Kyla's Oplevelser i Danmark

Time Flies When You're Having the Time of Your Life

2010-05-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

WOW! I can't believe that there are less than two weeks left here, especially because I have not been as good as I could be about keeping this blog updated.
Spring has finally sprung in Copenhagen, though the weather is nowhere near as warm as it is in Gettysburg/at home. The leaves are finally beginning to come out, and each day they seem a little fuller. I am so glad that I get to see CPH when the trees and plants are actually green and the weather is fair. I was starting to think that it never got nice here and that rumors of the supposedly beautiful Danish summer were a myth. I'm going to try to focus on the key important days since my last post.
Nordic Mythology Field Studies: I mentioned in my last post that I had a really great field trip on a Saturday with my Nordic Mythology class. Despite a rough start (by some error a bus had not been booked, so we had to wait about an hour and a half for one to come), it turned out to be a rewarding day. We started off at the Ribe Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, which holds the remains of 5 Viking ships. They were intentionally sunk in Roskilde Fjord in order to block off the easiest sailing routes so that you had to really know the waters to make it through without sinking. It was a pretty good defense mechanism, I think. The ships were excavated in the 50s or 60s I believe, and preserved by a slow process replacing the water in the wood with wax so it is permanently protected from decay.

One of the ships, in full view of the fjord in which it was found

We were perhaps a little rushed at the museum, but we were able to learn a little about the purpose of each of the ships, watch a very informative film about their finding, etc. AND I was able to buy a set of six mini posters with beautiful photographs of a full scale model of the warship in full sail outside of Scotland, of all places...for only 25 KRONER!!! I am pretty excited about it, because the pictures are really amazing, and it encompasses two elements of my abroad experience in one (Vikings and Scotland). Hurra!
After the Viking Ship Museum we were able to go to Lejre, which is the town right next door to Roskilde. There there are stones in the shape of Viking ships...these are burial mounds. Lejre was once a very sacred place and was used in a very intense ritual sacrifice. Once every 9 years 9 men (as well as many hounds, horses, hawks, etc) were killed each day for 8 or 9 days (different accounts give different numbers) by the Odinic death (hanging and stabbing). It was pretty neat to see where some of the stuff was that we have been discussing for the whole semester. It is difficult that this now peaceful, beautiful open field in the Danish countryside was once the place of such bloody events.

Some of the stones...many of the ones here were removed before they could preserve the area.

Right near the burial mounds lies the place where historians are quite sure that Herot stood. Yup...the same Herot told of in Beowulf. It was actually a real place, which I am not sure I really realized before. I, of course, was thrilled to learn this because I am a HUGE Beowulf fan. Now there is just a mound that they have erected to show where they believe it stood, but that was good enough for me!

After Lejre we drove clear across Zealand to see our last stop...Trelleborg, the ancient fortress of Harald Bluetooth I, the first king of Denmark and the man largely responsible for its Christianization. Trelleborg was his stronghold in Zealand and was essentially the reason he was able to accomplish what he did. They have a reconstruction of a mead hall there, which was pretty cool, especially since our professors secretly bought mead and had us try it while we were in the mead hall. Though I must say I only took one sip before I gave it away to Pat (mead is basically alcohol and honey...does that sound appetizing to you? BLECH), I still think it was a really cool experience. How often do you get to drink mead in a mead hall in Denmark? I was happy for the surprise, even if mead is not my cup of tea.

Bettina and Morten serving up mead in the mead hall

Me in front of the mead hall
Though of course I have pictures of the real Trelleborg, they don't really give a feel of what the whole thing looked like, so I will just post a picture of the model. See the real deal on Facebook!

Anyway, I think it was a pretty great day, despite the wind, slight chilliness, and delayed bus.
The following Wednesday (the 21st) we had a second field study, in which we visited the Arnamagnæan Institute, which houses many, many old manuscripts from Iceland, Norway, Denmark, etc. I was completely blown away by our talk there. Now, if you know anything about the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution, you know they are kept at the National Archives in DC under heat proof, bullet proof, 100% light reflective glass, and that they can descend into bombproof chambers. As special as these documents are, they are only 230-ish years old. I say ONLY because the Arnamagnæan Institute houses manuscripts that are from 1300. Maybe not so special, but the presenter handled them with his BARE HANDS. No protection from light. No cases. No gloves. Nothing. I was astounded. We voiced our amazement, and he stated that there are two schools of thought surrounding the preservation/treatment of old documents, which of course are exemplified by the two vastly different ways these documents are handled. It makes me wonder if perhaps the Declaration is getting far more pampered care than it actually needs.
Anyway, after my field study I trucked it back to DIS in the snow and falling volcanic ash(yeah...snow on April 21st, bleh). There I discovered that DIS had discount tickets to the ballet, and on a whim, I bought one of the last two. It turned out to be a great decision, even though I had to miss one of my Danish classmates presentations and Danish-style dinner with the class in order to get there on time. The ballet was "A Midsummer's Night Dream", which is a great Shakespearian play, in my opinion. First of all, the seats I got were amazing. They were worth $100, but I got them for $40. The theater was beautiful.

Even more exciting than all that, when I got there, I discovered that the Queen was coming! I got to sit so close to her! It was incredible.

Of course, the ballet was completely amazing and beautiful, though I must say the forest scenes could be very strange at times. The faeries were a very interesting interpretation. It was such a great experience, and I'm so glad I got to go. Horray for spontaneity!
Anyway, I had the best of intentions of getting caught up on recent events, but it is now rather late and I am struggling to keep my aching eyes open, so I will try to update again soon. Stay tuned to hear about my trip to Sweden as well as the activities of the Long Weekend. Eventually I'll have enough time to go back and talk about my long study tour (London) and long travel break (Czech Republic and Scotland). Hej hej for now!

Tillykke med fødselsdag, Dronning Margrethe II of Danmark!

2010-04-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yikes! It's been a long, long time since I updated, but SOOO much has been happening I just haven't had the time. Of course I have all of travel break to update about (and I'm pretty sure I never posted about the long study tour nearly two months ago), but I am going to start with just this week for now.
I can't even begin to tell you how difficult it was to go back to class on Monday after having exciting adventures in the Czech Republic and Scotland for two weeks, especially since I caught a cold (surprise, surprise) and felt crappy. However, I have had a lot of excitement this week to make up for the dullness of going back to class.
Friday was Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's 70th birthday, and so there were lots of people in town to celebrate; it was difficult finding a seat on the train in the morning, which is normally pretty empty at that time. I had Danish class in the morning, but we basically just quickly went over our homework and practiced a few phrases before Suzanne handed out paper Danish flags to everyone and we headed to Amalienborg Palace for the festivities. It took much longer than normal to get there due to the crazy crowds, and when we did we found one entrance blocked off. Suzanne was upset,thinking we were too late to get in, but we headed around to another entrance. It was right next to the building with the balcony where the Queen was due to come out and wave; we couldn't fight our way through the crowds to be able to even see the platform. Suzanne came up with a new game plan: she told us to go back out, go to the left, and run to the next entrance. Now, when you tell a group of American students to run when there is still an hour to go for an event, they usually think it means "walk quickly", but when we reached the street we turned around to see Suzanna sprinting down the street. And I do mean down the STREET. Taken aback, we started running after her, dodging cars and police motorcycles. At one point, Suzanna pointed out the license plate of a small black car I had barely dodged...a crown and a 2...and calmly stated that "That will be the Crown Prince's car." WHAT?! As if running down the middle of a street dodging moving vehicles wasn't adventurous enough, I nearly ran into the Crown Prince's car! We finally got the the next entrance and were able to get into the square with excellent views of the balcony. However, the crowd kept moving, especially when the band came in and marched around, so we ended up closer to the balcony than I thought possible. The excitement and frivolity in the square was infectious, and I couldn't believe that I was here in Copenhagen on such a momentous occasion.

