First Impressions: Healthcare in Denmark

So, given the events of the past week or so, this seems like an opportune time to discuss the differences that I have noticed in the healthcare system here as opposed to back home. There's a lot of things that I don't know, and a lot that I do know that is so entangled in the rest of the stuff I've been learning as to be incomprehensible without being here.

Anyway, the first thing that you need to know is that healthcare here is almost entirely free. If you have a Danish residency number (which I now do), then you sign up for a local clinic and get all of your basic medical care there. Eventually, you can get a little yellow card with the number on it, which you can just swipe when you go into the doctor's office. Whether it's a basic appointment or necessary hospitalization, it is indeed free. (Oddly enough, however, pharmaceuticals are not free, as I found out rather quickly).

Anyway, my experience with this whole system started when I did something to my knee last Tuesday. It started hurting right below the kneecap, and it has been hurting pretty consistently ever since. After a week of this pain, I decided that I should go to a doctor. So, I went to the Kommune, which is what they call the government office that handles all of the Danish residency number and tax stuff, and signed up for a number. I got it in the mail, then called to get an appointment at the doctor.

Upon my arrival at the doctor's office, a few things struck me. One was the card-swiper thing at the entrance, which was kind of a symbol of the free medical system, and the other was the actual facilities of the office. Put bluntly, the facilities were incredibly rudimentary. Apparently, at this basic level of treatment, they have little diagnostic equipment, as x-ray machines were reserved for the hospitals. Obviously, this is a bit of an inconvenience for me, something that would not likely happen in Indianola. In any case, I got a diagnosis of uneven cartilage and got a prescription to take to the pharmacy today. It was there that I learned that pharmaceuticals are indeed not free, and that there frequently appears to be significant lines to see a pharmacist. The medicine that I requested was out of stock, so they are ordering more for me to pick up tomorrow. Hopefully it will make this confounded pain go away...

I have also spoken with my host dad about the current healthcare system in Denmark, and he gave it mixed reviews. Currently, there are long lines to get treatment at the hospitals; some surgeries are indeed put off for a very long time based on the government's decision as to the severity of the need. These long waiting periods spurred the development of private hospitals, which do indeed cost money. They do, however, have shorter lines, and many employers have arrangements with the private hospitals to give their employees special discounts there.

While this analysis might not sound particularly flattering at first, it does indeed align very well with the collectivist undercurrents in the country: it gives every citizen and extended resident access to whatever healthcare they need free of charge. While you could make the argument that the Danes are making up for it in high income taxes, this logic does not exactly hold as those making below a certain amount are taxed at an incredibly low percentage of their income yet can still access the entirety of the public healthcare system without paying a cent. While the general level of inconvenience might be higher here than in the US, most Danes seem to take it in stride as a minor setback to allow them to provide healthcare to everyone.

Certainly, these ideas will require more than one blog post.

Baron Aarker, over and out.

Abbey Ale and Sanitized Fairy Tales

Amusing Danish words of the day
fødselsdag = birthday - pronounced fooselsday
hundred = hundred - however, both ds are soft in Danish, so it sounds like hunthlrethl

Sunday was indeed a diverse day. I signed up to go on the Spears, Arrows, and Abbey Ale tour of Esrum Abbey that is a few dozen kilometers north of Rungsted. We took a brief tour of the Abbey, learning that it was originally ten times its current size and was constructed in 1151. It was home to many different monastic orders as they fell in and out of fashion; in 1560, the monks were thrown out and most of the Abbey was pulled apart for building materials to construct a nearby castle. Since then, the remaining building has served as a storehouse, barracks, and now tourist attraction.

After our brief history lesson, we divided into teams and played medieval fighting games. The games included jousting (wooden horse on a track), archery, trebuchet (we loaded it with a frozen cabbage to see how far it could fly), and stickfighting (basically like Dag, but I got beat to a pulp by a professional stickfighter). Our team's name was the Turtles and, appropriately enough, we broke the record for the lowest score. Afterwards we were each given a bottle of the ale brewed at the Abbey, a bit strong at 7.5% alcohol by volume. (As a side note, since we couldn't keep the actual bottles we were given due to emphasis on recycling, I offered to buy another bottle. The store clerk, however, said that she had just closed the cash register and that I should just take it. Her generosity was incredible, as the bottle was priced at 35 kroner. So, I gave her all the change I had [totaling only about 19 kroner i think] in hopes of recouping at least some of her losses. I still feel a sense of debt...)

Anyway, classes resumed on Monday, and it was back to work. One class that is sticking in my mind in particular at the moment is From Homer to Harry Potter: European Storytelling. The professor's name is Bettina, and she introduced herself as a professional geek (even going so far as to explain the geek hierarchy with fantasy novelists at the top and people with romantic fixations with Star Trek characters on the bottom). We are focusing on the oral storytelling tradition, starting with fairy tales. We operate on the premise that each retelling is equally valid, as each storyteller emphasizes different points for different audiences (i.e. Disney did not ruin the Grimm Brothers' stories). While most people consider the Grimm brothers' stories to be incredibly violent and sexual compared to Disney's versions, they were actually scrubbed and rewritten at the time from their older, yet more violent and sexual predecessors. For example, some yet older versions of Little Red Riding Hood include the girl stripping for the wolf, and Sleeping Beauty was not kissed but actually raped by the wandering prince. I think I've been scarred (enlightened?) for life...

