Good evening.
So, I did not have anything particular planned for today, so I decided to go on a day-trip to Sweden. In this blog, I shall attempt to discuss my adventures.
I bought a ticket at the Rungsted station then hopped on the same train that I take every day to class, the direct train that skips Vedbæk, Skodsborg, and Klampenborg. I continued right past the Nørreport stop, past the central station, and then on to the airport.
This is where things go much differently than usual: I went past the airport station, and then went through an underwater tunnel and over-water bridge and then arrived at the southern end of Sweden. Yep, the train that takes me to class also happens to go all the way to Sweden. I got off at the Malmö Central Station in Malmö, Sweden. I went to a tourist thing, found out that the exchange rate is about 1 USD: 7.5 Swedish Kronor, got some money and a map, then set off for my first sight.
The first site was the famous Turning Torso, one of the wackiest looking buildings in the world. (I will put up my pictures of it at some point, but, if you're just dying to see this strange architecture, I would not begrudge you Googling it). I then struck south and bought a ticket for the Malmö museums, starting first with the science and maritime museum. While seeing the inside of a submarine was kind of cool, it wasn't exactly what I was after, so I pressed on. The next museum as part of this museum pass was the Governor's House, a building with two exhibits and a cafe. The first exhibit was a plug for environmental awareness, and touted Sweden's many remarkable accomplishments to make itself green. However, the exhibits more interesting to me were on the second floor, where there were two photography exhibits. The first was called The Daily Life, and it showed portraits of completely normal people living in one of the roughest towns in Sweden, each portrait captioned with a description of what they were doing the day that the picture was taken. The pictures and captions had a kind of stark realism that really hit home that there really are 6 billion + people in the world just living their lives every day. Then there was the next exhibit called One Thousand Years of Solitude, and it was pictures taken in the wreckage of a city only a few miles away from the Chernobyl plant. The pictures were mind-rattling: the place looked like it had deteriorated over hundreds of years, but the accident was only 24 years ago. The pictures were accompanied by poetry talking about how mankind had created a force that might likely spiral out of our control. Very eerie. Very very eerie.
After that grim subject, I went over to Malmöhus Slott, a 400+ year old castle that predates the city by many many years. The castle consists of multiple exhibitions, including a nature one on the ground floor (not very interesting), the history of the city near that (also not very interesting), but connected to that the castle itself (interesting). I took a few pictures in the king's bedchamber and all that, then went to a tower that was used for the cannons. Inside, there was a detailed description of the war of Denmark and Sweden, a hilarious war in which the Swedes won by marching over the frozen ocean in the dead of winter to attack Denmark by surprise. (Apparently the Swedish army almost got stuck in Denmark doing that campaign, as the ice was beginning to melt by their trip back and led to numerous drowned soldiers).
One peculiar thing that I cannot, for the life of me, figure out is the signs at the castle. One said that this moat is exclusively for the use of "white people" (yes, that's what it said), then it had a picture of a dog with a line through it. I was hoping that this was some horrible mistranslation, then I looked on the door of the entrance and noticed that there were two sides to the rotating door: one for "Europeans" and one for "Non-Europeans". I will need to investigate this further to determine if this particular castle is known for rampant racism or if these signs are just translated horribly. The latter case would be odd, as the Swedes are incredibly fluent in English, and I did not interact with a single person throughout the day who was not functionally fluent.
In any case, I then walked south of the castle and went through two sets of gardens, the Slotts trädgården and the Kungsparken. Both gardens were exceptionally pretty, especially since spring has just arrived and most flowers are in bloom. I stopped for lunch at a quaint little open-air restaurant, where I got a smørrebrød (open faced-sandwich) with herring, egg, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, and lemon. From there, I went to a few very pretty squares with more open-air restaurants, my favorite being the Lilla Torg. I then went on a bit of a quest to find some pretty churches, and set off for St. Paul's Church. To get there, I had to go through Gustavus Adolfs Square, and then crossed a small canal to read a very cool divided street called Kungsgatan. The street is more like a big rectangle with roads on either sides and then a big park in the middle (Don't worry: there were big hedges to ensure that we don't have any flattened children). The street ended with the church that I was after; however, it was locked, so I had to find somewhere else to venture to. After a brief eastward excursion that included picking up a sweetroll thing from a Swedish bakery, I then went west again and headed to a big shopping center. I went into a bookstore, looked around a bit, bought a few postcards, then left in search of another church that was marked on my map.