When a man finally came out to open the doors, the cheers were deafening and the Royal Family emerged to a rather joyous crowd.

Left to right: HRH Crown Princess Mary with HRH Princess Isabella, HRH Crown Prince Frederik with HRH Prince Christian, Her Majesty The Queen Margrethe II, HRH Prince Consort Henrik, HRH Prince Joachim, HRH Princess Marie with HH Prince Henrik, HH Prince Felix and HH Prince Nikolai. EXCITING!!

After the Queen waved for a little while, the crowd started singing the Danish birthday song, but as I don't know it, I was content to wave my flag around and shout "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" when prompted. After about five minutes, the family went back inside, and the crowd started singing some song of which I only understood the words "dronning" (queen) and "hjem" (home). Luckily, a very nice Danish man next to us asked us if we understood, then enthusiastically explained that they were singing that if the queen didn't come out again they wouldn't go home. I have a feeling this is some sort of tradition, but based on the two words I knew I couldn't find the song online. Anyway, the whole Royal Family came back out and waved some more. The crowd sang a birthday song reprise and waved around their flags some more. This might have lasted about ten minutes total, but it was completely amazing. I don't think I will ever forget it: the sound of hundreds of paper Danish flags cracking as they were waved in ardent pride, the happy atmosphere as thousands of Danes sang the birthday song in unison, Danes of all ages packed into the square and the joy of parents as they showed their children their Queen, the sea of red and white, the sun shining brilliantly, and the music of the band echoing around the palace walls. Truly amazing.

After the Queen went away for good, the crowd started moving. The three or four girls with me all looked at each other and asked "Where are we supposed to go?" Well, there didn't seem to be a general consensus, so I pointed toward an exit and said "That way!" It turned out to be the best decision we could have made. When we got near the exit, the mounted police came and started parting the crowd; we knew something was happening, so we stopped. We were right next to a Danish national TV cameraman and reporter! A carriage with horses went by into the palace, and dozens more horse guards came prancing into the square.

Danish mounted police....they were so nice!

Horse Guards

They parked themselves right in front of us

After a few minutes of patient waiting, having my toes stomped numerous times, and having an anxiety attack over my batteries dying ever two seconds, the queen finally emerged in the carriage! Now, apparently this whole birthday shebang was pretty unusual. The Queen normally only comes out and waves, and that is it. My Danish teacher said this is the first time she can remember her going out in the carriage. Now, are you ready folks? This is the most exciting picture of the whole semester!!!

Bummer that the Prince Consort stuck his arm in the Queen's face, but still! You can see that I was 10-20 feet away from the Queen! I know that most Danes will never get that close to the Queen in their lives, and it makes me feel incredible. I was on such a high after that incredible encounter that I had a really difficult time focusing in class when I got back to DIS. The weather was great and the day was too perfect to end there, so after class Katie and I went to La Glace, a famous cake bakery in town. It is so well known (and price-y) that it is actually listed on maps of Copenhagen. The piece of cake that I got cost a pretty penny (47 kroner, nearly $10), but it was well worth it.

my cake piece

La Glace was celebrating the Queen's birthday, too!

Eating that cake by the (now running) fountain with the special, festive "golden apples" was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Well, I have more to post about this week, particularly my Nordic Mythology class field trip today, but it will have to wait for later because I have already worked on this post for an hour! Enjoy and godt aften!

Academia and Christiania

2010-03-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! It's been a while, so I will probably have to break this post up into several. I've had a few requests to discuss academics in Denmark, so I will try to spotlight that a little now. My mom is constantly asking if I am actually doing any work here or if I am just on vacation, since I'm traveling a lot. The short answer is that I am learning a LOT, both inside and outside the classroom, and this definitely isn't a slacker semester. Just like at Gettysburg, if you miss a day of doing work, you might be seriously behind and it can be difficult to catch up. General background on DIS: when you come to DIS you pick a program, for which there may be one or more core courses depending on which program you chose. My program is Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BB for short), so my core course is Medical Biotechnology and Drug Development. DIS really stresses experiential learning, so for your core course you will go on a short study tour (3-4 days) to either sestern Denmark, sourthern Sweden, or northern Germany. I already blogged about that (we went to Aarhus and Odense), as it was three weeks into the semester. Later you go on a long study tour with your program (6-7 days). Other programs went places such as France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Lithuania, Scotland, Turkey...my program went to London, where we learned a lot of the business aspect of biotechnology. It is really a unique experience to learn about something in a classroom and then see it in real life, especially when you are able to see that what you are learning applies internationally. Field trips are not limited to the core courses, though. Every class has one day "field studies", which are essentially the study tours in miniature (a few hours or a day rather than a few days). I think that the experiential learning is what makes DIS unique, and it has helped my personal learning curve skyrocket. I've been able to read Hans Christian Andersen stories, hear about his life, then go and see where he was born. I've heard all about Christiania, a free-town in Denmark, but then I was able to examine it with a critical eye with my Danish class. I've actively engaged with the Danish culture by being a screaming F.C. København fan during a match with their big rivals Brøndby. I have learned about Viking history and Nordic mythology, then seen archeological relics from that era. I have learned about cancer and spent time in the pathology department at Rigshospitalet trying to diagnose diseases. It has just been an amazing experience, and I have learned so much. I really wish that American universities would use this style of teaching more, because I think it makes a huge difference. Hans Christian Andersen once said "At rejse er et leve" ("To travel is to live"). I would suggest that this should be modified to "At rejse er et lære" ("To travel is to learn").
I mentioned before my long tour that my Danish class visited Chrisitinia, which I now have time to fully discuss. Christiania was born in 1971 when some squatters moved into recently abandoned military barracks. Before long, it became a large settlement which the government couldn't get rid of. Any attempts by police to remove people led to rioting, so the Danish government decided to treat it as a social experiment and let it be. The community has had a lot of trouble with drugs in the past, so they made a law banning hard drugs. They put a lot of work into helping junkies get over their addiction by buying a farm in northern Denmark where they were able to get rehabilitation services. Other laws of Christiania forbid private cars, violence, weapons, bulletproof clothing, sale of stolen goods, fireworks, and motorcycle gangs/paraphanalia. Interestingly, Christiania is mostly men, and a lot of the residents are older--leftovers from the hippie generation. Christiania is actively trying to get the Danish government to legalize marijuana (or hash as they call it here), and they openly sell it on the aptly named Pusher Street. Since there was a police raid while I was there, there were no hash sales going on, and everyone was a little on edge. There are stores within Christiania, as well as restaurants and coffee shops. They love organic food, and everything is very homegrown feeling. They produce bikes which are immensely popular (and also immensely expensive) in Copenhagen, which I will post pictures of.

We knew we were getting close when we saw this!

My Danish class entering Christiania

Art everywhere! There's a skateboarding ramp in there.

organic food at the restaurant/grocery store

one of the houses

police raid...riot helmets and all

Christiania bike...it has a giant bin in the front...like a wheelbarrow and bike in one

Where's Gandalf?