Anyway, that's the every-other-or-maybe-every-other-other-daily blog. I'm Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.

Photographing Session 1: Nyhavn

So, today was my first day with absolutely nothing set in stone in my schedule. To me, such a day seemed perfect to begin photographing this amazing city. I spoke with my host mom for a little while, then determined that my first venture should be to Nyhavn, a strip of picturesque buildings along a canal in downtown Copenhagen. So, I picked up some kroner, my backpack full of homework in case I had to wait for something, my water bottle, and my Canon Powershot and set off to create a day of exploration.

I started by photographing the train stations that comprise my daily routine, and then took a jaunt down to DIS to see if I could bump into any of my fellow classmates to walk around with for a while. Finding no one, I walked to the Trinitatis Kirke to take some pictures and warm up. Along the way, a number of quaint side-streets piqued my interest and warranted a shutter-click. After listening to some hymns from an immense, ornate organ whilst regaining feeling in my picture-finger, I struck off for the discount store called Tiger: I was sure that I could find another photographically-inclined DIS student to walk around with there.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but ... that one girl whose name I can't remember. Anyway, she had a misunderstanding with her usual traveling group, so I told her of my plan to photograph Nyhavn and we set off east together. We photographed a few packed walking-streets then ducked into the Magasin department store to get warm and window-shop (In the process, we found a $50 pair of mittens and a $100 bottle of cologne...eep). We then continued east and finally found Nyhavn, a quaint section of colorful, 17th century buildings that are used in almost all Copenhagen advertisements. The shops and restaurants are side to side to side, like much of Copenhagen's buildings, this particular area overlooking a mostly-frozen canal. Upon taking a handful of pictures and circling the area once, we set off towards the Metro to take us back to Nørreport.

Given that the sun was still out, however, and that I had an inkling to take more photos, I milled around the Metro for a few minutes in hopes of running into my DIS people. Lo and behold, I heard the voices of mildly confused Americans and met Jessica and Dina. We exchanged pleasantries, and then I decided to join them on their quest to find the National Museum. With the help of a few friendly Danes, we arrived at our desired location and toured the Ice Age, Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age exhibits of ancient Denmark. One of the more interesting facts was that the vast majority of artifacts from ancient Denmark were excavated from the bogs of Jutland, where the composition of the terrain acted as a natural preservation agent. In addition, Denmark was apparently home to many herds of aurochs at one point, a predecessor to modern cattle.

At 17:00, the museum closed, and we walked back at the Metro. I parted ways with my newfound friends, and arrived back home.

That's a wrap. Vi ses!

P.S. I should probably mention yesterday's party briefly. DIS scheduled a party at the local Discotek In, which provided free beer, champagne, and snacks throughout the evening. The room was dimly lit with a laser-light show and theatrical smoke to produce ambiance. The gender balance was more skewed than usual. The event was quite reminiscent of a Harris party, complete with bad beer, lots of grinding, very drunk people, and Lady Gaga. I did, however, kind of enjoy the whole experience... uh oh...

Riding the Rails

Danish term of the day:

Rødgrød med Fløde = Red Pudding with Cream: an unremarkable dish made with red currants. It's only claim to fame is to be so difficult to pronounce that many native Danes ask foreigners to say just for a laugh.

So, today seems like a good day to go into a little detail about where I live and how I get to class. I live in Rungsted, a town about 20-25 miles north of downtown Copenhagen. It is a quaint town, essentially a bedroom community for the city, as far as I can tell. I was able to see a bit more of the town today as I went to the Kommune to file paperwork to get my Danish identification number that I will use to make use of the country's public services such as the library and the free healthcare system. At the station about a 10 minute walk from my host family's home, I kill time waiting for the 7:36 train, usually by marveling at the prices in the attached 7-11 (Do you realize that it's cheaper to buy a can of beer at the station than a bottle of water?).

Anyway, I hop on the train and attempt to find a seat somewhere in the regular cars. There are also Silent, Pet, Bike, Family, and 1st class cars, though I would wager that the names of those are self-explanatory. I am now growing accustomed to the Danes' apparent aloofness, as almost no one looks, let alone speaks, with each other. (From what I have learned of Danish culture, small talk is almost nonexistent in Denmark, one of the resident Danes working with DIS completely baffled as to why anyone would want to even initiate a conversation with someone you don't know). After a short ride, I disembark at the Nørreport Station and climb a few staircases to get to the ground level. From there, DIS is a mere 10 minutes walk south, passing a few independent stores, another 7-11, and the 531 year-old University of Copenhagen.

On the whole, I would say that my commute is a tad bit longer than my commute from Rathje to Bucksbaum. Though, I will admit that the scenery is much better.

That's all for today, folks.

Hvad hedder du?

Jeg hedder Aaron. Jeg kommer fra USA. Jeg vil gerne have et æbler og en øl.
My name is Aaron. I am from the USA. I will have an apple and a beer.

Oh, the many things I could write about today. In the past 48 hours, I have become acquainted with downtown Copenhagen, shaken hands with about 40 people whose names I can't remember, tried Frikadeller (Danish meatballs) and smørrebrød (Danish open faced sandwich, mine with tomato, mayonnaise, cilantro, and egg on rye), had about 5 hours of "survival Danish" lessons, and traveled by train between Nørreport and Rungsted six times. I've talked politics, religion, linguistic idiosyncrasies, movies, and the Iowa State Fair with my host family multiple times and I hope to do so about 1,000 more times before the end of the semester. I am just beginning to scratch the surface of some of the cultural differences between Danes and Americans, a subject of which I am sure will become a centerpiece of this blog. I will try to dedicate certain posts to certain exciting events, ideas, places, or people.

I will attempt to give a brief brief explanation of Danish pronunciation. First, there's no pirate-like r's; they are all produced deep in the throat, and often barely heard. D's have three sounds: hard, silent, and soft. Hard is just like English (HarD, Denver, winDow), silent is, well, silent. Soft d, however, is a sound that we don't have in English that sounds a bit like a cross between an l and a th. So, the title of this blog is pronounced, if I'm not mistaken, vathl heathleh doo.

That's the sorta-daily blog. I'm Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.

P.S. I've started reading an interesting book on myth for my European Storytelling class. Anyone who is up for a really long discussion should ask me about it sometime, preferably after midnight.

Miss Congeniality, Jetlag, and the Double A

So, I've arrived in Copenhagen. The time is now 2:11PM, seven hours ahead of Iowa time. I am currently at the University of Copenhagen (not where I'll be taking classes; my classes will all be at the DIS campus) for orientation, registration, and picking up all the essential paperwork stuff. Thank goodness that the DIS people recognize that most of us are really really really tired, so this day is practically empty.
The plane ride over here was...um, bad. The Des Moines-Chicago flight was short and uneventful, and I conversed with a pleasant man named Mark about Grinnell, Denmark, and Las Vegas. The Chicago-Stockholm flight, however, was very distressing, an 8 hour flight that caused me to essentially skip what would have been my daily sleep regimen. I couldn't sleep very much on the plane, mostly due to my typical plane nausea; it felt a bit like my brain and stomach were at war. My stomach won once, if you catch my drift. To cope with not being able to sleep, I watched Miss Congeniality on a little TV set into the seat in front of me; I watched a little bit of Kingdom of Heaven and District 9, but both of those videos quickly gave my stomach the upper hand in the war. The Stockholm-Copenhagen flight was uneventful.
Anyway, what has been really exciting has been meeting some of the fellow DIS people with whom I will be spending much of my academic time here in Denmark. I've connected with a few Grinnellians (cheer Lindsay and Lilith), as well as people from St. Olaf, Indiana, and Vanderbilt Universities. More on this later.
I'll meet my host family in about an hour...eep. I'm nervous. DIS reminded us to make a good first impression, but I'm so tired I can hardly walk a straight line. I guess I'll just try to keep a smile plastered on.
Until the next post.
P.S. Apparently the last letter in Danish constitutes a double A and, due to the fact that they sorted our names by first name in the orientation handbook, my name was dead last. I now have sympathy for all the Zimmermans, Zmudkas, and Zondervanns back home.

The evening before...

It begins. Within the next 48 hours, I will travel 4474 miles on three plane flights leaving a country of 304,059,724 people to become a temporary resident in a country with 5,497,525 people. I will take a leave of absence from the high-stress, high-productivity lifestyle to join the lifestyle of "the happiest place on earth." For the first time in my 21 years of existence, I will not be living in a state that has five times more pigs than people. The next four months will likely be life-changing, nerve-wracking, and wallet-breaking.
I'm going to Denmark. I leave from Des Moines at 1:23PM tomorrow (Saturday) and will arrive in Copenhagen at 11:10AM on Sunday. I will be staying with a host family about 25 kilometers out of Copenhagen, and will likely take a train to class. I will be taking five classes: European Politics and Society, Photojournalism, Applied Psychology, Danish Language and Culture, and European Storytelling.
My mental state...? Stressed. Very stressed. There's been lots of packing lately, much to the chagrin of my mother who insists that I should have started packing last week. I have been feverishly finishing the Truman and Beinecke scholarship applications, both of which have me at my wits' end. And tomorrow I will be tens of thousands of feet in the air over a 17 quadrillion gallon body of water where the only thing separating me from the big drink is the Bernoulli principle which I cannot begin to comprehend.
In any case, tomorrow will begin an adventure, an education, and a cultural experience that I will likely remember for the rest of my life. I hope that you all find some of my escapades, ramblings, and challenges of faith interesting.

I hereby proclaim this blog begun!