I had a good 2 hours to kill and what better way to kill time than on the internet... I found parking in the center of the town and set off to look for an internet cafe. On the main drag, I spotted a Burger King and thought, they must surely have it. WiFi? No. Well, how about their nextdoor neighbor, MacDonalds? WiFi? Of course. What a shame, I was really looking forward to eating at BK for the first time in 6 years (does not exist in France because of some tainted beef scandal 20 years ago).
It was getting late, so I headed over to Malene’s. She hadn’t eaten so we went back out, this time to the Hard Rock Café. I know what you’re thinking, you’re in Denmark and all you can do is go into McD, BK, and the Hard Rock Café! You’re right, I’ve had prouder moments. Nevertheless, Malene had a great burger and I lopped up my Carlsberg with joy while we talked.
The next day, a work day. Kicked off the morning with a run along the waterfront. That was beautiful, a nice clash of urban industrial landscape, dunes, sea, and windmills. Later that evening, I met up with Susanne, Pouline, Jason, Jalena, and JCI Denmark’s National President, Peter Mangaard, at Tivoli, Europe’s oldest urban amusement park, to celebrate Bie’s birthday. Dinner and rides, swings, slides, and laughing--we felt like kids again!
One more day in Demark, time to visit a little. I picked up Hélène and we met up with Jacob, Delphine, and Virginie in a beautiful area called Nyhavn with tasty treats at quaint Danish restaurants, a large canal lined with sailboats, and a cool breeze. Herring and beer, yummy.
Later that night, I organized an informal meeting of translators, called a powwow, and invited members of JCI Copenhagen to discuss Corporate Social Responsibility. we had a nice dinner and discussion about values and implementing them in business. Thanks to everyone who came out for this meeting and to everyone who donated some change to purchase 2 bednets! I went to the home of my new host, Susanne, for the night. Susanne is currently looking for work in international product management, product marketing, project management or strategy/business development, preferably at a Danish company with international subsidiaries. She has a MSc in International Marketing and Spanish. If you know anyone who knows someone who is hiring in Copenhagen, please let me know!
Big thanks again to Malene and Susanne for hosting me during my stay, to Bie for letting me tag along at her birthday party, to everyone at the powwow and to Jacob for putting me in touch with Malene and Susanne!
Next stop: Amsterdam!
