Sunshine!

We are finally getting to some sunny weather here. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the horrible winter that Denmark has seen is over, but no one is really sure what to expect. I love this weather, it's not hot, not freezing, and the sun is shining.

On Tuesday of last week, Esben had some friends from when he went to the University of Illinois in Copenhagen. They went out Tuesday night, but I was too wiped from practice to join them. I met them on Wednesday and one of the guys knew a kid that played for a year at Truman. Funny story about that is he asked me, "I heard you guys have a tradition of slaughtering a pig before your first game, is that true?" And at first I was like what the hell, no it's not true at all. But then I got to thinking and started laughing. I believe Dan Bryar started that rumor to the freshman the year that his friend was there, and I guess some of them believed it. It was way too funny once I realized that.

We went to Rosenborg Castle here in Copenhagen in the afternoon. It was built in the 1600 I believe by Christian IV, who built a ton of stuff throughout the city and nearly bankrupt the town due to the extreme building boom he oversaw. If people pointed to a building and asked who I thought built it, I would say Christian IV, and probably have a good shot at being correct. The castle was pretty neat. You go in and go through room by room, and they have different paintings and various items on display from the time. They give you a little map that has about a sentence on each room. I could have bought a guide book with more information, but I decided not to. One of the coolest parts of the castle is the 3rd floor which houses the King's throne made of narwhal tusk. It is just an extravagant, lavish room and it was cool just thinking that 350 years ago, the Christian IV would just chill in that place. Another interesting thing, I believe, is that Christian IV died in on of the rooms in the castle, so it's a very historical place, and I enjoyed that part of it very much. The basement is home to the crown jewels and other items as well. It would have been so cool to walk around with such a kick ass crown. Must have been great to be a king 400 years ago.

On Friday, I decided to hop on the Metro and go the opposite way I usually go. My bus pass only covers 2 zones, and the metro goes into more, but I figured I could try to play dumb American if I got caught, luckily, I didn't need to, and it would probably be difficult for me to act stupid. I got off at one of the stations that had a pretty big looking mall right outside. I ended up just walking around for about an hour and checked out prices. It turns on Friday was the release of the iPad 2 here, so one of the stores had a line of people to grab one. I was told that Denmark has the highest price iPad 2 in the world, woohoo! I went into some electronic store to look around. I saw some video games, and they were selling for anywhere from 300-500 krona, which translates to about 60-100 dollars, for one game! I also looked at iPods, since I had a little scare with mine on Thursday. A 32 GB iPod touch runs for about 2,250 krona i think. That is about $400. So if my iPod does break, I will be screwed. I also went into this one sporting goods store kind of. It was just clothing and shoes. There was a Nike store attached to it, so I had to check it out. I looked at one pair of shoes just to see the price---800 krona. Sweatpants were 350 krona. That was about all I looked at. I noticed a North Face store before I left. I could only imagine the prices there!

I didn't do anything Friday night. On Saturday, I met up with two of the defensive lineman- Lars and AG. We went back to Lars' apartment and played some PS3. I got back to playing some Call of Duty, and I was absolutely horrible. It's been a solid month and a half since I have last played, so of course my trigger finger would be a bit off. I did have flashes of glory though, so they were able to see the potential I brought to the table. We then watched the Denmark-Norway soccer game. It is qualifying rounds for the Euro next year. Denmark scored a pretty sweet goal early on, but Norway scored with about 10 minutes left to even it up and it ended as a tie.

After that game, we watched the Florida-Butler game. Lars has played basketball for most his life, so he is a good fan. College sports aren't huge over here, so we found the game online and hooked his laptop up to his TV. It was such a frustrating game. Audrey and I fill out brackets every year, and despite both of ours being awful, all I needed was Florida to win that game. Of course they lose. What kind of play at the end of regulation was that. Dribble the ball at half for 15 seconds, take two steps and throw up a contested fade away three. I was so angry at that stupid play. It would have been great if he made it, but he didn't. I think Florida shoulda went down low to that one dude who was killing it all night, but I guess that made too much sense.

