Rediscovering Copenhagen

The past few days in Copenhagen have been quite unusual.  Maybe its the mysterious blanket of snow that seems to be thickening every day, the non-stop flakes falling from the sky, or the mysterious fogginess present every morning. In any case, I have been enjoying the snow, although it is quite the nuisance to be out and around in.  Fortunately, I bought a pair of not-so-attractive, but altogether functional Croc boots before I left the US, which have been saving my life.  

In any case, one of my friends moms was in town this week, and I had the pleasure of showing her around for a couple of days.  It has been absolutely freezing outside, but we trekked to some of my favorite places including Kongens Nytorv (which in my opinion looks its best with some light snowfall around), Nyhavn (the multi-colored houses on EVERY postcard of Copenhagen), Christiansborg (Parliament) and onward.  I got to experience things through her eyes, which was mostly colored with immense excitement and energy.  

One of the reasons that I was so happy to show her around was because I have gotten the distinctive feeling lately that I am extremely comfortable with my life here in Copenhagen.  I have failed to be awed by my surroundings, I don't notice the little things that I used to love, and I have taken for granted the amazing friends I have made here. That is unfortunate.  The charm of being in a new city has long since worn off, and I have, more or less, slipped into a predictable pattern.  I know what I will do every day, I know how I will get there, and if, god forbid, I got into trouble, I feel confident that I could handle the situation.  This sounds ironic, but this is exactly what I was trying to escape by coming to Europe in the first place.  I think that having the opportunity to show my friend's mom around gave me license to be a "tourist" again, taking pictures of the little things, and really appreciating them for what they are, instead of something that I just pass by every day.  

Today, I was at the Copenhagen playhouse, which looks over the canals of Copenhagen over towards the Royal Opera.  There was no wind, and fat snowflakes were falling in slow-motion.  It was at that moment that I looked out and realized just how lucky I am to be here.  The things that I have neglected to notice came to life, like a neglected toy on a child's top shelf that is suddenly rediscovered.  I saw, for the first time in a month, the rippling water of the canal, the incredible architecture all around me, and, looking in the windows of the modern, first story cafe inside the playhouse, my friends who have meant so much to me these past few months. 

The beautiful blanket of snow (or hindrance to train, bus and bike travel, as some might say) will soon go away, but it has made me fall in love with Copenhagen all over again.  

Dinner Parties and Disasters

This week, my host family was in Austria skiing. Without me.  Which is a-ok with me, because knowing my luck, I'd probably break something valuable like my leg, or something really irreplaceable like my iPod.  (Don't laugh, losing my iPod in Denmark would be a veritable disaster since it would be so expensive to replace!) Anyway, In their absence, they sent over my host dad's older brother, Neils.  He and I actually got along fantastically, having lots of great conversations and great food.  

The first night he was here, Sunday night, he invited over his son and his son's girlfriend.  I was enjoying the evening well enough, having a hyggelig time and great food.  Now, first let me say, that it is highly emphasized to newly-arrived Americans that Danes are not interested in superficial conversations, but would rather talk about interesting, deep topics.  Armed with this knowledge, I decide to show my mastery of the Danish culture by asking the table a question about immigration (which highly pertains to my core course at DIS about migration and identity) The son, who is of a political persuasion that is rather unfriendly to immigrants decided to make a long speech about why Danes shouldn't have to pay for immigrants social services if they don't want to. Eventually, an argument ensued between he and his father, and I all I could think was "Oh my gosh, I started this mess!" In time things settled down, but I felt really bad and awkward about the whole thing.  

Later on in the week, Neils invited his his daughter over for dinner.  Luckily, this night was far less controversial! We were sitting around the dinner table, feasting on a traditional Danish food that I can't pronounce or spell that includes veal and some other sort of meat fried in a pan with tons of butter and breadcrumbs and potatoes (which was awesome, by the way, heart attack optional)! We had a great time. All of the sudden, deciding to avoid political, religious or moral questions after my last bad experience, I ask the daughter what she does for a living.  She replies that she is a nanny.  Great! I think.  We have something in common.  I share some of the crazy stories and anecdotes from my nannying experiences in Dallas.  The conversation progresses, and I eventually ask her what the names of the kids are that she nannies for.  She replies that their names are Christian and Isabella.  At this point, any Dane would tell you that something was up (and indeed, Neils had a suspicious glint in his eye), but I failed to notice it. Then, I go on to ask what their parents do. 

Get ready for this.  She replies oh-so non-chalantly that, oh, they're the crown prince and princess.  I immediately (like an idiot) ask "Of What?" And she replies, "Denmark".  Ha.  Fortunately, she was gracious enough not to embarrass me too much about it, and a very interesting conversation ensued about her life as a nanny and some of the ins and outs of working with royalty.  She couldn't say a lot because of her contract, but I gathered that in any case, it was an interesting job.  Crazy! I'm sure that most weeks won't be able to top the excitement of this one!

Rejse til Jutland

Aka, trip to Jutland. This title is supposed to be ironic. And, if you weren't a native speaker of Danish, it probably wouldn't mean anything to you. By saying it this way, Danes are implying that Jutland is a far, far away place, an "outside" place. And for those of you who are thinking, "What is Jutland"? I will elucidate. Quick geography lesson: Denmark is composed of a peninsula (sticking out of the top of Germany), called Jutland, and over 400 islands (including the one Copenhagen is on, called Zealand). So, for a Copenhagener, going to Jutland is pretty much the equivalent of a New Yorker going to Nebraska. They are on complete opposite sides of both the country, and are viewed differently. Many Copenhageners view Jutland as being provincial, backwards, and behind the times. When I told my Danish friends I went to Jutland this last weekend, their reply was, "Why?".

The answer to the question is that DIS feels that it is a good idea to get students out of Copenhagen, to see more of Denmark. And, I think its a great idea. Not only do you get to know a big chunk of people much better, but you get to see things from a different perspective. As part of my program, we got to meet people from different immigrant backgrounds, and hear their stories. This was probably the most influential part of the trip for me. It really breathed life into what we read in class, by hearing the personal stories of immigrants who came to Denmark. One of the issues that we have been focusing on is the treatment of immigrants, and the policies put forward by the state regarding asylum seekers, immigrants, etc. It was so great to get perspective from the people who were actually affected by those policies.

We had a lot of great social and cultural visits too, including (what I consider the highlight) a Carpark North concert. It was a great time, in an awesome venue, called Ridehuset. There were these huge white, cylindrical crepe structures hanging from the ceiling, as well as a ginormous disco ball. It was a great time, full of cultural opportunities (observing a bunch of Danes drinking massive amounts of beer and jumping around, singing, and dancing to the music).

The second most awesome thing we did was go to an art museum. There was an entire floor of interactive digital art which blew me away. There were various exhibits where you had to do things from running on a treadmill, to using a typewriter to getting your pulse measured by a machine and having it reflected in 300 blinking lights in the ceiling. I really enjoyed it, especially having been there once before, because I didn't feel the need to rush through all of the exhibits. I could just spend time enjoying the ones that appealed to me. At the end of the trip, we took a quiz on all things Danish, which I knew surprisingly little of. It did, however, provide me with ample facts for the random Danish fact of the day... So, without further adieu,

Random Danish Fact of the Day: Did you know that most of Copenhagen burned down in 1728 and was subsequently rebuilt? The building that DIS is housed in was among the casualties. That fire is why most of the buildings on Copenhagen don't date back any further than the 1700's.