Christiania: You are my heart

Danish class treking back to the EU

Me in front of Christiania

I'm afraid that is going to have to be it for now. I still have to update on London and this past weekend (I went to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark!), but that will have to come later. As I said, it's real school and the next two weeks I will be beyond swamped with exams, papers, and presentations. Hej hej!

Quick Update II

2010-03-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, just a quick update. I got back from London last night, and I obviously have a LOT to talk about, but I am afraid it is going to have to wait a little bit as I still do not have my computer (and therefore cannot upload pictures) and I am sick (London has very poor air quality), so I don't feel like doing much besides lying in my bed. London was amazing and I will post about it ASAP!

Quick Update

2010-02-27T14:03:00.001-08:00

Hey all, just a quick update...sorry I haven't posted this week, but my computer got a virus, unfortunately, so I have not really had much access to a computer lately. I am jetting out to London for my long study tour tomorrow and will be gone until next Friday, so I still won't have access to the internet. I will update about this past week ASAP...you especially need to hear about my visit to Christiania. I would recommend looking it up in the meantime...it's a very interesting place. Anyway, have a good week everyone!

A Walk Around Copenhagen

2010-02-20T05:47:00.000-08:00

I realize I haven't put up even a single picture of Copenhagen itself so far, and I think since I've been here over a month it's high time I do. Enjoy!
Christiansborg Slot. You can see on the pillars where it was damaged during one of its three major fires.

Christiansborg Slot. The Queen makes speeches from that balcony.

The Old Stock Market Exchange

The famous spire of the Old Stock Market Exchange. It is three dragons with their tails entined and three crowns on top: one for Denmark, one for Norway, and one for Sweden, formally all part of the Danish Kingdom.

We weren't even sure if we were allowed back here.

The Black Diamond--part of the Royal Library

inside the Royal Library

The Opera House--Copenhageners looooove to hate it

Amalienborg Palace-where the Royal Family lives!

Royal Guard

Danishness outside Sankt Peder's Bageri

MMMMMM...FESTALAVNBOLLER!

Copenhagen Fashion week on Strøget

salesgirls dancing on displays in a store during Copenhagen Fashion week

street performer

LIVE underwear models in the window during Copenhagen Fashion week

Nyhavn

Sankt Peder's Kirke

Sankt Peder's Bageri <3 <3 <3

Cultural Integration

2010-02-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I don't have anything terribly exciting to update on since Wednesday, but I figure I should post anyway. Wednesday night I went to Mathias' school play. It was about a hotel called "The Happy Dolphin" where a murder takes place and they struggle with finanical problems; Mathias was a bell boy. Obviously the play was all in Danish, so I only got what my host dad told me about it, but it's ok; I really enjoyed it anyway. Milena and Daniel, Susan's father-in-law, sister and Canadian brother-in-law came, and I really love them. Milena ranted with me about my transportation situation and advised me not to pay the fine, just to keep fighting it until they gave up. Daniel suggested telling them I was American and would sue them, but I laughed that suggestion off.
Even though I couldn't understand a word of what was going on, it was a great opportunity to observe some cultural differences. For one thing, during the internmission, they sold food and drinks like any school in the US might. BUT they also sold BEER! AND, true to Danish tradition, they had candles all over the school. I shouldn't have to tell you all that this is something that would never happen in the US. Fire and beer at a school sanctioned event? No way. I also decided that the Danes have absolutely no reservations about mocking anything and everything that moves. This particular play happened to mock American culture. There was one scene where they made fun of "America's Got Talent" with really terrible and ridiculous talents. They also depicted the FBI/CIA as...well...jerks who just came in and took over the whole situation. Their entrance, strangely, was essentially a mock America's Best Dance Crew, complete with flips, glow glasses, and ghetto swagger.
Thursday I had class and a field study for my cancer class. We went to Rigshopitalet to look at prepared slides of cancerous tissue. I have never been soooo excited to see a microscope in my life, because I actually really miss lab, as excited as I was to have a semester off from it. After looking at slides we went up to the pathology department to see preserved cancerous organs. We had to guess what the diseases were, which was actually very difficult because sometimes it was actually very difficult to decide what organ we were even looking at because of the way they were cut. It was a very interesting field study, and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards I sprinted to DIS through the heavily falling snow and over the dangerously slippery cobblestones because I was late to my Nordic Mythology class representative meeting, but when I got there it was already over! So much for that!
Today I had two classes and afterwards I walked around Strøget looking at the shops and met up with Joey to hang out for an hour or so before she headed off to Amsterdam for the weekend. When I headed home I ran into a transportation nightmare. Something was seriously wrong with the trains, and long story short it took me well over an hour and 40 minutes to get home, which is easily double the time it normally takes. The train was delayed even more when we had to wait for the police to come and escort a drunk person off the train. But I finally made it home safe and sound and now it is time to relax! Godt aften!