An interesting final four has taken shape, and I guess everyone is rooting for VCU now. Mizzou should hire that dude!

The week ahead is a pretty typical week, except we have a scrimmage on Saturday and then a party afterwards. It is Hawaiian themed. Unfortunately, I did not come prepared for this, and it would be too late for my dad to send his award winning Hawaiian outfit. I will definitely not buy anything here, so hopefully someone on the team has some extra Hawaii I can borrow. I don't want to be that boring American who doesn't respect party themes. Next week is game week, which is really exciting. Everyone is ready to play this team, and we are preparing our asses of. I love our team and cannot wait to see us play a real game against a good French team.

Until next time--

A Beautiful Day for Some (American) Football

We had our first practice game against another team, the Herlev Rebels today. It was great to be out there and play against some other guys. I happened to have the first tackle of the game, so it knocked all the nerves I may have had right out of me. They have an American QB who played WR at Harvard and is an incredible athlete. He made me look pretty bad a few times! Their coach is also an American who is a fun guy to talk to and be around. We looked pretty good as a team today, especially for it being our first time really hitting. It was fun to be out there with the guys and see them having fun. We are good at a lot of things, but we do have things we need to get better at. After the game, I went to eat with the coaches, as well as the Rebels head coach, at a combo Mongolian BBQ Buffet/ Chinese Buffet. It was fantastic and we sat around and shared stories. The Rebels coach actually brought up the one player he knew from Missouri, and it turns out he is a freshman on the team at Truman. Small world!

Since my last post I have done some fun things I guess. Tuesday was a pretty typical day with coaching the U19 team and practice of my own. I look forward to being out there because everyone I'm with is so great to be around. Wednesday was pretty lazy, I did some laundry and went to the gym, and watched some Always Sunny and Modern Family on my computer. It was a pretty solid lazy day, but everyone needs a few of those.

Thursday was exciting as I joined one of our DBs, Kasper Freiesleben, in his Sport Economy class at Copenhagen Business School. On that day, there was a guest speaker from Deloitte talking about football (soccer) and the revenue it generates for the big five leagues and how it is expanding into new markets and how teams adapt to new markets. What was interesting is how sports teams are different than regular business. With a normal business, the goal is to maximize profits. While sports teams want that, they always want to win. So usually, with the profit the teams make, they spend it on better players. Another thing I found interesting was the growth of the English Premier League in China. I believe the EPL has more viewers in China than it does in England. The professor brought up was could be a possible reason---betting. Hong Kong in particular is known for its gambling and soccer is thought of as a fair game with less chance for match fixing, so that is a possibility to explain for its growth. Also, just the massive amount of people in China make it possible as well. It was very interesting time spent.

The weather Thursday was very interesting. I began my venture to the U19 practice around 3:15. It was a bit chilly, but nothing wild. Around 5, the time the U19 begin practice, it began to hail a little bit, nothing big. By the time the practice was over, and it was time for me to practice, the field was covered in icy snow, about half an inch. We shortened our practice and scrimmaged, and it snowed until about 10. Overall I'd say it was maybe 2 inches of snow, if that. It was my first time playing with snow on the ground.

Friday I spent some time looking at film on the team from France we play first. They are a good team and their QB is a former UCLA player. I believe he had about 60 pass attempts in a game. They like to use him. Their line is pretty big too, but the team they played, in my opinion, didn't look as good as our defense, so I am confident we will be a bigger challenge. I went to the gym as well, but it was packed so it was hard to get a good lift in, but I did my best. It seemed that every time I finished one exercise and had a plan to go somewhere next, someone would jump in right before me. It just wasn't my day.

I didn't have much planned for Friday night since I had to get up around 7 on Saturday for the U19 practice game, however there was a surprise party for a former player that I was thinking about going to. I didn't hear from anyone until about 8 pm, and it was this one fella, Rorbel. He is a huge, older, defensive lineman. Similar in size to my Uncle Mike (for those who know him), and he is known for being a big drinking and making the American's do crazy things. He apparently chipped on guys tooth while trying to force a bottle into his mouth on a team trip. I think I have a way to prevent that, but I can't say it until I attempt it.  My initial thought was oh crap, I'm going to be in for a long night, and I can't get out of it. I'm so glad I went. I had a few drinks, and Rorbel made me snort a tequila shot with him. It was only about 1/4 of one and it burned a little, but my nose didn't bleed, so everyone was happy. As usual with everyone in Denmark, the people I met for the first time were incredibly nice and welcoming. It's funny to say it, but I kind of felt like the guest of honor at the surprise party---that's how welcoming everyone is. I absolutely love it.

