It's been a long while :P
Tuesday the 11th: It was a friend's bday party, and we went to a Cafe Dalle Valle next to Frue Plads. Apparently they have 50% off the entire menu Mondays, Tuesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. For this reason (and they have good food), I highly recommend this restaurant. It's also very popular, so either wait a bit in line or make a reservation.
Thursday the 13th: I forgot to mention a story that my Danish teacher told us...
Several years ago, a group of small girls escaped their school by climbing over the fence. They then proceeded to the nearest Netto (grocery chain), took a shopping basket, and started loading it with candy. An adult realized they weren't actually shoppers and returned them to the school. In a separate incident, a group of 3 small boys escaped their school by digging under the fence. They made a similar trip to Netto for candy and was returned to their school as well. The moral of the story is that 1) kindergarten teachers do not watch their students like their hawkeyed American counterparts and 2) nobody seems to steal kids in Denmark. :D
Friday the 14th was Kulternatten! It's a special night when many buildings in Copenhagen normally closed to the public open and host special events and stuff (example, visit the zoo at midnight, run around Rosenborg Castle in the dark with a flashlight, etc). I and some friends went to see Parliament (Folketinget) first [there were long lines everywhere!!! rather like Disney World]. Inside we saw the main room for debate--it was like for a miniature Congress, and different rooms had events by different political parties. My friend was really into politics, so every room she bugged a politician with questions. I think just wandering around would have been boring (because everything was in Danish), but listening to the politicians and my friend debate was much more interesting. There were also free balloons from each party. I wanted a red balloon, but then I realized it belonged to Enhedslisten---the super extreme socialists--and I didn't want to be walking around as if I supported them. So instead I settled for the Konservative and Radikale balloon--who are close to US moderates.
Our next stop was food. In Gammel Torv, we found free potato and walnut soup and pancake making over an open fire. We were standing in line to visit the prisonhouse (for detainees about to enter court in the next building) and passed by a sushi place selling zongzi: chinese rice cakes wrapped in palm leaves. It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get into the prisonhouse, so we were glad for snacks. The prison had open cells for us to peek into, and down in the basement they held the most infamous (and probably one of the extremely rare) serial killers, an insane woman who adopted/temporarily held orphaned children, except she strangled them, chopped them up, and buried the pieces in the graveyard. At one point she moved far away from the cemetery, so she resorted to burning the pieces in a woodstove. But it got to the point where the pieces came in faster than she could burn, so she stacked them like a logpile. After 26 victims, she was finally discovered and arrested (although in court she was only charged with 8, not sure what got lost in translation). On a happier note, at the end of the tour they were selling crafts made by the prisoners. I bought some beads to support them.
Saturday the 15th: This day was reserved for hanging out with some Chinese friends, shopping and making dumplings (entirely by hand :D )! It was at a kollegium (like apartment-ish dorms reserved for students) in Ørestad, right outside of the largest mall in Denmark: Field's. It's an international kollegium, so my friend's roommates were Danish and Scottish!
Random interjection: my host mum got a Macbook!!!!! --celebration dance-- Sorry, as a Mac person, I celebrate all converts.
Monday the 17th: I keep hearing the most interesting things in Danish class. It was about janteloven: the belief or idea that no one should try to be superior than anyone else, and anyone claiming to be better or etc (such as a dictator) would only get laughed at. In this context, we learned that the Danes saved 98% of the Jewish population in Denmark--silently and secretly resisting the Nazis, but no one is celebrated today (only 1 tiny museum dedicated to the resistance) because of the janteloven: no hero recognition here. And it's the complete opposite of France, who trumpet their resistance efforts like nothing else--though my prof says it's all a lie, hehe. Lots of food for thought.
Tuesday the 18th: A BIG RAINBOW THAT YOU COULD SEE THE ENTIRE ARCH!!!! So awesomes but rain and hail are not exactly welcome. Someone got a picture and says it was a double rainbow. Well, it was interesting because you could clearly see one half of the sky grey and miserable with this rainbow and the other half of the sky blue and sun and clouds.
Wednesday the 19th: Our Danish class went on a field trip to Christiansborg Slot--the old palace no longer in use as a residence (but still used for royal events and connected to Parliament). Underground are the ruins (because several castles were built one on top of the other as they got destroyed). The tour is very interesting and the tour guide is both excellent in English and entertaining, and the ruins are cool to look at. They also took us inside the current palace. It's baroque and grand like the best of them. In the throne room, the two chairs are of different size--the queen's being taller than the king's! This was because these two chairs were originally in two different rooms and only had to look similar, nothing else. Now that they are together, the differences are clear. Anyway, because the monarchy is only symbolic, when the Queen receives dignitaries in this room, they put a nice screen in front of the chairs and the Queen stands in the center of the room on a special snowflake pattern on the woodfloor. Symbols of diminishing power :(. Also, there is a interesting painting which shows one of the kings as a small boy, except he's wearing a white dress with a blue ribbon--so he looks very girly. When this king ruled, he had the doors to this painting closed, but back in the day, the fashion was that all small children wore white dresses, only that girls had a pink ribbon sash and boys had blue. :D
That Wednesday was also the HALFWAY POINT OF MY STAY IN DENMARK (cries in a small corner). Therefore I took this day to do many fun things. I went to an interview at Fisketorvet (2nd shopping mall in the city) for possibly playing the piano sculpture that was to be installed in the middle of November. It's very exciting!! Hopefully someone will take pictures, because I certainly cannot narcissistically take pictures of myself while playing. Also, it means I will have to teach myself Danish Christmas music (their request for the month of December). Looks like my 13 years of lessons will finally pay off XD.
Afterwards, I met up with my roommate Lauren to visit Tivoli for Halloween! They went all out on decorations. You have to see it for yourself. They even replaced the central fountain with a hugenormous sculpture scene. And all these little vendors and stalls had sprung up where there was definitely empty space before. ALSO, we caught a show at the pantomime theatre! (I was lied too once more). It's about Kassander, a rich old man, his servant the clown Pierrot, his two sexy maids, his ballerina daughter Columbine, and her lover/fiance Harlequin. This particular show was entitled Kassander Loves $$. It has some suggestive scenes--so I guess Danish children are freely exposed to sex and stuff. Kassander is introduced counting his money, peeping at his maids, and storing his money in a cabinet. In a park, Columbine and Harlequin are searching for each other, and upon finding each other, Harlequin proposes. Outside the house, a macho thief has broken out of a prison, armed with a gun. He is about to break into Kassander's home when Columbine and Harlequin suddenly return home. The thief takes the opportunity to follow them inside discretely. Inside the house, we see the maids polishing Kassander's bar of gold, except that he's holding the bar of gold at his groin and the maids are crouching and rubbing on it. As soon as his daughter comes in, he shoos them away and welcomes her home. She presents the engagement ring. Seeing Harlequin in his colorful overalls, he tries to convince Columbine out of it and even attempts to give Harlequin the bar of gold so that he will leave Columbine. Pierrot scolds Kassander for trying to interrupt true love and Columbine runs outside crying, Harlequin following. While they're gone, the thief pops up, holds Kassander and Pierrot at gunpoint, and forces the maids to fill his trashbag with the money. He then leaves with the maids and the money. Harlequin and Columbine spot the thief taking off and the entire group goes searching for them. The chase is long and the thief has a good headstart. The thief arrives home and forces the maids to chug glasses of alcohol while he (turning his back to the audience) pulls at his pants (hmm, I wonder what he could be doing...) The good guys catch up and Harlequin and the thief fight. Kassander and Pierrot dive in to help and end up distracting the thief until Harlequin jumps in from behind and snaps the thief's neck (also rather graphically portrayed, with an audible crack in the soundtrack). They all return home in celebration and Kassander shows his support for true love. The show was all very fun--especially since it was pantomime.
Thursday the 20th: BATMAN LIVE OMG OMG OMG OMG. Batman Live World Arena Tour is stage performance of a Batman story touring throughout Great Britain, but they also happen to come to Copenhagen! And so very conveniently at the Forum venue, which is across the street from the music academy. Tickets were $70!! But it was very well worth it. A good show, with good use of technology and excellent acting and overpriced souvenirs and the Batmobile onstage!!! Interestingly enough, they styled the Batman actor in the manner of Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne. ALSO, they clearly had not mastered the art of fighting in the air hanging by wires. It had to be done in slow-mo, where Catwoman punched Batman in the chest, 2 second delay, and then Batman was flying very slowly backwards. Otherwise the ground battle scenes were very well coordinated.
And once more, Danish class exposes me to such interesting concepts. THE OPEN PRISON! Essentially, you can have money, you need to work, you can go out to the city and visit the library etc etc do shopping because you have to cook for yourself, get yourself and education, etc, etc and then come back to the prison at night. They even get vacation days (6 wks like all Danes) and can leave every 2 weekends to visit family. And the prison itself is like nice little apartments or houses all set out in the middle of the countryside. It's rather like a free hotel. Only you cannot have a cell phone. 1) Why would you escape? and 2) if you do attempt escape, you are transferred to a closed prison (which is like regular prison). The focus is not on punishment but on re-integrating criminals back into normal society. I like this and at the same time I don't like it. What do you think?
And one more thing for this lovely Thursday: HOT SEXY GUYS ON THE TRAIN --again--- Also, it was again a busy train. A friend and I spotted some free seats and one of the guys had a British accent. So I asked if he was a student. Not really. He'd been studying in England for the past 2 years and was coming to back Denmark to finish his studies here with IB classes. Apparently his Danish is now "shit," and he wasn't really sure how to get back home to Odense. We chatted and then my friend remembered she had a train schedule to see how many stops to Odense. Then the other guy peered over. It turns out he was headed home to Munich, and at some point needed to make a transfer, so he was also curious about the train schedule. The British student was 17 and was coming back from visiting Danish grandparents with whom he had a very not-understanding conversation with. The German was returning after a three day IT conference in the city. Oh, how I kicked myself as I got off that train, for not at least introducing myself and shaking hands (if only to see if the Munich man had a wedding ring). A missed opportunity. And the British boy is too young for me, so no loss there.
Friday the 21st: Another big day! Practicing taking a history with a cardiology patient, Star Wars with my friend who had not seen Star Wars, the DIS midterm party (with free Agnes cupcakes, the most amazing cupcake you might ever taste!), and live band karaoke (a terrible experience but one that needed to be had).
Saturday the 22nd: Big research paper due next Friday, so I spent the morning at the Black Diamond library doing research, followed by shopping, cooking, eating. It was the group of friends who I had gone to Cafe Dalle Valle with. We decided to make a meal together and it in sum cost only 36 DKK per person (a group of 9 people)! That's about $7 for a 4 course meal. My Japanese seaweed tofu soup, followed by avocado spinach salad, then tortellini, then apple crumble. Wow..... And it was held at the ecohome, a set of apartments owned by DIS dedicated for those students committed to being green. It's a HUGE space.
Sunday the 23rd: I sacrificed my morning for writing the paper, but gave up in the afternoon to do pumpkin carving! It's not a tradition in Denmark, and I could not find any pumpkin carving sets, so using their impeccably sharp kitchen knives, I produced a very nice pattern of a black cat silhouette with the Danish flag in the background and the Danish daisy on the side.
Tuesday today!: Free Ben and Jerry's and fair trade bananas on the bridge today! So glad I passed by. Today our Human Health and Disease class went to visit the Panum Institute. The 1st half consisted of a fun pop quiz in the anatomy display cases. I don't have any background in anatomy, so the reference guides were helpful. The 2nd half was with a neurologist, who talked about eyesight and balance. We tested each other for visual acuity (reading letters on a white screen), visual field (if you stare at one point, can you see a flickering light on the side?), color blindness (the color dot diagrams), and depth perception (3D glasses!). Then balance testing consisted of being spun around in a free moving chair (held on a stationary base) and inverted magnifying glasses were placed on the victim so that we could see how the pupils darted around post-spinning. I volunteered for the 2nd spinning, which consisted of me sticking my head to the side and then being spun. Spun this way, when suddenly stopped and moved upright, it was like I was sitting in a chair with no ground underneath and being tipped into a cavern far below. My reflexes were 1) kicking out, 2) sliding backwards into the chair and 3) being absolutely terrified. That was a very interesting experience. Tonight I was rewarded for my troubles with a walnut brownie that was in the same room as the Queen (who was having a meeting at the Statens Museum for Kunst).
Epic travel break coming up (and my parents are visiting!) Therefore, I need to work on my paper, and surviving 2 weeks without proper internet.
See you until then!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Day 54: Food, Film, Travel, and Woes
It has been a LOOOONG while because of last week's long study tour :D.
First, where I left off, was Wednesday, September 28:
Twas my first visit to Sankt Peder's Bageri (St Peter's Bakery), a local super cheap-super tasty-student discount pastry shop. I'd been resisting buying pastries up until now because 1) they are most certainly not healthy for you and 2) saving money for a special occasion. I caved. (Also, "super cheap" is a relative term--it is only cheap in comparison to other bakeries in Denmark. The average croissant is 15 DKK, about $3.00). I have heard a mountain of reports that this bakery had the best pastries (for cheap) and I firmly confirm this opinion.
The same evening, eldest host sister Louise was hosting a party in honor of her graduation for her colleagues, but it seemed fewer were coming than expected, so we got to go too! It was held at a fancy venue, a large conference-like room with a kitchen down the hall in a nondescript building. It's interesting that you can find these very nice party venues in such normal-looking buildings,. I believe the food was homecooked? Not sure, but there was caramel popcorn, curry shrimp soup, spinach tomato pesto pasta salad, broccoli and ham focaccia, pineapple ham pizza, carrot cake, apple muffin, ice cream, berry granola cobbler, AND her boyfriend Tim was playing bartender. Like normal social gatherings, people tend to associate with people they know. Unlike social gatherings in America, no one will even consider attempting to get to know a stranger. Yes, everyone goes around and introduces themselves to everyone, but it's like the American "How are you?" It's a meaningless greeting with no expected follow-up. But it was fun chilling with the other sisters, who also didn't know Louise's air traffic control colleagues.
On Friday, my bike broke down! (I'm so very sad when this happens--it feels like I am cursed). It is an old bike, and I was shifting my weight to the back end of the seat when the screw holding it in place snapped. But in the wake of such bad news, I decided to spend the evening with a new good friend Shuyao. She's an international student at an American college, so that's why she was able to attend this program. Anyway, she had never seen The Princess Bride, so of course it was a must, followed by 23 kronor pizza at a nearby cafe (they fold their pizzas!!!! I wonder why?). A very hyggeligt evening :D
Saturday was LEGOLAND!!!! Tis an amusement Park, with lots of LEGO sculpture exhibits but also lots of rides. Legos were invented in Denmark in 1964, so it makes sense to go to the original Legoland. There is an adorable minitown built entirely of Legos with Lego people and there are vehicles and boats that move! Most all of it is a replica of real places. In some of the restaurants, there is a maitre'd that slides in and out holding a tray of goodies. It all reminds me of Mr. Rogers and the trolley town at the end credits, except it wasn't Legos. Traveling around Legoland was like traveling around the world. They built parts of Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Los Angeles with the Chinese Theater filming Bionicles, the JFK NASA space center, the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol, the Acropolis in Greece, Abu Simbel of Egypt, an Arabian palace, Mount Rushmore, etc, etc. As an amusement park, it's not the BIGGEST thrill-which makes it perfect for me. The biggest ride was comparable to an enlarged version of Six Flag's Cat and Mouse. It's also divided into "lands" like Disney World, where different areas are themed. They also have various statues/decorations made of Legos: in Pirateland, there is a naked pirate who's covering his front with a hat, but his backside is in full view :P. Haha, it was a very fun afternoon overall.
Sunday was bus bus bus. We boarded at 10 in the morning and would reach Berlin 5 in the afternoon. The middle was partly spent on a ferry to the German side of the Baltic Sea. During the 2nd half of the bus trip, we watched a movie "Life is Beautiful" It's an Italian movie with characters Guido, Dora, and Joshua, a family of Italian Jews suddenly faced with Nazi occupation. ALL MY CREYS. It was an extraordinarily super funny and sad movie with a happy ending. The bus took us straight to the Jewish Museum, designed by the same dude who did the Ground Zero memorial. Every aspect of the structure is very thought provoking: Garden of Exile reminds me of Inception, rows of grey buildings, I could just spend a good 15 minutes there walking and walking round and round, taking turns at a whim, and the Jewish Tower, which is a big, lofty empty dark space lit only by natural light through a tiny slit at the top, and you can hear faint whooshing from outside. Of course, it was followed by dinner at the museum restaurant: caramelized goat cheese salad, super super super melt at the poke of your fork beef brisket with potato and carrot stew, and apple cobbler for dessert. DIS feeds us well, and I'm glad to see that our expensive tuition returns well.