Then I saw it: St. Peter's Church. It was a huge brick building with multiple columns and arches and steeples and all the other good stuff that old churches have. Upon going inside, however, I was a little bit upset: all of the walls had been whitewashed, so there was little to look at except ... well, heh, the usual immense gold statues and altars and viewing-box-things. Those were cool. And they were doing some type of play rehearsal while I was in there, which added to the experience. Apparently the church had been constructed in the early 14th century, though the Reformation of the 16th century had led most of the great pieces of artwork and iconography to be destroyed. I bought a few postcards, then left the cool church to find some souvenir shops. By this time, my backpack had begun to wear on me a bit, and a headache that had started early in the day had gotten into full-swing. I bought a few souvenirs, then headed off to the central station to return to Denmark.
One might be wondering if Swedish is similar to Danish, and the answer is yes; however, they are certainly not similar enough for easy communication. There are plenty of differences, both in vocabulary and pronunciation. For example, as my professor stated, both Swedish and Danish have a word that is pronounced "Rollie" - however, in Danish it means quiet, and in Swedish it means fun. Similarly, the word glas in Danish means glass while the word glass in Swedish means ice cream. And pronunciations are quite different just from listening to the language; after just about a month in Copenhagen, I knew that the voice over the intercom on the train sounded different than usual, and my host mom remarked that they were speaking in Swedish rather than Danish. The Swedish language is a bit less guttural than Danish, the words being produced more at the front of the mouth like English (this is all based on casual observation; don't quote me on this). My host mom says that Swedish is more sing-song than Danish, and I could definitely see this: Swedes seemed to have more inflection in their conversation than Danes, who are more mono-tone.
In any case, bed calls. Hopefully some of you find this interesting.
P.S. Swedish-accented English sounds awesome, especially the women's. <3
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Laws of the Land: Cars and Crime
Good afternoon all.
So, I have had a series of discussions in my Danish class and with my host family about various laws in Denmark, how they affect the general population, why they are the way they are, and considering whether they could be imported to the United States. I will attempt to give at least some insight into these conversations, as I find them incredibly interesting from a political perspective.
Let's start with cars. Cars are taxed at 180% here in Denmark (yes, that means that a $20,000 car would cost $56,000). And it's more than just a sales tax: if you buy a car in Germany and want to be able to drive it in Denmark permanently, then you have to pay 180% of the value of the car to the state for the ability to drive the car. Also, to get a driver's license in Denmark, you have to pay $2,000 for the license itself; driver's education (which is required for all types of licenses) costs anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000, depending on how well you drive. You also cannot apply for a license until you are 18 years old.
Obviously, Denmark wants to discourage (and, likely for many people, make impossible) buying and using a car. With this money, they invest in public transportation and, as I think that I've said before, Denmark has one of the highest quality systems of public transportation in the world. Nonetheless, the question for me remains that I, as an American, feel that taxes this ridiculously high on cars is almost an infringement on the freedom of the population. If taxes are this high, then it is basically forcing people to take public transportation. Now, I don't mind taxes on goods that allow for the correction of the market (eliminating externalities, etc.) but this is crazy to me. When I asked my host mom if she felt it was impinging on people's freedom, she responded by saying that people do not have a right to pollute the environment and felt that Americans are completely oblivious to the damage they are doing to the entire world through their excessive use of automobiles. I could not exactly counter this: I am sure that we are doing much more damage to the global environment than Denmark, when controlling for population.
