Pictures from the first 6 weeks

At the top of Koldinghus castle.  It was SO foggy, but I managed to capture the flag (ha, no pun).

I <3  DK.

The Stone Age burial mound/stone formation in Allerod, about 10 min. from home.

Me in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany.  Riiiight before I realized the wallet was gone, so I was still in a great mood at this point...

LOTS of snow in Allerod!  This is looking right from my driveway.

Friends and I in Arhus...it was very cold and snowy, but we had a great night!

Nyhavn ("Newhoun")...THE postcard picture area

Berlin...?

There’s been a lot going on in the past weeks, mostly travel.  I’ll try to make an abridged version, but some stories are just too good to pass…

2 Weekends Ago: Malmo, Sweden.  Only a 30-minute train ride away, Malmo promised a new area to explore and—importantly—cheap shopping (I know, priorities).  Several friends and I decided to make a day of it, and we happened to go on a beautifully sunny day.  Malmo was indeed beautiful and the exchange rate was in our favor, so it was a great day overall, if a little cold.  A minor snafu came when ALL trains back to Copenhagen were cancelled from central station…One awful bus ride, train (finally!), and THREE HOURS later, we were home!  It was an adventure to say the least!

Last Weekend: Berlin, Germany.  Several of us were starting to get the travel itch, and booked a bus to Berlin.  It was a very promising trip as we had all heard great things about the city and the bus (including ferry) was very fast and inexpensive.  And then…it came to the trip itself…

As it turns out, everything bad that ever happened in Berlin for the past 100 years or so has happened on November 9^th.  That should have been an omen, as the 9^th is my birthday.  Let me just list the things that went wrong:

-Woke up late, no time to shower/eat breakfast.  Out the door in 5 minutes at 5:00 am (those who know me well understand that this is NOT my strong suit…so I was feeling very blahhh on the way there)

-Left my boarding pass at home, had to RUN to DIS to print out a new one.  Thank God for 24h. computers and printers

-At a bar/café the first night, I left my wallet…including EVERY form of ID, including passport, and around 50 Euro. 

-Didn’t realize I had lost said wallet until noon the following day, thanks to some spare cash in my coat.  FREAKED OUT when I realized where I had left it and had no way of getting to it until 5:00 that evening.  (**Eventually, I DID get it back.  Thank you, Gypsy Bar**).

-Was accosted by a very high, very drunk German man in the subway circa 10am.  He looked exactly like Todd (the creepy brother) from “Wedding Crashers,” and we had a very interesting conversation while he kept his hand on my leg.  He asked for my water and I obliged, then we helped him find the right train.  Most terrifying/amusing 10 minutes of my life.

-“Light snow” was the weather forecast, and it must have been just a figure of speech.  With only one pair of leather boots as shoes, my feet were freezing and soaked by the end of our travels.

Ok, all that aside, I really did have a good (if stressful) time in Berlin.  I didn’t enjoy the city so much; it’s HUGE with not much of a city center.  We were able to see most of the highlights via a wonderful guided walking tour with an Aussie tour guide!  Sites included: The Brandenburg Gate, The Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and several other major attractions.  We also stumbled across the MECCA of chocolate stores and did some…shopping and taste testing.  Delish.   The exchange rate for the Euro is so much better than the Danish Krone and Germany itself is cheap, so we enjoyed traditional German fare (including Weiner schnitzel and bratwurst!), amazing Spanish tapas, and excellent beer.  It was nice to eat out and not have to worry too much about the menu price!

 Another cool attraction: EGYPT!  When I was younger I was obsessed with Ancient Egypt, and we went into a museum housing an amazing collection of Egyptian artifacts—including the very famous bust of Queen Nefertiti (!!!).  We also visited the Berliner Dom Cathedral.  It was a spectacular structure and beautifully decorated.  I’m reading “The Pillars of the Earth” right now, and it makes for an interesting connection to what I’ve seen in Europe. 

Though it was an adventure and a very valuable (literally) learning experience, I have to say that Berlin in itself is definitely not my city.  It was way, WAY bigger than it seems and lacks the medieval, historical charm of Copenhagen.  Getting back on our clean and reliable S-Tog in CPH and knowing we were finally home was a huge sigh of relief.  The S-Tog ride alone made me realize how different the two cities are:  Berlin is a very diverse city—rich, poor, and multiethnic.  Copenhagen is extremely homogenous.  It feels like most of the people you are surrounded by are middle-upper class, comfortable, and “Nordic” looking.  It just makes me wonder what spring break will be like!