I made it up Saturday morning for the U19 practice game. We have a lot of athletes on the line, and I was excited to get to see them finally play. The other team was low on numbers and playing some new guys on the o-line, so we were able to rely on our athleticism to out-play them. It was great to watch them play, but I wish they would have stuck to their technique more instead of doing their own thing.

The weather here is supposed to be really nice this week, so I am looking forward to doing some walking around. Tomorrow, I'll spend some time evaluating the film from the weekend and go to the gym. Our next practice game is April 2nd and is our last tune up before the French come. Everyone is excited, and I know we are preparing harder than ever to give us the best shot to win.

Hope all is well back in the states!

Skål!!!

I had a great weekend in Copenhagen. It started off with a city tour with Kim's mom, Sanne. She used to be a tour guide a while back, so she knew quite a bit. It was very fun to be a tourist for a day and get to see some of Copenhagen.

The tour started at city hall. I wish I could remember everything that I learned but it was just so much. In front of city hall is the Square. If there are every protests or rallies for something, they are here. On Friday there was a gathering of people holding up Libyan flags.

Beside city hall is a statue of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish writer of such tales as The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling.

He is looking to his left across the street at the Tivoli Gardens. It is a magnificent place that inspired Walt Disney to create his theme parks. The Tivoli has underground heated water so the plants are the first to blossom in Denmark.

We hopped on one of those tour buses that takes you to the sights and our first stop was at The Little Mermaid Statue. This is one of the biggest tourist things to seen in Copenhagen, so we had to stop.

After that we went to Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish Royal Family and saw the changing of the guard. At this time of the day, it was doing a combination of raining, hailing, snowing and sleeting. It was pretty cold, and I was getting soaked. The palace is neat in that there are a couple different places that house certain members of the family, and if they are in, the Danish flag flies above their palace. Queen Margrethe II was not in when we were there. I was told her birthday, April 16, is a huge day of celebration at the palace and many people gather to party, and she makes an appearance. Sounds like it would be a blast.

From there we walked to Nyhavn, which in the summer is a huge tourist gathering place. It used to be an old harbor for sailors as they arrived, with bars and brothels, now it is a huge row of colorful restaurants. We decided it would be a great time to stop for a Danish lunch. We stopped in at a place an took off our wet jackets and settled in. We had to try the traditional Danish smorrebrod. We started off with a herring sampler basically. There were three different types--one marinated in I believe vinegar, one with different spices, and another with a curry sauce. It also came with things to top it with, such as dill, onions, and hard boiled eggs. You then butter up a small piece of bread and add your toppings. I was definitely hesitant, but it was absolutely delicious. I loved it. We washed down with some Danish Schnapps because the fish have to swim. That was not so good. I also had another smorrebrod of bored and grilled onions that was fantastic, and Sanne had one that was some kind of friend fish, with ship, herring and some sauces on it that looked incredible. It was an unbelievable good lunch.

From there we walked the pedestrian street, the Stroget, passed by a few churches and saw the King's Gardens I believe. It was a long day and a lot of information for me, and it was a total blast. I'm glad I got to see most of the good sights and get a few pictures.

Saturday was my first night out with some of my new teammates and it was a blast! The night started at Kasper Øelund's apartment. He is one of our linebacker's and just moved in that day. We played a little rock band and a few drinking games. There were about 10 guys there, and it was a ton of fun. It really helped me learn people's names. We went out to one of the bars I guess at some time, I kind of lost track of time. We were able to get a seat as it was apparently a slower night at that place. I really didn't know what I was doing, I just followed people. When they got their hand stamped, so did I. When they checked their jacket, so did I. The night went way down hill when we arrived their because there were 10 shots for 100 Krona, and the only option was Tequila. Needless to say it was a great night, but I had to get up to watch the U19 National Team practice on Sunday morning. I left the bar early at 3:30 and managed to wander my way back to the apartment. Most places are open until 5:30 if not later. 