Culture Shock: The Real Deal

2010-02-17T05:03:00.000-08:00

Hello all! So I know I just finished posting about my short study tour, but I think it's time to dedicate another post to talking about Danish culture. We have obviously been talking about it a lot in my Danish Language and Culture class and I have had many a discussion with my host family about it.
Danish justice: Denmark has two different kinds of prisons: open and closed prison. Open prison is for people who committ minor crimes, according to my host dad. Essentially, I believe they are allowed to leave (but they don't). They refuse to call where the prisoners sleep "cells"; they are rooms. And they are essentially dorm rooms! They don't have to wear jumpsuits: they wear their own clothes. They have nice TV's in their rooms. I believe the only thing they don't allow is a cell phone. I am a little fuzzy on the closed prison system, other than knowing that they are not allowed to leave. The Danes don't believe in PUNISHMENT for crimes, but instead implement a REEDUCATION system. Basically, I think their punishment is loss of freedom and shame that they have failed the system that has always supported them. The highest sentence you can get in Denmark is 16 years. 16 years! Even for murder! Rape is a very short sentence (1-2 years). I know they kind of get around this for serious crimes by claiming the offenders insane and throwing them in a sanatarium kind of thing. For example, there was a guy who killed four or five police officers in a bank robbery gone bad over 40 years ago, and he will never get out. Yet he is not without benefits. Our Danish teacher said that he has a girlfriend and they had a child together, so he is entitled to vacation here. So for 3 weeks out of the year he goes to a summer home which is guarded by prison guards. Can you BELIEVE that? I think most of the students were infuriated, and asked the teacher if people were angry that they had to pay this kind of money for someone who is not benefiting the system and who has killed, but she said no! People here just believe he is entitled to it as a human being! Other students (well, I should include myself here) were furious at the short imprisonment times. One kid pointed out that if he had a daughter who was raped he would just kill the guy knowing he would only get 16 years in prison, and what the hell? He might even get TV and three weeks vacation every year. Yet somehow the system workds for them. They have a pretty low rate of readmittance among prisoners, and I think the repeats are either part of the Hell's Angels or have immigrated here.
Parenting: Danes fully believe in equality, and that applies to kids too. Parents do NOT baby-talk their kids. I have observed many a parent chatting with their 2 year olds in the exact same manner as they would another adult. They fully negotiate with their children, and their kids don't hide anything from them because of this. My Danish teacher explained that boyfriends/girlfriends might start sleeping over at each other's houses at 16/17. When her son did, they would walk by his room in the morning, and if there was an extra pair of shoes in the morning, they would make an extra breakfast, drive the girl home, etc. What?! She insisted that she was not a cool parent, that that is just the way it is here. We informed her that she would be a VERY cool parent in the US. Also, Danes don't believe in physical punishment. They don't smack their kids or spank them or anything like that. If a parent even takes their arm and shakes it in a public place, someone will say, "Why don't I hold them down so you can beat them with both hands?" in order to embarrass them. And they never tell them to mind their own business! My Danish teacher said that her son once was screaming and crying in a grocery store and the only thing she could do was take him by the foot and drag him along! So strange.
Danish mentality: The Danes are very modest. They never brag or speak of their achievements. A show-off has no place in Danish society. There is a set of rules called something like Jendalan or something like that which basically says "You are nothing, do not think you are better than us, do not think you are smarter than us" etc. which they use whenever someone is being cocky. I have to say, I really believe this is rubbing off on me because even more than before I cannot stand it when people in class make a point of showing just how smart they are. The Danes also seem to think they are better than all other Europeans. They think Swedes are cold and stupid, that people from southern Europe are unpredictable and tempramental (what my host father calls the "Latin mentality"), etc. The Danes basically have a tribe mentality. They stay in small social groups and they don't really believe in branching out beyond that. They also have this concept called "hygge". I can't even begin to describe it because, though they try to translate it to "cozy", there just isn't an English word for it. It is highly individualized, but it usually involves lots of time and candles (I've come to the conclusion that Danes are all pyromaniacs). For me, for example, hygge happens when you are having a nice dinner with your friends and family and you are eating by candlelight and you are laughing and talking and having a great time. But for someone else hygge might be when they are curled up on the couch with a down comforter, reading a book by candlelight (there just always have to be candles everywhere...there are candles at every table of every restaurant in Denmark, no joke). Essentially, I think hygge is everything that you love that makes you happy and comfortable without a whole lot of effort. You can't force hygge...it has to just happen.
A transportation rant: HERE is where I hate Denmark a little bit. At least for today. Last night I spent the night at Joey's house because my host family was busy and I needed to eat somewhere else for dinner. Joey's parents said it was fine for me to come over, but by the time I finished dinner I was exhausted and didn't want to make the journey home (well over an hour door to door), so I just stayed the night. So, Denmark is divided into zones. I have certain zones on my transportation pass, and two of those zones I have to travel through to get to Joey's house are not on it. No big deal. I had this thing called a klip card which you punch in the train station and gives you 2 zones of traveling. So it was really bent up and wouldn't work so I went up to the office and changed it in a for a new one. Still didn't work, even when Danes tried it for me. But I figured if they asked I could just show it to them and explain the situation and ask them to validate it on the train or just take the pass. Now, I wasn't super concerned, because I believe out of the nearly 5 weeks I have been here I might have been checked four times total. And I ride the train at least twice a day almost every day. HOWEVER, they checked this morning. The woman coming around was not sympathetic. Not even a little. I told her she could take my klip card, which would actually benefit the state because I only needed one clip and there were three left on that card, meaning I would have paid for four zones and not actually used it. She didn't care at all, and she wrote me up. Guess how much that fine is? 750 KRONER!!! That's $140 USD!!! I went to DIS and talked to them about it, and they said there was no reason for that kind of behavior and that I may be able to get it dropped if I complain. They said I shouldn't be held responsible if their equipment is not working properly, so I have to go and complain now, but I am so afraid I will have to pay it, because I definitely can't afford to pay that money. DIS said they are normally understanding, but that this woman apparently was having a bad day and was taking it out on me. Of course. That is just my luck. So I will have to let you know how my fight with Movia/DSB/whatever it is goes.
Anyway, I am totally exhausted and think I am going to take a nap. Godt aften!

"This is Hitler...do you know him?"

2010-02-17T03:49:00.000-08:00

Short Study Tour: Day 3
Hej to all my faithful followers! Sorry I have not posted in such a long time, but it seems that every time I actually have free time I am either using it to explore or I am really exhausted, so this post is kinda late, but better late than never.
So on the morning of our third day of the study tour we discovered that our hostel was actually the headquarters of the German occupation in Denmark during WWII. The lodge was actually THE headquarters and right across from it still stands a bunker, which we completely missed when we arrived since it was dark. So the first thing we did was get a tour of the bunker, which housed a museum of the Danish resistance (however weak it was) and German occupation. This cute old Danish man gave us the tour and seemed to think we didn't know anything about WWII. At one point he showed us a picture of Hitler and asked if we "knew him". I know none of us are history majors or anything, but if we didn't know who Hitler was, I think we would have serious issues.

the bunker

After we were done at the bunker we packed it up and started our long journey back to Copenhagen. Thankfully DIS is really smart about traveling and they broke up the trip with a stop to Koldinghus, which was a castle in Kolding used when the kings of Denmark (especially Christian the Fourth, who it seems built practically everything nice in Denmark) visited the parts of Germany that they USED TO own, known as the dutchies. The castle was burnt down accidently when some Spaniards that were helping Denmark in some war (which I don't remember the details of) built up the fire too much and it got out of control. It has since been restored, and it was nice to stop and see it. We also had the opportunity to see some of the town as well.

Koldinghus

Kolding from the top of the tower

Koldinghus from the courtyard

After exploring the castle a little bit, we ventured out into the town, but not for long. It was so cold that our group all sought refuge in a Fotex (its like pharmacy, clothing, food, bakery all rolled into one) to keep warm for the remaining half hour.

I forget the exact year this was built, but it was sometime in the 1500's.

Tinkerbell...in Danish?

After our adventures in Kolding we went to this place for lunch. Here's something you need to know about DIS if you are considering going abroad. A) You will have a lot of really cool study tours and field trips which will bring you to places you would never get to go on your own. Amazing opportunities there. And B) DIS feeds you VERY well. Take a look:

the food

the restaurant
This dish is called "shooting star" in Danish and is a very traditional Danish open faced sandwich. This was our lunch, and I was so full and content afterwards. I am thoroughly impressed with the way that DIS takes care of its students. You get the perfect mix of academics and cultural visits on these study tours, and you are even fed well and put up in really nice hostels. I would not hestitate to recommend DIS to anyone!
Anyway, enough with the shameless plugs. After our delicious meal, we hit the road and drove straight on to Copenhagen. We watched Good Will Hunting on the ride back, so it actually went by really quickly. PLUS our great study tour leaders, Jackie and Staci, bought us flødeboller in Koldinghus to eat on the way back, which are those marshmellow filled things I told you about during the first week. They are so delicious, but I heard that they explode if you try to fly with them, so I am not so sure I will be able to bring any back, unfortunately. :(
So that was the end of our short study tour! We are going on our long study tour to London in a week and a half, and I am so excited!
Hej hej!

Short Tour: Day Two

2010-02-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

On the second day of our study tour we woke up at 7:00 am (yuck) and had breakfast at our hostel. It was pretty much the standard European breakfast: break with jam/cheese/butter and yogurt, and I had an epiphany: I REALLY miss American breakfasts. All I want are some eggs and pancakes! BUT that is really the only thing that I am sick of so far, which is good. Right after breakfast we packed up the van and headed to Aarhus. They put on a movie, but I just slept through it, so I don't even remember which one it was. Right when we got to Aarhus we had a lecture about the patenting procedure for biotech products as well as how biotech companies are funded from start-up at Østjydsk Innovation. Afterwards we ate lunch and headed to ARoS, the modern art museum, which was pretty cool.