Danes have a similar legal situation set up with energy. In Denmark, 73% of each energy bills is tax, meaning that using $100 worth of energy costs you $470. Denmark has also heavily invested in renewable energy, approximately 20% coming from wind energy alone. Similar to the situation with cars, the government is essentially forcing the general population to conserve energy with such high costs.
Another interesting legal measure in Denmark is punishment for crimes. First off, like most developed nations, Denmark has abolished the death penalty. The most severe punishment for any crime is a life sentence, which is 16 years in prison (When I attempted to correct my host mom by saying that a 16 year sentence is not a life sentence, she responded that the word for the 16 year sentence is life sentence, and Danes feel that this is the appropriate amount of time for the most heinous crimes). However, apparently one can get an "unlimited life sentence" in extreme cases of mental illness combined with atrocious crime, where the life sentence is renewed indefinitely. Despite this, Danes routinely make fun of Americans for having a legal system that allows a double-homicide to be punished with two life sentences, which they think is hilarious and silly. If this all doesn't quite make sense to you, you're not the only one.
Then there's the open prisons. In Denmark, most crimes are punished by forcing criminals to live in a pseudo-apartment complex. The rooms are well-furnished with television, beds, food, private bathrooms, and a communal kitchen, something akin to a nice dormitory. They have to stay in these prisons during the weekdays, but they are free to leave on weekends. During the weekdays, they cannot see anyone else or go anywhere unless they receive special permission. In addition to this system, there is also a system of house arrest, where instead of going to the open prison, prisoners can wear an anklet and be confined to their own home for the term of their prison sentence. Criminals are given one of these two punishments if they commit small crimes, though there have been the occasional case of a murderer in the third-degree or fourth degree being sentenced to an open prison.
This system, in my evaluation, seems a bit more murky. First, life sentences being 16 years perplex me to no end. Second, the open prison system seems like a perfectly fine life to live, especially for someone who is starving or homeless and I would expect that some would commit crimes just to get placed there; however, upon research, apparently this happens very infrequently, if ever, as one can get pretty much free housing and food stipends from the state if you fall below a certain income level. Are open prisons really punishment, then? Danes feel that their system allows criminals to get readjusted to society rather than living in an area of constant fear and anger "like in the United States." This does follow B.F. Skinner's approach to prisons, as he noted that any organism learns to do more "good" behavior and less "bad" behavior through positive reinforcement rather than punishment.
Lastly, I wanted to give a statistics update on the Danish social safety net. Apparently, if you are unemployed, you can apply for state funding to cover your basic needs. The highest amount of money one can receive is about ~$2,300 a month before taxes, with somewhere between 30 and 50 percent taken out for taxes, probably.
However, despite how how this safety net is, incredibly few Danes apparently just stick to the state grant, electing instead to work. One also must keep in mind that prices here are much higher than anywhere in the states.
I will let you all make judgments. Is this system a good system? Can/should we import anything to the States?
So, I have had a series of discussions in my Danish class and with my host family about various laws in Denmark, how they affect the general population, why they are the way they are, and considering whether they could be imported to the United States. I will attempt to give at least some insight into these conversations, as I find them incredibly interesting from a political perspective.
Let's start with cars. Cars are taxed at 180% here in Denmark (yes, that means that a $20,000 car would cost $56,000). And it's more than just a sales tax: if you buy a car in Germany and want to be able to drive it in Denmark permanently, then you have to pay 180% of the value of the car to the state for the ability to drive the car. Also, to get a driver's license in Denmark, you have to pay $2,000 for the license itself; driver's education (which is required for all types of licenses) costs anywhere from $4,000 to $8,000, depending on how well you drive. You also cannot apply for a license until you are 18 years old.
