Once a List-maker, Always a List-Maker

So, this will probably be my LAST BLOG POST before my return to Seattle. Crazy, scary, exciting? Yes, yes, yes. The past few days I have been re-reading my earlier blogs, and it’s so funny to think back to my first couple of days here, when I was so unsure of how my semester would unfold. Since then, I have experienced so many wonderful things (and tasted so many delicious foods), I cannot hope to sum it all up in one final reflective statement. List-maker that I am, however, I will attempt to do so in a few different statements. Probably fighting a losing battle, but it’s the best I got.

This Semester I Learned:

• To actually enjoy tea.
• How to speak Danish (not really) and understand it (just listen for key words)
• How much I really do LOVE eating.
• The procrastination fairy exists all over the world.
• How to eat with a knife and fork and not look like a 3 year old (now I eat more like a 9 year old).
• To love candles (never mind the fire hazard).
• How to make proper smørrebrød
• How to use Danish kroner (though I may have forgotten how American money works…)
• What I’ll probably do for my career/life (kind of important)
• How much I love Europe (and how to travel around it by myself)
• The importance of hygge

Jeg vil savner (I will miss): 

• My favoritest host family (and my bestest host dog!) <3
• Wienerbrød
• Home-cooked Danish food
• Danish 7/11s
• My commute (and seeing Frederiksborg Castle every day!)
• Candles/hygge
• Tea, cookies, and candy every night
• Danish fashion and shopping (so many sweaters!)
• DIS friends–Why won’t you all just move to Minnesota?
• Being a short  plane ride away from anywhere in Europe
• Hearing Danish everywhere I go
• Being a short walk away from hundreds of years of history and culture

I’m looking forward to:

• Eating Mexican/Thai/Indian/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/all non-European food
• “Cheap” not being defined as under 100 kr.
• SLEEPING ALL DAY EVERY DAY
• Seeing my sister and my doggy!
• Driving my car!
• SO MUCH BUBBLE TEA
• Being able to understand people around me
• Seeing Carleton people again! (and returning to Carleton academics…)
• Giving everybody all their European gifts
• Regressing to my baggy sweatpants self (but also bringing a little Danish fashion back home)

Obviously all those lists could go on forever, but that’s a brief summary for you. If you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty conflicted about all this–on the one hand, there’s so much to look forward to about going home, but there’s also so much that will be missing in my life once I leave Denmark. Luckily, I still have one more day to see a couple last friends, eat my last morsels of Danish food, and have one last hyggeligt dinner with my host family (or rather, Charlotte and Cille). Above all, it’s my host family that has really made this experience as great as it was, and I can’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for me. This has truly been an amazing semester, and I am SO glad I chose to come to DIS.

 

Never Want to Say Goodbye

So I’m (almost) officially done with work now. Just one test left on Friday, and I’m home free! That means more time to eat–I mean blog. I’ll start by catching up on my weekend, which was busy but lots of fun and very Danish.

Saturday was my host farfar, Eric’s (Søren’s dad) 70th birthday party. In the afternoon, my host mormor (Charlotte’s mom) came over from Jylland (Jutland) with her husband for lunch. We all went to the party around 5pm to be early because it started at 6pm. The first part of the party began as all Danish get-togethers do: lots of handshakes and introductions. In Denmark, you’re supposed to say hello and goodbye to each person individually, even if there are 50 people in attendance at a gathering, like there were on Saturday. Charlotte informs me that this is why it’s important to be early (so you can stand around while others come and say hello to you, rather than having to make a tour around the room). After probably about half an hour, we were lead to our seats by our table leaders. I was sitting with Charlotte, which was nice because she tried to give me some idea of what was going on with all the toasts and songs and such. And there were a lot of toasts and songs and such. At Danish birthday parties, it’s customary to write songs for the person of honor and have everybody sing them. So throughout the meal we were constantly being stopped and handed a set of lyrics or listening to a toast or something. And this was not a short dinner. We had a few different courses–appetizers, main course in the form of a buffet, fruits and cheese, cake (a special Serbian cake made as a present by one of Eric’s friends), coffee, more drinks, and finally a “go home” meal of sandwiches around 2am. Apparently this was a “short” party because most of the guests were elderly and could not stay out for dancing. It was really fun though, and I enjoyed getting to experience such a Danish tradition.

On Sunday, I attended another quintessential Danish event–a fodbold (i.e. football, i.e. soccer) game! This was an event done by DIS for all students in Danish classes, as well as those lucky enough to buy the extra subsidized tickets DIS provided before they sold out. The game was FCK (FC København) vs. AGF (Århus GF?). Obviously most people were rooting for FCK but AGF is Charlotte’s favorite team, so I had to stay loyal, obviously. I was a bit worried about finding my way to the stadium at first, but on the way I ran into several other DIS students waiting for the bus. Of course, when the bus finally showed up, it let about 2 people (out of maybe 15) on and then drove off. So we decided to walk. Luckily it was not that far, and it turned out to not be a super popular game, so there were plenty of seats left. I found Shuyao and Michelle amidst the crowd and settled in for what I thought would be a long game. But it actually went really quickly. Obviously all soccer games are basically the same length, but I think I’m just used to watching baseball games with tons of standing around and extra innings. Of course, I had to get a hot dog and a Carlsberg to complete the experience, and Shuyao also bought some popcorn that I had a significant portion of. All in all, it was a fun time, though slightly disappointing since neither team scored at all. The fans were super intense though. At the beginning both sides had flares and then there was an FCK cheering section that was bellowing organized cheers and bouncing in time a bunch. So that was fun to see.

Monday we had our last Danish class! It turned out to be really fun because our teacher Ditte Marie brought in her daughter, Amanda, and some Christmas treats for us. First we enjoyed some Christmas cookies and æbleskiver–basically like little pancake balls. Traditionally they have apple slices in them (hence the “æble”) but now you can just get them frozen and they don’t come with the apple. Apparently you can also get them at Trader Joe’s in the U.S., so I’ll be on the lookout when I get home. Then we had a Christmas decorating competition (kind of a mix between Danish and American cultures because Danes would never compete like that–everybody has to be equal). Our team was the smallest, and we also did not get any help from Amanda, so our table ended up looking a bit sad. Still, it was lots of fun, and I managed to make a Christmas star all by myself (you can see it on top of our “tree”). Needless to say, we did not win…

Which brings me to TODAY. A lovely day, if I do say so myself. I began leisurely, since I finished Positive Psychology last week. We got treats in both my European Clinical Psychology and my Adolescence in Northern Europe classes–no complaints there. The highlight of the day by far was my dinner at Den Tatoverede Enke as a reward for being a blogger this semester! It was super fancy, with three different courses and a beer especially paired with each one–definitely something I would not have paid for myself, but such a wonderful and hyggeligt experience! I took pictures of all the food and beer (unsurprising if you’ve been following this blog at all). It was fun because I didn’t know most of the people in attendance that well, and I got to chat with a variety of people including other bloggers, videographers for DIS, and one of the Architecture and Design interns. Additionally, they announced the Blogger of the Year, which was Perri VanderClock. She has a great blog you can read here (or it’s also on the DIS Blogger page). As a prize for all the bloggers, we also got super pretty customized Moleskine notebooks with our names imprinted onto the cover, so that was pretty cool (I am a big fan of Moleskine and was actually about to buy a new one for myself! Good thing I waited…).

two kinds of bread with herb butter and a Danish beer with a bit of spice

this was the second beer (same as bottle above). had an orange flavor to be well-paired with the duck.

duck confit with red cabbage, parsnip puree, a potato, and i think some apple sauce or something. it was exquisite.

panna cotta with almond. basically a play on risalamande, with all the ingredients separated and in a different form. sooo tasty.

this was the beer paired with our dessert... it was made from cherries and tasted sweet and not very beer-like. meant to be the "cherry sauce" for the risalamande theme.

