Super Bowl Sunday

Colts vs Saints.
60 minutes of game play.
Four of hours of pure entertainment.

Despite being considered one of the most important events on the American calendar, the people around me seemed disappointingly indifferent about today's game. Luckily, the Student Baptist Union was organising an open party where I could join like-minded football enthusiasts. And indulge in an awesome amount of food and snacks.

My team, which I bonded strongly to over the four hours, did unfortunately lose 17-31 to the Saints. It all seemed to be going well until the last quarter when the Saints suddenly picked up the speed. Mimi had on her side problems deciding what team to support, as she always felt strongly for the underdogs.

Kentucky (Fried Chicken) Fun Facts

Kentucky - the proud birth place of KFC. But what more?

Location: Kentucky is an in-between-state, sometimes referred to as Midwestern and frequently termed Southern. As I live in northern Kentucky right on the Ohio border, I would say my area is more Midwestern, but there are probably a number of people who would disagree.

Climate: Winter is freezing, cold, snowy and miserable. Summer is apparently hot and humid.

History: One of the previous slave states, but Kentucky was largely split during the Civil War. Tobacco and coal mining were, and still are, proud drivers of the economy.

Famous People: President Abraham Lincoln, boxer Muhammad Ali and actor Johnny Depp were born here.

Good to Know: Bourbon got its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby is the oldest continuously held horse race in the States (Vas keeps on talking about this, so I guess it must be slightly famous). "Happy Birthday to You" was created here in 1893. Most of the world's Post-it notes are produced here. And, uh, did I mention KFC?

Stuff to Do: Play Cornhole - a wonderful game involving tossing small bags filled with corn.

I am where the little red dot is. Click on the picture to see more details.

If the mountain won't come to Muhammad...

...Muhammad must go to the mountain.

During my first week here I expectantly made my way to Cincinnati, a fairly large city on the Ohio-Kentucky border, in order to do some shopping. After countless hours of searching for "the shopping area" I slowly started to realise that Cincinnati did not actually have one. There were of course a few stores scattered around the place, but the city mainly consisted of businesses.

At least the story of my fruitless wandering is quite a hit with the locals: "You went to Cincinnati for shopping?! I don't think I have ever heard of anyone doing that before". There is of course shopping around here, but since a car is the key to getting to these places, they are pretty inaccessible to me.

But, I did not suffer for long as I soon discovered online shopping. My current crush is amazon.com and not only have I been buying text books, but also a new camera (Canon 450d) has found its way to my mail box.

The newest member of my Lonely Planet guide collection.

As my US geography skills are slightly limited, I bought a big map to help me.

Perfect North Slopes

As suggested by its name, Perfect North Slopes, was perfect. Well, not really, but it was good value for money - it had some decent slopes and a really fun snow-tubing area. The daytrip was arranged by the international student union, and many of the participants had never been exposed to snow-related activities before. People came in jeans, summer shoes and without jackets and gloves. Luckily it was possible to hire some of the equipment, but a few people still found the climate inside the skiing lodge more appropriate.

The weather was, to everyone's surprise, great. Sun, blue skies and temperatures right above zero. The warmer weather also made the artificial snow less icy, which I think everyone was happy about - particularly the beginners. I stayed on the beginners' hill for the first half hour to offer support and share my vast amount of forced experience, but found it too dangerous to linger longer than necessary, as there were constantly out-of-control skis, snowboards and people to watch out for. As with one poor girl who kept on crashing into the same (padded) pole.

 All in all it was a good day. However, a few members of the group claimed they would never want to repeat the experience as it was "too cold, painful and difficult". I was of course shocked to hear such statements.

 

An afternoon with the Norse

Exchange student 1:  “What happens now, why is everyone leaving?”

Exchange student 2:  “I think it might be finished.”
Exchange student 1:  “Finished?! But we have only played two rounds, isn’t there normally four?”
Exchange student 2:  “I don’t know, but even the brass band is packing up their notes, I am pretty sure it’s finished”.
Exchange student 1:  “But wait a minute… Does that mean we lost?"

With only a wage idea about the rules of basketball, and more drawn towards the promise of a free t-shirt, Mimi, Andrei and I made it through an entire basketball game on Saturday. Our university team - the Northern Kentucky Norse - took on the Bellarmine Knights, in a national televised game.

Personally, I was most of the time too distracted by the mascots, brass bands, dance teams, cheerleaders and jumping castles to pay any attention to the actual game. The halftime break with mascot basketball was also a personal favourite.

And as for the confusion around the playing time, professional NBA-style basketball has four quarters, while college basketball has two halves. And our team did unfortunately lose 69-74.

Mimi and Andrei from Romania, posing during the mascot basketball game.

The curse of the yellow - why is my school colour always yellow? Mimi and Hege - commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as "the Danes". I guess that is what we get for exchanging from Aarhus School of Business.