Obviously, Denmark wants to discourage (and, likely for many people, make impossible) buying and using a car. With this money, they invest in public transportation and, as I think that I've said before, Denmark has one of the highest quality systems of public transportation in the world. Nonetheless, the question for me remains that I, as an American, feel that taxes this ridiculously high on cars is almost an infringement on the freedom of the population. If taxes are this high, then it is basically forcing people to take public transportation. Now, I don't mind taxes on goods that allow for the correction of the market (eliminating externalities, etc.) but this is crazy to me. When I asked my host mom if she felt it was impinging on people's freedom, she responded by saying that people do not have a right to pollute the environment and felt that Americans are completely oblivious to the damage they are doing to the entire world through their excessive use of automobiles. I could not exactly counter this: I am sure that we are doing much more damage to the global environment than Denmark, when controlling for population.
Danes have a similar legal situation set up with energy. In Denmark, 73% of each energy bills is tax, meaning that using $100 worth of energy costs you $470. Denmark has also heavily invested in renewable energy, approximately 20% coming from wind energy alone. Similar to the situation with cars, the government is essentially forcing the general population to conserve energy with such high costs.
Another interesting legal measure in Denmark is punishment for crimes. First off, like most developed nations, Denmark has abolished the death penalty. The most severe punishment for any crime is a life sentence, which is 16 years in prison (When I attempted to correct my host mom by saying that a 16 year sentence is not a life sentence, she responded that the word for the 16 year sentence is life sentence, and Danes feel that this is the appropriate amount of time for the most heinous crimes). However, apparently one can get an "unlimited life sentence" in extreme cases of mental illness combined with atrocious crime, where the life sentence is renewed indefinitely. Despite this, Danes routinely make fun of Americans for having a legal system that allows a double-homicide to be punished with two life sentences, which they think is hilarious and silly. If this all doesn't quite make sense to you, you're not the only one.
Then there's the open prisons. In Denmark, most crimes are punished by forcing criminals to live in a pseudo-apartment complex. The rooms are well-furnished with television, beds, food, private bathrooms, and a communal kitchen, something akin to a nice dormitory. They have to stay in these prisons during the weekdays, but they are free to leave on weekends. During the weekdays, they cannot see anyone else or go anywhere unless they receive special permission. In addition to this system, there is also a system of house arrest, where instead of going to the open prison, prisoners can wear an anklet and be confined to their own home for the term of their prison sentence. Criminals are given one of these two punishments if they commit small crimes, though there have been the occasional case of a murderer in the third-degree or fourth degree being sentenced to an open prison.
This system, in my evaluation, seems a bit more murky. First, life sentences being 16 years perplex me to no end. Second, the open prison system seems like a perfectly fine life to live, especially for someone who is starving or homeless and I would expect that some would commit crimes just to get placed there; however, upon research, apparently this happens very infrequently, if ever, as one can get pretty much free housing and food stipends from the state if you fall below a certain income level. Are open prisons really punishment, then? Danes feel that their system allows criminals to get readjusted to society rather than living in an area of constant fear and anger "like in the United States." This does follow B.F. Skinner's approach to prisons, as he noted that any organism learns to do more "good" behavior and less "bad" behavior through positive reinforcement rather than punishment.
Lastly, I wanted to give a statistics update on the Danish social safety net. Apparently, if you are unemployed, you can apply for state funding to cover your basic needs. The highest amount of money one can receive is about ~$2,300 a month before taxes, with somewhere between 30 and 50 percent taken out for taxes, probably.
However, despite how how this safety net is, incredibly few Danes apparently just stick to the state grant, electing instead to work. One also must keep in mind that prices here are much higher than anywhere in the states.
I will let you all make judgments. Is this system a good system? Can/should we import anything to the States?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Hygge and Food Addendum
This will likely be a short post, as I have only a few things on my mind that are of any importance.
I will now do my best to capture this elusive term that I have mentioned before called "hygge" (pronounced hoo-geh). While it can be translated as "cozy," there is something lost in translation. To quote my Danish culture textbook, a better and longer definition is: "Hygge denotes comfort, coziness, cheerfulness, and friendliness. To be in a situation characterized by hygge is to be in a state of pleasant well-being and security, with a relaxed frame of mind and an open enjoyment of the immediate situation in all its simple pleasures." The text then goes on to talk about how hygge can be used in a variety of forms and forms of speech including a noun describing a mood or quality, it can be an adjective (hyggeligt, often used like "we had a hyggeligt time"), or, and this one is a little more bizarre, a verb (hygger, often used reflexively like "Let's go hygger ourselves.")