Break from Travel break?

One of the reasons I chose the DIS program is the AMAZING travel opportunity I have for spring break: 3 WEEKS OF EUROPEAN TRAVEL!!!  Week one is a study tour with my CMM class, visiting sites in London and Oxford.  The next two weeks will be with my friend Claire, on a whirlwind trip through Europe!  Currently, the rough sketch is as follows...

London to Rome (Friday night flight 3/27)

Rome: Saturday-Monday (3/28-30)

Rome - Cinque Terre (Monday evening? 3/30)

Cinque Terre: Tuesday/Wednesday ( 3/31-4/1)

Cinque Terre-Vienna Wednesday night train (4/1)

Vienna: Thursday/Friday (4/2-3)

Vienna-Munich Friday night (4/3)

Munich: Saturday-Sunday (4/4-5)

Munich-Interlaken Sunday night or Monday morning (4/5 or 4/6)

Interlaken: Monday-Tuesday (4/6-7)

Fam. friends near Marseilles: Wednesday-Thursday (4/8-9)

Paris: Friday-Saturday-Sunday (4/10-12)

It seems like a lot, but I think i'll be the best!  We're doing a Eurorail pass and trying to do as much overnight traveling as possible.  

Anyone who's done this before, please feel free to comment with suggestions or tips!  I would SO appreciate any advice!  

Cultural musings

“Jeg komma fra U.S.A.”

I come from the USA, one the key phrases I’ve had to learn in the past few weeks of Danish class.  Actually, it’s one of the only phrases I can say fairly well in Danish, and I suppose that’s a good thing.  But here nearly everyone speaks English very well, and it’s considered “cool” to imitate American language.

Which brings me to something I’ve neglected to mention in my blog…and one of the funniest things to happen over the past several weeks:  FIFTY NIFTY.

One night at dinner, my host family and I were talking about regional differences between the states.  They asked how many states we had and there was a little debate over 50 or 51.  I brought up a song that most all American school kids learn to remember the states, “Fifty Nifty.” I sang it once or twice, and then they just had to find it on YouTube.  Caroline was SO excited about this new American song and proceeded to learn it in about 24 hours.  Over the next week, all we heard was “Fifty Nifty.”  I’ve never been so American.  And then, there was the geography…

Once the song was learned, it was time to learn how to point to each of the states in tune to the music.  Somehow Caroline again learned them all in just over 24 hours.  Incredible.  I can assure you that I would not be able to do that with Danish towns (no states here).  Who knew that a song typically sung by 10 year olds would take so well in Denmark!  Nathalie then picked it up and ohhhmyyyygooooossshhhh we’ve heard fifty nifty probably over 50 times. 

I digress.  Regardless of our language, we have so many cultural similarities.  Once again, post dinner conversations have been so enlightening.  We confessed to one another what DIS had warned us about regarding our differences in language, manners of speech, nudity (!), and humor.  But neither one of us has encountered any problems in these areas!  They may be true in rare and extreme cases, but generally I feel very at home here and they enjoy getting to know another family member, albeit a temporary one.

Last night the topic was Danish Jante Law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jante_Law gives the “10 commandments” of this unwritten law, but it is really not so harsh in contemporary Danish thinking (if it is remembered at all).  Generally, janteloven refers to a humble state of mind.  It puts everyone on an equal level and unifies playing ground.  Similar to their somewhat socialist society, janteloven brings the Danes closer together as one, while simultaneously making them more homogenous.  There is a strong level of national pride here, but in a very humble way.  Take the Carlsberg slogan, “Probably the best beer in the world.”  It would be so much easier to just confidently state that it IS the best beer, but Danish culture humbles it down to “probably.” 

Beer aside, I really like this mindset.  I like the equality; I like the fact that it neutralizes everyone.  Like mom always said, there will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you.  Janteloven indirectly champions this. 

Further proof that Mom’s are always right, even halfway around the world.

 

 

**Sidenote…I’m going to Berlin next weekend!  And hopefully Ireland soon!  CAN’T WAIT!**

You broke the planter?!

Study Tour with CMM (Communication and Mass Media).  Thursday through Saturday.