We stayed at the Transit Loft Hotel, where they fit 6 hospital-like beds into one large open room (~30 euro/night), acceptable bathroom (the shower requires constant pushing of the button, rather like some sinks and the hostels in Western Denmark, and this seems to be common in Europe). It is continental breakfast and the free Wi-Fi is marginally disappointing (it can only take 2 computers at once in the same room).
Monday morning: 1st the DDR museum. It's supposed to be an interactive exhibit showcasing life during the socialist era, but it was interactive in a rather lame way and very limited: opening cabinet doors and pulling out shelves to see/read the exhibits, sitting in a livingroom or car of that era. The museum size was also very small.
So we all finished looking and reading everything half an hour early and left. By "we" I mean a small group of friends. We walked further and found a flea market on a street branching from Unter Den Linden. It was nice window-shopping, and then we progressed to the Ritter Sport outlet store and bought cheap, brand-name, German chocolate (by cheap, I mean .89 euro for a 16 square bar that normally costs 12 DKK in Denmark). The cafe also allowed inventing of your own chocolate, but the process took 30 minutes so we just got the pre-made stuff :D.
A quick walk back brought us to the main street lined with souvenir shops. I paused by one of the stalls selling Russian Communist fur hats. I didn't realize they were bargainable, so I was going to walk away because I was only carrying 45 euro and was not going to spend 35 euro on a hat. The vendor, however, was very keen to have my business (1st customer luck) and somehow my reluctance turned into bartering strategy and I got the fur hat plus a marine green cap (the origami boat shaped kind) for 28 euro. Having thus spent a good amount of euro, I needed more just in case. Unfortunately, no banks were open! It was Reunification Day, celebrating the historical end of the separation between East and West Berlin (I also could not use an ATM b/c I foolishly believed I would not need extra cash and so didn't notify my bank BIG MISTAKE).
Anyway, the afternoon was a Fat Tire bike tour around Berlin. By the way, Fat Tire Bike Tours exists in Barcelona and Paris as well, and the Berlin one was very nice, so I highly recommend this company :D. Some of the sites we saw: Hitler's bunker (apparently Hitler requested to be burned in a pit so that no one could take his body, the Soviets found his skeleton and identified him by the decayed right jaw--he ate about16 bars of choco/day, and they conveniently didn't mention it to anyone else until they had gone wild goose chases around the world), Chkpt Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, Brandenborg Tor, and the Field of Stela. All of which are important sights to see if you ever visit Berlin :D
Afterwards was dinner at a tucked away restaurant Zur Letzten Instanz with supposedly traditional German food, which was a bitter salad, ground beef steak (rather like a large frikadelle) with crispy potato swirly things and carrots and greenbeans, and a crustless berry tart afterwards. Very delicious (excepting the salad). Then a concert at Berliner Dom. Berliner Dom is a very beautiful cathedral, but not the best place for a classical concert. The echoey acoustics ruined the pauses of the music and made for very noisy harmony. Also, the pieces chosen were not particularly ear-catching and the end result was that the poor L'orchestra de Sedici didn't sound impressive at all. Most of us slept. At the end, a group of us escaped to the TV Tower and enjoyed a late night snack on its rotating restaurant with a beautiful view of Berlin at night.
Tuesday morning: I began my search for a currency exchange. A sightseeing office told me to go to the train station (which Tripadvisor.com also advised), so I went to the AlexanderPlatz train station, where the ticket office advised the bank, so I went to Deutsche Bank, where the bank teller told me to go to the train station and seek a special exchange office (yellow sign). So after 15 min searching the train station, persistence was once again rewarded. I didn't realize Berlin had 3 types of trains: bus, street level tram, and underground AND aboveground S-bahn. Because the S-Bahn at Alexanderplatz was aboveground, part of the train station was aboveground in a huge building with lots of shops like an airport duty-free mall. That's where I found the Wechsel (money exchange). Still, I'm definitely going to call my bank next time, because the rate is cheaper and it's more efficient just to use an ATM.
Now armed with money, I could afford to enter the Pergamon Museum. LONG LINE. Dunno why it was so popular (although it did come highly recommended). Initially, I thought it was anticlimactic for a 5 euro student ticket. The audio tour was very interesting/informative, but I was short on time, so I skipped around. I got to see the Ishtar Gate (my goal) and also many other things I remember reading about and seeing in textbooks, so that was very exciting to relive history class, but I should have liked to spend a whole afternoon there. Then a quick walk/S train to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center. Beautiful modern architecture :DDDDD. The entire group had a scheduled lunch at Lindenbräu. It began with a tasty potato cream soup, and was unfortunately followed by a HUGE entree with pork hock and potatoes and sauerkraut and strange green paste. It was the most unpopular of all DIS-chosen restaurant food. People were disturbed by seeing actual animal anatomy, by the size, and by the hairy pork skin. I guess it's an Asian thing to be able to stand looking at recognizable food. It's also something that most Americans have never eaten or seen as food. American food is usually more processed.
Our lunch was immediately followed by an academic visit to the German Heart Institute: an overall nice specialist hospital place, very open and airy and well-lit compared to JHMI. The presenter had good information but went so quickly that a half hour presentation ended in 11 minutes, so he definitely received a lot of questions at the end. After a snack break, we were taken to see patients with an artificial heart system and then to the ICU (1 doctor per 8 beds, 1 nurse per 2 beds, not bad).
Afterwards we were left to our own devices----so we traveled to Kartoffelkeller for dinner. According to the Berlin Welcome card, this restaurant had a tantalizing beer garden (not exactly my kind of incentive) but I tagged along anyway. ALL POTATOES (as the name suggested). Personally, it was too much starch for my taste, the waitresses didn't really know English, the restaurant was 60% empty while the other waterfront restaurants were full (okay, it was ~80 m away from the water :P), they forgot what I ordered so they only brought it out after everyone else was nearly done. I had potato pancakes with meat/tomato/garlic, but it was really their imitation Italian pizza that was tasty (sampled someone else's dish). 11.90 euro for the dish, plus 4.80 euro for water, so not too bad, but without the 25% off from the Welcome Card, I don't think it would have been worth it.
Wednesday morning: very painful early wake up to get out of the hotel and off to the Center of Anatomy, a department within Charite Hospital. We had a mini lecture with the director, then off to the dissection lab to view actual dissected human corpses and organs. FUN! and interesting. He said that touching engages understanding and memory of the student, probably more instructive than staring at pics in a textbook. Their basic anatomy class is 1 year dedicated to the slow dissection of 1 human body per 8 students in a group. The instructor's job is less of how to dissect and more of check out what you've dissected.
A short break and it was off to the Medical History Museum. Of course, the focus was on medical history in Berlin itself, but also general progress in medicine like when anesthetics became available, how that really upgraded the surgery profession (used to be done by barbers), the unfortunate "medical" practices back when the knowledge pool was much smaller (mercury as a cure for insanity, inducing pus formation, etc, etc), and the progress of nursing as a profession. For those who might be vaguely interested in medicine, this is something extremely informative and not at all boring to see.
Then we were free to find our own lunch. My college roommate and her friend strongly advised visiting Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap. It was far out (jump on the S-Bahn to Mehringdamn), but super tasty. Too bad I only had 1 hour, and I was 3 minutes late back to the bus. Earned a good scolding, but hey, I was going fast as I could. There's a limit to how fast trains go. And Mustafa's was so popular I had to wait in line for 8 minutes. 3.90 euro for a foot long durum. Far surpasses the shawarmas of Copenhagen. It's funny that I assumed the entire process was only going to take 30 minutes. Ah well.
Then a LONG bus ride to Poznan, Poland, punctuated by watching a German movie Goodbye Lenin and The King's Speech. The German movie was well done, except I did want to sleep, but I couldn't (can't sleep with movie playing b/c their voices are actually interesting to listen to. Regular conversation I can sleep through). Unfortunate.
We ended up at the NH Hotel. 4 star. YESSSSS. The only downside is that free WiFi is only in the lobby, and that you have to ask the front desk for a passcode that expires in 30 minutes post usage, so then you have to go ask for another. WHY??? I don't know. A quick decamping and we were off to dinner at Pod Pretekstem. They already had appetizer waiting (fried ham calzone-like sandwich with green onions), followed by rather dry chicken cordon bleu with green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and slightly toasted potato wedges. The dessert was also slightly dry apple tart (with a crust!) topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If not for the dryness, I would recommend this place, because the venue is especially quaint and cozy, with blush red textured walls, high arch ceilings with peacock paintings, columns, etc. Very comfycozy to sit in. Then I returned to the hotel for a long shower in a luxury bathroom that I will not have for a while.
Thursday morning: late wakeup--breakfast buffet YES
My group was off to the Gynecology Department of the Poznan University Hospital--we rode the tram (simple train system like Berlin).
Let me take this opportunity to applaud the train system of Berlin and Poznan. THERE'S ONLY 2 or 3 ZONES! Denmark has several tens of zones, some of which don't make sense (I think I ranted about this in another entry). So there.
We went round and round in a tour of the 120 yr old hospital building (new section for outpatients). They don't turn anyone away (how can you turn away a woman in labor??) so they sue gov't at end of year for overflow costs and the beginning of the next year the gov't pays them back. We also got to practice a pelvic examination, spoke to a woman waiting to give birth, and a woman with 10 hr old baby.
Then lunch at Pod Koziolkami, a cellar restaurant in Old Market Square with traditional polish food: begin with beet soup (a little too vinegary for me) and sour cream carrot salad, then breaded chicken with potatoes and carrots, BUT we had to leave early w/o dessert b/c it was taking some time to serve and we had to catch our walking tour. Many of my fellow students were disgruntled.
Poznan's sightseeing is mostly old buildings, such as the town hall and basilica minor and remnants of wall fortifications, otherwise Poznan does not have much to show for itself. Afterwards we went to a cafe called Cacao Republic, our tour leaders treating us to one drink and one snack each as compensation for lost dessert. I ordered Classic hot choco and this polish dessert called a Halvah--a biscuit/cake thing that was too grainy for me, but the hot choco was extremely concentrated and therefore very tasty.
The evening was again left to ourselves, so we visited the mall Galeria Malta, since we heard shopping is cheap in Poland. Shopping in a mall is NOT cheap. Prices are just like in the US. The only cheap thing in Poland is FOOOOOOOD (which I will demonstrate later)
After the mall, a friend and I went to another restaurant in the Old Market Square, entitled Fenix. Very well to do place. I had a breadbowl with bacon/egg/cream soup inside (reminiscent of Panera bread and equally as tasty) and a choco cake with ice cream and raspberry sauce, all for the grand total of $10 (including tax and junk). See how cheap food is???
Friday: the day began with the Pediatrics, GI department, which was noticeably less interesting b/c the tour was mostly standing in one place and talking about what goes on, examples of patients, etc, etc. The other problem was that we were all lacking sleep (who doesn't lack sleep when waking at 5:45 am?)
Therefore, I treated myself to browsing the souvenir selection at the Old Market Square, where we witnessed the headbutting of the goats at noon (statues on the town hall clock) and the legendary bugler. The story of the bugler is that one day long long ago, a bugler found a injured raven. Being the good hero that he is, the bugler nurses the raven back to health. What do you know? The raven is actually a dwarf king who thanks the bugler for his help and promises to return that help in the future. He tells the bugler to blow his horn in all four directions to summon this promised help. Then the dwarf king flies away. Some years later, Poznan is about to be invaded by a huge army. The bugler blows his horn in all 4 directions. Suddenly, the air grows black with a million ravens, who descend upon the army and frighten/peck them to submission. Henceforth, all the Poznan noon buglers blow in all 4 directions for the sake of tradition.
For lunch we found very well-to-do restaurant called Chatka Babuni, dedicated to "Grannie's pierogies," which are essentially dumplings. Who came first? Dumplings or pierogies? Considering Chinese civilization originated long before Western Europe, I put my money on dumplings. 9 delectable pierogies (and they are filling!) plus sauce plus salad mix plus a small tip came out to $7. FOOD IS CHEAP!
Haha, afterwards, the tour leaders held a wrap up in which they brought famous Polish pastries called marcińskie rogale, which is essentially a croissant filled with a fruit/nut/raisin paste. Unless you like that sort of thing, the paste was not the best part… but it certainly was an experience. That was followed by a trip to Lech Brewery: learning the process of brewing beer is not exactly necessary for life, but it was very hypnotizing to watch the bottles go round and round, from cleaning to filling to capping to labeling to boxing. And then they provided us beer samples. I don't like beer, unfortunately. So instead I looked forward to the last DIS provided supper at--ironically--Brovaria (Polish for brewery). It began with mushroom cream soup, then grilled marinated duck leg with pickled cabbage and 2 mantou (Chinese styled steamed bread). I om-nommed the bread (missed chinese food), followed by cheesecake filling inside a real cake, with drizzled raspberry sauce and decorated with kiwi and clementine slices. A very mouthwatering end to a splendid trip.
A looooooooooong bus ride home. I kept switching sleeping positions, and at one point had my head near the aisle. The bus turned and the leftover pastries from the overhead compartment fell and bopped me on the head. I think no one was awake to hear my yelp. The poor pastries lay scattered on the ground. Ah well, they weren't too tasty anyway.
We returned Saturday morning and the rest of Saturday was spent in exhausted catching up of homework.
Sunday: it happened to be other host sister Cecilie's bday partay with homebaked rolls and raspberry jam topped with cheese (OOMMMMMNOMMMM) and carrot cupcake and cheescake-ish fondant birthday cake. So much starch and sugar haha. And of course the Danish flag was everywhere. Fun times.
It's finally cold---got stuffed nose again >.< and had to pull out my big woolen coat for the 1st time. Too early, if you ask me. In fact, the cold weather has already put me in the Christmas mood :D.
Now I am tired. Blogging takes a lot of time. And I have hw...and 3 papers to write.
Night night >.<
First, where I left off, was Wednesday, September 28:
Twas my first visit to Sankt Peder's Bageri (St Peter's Bakery), a local super cheap-super tasty-student discount pastry shop. I'd been resisting buying pastries up until now because 1) they are most certainly not healthy for you and 2) saving money for a special occasion. I caved. (Also, "super cheap" is a relative term--it is only cheap in comparison to other bakeries in Denmark. The average croissant is 15 DKK, about $3.00). I have heard a mountain of reports that this bakery had the best pastries (for cheap) and I firmly confirm this opinion.
The same evening, eldest host sister Louise was hosting a party in honor of her graduation for her colleagues, but it seemed fewer were coming than expected, so we got to go too! It was held at a fancy venue, a large conference-like room with a kitchen down the hall in a nondescript building. It's interesting that you can find these very nice party venues in such normal-looking buildings,. I believe the food was homecooked? Not sure, but there was caramel popcorn, curry shrimp soup, spinach tomato pesto pasta salad, broccoli and ham focaccia, pineapple ham pizza, carrot cake, apple muffin, ice cream, berry granola cobbler, AND her boyfriend Tim was playing bartender. Like normal social gatherings, people tend to associate with people they know. Unlike social gatherings in America, no one will even consider attempting to get to know a stranger. Yes, everyone goes around and introduces themselves to everyone, but it's like the American "How are you?" It's a meaningless greeting with no expected follow-up. But it was fun chilling with the other sisters, who also didn't know Louise's air traffic control colleagues.
On Friday, my bike broke down! (I'm so very sad when this happens--it feels like I am cursed). It is an old bike, and I was shifting my weight to the back end of the seat when the screw holding it in place snapped. But in the wake of such bad news, I decided to spend the evening with a new good friend Shuyao. She's an international student at an American college, so that's why she was able to attend this program. Anyway, she had never seen The Princess Bride, so of course it was a must, followed by 23 kronor pizza at a nearby cafe (they fold their pizzas!!!! I wonder why?). A very hyggeligt evening :D
Saturday was LEGOLAND!!!! Tis an amusement Park, with lots of LEGO sculpture exhibits but also lots of rides. Legos were invented in Denmark in 1964, so it makes sense to go to the original Legoland. There is an adorable minitown built entirely of Legos with Lego people and there are vehicles and boats that move! Most all of it is a replica of real places. In some of the restaurants, there is a maitre'd that slides in and out holding a tray of goodies. It all reminds me of Mr. Rogers and the trolley town at the end credits, except it wasn't Legos. Traveling around Legoland was like traveling around the world. They built parts of Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Los Angeles with the Chinese Theater filming Bionicles, the JFK NASA space center, the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol, the Acropolis in Greece, Abu Simbel of Egypt, an Arabian palace, Mount Rushmore, etc, etc. As an amusement park, it's not the BIGGEST thrill-which makes it perfect for me. The biggest ride was comparable to an enlarged version of Six Flag's Cat and Mouse. It's also divided into "lands" like Disney World, where different areas are themed. They also have various statues/decorations made of Legos: in Pirateland, there is a naked pirate who's covering his front with a hat, but his backside is in full view :P. Haha, it was a very fun afternoon overall.
