Hi everyone

Once again it is time for an update from Vancouver. A lot has happened around here since my last blog entry as you may have noticed by looking at my pictures. If not, here is the short version: I went cycling in Stanley Park with my Danish friends from CBS; Maria and Jonas. On our roundtrip, we noticed an outdoor pool, and I went there the next day with a group of friends from countries in Europe. Furthermore, I have been to the beach at campus twice (once to swim and once for a very nice sunset), and I have been enjoying the heated outdoor pool at the UBC Aquatic Centre.

I have attended numerous barbeques with mostly free food (!), and so far I have attended 3 sports events at campus: The first was a basketball game between UBC Thunderbirds and Cal State Fullerton at "War Memorial Gym". I have bought a seasons pass to all of the sports at UBC (football, soccer, basketball, swimming, ice hockey etc) for 10$CA (a bit higher than the US$). It came with a t-shirt and gives me "free" entry to all games of all sports throughout the term. After the basketball game it was time for the homecoming American football game (incl. tail-gating with BBQ and music before the game) at the Thunderbird Stadium. Both games had a great atmosphere and a happy ending (UBC won). And finally, I went to see the Vancouver Canucks' prospects train at the Thunderbird (I think you're getting the picture by now) Ice Skating Arena. And I went to see the "Red Bull Soap Box Race" ("sæbekasseræs"). It was a lot of fun watching all the crazy-themed home-built cars going downhill.

I started my classes on September 2. I am taking four courses, which all appear to be more or less interesting. The courses I have are: 1) Shipping and International Logistics, 2) Logistics Services Management, 3) International Business Management and finally, 4) Urban Studies. The first two courses are outside the boundaries of my normal studies at CBS in Copenhagen. They complement each other well in the way that the first deals with trade by sea and the second with trade by land. The third course concerns a lot of stuff I had last semester, but hopefully I will understand it even better this time. The final course is at the Faculty of Arts and is a mixture of many areas of study. The professor seeks to provide us with a broad basis for studying the city and its processes by involving sociology, economy, geography, anthropology and many, many more.

Finally, I have noticed a few things during my stay at UBC:

Asians always ride their bicycle in the lowest possible gear. For some strange reason…

People thank the bus driver when they get off the bus. Imagine doing that on the bus in Denmark…

Working in the weekend is not a problem for Canadians. This became evident throughout this weekend, when intensive construction work took place during most of yesterday and today.

Fraternities ("brotherhood houses") at UBC are nothing like the fraternities portrayed in American movies. I went to visit one of them since the president of the fraternity is in two of my classes…

Canadian sports rock!

Contrary to what I had been told before going here, it does not always rain in Vancouver. It has been sunny nearly every day since my last blog entry.

Take care,

Michael