So anyway I have to wrap this up because I am waking up early tomorrow, not to go to class, but to go exploring around Copenhagen! My high school friend Audrey who now goes to University of Edinburgh is visiting on her way home for break. She’ll be my first (and only) visitor in Copenhagen, so I’m really excited. We’re gonna go to Nyhavn, Sankt Peders Bageri, and a museum or two. On Thursday she’s coming up to Hillerød to see Frederiksborg and to meet my host family! Basically, this week is awesome, and I never want to leave Copenhagen!

Just about a week ago when I was in the midst of work, I thought I was prepared to leave, but now that I have time to spend I am starting to realize (for the bajillionth time) that I’m going to miss all of this sooo much! It’s absolutely INSANE that I only have a week and a half left here, and I’m already freaking out a bit. There’s so much to see and eat and shop for! At least I have finally gotten myself a big fatty circle scarf, which is an absolute staple in Danish fashion (it actually took me like 3 days to decide which one I wanted, which Lacey has not stopped making fun of me for, and I am in love with it because it is so cozy!). While I’m excited to show that and other Danish traditions to people at home and at school, I cannot believe I’m not returning here in the immediate future! I guess I’ll just have to soak it up as much as I can, but I don’t think anything will prepare me to leave this country and the people I have grown to love so much over the past 4 months. It’s funny to look back at my first few days here, when I couldn’t believe I’d be staying here for 4 full months. Now I can’t believe I’m not living here forever!

Gone With the Wind

Yeah I’ve been sitting on that title for about a week now… My apologies for the delay of this post. Lots of work with very little motivation does not equal blog post, apparently. But here I am, back in business, ready to tell you about my trip to Amsterdam! And some other stuff too.

Amsterdam:

stroopwafel... two layers of wafel cookie with mapley syrupy stuff inside. so addicting.

Allie and I were both pretty tired post-Thanksgiving and we also were in different stages of colds so we decided from the get-go that we wanted a pretty relaxed weekend… i.e. we definitely went home at like 9pm every night. Still, it was a really fun weekend, and I loved our approach to it. We got to stay with my dad’s old friend Carole, who has been living in Amsterdam for the past 4 years. She was kind enough to let us crash in her loft a few floors up from her apartment, which was located right on a canal on the edge of the city center. Perfect. Not only did we get a cozy living space all to ourselves with convenient access to the city, but she also fed us breakfast and Dutch goodies, like stroopwafels (pictured above on the right). Yummy!

so pleased about my life choices

After settling in on our first day, we just spent the evening wandering around the surprisingly small city center. We found out later that we’d been wandering in the Red Light District (I think all the coffee shops and passing the Sex Museum should probably have given us a hint). First we stopped and got some of the famous Dutch frites; I had mayo and onions on mine–DELICIOUS. Then we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant (to get the authentic Dutch experience, obviously). We had a lovely time chatting over dinner, and talked for over two hours after the waiter cleared our plates until we found out that we really had to ask for the check in order to get it! Obviously we got dessert as well, and I sprung for a fancy schmancy apple strudel.

We began Saturday morning with breakfast and tea with Carole. We got to chat with her about her experiences living in Europe, and I updated her on my dad’s happenings. Then Allie and I headed out for a day of exploring, which included the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank House. Luckily Carole warned us to buy our tickets online ahead of time, so we didn’t have to wait in any lines! We also were able to walk around the whole time (rather than taking public transit) because everything in Amsterdam is surprisingly close. Of course, we also found the flower market and some cheese shops along the way. I may or may not have bought a cheese wheel and some balsamic mustard… (after trying all twenty of the samples in the store, obviously).

on the way into town, we walked right past the zoo, which is apparently "the 2nd most popular destination in town." I wonder what is the first?

one of my many, many canal pictures...

I was in heaven...

I enjoyed the Van Gogh Museum a lot. It was a good size (fairly small) and very well organized, so you could follow his life while seeing the progression of his artwork.

can't go to Amsterdam without this picture, even if there are strangers awkwardly in your photo...

our lunch was one of my favorite meals. it began with these...

I couldn't resist the raspberry juice... soooo yummy

I had a whole wheat bagel with sun-dried tomato cream cheese and olive tapenade with sun-dried tomatoes. Definitely a trip highlight.

Amsterdam had even more bikes than Copenhagen--a feat I didn't think was possible.

we stopped for some delicious hot chocolate before our evening reservation at the Anne Frank Huis... so hard to resist getting a second.

The Anne Frank Huis was a really well-done museum, and a really powerful experience. We paid a few extra Euro for an introduction in English, so we would know a bit more about what we were seeing. It was just crazy to know what people had gone through exactly where we were standing many years before.

For dinner that night we had Italian (we really immersed ourselves in the Dutch culture…). Then we went home early, grabbing some Turkish rice pudding along the way (missing Istanbul already!). Snuggled up in our loft, we each read our respective books (Harry Potter in French for me and Breaking Dawn for Allie, which she found in the loft). It was really a great end to a lovely weekend. Sunday morning, we slept in and ate a late breakfast, still reading. The weather was pretty windy and rainy, so it was just as well that we decided to stay in. We headed to the airport around noon, where me and Allie had different flights because of a sudden price-change midway through our booking. Just as I was about to get settled at my gate, C9, I found out that it had changed, and had to go all the way to D58. Then the plane was a bit delayed because the crew had gone to C9. I thought I was done with travel issues, but Copenhagen had other things in mind for me.

When we were about to land, there was a windstorm going on (unbeknownst to me) and the plane was experiencing a lot of turbulence. In fact, when we went down for landing the first time, the plane was tipping back and forth, and the pilot decided to pull back up and try again. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. However, when we went around and tried again the plane landed successfully and everybody applauded. Again, I thought finally I could have a smooth trip the rest of the way home. Again, I was mistaken.

I made the train successfully and settled in, excited to see my host family again. The train was shaking a bit, but I didn’t particularly notice until the train stopped and the driver gave a couple of longer-than-usual announcements. I heard the girl sitting across from me (who was talking on the phone) say in Danish, “The train’s only going to Birkerød,” and sure enough, the list of stops changed and Birkerød (two stops and about 15 min. before my own) became the end of the line. I thought I heard something about a bus that would take us the rest of the way (the announcements are all in Danish, so I only understand key words). So I was feeling okay about piling off the train, and prepared to wait for the bus. There was no bus immediately though, and many of the other people were catching taxis so I started to get a bit worried. After a few minutes of waiting, checking rejseplanen.dk in the station’s computer to see if there was a bus that could take me closer to Hillerød, and watching to see what other people were doing, I eventually called Søren to ask for a ride. Of course, once he was about 10 min. away, the bus finally came, but by that time it was easier to just wait for him.