Hygge is almost always felt best when in the home. It can be produced by having gentle music in the background, having slightly dim light, decorating with antiques, or hanging a quaint painting. My host family works very hard to ensure that our dinners are hyggeligt, always using cloth placemats, playing some (rather obscure) Danish easy-listening music, and lighting candles. We also often use these antique Polish glasses for our red wine during special occasions, such as when my host parents invite someone to dinner. This all fits very well into the Danish food culture, as talking with close friends or family members between courses of meals would certainly be an ideal place for hygge to develop. (Speaking of which, from what I understand and have experienced, it is something that develops rather than can just be produced on the spot.) IT is also strengthened by the quiet dog that sits on our feet at almost every meal, certainly contributing to the homeyness of the house and atmosphere.
Since it is such an integral part of the culture, it stands to reason that it would reach the public sector as well. Even though many Danes say that hygge loses something when in public, it hasn't stopped business from trying. On my way to DIS every day, I walk past this bar that often advertises 25kroner beer, sandwiches, and hygge. Also in real estate, a house for sale will sometimes be described as hyggeligt by the owners in order to emphasize that it is an ideal place for hygge to develop. The most amusing example that I have heard, though haven't seen myself, is that government offices often have a candle burning next to the entry desk, at least some attempt to make the cold, emotionless dealings of the government a little more in line with Danish culture.
While I might not say that hygge cannot be created elsewhere, the concept is certainly interwoven with the rest of Danish culture. As stated earlier, it resonates with the meal traditions that exist in Denmark. However, it also is strengthened by the ambiance of, well, "oldness" that you get around the country. Danes are very proud that they have the world's oldest monarchy; what they might be slightly more ambivalent about is the fact that many of the buildings are very old. My host family's home is about 80 or 90 years old I think; the DIS buildings are over 100, maybe closer to 125, years old; even the storefronts that have been renovated many times to look very modern still have facades and upper floors that are very old, many dating back literally hundreds of years. This oldness, along with its well-kept-ness, makes the city seem very relaxed and, well, cozy.
The other aspect of Danish culture that produces this hygge is a little more controversial, and that would be the homogeneity of the population. As stated before, Danes are not particularly fond of foreigners or the influence of other cultures on their own; the typical image, as I think that I have said before, is a group of Danes huddled around a campfire and making sure that no one else can get near. In this closed, sheltered environment, it is much easier for Danes to feel comfortable as they know everyone in their immediate surroundings very well. Danes have been said to have a "tribal" nature, a quality that makes them very reluctant to engage in international organizations; however, this tribal nature does allow for this close-knit, warm environments.
That's just about the best description that I can give of hygge. I hope that I have shed at least a little light on this subject...though, of course, one would likely have to live in Denmark for a long time (maybe even be a Dane) to truly understand it.
The end of this post will be merely an addendum to my last post, as I didn't really give too much of a conception of what I have been eating lately despite titling my post "Food!" So, here's a general rundown of different, traditionally Danish dishes:
frikadeller = Danish meatballs, often served fried
pølser = Danish hot dogs, the closest you get to traditional Danish fast food - there are these pølser stands all over the city doing business all year, and they sell these hotdogs in a one-ended bun in a little packet - 7-11 also sells them
remoulade = a kind of relish-like stuff that I have seen in the States a few times, but not often - it is a mix of different spices, mustard, mayonnaise, and a few other things - I often put it on my sandwiches
biksamad (not sure I'm spelling that right) - literally, "mixed food," often made with leftovers from previous meals though it is consistently some beef, bacon, and potatoes
rugbrød - rye bread - mentioned this already - Danes love their rye bread
lakrids - licorice - in general, Danes LOVE licorice, and you can buy at least 10 different kinds in most stores, ranging from sweet to salty to strong - I think that I have tried each of them at least once, and, to be blunt, I hated the salty and strong ones and only liked the sweet ones - the strong ones are called peppers or something like that, and they were enough to make me gag
kartoflerkage - this is a weird one - it's a creamy pastry thing that is made to look like a potato - why, I have no idea
(sausage?) - don't know the Danish word, though I have a feeling that it might also be pølser - Danish sausage has a LOT of taste with plenty of spices, and I like it a lot
smørebrød - traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches - basically just a sandwich without the top on it, often with tomato and cucumbers with some greens, sauce, and some type of meat or egg
liverpostej - liver patte - my host mom keeps threatening me that we will have it for dinner at some point...*shudder*
viennebrød - a pastry - translates literally to vienna bread (I also recently found out that in Vienna they call it, what translate to, Copenhagen bread)
(yogurt) - the yogurt here is very different, as it is incredibly liquidy to the point that it is sold in cartons like milk - I usually mix it with ...