Sunday was bus bus bus. We boarded at 10 in the morning and would reach Berlin 5 in the afternoon. The middle was partly spent on a ferry to the German side of the Baltic Sea. During the 2nd half of the bus trip, we watched a movie "Life is Beautiful" It's an Italian movie with characters Guido, Dora, and Joshua, a family of Italian Jews suddenly faced with Nazi occupation. ALL MY CREYS. It was an extraordinarily super funny and sad movie with a happy ending. The bus took us straight to the Jewish Museum, designed by the same dude who did the Ground Zero memorial. Every aspect of the structure is very thought provoking: Garden of Exile reminds me of Inception, rows of grey buildings, I could just spend a good 15 minutes there walking and walking round and round, taking turns at a whim, and the Jewish Tower, which is a big, lofty empty dark space lit only by natural light through a tiny slit at the top, and you can hear faint whooshing from outside. Of course, it was followed by dinner at the museum restaurant: caramelized goat cheese salad, super super super melt at the poke of your fork beef brisket with potato and carrot stew, and apple cobbler for dessert. DIS feeds us well, and I'm glad to see that our expensive tuition returns well.
We stayed at the Transit Loft Hotel, where they fit 6 hospital-like beds into one large open room (~30 euro/night), acceptable bathroom (the shower requires constant pushing of the button, rather like some sinks and the hostels in Western Denmark, and this seems to be common in Europe). It is continental breakfast and the free Wi-Fi is marginally disappointing (it can only take 2 computers at once in the same room).
Monday morning: 1st the DDR museum. It's supposed to be an interactive exhibit showcasing life during the socialist era, but it was interactive in a rather lame way and very limited: opening cabinet doors and pulling out shelves to see/read the exhibits, sitting in a livingroom or car of that era. The museum size was also very small.
So we all finished looking and reading everything half an hour early and left. By "we" I mean a small group of friends. We walked further and found a flea market on a street branching from Unter Den Linden. It was nice window-shopping, and then we progressed to the Ritter Sport outlet store and bought cheap, brand-name, German chocolate (by cheap, I mean .89 euro for a 16 square bar that normally costs 12 DKK in Denmark). The cafe also allowed inventing of your own chocolate, but the process took 30 minutes so we just got the pre-made stuff :D.
A quick walk back brought us to the main street lined with souvenir shops. I paused by one of the stalls selling Russian Communist fur hats. I didn't realize they were bargainable, so I was going to walk away because I was only carrying 45 euro and was not going to spend 35 euro on a hat. The vendor, however, was very keen to have my business (1st customer luck) and somehow my reluctance turned into bartering strategy and I got the fur hat plus a marine green cap (the origami boat shaped kind) for 28 euro. Having thus spent a good amount of euro, I needed more just in case. Unfortunately, no banks were open! It was Reunification Day, celebrating the historical end of the separation between East and West Berlin (I also could not use an ATM b/c I foolishly believed I would not need extra cash and so didn't notify my bank BIG MISTAKE).
Anyway, the afternoon was a Fat Tire bike tour around Berlin. By the way, Fat Tire Bike Tours exists in Barcelona and Paris as well, and the Berlin one was very nice, so I highly recommend this company :D. Some of the sites we saw: Hitler's bunker (apparently Hitler requested to be burned in a pit so that no one could take his body, the Soviets found his skeleton and identified him by the decayed right jaw--he ate about16 bars of choco/day, and they conveniently didn't mention it to anyone else until they had gone wild goose chases around the world), Chkpt Charlie, parts of the Berlin Wall, Brandenborg Tor, and the Field of Stela. All of which are important sights to see if you ever visit Berlin :D
Afterwards was dinner at a tucked away restaurant Zur Letzten Instanz with supposedly traditional German food, which was a bitter salad, ground beef steak (rather like a large frikadelle) with crispy potato swirly things and carrots and greenbeans, and a crustless berry tart afterwards. Very delicious (excepting the salad). Then a concert at Berliner Dom. Berliner Dom is a very beautiful cathedral, but not the best place for a classical concert. The echoey acoustics ruined the pauses of the music and made for very noisy harmony. Also, the pieces chosen were not particularly ear-catching and the end result was that the poor L'orchestra de Sedici didn't sound impressive at all. Most of us slept. At the end, a group of us escaped to the TV Tower and enjoyed a late night snack on its rotating restaurant with a beautiful view of Berlin at night.
Tuesday morning: I began my search for a currency exchange. A sightseeing office told me to go to the train station (which Tripadvisor.com also advised), so I went to the AlexanderPlatz train station, where the ticket office advised the bank, so I went to Deutsche Bank, where the bank teller told me to go to the train station and seek a special exchange office (yellow sign). So after 15 min searching the train station, persistence was once again rewarded. I didn't realize Berlin had 3 types of trains: bus, street level tram, and underground AND aboveground S-bahn. Because the S-Bahn at Alexanderplatz was aboveground, part of the train station was aboveground in a huge building with lots of shops like an airport duty-free mall. That's where I found the Wechsel (money exchange). Still, I'm definitely going to call my bank next time, because the rate is cheaper and it's more efficient just to use an ATM.
Now armed with money, I could afford to enter the Pergamon Museum. LONG LINE. Dunno why it was so popular (although it did come highly recommended). Initially, I thought it was anticlimactic for a 5 euro student ticket. The audio tour was very interesting/informative, but I was short on time, so I skipped around. I got to see the Ishtar Gate (my goal) and also many other things I remember reading about and seeing in textbooks, so that was very exciting to relive history class, but I should have liked to spend a whole afternoon there. Then a quick walk/S train to Potsdamer Platz and the Sony Center. Beautiful modern architecture :DDDDD. The entire group had a scheduled lunch at Lindenbräu. It began with a tasty potato cream soup, and was unfortunately followed by a HUGE entree with pork hock and potatoes and sauerkraut and strange green paste. It was the most unpopular of all DIS-chosen restaurant food. People were disturbed by seeing actual animal anatomy, by the size, and by the hairy pork skin. I guess it's an Asian thing to be able to stand looking at recognizable food. It's also something that most Americans have never eaten or seen as food. American food is usually more processed.
Our lunch was immediately followed by an academic visit to the German Heart Institute: an overall nice specialist hospital place, very open and airy and well-lit compared to JHMI. The presenter had good information but went so quickly that a half hour presentation ended in 11 minutes, so he definitely received a lot of questions at the end. After a snack break, we were taken to see patients with an artificial heart system and then to the ICU (1 doctor per 8 beds, 1 nurse per 2 beds, not bad).
Afterwards we were left to our own devices----so we traveled to Kartoffelkeller for dinner. According to the Berlin Welcome card, this restaurant had a tantalizing beer garden (not exactly my kind of incentive) but I tagged along anyway. ALL POTATOES (as the name suggested). Personally, it was too much starch for my taste, the waitresses didn't really know English, the restaurant was 60% empty while the other waterfront restaurants were full (okay, it was ~80 m away from the water :P), they forgot what I ordered so they only brought it out after everyone else was nearly done. I had potato pancakes with meat/tomato/garlic, but it was really their imitation Italian pizza that was tasty (sampled someone else's dish). 11.90 euro for the dish, plus 4.80 euro for water, so not too bad, but without the 25% off from the Welcome Card, I don't think it would have been worth it.
Wednesday morning: very painful early wake up to get out of the hotel and off to the Center of Anatomy, a department within Charite Hospital. We had a mini lecture with the director, then off to the dissection lab to view actual dissected human corpses and organs. FUN! and interesting. He said that touching engages understanding and memory of the student, probably more instructive than staring at pics in a textbook. Their basic anatomy class is 1 year dedicated to the slow dissection of 1 human body per 8 students in a group. The instructor's job is less of how to dissect and more of check out what you've dissected.
A short break and it was off to the Medical History Museum. Of course, the focus was on medical history in Berlin itself, but also general progress in medicine like when anesthetics became available, how that really upgraded the surgery profession (used to be done by barbers), the unfortunate "medical" practices back when the knowledge pool was much smaller (mercury as a cure for insanity, inducing pus formation, etc, etc), and the progress of nursing as a profession. For those who might be vaguely interested in medicine, this is something extremely informative and not at all boring to see.
Then we were free to find our own lunch. My college roommate and her friend strongly advised visiting Mustafa's Gemuse Kebap. It was far out (jump on the S-Bahn to Mehringdamn), but super tasty. Too bad I only had 1 hour, and I was 3 minutes late back to the bus. Earned a good scolding, but hey, I was going fast as I could. There's a limit to how fast trains go. And Mustafa's was so popular I had to wait in line for 8 minutes. 3.90 euro for a foot long durum. Far surpasses the shawarmas of Copenhagen. It's funny that I assumed the entire process was only going to take 30 minutes. Ah well.
Then a LONG bus ride to Poznan, Poland, punctuated by watching a German movie Goodbye Lenin and The King's Speech. The German movie was well done, except I did want to sleep, but I couldn't (can't sleep with movie playing b/c their voices are actually interesting to listen to. Regular conversation I can sleep through). Unfortunate.
We ended up at the NH Hotel. 4 star. YESSSSS. The only downside is that free WiFi is only in the lobby, and that you have to ask the front desk for a passcode that expires in 30 minutes post usage, so then you have to go ask for another. WHY??? I don't know. A quick decamping and we were off to dinner at Pod Pretekstem. They already had appetizer waiting (fried ham calzone-like sandwich with green onions), followed by rather dry chicken cordon bleu with green beans, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and slightly toasted potato wedges. The dessert was also slightly dry apple tart (with a crust!) topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If not for the dryness, I would recommend this place, because the venue is especially quaint and cozy, with blush red textured walls, high arch ceilings with peacock paintings, columns, etc. Very comfycozy to sit in. Then I returned to the hotel for a long shower in a luxury bathroom that I will not have for a while.
Thursday morning: late wakeup--breakfast buffet YES
My group was off to the Gynecology Department of the Poznan University Hospital--we rode the tram (simple train system like Berlin).
Let me take this opportunity to applaud the train system of Berlin and Poznan. THERE'S ONLY 2 or 3 ZONES! Denmark has several tens of zones, some of which don't make sense (I think I ranted about this in another entry). So there.
We went round and round in a tour of the 120 yr old hospital building (new section for outpatients). They don't turn anyone away (how can you turn away a woman in labor??) so they sue gov't at end of year for overflow costs and the beginning of the next year the gov't pays them back. We also got to practice a pelvic examination, spoke to a woman waiting to give birth, and a woman with 10 hr old baby.
Then lunch at Pod Koziolkami, a cellar restaurant in Old Market Square with traditional polish food: begin with beet soup (a little too vinegary for me) and sour cream carrot salad, then breaded chicken with potatoes and carrots, BUT we had to leave early w/o dessert b/c it was taking some time to serve and we had to catch our walking tour. Many of my fellow students were disgruntled.
Poznan's sightseeing is mostly old buildings, such as the town hall and basilica minor and remnants of wall fortifications, otherwise Poznan does not have much to show for itself. Afterwards we went to a cafe called Cacao Republic, our tour leaders treating us to one drink and one snack each as compensation for lost dessert. I ordered Classic hot choco and this polish dessert called a Halvah--a biscuit/cake thing that was too grainy for me, but the hot choco was extremely concentrated and therefore very tasty.
The evening was again left to ourselves, so we visited the mall Galeria Malta, since we heard shopping is cheap in Poland. Shopping in a mall is NOT cheap. Prices are just like in the US. The only cheap thing in Poland is FOOOOOOOD (which I will demonstrate later)
After the mall, a friend and I went to another restaurant in the Old Market Square, entitled Fenix. Very well to do place. I had a breadbowl with bacon/egg/cream soup inside (reminiscent of Panera bread and equally as tasty) and a choco cake with ice cream and raspberry sauce, all for the grand total of $10 (including tax and junk). See how cheap food is???
Friday: the day began with the Pediatrics, GI department, which was noticeably less interesting b/c the tour was mostly standing in one place and talking about what goes on, examples of patients, etc, etc. The other problem was that we were all lacking sleep (who doesn't lack sleep when waking at 5:45 am?)
Therefore, I treated myself to browsing the souvenir selection at the Old Market Square, where we witnessed the headbutting of the goats at noon (statues on the town hall clock) and the legendary bugler. The story of the bugler is that one day long long ago, a bugler found a injured raven. Being the good hero that he is, the bugler nurses the raven back to health. What do you know? The raven is actually a dwarf king who thanks the bugler for his help and promises to return that help in the future. He tells the bugler to blow his horn in all four directions to summon this promised help. Then the dwarf king flies away. Some years later, Poznan is about to be invaded by a huge army. The bugler blows his horn in all 4 directions. Suddenly, the air grows black with a million ravens, who descend upon the army and frighten/peck them to submission. Henceforth, all the Poznan noon buglers blow in all 4 directions for the sake of tradition.
For lunch we found very well-to-do restaurant called Chatka Babuni, dedicated to "Grannie's pierogies," which are essentially dumplings. Who came first? Dumplings or pierogies? Considering Chinese civilization originated long before Western Europe, I put my money on dumplings. 9 delectable pierogies (and they are filling!) plus sauce plus salad mix plus a small tip came out to $7. FOOD IS CHEAP!
Haha, afterwards, the tour leaders held a wrap up in which they brought famous Polish pastries called marcińskie rogale, which is essentially a croissant filled with a fruit/nut/raisin paste. Unless you like that sort of thing, the paste was not the best part… but it certainly was an experience. That was followed by a trip to Lech Brewery: learning the process of brewing beer is not exactly necessary for life, but it was very hypnotizing to watch the bottles go round and round, from cleaning to filling to capping to labeling to boxing. And then they provided us beer samples. I don't like beer, unfortunately. So instead I looked forward to the last DIS provided supper at--ironically--Brovaria (Polish for brewery). It began with mushroom cream soup, then grilled marinated duck leg with pickled cabbage and 2 mantou (Chinese styled steamed bread). I om-nommed the bread (missed chinese food), followed by cheesecake filling inside a real cake, with drizzled raspberry sauce and decorated with kiwi and clementine slices. A very mouthwatering end to a splendid trip.
A looooooooooong bus ride home. I kept switching sleeping positions, and at one point had my head near the aisle. The bus turned and the leftover pastries from the overhead compartment fell and bopped me on the head. I think no one was awake to hear my yelp. The poor pastries lay scattered on the ground. Ah well, they weren't too tasty anyway.
We returned Saturday morning and the rest of Saturday was spent in exhausted catching up of homework.
Sunday: it happened to be other host sister Cecilie's bday partay with homebaked rolls and raspberry jam topped with cheese (OOMMMMMNOMMMM) and carrot cupcake and cheescake-ish fondant birthday cake. So much starch and sugar haha. And of course the Danish flag was everywhere. Fun times.
It's finally cold---got stuffed nose again >.< and had to pull out my big woolen coat for the 1st time. Too early, if you ask me. In fact, the cold weather has already put me in the Christmas mood :D.
Now I am tired. Blogging takes a lot of time. And I have hw...and 3 papers to write.
Night night >.<
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Day 39: Music, Anarchy, and More Sightseeing
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
For all you foodies, Sunday was a most delicious meal: pumpkin soup, followed by veal roast with baked veggie roots, herb potato wedges, carrot paste, and watermelon slices to finish off. It's almost like a Hogwart's feast!
Tuesday night, I attended a recital at the Music Conservatory. Most of their concerts/recitals are free for all, and they host musicians and groups from all around Europe. So this one I watched Jacob Shaw (British cellist) accompanied by David Lau Magnussen (Danish pianist). This wasn't one of their biggest events, so the venue was the Studiescenen, a modest but still very lovely recital hall, with excellent acoustics. The music menu was:
Bloch, 3 pieces "From Jewish Life"
Bach, Gamba Sonata No.2 in D
Messiaen, Louange à l’Egernité de Jésus from "Quatour pour la fin du temps"
Faure, Elegie
Grieg, Sonata in a minor for piano and cello
I will say it was very worth my time and effort to go see, and best of all, it was free! So if you have free time in Copenhagen, stop by for a concert.