ARoS

The most famous exhibit is this giant, lifelike sculpture of a little boy, aptly named "Boy".

"Boy"--from this angle, he kinda looks creepily angry...

...But from this angle he has a kind of Mona Lisa smile!

According to our tour guide, groups of students try to spit on "Boy"s back by leaning over the balconies above him, which is bad for the materials because of the "enz...enzy..." And here her English failed. I think most of our program was a little lost because we didn't quite understand all the "moods" and such each piece was supposed to enduce, but this was probably our most exciting moment of the tour. We all happily and enthusiastically shouted the word "enzyme" for her, and I think she was a little taken aback by our excitement, but then, we are science majors...who really understands us anyway?

Aarhus from inside ARoS

The very famous clock tower of the town hall of Aarhus
After the tour, we were able to wander around the museum, and there was a pretty good mix of the completely absurd and normal paintings and such.

Giant ball...thing.
While we were walking around I had a little panic attack because I thought I had lost my phone, I left the rest of the group to find it. Luckily it was in my coat pocket in my locker, but I decided to wander the city and check out this area where I saw a bunch of old buildings. I was pretty impressed that I found it without any problems. It turns out it was some sort of open air museum...kind of like the Strawberry Banke of Denmark (if any of your New Hampshirites know what I'm talking about). It took a little while to find the entrance, and I wasn't totally sure I was supposed to be there because there was construction going on at one end, but no one said anything, so I just wandered around and took pictures. It was soooo gorgeous, and I wish it was summer so I could have gone into the buildings, but for now I am content just to have seen it.

Windmill!

I have a LOT more pictures of this place (I'm pretty sure I took pictures of every building or street), but I won't put them all up here. You get the gist, and you probably don't all share my obsession with half-timber houses and super old buildings. So after my adventure at this open air museum, I headed back up to the town hall to meet my group to go out for coffee at a cafe. Right near the meeting place was this statue of a sow and her piglets. Now, to the out-of-towner, this might be confusing; but Denmark's biggest export are probably pigs. There are actually 5 times more pigs than people here, and I believe most of those farms are on Jutland (where Aarhus is...aka mainland Denmark). Now, I know the Danes love ham and pork and bacon, but I'm pretty sure this statue captures the essence of why Copenhageners call those from Jutland and Aarhus in particular stupid; while I'm sure the Copenhageners enjoy en ost og skinke sandwich (cheese and ham sandwich) just as much as the next Dane, they don't have statues of pigs. I have yet to run this by my Danish teacher, but I remain convinced that I have found the essence of the long-running Aarhus-Copenhagen "you're stupid" "no, you're stupid" rivalry.

Our whole program went to this cafe called "Ziggy". I got a hot chocolate...and here you find another difference between the US and Denmark. When you get your hot drinks, they are at drinking temp, so if you wait any longer, they will be cold enough to be a little unpleasant to drink. I can't decide whether I like this or not, because I like being able to drink it right away, but sometimes I also like to get it just to warm my hands up for a while, THEN drink it later to warm up my insides.

Some buildings in Aarhus across the canal from the cafe

After the cafe, we headed back to meet the van, which took us to our hostel in Skanerborg. And OH. MY. GOD. This place was BEAUTIFUL. This is somewhere I would go for a vacation. We stayed in these GREAT cabins which smelled like they are pretty new. They had a full kitchen, with stove and fridge and all. It reminded me so much of summer camp.

Our cabin!

The lodge/reception area

The lake

The inside of our cabin

Kitchen area

We even had a couch!

AND a porch...too bad it was winter and we couldn't use it.

My bed in the loft <3

We had dinner at the hostel...good ol' American burgers. Afterwards we had a short-lived bonfire where we made s'mores with a Danish twist. I got a splinter in my tongue from the toasting stick, then I called it quits. Our whole program decided the best thing to do in the middle of the woods was to start a dance party. It was pretty great, even if the other program was judging us a little. Bottom line was we had more fun.
So I still have one more day to talk about, but I will do that some other day. Hej hej!

Short Tour: Day One

2010-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! This past weekend I went on my short study tour around Denmark, so I think it's best to break it down day by day.
Thursday: We met the bus as Frue Plads at 8:30 am, and managed to get on the road pretty quickly. We spent the first day in Odense, and we had two lectures at Syddansk Universtity (Southern Denmark University), though in different "campuses". Our first one was at the Medical Biotechnology Center, where Uffe Holmskov spoke about the research they were doing on using biotechnology and biomedicine to try to prevent atherosclerosis (which, for all you non-science people, is the build up of cholesterol and such in the arteries to form the plaques that cause heart attacks). The facilities were really nice, and we got to see some of the labs afterwards. The building won some kind of award for its design, and unlike a lot of labs, it was full of natural light, which keeps the researchers happy.
Our second lecture was given by Jesper Wengel about LNA. I have to admitt, I was really tired for that and had a hard time staying awake. It blew my mind a little, and I will definitely have to study it on my own to fully understand. After our lecture, we once again got a tour of the facilities. We had to wear safety glasses, which is probably the most at home I have felt since I've been here. It has been really strange not to have a lab, and honestly (I never thought I would say it), but I MISS IT. This is a good sign, I guess, since I do want to do research.

This is the machine that makes DNA sequences! So cool!

HPLC. How I love and miss you.
After our tour of the lab, which was maybe even more impressive than the Medical Center, we went to our hostel in Odense, which was much nicer than I was expecting.

The room

The view
After we were all settled in, I hung out with Joey for a while then we wandered around the town. I found the bed that if I could do childhood over again, I would have to have. In all seriousness, I want this bed for my future children because it is so cool.

It's a treehouse! No, it's a bed! No, it's a treehouse bed!
After wandering around town, we met up with our respective groups and went to a restaraunt called "The Ugly Duckling" (well, actually it's called Den Grimme Ælling, but that's the translation). Obviously this is for the fact that H.C. Andersen wrote "The Ugly Duckling" and he was born in Odense.

"The Ugly Duckling"
Right after dinner we walked to the Carl Nielsen Orchesta Hall/Museum (he was a famous composer, who was also born in Odense) for an orchestra concert. It was pretty nice and made me really miss band. :(

That really cool restaurant by night!

The orchestra
After the orchestra concert we were all pretty exhausted, since it had been a pretty long day, but we rallied and managed to all hang out as a program. It was a great bonding experience, but we turned in pretty early...but not without event. The beds had these little lamps next to them, so naturally Gillian and I tried to make them work. I was a little more persistent, and when when I turned the switch it made this little pop sound and the lights all went out. Turns out it blew a fuse, not only for our room but for some of the others as well. We had to finish getting ready in the dark and we had to get ready in the morning in the dark. Luckily, I brought my little wind up flashlight, so we were able to manage well enough. This post is getting super long, so I think I will break up the rest of the trip by day.

Kronborg Castle Pictures

2010-02-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

The wonderful bakery/cafe. Oldest one in Denmark? Don't know, but super legit, nonetheless.

This place was drool-tastic.

The weinerbrod I ordered in Danish!

Meat market. Mmmmmmm.

Kronborg in chocolate form. True art.

Helsingor from Kronborg

Kronborg Slot

Oh, heyyyy Sweden, what's up?