I woke up Saturday morning and felt like I got hit with a bag of bricks. I called up the U19 coach, Nicholas, that I was supposed to go with and told him there was no way that was happening. We still had a U19 Gold Diggers coaches meeting at 4 I would need to go to though. I started moving and got better at the day went on. One of the other U19 coaches who is also on the senior team was out on Saturday and he was looking as miserable as I felt. It seems that it was one of those nights, but everyone was just so excited to have me out and wanted to show me a good time. Everyone was a blast. There were even people not on the team that I talked to from Denmark who were just incredibly kind and loved talking in English to an American. 


Today so far, I have cleaned my room a little bit and went to the gym. My card wouldn't work so I talked to the lady working there and of course she was extremely kind and helpful and pointed me to the Men's Locker room (which was my biggest fear--I would walk into the wrong one!). I'll be spending a lot of time there since I will have a good amount of free time once I learn the playbook. The last three days have been a ton of fun, and I hear the nights get even better when the season starts. It was fun to hear about the team from the guys and what I should expect. All of the guys are just great people and a blast to be around. 

Tomorrow, I am meeting up with one of the DB's another Kasper, to sit in on his Sport Economy class that he is in at one of the colleges here. It sounded interesting and he invited me along when I was telling him about my major. I will then have practice in the evening. This is a big weekend as Saturday is the first U19 scrimmage, and on Sunday we have a Senior Scrimmage. I'm looking forward to being out there and seeing another Danish team.  

Finally, I hope everyone in St. Louis is enjoying their snow! It's about 45 here!

I'm Officially Official

Today I received my Danish CPR number and got my work visa. It basically means I am able to receive medical aid and am allowed in the country for and extended period of time. It's such a relief because I really felt Danish Immigration really breathing down my neck every where I went!

Yesterday was a pretty normal day. It was a bit rainy, but I ventured out to wander anyway. I walked down by my gym and just started walking. I didn't really care where I was going, I just wanted to see what was around. I had no idea where I was going, but I just kept walking and turning down random streets. After about 45 minutes of that, I decided to make my way back---whichever way that was. I got extremely lucky and made a turn down a street that just happened to be the one I live on. I passed a McDonald's on my way back and almost stopped in, but I decided to just keep walking.

At the time, I didn't know where I was and started to freak out a little. I was going to give it a few more minutes until I called Esben and told him where I was and how do I get back. I found my relief when I noticed the pizza place Esben and I ate at a few nights ago. It was one of the happiest feelings of my life knowing where I was.

I then stopped in at Netto again to get some food. I got some stuff to make pasta, and decided to get some Roast Beef and Salami, basically because that is what it was called on the package, so I knew what it was. It was pretty expensive I believe, but it is really good. I'm starting to get the hang of this shopping thing. I am just waiting for the time the cashier asks me a question, and I have to look puzzled and ask for English.

Thursday got an early start at 8 as Esben and I began our trek to the city to get my official work visa and CPR number. We took the metro, the S-Tog, and some buses to get where we needed to go. It was a pretty rainy day, so I couldn't really whip out my phone and get any pictures. It was cool to get a feel for the public transportation and see a bit of the city. All of that took about 4 hours, and we got back and I ate some leftover pasta, took a short nap, and watched The Fresh Prince before Esben and I headed out to take the Metro to practice. He left early with me to show me how to get there, since I have to be there before 5 for the U19 practice, and he doesn't have to get there until around 7. The hardest part will be recognizing the words and where to go since its not in English. The announcements are in both Danish and English for the most part, so that makes it easy.

Tomorrow should be a fun day as I will be a tourist in the city. Kim's mom, Sanne is the treasurer for the Gold Diggers and a real sweetheart. She is taking me around the city and showing me all the tourist stuff and giving me the history of things. Hopefully it is a nice day so I can take a lot of pictures. I'm really looking forward to this, as I have driven by a lot of what's to see, but not actually been up close or heard more of a background on things.