Wednesday was another adventurous day. In the morning, we had our DLC field trip to Christiania. It is a small district on the eastern edge of the canal-made island Christianshavn that has isolated itself from the rest of Denmark. How did this happen? Back in the 1970s, it was an abandoned military site, and a bunch of homeless people, junkies, hippies, and otherwise societal rejects moved in. Nobody bothered them, and they decided to create their own "free" society. They have 9 rules (no violence, no weapons, no sale of hard drugs, no sale of fireworks, no private vehicles like cars/motorcyles, and other things....) It's equal parts slum and suburbia. Pusher street is the sketchiest place, the one central road where people openly sell marijuana. There's a sign that says no photos and no running. The 1st, because selling marijuana is still illegal, and 2nd, because running implies the police are nearby. The community has no government, only that people have the option of attending general meetings to decide things. Their state animal is the snail, because the prime minister once termed them "slow as a snail," which is about the fastest you can be with a communal gov't like that. It is supposed to be equal, but I think in real life, it ends up being "rule by elocution." The territory encompasses a beautiful nature park and stream, and if you follow the trails, you can spot some interesting architecture (the banana house is worth seeing, except it doesn't look like a banana) and see the prettier side of Christiania.
Still, it seems there are things festering under the egalitarian peaceful facade. There is a children afterschool center, where it opens to a beach on the streambanks. Unfortunately, the building used to be an ammunition factory, so the soil underneath the beach is toxic, and they put a membrane over the soil and add new sand every year to keep the children safe. My prof said that if it was under city control, they would've dug out the entire bank and filled it with new soil. Also, the tour guide took us to a dog's burial. Apparently, one day, a plainclothes policeman came to check out pusher street. A chase ensued, ending near the burial site, where the dealer and policeman came to blows.
The romanticized version: someone's pet dog ran over and started barking from excitement. The stupid policeman didn't know what to do and asked someone to shut the dog up. No one did, so the policeman did what all policemen do (quoting), shoot whatever they can't control.
The more likely realistic version: someone's attack dog was set on the policeman, and in defense, he shot and killed the dog.
In any case, the community rose up in retaliation, rioted outside the Christiania territory, ransacked/smashed some stores, set fire to a high school, messed up a library, etc, etc. All for a dead dog. And this was honestly told by the tour guide, who lives in Christiania, and appeared to think this was an eye for an eye.
In other news, Sept 26 was the community's 40 year birthday.
It's an interesting site, at least for a tourist to see, but certainly they don't really generate revenue for the city because the community is self-enclosed, doesn't really pay taxes or city-managed utilities/public services (they installed their own trash compacter thingy and their own electricity and plumbing). Some kind of negotiation is happening next year btwn Christiania and the gov't. The Christiania-ans believe they will be able to buy and finally own the piece of land. The rumor going among the Danes is that the gov't will price it high and sell them out. Who knows.
Wednesday night was more music. At Tivoli, they have a Pantomime Theatre for free (after entrance fee). I didn't get to see the actual pantomime show, but that night they had a dance show, "Catching the Bolero." It was a storytelling dance (I dunno if there is a technical term for that), where in a population of birds, a white bird fell in love with a black bird. Both birds flirted with/were tempted by other colorful birds but they eventually came together, to the tune of Ravel's Bolero. The only strange moment was they actually threw in a scene where the lovers embrace and kiss for several minutes while the other birds dance around them. I have never seen black-and-white PDA in a dance before. Maybe it's a Danish thing, maybe it's me not being very familiar with dance.
Last weekend was a trip to Sweden, to the Kullaberg Peninsula!!!! Sweden is luuuuvely, or probably because we just went to the nature reserve. Saturday we canoed down Ronne Å (Ronne River). Slow and gentle river, with fall foliage and willows hanging over the edge. The canoe business family stopped by halfway to give out ice cream to everyone. A very well-spent morning. The afternoon they took us to Nimis. Actually, it's a micronation called Ladonia (probably recognized by 0 countries). An artist built a huge structure of random driftwood nailed together and called it Nimis. The Swedish authorities said he wasn't allowed to build random stuff in the nature reserve. Therefore, the artist delineated a border and declared it an independent nation. You can sign up to be a citizen online for free, or pay 12 bucks to get yourself a nobility title.
Outside of the political technicalities, the beach is a beautiful place, if you are fit enough to cross the treacherous slope and make it to the entrance of Nimis. It's essentially a maze of tunnels and towers built of wood and nails. The beach itself is all big rocks, not sand. Once you reach the shoreline and turn left, there's another structure of rocks and cement, the artist's second masterpiece. This is a must-see place!!
In terms of housing, we stayed at a manor-like hostel. They provide linens (though you have to put it on the bed yourself), and simple but delicious food (personally, I found a country vegetable beef stew preferable to the calorie/butter-high feast at the Vejle Danhostel). The bathrooms are in the hall and are common use, which is okay, BUT my biggest complaint is that there is only 1 shower room per floor, and the two shower heads are in the open, not separated into stalls or even with a curtain. Therefore, I left while everyone was still at the barbecue and occupied the shower room all to myself. :D Other than that, everything is clean and the grounds are also beautiful grass with a gazebo and picnic benches.
Sunday we went cliff rappelling. They started us off on a 25 ft cliff and then progressed to a 100 ft cliff. You can either walk down the cliff, sitting in your harness, or progressively bounce down the wall as in (I quote) the James Bond style. The cliffs are by the Øresund overlooking the coast towards Denmark, but it was extremely windy, so the view was accompanied by a frigid chill.
That afternoon, before we left Sweden, they took us to a cafe where the former king of Sweden was a regular customer, and we all tasted his favorite snack, a Vanilla Heart. It's a dough pastry in the shape of heart sprinkled with powdered sugar, simple and elegantly sweet. A wonderful end to an equally wonderful trip.
Last week Wednesday was also Sofie's birthday, so as a gift, I bought tickets to Voice 2011, a big concert with a pantheon of artists at Tivoli (Rasmus Seebach, Aqua, The Wanted, Medina, Sak Noel, etc, etc). (125DKK for those with the season pass) And the concert was this Monday. Man, was it crowded! It reminded me of China, until the concert started, and then it reminded me of Auschwitz, the great hordes of people packed together. The only artist I knew was Aqua, but I enjoyed discovering the others. The only sad thing was that I didn't know the lyrics to any song, while you could hear the crowd sing to almost every one of them. It was definitely an experience, I'll say that, having never attended a modern pop music concert, but it also made me value the experience of sitting at home and watching these things on TV for free with easy access to water, food, and a toilet. So stay at home, peeps.
And finally today, Wednesday September 28, we had a field study trip to Frilandsmuseet, an open air museum of reconstructed homes. It was like Den Gamle By, except the focus was on the homes of countryside farmers and stuff rather than a town with cobblestone streets. So we progressed across canals, up grassy hills, through fields, to see different homes of different time periods. There were also animals of the same original breeds, geese, goats, moocows, and sheep. It was most interesting because our Prof (this is for the european storytelling class) once worked here, so she knew a lot about each place and gave an entertaining and informational guided tour, which is better than if we wandered about staring at wood and thatched roofs and grass without a clue. I don't know if it's a must see, but it is definitely a nice looking place.
Tonight, we have a party at Louise's, originally dedicated to celebrating her graduation with her colleagues, but she invited the family and us students too :D. Next week is the long study tour to Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland, so you will be hearing a LOT from me next time.
Until then,
Cheerio.
For all you foodies, Sunday was a most delicious meal: pumpkin soup, followed by veal roast with baked veggie roots, herb potato wedges, carrot paste, and watermelon slices to finish off. It's almost like a Hogwart's feast!
Tuesday night, I attended a recital at the Music Conservatory. Most of their concerts/recitals are free for all, and they host musicians and groups from all around Europe. So this one I watched Jacob Shaw (British cellist) accompanied by David Lau Magnussen (Danish pianist). This wasn't one of their biggest events, so the venue was the Studiescenen, a modest but still very lovely recital hall, with excellent acoustics. The music menu was:
Bloch, 3 pieces "From Jewish Life"
Bach, Gamba Sonata No.2 in D
Messiaen, Louange à l’Egernité de Jésus from "Quatour pour la fin du temps"
Faure, Elegie
Grieg, Sonata in a minor for piano and cello
I will say it was very worth my time and effort to go see, and best of all, it was free! So if you have free time in Copenhagen, stop by for a concert.
Wednesday was another adventurous day. In the morning, we had our DLC field trip to Christiania. It is a small district on the eastern edge of the canal-made island Christianshavn that has isolated itself from the rest of Denmark. How did this happen? Back in the 1970s, it was an abandoned military site, and a bunch of homeless people, junkies, hippies, and otherwise societal rejects moved in. Nobody bothered them, and they decided to create their own "free" society. They have 9 rules (no violence, no weapons, no sale of hard drugs, no sale of fireworks, no private vehicles like cars/motorcyles, and other things....) It's equal parts slum and suburbia. Pusher street is the sketchiest place, the one central road where people openly sell marijuana. There's a sign that says no photos and no running. The 1st, because selling marijuana is still illegal, and 2nd, because running implies the police are nearby. The community has no government, only that people have the option of attending general meetings to decide things. Their state animal is the snail, because the prime minister once termed them "slow as a snail," which is about the fastest you can be with a communal gov't like that. It is supposed to be equal, but I think in real life, it ends up being "rule by elocution." The territory encompasses a beautiful nature park and stream, and if you follow the trails, you can spot some interesting architecture (the banana house is worth seeing, except it doesn't look like a banana) and see the prettier side of Christiania.
Still, it seems there are things festering under the egalitarian peaceful facade. There is a children afterschool center, where it opens to a beach on the streambanks. Unfortunately, the building used to be an ammunition factory, so the soil underneath the beach is toxic, and they put a membrane over the soil and add new sand every year to keep the children safe. My prof said that if it was under city control, they would've dug out the entire bank and filled it with new soil. Also, the tour guide took us to a dog's burial. Apparently, one day, a plainclothes policeman came to check out pusher street. A chase ensued, ending near the burial site, where the dealer and policeman came to blows.
The romanticized version: someone's pet dog ran over and started barking from excitement. The stupid policeman didn't know what to do and asked someone to shut the dog up. No one did, so the policeman did what all policemen do (quoting), shoot whatever they can't control.
The more likely realistic version: someone's attack dog was set on the policeman, and in defense, he shot and killed the dog.
In any case, the community rose up in retaliation, rioted outside the Christiania territory, ransacked/smashed some stores, set fire to a high school, messed up a library, etc, etc. All for a dead dog. And this was honestly told by the tour guide, who lives in Christiania, and appeared to think this was an eye for an eye.
In other news, Sept 26 was the community's 40 year birthday.
It's an interesting site, at least for a tourist to see, but certainly they don't really generate revenue for the city because the community is self-enclosed, doesn't really pay taxes or city-managed utilities/public services (they installed their own trash compacter thingy and their own electricity and plumbing). Some kind of negotiation is happening next year btwn Christiania and the gov't. The Christiania-ans believe they will be able to buy and finally own the piece of land. The rumor going among the Danes is that the gov't will price it high and sell them out. Who knows.
Wednesday night was more music. At Tivoli, they have a Pantomime Theatre for free (after entrance fee). I didn't get to see the actual pantomime show, but that night they had a dance show, "Catching the Bolero." It was a storytelling dance (I dunno if there is a technical term for that), where in a population of birds, a white bird fell in love with a black bird. Both birds flirted with/were tempted by other colorful birds but they eventually came together, to the tune of Ravel's Bolero. The only strange moment was they actually threw in a scene where the lovers embrace and kiss for several minutes while the other birds dance around them. I have never seen black-and-white PDA in a dance before. Maybe it's a Danish thing, maybe it's me not being very familiar with dance.
Last weekend was a trip to Sweden, to the Kullaberg Peninsula!!!! Sweden is luuuuvely, or probably because we just went to the nature reserve. Saturday we canoed down Ronne Å (Ronne River). Slow and gentle river, with fall foliage and willows hanging over the edge. The canoe business family stopped by halfway to give out ice cream to everyone. A very well-spent morning. The afternoon they took us to Nimis. Actually, it's a micronation called Ladonia (probably recognized by 0 countries). An artist built a huge structure of random driftwood nailed together and called it Nimis. The Swedish authorities said he wasn't allowed to build random stuff in the nature reserve. Therefore, the artist delineated a border and declared it an independent nation. You can sign up to be a citizen online for free, or pay 12 bucks to get yourself a nobility title.
Outside of the political technicalities, the beach is a beautiful place, if you are fit enough to cross the treacherous slope and make it to the entrance of Nimis. It's essentially a maze of tunnels and towers built of wood and nails. The beach itself is all big rocks, not sand. Once you reach the shoreline and turn left, there's another structure of rocks and cement, the artist's second masterpiece. This is a must-see place!!
In terms of housing, we stayed at a manor-like hostel. They provide linens (though you have to put it on the bed yourself), and simple but delicious food (personally, I found a country vegetable beef stew preferable to the calorie/butter-high feast at the Vejle Danhostel). The bathrooms are in the hall and are common use, which is okay, BUT my biggest complaint is that there is only 1 shower room per floor, and the two shower heads are in the open, not separated into stalls or even with a curtain. Therefore, I left while everyone was still at the barbecue and occupied the shower room all to myself. :D Other than that, everything is clean and the grounds are also beautiful grass with a gazebo and picnic benches.
Sunday we went cliff rappelling. They started us off on a 25 ft cliff and then progressed to a 100 ft cliff. You can either walk down the cliff, sitting in your harness, or progressively bounce down the wall as in (I quote) the James Bond style. The cliffs are by the Øresund overlooking the coast towards Denmark, but it was extremely windy, so the view was accompanied by a frigid chill.
That afternoon, before we left Sweden, they took us to a cafe where the former king of Sweden was a regular customer, and we all tasted his favorite snack, a Vanilla Heart. It's a dough pastry in the shape of heart sprinkled with powdered sugar, simple and elegantly sweet. A wonderful end to an equally wonderful trip.
Last week Wednesday was also Sofie's birthday, so as a gift, I bought tickets to Voice 2011, a big concert with a pantheon of artists at Tivoli (Rasmus Seebach, Aqua, The Wanted, Medina, Sak Noel, etc, etc). (125DKK for those with the season pass) And the concert was this Monday. Man, was it crowded! It reminded me of China, until the concert started, and then it reminded me of Auschwitz, the great hordes of people packed together. The only artist I knew was Aqua, but I enjoyed discovering the others. The only sad thing was that I didn't know the lyrics to any song, while you could hear the crowd sing to almost every one of them. It was definitely an experience, I'll say that, having never attended a modern pop music concert, but it also made me value the experience of sitting at home and watching these things on TV for free with easy access to water, food, and a toilet. So stay at home, peeps.
And finally today, Wednesday September 28, we had a field study trip to Frilandsmuseet, an open air museum of reconstructed homes. It was like Den Gamle By, except the focus was on the homes of countryside farmers and stuff rather than a town with cobblestone streets. So we progressed across canals, up grassy hills, through fields, to see different homes of different time periods. There were also animals of the same original breeds, geese, goats, moocows, and sheep. It was most interesting because our Prof (this is for the european storytelling class) once worked here, so she knew a lot about each place and gave an entertaining and informational guided tour, which is better than if we wandered about staring at wood and thatched roofs and grass without a clue. I don't know if it's a must see, but it is definitely a nice looking place.
Tonight, we have a party at Louise's, originally dedicated to celebrating her graduation with her colleagues, but she invited the family and us students too :D. Next week is the long study tour to Berlin, Germany and Poznan, Poland, so you will be hearing a LOT from me next time.
Until then,
Cheerio.
Day 30: the Cold, the Danes, and Sightseeing
Monday, 19 September 2011
My host mum is a bike mechanic!
That's probably a common skill to have in Denmark b/c a bike is too commonly part of the household, but where I come from, that's beast!
So Monday night was the first proper venture into "hanging out" with Danes. I joined this Buddy Network program that DIS organizes, where a bunch of American students and Danish students are organized into groups that hang out, do whatever each network leader plans, and is paid for by DIS. So our first event (technically 2nd, but very few people had signed up when they had the real 1st event) was going out to eat at Cafe Dyrehaven på Vesterbro (meaning it's in the west end of town). Cafe Dyrehaven is famous enough to be included in my tourbook: it's an old pub turned cafe, with vintage French decorations and cozy seating. The menu is small, but worthy of a student-budget and each selection is rumored to be tasty. I myself had the Kalvefrikassé, or veal. It was a very tasty stew, with "new" potatoes and peas. I don't know the difference between new and old potatoes, but apparently everytime the potato season comes around and grocery stores stock "new" potatoes, they sell faster than Lance Armstrong biking at the Tour de France.
Food aside, the young Danes are extremely friendly. William, the network leader, is a student at the University (his last year), studying Danish (like how we might have an English major). He was there early because you can't make reservations at the small cafe, so I joined him to help chase away other customers XD. We made good intro conversation, and the interesting thing is that everytime there's a lull in conversation, he kept staring at me. From my experience, that usually means he's more than interested in you, BUT I was told that maintaining eye contact is key in Danish conversation, so I think that's what he was trying to do.