On the way home, he told me that the wind storm (which I’d noticed by then after being blown around by the wind) had apparently caused a tree to fall on the track, which is what caused my train to stop. Apparently the train that encountered the tree falling (which could not have been more than one or two trains before mine because our train driver only discovered it halfway through the ride–good thing my plane was delayed!) had to stay put for several hours because they were worried about the danger of electrical shock. Of course, Søren also told me that you were supposed to avoid driving as much as possible, and I saw why as the car got pushed a foot or so over every few minutes as we were driving home–not exactly a relaxing ride. When I finally got home, I checked the weather and apparently the wind was gusting up to 60mph, and in some parts of Denmark it was hurricane-level wind. So in other words pretty serious storm.

Luckily by the next day my train was all fixed up and everything was normal again (definitely not something that would happen in the U.S.). Overall, our trip was really fun (even if it had a bit of a hectic ending), and I was really proud of myself for packing only my backpack! I know it’s not a terribly impressive feat for a weekend trip, but I feel like all this independent traveling has made me a more efficient traveler and packer, and I just feel like I’ve gotten better at the whole process.

Other happenings this week:

Det Frie Gymnasium! For my Adolescence in Northern Europe class, we had to complete a learning lab, in which we visited a site to see Danish adolescents in person and use the experience to answer our research questions. My group visited Det Frie Gymnasium, or “The Free Gymnasium”, a Danish high school (or the equivalent) in Copenhagen. The school is known for being super democratic, so the students are involved in all official decisions, from what the cafeteria serves to what to do with the new building the school has acquired. We talked to a girl named Anna, who is family friends with my teacher. She gave us a tour of the school (which is covered in graffiti because the students voted that they should be able to paint wherever they wanted, except on chairs of course). The students are on an equal level with teachers, and are able to question what they’re learning and have some say in the way they are taught (though of course they have to complete a certain curriculum, and in subjects like math there aren’t very many ways to teach the material). It was really cool to see such a different school environment and talk to some Danish teens in person. It definitely tied together a lot of things we’d been discussing in class, and was a really unique opportunity.

SO MUCH HOMEWORK. Three presentations and two papers, to be exact. Hence the reason I haven’t been blogging all week. But I’m close to being done (two papers and two tests left), and soon I will just be enjoying my last two weeks in Denmark . Wow it is weird to type that. While I’m getting even more excited to go back to the U.S., I’m also really enjoying Christmas season in Denmark at the moment… Charlotte hung a little bag (sort of like a stocking) on each of our doors, and she has been giving us little gifts (I mean the Nisse–the Danish gift-giving elves that supposedly live in your house). I got an advent calendar and some little Danish cookies. The advent calendar has definitely been helping my motivation… It’s a lot easier to get out of bed when you know you get a surprise chocolate candy!

Tomorrow is my first Danish birthday party, and it will be a 50 person affair. More specifically, it’s my host farfar’s (grandpa) 70th birthday. Danes go all out for birthdays, so I’m sure this will be pretty epic, and definitely will last late into the night. Then on Sunday I’m going to an FCK (the Copenhagen “football” team) game with all the Danish classes. Should be a really fun weekend, but I’ve also got to write an essay and study for a final sometime in there. We’ll see how that goes…

Happy holidays from Hillerød!

Work, Work, Work

Is all I have time for right now! I promise updates on Amsterdam and my visit to Det Frie Gymnasium this week are coming soon! I’ve had 2 presentations so far this week, and I still have 2 (one unfinished, one not yet begun) papers due tomorrow, so it’s been a bit hectic the past couple of days. Never fear, after Tuesday I will be doing a lot of fun stuff and posting much more regular updates! Or rather, that’s the plan. So hang in there and more blogging goodness will be headed your way.

While you wait, read about some of the Danish Christmas traditions currently underway:

http://www.visitdenmark.dk/uk/en-gb/menu/turist/inspiration/jul/danish-christmas-traditions.htm

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/knowledgesafety/qt/xmasdenmark.htm

Too Busy (Having Fun)

So… I have just finished an essay (my second and last for the week, but don’t worry I’ve still got one or two plus a midterm next week) and I was about to spend the next forty minutes browsing the internet mindlessly while waiting for my Skype date, but instead you know what I did? I thought of you, my dear readers, and decided to give you an update since I’ve been slacking behind so much lately. My apologies if this is super disorganized and random… I’m still riding my post-turned-in-assignment high as well as some lack-of-sleep hyperness.

As you probably could have guessed by my lack of blogging, this week has been super hectic! Well, sort of. It’s been an odd week because a lot of classes are canceled this week since the Danes have their week off. Most teachers try not to cancel just because their children have a week off, but through sickness, getting time to work on papers, and having the same teacher for 2 classes, I have had 5 out of my 10 total class periods canceled for this week. Never fear, though, I had plenty to occupy myself with during all that free time.

First off, back in the U.S. my sister is on her fall break, and my mom was visiting her, so they were galavanting around Madison, WI and Chicago this week. This also meant that I actually got to talk to my sister for a bit because my mom and I skyped (my sister is not a big fan of long distance communication methods). Plus she is currently researching study abroad programs, so of course I had to do all the research right away (much more important than the paper I was supposed to be working on).

I have also been shopping like crazy, trying to find a jacket to get me through this late fall period. Unfortunately, this is Copenhagen, so all the jackets are beautiful but pricey, and I figure if I’m going to spend that much money, I’d better find the perfect one. Yes I know I’ve been suffering greatly–too many wonderful clothes! Anyway, I think I may have found one (because I know you’re really concerned about my fashion choices) and ordered it online, which actually turned into a huge ordeal because I don’t have a Danish credit card, but I figured it out eventually. Hopefully it will be worth it!

Then on Tuesday afternoon, I finally got my hair cut! I’ve been putting it off until the very last possible moment (by this week I really needed a haircut) especially because haircuts, like everything else, are expensive here. The average cost in the salons is about $100, but you can find cheaper depending on how good of a haircut you want (and if you trust a student hairdresser). I ended up finding a place called Street Cut that was about half the price of most other places I’d seen, and it actually was a really pleasant experience. The woman who cut my hair spoke English really well (like most people here) and she figured out what I wanted really quickly, which I’d been worried about because I have lots of trouble communicating with even American hairdressers.

All this is to say that while I should have been focusing on my midterm and paper for Applied Psychology (which is actually one of my favorite classes), I was doing other things. I did get some studying/writing in though, and everything happened on time, just not as efficiently or smoothly as I’d hoped going into this week.

Wednesday night (post midterm and paper #1) I attended an International Career Night held at Studenterhuset (a student cafe/bar/event place near DIS) and run by DIS. I did not really know what to expect, but figured it’d be a good thing to attend since I’m beginning to realize that I’m almost halfway through my junior year and perhaps should know more about how to navigate the Real World. It actually turned out to be super interesting, and I’m really glad I went. There were actually a ton of speakers, talking about all kinds of jobs, and they had some really inspirational messages and great advice about choosing jobs and navigating an international life/career. Most of them were non-Danes working in Denmark, which was also fun because we could relate as outsiders to Danishness. As an unexpected bonus, we were also provided with two free drink tickets and a “snack” of chicken, pasta, fruit and bread. By now I’m sure you know how much I love food, so basically it was a perfect evening. My one shock was that the whole night I had been assuming I’d get home around 9:30pm because the event was supposed to go from 6-8pm. Not until I was about 2 min. from Hillerød did I realize that it was 22:00, not 21:00! That was quite a shock. Luckily I had very little homework for the next day so it wasn’t really a problem, but it was unsettling to lose an hour of my life so suddenly.