The football side of my trip is going well. I enjoy making corrections on the film and its super easy. The players are incredibly dedicated and a blast to work with. We had 5 guys including myself for the practice tonight, so we knew we would get a lot of work in. We got an amazing amount accomplished in our rainy, cold practice, and I think we are going to be a top D-Line in Denmark. There are things we definitely need to fix and work on, but most of these guys are like sponges soaking up every word I say and asking questions when they don't understand. I'm really lucky to be a part of a team like the Gold Diggers. We have our first practice game in a little over the week, and I can't wait to see what we are all about. It should be a blast, just like everything else has.

Well, that's it for me now. And since it is a Thursday I will make my Jersey Shore reference. I keep seeing commercials here for the start of season 3, so I can't wait to relive all those great moments. Enjoy it tonight!

Denmark has Bieber Fever too!

The view down the street from right outside my apartment

The view across the street

So those are just a few pictures of my hood. It's pretty sweet walking outside everyday and being like oh yeah, I'm in Copenhagen.

The past few days have been much slower paced, which has been great. Saturday night, I sound like a loser--I went to sleep around 1. My favorite show Dexter was on, so I watched that as I went to sleep. Sunday, I just laid around and went over the playbook a little bit. I watched a little Modern Family and Always Sunny on my computer. For dinner Sunday, Esben and I got some pizza. It was about a 5 minute walk, and it was delicious pizza. I got the "Italian" which had onions and meat sauce. It was really good, and I was really hungry, so I ate that in about 5 minutes. It was about the size of a small pizza, most definitely bigger than one of those personal pizzas though. It was delicious and cost about 52 Krona.

Monday was another low key day. I slept until about 10, then decided to go to the local Netto to get some food. I had to look like an idiot in there because I looked around for at least 20 minutes at just everything that was there. I ended up buying some bread, bananas, cereal, milk, and nutella. After that, I planned out practice for Tuesday. I spent some good time thinking about what drills to do and how to communicate it. I basically wrote everything I thought about down, just so it would be in writing. Then, Esben got home around 7pm and we went back to Netto so he could make lasagna. He cooked, and I cleaned. It was crazy good, and I could have probably eaten all of it, but I had to share. This just means I have to cook the next meal, and it has to be equally as tasty. The night ended with me watching video of the scrimmage and making notes online. The team uses this site called HUDL, which makes watching video and making corrections a breeze. All the players look forward to watching the corrected video because they gain so much from it.

I got up at about 9:30 on Tuesday and at some cereal and a banana. I watched a little Everybody Loves Raymond and some Scrubs before I really did anything. I finalized the practice plan and went over the playbook a little more. I wandered the streets by my apartment and saw where our local gym was. It was a beautiful sunny day, although it was still pretty chilly. Carlos picked me up  and we were on our way to the U19 practice. Traffic was absolutely horrible and it took us what seemed like forever to get there. The practice started with special teams and I helped a bit with that. We then went into Defensive Indy time, my first chance at coaching. It was a blast working with the kids because 1--they are good and love football and 2--I got to teach football!! The time flew by fast and before I knew it, their practice was almost over and mine would be starting. I hurried up and put on my pads and stuff to get started. My helmet was terrible to put on because it was sitting out in the freezing cold. The padding inside was like rocks pressing against my head, but that became a non-issue pretty quickly. It was my first time running practice while playing. I would be a regular Jackie Moon (thanks Billy for the Semi Pro reference).  We had some solid Indy time and the players took to the drills really well. We are looking to do more as a defensive line, and I was able to teach some of the technique. The team picks it up really well and its a blast to be with the group of guys I'm with. We then had about 10 minutes of 1 on 1 with the O-Line before a solid Inside Run period. There is a lot to still work on, but we have a good unit to work with. I look forward to playing another team and progressing as a D-Line this season!