The other girl I became good friends with was Imam, a Malay who was born in Denmark and is studying Asian studies at CBI (Copenhagen Business Institute, not Californian Bureau of Investigation as in The Mentalist). And she is learning Chinese and has a separate Buddy program with Chinese exchange students at CBI.
The event after dinner was movie at the local Grand Theatre. They sell tickets with ASSIGNED seating!!! As such, people chill at the cafe until the movie start time, rather than rush in half an hour early trying to get the best seats. The movie was the British film Submarine, about an outcast boy attempting to figure himself out, figure love out, and keep his equally quirky parents from separating. It's not something I would have normally gone out specifically to watch, but it was a very good movie nonetheless. Actually, this theatre has a LOT of foreign films---the posters and previews are all German, French, English, and whatever other language that I can't understand. Probably because Denmark itself doesn't produce a whole ton of movies, AND sharing movies within Europe as a whole must be really easy.
Last week Wednesday I also wanted to go sightseeing in the city before it got super cold. Funny how the days I decide to go bike in the city it decides to rain on me. It was sprinkling when I made it to the Black Diamond Library (actually just the Royal Library, but the structure itself really does look like a black diamond, and it sounds cooler). The inside is just as architecturally striking as the outside---it's a modern attache to an older building. There is so much study space! (I think Hopkins pre-meds would love that...) Also, this library offers music manuscripts in addition to books, ancient texts, dvd/cd, etc, etc. When I get my CPR card, I can get a library card! Because of the rain, I didn't want to go look at the "secret" garden behind the library, so I biked on.
There's another beautiful garden near the Royal Palace in Amalienborg called Amaliehavn. You should go check it out. I was not able to stay for longer than a glimpse because then it really started to pour.
But my REAL goal of that adventure was to see The Little Mermaid. Earlier this year, this sculpture of a mermaid on a rock had traveled to Shanghai for an expo, but returned in time for me to see her! She looks nothing like Ariel, by the way. From the shore side and from the sea side, you can never see her face properly. She looks to the side, a sad and pensive expression from where I was standing.
And then I hightailed it back home.
Did I mention I am under the weather? After coming home Monday night, I developed a sore throat, which morphed into stuffed sinuses for 2 days, which has now become intermittent coughing (thankfully I can breathe now). It's cold/flu season! In all of my classes, you can hear other students hacking or blowing their brains out. Several classes were also cancelled because teachers were feeling the same (mine included). I have not seen any flu vaccines advertisements, but I have also not heard anyone getting the flu yet, only the coughing and sneezing.
Thursday was the election! My European Storytelling professor decided to comment on the state of true democracy. She said we should do away with this running for candidacy stuff, and just do a lottery of random people from the populace. Because of the way statistics work, this would get a real equal representation of the people (some rich some poor, equal men and women, some young some old, some native some immigrant). Either way, we would still get a mix of the incompetent as well as competent, which is essentially what we get with the voting system anyway. She also said this was the way Athenians did it (the founders of democracy)--except that they limited it to adult well-to-do men. But until that day we switched to the lottery system, she added, we should all actively use our right to vote. Food for thought :D
One more thing to add before I close off: the touchscreens in the cars cannot be touched when driving!! All the options fade until you stop driving, and then you can poke them. Safety first!
My host mum is a bike mechanic!
That's probably a common skill to have in Denmark b/c a bike is too commonly part of the household, but where I come from, that's beast!
So Monday night was the first proper venture into "hanging out" with Danes. I joined this Buddy Network program that DIS organizes, where a bunch of American students and Danish students are organized into groups that hang out, do whatever each network leader plans, and is paid for by DIS. So our first event (technically 2nd, but very few people had signed up when they had the real 1st event) was going out to eat at Cafe Dyrehaven på Vesterbro (meaning it's in the west end of town). Cafe Dyrehaven is famous enough to be included in my tourbook: it's an old pub turned cafe, with vintage French decorations and cozy seating. The menu is small, but worthy of a student-budget and each selection is rumored to be tasty. I myself had the Kalvefrikassé, or veal. It was a very tasty stew, with "new" potatoes and peas. I don't know the difference between new and old potatoes, but apparently everytime the potato season comes around and grocery stores stock "new" potatoes, they sell faster than Lance Armstrong biking at the Tour de France.
Food aside, the young Danes are extremely friendly. William, the network leader, is a student at the University (his last year), studying Danish (like how we might have an English major). He was there early because you can't make reservations at the small cafe, so I joined him to help chase away other customers XD. We made good intro conversation, and the interesting thing is that everytime there's a lull in conversation, he kept staring at me. From my experience, that usually means he's more than interested in you, BUT I was told that maintaining eye contact is key in Danish conversation, so I think that's what he was trying to do.
The other girl I became good friends with was Imam, a Malay who was born in Denmark and is studying Asian studies at CBI (Copenhagen Business Institute, not Californian Bureau of Investigation as in The Mentalist). And she is learning Chinese and has a separate Buddy program with Chinese exchange students at CBI.
The event after dinner was movie at the local Grand Theatre. They sell tickets with ASSIGNED seating!!! As such, people chill at the cafe until the movie start time, rather than rush in half an hour early trying to get the best seats. The movie was the British film Submarine, about an outcast boy attempting to figure himself out, figure love out, and keep his equally quirky parents from separating. It's not something I would have normally gone out specifically to watch, but it was a very good movie nonetheless. Actually, this theatre has a LOT of foreign films---the posters and previews are all German, French, English, and whatever other language that I can't understand. Probably because Denmark itself doesn't produce a whole ton of movies, AND sharing movies within Europe as a whole must be really easy.
Last week Wednesday I also wanted to go sightseeing in the city before it got super cold. Funny how the days I decide to go bike in the city it decides to rain on me. It was sprinkling when I made it to the Black Diamond Library (actually just the Royal Library, but the structure itself really does look like a black diamond, and it sounds cooler). The inside is just as architecturally striking as the outside---it's a modern attache to an older building. There is so much study space! (I think Hopkins pre-meds would love that...) Also, this library offers music manuscripts in addition to books, ancient texts, dvd/cd, etc, etc. When I get my CPR card, I can get a library card! Because of the rain, I didn't want to go look at the "secret" garden behind the library, so I biked on.
There's another beautiful garden near the Royal Palace in Amalienborg called Amaliehavn. You should go check it out. I was not able to stay for longer than a glimpse because then it really started to pour.
But my REAL goal of that adventure was to see The Little Mermaid. Earlier this year, this sculpture of a mermaid on a rock had traveled to Shanghai for an expo, but returned in time for me to see her! She looks nothing like Ariel, by the way. From the shore side and from the sea side, you can never see her face properly. She looks to the side, a sad and pensive expression from where I was standing.
And then I hightailed it back home.
Did I mention I am under the weather? After coming home Monday night, I developed a sore throat, which morphed into stuffed sinuses for 2 days, which has now become intermittent coughing (thankfully I can breathe now). It's cold/flu season! In all of my classes, you can hear other students hacking or blowing their brains out. Several classes were also cancelled because teachers were feeling the same (mine included). I have not seen any flu vaccines advertisements, but I have also not heard anyone getting the flu yet, only the coughing and sneezing.
Thursday was the election! My European Storytelling professor decided to comment on the state of true democracy. She said we should do away with this running for candidacy stuff, and just do a lottery of random people from the populace. Because of the way statistics work, this would get a real equal representation of the people (some rich some poor, equal men and women, some young some old, some native some immigrant). Either way, we would still get a mix of the incompetent as well as competent, which is essentially what we get with the voting system anyway. She also said this was the way Athenians did it (the founders of democracy)--except that they limited it to adult well-to-do men. But until that day we switched to the lottery system, she added, we should all actively use our right to vote. Food for thought :D
One more thing to add before I close off: the touchscreens in the cars cannot be touched when driving!! All the options fade until you stop driving, and then you can poke them. Safety first!
Day 23
Monday, 12 September 2011
So three weeks gone already. It's funny how crazy the weather has been (mid 50s last week, mid 70s this week).
Last Thursday was the start of the short study tours. This is one of the reasons why DIS is an awesome study abroad place. They organize and set aside time for field trips that are both academic and fun-filled (stated purpose being to learn something and to enhance social interaction of class and teacher), and the actual site visits and activities are chosen based on the core program (akin to your major). Just studying abroad at a foreign university as an international exchange student sorta leaves you on your own to survive classes and find your own niche and time to travel. I really appreciate DIS doing this because I am such a lazy bum too.
In any case, my host family went above and beyond again to work with DIS so that we could be picked up at exit 34 rather than having to jump on the 6:00 am train eastwards to get to the city, meet at the bus, and end up driving westwards for the trip anyway. Us three girls standing at exit 34 attracted curious looks and beep-beeps from passing cars and trucks (doing jumping jacks in the morning chill didn't help matters). It was all good fun, and the buses did remember to pick us up.
We had 3 academic site visits, to Århus University Hospital (PET Center and Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience CFIN), Skødstrup Lægepraksis, and Skejby Hospital. At site 1 and 3, the focus was mostly on research, although we did get to see experimental surgery on a VERY LARGE pig at site 3. Site 2 was a general practicioner's office. Actually, it was an enterprise owned by 8 GPs. The cool (or super difficult thing) about Danish GPs is that they don't specialize by age. They stay with patients from "cradle to grave." No pediatricians, no geriatricians. Just one GP for every citizen.
A small comment on the business practice: again, the whole Danish equality-for-all mentality shows. Doctors and nurses, while they respect each other's knowledge bases, avoid seeing themselves in any sort of hierarchy. Sometimes doctors do stuff like EKGs and small tests normally relegated to the nurses. Also, the secretary staff rotate as lab technicians (saves money). The facility is also extremely homey. The waiting room and examination rooms are high-ceilinged and open to streaming sunlight rather than boxed in with only indoor lighting, the walls are painted pastels and decorated with various photos/art rather than a blank sterile slate, and even the lab looks like kitchen counterspace.
That night, we stayed in Danhostel's version in Århus. For those of you who wish to travel around and stay for cheap in hostels, it's time for hostel comparison! In Bornholm, it was 10 people in one of the rooms (5 bunks), cement floor. You have to provide your own linens, and the bathroom is shared (also the toilet space was extremely cramped). Meals were fine, though. That was a 3 star hostel.
The one in Århus (note: the a with an o on top can also be written aa, like Aarhus) I didn't catch the star valuation, but it was 4 people per room (carpeted floor), and each room had a private bathroom. Meals were tasty. There's one more hostel coming up (meaning, keep reading!).
Also Thursday night, DIS took us out to dinner, at a place called St. Clemens Bryggeri. Meals were pre-ordered: twas what they called "classic steak." It was picture worthy, excepting the fact that the meat was medium-rare. I wonder if it was possible to order the rarity, or maybe DIS wanted to satisfy everyone by having the middle choice, or maybe the restaurant assumed all Americans ate red meat? Otherwise the restaurant is very fancy but cozy-looking with wooden tables, and they offer several choices of home-brewed beer (I couldn't give you any recommendations because I don't like beer in general). An interesting point is that we had to walk back to our hostel afterwards. The bus driver had a limitation on how many hours he could work!
Friday the most interesting point to see was Den Gamle By (dehn gahm luh boo). It's an open air museum, filled with reconstructed homes from various time periods (i.e. they took apart the house from somewhere else, carted the pieces over here, and reassembled it). The big building in the town square took 10 years to fully reassemble! So it was fun to learn a little history, like seeing the pharmacy's mummy powder (used to treat seizures), walking on the main street's center flat cobblestones that were reserved for the wealthy, and stooping to enter a tiny house where children slept sitting up your brain would get diseased if you slept lying down (at least that was the myth).
This was in Vejle, the 2nd big town of Western Denmark south of Århus. Their version of Danhostel was 5 stars! The general lobby provided a TV room and activity room, and it was again 4 people to a room, with a separate entryway and bathroom, AND a TV! We had a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon (with Danish subtitles). Carpeted floors, and a magnificent hostel feast for dinner. It was rather like a hotel EXCEPT no linens and no provided toiletries, and the beds were bunk.
Saturday was reserved for all fun and games. In the morning we went to the middle island of Fyn to Jelling to see the Jelling Stones. WAY way way way back in history, Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, was "persuaded" by the German empire south to convert all the Danes to Christianity, else they would be invaded and forcibly converted. Therefore, he hired a foreigner to carve a message into a big stone. The Danes were not so easily convinced. So how do you get them to church? For the longest time, the churches gave out white gowns (what they imagined Jesus wore) for free on Sundays, so church service was very popular (this is like how you attract college students, FREE T-SHIRTS!). And at various points in history, the major sect was Catholicism, which changed to Lutheran/Protestant. Like at Frederiksberg Castle, the church constructed at the time of the Jelling Stones is also still in use.
Afterwards, they took us on a sound byte tour of Odense, the town of H.C. Andersen's beginnings. There are EXTREMELY ADORABLE cobblestone streets lined with painted, squat houses next to a lovely stream and an awe-inspiring cathedral and situated quietly out of range of the more modern downtown Odense. I only wish we had more time to do it ourselves, because as a huge group they wouldn't let us go into the Andersen's childhood house-turned-museum.
For lunch, DIS treated us once again to a place called Franck A Brasserie. We had cheeseburgers with an interesting orange-colored sauce in place of ketchup, etc. It was very good, mind you, just different. ALSO, the burger patty was medium rare! WHAT???? In America, medium rare ground beef is EXTREMELY dangerous, if only because processing of beef increases exposure of E. coli to the patty interior. All I can say is, maybe Danish processed meat is safer????? No idea.
Eventually we went home, but as I said before, every day is an adventure. Sunday was the 1st weekend I could sleep in rather than hop on board another trip. 10 am was our neighbor Suzanne's birthday, so we were all invited to a sunday brunch at her house. They sang the American birthday song, but were slightly depressed that there was only 1 verse (they pulled out another with "How old are you now" to the same tune). Only today (Monday) in class did I learn that the Danish birthday song has several verses. Here it was that I encountered the deliciously dangerous pastry called a kringle! It's essentially braided sweet pastry bread that can be filled/decorated with oh-so-tasty-things like hazelnut and marzipan, chocolate chips, pecan walnut creme (ok I invented that one), but you get the idea (or your tongue does).
So having eaten a very carbohydrate filled brunch, I went on a bike ride into the backwoods of Borup. Actually, I didn't bike very far before I encountered the "leaving Borup" sign. I biked for an hour, and in that hour I passed through several small towns like Hegnede, Birkede, Viby, etc etc. They all LOOK like suburbs, but like pockets of suburbs separated by great fields of farmland.
Yesterday was also the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It was very striking that my host sister seemed depressed all day, listening to sad songs and watching/reading updates/reflections of 9/11. Her opinion was that we should all be reminded that the world is not safe, that there exist evil/crazy/simply insane people like the Norway shooter and Bin Laden, and she did feel very much for those that lost a parent or a child or simply someone they loved. I'm certain she didn't lose anyone in 9/11, nor did she grow up in America, so I was very surprised that she should feel so much for a foreign country across the ocean. In fact, I think she was more struck by the anniversary than I was.
My opinion is that, yes, we should remember those who died, but it should be part of a bigger struggle to make the world a better place, to see and encourage what is going well and happily in the world, and to give thanks that you are still here, able to enjoy what you can, because life can be taken away at any time and most definitely without warning.
Well, I have lauded Denmark many times in my blog, but today I read something which I do not support at all. I was reading a text for DLC class that describes how the Danish equality-for-all mentality negatively impacts society. In a party, yes, you go around 1st thing to shake hands with everybody, but then everyone gathers into their own groups of who they know. No one is supposed to introduce the newbies to potential friends, and certainly no one does. Why?? Because to do that would mean you are exposing yourself as superior to the newbie, that you are in the click and have to appear to condescend in order to welcome in new people. The Danes aren't avoiding it because they feel superior---they avoid it because they don't want other people to see it and think they think themselves superior. And so the new person never gets to be introduced to anyone and has a very terrible time being lonely. This unfortunate mentality also translates to the schooling system, where teachers attempt to make children equal by limiting curriculum to what a child already knows (which doesn't make sense b/c children are here to learn about something they don't know) since having knowledge makes you "superior." Also, there is no sort of program that encourages those with talent or who wish to learn to challenge themselves (no honor roll, no G&T classes, etc) or expand their knowledge base (except maybe the Folk High Schools, which are schools for those who feel like learning--no grades, no tests, just classes). The text also presented the results of a study that showed children whose parents graduated from university also got university degrees, children whose parents were "blue collar" remained in blue collar jobs, and children whose parents lived on welfare also continued to do so. The author stated that there doesn't seem to be any attempt to encourage people to try and achieve something, because that would mean you are trying to become good at something, trying to be better than others, etc, etc. All of these are individualistic, independent values that Americans hold, but apparently the Danes don't. Food for thought.
