interesting classes

here is my attempt at the bit of danish i've learned so far:
hej! jeg hedder auni. jeg er tyve år gammel. jeg kommer fra seattle i USA. jeg studerer sociologi og antropologi. jeg bor hos en dansk familie i tåstrup. tåstrup ligger femten kilometres vest for københavn. jeg tager tøget fra nørreport og så går jeg fra nørreport til DIS. jeg har timer om mandagen, tirsdagen, torsdagen og fredagen. jeg vil gerne vaere "folklorist." jeg kan godt lide at gå på cafe i københavn. jeg kan osgå godt lide spiser weinerbrød. om aftenen laver jeg hjemmearbejde eller jeg hører musik og slapper af. tak-- vi ses! [please note, of course, that pronouncing this is a completely different matter. you don't pronounce most letters and those that you do are never what you'd expect]

this translates to: hi! my name is auni. i am twenty years old. i come from seattle in the USA. i am studying sociology and anthropology. i live in a host family in taastrup. taastrup is fifteen kilometers west of copenhagen. i take the train from the north station and then i walk from the north station to DIS. i have class on mondays, tuesdays, thursdays and fridays. i would like to be a folklorist. i like to go to cafes in copenhagen. i also like to eat pastries. in the evenings i do homework or listen to music and relax. thanks and see you later! [and note, of course, that pronouncing this is a completely different matter. you don't pronounce most letters and those that you do are never what you'd expect]

today we had a really interesting guest speaker in my "muslims in the west" class: abdul wahid pedersen, an imam who is ethnically danish and converted to islam. he brought up some really interesting issues in the heated conflict that is immigration/integration in denmark today. tomorrow i'll be visiting the danish ministry for integration and then meeting with the staff of the new times, a magazine produced for and by asylum-seekers in denmark. this weekend we're off to western denmark-- the second- and third-largest cities of odense and aarhus-- for a "study tour" that includes a concert and ice skating. life is good!