The car ride home was great. I found out that Denmark has caught Bieber Fever as well, and Troels may be his number 1 fan.  The most upsetting thing was that Denmark has not been introduced to Bieber 3D. I could tell it made Troels and Kim a little mad, but they would get over it. I also think Troels is growing out his hair to get to the Justin Bieber---it would suit him naturally. It's always a blast with the coaches which correlates (I think of Lou Holtz when I hear that word) to the field.

And now I'm sitting here with Jersey Shore in the background. It's like I've never even left!

Hangin With the Son of Roy Orbison

What a great last 24 hours.

Yesterday I wandered down the street to the local Aldi to check things out. I could only gather so much info from pictures, so I only grabbed a couple of things----cereal, bananas, and some juice. Turns out the juice I got is concentrate, so I will need to add water to it. I'm glad Esben told me before I decided I hate Danish juice.

I then spent some time going over the playbook and taking some notes. Kim then picked me up around 4 to get my gym membership to Fitness World. We went to the one by his place and got everything taken care of. I even got a nice new gym bag and a lock for my things. This one was super nice with about 4 levels. The bottom one has machines, middle was lockers and some cardio machines. Up some stairs got to the free weight area, and then there was another level above that I didn't check out. I did some leg stuff and it was neat/ weird to look out the windows on the 4th floor of this building and see Copenhagen.

After lifting, I went back to Kim's and showered quickly. However, I didn't know I was going straight back so I had to borrow some socks and a shirt from Kim. I think I looked pretty good in the Denmark American Football red, but that's just my opinion. After I showered, I went down to Troels' apartment since he lives right under Kim, and Kim was having a meeting with Carlos. We had a beer and talked about Copenhagen nightlife and the Danish school system. I also was able to again hear about Troels' lead singing skills that I would get to see later.  He was not lying to me when talking about his vocal and performance skills.

A little later, we went back to Kim's for the dinner Mille was cooking. All the coaches joined for a brief meeting and some drinks. Kim bought some Coors Light (his favorite) and Corona's for the evening enjoyment. Troels brought some Grey Goose down a little later in the night as well. Dinner was a traditional Danish winter meal from what I understood. I believe it was pork that resembled much thicker cut bacon, as well as potatoes and a gravy. It was absolutely delicious. I could have probably eaten the whole feast for myself it was so good, although I would have gotten pretty sick!

After dinner the festivities started. Kim broke out the rock band with the Bass, Guitar, Drums and Mic. I was finally able to see Troels' world famous performance skills. I knew rock band was to be taken seriously when Kim put on his tattoo armband sleeve. We started with Metallica songs. It was fantastic. Troels has fantastic stage presence and that was felt almost immediately. He was able to master everything from Metallica, to Spice Girls, to his long lost father Roy Orbison. He excelled at every genre, even managing to partially play drums and sing at the same time. I'm pretty sure we played a solid 4 hours, maybe more of rock band. It was so much fun, I had an absolute blast.

The night died down (early for their standards) at about 2. I slept on Kim's couch until about 9:45. I had breakfast with Kim and we watched some Hard Knocks while I waited for the U19 coach, Nicholas, to pick me up. Nicholas arrived around 10:30 and I went to his apartment along with some other U19 coaches to discuss the practice schedule and watch a bit of film. We also played a considerable about of FIFA and NCAA Football. Frederick and I were undefeated at everything we played together. It was a ton of fun playing those games and hanging out with the guys. Nick made some delicious pasta and we watched Die Hard 4 while we ate, then got back to more gaming.

Nick then brought me back home around 5 and it wrapped up my last 24 hours. It was an absolutely incredible time. The coaches were so much fun to hang out with, so much laughter and it was just a great atmosphere. Today was great because it was like being back home playing some video games.

Time to go watch some TV!

Back in Action

Before I get started, let me say that Jersey Shore: Miami is on right now, and it makes me feel great inside. I just want to know what happens between Sam and Ron, it's eating at me!