So three weeks gone already. It's funny how crazy the weather has been (mid 50s last week, mid 70s this week).
Last Thursday was the start of the short study tours. This is one of the reasons why DIS is an awesome study abroad place. They organize and set aside time for field trips that are both academic and fun-filled (stated purpose being to learn something and to enhance social interaction of class and teacher), and the actual site visits and activities are chosen based on the core program (akin to your major). Just studying abroad at a foreign university as an international exchange student sorta leaves you on your own to survive classes and find your own niche and time to travel. I really appreciate DIS doing this because I am such a lazy bum too.
In any case, my host family went above and beyond again to work with DIS so that we could be picked up at exit 34 rather than having to jump on the 6:00 am train eastwards to get to the city, meet at the bus, and end up driving westwards for the trip anyway. Us three girls standing at exit 34 attracted curious looks and beep-beeps from passing cars and trucks (doing jumping jacks in the morning chill didn't help matters). It was all good fun, and the buses did remember to pick us up.
We had 3 academic site visits, to Århus University Hospital (PET Center and Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience CFIN), Skødstrup Lægepraksis, and Skejby Hospital. At site 1 and 3, the focus was mostly on research, although we did get to see experimental surgery on a VERY LARGE pig at site 3. Site 2 was a general practicioner's office. Actually, it was an enterprise owned by 8 GPs. The cool (or super difficult thing) about Danish GPs is that they don't specialize by age. They stay with patients from "cradle to grave." No pediatricians, no geriatricians. Just one GP for every citizen.
A small comment on the business practice: again, the whole Danish equality-for-all mentality shows. Doctors and nurses, while they respect each other's knowledge bases, avoid seeing themselves in any sort of hierarchy. Sometimes doctors do stuff like EKGs and small tests normally relegated to the nurses. Also, the secretary staff rotate as lab technicians (saves money). The facility is also extremely homey. The waiting room and examination rooms are high-ceilinged and open to streaming sunlight rather than boxed in with only indoor lighting, the walls are painted pastels and decorated with various photos/art rather than a blank sterile slate, and even the lab looks like kitchen counterspace.
That night, we stayed in Danhostel's version in Århus. For those of you who wish to travel around and stay for cheap in hostels, it's time for hostel comparison! In Bornholm, it was 10 people in one of the rooms (5 bunks), cement floor. You have to provide your own linens, and the bathroom is shared (also the toilet space was extremely cramped). Meals were fine, though. That was a 3 star hostel.
The one in Århus (note: the a with an o on top can also be written aa, like Aarhus) I didn't catch the star valuation, but it was 4 people per room (carpeted floor), and each room had a private bathroom. Meals were tasty. There's one more hostel coming up (meaning, keep reading!).
Also Thursday night, DIS took us out to dinner, at a place called St. Clemens Bryggeri. Meals were pre-ordered: twas what they called "classic steak." It was picture worthy, excepting the fact that the meat was medium-rare. I wonder if it was possible to order the rarity, or maybe DIS wanted to satisfy everyone by having the middle choice, or maybe the restaurant assumed all Americans ate red meat? Otherwise the restaurant is very fancy but cozy-looking with wooden tables, and they offer several choices of home-brewed beer (I couldn't give you any recommendations because I don't like beer in general). An interesting point is that we had to walk back to our hostel afterwards. The bus driver had a limitation on how many hours he could work!
Friday the most interesting point to see was Den Gamle By (dehn gahm luh boo). It's an open air museum, filled with reconstructed homes from various time periods (i.e. they took apart the house from somewhere else, carted the pieces over here, and reassembled it). The big building in the town square took 10 years to fully reassemble! So it was fun to learn a little history, like seeing the pharmacy's mummy powder (used to treat seizures), walking on the main street's center flat cobblestones that were reserved for the wealthy, and stooping to enter a tiny house where children slept sitting up your brain would get diseased if you slept lying down (at least that was the myth).
This was in Vejle, the 2nd big town of Western Denmark south of Århus. Their version of Danhostel was 5 stars! The general lobby provided a TV room and activity room, and it was again 4 people to a room, with a separate entryway and bathroom, AND a TV! We had a "How I Met Your Mother" marathon (with Danish subtitles). Carpeted floors, and a magnificent hostel feast for dinner. It was rather like a hotel EXCEPT no linens and no provided toiletries, and the beds were bunk.
Saturday was reserved for all fun and games. In the morning we went to the middle island of Fyn to Jelling to see the Jelling Stones. WAY way way way back in history, Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, was "persuaded" by the German empire south to convert all the Danes to Christianity, else they would be invaded and forcibly converted. Therefore, he hired a foreigner to carve a message into a big stone. The Danes were not so easily convinced. So how do you get them to church? For the longest time, the churches gave out white gowns (what they imagined Jesus wore) for free on Sundays, so church service was very popular (this is like how you attract college students, FREE T-SHIRTS!). And at various points in history, the major sect was Catholicism, which changed to Lutheran/Protestant. Like at Frederiksberg Castle, the church constructed at the time of the Jelling Stones is also still in use.
Afterwards, they took us on a sound byte tour of Odense, the town of H.C. Andersen's beginnings. There are EXTREMELY ADORABLE cobblestone streets lined with painted, squat houses next to a lovely stream and an awe-inspiring cathedral and situated quietly out of range of the more modern downtown Odense. I only wish we had more time to do it ourselves, because as a huge group they wouldn't let us go into the Andersen's childhood house-turned-museum.
For lunch, DIS treated us once again to a place called Franck A Brasserie. We had cheeseburgers with an interesting orange-colored sauce in place of ketchup, etc. It was very good, mind you, just different. ALSO, the burger patty was medium rare! WHAT???? In America, medium rare ground beef is EXTREMELY dangerous, if only because processing of beef increases exposure of E. coli to the patty interior. All I can say is, maybe Danish processed meat is safer????? No idea.
Eventually we went home, but as I said before, every day is an adventure. Sunday was the 1st weekend I could sleep in rather than hop on board another trip. 10 am was our neighbor Suzanne's birthday, so we were all invited to a sunday brunch at her house. They sang the American birthday song, but were slightly depressed that there was only 1 verse (they pulled out another with "How old are you now" to the same tune). Only today (Monday) in class did I learn that the Danish birthday song has several verses. Here it was that I encountered the deliciously dangerous pastry called a kringle! It's essentially braided sweet pastry bread that can be filled/decorated with oh-so-tasty-things like hazelnut and marzipan, chocolate chips, pecan walnut creme (ok I invented that one), but you get the idea (or your tongue does).
So having eaten a very carbohydrate filled brunch, I went on a bike ride into the backwoods of Borup. Actually, I didn't bike very far before I encountered the "leaving Borup" sign. I biked for an hour, and in that hour I passed through several small towns like Hegnede, Birkede, Viby, etc etc. They all LOOK like suburbs, but like pockets of suburbs separated by great fields of farmland.
Yesterday was also the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It was very striking that my host sister seemed depressed all day, listening to sad songs and watching/reading updates/reflections of 9/11. Her opinion was that we should all be reminded that the world is not safe, that there exist evil/crazy/simply insane people like the Norway shooter and Bin Laden, and she did feel very much for those that lost a parent or a child or simply someone they loved. I'm certain she didn't lose anyone in 9/11, nor did she grow up in America, so I was very surprised that she should feel so much for a foreign country across the ocean. In fact, I think she was more struck by the anniversary than I was.
My opinion is that, yes, we should remember those who died, but it should be part of a bigger struggle to make the world a better place, to see and encourage what is going well and happily in the world, and to give thanks that you are still here, able to enjoy what you can, because life can be taken away at any time and most definitely without warning.
Well, I have lauded Denmark many times in my blog, but today I read something which I do not support at all. I was reading a text for DLC class that describes how the Danish equality-for-all mentality negatively impacts society. In a party, yes, you go around 1st thing to shake hands with everybody, but then everyone gathers into their own groups of who they know. No one is supposed to introduce the newbies to potential friends, and certainly no one does. Why?? Because to do that would mean you are exposing yourself as superior to the newbie, that you are in the click and have to appear to condescend in order to welcome in new people. The Danes aren't avoiding it because they feel superior---they avoid it because they don't want other people to see it and think they think themselves superior. And so the new person never gets to be introduced to anyone and has a very terrible time being lonely. This unfortunate mentality also translates to the schooling system, where teachers attempt to make children equal by limiting curriculum to what a child already knows (which doesn't make sense b/c children are here to learn about something they don't know) since having knowledge makes you "superior." Also, there is no sort of program that encourages those with talent or who wish to learn to challenge themselves (no honor roll, no G&T classes, etc) or expand their knowledge base (except maybe the Folk High Schools, which are schools for those who feel like learning--no grades, no tests, just classes). The text also presented the results of a study that showed children whose parents graduated from university also got university degrees, children whose parents were "blue collar" remained in blue collar jobs, and children whose parents lived on welfare also continued to do so. The author stated that there doesn't seem to be any attempt to encourage people to try and achieve something, because that would mean you are trying to become good at something, trying to be better than others, etc, etc. All of these are individualistic, independent values that Americans hold, but apparently the Danes don't. Food for thought.
Day 18: Birthdays and Other Fun Things/Culture Shock
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
I'm 20!!!! (about that later).
First, I better catch you up with the latest happenings.
Saturday and Sunday I went on a trip to the island of Bornholm, a little off to the east from København. It's ellipitcally shaped, so it takes 5 hrs to bike from long end to long end and maybe 3 hrs to bike from short end to short end. We stayed at Danhostel in Gudhjem, Bornholm (3 star, breakfast/dinner provided). My only complaint about the hostel is that the bathrooms are so squashed: you can't close the stall door if you're sitting on the pot with your knees facing front. There are CONVENIENTLY lovely bathrooms out by the Gudjem Røgerit 50 meters away.
So everyone had a prepaid bike rental and a map with some tour suggestions. I decided to go visit the North end of the island, but I kept getting distracted along the way. There are so many hiking trails branching off from the main roads and I explored each one a little bit. There's one place behind the Bornholm Museum of Art, called the...Shattered Cliffs??? Can't quite remember, but it's a beautiful small cove, reachable by wooden staircases, next to sheer rock cliffs. The sound of waves slapping on the rocks is very calming. I almost stayed there the whole morning.
That day I was mostly biking along the coast, and there are LOTS of hills, so biking was very difficult going up, but you were always rewarded with a thrilling descent. (It wasn't until the second day that I learned the secret to biking up hills is using a lower gear).
I reached the ruins of Hammershus by lunchtime. It's an old fortress looking out to the Baltic Sea and facing the Øresund (the sound btw Denmark and Sweden/Norway). There's a lot of reconstruction going on (so I couldn't take some pictures without having weird wooden platforms in it), but for 10 min I pretended to be wearing a flouncy dress and being a Danish princess waiting for her prince to come back on a big ship.
ANYWAY, the 2nd day I woke up bright and early and left at 6 am. I was going on the "killer tour", which circles around the perimeter of half of the island, and it took people from yesterday 9 hrs (8:3o to 5:30) and I wanted to get back and have some time to relax before the chaos of packing up and returning. I also went the other way around. The tour is structured so that you glide on the coast visiting port towns Svaneke and Nekso and stopping by the Dueodde beach, and then returning home through the flat/agricultural/boring inland. I did the flat boring inland part 1st to get it over with while I was energized (b/c that was really the killer part of the tour, all of it gently sloping uphill going the true way, downhill going my way). I stopped by a cute cafe/vineyard called Lille Garegård to use their bathroom and get some breakfast (I skipped breakfast in order to leave that early). But they open at 11 am!!!! (It was 8:00 at the time). The guy was very nice and I was kinda intending to come back for lunch (he also had 4 identical super adorable kittens wandering around), but the trip to my real destination (Dueodde beach) took 40 more minutes, and I didn't want to spend 40 minutes returning rather than moving forward. Ah well, if I ever come back, I will visit the nice man and his cats.
In any case, Dueodde Beach is my kind of beach. The sand is white and powdery but it doesn't fly everywhere because most of it is slightly damp (the beach is flat, so I'm assuming the high tide comes all the way up). The water is FREEZING, but I still wished I had brought my flipflops so I could run around in the shallow parts and build sandcastles and everything. It is a must see.
I also got some Bornholm soft ice at the beach. I asked for a lille (small) one. It was HUGE!!! Soft ice is like ice cream but with the consistency of yogurt (but not froyo). Extremely tastyyyyy.
Next stop, Nexø (a.k.a. Neksø). I actually was not intending to stop in Nexø b/c the booklet didn't say much about what there was to see. I DID however pass the Nexø Røgerit (every town seems to have one) and these røgeriet specialize in smoked herring, a Danish favorite second maybe to pickled herring. My host mother had requested some, so I bought some. I didn't want to eat here b/c the booklet advertised the Svaneke Røgerit as the best place, so onwards!
At Svaneke I visited a toffee shop looking for directions to the Røgerit. They were not very helpful. I wandered around the town (which is a very adorable town, all of the houses are painted bright yellow or baby pink, etc, etc) for 15 minutes, but persistence is always rewarded, and I saw a sign with a fish picture, an arrow, and the text "300 m." Yup, there it was, and it was very crowded. I got a smoked herring with potato salad on the side (50 DKK). The way to eat smoked herring: pop off head and tail, split open at the belly (it's already cut for you), extract spine, and presto! You now have boneless fish to dig in. There are still some bones next to the skin, but the skin was a little tough for me to eat. In any case, I don't know how they smoke their fish, but the fish itself is very savory.
So I was a happy camper by the time I returned to the hostel.
Monday: train derailing?? It was not even on the news and it seems no one was hurt anyways, just the rest of the trains backed up and delayed or otherwise cancelled. And that very same day a pack of "vikings" (men wearing horned hats) flooded off the S line, yelling and waving plastic spears. I wish I had figured out how to use my videocamera function at the time, but a lot of Danes had a good private chuckle.
Tuesday: 1st piano lesson!!!!! I had not practiced the entire summer (due to my inability to carry my instrument) so I was very apprehensive. My bigger problem is not being as musically aware as other students MAJORING in music. Professor Niklas mentioned all these possible songs/composers that I'm not really familiar with but should be, etc, etc, etc. I would like to fix this problem but at the same time my time is really budgeted and I rarely get a chance to sit and pay attention to music (i.e. I could set Pandora to play piano stuff while I did hw, but then I wouldn't be listening and essentially the sounds go in one ear and out the other). But in all other aspects I think this semester will go wonderfully. For you music students at there, we are going to look at Schumann's Kinderzenen, Bach's French Suites (no. 4), and 2 of Debussy's Preludes.
Observations and Thoughts on Danish Culture:
1) Sprinkler system! For the fruit/veggies sections, very little is actually placed in cold but open shelving like in the US. They are just sitting there at room temp. The sprinklers are far above everyone's head and spray into the atmosphere, I guess to keep the air moist???
2) Different fruit can go into the same bag. Bananas, pears, apples, everything can go together, even if differently priced! The cashier will take care of differentiation, I suppose.
3) People jaywalking! WHAT???? I was told that it NOT a Danish thing to do and yet there are so many people doing it and equally as many people not doing it. I think it is one of 2 things: a) the younger generation is growing lax or b) the country is being invaded by tourists, international students, and otherwise non-citizens who still keep to the same old habits from home. I think "b" is more likely. To spite them, I wait for the light like a true Dane :D.
4) Danish flags. Did I mention they were used everywhere? Yesterday I saw a group of guys walking around draped in flags (both as cape and as in waving paper flags). The reason?? Last night was the football (soccer) game btw Denmark and Norway. Guess who won? I think the intense partying last night will clue you in. Actually, let me describe what is happening/has happened for my 20th bday before I continue:
So, I am planning to cook a FEAST (chinese style) for friends and host family tonight, (and throwing in a bit of Mid-Autumn Festival). But there is more to a birthday than just dinner, it would seem.
This morning, I heard a lot of clanking in the kitchen and I could hear something sizzling in a pan (it was the very sound of making crepe-like pancakes). I thought, "Oh, they must be making special breakfast just for me, I should probably get up." But I was tired too and drifted off again. THEN the cat Plet jumped on the bed and circled around my head. Looking back, I think after living 15 years with this family she probably knew what was going to happen next and came preemptively. I finally got up and wandered out, and my host mum pops up and says, "Go back to bed! You shouldn't be awake!"