Beautiful carvings on the pews in the chapel.

The beautiful ceiling in the chapel. The whole castle used to have this.

Queen Margrethe I forming the Kalmar Union after the devastation of the Black Plague. You go girl. If this is a man's world, why is the King of Sweden ceding to her? Mhmm, she's kick ass.

The Knight's Hall, formerly the largest of its kind in Europe.

That beautiful door hides the pee banister I was talking about.

"That skull had a tongue in it and could sing once. How the
knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain’s jawbone,
that did the first murder! It might be the pate of a politician,
which this ass now o'erreaches, one that would circumvent
God, might it not?" ~Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1 <3

Tapestry depicting a lion hunt.

Holger Danske. Legend is if Denmark is threatened, he will wake up and spring to his defense. Looks like Denmark's safe today, cause he's pretty dead to the world.

See that globe? That's actually the most valuable thing in the whole castle.

Dungeons

Ursula, our tour guide, demonstrating torture...Danish style. The prisoners were trapped, standing in corners like that by iron bars.

"A little bit of snow and...BOOM!"

2010-02-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! So I swore I was going to be better about updating this, but I'm still playing catch-up a little bit on my reading, so it didn't happen this week. However, after my study tour I should be good to go. But I have to update about the past few days! So here goes...
Saturday: We went to Helsingor both to explore the town and to see Kronborg Castle, which inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet (Helsingor obviously being Anglified to Elsinore). They aren't totally sure if he ever actually visited or not, but our guide said that he definitely either visited himself or someone who did visit described it to him. But I'm getting ahead of myself in all my love for Hamlet. The bus dropped us off in town and we had about two hours before the tours were going to start so we could explore and eat lunch, etc. We headed straight for a bakery that someone recommended; supposedly it is the oldest bakery in Denmark. I am not sure of the validity of that statement, but it was DELICIOUS. There I ordered in Danish for the first time: weinerbrod. I was in a little bit of trouble when she asked me what kind I wanted. I actually reallllllly wanted the cream filled one, but since I only knew how to say raspberry (hindbaer), that is what I asked for. And she didn't even laugh at me!! Though she did correct my pronounication of hindbaer, but I was just totally excited that I finally worked up the guts to order in Danish. After the cafe/bakery we wandered up and down the streets looking into shops. It was unbelievably cold, easily the coldest day since I've been here, and the wind was killer. We had to walk to the castle, which is sort of on a peninsula (the original fortress before Kronborg was nicknamed "The Hook" for this reason). We weren't sure we were even going the right direction, and it was easily at least a mile there, so we were totally frozen by the time we got there. However, it was totally worth it to see a REAL castle. My favorite part was probably the chapel, which is the only part that has all the original carved ceilings and such. It seems pretty much everything in Denmark has suffered through a fire at some point. Anyway, I learned a lot of cool information which I promptly forgot; Denmark is the longest running monarchy in the world, and thus it is a little difficult to keep the monarchs all straight, especially when the kings are all either named Christian or Frederik. Literally. They alternate those names with every first born son so there will always be a king with one of those names. Two things I do remember: one of their kings married a 14 year old girl when he was 31ish. Ew. And they had this banister that ran down a stairway next to the Knight's Hall (where they had balls) which was designed to be peed in. For real. The nobles just aimed at it and it ran down and was collected in buckets by servants. Eww eww. Oh! And the king that lived there was a smart bastard. After the herring started running low he decided to tax a certain percentage of every ships' cargo that was passing through that very narrow straight (at the time Sweden was owned by Denmark and there was a fortress on the opposite side). If he thought that the cargo was worth more than the captain claimed, the captain had to sell the cargo to the king for that price. I'm sure he got many valuable things this way, but one of them is this huuuge, really valuable tapestry.
Sunday-Tuesday: Not too much excited happened. Just classes, prep for our short study tours. Also I was appointed as class rep in both my cancer class and Nordic Mythology (along with Katie Dempster in NM...way to represent, Gburg!). AKA I'm an overacheiver. Tuesday we were supposed to get this huge snowstorm and EVERYONE was freaking out. My Danish teacher thought that we should have afternoon classes cancelled and she told us to get out of the city ASAP or we would be stuck here. She said that busses/trains were already being cancelled. The commute was a little crazy in that I was like a sardine on the train and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon, which is unheard of, and I had to wait two stops before I could sit down, which also has never happened. I overheard one Dane so eloquently put it, "It's crazy, a little bit of snow and...and...BOOM!" It's so true. The Danes don't know what to do with the snow at all.
Today: Today is Julie's birthday! This morning we woke her up by coming into her room carrying Danish flags and singing the Danish birthday song. Well...Peter, Susan, and Mathias sang and I pathetically waved a flag since I didn't even have a hope of learning the song. WikiAnswers claim that the lyrics are as follows:

I dag er det "Name of person celebrated"'s fødselssdag
Hurra, hurra, hurra!
Han sikkert sig en gave får
som han har ønsket sig i år
med dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Hvor smiler han, hvor er han glad
hurra, hurra, hurra!
men denne dag er også rar
for hjemme venter "Mom and Dad, whoever birthdayboy lives with"
med dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Og når han hjem fra "school, place of work" går
hurra, hurra, hurra!
så skal han hjem og holde fest
og hvem, der kommer med som gæst
får dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Til slut vi råber højt i kor:
Hurra, hurra, hurra!
Gid "Name of person celebrated" længe leve må
og sine ønsker opfyldt få
med dejlig chokolade og kager til.

Yeah. That wasn't happening for me.

Breakfast was a sit down affair with lots of bread, HUGE cinnamon rolls, crepes and melon. It was delicious and I was so full afterwards that I felt a little sick. Anyway, on your birthday the Danish flag follows you everywhere, so the whole house looked like Denmark pride threw up in there, but I really liked it. I kinda wish we did the same thing. Julie opened her gifts during breakfast, and afterwards they all got ready to go to work/school. Since I had nowhere to go I cleaned up and took a nap. Then I did homework all day. Bleh. But I am finally almost caught up! YAY! Afterwards, Susan's dad and stepmom and Julie's best friend (also named Julie)came for dinner. We ate at a local restaurant, and it was pretty fancy. I got some salmon dish for an appetizer and a steak like thing for dinner, per Peter's warning not to get more salmon. I was really craving fish, but I was glad I listened. The salmon is evidently raised in some sort of hatchery, and even if they didn't tell me that I could have guessed it because it tasted like fake seawater. I guess maybe I'm a little bit of a seafood snob coming from New England, but I expected Danish seafood to be on par...I mean, we ARE on an island here. I guess I should try it again later. But the steak. OH. MY. GOD. So delicious. I can't even begin to describe. I'm pretty sure this will be my only fancy meal of the whole semester, but this was a good only one. It was heavenly.
Tomorrow I am leaving for my short study tour, and I will be gone until Saturday. First we are going to Odense, then we are going to Aarhus. I will report back on details later, but it is definitely time for bed! Oh! And from now on pictures will be separate posts because I have yet to successfully post text and pictures in the same post. Anyway, goodnight!

Odense Pictures

2010-01-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

Danish farm on Western Zealand

Windmill! So green.

Island where women who got pregnant out of wedlock used to be sent

Chillin with H.C. Andersen

One of H.C. Andersen's hundreds of paper cuttings.

So Danish.

