You know you're Danish when...

I've been meaning to make an entire post of "quirks" and "skills" I've acquired during my last ten months living here in Denmark, but I think I'll work on it and save it for August, when I finally return to the states and can reflect on the entirety of my time spent here.

For now, just a quick "You know you're Danish..." teaser...

You know you're Danish when...

You impress students with your ability to open bottles with pretty much anything.

Danes drink a lot. Because they drink so frequently and the opportunity to drink may arise with little to no warning, Danes are sometimes caught off guard without a bottle opener (they aren't like Americans, where every other person seems to have a bottle opener on their keyring!). Because of this, they have evolutionarily appeared to have gained the skill to open bottles with just about anything in their current surroundings. Slowly but surely adapting to my environment, I am gaining this skill.

Students come into my office pretty frequently asking if I have a bottle opener. I don't have one at my desk (though I guess I really should just get one), but I'm usually pretty cheery about taking their bottle and telling them I will find something to open it with. The student then follows me around as I search the office for a suitable tool. Once a suitable tool has been found, I open the bottle using my Danish MacGuyver Bottle Opening Skills and they are usually pretty darn impressed.

Things I have used which have impressed students opening bottles within the past few weeks:

01. Another bottle
02. A stapler
03. Scissors
04. A huge bread knife
05. A lighter

None of these tools are particularly creative, but I'm pretty proud that I've acquired this "skill" while I've been living abroad.

Science and evolutionary biology are cool.