Eh??? I just wanted to go the bathroom and brush up so I could have some breakfast. They chased me back to bed and I had to pretend to be asleep. Then they paraded in waving the Danish flag and singing the fødselsdag (birthday) song. Then they all gave me a hug. And THEN I could get up and go have breakfast, which was a HUGE affair: scrambled egg+cheese, fruit platter, crepe-pancakes with nutella and banana and strawberry, etc etc. Hogwarts feast worthy. I received my present from the family, a necklace made in the style of what the queen wore for her wedding (except her version is diamonds). It's a daisy flower, the national flower. Helle gives this as a gift to all her students (hehe, form of identication), but that makes it no less special to me, and I hope it doesn't make it less special for the others that I get it on my birthday and they just get it later at some point (mostly b/c they have to be ordered since the store only had one). And the family put up their Danish flag outside their home to signify that it is someone's birthday.
SOOO, all this waving of flags got me thinking. Back home, I don't really think waving an American flag is necessary in any way. We don't own an American flag, stores don't decorate with it unless it's July 4th and after high school no one says the pledge anymore. And it really takes an event like 9/11 to bring out a wave of patriotism throughout the country.
Sometimes, I think the idea of American patriotism is construed to include white supremacy, aggression, or something relegated to the backwoods of the "Deep South". I think America is too multicultural to be able to expect that all its citizens will be so supportive, and the way Danes do it is tradition, but it's definitely something that has not existed in America now or in the past. America is also filled with residents and immigrants who have even less of an obligation to feel anything towards America as opposed to their homeland. I am an American citizen, and I do like/appreciate being an American, but even though I have many criticisms of China, I still value being Chinese. How do you balance 2 identities? And why, when I'm not so patriotic in America, do I so eagerly attempt to acquire a Danish identity? Why do I wait for the crossing lights like a Dane? Why am I mapping out bike paths rather than train schedules? Why am I eating with a fork in the left and a knife in the right and refusing to switch them after cutting the meat? Or trying not use my hands for burgers and sandwiches? When did I start eating liver pate for lunch? And why aren't the other students/immigrants/tourists/residents not also doing this?
I think the sticking point is that I came here wanting to learn, more than anything else, the culture: the food, the language, the mannerisms, to be able to blend in. There is something about Danmark that is friendly and trusting (did I mention babies and toddlers can be left outside on the streets while you get a coffee?). You can't do that in America. And there are so many new things that are amazing/awesome/simply marvelous and ingenious that I DO consider potentially living here in the future permanently. Culture shock? More like culture amazement.
My parents came to America with the intention of staying. They adopted the language, made a successful niche for themselves, but certainly didn't LOSE their Chinese identity. They simply got themselves another one.
And I'm on my way to getting a Danish identity.
I'm 20!!!! (about that later).
First, I better catch you up with the latest happenings.
Saturday and Sunday I went on a trip to the island of Bornholm, a little off to the east from København. It's ellipitcally shaped, so it takes 5 hrs to bike from long end to long end and maybe 3 hrs to bike from short end to short end. We stayed at Danhostel in Gudhjem, Bornholm (3 star, breakfast/dinner provided). My only complaint about the hostel is that the bathrooms are so squashed: you can't close the stall door if you're sitting on the pot with your knees facing front. There are CONVENIENTLY lovely bathrooms out by the Gudjem Røgerit 50 meters away.
So everyone had a prepaid bike rental and a map with some tour suggestions. I decided to go visit the North end of the island, but I kept getting distracted along the way. There are so many hiking trails branching off from the main roads and I explored each one a little bit. There's one place behind the Bornholm Museum of Art, called the...Shattered Cliffs??? Can't quite remember, but it's a beautiful small cove, reachable by wooden staircases, next to sheer rock cliffs. The sound of waves slapping on the rocks is very calming. I almost stayed there the whole morning.
That day I was mostly biking along the coast, and there are LOTS of hills, so biking was very difficult going up, but you were always rewarded with a thrilling descent. (It wasn't until the second day that I learned the secret to biking up hills is using a lower gear).
I reached the ruins of Hammershus by lunchtime. It's an old fortress looking out to the Baltic Sea and facing the Øresund (the sound btw Denmark and Sweden/Norway). There's a lot of reconstruction going on (so I couldn't take some pictures without having weird wooden platforms in it), but for 10 min I pretended to be wearing a flouncy dress and being a Danish princess waiting for her prince to come back on a big ship.
ANYWAY, the 2nd day I woke up bright and early and left at 6 am. I was going on the "killer tour", which circles around the perimeter of half of the island, and it took people from yesterday 9 hrs (8:3o to 5:30) and I wanted to get back and have some time to relax before the chaos of packing up and returning. I also went the other way around. The tour is structured so that you glide on the coast visiting port towns Svaneke and Nekso and stopping by the Dueodde beach, and then returning home through the flat/agricultural/boring inland. I did the flat boring inland part 1st to get it over with while I was energized (b/c that was really the killer part of the tour, all of it gently sloping uphill going the true way, downhill going my way). I stopped by a cute cafe/vineyard called Lille Garegård to use their bathroom and get some breakfast (I skipped breakfast in order to leave that early). But they open at 11 am!!!! (It was 8:00 at the time). The guy was very nice and I was kinda intending to come back for lunch (he also had 4 identical super adorable kittens wandering around), but the trip to my real destination (Dueodde beach) took 40 more minutes, and I didn't want to spend 40 minutes returning rather than moving forward. Ah well, if I ever come back, I will visit the nice man and his cats.
In any case, Dueodde Beach is my kind of beach. The sand is white and powdery but it doesn't fly everywhere because most of it is slightly damp (the beach is flat, so I'm assuming the high tide comes all the way up). The water is FREEZING, but I still wished I had brought my flipflops so I could run around in the shallow parts and build sandcastles and everything. It is a must see.
I also got some Bornholm soft ice at the beach. I asked for a lille (small) one. It was HUGE!!! Soft ice is like ice cream but with the consistency of yogurt (but not froyo). Extremely tastyyyyy.
Next stop, Nexø (a.k.a. Neksø). I actually was not intending to stop in Nexø b/c the booklet didn't say much about what there was to see. I DID however pass the Nexø Røgerit (every town seems to have one) and these røgeriet specialize in smoked herring, a Danish favorite second maybe to pickled herring. My host mother had requested some, so I bought some. I didn't want to eat here b/c the booklet advertised the Svaneke Røgerit as the best place, so onwards!
At Svaneke I visited a toffee shop looking for directions to the Røgerit. They were not very helpful. I wandered around the town (which is a very adorable town, all of the houses are painted bright yellow or baby pink, etc, etc) for 15 minutes, but persistence is always rewarded, and I saw a sign with a fish picture, an arrow, and the text "300 m." Yup, there it was, and it was very crowded. I got a smoked herring with potato salad on the side (50 DKK). The way to eat smoked herring: pop off head and tail, split open at the belly (it's already cut for you), extract spine, and presto! You now have boneless fish to dig in. There are still some bones next to the skin, but the skin was a little tough for me to eat. In any case, I don't know how they smoke their fish, but the fish itself is very savory.
So I was a happy camper by the time I returned to the hostel.
Monday: train derailing?? It was not even on the news and it seems no one was hurt anyways, just the rest of the trains backed up and delayed or otherwise cancelled. And that very same day a pack of "vikings" (men wearing horned hats) flooded off the S line, yelling and waving plastic spears. I wish I had figured out how to use my videocamera function at the time, but a lot of Danes had a good private chuckle.
Tuesday: 1st piano lesson!!!!! I had not practiced the entire summer (due to my inability to carry my instrument) so I was very apprehensive. My bigger problem is not being as musically aware as other students MAJORING in music. Professor Niklas mentioned all these possible songs/composers that I'm not really familiar with but should be, etc, etc, etc. I would like to fix this problem but at the same time my time is really budgeted and I rarely get a chance to sit and pay attention to music (i.e. I could set Pandora to play piano stuff while I did hw, but then I wouldn't be listening and essentially the sounds go in one ear and out the other). But in all other aspects I think this semester will go wonderfully. For you music students at there, we are going to look at Schumann's Kinderzenen, Bach's French Suites (no. 4), and 2 of Debussy's Preludes.
Observations and Thoughts on Danish Culture:
1) Sprinkler system! For the fruit/veggies sections, very little is actually placed in cold but open shelving like in the US. They are just sitting there at room temp. The sprinklers are far above everyone's head and spray into the atmosphere, I guess to keep the air moist???
2) Different fruit can go into the same bag. Bananas, pears, apples, everything can go together, even if differently priced! The cashier will take care of differentiation, I suppose.
3) People jaywalking! WHAT???? I was told that it NOT a Danish thing to do and yet there are so many people doing it and equally as many people not doing it. I think it is one of 2 things: a) the younger generation is growing lax or b) the country is being invaded by tourists, international students, and otherwise non-citizens who still keep to the same old habits from home. I think "b" is more likely. To spite them, I wait for the light like a true Dane :D.
4) Danish flags. Did I mention they were used everywhere? Yesterday I saw a group of guys walking around draped in flags (both as cape and as in waving paper flags). The reason?? Last night was the football (soccer) game btw Denmark and Norway. Guess who won? I think the intense partying last night will clue you in. Actually, let me describe what is happening/has happened for my 20th bday before I continue:
So, I am planning to cook a FEAST (chinese style) for friends and host family tonight, (and throwing in a bit of Mid-Autumn Festival). But there is more to a birthday than just dinner, it would seem.
This morning, I heard a lot of clanking in the kitchen and I could hear something sizzling in a pan (it was the very sound of making crepe-like pancakes). I thought, "Oh, they must be making special breakfast just for me, I should probably get up." But I was tired too and drifted off again. THEN the cat Plet jumped on the bed and circled around my head. Looking back, I think after living 15 years with this family she probably knew what was going to happen next and came preemptively. I finally got up and wandered out, and my host mum pops up and says, "Go back to bed! You shouldn't be awake!"
Eh??? I just wanted to go the bathroom and brush up so I could have some breakfast. They chased me back to bed and I had to pretend to be asleep. Then they paraded in waving the Danish flag and singing the fødselsdag (birthday) song. Then they all gave me a hug. And THEN I could get up and go have breakfast, which was a HUGE affair: scrambled egg+cheese, fruit platter, crepe-pancakes with nutella and banana and strawberry, etc etc. Hogwarts feast worthy. I received my present from the family, a necklace made in the style of what the queen wore for her wedding (except her version is diamonds). It's a daisy flower, the national flower. Helle gives this as a gift to all her students (hehe, form of identication), but that makes it no less special to me, and I hope it doesn't make it less special for the others that I get it on my birthday and they just get it later at some point (mostly b/c they have to be ordered since the store only had one). And the family put up their Danish flag outside their home to signify that it is someone's birthday.
SOOO, all this waving of flags got me thinking. Back home, I don't really think waving an American flag is necessary in any way. We don't own an American flag, stores don't decorate with it unless it's July 4th and after high school no one says the pledge anymore. And it really takes an event like 9/11 to bring out a wave of patriotism throughout the country.
Sometimes, I think the idea of American patriotism is construed to include white supremacy, aggression, or something relegated to the backwoods of the "Deep South". I think America is too multicultural to be able to expect that all its citizens will be so supportive, and the way Danes do it is tradition, but it's definitely something that has not existed in America now or in the past. America is also filled with residents and immigrants who have even less of an obligation to feel anything towards America as opposed to their homeland. I am an American citizen, and I do like/appreciate being an American, but even though I have many criticisms of China, I still value being Chinese. How do you balance 2 identities? And why, when I'm not so patriotic in America, do I so eagerly attempt to acquire a Danish identity? Why do I wait for the crossing lights like a Dane? Why am I mapping out bike paths rather than train schedules? Why am I eating with a fork in the left and a knife in the right and refusing to switch them after cutting the meat? Or trying not use my hands for burgers and sandwiches? When did I start eating liver pate for lunch? And why aren't the other students/immigrants/tourists/residents not also doing this?
I think the sticking point is that I came here wanting to learn, more than anything else, the culture: the food, the language, the mannerisms, to be able to blend in. There is something about Danmark that is friendly and trusting (did I mention babies and toddlers can be left outside on the streets while you get a coffee?). You can't do that in America. And there are so many new things that are amazing/awesome/simply marvelous and ingenious that I DO consider potentially living here in the future permanently. Culture shock? More like culture amazement.
My parents came to America with the intention of staying. They adopted the language, made a successful niche for themselves, but certainly didn't LOSE their Chinese identity. They simply got themselves another one.
And I'm on my way to getting a Danish identity.
Day 12 Part 2
Thursday, 1 September 2011
For Monday, our Danish Language class went on a field trip to Cafe 22, a restaurant on the western side of the "lakes" for dinner. The lakes actually look more like manmade canals and are SUPER shallow. In Jan/Feb they freeze over and everyone bikes/walks/skates over them rather than manuever over to the bridges. The sight is ver-ver beautiful. All around the lakes are paths for biking and walking, and lots of people bring their doggies there. Ducks and swans also make their home in the water.
In any case, the dinner was a pre-ordered kylling sandwich (chicken sandwich) or salad for vegetarians. I have always believed that simple can = delicious, and that was the sandwich. 2 slices of bread similar to ciabatta, chicken breast, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and garden lettuce. One end of the sandwich was stabbed with a kabob stick, and the rest of the sandwich was fanned out like you would hold a hand of cards. This is because sandwich is not meant for eating with your hands like a burger. You cut the sandwich into pieces and eat (again) with fork in left and knife in right and never letting go or switching either. The chicken was lightly pestoed and there was sweet mustard drizzled over the sandwich.
But that was Monday night. I should also mention Monday afternoon, which was my first class at DKDM (or the english acronyms RDAM Royal Danish Academy of Music). I am taking piano lessons with Niklas Sivelov, but on my schedule there is also this extra thing Monday afternoon for half an hour with Hanne. I was vaguely told that it was some practical minilesson. Eh? So I went it with no expectations at all. So the first thing she wanted to start off with was sight-reading a duet, but then she wanted to establish the key. I, IV, V, I. The most fundamental chord progression from music theory. All of it had completely flown out of my head, so we went to some scale practicing, then back to basic chord progression. She also corrected body movement and finger position, all stuff that I had been critiqued upon back in fall/spring, but deteriorated over the piano-less summer. And then we did sight reading and some melody harmonizing. Theory stuff has always been difficult for me because I didn't learn theory parallel to studying piano, so I have to catch up a lot.
So it seems all students here have both their main lesson and this mini practical thingy. I guess it's to help students handle the small tidbits like posture and theory while the professor handles the repertoire. Definitely something that doesn't exist at Peabody for us Music minors (I imagine the majors must also take some sort of "performance" class). Theory class at JHU, although it is taught by Peabody faculty, is taught at a desk and for all people musically inclined. It makes more sense for me to learn it at the piano, playing the different chords and messing around with harmony rather than attempting to write it down and hear it in my head AND have the teacher with me at the piano.
So all in all, Monday was a fine day.
For the life of me, I cannot find a CityBike. They are used very much by tourists and locals, so I am not surprised. Therefore, I decided to bring my bike from the host family to the city.
This was Tuesday. And oh heck it downpoured. I was carrying my bike up the stairs and down the stairs (because I didn't have the time to seek out the special bike elevators THEY DO EXIST but I have also found that carrying it up/down the stairs takes less time) and searching for the train compartments that allow bikes and manuevering around other bikers, etc, etc.
And for the regional train, you have to buy your bike a separate ticket! 12DKK each way! ($2.30)
Why did I do this? Well, it's for the HH&D class at Gentofte Hospital, which is a good 10-15 min walk from the train station, so I wanted to bike it. I also had a meeting at 6, and because the class ends at 5:30, I wanted to be able to bike back from the inner city station to the meeting classroom in time (I would be cutting it close b/c the next train left at 5:46 and would get there at 5:55 if all went well).
When other students started asking about modes of transportation (bus vs. train), the course assistant Johannes suggested biking straight from inner city Køenhavn to Gentofte (that's what he does). He said it took 25-30 min. A straight shot biking? Yes please. I intended on biking with him afterwards, but he had to stay behind to help the professor clean up, so he just gave me directions.
Very simple directions, really, but I still managed to waste 10 minutes searching for a certain street. I'd like to thank my dad for his genes of a mental GPS. Although I didn't know where exactly I went wrong, I knew which way was the right direction and could judge if I overshot without going too far. And I knew I was looking for a main road, so I perked my ears for the sound of cars whooshing.
And it was raining hard all the way. Hehe. Even though it was a straight shot, I wasn't sure how far I had to go to reach the inner city, so along the way I bothered many Danes and they were all super nice in giving directions.
I missed the meeting after all (but it was not an important meeting) but I personally thought that was a fun adventure. Even though biking is not as fast as having a car, it is more exercise, and exercise = stress-free. So I must get a bike for the city so I can avoid having to buy my bike a seat on the train.