Cool restaurant

H.C. Andersen's childhood home

REALLY old houses

No wonder Denmark is the happiest country in the world...they get to live in these houses! So jealous!

Probably the biggest half-timbered structure I have seen to date. <3>

Beautiful old pub/restaurant with some Viking architechural features.

You have noooo idea how much I want this house. Built in the 1630's. GORGEOUS.

Just look at that BEAUTIFUL detail work!

The walk/don't walk signs are images of H.C. Andersen!

Two Weeks Already?!

2010-01-29T15:02:00.001-08:00

Hello faithful followers! I am sorry I have not posted in a very long time, but I have been crazy busy, as I'm sure you can imagine. Since it has been a long time, I'm afraid this post will be a little big long, so I am going to try to break it down a little into categories. I'll tell you a little about my observations and then I will tell you some of the stuff I have been doing.
The Danes: The way they were described, the Danes sounded cold and aloof, but this is not the impression I have gotten at all. They are incredibly patient and understanding people. If you get lost and ask for directions, they will either give you very detailed directions or (more likely) they will actually take you were you need to go themselves. In talking with other DIS students, someone said that their train broke down and they had to walk on the tracks to the next station to catch a train that was waiting there for them. The student said that the Danes treated it like it was any other day and nothing out of the ordinary was going on. This amazes me, because I know that Americans would have been fuming to have to put in this extra effort. The Danes are also very considerate. The trains are always very quiet; the Danes really believe that you are entitled to this peace and quiet, and so they don't speak, or if they do, it is very quietly. In addition, Danes seem to be very trusting people. I guess there was a special on this on 60 Minutes, but they just leave their babies outside in their strollers while they go into a store to do their shopping...no joke! I have seen it! They are very well bundled up, but it is something about the fresh air in winter...anyway, it's definitely something that Social Services would take away your kids for in the US. The Danes are also very active: they bike a lot of places and I have seen many people running, even in this weather.
Public Transportation: Recently I have perhaps been unfairly hating on public transportation. There is a lot of construction going on, so sometimes the train isn't running through stations it should be, or it is delayed, etc. Which would be fine if I could understand what the screens say...but they are in Danish, so I can't, which leads to a lot of confusion. The other day the train was evidently stuck somewhere (something about the cold weather makes them not run well, I guess) and I ended up 30 minutes late for class, even though I was actually early to the station. I guess there are not normally all these problems, but the weather was made things difficult.
The Food: Mmmmmm. The Danes eat a lot of potatoes and pork, especially with gravy. I have yet to experience pickled herring, so my fears of eating terrible, strange things have been put to rest. I have loved every meal we have eaten, though I do miss American breakfast. I will need to start running soon or eating all this bread will make me fat. In addition, I have discovered the phenomenon that is Sankt Peder's Bageri (St. Peter's Bakery). They make the most WONDERFUL things, and their cinnamon rolls are huge and yummy and only cost 12 kroner! (That is about 2.40-2.50 in USD). I am determined that one of these days I will work up the courage to order in Danish. (To order a Danish, you say, "Jeg vil garne have et stykke wienerbrod." [with the slash through the o])
My Host Family: I love them! They are so nice and helpful and understanding. They even make my lunch everyday, since they are making one for Mathias and Julie anyway. I have to say, I have now experienced the anti-clothes-ness now. I have seen my host dad in his boxers, my host mom in her underwear, and my host mom in her bra. I was proud of myself for not even reacting to this situation, but on another matter I lost it entirely...On Wednesday we ordered pizza and they cut it with SCISSORS. Like, they busted out the scissors and cut the pizza like it was paper. I couldn't help it...I think I actually laughed through the entire meal. I will say that Mathias is very quiet and shy, but I am determined to make him talk by the end of the semester. I want more than 1 word answers to my questions!
The Weather: I think I mentioned in my last post that it is unseasonably cold here. We are also getting like record breaking amounts of snow, which, coming from NH, isn't actually saying much. We got 4-6 inches Wed., and they couldn't really handle it. I don't think they have the capability and manpower to remove the snow, and the streets are still really slushy and messy. This slippery mess combined with the cobblestones (far older and more uneven than those in Boston) is a near lethal combination. I am expecting a wipe-out any day now.
The Academics: So far I like my classes, though my core course and cancer course have an excessive amount of reading. However, all my teachers seem good, and I especially love my Danish teacher. She is so much fun. The academics are a little different from Gettysburg (the science classes expect more class participation and do a little less of the "I lecture, you take notes" approach that I am used to), but nothing I can't handle. I will say that it is a little difficult going to school with people from other schools, as they definely have a different character to them. Gettysburg is pretty laid back on the outside...outright competition for the better grade/right to appear smarter is frowned upon a lot there. However, here I have to take classes with people who go to Cornell, Brown, Yale, etc., and some of them are rather pretentious, which is a difficult thing to swallow. I love the experiential learning style at DIS. We have Wednesdays off from classes so we can do field studies. This past Wednesday, we went to Odense to see the Hans Christian Andersen museum for my Hans Christian Andersen and the Danish Golden Age class. It was pretty sweet, and the town was soooooo cute, but we ended up spending more than double the time that we spent at the museum on a bus. I was going to add pictures, but this doesn't seem to want to let me, so I will have to add them in a later post. I promise I will add them once I get this figured out, especially since I have actually uploaded them to my computer. Anyway, I guess that is it for academics for now. Oh! I was elected as a class representative for my Complexity of Cancer class, which basically means if people have concerns about the class they can talk to me and I am sort of a link to the teachers. Woot for overachieving!
Well, I am off to Kronborg Castle tomorrow in Elsinore (where Hamlet takes place!) so I should get to bed. Godt weekenden!

Cold in Copenhagen

2010-01-22T07:42:00.001-08:00

Wow, I can't believe it's already Friday! I guess I still have to talk about the rest of orientation! Wednesday morning I got to the train like a pro juuuust on time for the train. When I got there, there were people on the platform, so I stopped to catch my breath when I suddenly realized that there wasn't anyone around. The train had chosen to stop at the other end of the platform, which is at least 100 meters long. So I had to sprint to the end and thankfully they waited for me and I got to Copenhagen on time. We were supposed to be meeting in groups of six at different meeting spots throughout the city for a scavenger hunt, which included six different locations on a map besides the meeting point. My group was supposed to be meeting at the "acrobats" statue. I found the street no problem, but the only statue I saw was a man on a horse...not really what I had in mind when I thought of acrobat. Luckily another girl in my group ended up there too and we wandered back down the street and found everyone else. Turns out the acrobat statue had been removed. Anyway, our first stop was Christiansborg Slot, which was the first place the king lived, but now houses parliament, etc. We were already freezing and it was windy and snowing. They had free coffee for us, which warmed us up. A little.
Next stop was The Black Diamond, which is the Royal Library. The inside was really nice and unbelievably quiet. They had a lot of posters on display about global warming and other political/environmental topics, which we looked at for a while while we warmed up some, joined another group and planned our next move. We had seen the harbor bus going by earlier, though DIS had told us it wouldn't be running this time of year, so we asked someone just to be sure. They said it was, which meant that if we took it we would be saved about a mile of walking, since our next stop was Amalienborg Palace, which is where the Queen Margarethe II lives. So we walked out to the dock, where the schedule said the harbor bus would be there in 5 minutes. So we waited. And waited. And waited. While we waited, a girl in our group asked us riddles, which kept us out there waiting...we would have quit long before then if it wasn't for those riddles. Eventually we gave up and walked toward the Black Diamond. We were waited to cross the street when someone yelled "Here it comes! Run!" So all twelve of us sprinted, laughing down the pier and managed to catch it. We rode to Nyhavn, the most photographed street in Denmark, and from there we only had to walk a few blocks to the palace. We got there just before noon...when we were supposed to be finished with the scavenger hunt. So we won't be winning any prizes, but we DID get to see the changing of the guard, which is so much more impressive than the changing of the guard at Arlington. They march across the whole city every day with a full band! It was so cool! We decided it would be best to forget the rest of the scavenger hunt and get back to DIS, since I don't think any of us could feel our extremeties at that point. I saw one of the girls a few hours later and she still hadn't stopped shaking. It was a shame that we didn't get to finish it, because it was a really cool idea. If only we didn't walk in on the coldest January in like 20 years! The rest of the day was spent exploring and going to a program meeting for our core course. Anyway, I'm going to post about the first two days of class later, because my computer is dying, and I'll try to post pictures too. Hej hej for now!
~Kyla