I got my first taste of Danish football tonight. It all started when I got a ride from Carlos, the U19 defensive coordinator. Like everyone else I've come across, he is an awesome person to talk to and easy to get a long with. We arrived to our practice facilities and Carlos, Myself, and Troels (a different Troels, he helps the U19 team with the lines as well as the senior team) had a meeting to just get me acquainted with the team and who the big players are and to talk terminology. I basically spectated this practice to get an idea what they know and what they need to work on. As with any club team, there are some dudes who are just athletic and can play, and some that need some work. It seems the attitude is right and they can learn alot and hopefully benefit from what I will bring. I have a meeting Saturday morning with the U19 staff to get me filled in and running with the D-Line.

After that, we had to get off the field because of a soccer (football?) match taking place. It's bass ackwards here---soccer gets the field when they want and we make use of what we have. So the senior team had meetings as an offense and defense. Defensively we talked the playbook and expectations and then I was able to have one on one time with the D-Line. It was a crazy feeling knowing that I'm their coach, but I basically spent that time getting to know the guys, talk our expectations as a D-Line (we are scoring a few touchdowns), and a bit of technique stuff. I want to make this as easy on them as possible and use as much of the same terminology as possible, and I want them to get better, so I just let them know to feel free to openly communicate with me if they have questions on how certain things apply to game situations. We have a good line, so I want to help them become the best D-Line in Denmark.

After that, I scrambled to get ready for my first practice. We started off with a run because of dress code from what I gathered. I had a translator tell me and when I saw everyone start to run, I just followed. We then did our movement warmup and had 15 minutes of indy (individual) time. Since we were scrimmaging after, I didn't want to introduce anything new so they guys would be playing instead of thinking. We did some first steps, some get offs, a little bit of hitting, and some pass rush stuff. We got a lot in with that 15 minutes which is awesome because it demonstrates how much the guys are willing to put in and learn.

We then began the scrimmage and I got 8 plays. I couldn't tell you how I did or what was going on, I was just excited to be out there. It was simple defense, so I understood what was happening. It was funny just getting back into football and starting with a scrimmage. It was a good gauge to see where I am and what Danish football is all about. I was really impressed watching our D-Line during the scrimmage. It seemed every play, we had a few guys in the backfield causing chaos.

After practice, I talked to a lot of the guys in the locker room. It's incredible how accepting they are of me. They are so outgoing and go out of their way to talk to me and make sure I'm enjoying Denmark. I then went back to the kebab place with a bunch of the guys. Its a really good place and its fun eating with them. I then got home and turned on the TV and started watching some Jersey Shore.


Tomorrow, I plan on going to Aldi and getting some things and get my first out alone in Denmark time. I am going to get my gym membership with Kim tomorrow, and then at night we are having a coaches gathering I am looking forward to.

Good Night America and enjoy a new Jersey Shore for me!

It's Go Time

The paperwork has gone through and tomorrow will be my first official day as part of the Gold Diggers. I'm so relieved it went this quickly, and I'm more than ready to be out there.

Today was a pretty lazy day of recovery for me. I slept until about 9am, then again from about 1-4. It felt great. After that, I went to get fitted for a helmet, and then to Kim's apartment for a coordinator meeting with the OC John, and DC Troels as well as Kim. It was great to see how things work and what kind of planning they do. While we were meeting (I was more of a spectator), Mille was hard at work in the kitchen making a phenomenal dinner. She made a Greek Salad as well as Danish Meatballs. It was all very great and we enjoyed that after the meeting. I also received my Nokia phone today, so I need to play around with it to get used to it.

I still enjoy riding in the car around Copenhagen and taking in the sights. I am becoming more familiar with the area I live, however not quite enough to venture out on my own. I may go down to the Aldi tomorrow, but who knows. I'm still riding a high of knowing I will get to be back out on the field tomorrow.


Bed time now, good night all!

Touchdown!

I made it safely everyone. The flight was uneventful....O'Hare is a ridiculous airport that was confusing me, but I made it. On the flight I watched Due Date, napped a little, maybe 3 total hours, and watched some Family Guy and Modern Family. The meals on the flight were a Pork, Broccoli and Potato steamer thing with a salad, roll, and desert cake of some sorts. The brunch meal we had was some sort of small ham sandwich, yogurt, and orange juice.

