The Danes -- Hygge, Beer, and Pronunciation.

I know what you're thinking - another post, so soon?  He must be bored over there!  That's not too far from the truth, to be honest. 

To clarify, I'm trying to do homework.  And anyone who knows me knows that it's one of my least favorite things to do, and that I'll resort to quite literally anything to avoid it.  So... blog post!  Mother wanted me to post a few pictures of my room, but since I'm not currently down there, I'll do the next best thing -- the Portuguese kitchen!

What!? Portuguese kitchen?!  I thought he was in Denmark, not Portugal!  Well, you were wrong.  Turns out I hopped on the wrong connection from Stockholm, and only noticed earlier today.  In my defense, I've been drinking constantly.  Anyways, here's the kitchen:

Above is the food bit -- granolas, corn flakes, raisins, bread, and a fridge w/ cheese and milk and some other random business.

Below, we've got the other side, the sitting side.  Hannah's facing towards the camera, and Danielle and Cameron are looking the other way.  Probably too shy.  (Oh hey, guys!)

(Oh yeah, and somebody should explain to Grandma at this point that I was joking.  I am in Denmark, and I haven't been drinking constantly.  So... yay bad attempts at humor?)

On to the title of the blog!  First up... Hygge!

Hygge is a concept that doesn't really exist in English, which I think reflects rather poorly on our cultures.  It's a sort of warm, happy, cozy feeling that can be thought of as a Tuesday night in winter, sitting by the fire, talking with family or friends, and a beer in hand.  It's a generally happyfuzzy feeling, and they've got a special word for it.  Awesome people, these Danes.

Next, beer.  They've got a brand, Carlsberg, that seems to be the national brand.  It's super old, and is (or was, I'm not really certain) brewed in Copenhagen.  They also donate a certain percentage of sales to the arts and some other causes, so you can think of your beer drinking as philanthropic!  It's a clever concept.  It's not limited to Carlsberg, either -- every sort of beer is basically adored here, as long as it's not Miller Lite.  Or really any other American beer, they're a bit derisive, actually.  Anyways, alcohol is a major part of the culture here, and that's been a bit weird.  You'll see people with beers on the trains, in the streets, basically anywhere you go.  And it's ok!  Not frowned on at all, and not a single one has it in a brown paper bag.

And pronunciation.  I haven't got much else to say on this point, other than a video I just saw.  Damn, but it's accurate.  Also, thanks to Schief for showing me, regardless of how hurtful he intended to be towards my (new and temporary) people.

Krogerup Folkehøjskole

Hello again!  Today I'll be talking about Krogerup Folkehøjskole, the place I'm living.  Since it's where I spend about half of my waking hours, it only makes sense that I'd talk a bit about it.

In short, I love it.

The longer explanation begins with its pronunciation.  And, well, that's about all I can really tell you for certain about its pronunciation.  I do know, however, that it's something like 'kho-whhhwwhup".  Yeah, that's it.  And Folkehøjskole, that's pronounced "Fahl-keh-hoy-skew-leh", or something similar.  At dinner last week, I was trying to get one of the teachers, Garba (I think he either is an immigrant himself, or was born to immigrant parents), to teach me the pronunciation.  I failed miserably, to the point that he grabbed a napkin and told me to shove it in my mouth.  I thought he was making fun of me, but it turns out... If you try to say it with a napkin in your mouth, it works.  Seriously.

So there's that.

There's my commute.  It takes about 12 minutes to walk to the train station, and it's either a 27 or 32-minute ride on the train.  From there, it's a 6-8 minute walk to DIS, depending which building you're headed to. 

We live here!  Contrary to Google's assumptions, we actually walk through a forest and field to get to the train station.  It's pretty awesome, but I've heard it can be scary when it's dark out -- which is going to be basically always, starting in about a month.  Luckily, the fears are almost groundless, since it's a really nice town, and the Danes are basically all awesome.  Either way, we'll be utilizing the buddy system and headlights. 