As busy as this week was, this next one is only going to even crazier. I have assignments due and extracurriculars planned every day of the week, plus I’m realizing that I leave for two weeks of travel in a week and a half and I am TOTALLY UNPREPARED. Especially because, unlike my trips thus far, everything will not be nicely planned out and handed to me in booklet when I reach the airport. At least I have ample procrastination material!

Preview of my weekend activities:

-DIS midterm party on Friday

-Christmas dinner with my host fam and family friends on Saturday

-classy jazz band canal tour on Sunday

(SO MUCH HOMEWORK)

Hej hej!

P.S. On a somewhat embarrassing note, I got lost again yesterday for the first time since my first week here. I was looking for Tiger, a cheap and awesome store where most things are 10kr. (about $2). The last time I had been to this particular Tiger was the first week (somewhat ironically), but I thought I’d remember where it was. Turns out, I did remember, but I walked right past it because I was distracted by the rain, and went in about three huge circles before finally spotting it when I was right on the verge of giving up. Mind you, this was not some new and different location… it’s only a few blocks from DIS. So somewhat embarrassing, but at least I was able to buy my $2 gloves!

Whirlwind Weekend

What a marvelous (but exhausting) weekend. Friday night was Kultur Natten (Culture Night) in Copenhagen, which is basically a chance for businesses to promote themselves with sales and activities. All you need to do to be able to participate is buy a Kultur Kit for 90 kr (which also provides you with free transportation for the night). DIS was doing an American Halloween event, complete with pumpkin carving and a haunted house. My friend Jenn was volunteering in the haunted house, so I arranged to meet her and her friend at 9pm when they got off. I went home for dinner first (it was only me and Søren and home so we just had leftovers) and then came back around 8. I used my free hour to shop around and enjoy the music playing on the streets. I looked at a bunch of TinTin stuff in a comic shop, found a good deal on a couple pairs of tights, and got a lead on a potential jacket. So I was feeling good and productive when I met Jenn and her friend Catherine (and later Brenda, who lives with the same host family as Jenn). We ended up just walking around for a bit then going to see the Round Tower, which was free that night and none of us had been yet. It took about a half hour waiting in line but we made it to the top and the view at night was gorgeous! We tried to get some pictures, but mine were all blurry. It was really fun, and throughout the night Catherine and I realized that we are pretty much the same person–we both live in Hillerød, we’re both from the Seattle area, we both go to small liberal arts colleges in the Midwest, we both played volleyball and the flute! It’s actually crazy. Plus Brenda and I share a love of Danish hotdogs (we spit a Fransk hotdog with bacon–best decision ever) and clothing. And all four of us have Alle Zoner train passes, which is perfect because other people would have to pay a fair amount of money to come all the way up to Hillerød or down to Hvalsø, where Jenn and Brenda live. So Jenn and I basically decided we needed to hang out more.

I left a bit earlier than the rest of them so I could catch my 1:10am bus home from the train station (instead of having to wait for the 2:35) and made my train in plenty of time. It was my first time taking the Natbus, so I was a little nervous about making sure I got where I needed to go, but it all worked out great. Plus I talked with a really nice Danish lady at the bus stop who apparently works with high school exchange students (Danes going to the U.S.). It’s always impressive when a Dane knows where Minnesota is!

On Saturday I attended my first baptism! At 11am we went to the ceremony at an old church surrounded by farmland (not too far out of town). On the way we passed some ADORABLE cows grazing in the fields, obviously a highlight of the day. The ceremony itself lasted about an hour but I spent most of the time watching to see when we were supposed to stand/sit because I couldn’t understand anything people were saying. Afterwards we went back home for a couple hours, where I had a light lunch and watched the most recent Project Runway (last challenge before Fashion Week–so intense!). Then we piled into the car once again to go to the party which was held at an office building. There was a couple hours of mingling, which mostly consisted of a lot of introductions (at Danish gatherings you’re supposed to say hello and goodbye to each person individually), especially since I couldn’t understand most of the conversations. Some people were nice enough to speak to me in English for a bit but mostly I just smiled and nodded. There were some ADORABLE children around to watch though. There was a little boy (maybe 3 years old) running around in a shirt and tie. At one point I saw him lying on the ground pushing a fire truck back and forth and later on he was walking around with a hot dog in one hand (no bun) and a hamburger patty in the other. Plus watching the present opening was pretty cute–they even got a mini fishing pole!

The early dinner was also excellent–wild pig with potatoes, a vegetarian lasagna, green beans, and some other things that I couldn’t identify. And hot dogs and hamburgers for the kids (though I saw several adults grab them too). I sat at a table with Charlotte, Nanna, Cille, and a family friend Karen with her daughter. Søren joined us for about a minute, but I think he decided he didn’t want to sit at the girls table, so he spent most of the night at the men’s table where they were all drinking white russians. For dessert  there as a big lagkage (Danish layer cake–usually for birthday parties) with strawberry cream filling and a topping I originally thought was fondant but it was actually marzipan. I also ended up having a hot dog for a post-dessert snack (Danish hot dog toppings are highly superior to their American counterparts). Altogether we were there for about five hours, and I was getting pretty tired, especially since I’d been up late the night before. We finally left around 8pm but then Karen and her husband and daughter followed us home for some drinks. My host parents opened up a really nice bottle of Australian port wine and we drank some fancy-like in tiny glasses. The two big dogs (Karen’s family also had their Bernese Mountain dog over) were getting really excited about having so many people, and me and Koe (Karen’s husband–pronounced “koo”; not sure about the spelling) both got our drinks spilled by dogs knocking into us. Luckily nothing was stained (except maybe Koe’s shirt) and the evening was fun, especially because they were speaking in English so I could participate in the conversation. Once they went home, though, I was exhausted, and slept for about 11 hours.

Today there’s a Modern Family marathon on (I’m sitting in front of the TV now) which is fun but also bad because my productivity has been severely limited, and I have a bunch of work to get done.  So, time to move on to preparing for my midterm and starting my paper due Wednesday…. *sigh* The crazy thing is that in only two weeks I will be on my travel break in Paris! I can’t believe how quickly this semester is whizzing by.

I Have Not Forgotten You!

Sorry about the lack of updates this week… surprisingly little has happened since I got back from Milan, and then now that things are happening, I haven’t had much time to post a blog about it! A larger post will be coming this weekend once I get some free time (I’m going to a baptism with my family on Saturday!) but here’s some tidbits to get you through your Friday.

• Lack of homework- for some reason this has been a really laid-back week (probably because I turned everything in before long study tour) so I have had very little work, to the point of feeling like I’m forgetting things! That said, next week I have a midterm and a paper due (neither of which I have started on), so I probably should have been using my free time a bit more productively…

• Giant snegl – at Sankt Peder’s Bageri (my favorite bakery–delicious, great student discounts, and close to DIS!) on Wednesdays they have large snegls (technically that is Danish for snail in case you Google it and get confused, but it’s also a swirly pastry, kind of like a cinnamon roll) for very cheap (10 kr.). I heard about this MARVELOUSNESS from Allie, and decided to check it out this Wednesday. I got one with glaze, and it was just heavenly. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I return to Carleton and I can’t get any more motivational pastries!