And that was Tuesday 30 of august. Oh yes! I forgot to mention I also tasted shawarma. Apparently the thing you must try in Denmark. It is roasted beef or lamb. It is yum. It is $5.00. OM NOM.
(I should mention that I also managed to break the bike on my way home. Not broken, per se, just that the chain fell off the gear, so the pedals swung around uselessly and the bike coasted to a stop. But it was fixed later that night).
Wednesday the noteworthy event was Tivoli! Tivoli is the oldest? amusement park of the world, but it is also a GARDEN. With fountains and rose bushes and other flowers that I don't know the names of and lakes and willow trees and ponds and etc etc. They also have a profuse amount of restaurants and cafes inside. It works differently from Disney or Six Flags. You pay an entrance fee, and then you have to pay a separate fee for getting on the rides (either buy an all ride wristband for $40 or buy individual tickets for $4 each, although the big rides are 3 tickets each and the kiddy rides are 1 tkt and everything in between is 2 tkt.) My host family, because they have a certain gas/electricity company, can get a number of discounted tickets. I got a season pass anyway for $50, which is unlimited entrance until end of 2011. I'm not a very rollercoaster person, and I haven't yet found a ride worth riding multiple times, so I think the pass is definitely worth it for wandering around the gardens, taking pictures, maybe even studying there. ALSO they have concerts all the time there (no extra price, just entrance fee), so now I can go to see that too with the season pass. In any case, one regular entrance fee is about $30, so using the pass at least twice will make it worth it. AND the park redecorates for Halloween and Christmas (and I imagine it must be very pretty), so there are my minimum 2 times of returning :D. In any case, my host family did give me one of their discounted tickets, so I went on the skytower (which is sitting on a swing and being spun around several hundred meters in the air = great view of Copenhagen but soooooo cold and windy) and the Odin Express (a moderate wooden coaster) and bumper cars and a canoe ride through mine caverns (it was intended for kids but there were sections of complete darkness which was really scary for me, hehe).
Yesterday was also an orientation dinner for the international students at the music academy at RizRaz Pizza. We were treated to the buffet, which was for some reason ENTIRELY VEGETARIAN (despite the fact that the restaurant's main selling point was its delicious steaks served on fancy carving board "plates".) Not to say it wasn't tasty, but I am a carnivore, so I was keenly aware of the lack of meat. Herein is another point of interest: all of the students there were majoring in music, so I was the only one not quite as serious about music (one of the other DIS students Wesley meticulously searched up which professor he really wanted to study with at RDAM and described how a performing professor was better than a professor who was only ever a professor, etc, etc. And I was like, "Durp, I'll take whoever they give me," not to say his points weren't valid!). But it's always nice to see people interested in music. Music people are cool.
And today is Thursday, Day 12, the first of september.
In language class today, the discussion was on Danish happiness. Several times in a row now, Denmark has ranked as number 1 in happiness, even though from the outsider's point of view, they seem like the most obtuse, blunt, introverted, frowny-faced folk. We were watching (ironically) a documentary from CBS 60 minutes that attempted to discern why Danes are "happy." One section was about interviewing a group of Danish teenagers, who mentioned several interesting points: (1) when they go abroad, say to Italy or France, they see a lot more people openly laughing or smiling or having friendly chats than at home. (2) Danes REALLY value their family time (hence 37 hr work week and 6 wk vacation), and having more money or fancier car or bigger house is not an achievement in their eyes. (3) when you have low expectations, normal life and things that work out surprise you and make you happy.
For some reason this reminds me of a story that Suzanne (DL&C professor) told us over dinner at Cafe 22. When she and her mother went to visit America, her mother was very much surprised by all the homeless folk (not that there aren't homeless people in Denmark, but less so). She attempted to "adopt" homeless people, getting them breakfast, taking them to get some shoes, etc, etc. and only when they were about to leave and her mother was attempting to get someone else to take over the "adoption" that Suzanne put her foot down. It's something of a "social responsibility" the way she termed it, that the Danish attempt to make sure everyone is alright (back to the formulaic "everyone is equal"). Did I mention Denmark is a welfare state? Like CBS said, I don't think Americans will ever agree to giving up 50% to taxes. The richest of the Danes will never be as rich as wealthy Americans (again quoting my teacher :D), but they are still happier. It's a wonderful system in Denmark (and I don't mean perfect), but only because I think they have their unique ideology, and it probably wouldn't work with the American dream.
For Monday, our Danish Language class went on a field trip to Cafe 22, a restaurant on the western side of the "lakes" for dinner. The lakes actually look more like manmade canals and are SUPER shallow. In Jan/Feb they freeze over and everyone bikes/walks/skates over them rather than manuever over to the bridges. The sight is ver-ver beautiful. All around the lakes are paths for biking and walking, and lots of people bring their doggies there. Ducks and swans also make their home in the water.
In any case, the dinner was a pre-ordered kylling sandwich (chicken sandwich) or salad for vegetarians. I have always believed that simple can = delicious, and that was the sandwich. 2 slices of bread similar to ciabatta, chicken breast, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and garden lettuce. One end of the sandwich was stabbed with a kabob stick, and the rest of the sandwich was fanned out like you would hold a hand of cards. This is because sandwich is not meant for eating with your hands like a burger. You cut the sandwich into pieces and eat (again) with fork in left and knife in right and never letting go or switching either. The chicken was lightly pestoed and there was sweet mustard drizzled over the sandwich.
But that was Monday night. I should also mention Monday afternoon, which was my first class at DKDM (or the english acronyms RDAM Royal Danish Academy of Music). I am taking piano lessons with Niklas Sivelov, but on my schedule there is also this extra thing Monday afternoon for half an hour with Hanne. I was vaguely told that it was some practical minilesson. Eh? So I went it with no expectations at all. So the first thing she wanted to start off with was sight-reading a duet, but then she wanted to establish the key. I, IV, V, I. The most fundamental chord progression from music theory. All of it had completely flown out of my head, so we went to some scale practicing, then back to basic chord progression. She also corrected body movement and finger position, all stuff that I had been critiqued upon back in fall/spring, but deteriorated over the piano-less summer. And then we did sight reading and some melody harmonizing. Theory stuff has always been difficult for me because I didn't learn theory parallel to studying piano, so I have to catch up a lot.
So it seems all students here have both their main lesson and this mini practical thingy. I guess it's to help students handle the small tidbits like posture and theory while the professor handles the repertoire. Definitely something that doesn't exist at Peabody for us Music minors (I imagine the majors must also take some sort of "performance" class). Theory class at JHU, although it is taught by Peabody faculty, is taught at a desk and for all people musically inclined. It makes more sense for me to learn it at the piano, playing the different chords and messing around with harmony rather than attempting to write it down and hear it in my head AND have the teacher with me at the piano.
So all in all, Monday was a fine day.
For the life of me, I cannot find a CityBike. They are used very much by tourists and locals, so I am not surprised. Therefore, I decided to bring my bike from the host family to the city.
This was Tuesday. And oh heck it downpoured. I was carrying my bike up the stairs and down the stairs (because I didn't have the time to seek out the special bike elevators THEY DO EXIST but I have also found that carrying it up/down the stairs takes less time) and searching for the train compartments that allow bikes and manuevering around other bikers, etc, etc.
And for the regional train, you have to buy your bike a separate ticket! 12DKK each way! ($2.30)
Why did I do this? Well, it's for the HH&D class at Gentofte Hospital, which is a good 10-15 min walk from the train station, so I wanted to bike it. I also had a meeting at 6, and because the class ends at 5:30, I wanted to be able to bike back from the inner city station to the meeting classroom in time (I would be cutting it close b/c the next train left at 5:46 and would get there at 5:55 if all went well).
When other students started asking about modes of transportation (bus vs. train), the course assistant Johannes suggested biking straight from inner city Køenhavn to Gentofte (that's what he does). He said it took 25-30 min. A straight shot biking? Yes please. I intended on biking with him afterwards, but he had to stay behind to help the professor clean up, so he just gave me directions.
Very simple directions, really, but I still managed to waste 10 minutes searching for a certain street. I'd like to thank my dad for his genes of a mental GPS. Although I didn't know where exactly I went wrong, I knew which way was the right direction and could judge if I overshot without going too far. And I knew I was looking for a main road, so I perked my ears for the sound of cars whooshing.
And it was raining hard all the way. Hehe. Even though it was a straight shot, I wasn't sure how far I had to go to reach the inner city, so along the way I bothered many Danes and they were all super nice in giving directions.
I missed the meeting after all (but it was not an important meeting) but I personally thought that was a fun adventure. Even though biking is not as fast as having a car, it is more exercise, and exercise = stress-free. So I must get a bike for the city so I can avoid having to buy my bike a seat on the train.
And that was Tuesday 30 of august. Oh yes! I forgot to mention I also tasted shawarma. Apparently the thing you must try in Denmark. It is roasted beef or lamb. It is yum. It is $5.00. OM NOM.
(I should mention that I also managed to break the bike on my way home. Not broken, per se, just that the chain fell off the gear, so the pedals swung around uselessly and the bike coasted to a stop. But it was fixed later that night).
Wednesday the noteworthy event was Tivoli! Tivoli is the oldest? amusement park of the world, but it is also a GARDEN. With fountains and rose bushes and other flowers that I don't know the names of and lakes and willow trees and ponds and etc etc. They also have a profuse amount of restaurants and cafes inside. It works differently from Disney or Six Flags. You pay an entrance fee, and then you have to pay a separate fee for getting on the rides (either buy an all ride wristband for $40 or buy individual tickets for $4 each, although the big rides are 3 tickets each and the kiddy rides are 1 tkt and everything in between is 2 tkt.) My host family, because they have a certain gas/electricity company, can get a number of discounted tickets. I got a season pass anyway for $50, which is unlimited entrance until end of 2011. I'm not a very rollercoaster person, and I haven't yet found a ride worth riding multiple times, so I think the pass is definitely worth it for wandering around the gardens, taking pictures, maybe even studying there. ALSO they have concerts all the time there (no extra price, just entrance fee), so now I can go to see that too with the season pass. In any case, one regular entrance fee is about $30, so using the pass at least twice will make it worth it. AND the park redecorates for Halloween and Christmas (and I imagine it must be very pretty), so there are my minimum 2 times of returning :D. In any case, my host family did give me one of their discounted tickets, so I went on the skytower (which is sitting on a swing and being spun around several hundred meters in the air = great view of Copenhagen but soooooo cold and windy) and the Odin Express (a moderate wooden coaster) and bumper cars and a canoe ride through mine caverns (it was intended for kids but there were sections of complete darkness which was really scary for me, hehe).
Yesterday was also an orientation dinner for the international students at the music academy at RizRaz Pizza. We were treated to the buffet, which was for some reason ENTIRELY VEGETARIAN (despite the fact that the restaurant's main selling point was its delicious steaks served on fancy carving board "plates".) Not to say it wasn't tasty, but I am a carnivore, so I was keenly aware of the lack of meat. Herein is another point of interest: all of the students there were majoring in music, so I was the only one not quite as serious about music (one of the other DIS students Wesley meticulously searched up which professor he really wanted to study with at RDAM and described how a performing professor was better than a professor who was only ever a professor, etc, etc. And I was like, "Durp, I'll take whoever they give me," not to say his points weren't valid!). But it's always nice to see people interested in music. Music people are cool.
And today is Thursday, Day 12, the first of september.
In language class today, the discussion was on Danish happiness. Several times in a row now, Denmark has ranked as number 1 in happiness, even though from the outsider's point of view, they seem like the most obtuse, blunt, introverted, frowny-faced folk. We were watching (ironically) a documentary from CBS 60 minutes that attempted to discern why Danes are "happy." One section was about interviewing a group of Danish teenagers, who mentioned several interesting points: (1) when they go abroad, say to Italy or France, they see a lot more people openly laughing or smiling or having friendly chats than at home. (2) Danes REALLY value their family time (hence 37 hr work week and 6 wk vacation), and having more money or fancier car or bigger house is not an achievement in their eyes. (3) when you have low expectations, normal life and things that work out surprise you and make you happy.
For some reason this reminds me of a story that Suzanne (DL&C professor) told us over dinner at Cafe 22. When she and her mother went to visit America, her mother was very much surprised by all the homeless folk (not that there aren't homeless people in Denmark, but less so). She attempted to "adopt" homeless people, getting them breakfast, taking them to get some shoes, etc, etc. and only when they were about to leave and her mother was attempting to get someone else to take over the "adoption" that Suzanne put her foot down. It's something of a "social responsibility" the way she termed it, that the Danish attempt to make sure everyone is alright (back to the formulaic "everyone is equal"). Did I mention Denmark is a welfare state? Like CBS said, I don't think Americans will ever agree to giving up 50% to taxes. The richest of the Danes will never be as rich as wealthy Americans (again quoting my teacher :D), but they are still happier. It's a wonderful system in Denmark (and I don't mean perfect), but only because I think they have their unique ideology, and it probably wouldn't work with the American dream.
Day 12 Part 1
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Well my first week has gone and vanished.
Friday was my last class to introduce: Human Health and Disease. Like Morton, the teachers are professionals (dermatologist/allergologists) who associate part-time with DIS. It purports to be very interesting, considering pre-med students in US don’t learn about diseases, symptoms, clinical diagnosis, auscultation, etc, etc until they reach med school. By the way, med school here for Danish students can begin straight out of high school, takes 6 years, and is paid by the gov (you get monthly stipend). Of course, when you are a doctor, there is about a 50% income tax, BUT everyone has at least 5 wks vacation a year (average is 6 wks). And there’s free healthcare. Of course, the system isn’t perfect. Between your general physician referring you to a specialist and you actually seeing the specialist can take anywhere from 24 hrs to 6 months (depending on severity of disease and waiting list).
Friday night happened to be Cultural Night in the small town of Borup. When I was biking home from the train station, I had to go around because the streets were crowded with families, stalls and shops, music and food, etc, etc, and there was a horse buggy going around giving free rides. I tasted a flødeboller, which is a chocolate-covered marshmallow. Except that American marshmallows are puffy and spongy and Danish marshmallows are creamy. It’s a very interesting texture. Also, the Danish hotdog is just as spiced/flavorful as their meatballs (meaning it tastes fabulous even without adding condiments).
And of course I have to mention my silly/crazy/probably-bad-idea-of-the-week event. At one corner of the streets there was a live band playing on the stage. A woman and a man suddenly walked into the center and started dancing, but then the man left her. She continued dancing with an imaginary partner. Now me, being partly influenced by sleep-deprived whim and mostly influenced by a certain friend of mine’s event in China (see below*), I handed my stuff to my host sister and went to dance with the lonely woman. I was attempting to follow her lead, but she really had no structure/pattern to her steps at all, really just tottering around, and I finally figured out she was sadly very drunk. When the song ended, she planted a big smooch on my cheek and yelled ”I LOVE YOU!” I said ”tak” and went back to my slightly mortified/amused friends.
This was very intriguing to me, because I was told it was socially unacceptable to get drunk and tipsy like that in Denmark. No one drinks to get wasted, they drink to socialize. I guess there are always exceptions.
So Saturday (lørdag) I was scheduled to go visit the Frederiksborg Castle. And it poured, haha. My host mum said to me, ”Remember you are not made of sugar, so you will not melt.” =D Favorite quote of the day.
In any case, the tour took place inside the castle. Most of it is actually reconstruction (remember it burned down and the royal family moved to the unimpressive four buildings?) but all of the decorations are so ornate and decorated with a gazillion flourishes---sharp contrast to the plain, efficiency style of furniture and room decorations today (think Ikea).
We couldn’t visit the church part of the castle because someone was having a wedding there! Imagine that, a wedding going through even though it is raining! As I was leaving I saw the newlyweds outside taking pictures, and the cobblestones were still wet, and you could see the hem of the dress dragging on it. Danish happiness? Love in all weather :D
Sunday was an even bigger adventure. I and 31 other students went to Esrum Abbey to learn about the Middle Ages. The Abbey itself is mostly gone, with only 1 original building left. After a quick tour and history we split into teams of 4 and had to decorate a team flag and shield and come up with a war cry. Ours was the peacock mating cry (you might have to google this up). The tour guide said she had no idea about its origins, but it definitely earned points because you could hear it from anywhere. Go, team OOVU! (Where does the name come from? Our shield design was 2 blue balls, and then for the flag we decided to make it V-shaped, so "oovu".)
Then the teams were sent to earn points from different activities that Middle Age knights had to do: climbing up a ladder from the other side (i.e. if a ladder is leaning against a wall, climb the side you normally don’t use), running back and forth on a skinny log bridge, throwing spears, archery, and dueling with Martin, who defeated all the police officers when they came to participate in this activity :D ) We also got to set off a huge trebuchet, but the cauliflower got stuck and didn’t go anywhere.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)