The first few days we were here were pretty chill for us.  Sunday and Monday nights, we all kind of gathered, went on some short exploratory walks, and basically hung out. 

Tuesday night was the first party -- the Danes love to party, it seems.  We started out the night with a hop into the Baltic around 10.  It was pretty cold, but entirely worth it.  I couldn't find any good pictures of me hopping in, but I did find one that basically sums it up.

Pitch-black, windy, and cold -- an average Tuesday night.

And look! Sweden!  (Oh hey, Danielle, looks like I'm stealing some of your pictures... thanks?)  Turns out Sweden is only about 6.5 miles away from our coast, and about half that if you run a few miles north before hopping in. 

Anyways, so after that, there was a party in what's called the "Night Box".  It's a freedom-loving room where the teachers never go, so the students are free to party, crank loud music, and graffiti the walls whenever they please.  That went until around 2, and then we all went to bed.  We had more orientation in the morning. 

We've got dinner every night at 6.  That's starting to become a mixed blessing.  On the one hand, the food is great, and at least mostly Danish.  On the other, it's often difficult/impossible to make it back from Copenhagen in time.  I don't make it out of class until 5:45 on three days of the week, which is less than ideal.  Luckily, if I walk fast enough and don't get distracted, I can make the 18:00 train (6:00pm, suckas!), be in Humlebaek by 18:29, and make the tail end of dinner.  Sometimes the food is still out, and sometimes it's not.  Either way, there's always some bread left -- which is awesome, since this ain't no wonder bread.  No, we're talking fresh-baked (and mixed, Bill.  Beat that, Piggly Wiggly!) bread and some sort of tasty cheese.  Nom-nom.

 Left side of the dining hall / foodgrabbingplace!

Right side of the dining hall / foodgrabbingplace

 Dining hall!  Lovely place, it is.

Saturday, the Danes decided to commemorate our presence with a Cowboys and Indians party.  Offensive, probably.  But it's Denmark, and they're widely considered an irreverent people, with a fairly deprecating style of humor.  I love it.  At any rate, my costume was war paint and a homemade bow.  Sadly, I didn't have time to make arrows.  Also sadly, I didn't manage any pictures from the occasion.  Sorry!

Oh, I almost forgot!  On Saturday nights, the tradition is for the school to give each hall a sack of money -- 25 kroner for each person -- and let you construct your own meal.  It's a sort of bonding-happy-time, and I imagine it'll get more and more hygge as we get to know each other better, and as the weather outside makes the inside feel more and more comfy. 

This past Saturday, we (Ethan, really) made a sorta chili, and we bought a bunch of fresh-baked bread, and -- and here's the part where it gets a bit risque -- a few bottles of wine.  Gasp! 

Drinking, by the way, is an integral part of Danish culture.  My hypothesis is that it helps them A) understand each other -- the language is quite literally just grunting and making the oddest noises you can imagine; and B) to help them through the long winter.  At any rate, drinking is acceptable at basically any time, in basically any place.  A few times last week, we went out for a beer during a 3-hour lunch break.  We weren't the only ones, not by a long shot. 

That brings us to today, at least as far as Krogerup is concerned.  I'm sitting doing homework and blogging in our little kitchen (which we were given for our own, since we often have to leave before official breakfast time). 

Anyways, I'm having a great time over here in Denmark, and I hope ya'lls lives are doing well back in the States!

Peace.

Hello again!


Today's WednesdayThursday/Friday/Saturday (I'm rather bad at finishing these in a single day, it seems), and it seems I haven't posted about anything since Sunday (Thanks, mother, for continuing to remind me).  So I suppose I'll rectify that now (and toss in a few more parentheticals, just for funsies).