I landed in Copenhagen around 1pm their time which put it at about 6 am in St. Louis. But by the time I got my luggage and through international checkpoint whatever, it was around 1:30. My coach, Kim, and new roommate Esben met me at the airport. We rode to Esben's apartment which is where I will be living. I have a nice room with a great setup that I'll post pictures of sometime. After that we went to get some lunch at a little corner place I guess. The menu was in Danish and they said that usually restaurants will provide and English menu if you ask, but this one didn't have one. Esben read the choices to me and I ended up going with a chicken pasta in white sauce with mushrooms and some green stuff. It was really filling and really good.

After that, I had about 2 hours to unpack and lounge for a bit. I got everything out of the suitcases and clothes hung up, but the desk is still a wreck. Then, Coach Kim picked me and Esben up for practice. Along with him was his roommate Mille (thanks Kim!), and the defensive coordinator Troels. It was about a 25 minute car ride to the practice field. I got to see some of the scenery and such. Its an awesome place.

We arrived to practice, however, I am unable to coach or practice until my work permit papers go through, which could take up to two weeks. I sat in with the coaches to see the pre-practice routine and got a practice schedule. I met a lot of the players, but I can barely remember any names. the coach, Kim, his mom is the Treasurer of the team I believe and she has promised to be my mom while I'm here. When practice began, I went and just watched the D-Line. The U19 head coach, Nicholas, is coaching the D-Line until I get my paperwork done. There were only 4 defensive lineman at practice today, and only two of them were able to go the whole time because 2 others had injuries. That's the thing about football here, you may get days where you have 2 people, and days when you have 12 people. All the players I met were extremely nice and I can't wait to get to know them. And, apparently, their rival team's colors involve purple, so I got a little bit of teasing for wearing my Truman purple.

After practice, the coaches gathered to go over how practice went. After that, some of the coaches, Kim, Mille, Esben, Troels, and myself went to this Kebab place. I had no idea what to get so I just asked Kim what is good and went with it. It comes out in a thicker tortilla served with what looks like a mini slaw salad or something, the greek gyro sauce stuff, and some kind of spinach and tomato saucey stuff, as well as fries. On the table is a ground up I guess chili jelly substance that I put on meats, which just ended up being chicken and pork. It was really spicy but excellent.  Then I came home and showered, and am getting ready to sleep I guess.

Kim took care of me today and paid for all my food. The thing that sets this club apart from the others (by talking with players) is that everyone cares for each other and are doing this for fun. If every day is like today I will have a blast.

A few extra tidbits I forgot along the way:

1) According to the team, we have the best secondary, and probably defense in the league. One guy on our team who is on the Danish National Team is one game away from breaking the record for most games played on the National Team.

2) I got half paid today in straight cash....or kroner

3) Denmark gets America's best export---Jersey Shore. My dinner talk involved discussing the show with them, but I think they are behind on seasons or something. They were talking about their show they have called Paradise Hotel I believe which is apparently similar in that a bunch of pretty dumb people are sent to live in a nice hotel in Mexico. I was happy to find my love for Jersey Shore can continue.

4) Everyone on the team has been extremely pleasant to meet. Everyone comes up.."Ohh you are the American, I am..." It's great to know they are already welcoming me to their team.

5) All these players have jobs or schooling on the side. My roommate Esben is working on his Thesis in Mechanical Engineering. One of our best d-lineman just got a new job as a software developer, and another is beginning school to study law to become a diplomat. It's great to see these people want to be a part of the team and are there because they want to be, not because they have to.

Tomorrow I plan on sleeping as much as I can. Esben will be gone all day for school, so I may wander to the Aldi down the street, who knows. There is a coaches meeting tomorrow I believe, and I will be eating dinner at Kim's house. Mille is going to make dinner---possibly salad (since Kim is on a diet), and Danish meatballs. Thursday we have another practice and I'll probably go early to meet with the U19 coach. On Friday, the coaches are having a gathering which I have inferred will be a little bit of football discussion, a lot of drinking, and some rock band. The coaches are a lively bunch and are a lot of fun to be around.

Until Tomorrow!