• Field Study – I had a field study for my Positive Psychology class on Wednesday. We were supposed to walk around Copenhagen and observe Danes and see why they are so happy. At first we were nervous about interviewing random people on the street, but we got some pretty good answers from some nice people, including a window washer who first thought we were asking why he was washing the windows (he said “well… to keep them clean…” and we had to rephrase ). It actually turned out to be pretty fun (though it was super cold and windy out!) and I also got a delicious raspberry muffin from Paludan Cafe while we did some people watching there. Yummy!

• CAKE- On Wednesday night at dinner my host mom mentioned baking a cake the next day… but the whole family was like “why not tonight?” She was debating whether to do it, and then she looked at me and said “Well, I know I don’t need to ask your opinion” (because she knew I always want cake–she knows me so well!). So she baked a yummy yummy cinnamon sugar cake… I didn’t catch the name of it, but it’s a buttery cake (similar taste to a pound or coffee cake but more bread-like) with a cinnamon sugary crust topping. SO GOOD.  I really had to restrain myself from eating like half of it that night.

• Movie Theater- Last night Nanna, Cille, and I went to the movies! We saw Footlo0se (the new one… for some reason it was released a day earlier in Denmark–it comes out in the U.S. today I believe), which was a typical American bland/predictable movie, but the experience was really fun. First off, I ended up bringing my bag even though I didn’t really need any of its contents since I wasn’t paying. But it turned out to be a good decision because we went to the candy store around the corner (instead of the theater snack counter because it’s so expensive) and bought candy and soda to sneak into the theater, and used my bag to hide it all. Some things are the same everywhere! The movie theater itself was SO nice, with (assigned!) seats that were essentially squishy red armchairs for everybody. My host family keeps being surprised when I say things are nicer here, because I guess people in Denmark assume everything is nicer in the U.S., just because it’s bigger. Definitely not true.

• Kultur Natten- Tonight is “Culture Night” in Copenhagen, which means that all kinds of stores, businesses (basically everything) is open late with special free events and activities for those who buy a Kultur Kit. DIS is having an American Halloween event, so there will be pumpkin carving and a haunted house that a couple of my friends are volunteering in. It ought to be really fun (though I haven’t been able to read the huge program because everything is in Danish) and I’m excited to participate in such a big local event.

And finally, for your listening pleasure, here’s a music video by Medina, a really popular Danish singer:

P.S. Today was the first frost in Copenhagen! Days are getting shorter (and colder), and winter is quickly (much more than I expected) coming upon us. For some reason I failed to pack much clothing between early fall and mid-winter weather, so I’ve been using some interesting layering strategies to cope with the icy wind without breaking out my winter coat in mid-October (though everybody else in Copenhagen has). I’ve been shopping for a light jacket this week, but haven’t found the right one yet… so if anybody in/near Copenhagen has any suggestions, I’m all ears!

Nothing But Sunshine (and Gelato): Long Study Tour

So I’m back from my long study tour, and it was AMAZING. This post is gonna be a biggy, so buckle your seatbelt and prepare to be here a while.

Saturday/Sunday (still in Copenhagen):

Saturday night I played Bingo Banko with my host family. It’s basically a nation-wide crazy televised bingo game, where anyone who wants to play can print out a bunch of cards (as many as you can keep track of) and compete for prizes. During the tv show, they play crazy games (including tattoo pictionary and beaver racing) and do silly things (asking people on the street random questions) to come up with the bingo numbers. There are tons of great prizes, from socks to refrigerators. You compete for first one row, then two rows, then a whole board, and if you get the right numbers then you have to be the first one to call in. The whole thing is super silly, and really fun. I played with Søren and Cille, and we each had 9 cards. Sadly it was not enough, and we did not win anything, but I still had a great time. The show is on every Saturday, so I’m sure we’ll try again soon!

I spent most of Sunday packing and double-checking my passport, camera, money, and other essentials. That evening Søren was nice enough to drive me to the train station, where I headed over to Allerød to spend the night at Allie’s house. It was fun to meet someone else’s host family and we played some pretty competitive Wii games with her host brother. Plus we had some leftover brownies and tea for dessert.

Monday (Day One):

Monday morning began bright and early with a pre-dawn walk to the train station. It was nice to be going with a friend, though, so if anything went wrong we’d be in the same boat. We got a random offer for a ride from a Danish guy in a big sketchy black van, but we decided to stick with the train. Luckily, all went smoothly and everybody got to the airport in time for our flight. After an hour-long bus ride and a quick stop to check in at the hotel, we were sent off on our own for Urban Awareness: Milan Edition. Team Awesome (me, Allie, Ansley, Colin, and Dylan) decided to go the low-key approach, and started out at the Parco Sempione. The park was absolutely gorgeous, especially in the beautiful weather, and we sat for a while on the grass just soaking in the Italian atmosphere. Then we continued on through the other DIS recommended spots to visit, and grabbed some cheap pizza for lunch. A great first afternoon in Italy.

best hotel ever. FREE soda and cookies in every room, refilled each day.

view from our spot in the park--Arco Della Pace

supposedly you get good luck from spinning 3 times on the "delicate parts" of the bull in the center of the Galleria

For dinner, we ate as a group at a place called Art Factory. First we got huge plates cheesy pasta with bread and little breadsticks, and everybody ate until they were full. Then it turned out we had a second course–mozzarella, tomato, and prosciutto. So yummy, but way too much to finish.

That night we had some free time, so Jenna, Allie, Ansley, and I went to a little restaurant-bar Ansley had spotted on her run earlier. Ansley and I had the most delicious margaritas, and it was lovely to just sit outside and chat for a while. We went home on the early side because we were all exhausted from the long day.

Tuesday (Day Two):

We began the day with a wonderful hotel breakfast buffet (I perfected my selection throughout the week–fresh machine-squeezed OJ, yogurt, cake, fruit, salami, proscuitto, and cheese, saving cookies for a mid-day snack) followed by our first academic visit. We heard from a researcher on subjective well-being, and it was really interesting, though it was hard to get in an academic mood with such gorgeous weather outside. Then we went to the Galleria D’Arte Moderna, which was beautiful. I mean, the art was great too but the building and gardens were gorgeous.

For our group lunch we went to a local sandwich chain (way nicer than Subway) and had paninis. I had a Fattore, which had salami, cheese, and something called aurora sauce. YUM.

At lunch, my friend Shuyao joined our trip because she’d had visa troubles that wouldn’t allow her to go to her own Scotland study tour. It was a shame for her to miss her tour, but it was fun to have her along.

That day we also got to see DaVinci’s Last Supper! Waiting to see it was pretty intense because there were a couple of airlock doors to go through, and there were guards around making sure nobody did anything wrong. As soon as we got into the room, some poor lady took a picture and one of the guards was like NOPICTURENOPICTURE and ran over to her and made her delete it. The way he was running I half-expected him to tackle her or something, but obviously that didn’t happen. The painting itself was really cool to see, even though it’s pretty faded and has had to be restored so many times. It was just crazy to be seeing something that old and that famous/influential.