I guess I'll start w/ noon on Sunday.  Anyways, Rachel and I got hungry and decided to grab us some food.  Burger King made the most sense, of course...  I mean, until we saw the prices.  But at that point, it was a tad late, and the idea of fried food and an ice cold Coke sounded simply too great to ignore -- so we stomached the 55 Kroner ($11), and bought food.  But wait, there's more!  They charge for ketchup.  And you don't get free refills.  Kinda helps explain the whole non-obesity thing, it does.

Finally, the whole waiting around thing finished up, and we hopped in a bus to head down to Frue Plads.

This is the first picture I thought to take while actually in Copenhagen -- The guy in the picture is Scotty, who serendipitously happens to live in the same housing as I. 

That's a cobblestoned plaza where DIS and a bunch of other organizations like to stage their bus operations.  We waited around there for a while, then took another chartered bus out to Krogerup Folkehøjskole, where I'll be spending the next 4 months.

 TRAIN TRACKS WHAT! (Bus ride to Frue Plads)

And then, we were there!  It's a beautiful place, it is -- an organic farm field on one hand, and a lush forest on the other.  Though really, the forest is just about everywhere. The first two pictures here are along the path on the way from the station to Krogerup, and the last is the main building.  The building was completed in 1776 (and isn't even considered all that old), providing an excellent reference point for the US students, though the Danes don't seem to grasp how cool its particular age is.

A pretty typical example of an alley in Copenhagen.  They're one-way, and often have space for parking on one side.  You'll notice it's incredibly thin, and feels rather... squeezed?  The buildings seem to tall to be divided by such a small alley, so it'll take some getting used to.  

This one's a street.  2-way, and parking on either side in spots.  The blue and red sign, I think, means no parking.  I don't really know for sure yet, but we'll get there.  The streets are paved, and the sidewalks are largely cobbled -- they're very old cobbles, though, so it's a rather bumpy walk.  I thank my lucky stars I chose a large (80 litre) pack for my luggage, rather than a rolly-pack.  Those didn't work well at all.

Strangely, there are no bikes in either of these two photos.  I can't figure just why that is, but I can promise you that they're quite literally everywhere else.  They're very bold, as well -- squeeze between small spaces, and the (relatively rare) cars respect their space.  If anything, they've got more obstacles in pedestrians.  Oddly though, their boldness is matched by a very calm, pedestrian demeanor.  99% of them wear normal clothes the whole time, and they're often on more upright bikes, rather than the drop-bar racing bikes you'll see American riders on.  I've not taken many photos featuring cyclists just yet, but you can rest assured they're coming.

Anyways, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were orientation days.  Though much less exciting than I had wished, they were still more exciting and engaging than I had hoped.  We had some sessions with academics, culture, residence permit services, and one where we wandered the city for 3 hours on a simplified scavenger hunt of sorts.  Following are many of the results from that tour.

 Not sure what the story of this building is, but I imagine it's a church.  Paying particular attention to the base of the spire, you can offer suggestions for just what in the hell they were going for -- I'm unsure of whether they're mermaids, or serpents.  At any rate, suggestions are welcome!

 The riverfront! More accurately, it's one of the many canals near the heart of the city.  To the left is the tall black building, leaning forward into the harbor.  That's what they call Black Diamond, and it's the very recent addition to the Royal Library -- similar to the Library of Congress in mission.  To the right is, I think, a rather recent addition of (probably) luxury flats.  This is rather reminiscent of the Twin Cities and Green Bay (and probably a whole host of other cities), in that the riverfront is undergoing a revival, as the cities transition away from an industrial orientation.

 Dunno what this is supposed to be, but it's awesome.  Unfortunately, all the plaques here are in Danish.  This is in a part of town called Christianhavn, which was constructed in the harbor as new land by King Kristian IV.
As we learned from a professor -- who is, it turns out, a professor for one of my classes -- the entire development was essentially a political ploy, meant to sort of solidify IV's power.  It was a new era of absolutist monarchy, after all, and the legitimacy of the monarch hadn't yet fully taken hold. 

 This church, Vor Frelser Kirke (Church of our Savior), is part of Christianhavn, and very much a part of the political ploy enacted by Kristian IV. 