musli - apparently musli is sold in the states too, but I've never seen it - it's like very oat-filled granola - it is incredibly dry by itself but, if mixed with yogurt, it is incredible - I have this for breakfast almost every morning
flødeboller - large, cream-filled chocolate dessert things - very tasty
My lunch usually consists of:
a sandwich with cheese, spinach, ham, and horseradish/remoulade on rye bread
an apple
chips/"corn bugles"/carrots
some dessert thingy, often a flødebolle
That's the blog. I'm Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.
I will now do my best to capture this elusive term that I have mentioned before called "hygge" (pronounced hoo-geh). While it can be translated as "cozy," there is something lost in translation. To quote my Danish culture textbook, a better and longer definition is: "Hygge denotes comfort, coziness, cheerfulness, and friendliness. To be in a situation characterized by hygge is to be in a state of pleasant well-being and security, with a relaxed frame of mind and an open enjoyment of the immediate situation in all its simple pleasures." The text then goes on to talk about how hygge can be used in a variety of forms and forms of speech including a noun describing a mood or quality, it can be an adjective (hyggeligt, often used like "we had a hyggeligt time"), or, and this one is a little more bizarre, a verb (hygger, often used reflexively like "Let's go hygger ourselves.")
Hygge is almost always felt best when in the home. It can be produced by having gentle music in the background, having slightly dim light, decorating with antiques, or hanging a quaint painting. My host family works very hard to ensure that our dinners are hyggeligt, always using cloth placemats, playing some (rather obscure) Danish easy-listening music, and lighting candles. We also often use these antique Polish glasses for our red wine during special occasions, such as when my host parents invite someone to dinner. This all fits very well into the Danish food culture, as talking with close friends or family members between courses of meals would certainly be an ideal place for hygge to develop. (Speaking of which, from what I understand and have experienced, it is something that develops rather than can just be produced on the spot.) IT is also strengthened by the quiet dog that sits on our feet at almost every meal, certainly contributing to the homeyness of the house and atmosphere.
Since it is such an integral part of the culture, it stands to reason that it would reach the public sector as well. Even though many Danes say that hygge loses something when in public, it hasn't stopped business from trying. On my way to DIS every day, I walk past this bar that often advertises 25kroner beer, sandwiches, and hygge. Also in real estate, a house for sale will sometimes be described as hyggeligt by the owners in order to emphasize that it is an ideal place for hygge to develop. The most amusing example that I have heard, though haven't seen myself, is that government offices often have a candle burning next to the entry desk, at least some attempt to make the cold, emotionless dealings of the government a little more in line with Danish culture.
While I might not say that hygge cannot be created elsewhere, the concept is certainly interwoven with the rest of Danish culture. As stated earlier, it resonates with the meal traditions that exist in Denmark. However, it also is strengthened by the ambiance of, well, "oldness" that you get around the country. Danes are very proud that they have the world's oldest monarchy; what they might be slightly more ambivalent about is the fact that many of the buildings are very old. My host family's home is about 80 or 90 years old I think; the DIS buildings are over 100, maybe closer to 125, years old; even the storefronts that have been renovated many times to look very modern still have facades and upper floors that are very old, many dating back literally hundreds of years. This oldness, along with its well-kept-ness, makes the city seem very relaxed and, well, cozy.
The other aspect of Danish culture that produces this hygge is a little more controversial, and that would be the homogeneity of the population. As stated before, Danes are not particularly fond of foreigners or the influence of other cultures on their own; the typical image, as I think that I have said before, is a group of Danes huddled around a campfire and making sure that no one else can get near. In this closed, sheltered environment, it is much easier for Danes to feel comfortable as they know everyone in their immediate surroundings very well. Danes have been said to have a "tribal" nature, a quality that makes them very reluctant to engage in international organizations; however, this tribal nature does allow for this close-knit, warm environments.
That's just about the best description that I can give of hygge. I hope that I have shed at least a little light on this subject...though, of course, one would likely have to live in Denmark for a long time (maybe even be a Dane) to truly understand it.
The end of this post will be merely an addendum to my last post, as I didn't really give too much of a conception of what I have been eating lately despite titling my post "Food!" So, here's a general rundown of different, traditionally Danish dishes:
frikadeller = Danish meatballs, often served fried
pølser = Danish hot dogs, the closest you get to traditional Danish fast food - there are these pølser stands all over the city doing business all year, and they sell these hotdogs in a one-ended bun in a little packet - 7-11 also sells them
remoulade = a kind of relish-like stuff that I have seen in the States a few times, but not often - it is a mix of different spices, mustard, mayonnaise, and a few other things - I often put it on my sandwiches
biksamad (not sure I'm spelling that right) - literally, "mixed food," often made with leftovers from previous meals though it is consistently some beef, bacon, and potatoes
rugbrød - rye bread - mentioned this already - Danes love their rye bread
lakrids - licorice - in general, Danes LOVE licorice, and you can buy at least 10 different kinds in most stores, ranging from sweet to salty to strong - I think that I have tried each of them at least once, and, to be blunt, I hated the salty and strong ones and only liked the sweet ones - the strong ones are called peppers or something like that, and they were enough to make me gag
kartoflerkage - this is a weird one - it's a creamy pastry thing that is made to look like a potato - why, I have no idea
(sausage?) - don't know the Danish word, though I have a feeling that it might also be pølser - Danish sausage has a LOT of taste with plenty of spices, and I like it a lot
smørebrød - traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches - basically just a sandwich without the top on it, often with tomato and cucumbers with some greens, sauce, and some type of meat or egg
liverpostej - liver patte - my host mom keeps threatening me that we will have it for dinner at some point...*shudder*
viennebrød - a pastry - translates literally to vienna bread (I also recently found out that in Vienna they call it, what translate to, Copenhagen bread)
(yogurt) - the yogurt here is very different, as it is incredibly liquidy to the point that it is sold in cartons like milk - I usually mix it with ...
musli - apparently musli is sold in the states too, but I've never seen it - it's like very oat-filled granola - it is incredibly dry by itself but, if mixed with yogurt, it is incredible - I have this for breakfast almost every morning
flødeboller - large, cream-filled chocolate dessert things - very tasty
My lunch usually consists of:
a sandwich with cheese, spinach, ham, and horseradish/remoulade on rye bread
an apple
chips/"corn bugles"/carrots
some dessert thingy, often a flødebolle
That's the blog. I'm Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Food!
This is the post you have all been waiting for. Here, in relative brevity, I will attempt to give the lowdown on Danish cuisine, food culture, etc.
To start with meal etiquette and mannerisms, they tend to eat three meals a day like every government suggests, but their dinner is fairly late at about 7:00 or so, sometimes getting as late as 8:00 or 8:30. They also often have tea and sweets a while after dinner, usually being around 9:00 or 10:00. The entire family is also expected to be at all meals unless there's some extenuating circumstance, and they seem to always sit at a table and talk with each other rather than watching TV, movies, etc. There are also often candles at the dinner table and gentle music playing in the background, contributing to a hyggeligt atmosphere (i will have to explain that in a later post).