Our next stop was a wine tasting at That’s Wine. Unfortunately we got lost trying to find it (a common theme of the trip) and the group was getting a bit cranky because most of us hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. Everyone was overjoyed when we finally found it, and our group completely packed the tiny little wine bar. The tasting itself was super fun, and I actually really liked all the wines we tasted. Plus we got some delicious bread, cheese, prosciutto, and salami to accompany it. After three glasses of wine, we all were desperately in need of dinner, so we tromped around as a group until we found a restaurant called Flash Pizzeria. The food turned out to be really good, and I had gnocchi and split some bruschetta with a few other people. Afterwards we got our first Italian gelato at a place near the Duomo, and it was definitely as good as the hype.

group picture in front of the Duomo

Wednesday (Day Three):

Wednesday morning we had an academic visit with Prof. Paolo Inghilleri and a couple of student researchers at University of Milan. It was a long visit, but really cool because we got to hear about real research that’s being done right now around positive psychology. We also got a tour of the University, which is in a very old hospital building. It was really beautiful, and it was hard to imagine being a student and having classes there every day.

We had lunch as a group at Original Pizza. At first only one type of pizza (pepperoni) showed up and we were pretty disappointed because it meant only one slice per person. But after a few minutes, another pizza came, and then another, and it seemed like they just kept coming and coming. I think we had four or five pizzas in all, and my favorite had gorgonzola cheese and corn. We also got dessert, either ice cream balls or Italian ice–even more delicious when it’s paid for by DIS!

After lunch we got to go individually to the Duomo, but since everybody went at about the same time it was sort of like a group activity. This was what I’d been most excited for, because I’d heard the views from the top of the Duomo were spectacular, and I was not disappointed. At one point we thought we’d seen it all, but luckily the elevator man closed the lift and told us to go down the other side. In the process of looking for the “other side” we discovered the stairs up to the very top of the roof. Moral of the story: the Duomo is HUGE, and there’s always something more to see!

We also went inside the Duomo, which was HUGE. I could’ve spent an hour just looking at all the details and exploring the place, but we wanted to get the most out of our free afternoon, so we only took a brief tour around. It was dark inside, and you weren’t supposed to take pictures anyway, so I have no pictures for you all, but I assure you it was really amazing. For dinner we had a quick bite from a food cart near the Duomo and did some shopping at a designer department store. The clothes were so wonderful but so expensive and we left quickly to avoid further temptation. That evening we had a visit at the La Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (apparently they are located all over the world) and go to speak with a woman about the importance of meditation and peacefulness in daily life. The whole atmosphere was very calming, and it was really interesting to hear a different point of view on well-being.

After the visit we searched for an open pasticeria because Ansley really wanted an Italian Napoleon, but almost everything was closed. We ended up at a little place near our hotel, where I had a huge cannoli. Yummmm.

Thursday (Day Four):

Thursday morning’s academic visit was one of my favorites, because we were talking with Antonella Della Fave, one of the first positive psychology researchers ever, and the most important one in Italy. She and her fellow researchers talked about their work and gave us a lot of great information on how the positive psychology principles we’ve been learning about in class can be applied in practical research. Even the presentation was three hours, it went by really quickly, and I think we were all sad to be leaving at the end of it.

We had a fancy group lunch with risotto then pork with wildberry sauce and potatoes. The restaurant was dark so my pictures didn’t turn out very well, but the food was scrumptious. After lunch we got espresso courtesy of DIS. In the afternoon we visited with Dr. Morandi at Ayurvedic Point, and learned about Ayurveda as well as traditional medicine in general. It was probably my favorite visit because he talked to us about the philosophy of traditional medicine and how he approaches his Ayurvedic practice as a Western medicine-trained physician. He emphasized how Eastern and Western traditions should work together, rather than competing, and his perspective was really fascinating. I definitely want to learn more about Ayurveda and how it can be applied to a psychological context.

That night we got the evening to ourselves, so Ansley, Allie, and I took some relaxation time before going out to dinner. I took a marvelous bath (with jets!) in our hotel room, and it was great to get some time to just chill after having such a busy week. For dinner we met up with Jenna and her Italian friend she’d met a few years ago while being a camp counselor. We found a nice place with outdoor seating by the canals, and splurged a bit on fancy food and some wine to accompany it. For dessert we went back to the hotel and found a gelato place nearby, and I found my new favorite flavor–crema.

Friday (Day Five):

Our last full day in Milan began with another academic visit with Antonella’s researchers. This time it was focused more on disability and positive psychology, which was really cool because it was very different from the other research we’d heard about the rest of the tour. As a surprise at the end of the visit, we each got Kinder Bueno bars from our tour leaders. Then for Liia’s birthday they took us out to free gelato, the best gelato I had that week. It was a place called Gelatissimo, and unsurprisingly the owner was very happy to have forty customers at once.

I got Crema Catalana and Pistachio--delicious!

We had the afternoon free, so Shuyao, Jenna and I walked through the Parco Sempione (neither of them had gotten to see it the first day) to the Pinoteca di Brera, an art museum that was highly recommended by, well, everyone. I know next to nothing about art history, and the captions were all in Italian, but the paintings were mostly from the early 1800′s or the 1500′s. There was a ton of religious art and many depictions of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. I love art museums, but I’d never seen such old art before so it felt like an entirely new experience. My favorite painting depicted a young woman, relaxing in a chair while shirtless. I know nothing of the context of the painting, but she just seemed really relaxed and content, and it was a nice contrast to all the stark religious imagery.

For our last night, we had a group dinner followed by a jazz show at Blue Note Milan. Everybody got dressed up for the show, and it was fun seeing everybody all fancy (though a lady at the restaurant apparently thought we were in high school). It was dark in the restaurant so my pictures are not spectacular, but we had three wonderful courses–pasta, sausage with veggies, and flan! We also each got a glass of wine or soda to accompany the meal.

tried using the flash for the second course--not a great result (but the food was delicious!)

Shuyao didn't want her flan, so I ended up having 1 and 3/4 flans (what is the plural of flan?!)

I didn’t think the day could get any better, but it definitely did. The jazz show was simply amazing. Allie, Ansley, Jenna, and I got bar seats right on the balcony so we got a good view of the performance. The singer was Luca Jerman, accompanied by several musicians and a couple of backup singers. His very first song was “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers, which I had just downloaded the week before, and it pretty much set the tone for the night. Everything about the performance was amazing and his voice was really incredible. Luca Jerman was also accompanied for one song by another singer, who turned out to be a really famous Italian singer who won a singing competition show followed by an Italian music award.  Apparently he was taught by Luca Jerman, which was why he showed up for the performance. Everyone in our class was buzzing about it afterwards, and it was a truly perfect way to end the trip. Plus, on the way home, Shuyao and I found Spongebob randomly painted on a wall.

Saturday (Day Six):

Saturday morning I had a perfect last breakfast, including a creme puff covered in chocolate mouse–obviously a great way to start the day. We loaded all our stuff onto the bus and departed for an afternoon at Lake Como. The lake was so beautiful, and the town was adorable. It was nice to see someplace other than Milan, which is beautiful but has a lot of cars and busy streets (stark contrast from Copenhagen).

After getting our lunch money and directions from our guide, Shuyao and I headed over to the Funiculare, a gondola-tram-thing that takes you up to the top of one of the hills surrounding the lake. When trying to find it, we first went up this tiny alleyway, thinking we were headed the right way, and we were surprised that nobody else was around. Then when we reached the top of the hill we came out onto a regular busy street, and were really confused. We asked a woman where to find the Funiculare, and she told us we had to go all the way down the hill, and it’d be right there. OOPS. Turns out what we’d thought was a cafe was actually the ticket office.

walking through the little town

We were starting to get hungry, so we decided to try to find some lunch up on top of the hill. We wandered through the streets for a bit, starting to wish we’d paid more attention to the map of the town near the Funiculare station. Finally we decided to ask for directions from a guy at a small grocery store. He pointed us to a little trattoria tucked away in a side street. The restaurant was adorable, and there were only about three options for each course. Shuyao and I decided on two different pasta dishes because we didn’t want to spend too much. What a great choice. After a long wait, the waiter brought out our pasta, and it was the best food we had all week. The ingredients were really simple, but it was all super fresh, including the pasta, and we felt like we were experiencing the real Italy.

We decided to head back down again for dessert, and we found a gelato place by the docks that looked really good. The woman there spoke only Italian, so it was a little difficult making our orders, but the gelato was delicious, as always.

We walked back into town and explored a street market there for a while, and I bought a scarf. Then we went to see the Como Duomo (haha I couldn’t resist), which was obviously much smaller than the one in Milan, but still very beautiful.

On the inside the ceilings were very detailed and and covered with gold embellishments, but I didn’t take any pictures because you’re not supposed to (though many people do anyway).

On the way to the airport, we did a positive psychology intervention where everyone filled out positive comments about everyone else in the class, including themselves. Later on everybody received a packet with all their positive comments. All the comments were so thoughtful, and it was really nice  to end the trip with a positive feeling.

We arrived in the airport way too early because of the lack of traffic, so we had about an hour to waste before we could check our bags. Ansley, Allie, and I sat at some tables and shared all our Italian purchases and ate our last few snacks leftover from the hotel breakfast. Once we finally got to check our bags, we checked out a gift store where Allie bought a souvenir and then went to find something to eat. There was only one choice for food in our terminal, but it turned out to be really good. I had a sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, and arugala, and a pastry for dessert.

My sfogliatella (lobster tail). It was (to my surprise) really delicious--my own farewell to Italy.

Unfortunately, when we got back to Copenhagen at 10pm, it turned out that some of the trains were not running. Luckily Allie and I were together so we searched for a solution. First we went from Nørreport to Central Station to figure out what was going on. All the info booths were closed, and when we tried to figure out the bus we needed, we couldn’t find the stop to meet it. In a stroke of genius, Allie ended up buying a hot dog while we figured out what to do. We asked the man at the hot dog stand if he happened to know anything about the buses/trains, and he told us that if we took the one train that was running to Hellerup, we could catch our train from there. We went for it because we had no other ideas, and fortunately he was correct. We each ended up getting home at like 12:30am, but we got there!

Told you it would be a long post. Now it’s time for me to prepare for a return to a normal schedule, homework and all. This trip was better than I ever thought it would be, but I’m so glad to be back in Copenhagen. It is so nice to be in my own room with my own bed, and I’m actually really excited to return to my normal commute tomorrow morning. It’s funny how Copenhagen has become my new home and frame of reference as I travel around–even American money is starting to look foreign!

Arrivederci and vi ses!

I Scream for Ice Cream

Blog update, as promised.

First off, my field studies on Wednesday! They were both even better than I expected. First I went to the Davids Samling Museum with my Turkey at the Crossroads class. It looked pretty small from the outside—if I hadn’t known what we were going to see I wouldn’t have even thought it was a museum—but it had a surprisingly large collection on the inside. The museum was created by a fund made by a really rich guy—C.L. David, who died in 1960—so it’s basically about what he was interested in. We split into two groups and got a guided tour, which was nice because we got to learn a lot more about the history of the museum and the art that we would’ve if we’d been browsing on our own—not least of which because most of the explanatory placards were in Danish. We looked at their Islamic art collection, some of which was from Turkey/the Ottoman Empire, but it basically from anywhere Muslims lived (i.e. much of Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa). My personal favorite exhibit was their collection of miniatures—apparently the largest collection in the world that is open to the public. The paintings were, well, miniature, and the details in them were just amazing. The tiny figures had facial expressions and complicated patterns on their clothing. Our tour guide informed us that some of the details were done using a brush with only one hair—crazy! After the tour, Allie and I went back and spent some more time looking at the exhibit because it was just so amazing. I think most of our class definitely plans on going back to the museum sometime, especially because entrance is free!

After seeing the museum, Allie and I went off to find a library (Københavns Hovedbibliotek) that Lauren, a girl in our Positive Psychology class, had told her about. I think it might be a new favorite study place. It was really nice inside, and a lot closer to DIS than the Black Diamond(and there was free wifi). Plus there were a lot more places to sit, including some funky desk armchairs that I will have to try out next time.  I ate my lunch and we chatted for a while about various things, and then I left for my Danish Language and Culture field study while Allie got to working on our Positive Psychology paper that was due Friday.

I met my Danish class near Christianshavn metro station, and found them all already buzzing with anticipation for our tour of Christiania. Most of my class had never been there (I went there briefly for my Buddy Network dinner) and we were all excited to see the [in]famous Copenhagen landmark for ourselves. Our Danish teacher had told us we would have a very special guide that she likes because he not only has lived in Christiania for 20 years, but he does not do tours very often so he is still very excited and interested in talking about his home. She also warned us that he was very much a Christianian, so to speak, and would be “very representative” of Christiania culture. Indeed, the first thing Joker (yes that was his actual name) did when he met up with us, about 10 min. late, was take out a small tin of pot and start packing a pipe.

He actually ended up being a great tour guide, though, because he had a lot of personal knowledge about the history of Christiania and could really articulate what it was all about. I’ll only give you a brief overview, since I don’t want to spread incorrect information (you can read more on Wikipedia). Basically, Christiania was founded in the 1970′s as a place where people could be free from the rules of society and just be themselves. Joker explained that they started out without any rules, but over the years they’ve had to develop a few: no hard drugs, no violence, no guns (or bulletproof clothing), no (private) cars, and no private property (buying and selling real estate).  The rules are not always able to be enforced, especially since the government has had problems with Christiania a few times over its forty years (Christiania had its 40th birthday last Monday, and was celebrating all this week). Joker said the private cars rule has especially been difficult recently because, as he put it, many people put so much money into their cars that they feel they ought to be able to drive them where they like. Joker also cleared up a popular rumor about Christiania: they do pay their bills (water, electricity, etc.), they just do it collectively. Apparently to live in Christiania, all you need to do is pay a monthly fee, and then you pay for however you want to build your dwelling (materials, labor, etc.) Because there is no buying or selling of property, you cannot “own” a house, you merely live in it.

One of my favorite stories Joker told us was the story of how he came to live in Christiania. When he was first living there, he had no intention of staying–he just wanted a job. So he went to a cafe and asked the man he assumed was the owner for a job, and received a set of keys. After he was working there for a couple of weeks, the man he thought was the owner came to him and asked him for a job. He was really confused, but he just gave him a job and kept working there for about a year. Then somebody else came and took it from him, which he assumed was because they were in charge. It was only a few years later that he found out he had ‘owned’ the cafe for that year. Apparently the man he’d thought was the owner had given him the cafe (by giving him the keys), and thus then had to ask him for a job. The next person that came along was just becoming the next ‘owner.’ Anyway, after finding out that he’d owned a cafe for a year without knowing it, Joker decided he had to stay in Christiania.

