Sun and Tan

Yes griping about the weather is boring but I feel compelled to address the issue because we have had an incredible three sunny days in a row. Let's recap the sunlight or lackthereof since I arrived in Århus two months ago:

When I first arrived in Århus, there was a noticeable lack of sunlight here at 56 degrees north of the equator. We are on the same latitude as Edmonton, Canada and Edinburgh, Scotland. East Lansing is 43 degrees north.This took some getting used to, especially because even though sunset was at 4:30, by 3 o'clock in the afternoon the sky was noticeably fading to gray.

 

Grey afternoon in late January

The problem isn't just the hours of sunlight but the weather too. It's almost always cloudy. I forgot to bring sunglasses with me but I don't think I'll need them very often, the last couple days being an exception.

There's a tanning salon very close to my house. It's called Dark Tan. My mentor, a Danish girl who was assigned to help me transition to Århus, pointed out to me that tanning is very popular here despite its known cancer risks.

You may have heard me say this before, but I also saw an alarm clock/light combination. The light gradually turns on 30 minutes before the alarm goes off. My Norwegian housemate has such a light. I can definitely see how this light is useful in the winter months. In Michigan we are no strangers to waking up and getting ready in the dark but the darkness lasts longer here.

The hours of sunlight are fine now. The sunrises at 6:59am and sets at 6:03pm. East Lansing still gets a bit more sunlight than we do, with sunrise at 7:06am and sunset at 6:33pm.

To end on a happy note, not a cloud in the sky three days ago: