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!