 

Thursday:  Up at 5:00.  Out the door by 6:09.  On the bus at Frue Plads by 7:20.  Depart for Arhus, the second biggest city in Denmark and located in Central/Northern Jutland (the mainland of Denmark).  Make friends on bus.  Arrive Arhus 11:30.  Lecture at Danish School of Journalism.  Professor looks like a Ken doll but is actually quite interesting besides.  Good overview of Danish media and how it works (most journalists are not actually educated in journalism at all.  Who knew?).  Head to lunch at F-A-N-C-Y restaurant.  Delicious fish with lemon, potatoes, fresh bread, and cucumber salad.   Go to Midjuske Media, small local paper in Arhus.  Meet editor.  Find out for the 1385176 time that day that papers are dying and online media is growing.  Depressed, feel like media was possibly a poor choice of profession in the midst of an economic downturn.  Whoops.  Arrive at Danhostel Arhus.  IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST.  Decent hostel, but oh-so-scary location.  Quick shower and wardrobe change.  Head downtown for dinner.  Bus drives in circles, about 4 times.  Walk through pedestrian shopping area (SO cute) with friends to find restaurant.  Eat delicious meal at Corner Café on a (surprise!) corner by the water.  Observe snowfall.  Walk through said snow to Irish pub.  WAY too crowded.  Go to “Sherlock Holmes” pub.  Realize it’s called that because figuring out why you’re there in the first place is a complete mystery.  Head back into snow to find new pub.  Go BACK to Corner Café to ask cute waiter Tore where to go in this town.  Take directions to Bridegewater—GREAT idea!  Order a beer (in Danish) and hang out with new friends from DIS and two more new friends from South Africa and Niger.  “Where are you going tonight?...I’ll come visit you in US.  On holiday!”  Help Meg politely decline and get the heck out of there.  Navigate public transportation back to forest.  Walk through dark, rainy, foggy forest…kinda sketch.  Go to bed.

 

Friday:  Hej hej Arhus.  Hej Kolding.  Hej rain.  Picture perfect town in southern/central Jutland.  Like a postcard.  Tour Kolding castle—not anything like Fredricksburg castle. SO old and crumbly.  Walk to top of tower, can’t see a thing because we’re in a cloud (!). Walk downtown.  Find a store with hundreds of boots.  ALL DIS girls go crazy.  Jesse returns with a hot spot for lunch.  Enter Afghan restaurant with pizza slices bigger than your head.  Eat excellent lunch for crazy low price.  Walk back to bus.  Arrive Odense, second biggest city in Denmark and located on Funnen, the middle island.  Tour TV2.  TV2!!!!  The most watched channel in Denmark and the channel that broke media monopoly in 1988.  SWEET.  Talk with a producer for a while, check out some sets and meet director.  Tour main news desk.  Stay and watch 4:00 news, IN the newsroom.  Wave, on camera.  ON CAMERA.  LIVE.  So cool.  Take more pictures.  Hej hej, TV2.  Hej, Danhostel Odense.  Great location and nice rooms.  Well done!  Chill out, shower, go to dinner.  Eat wonderful Danish food at The Ugly Duckling.  Walk around.  Realize nothing is going on in Odense and we are oh-so-sleepy.  Return to hotel, hang out with friends, go to bed.  Wake up to roommates coming back and bird calls…?  Jury’s still out on that one. 

 

Saturday:  Wake up.  Breakfast in hotel. Still addicted to Pickwick strawberry tea.  Take walking tour of Odense.  Neglected to mention earlier this is the birthplace/hometown of Hans Christian Anderson (The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperors New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea…).  The influence is everywhere from park benches to shops to cobblestones.  See whole new side to Odense.  Fall in love.  THIS is what you think of when you think Denmark.  Holy shit.  SO adorable.  Take 2736836 pictures.  Take note of rain (again).  Doesn’t matter, still in love.  Love?  Tour guide notes that this is a very popular place to get married?  Love?  What?  Take yet another picture to document said spot.  Any takers??  ; )   Tour Danish media museum, made even more riveting by the fact that we can’t read Danish.  Duck out with Claire and head to local art shop.  Purchase ahhddoorrraaablllleee artistic interpretations of HC Anderson fairy tales on small square postcards; plan to frame when home.  Eat lunch at Mona Lisa—foccacia sandwiches.  Realize I am really becoming Danish when I immediately crave a small piece of chocolate after a meal.  Damnit.  Get back on bus.  Sleep.  Arrive home.  CPH, home!  Walk, train, bus, walk, home.  So happy.  So tired.  Wine, dinner, bed.  