"Good God, what are you drinking!?"

2010-01-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

Hello from Copenhagen! I have so much to write about, even though I've only been here two days. I guess I'll start with arrival. First of all, the flight over was torturously long. I also got my backpack searched in both Logan and Reykjavik, and the guy in Iceland was VERY thorough, even going through my journal and jewelry case. I got into Copenhagen at noon in Danish time, and left the airport around 1. We were brought by charter bus to ITU, where we listened to a few presentations, got our money for our transportation pass, cell phone, etc. My host family came around 3-3:30, and they drove me back to their house. When my host dad (Peter) went to pick up my bag he told me he shouldn't be doing this because he had a hangover. The day before was his birthday and he had stayed up until 4 am drinking with his brother. When I got there, we pretty much talked and unpacked and ate dinner (which was delicious by the way). The past two days DIS has had a lot of orientation stuff, including Survival Danish. Hah, if I survive Danish, it will be miraculous. It is a really diffucult language to pronounce, and it sounds like German met French and had a baby, because some of the sounds are very French, but the spelling looks more like German. And nothing is pronounced as it looks. It makes it all the more difficult for me to learn because I have a cold and my ears are all plugged up, so I can't hear myself, so I can't hear the way I am pronouncing something. I have been laughed at a LOT so far.
The commute is not bad at all. It is a little more than five minutes to walk: I take the S-train into Copenhagen from the Karlslunde stop to Norreport (the o is supposed to have that funny little slash through it), which is about 25-30 minutes, then walk 5-10 minutes to DIS. I got terribly lost coming home yesterday. I got off the path home too early and wandered around for 30-40 minutes in the wrong neighborhood totally lost and confused and carrying all my books, which must weigh at least as much as my suitcase did. I have bruises on my shoulders. Luckily I saw some people out walking and they pointed me in the right direction. When I walked in my host family said they were worried and were about to call the police. Cool. Good first day.
So far I've been mistaken as Danish once. This morning when I was walking down the street a woman approached me with a flyer speaking rapid fire Danish and this is what it sounded like to me: awjrieojid;a ajfjiafjejio aeaeae aejrioaemiofafja glug ajeiliawejrfa;. I interrupted her to say "I'm sorry I don't speak Danish". She seemed surprised and asked if I lived in Denmark. I wish I had said yes just to see how she reacted. We'll see how many times this happens this semester.
At the surface, it doesn't seem like America and Denmark are that different, but when you look at it more, it's vastly different in cultural expectations. First of all, they don't have words like "excuse me" or "please" and such in their language, so they barge through crowds without saying anything (not even undskyld, the Danish word for sorry). The trains are practically silent, and anyone who speaks loudly is given a death glare. I've been told that when they toast, they just raise their glasses and say Skal (with a little degree sign over the a); they don't clink glasses. One kid in my Danish class clinked, and recieved shocked stares. Evidently they are also anti-pants. Though my host family hasn't done this yet, DIS warned us of this and Joey has already experienced it: they just go around the house in their underwear. Also, they don't have a lot of medicine we have, so when I put Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold in my water, Peter had no idea what it was and exclaimed "Good God, what are you drinking?!" Even after I explained he didn't really seem to understand, so it's totally possible he thinks I'm doing something illegal.
Survival Danish was fun, despite the difficulty. We took a field trip to a grocery store to learn a few Danish words for food, and I'm starting to learn that Danish is a very literal language. For example, beef is oxkod (the kod has a slash through the o), which means "ox meat". We learned about their 39830284923 different kinds of milk and bread. By the way, Danes looooove their bread. When I had a snack, it was bread. We had bread with dinner. And guess what breakfast was? Yup. Bread with jam or cheese or butter (or all three!) and some fruit. We also had this delicious dessert called smorflode (slash through both o's), which is kind of like chocolate covered marshmellow, but SOOO much better. We also had wienerbrod (slash through o), which is what we call a Danish. "Wienerbrod" means Vienna bread, so evidently they stole it from viennese bakers. We had it from the best baker in the city and it was like heaven in my mouth...soooo delicous.
Anyway, my computer is dying and this post is getting long, so I will sign off here. Hej hej!
~Kyla

The Adventure Begins!

2010-01-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

Hello! As I'm sure you are all aware, I will be spending this semester in Copenhagen, Denmark with the Danish Institute for Study Abroad. I received my host family information last Friday, and I am very excited! I will be living in Greve, Denmark, which my host family says is about a 25 minute train ride from Copenhagen, and their house is a 5 minute walk from the train station. Not bad, considering some Gettysburgians have AN HOUR long commute! I am staying with the Birk Nielsens: Susan manages a travel agency and Peter has his own company and works with a company out of the Netherlands promoting and marketing their products in the Baltic and Nordic area. They have two children: Julie is 17 and in high school and Mathias is 14 and in primary school. Their school system must be different over there because Peter said that one of Julie's majors is Spanish, and that she was excited that I spoke some. Huh? Majors in high school?? I guess I'll have to brush up on my Spanish, because I am really rusty, since I haven't really spoken it in 3 years! The extent of what else I know is this: they live a few hundred yards from the beach, they have two cats (though I don't know their names) and they just got back from a two week vacation in South Africa. Peter is the one who wrote the e-mail, and his English is great! Plus he also seems really funny...we'll get along well, since I laugh at everyyything.

I went in early in the morning to Kingswood and spoke with my English teacher, Mrs. Brewitt, who has traveled all over the world, and she says that Copenhagen is her favorite place, so now I'm wicked excited! I'll be flying out of Boston Logan tomorrow at 8:35 pm with IcelandAir, then changing planes in Reykjavik, Iceland before landing in CPH at noon (their time) on Sunday. I guess I have a whole bunch of workshops the first day, then I will meet my host family and head home with them. I am excited and nervous! I had a momentary panic attack today because I tried to print out my boarding pass and it said that there was no record of me. I booked with Vayama, so I thought it didn't go through and I was panicked! Turns out the 1 that I so carefully denoted when I wrote down my confirmation code was actually an I. It all turned out fine, and I've got my boarding pass now. I picked up my kroner (Danish currency) today, so now I'm pretty much set. Except for some packing...so I guess I should go! My next post will be from the happiest country in the world! Fahvel (farewell) for now!
~Kyla