 The altar -- I know it's filled with fascinating Baroque elements, though most of the explanation soared directly over my head.
 

Unfortunately blurry, this is an image from directly behind the altar.   It's chock-full of a sort of propaganda.  Near the top (the shiny part that looks a bit like an 8) is Christian IV's symbol.  It's a C and a 4, and the same symbol has been followed by all monarchs since.  Almost every monarch has been either Christian or Frederick, with the exception of the current queen -- apparently she got to have a different name.

Danes love beer.  You can tell because of the Carlsberg ads everywhere, and the fact that it's basically their national beer.  It's pretty cool, I guess.  Also they've got this house boat/bar on the canal.





So that's all the 'official', or orientation, things we did from Monday-Thursday.  I think I'll try and write next about some of the Krogerup stuff from that same time period.

Copenhagen!

I made it!  I've actually been here since about 9:00am (local time, GMT +1) Saturday, but I haven't had reliable internet until just now. 

A quick recap of the 48 hours from Friday 12:00 to Sunday 12:00:

Flew SAS from Chicago to Stockholm.  Long flight, and I couldn't sleep at all, but the guy sitting next to me was pretty cool and talkative, so that -- combined with some tv and music -- helped the time pass. I also managed to both start and finish a pretty hefty book, my first 'for pleasure' reading in quite some time. 

Caught a quick connection from Sweden to Copenhagen, and made it on the plane about 5 minutes before it was scheduled to depart.  Luckily, they had been delayed due to baggage issues, so it wasn't a big deal. True to form, the whole of Scandinavia was covered in clouds; I saw Sweden for a grand total of 20 seconds after takeoff. 

This was basically the view I had the entire way to Denmark.

But then, this!  I dunno if you can see it, but there are WINDMILLS!  I mean seriously, what are the odds that the first clearing in the clouds would show windmills!?  Best introduction to a country ever, I think.

And sheep!  I mean seriously, that's too damned cute. 

More pictures!  Yay!  This last one is on the final approach to the airport, which is located on the coast, on its own island. 

And then we landed!  I spent a good 5 hours waiting around baggage claim for another Mac student (Rachel) to land, then headed over to City Public Hostel to spend the night.  I've figured out the key to hostels' cheapness -- everything, and I mean everything, is an additional charge.  Want sheets?  10 kroner. Want a pillow? 10 kroner.  At this point, I was pretty well exhausted, so the pictures kind of stop happening. 

Next day, Rachel and I head back to the airport, accompanied by another DIS student-- Mary -- we met Saturday.  I should probably mention exactly how incredibly lucky I was, in that my baggage all showed up on time and unscathed.  Rachel's, it would seem, did not.  Customer service is blaming American baggage handlers, who apparently lost it long before it even made its way to Chicago.  I think that's going to be a bit of a theme here -- blaming Americans for things. 

So this brings me forward to Sunday at about noon -- I'm quite tired now, but hopefully I'll get up to date sometime in the next week.  It's been a great few days.  Exhausting, but great!  You'll get to hear more about that next time. :)

...Has a blog!?

Woah.  I've got a blog now.  So that's exciting, I guess. 
As the title suggests, I'm headed to Denmark this Friday.  That basically means I've got 55 hours left at home, then a whole bunch of hours in cars, planes, and trains, then -- magic! -- Denmark.

Far as I can tell, I've got the packing just about done, which is a darn good thing, since my pack is quite literally bulging at the seams.  I've decided to go pretty light with my luggage, which means an 80-liter pack filled with around 40 pounds of clothes and other nonsense, and a small carry-on.  I'll be traveling as a nomad for 3 weeks after my program ends, so it'll be really nice to have everything I need on my back.  

Anyways, I've not got all that much in the way of updates today, since I'm not really in Denmark just yet.  Hopefully I'll get some intertubez at the hostel on Saturday night and I can post some pictures and details about my flight over.