City Center

Ok…sorry for the lack of postings this week.  When I started the blog I figured I’d write a little each day, and that has not been the case…so far.  I wind up making little mental notes in my head all day long about cultural observations and social commentary, but then of course forget to actually comment on it when I get home every night.  From now on I’ll try to actually write down some of those things each day and, of course, a highlights section.

For today: Not much to say about the past week.  More of the same—getting to know my routines, making new ones, and just soaking up what’s around me.  For now I’ll tell you a little bit about where I spend most of my day in the city center.

Somehow I missed the memo that DIS truly is SMACK in the middle of Copenhagen (literally a block from the “Times Square” of Denmark, called “City Hall Square”), but it’s such a comfortable city that you don’t really realize it.  Yes, there is the hustle and bustle that accompanies any city, but it’s more personal here.  It’s cozy.  Hygge, even.  The Danes have this feeling down to a science, and I LOVE IT.

A good example is my daily commute:  I take the train from Allerod to Norreport station every morning.  Not only are the trains immaculately clean with upholstered seats, but it is so quiet you could literally hear a pin drop.  Not an awkward quiet either, just calm.  I usually listen to my iPod or read a book (I’ve gone through four books already…I’m out of my Amercian stash :(      ).  Locals do generally the same thing, or read the daily papers provided for free at the train stops (which are actually quite good by journalistic standards).

On my walk to school from the Norreport train station, I take Fiolstraede, a pedestrian street lined with small shops, restaurants, bookstores, cafes…and bookstorecafés (those are my favorite).  In the morning, it’s bleary eyed commuters walking silently to their destination.  Quiet, stillness, and yet…friendliness. 

Coming home (in the dark at 4:30 pm) the shops are all open, many with candle lanterns or even GIANT 3 or 4 foot pillar candles in front of their shops.  Everyone is briskly walking, but chatting with their friends, looking in shop windows, or enjoying the hygge ambiance of the cafes.  I can’t really describe how much I adore this street.  I’ve come to know the subtle changes in the cobblestones, how to avoid the Amnesty people on the corner, and where to go to enjoy a latte and good book.  Walking down the street, I’ve started feel anonymous and yet part of all of it—moving to an emic perspective from an etic one.  My anthropology professors would be so proud.  : )

Via the side street where I bought my boots, Rosengarden, there comes Kultorvet, another square I walk by if I want to shop or take the long route.  It’s not the most charming square, but it’s a fun place to people watch and see the neighborhood come together.  This is also where Tiger is located—the mecca of Dollar Stores.  It’s a two story place with all the essentials—a little like Target, actually.  However it’s more like the little dollar section in the front of Target:  everything very low priced, a little on the cheaply made side, but really cute and oh-so-appropriate for a poor American college student.  I’ve been there about 4 times for school supplies, band aids, and a coffee mug to make tea in at DIS. Tiger=fabulous.

DIS is located on Vestergade, half a block from another favorite spot, Gammeltorv.  This means “Old Square” and connected to it is Nytorv, or “New Square.”  Gammeltorv is not immaculate, but is—again—that perfect Danish mix of being old and spectacularly, historically beautiful without being ostentatious or pretentious. Perfect.  Separating Gammeltorv and Nytorv is Stroget, the famous pedestrian street.  In the square there is the requisite “fresh” vendor, selling fruit and a HUGE assortment of flowers.  Stroget shops spill their wares on racks into the streets, and most all of the doors are propped open.  You get the feeling that apart from the 7-11 on every corner and the pulsing music heard faintly from the local H&M, things haven’t really changed much.  This could easily be what people saw and felt hundreds of years ago.  The timelessness of Europe is, to me at least, wonderful.  America feels so very young.

But now it is time for this young person to go to bed in this very old city.  My host family taught me how to decorate candles with cutouts from cocktail napkins, and my latest creations are burning away next to me as I snuggle into bed.  (Might I add that Danish duvets are amazingly fluffy and snuggly…America doesn’t know what it’s missing).  

For now, that’s all.  Vi ses!