Joker also had a really interesting take on drug use, which surprised me a little bit because of the first impression he’d made. He said that he believed in the legalization of marijuana so that it will not be “cool” for young people to smoke it. He pointed out that places where marijuana has been legalized, only the “losers” smoke, and young people are too busy living their lives to bother. He thought it was unfortunate when teens get caught up in smoking rather than getting an education and growing up, and end up reaching their thirties without having done anything with their lives, or developed the skills to start doing something.

Here are a few pictures of Christiania. Unfortunately pictures are not allowed on Pusher Street, where they sell pot openly, because although people are open about it in Christiania, it is still illegal according to the Danish government, and police do regular raids of Christiania to try to put a stop to it. Apparently there used to be a lot of kids helping the “pushers” on Pusher Street because it was an easy way to earn a lot of money. The adults in Christiania wanted to find a way to change that, but they knew that forbidding it would only make the kids more likely to do it. So instead they built an indoor skate park to give the kids something better to do, and now the average age on Pusher street has increased by about ten years. Joker said it was a great example of Christiania’s creative/collective decision-making at work. Of course, they aren’t always able to find such a perfect solution, but it’s cool that they tried to find an effective solution rather than the expected response that would probably happen if a government had been involved.

And now for the pictures…

this store has all the building materials you need to make a house, and according to Joker they'll even order something for you if they don't have what you need

some guys were brewing beer outside on this huge scaffold structure, maybe a special birthday brew?

the Christiania flag represents the 3 dots of the i's in its name--the flags were all over for the birthday celebration

The "Put and Take"--exactly what it sounds like. Joker was about to put down some flowers, but then a guy came over and was like "oh I want those" and took them from him

there was lots of graffiti and murals on the walls of buildings

the cafe Joker owned for a year

this was a "children's area".. there was a little beach and some play structures around the corner

a cool house; unfortunately I didn't hear the story Joker told about it because I was in the back of the group, but for some reason the chimney is in the shape of a frog/dragon

Gray Hall is where they have all their town meetings, and sometimes have concerts. According to Joker, a lot of famous people come there, and Bob Dylan actually requested to do a concert there.

After all the walking, I was exhausted so I went home and took a nap, then spent most of the evening working on homework. Thursday we had our first quiz in Danish, and it seemed to go pretty well. After class I still had two essays to finish for the next day, so I went home and worked on them. I was so worried about finishing everything that I actually got done early–about 9:15pm, and got to relax fo the rest of the night. Søren was out of town on business and Charlotte was at work, so Nanna made us pasta salad for dinner and she, Cille, and I had a cozy dinner in the living room in front of the TV watching Friends.

Friday morning I woke up bright and early, exhausted but excited for my last day of class before Milan. I ended up being able to grab some leftover pasta salad for my lunch instead of making a sandwich, and made it on an earlier bus so I could get to DIS with time to print out my paper before class. Even though I was out of the house before 7am (usually a bad sign) I could already tell it was going to be a great day. In the main DIS building I ran into many of my classmates, also printing out their papers and commiserating about their tough homework weeks. I found Allie and we went together to class, where we were the first ones by several minutes. It felt really good to finally turn in my paper, since we’d been working on it for about two weeks, and then at the end of class we got a really interesting presentation about The Last Supper, which we will get to see in Milan! Apparently the painting has gained a ton of popularity since The DaVinci Code (my host mom was shocked when I told her I hadn’t read it) and now it’s very difficult to get tickets to see the painting, so I’m really excited to get the opportunity (and for free!).

My day continued to increase in excellence as I ran into several of my friends when sitting in DIS between classes, and then decided not to get a pastry during lunchtime, despite my nagging hunger, so as to save money for Milan. Turns out, it was a perfect decision because in my last (and favorite) class of the day, Adolescence in Northern Europe, my teacher bought us ice cream! Most of the class was spent talking about our upcoming learning labs, an assignment in which we will go to a Danish school and direct our own project or research through our visit. We were turning in research proposals that day (my second paper of the week) and figuring out which schools we wanted to go to. I was really excited because I got into a group with my friends Lacey and Red to go to the “Free” Gymnasium (a Danish high school) which is an alternative school where the kids are really self-directed and on an equal level with teachers. We get to visit our sites in October and November, and I’m really excited to get to talk to some real Danish adolescents (aside from my host siblings). The best part of the class was when my teacher asked if we wanted to spend some of our class budget (she is very into an alternative education style, and encourages us to do what we want and is always asking us what we want to learn) on a walk through Strøget (the walking street) to observe some people or to get a treat. Of course, we all got really excited and asked if we could get ice cream. She said yes (and mentioned baking a cake at the end of the semester!), so at the end of class we all trouped down to a nearby ice cream stand. We each got to spend 35 kr. (about $7!) so we could get 3 scoops each. I was at the back of the line, so I planned my order out very carefully and got Lemoncello, Vanilla, and Kinder Surprise with whipped cream and strawberry jam (very typical Danish toppings for ice cream cone) in a waffle cone. It was SO GOOD. I made the perfect order, and it was a gorgeous sunny day–perfect for ice cream. Red, Lacey and I then walked to the train station together eating our ice cream, and managed to extend our discussion of the particulars of ice cream all the way to the station.

When I got home we had a yummy dinner and then Charlotte suggested we go out into the town because it was a special celebration night in Hillerød. We started walking and then Nanna joined us later on her bike. All the stores were open until 9:15pm–very special in Denmark–and there were sales everywhere. We walked through the “big” mall (about the size of a medium to small one in the U.S.), and Nanna ended up getting a dress and a coat. It was fun to be out around so many people, and the atmosphere was very spirited. In the square there was live music playing, and it seemed like everybody in Hillerød was out, both young and old. Charlotte and I stopped in the “Candy Bus” (Sweet Factory-style portable candy store) to get some candy to bring back to Cille, who had decided to stay home. That night we watched a Danish sketch comedy show and then Terminator 2, but I started falling asleep on the couch before the end of the movie and decided it was time for bed.

Today has been very relaxed–I was in my PJ’s until about noon–and the day has been gorgeous (record breaking temperatures for October). Søren’s parents came over for a bit and we sat outside and enjoyed some yummy raisin cake his mom made. Then Cille and I played about ten rounds of UNO, and now I am sitting outside updating you all on this week. Tomorrow I will pack for Milan, and then after dinner Søren will drive me over to the train station so I can go to Allie’s house, where I’m going to spend the night. We have to be at the airport waaaay early Monday morning, earlier than my bus runs, so Allie and I will go together. I’m super excited to go to Milan, where I will be sans laptop, and enjoying beautiful summery weather (by Copenhagen standards).

So long until next week!

Danishness

Just a reminder that I have been updating my “Danishness” page, so be sure to check it out from time to time! It’s a growing list of differences I’ve noticed between Denmark and the U.S., and I’m trying to make it pretty detailed for those of you considering a semester here. I’m updating it constantly so keep checking back for new brilliant insights.

P.S. A real post about my visit to Christiania and other fun things will be up soon–tonight is a two paper night, so you will have to wait another day or two, but it’s coming I promise!  :)