Meals are also incredibly long. The typical meal with my host family lasts about an hour to two hours. If friends or family are visiting, then meals can get much longer; yesterday, when my host mom's sister and her husband were visiting, I think that I stayed in the dining room from about 7:00PM until 1:30AM. This seems to be common, as my host parents stay out about that late whenever they go to dinner at someone else's house. If you are visiting for dinner, you are also expected to bring a gift, whether that be chocolate, flowers, wine, etc.
One incredibly amusing cultural difference between Danes (and i think Europeans in general) and Americans is that Danes are absolutely insistent on using a knife and fork for almost everything. They eat pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, and just about everything else with a knife and fork. I found this to be absolutely hilarious when I went to my host brother's Superbowl party, an American-themed party with "Real American BBQ Burger Buns" and beer and nachos and all that. However, one of the guys at the party started eating his burger with his hands, then gently put the burger down and just said "I can't do this" and got a knife and fork. For trying so hard to imitate Americans, I am extremely amused that they are so attached to this behavior. (Also, never just eat with your fork; that's bad manners and apparently a dead giveaway that you are an American).
Okay, now to the actual food. To be honest, the cuisine is not THAT much different than the states; here's a synopsis:
1) Bread - Danes eat rye bread, almost to the exclusion of everything else. They consider anything that's not rye "white bread" and the whitest bread to be "French bread." My host parents scoff at Americans for eating so much "white bread," despite me attempting to make the argument that wheat is actually healthier than white.
2) Vegetables - This one is interesting. I may be wrong about this, but I think that most Danes consider potatoes to be a real vegetable on par with all the rest. As such, every Danish family consumes an ungodly amount of potatoes; apparently my host mom's dad says that any meal without meat, meat sauce, and potatoes is not an appropriate meal. Other than potatoes, typical Danes seem to eat incredibly few vegetables; my host mom says that she is the exception in that she insists on including at least one (non-potato) vegetable with every meal. They also never seem to eat corn unless its in soup (something that's offending my Iowa nature to no end).
3) Dessert - In general, Danes don't seem to have what we would normally categorize as dessert, and they make fun of Americans that insist on having some dessert item at every meal. However, when they do have dessert, it is usually very fancy. For example, last night's dessert was a caramel flan with some type of fruit sauce and strawberries.
4) Meat - Danes seem to eat quite a bit of meat, possibly on par with Americans. However, much of it is fish. They eat pork, beef, and chicken like Americans, though I haven't seen any turkey. They love their fish, especially marinated herring for lunch and smoked salmon in an appetizer. Fish eggs often seems to be a common appetizer (not caviar, as apparently caviar is only from this one type of fish). They also seem to leave a goodly amount of the fat on the meat, many just eating it along with everything else. They also eat pork rinds as a snack, something that I have tried a couple times and just can't stomach. They also eat quite a bit of sushi and liver patte, two things that I have not been brave enough to try (the liver patte apparently they use instead of peanut butter, and something to the tune of 70-80% of Danes eat liver patte sandwiches every day at work).
5) Portions - One brilliant thing that Danes do is what we call "family style" meals where the main course is simply served in little dishes and people help themselves to however much they want. This is great for me (covers up the fact that I'm always taking seconds), and I am beginning to think that this might be an effective method of controlling the Danes' weight as they only take as much as they want. In light of this, they routinely make fun of Americans for having such large portions.
6) Toppings/Sauces/etc - Toppings on stuff seem to be a little different here. Danes seem to butter their bread on almost all occasions, and my host parents keep asking me why I don't add butter to everything. They also seem to serve a sauce (au jour or whatever the French call it; it's effectively a gravy) with most dark meats. On sandwiches, they tend to use mayonnaise a lot, though they never seem to use ketchup or mustard on anything except burgers. They like horseradish, and this Indian meat topping called mango chutney, kind of a sweet and spicy spread to put on meatballs.
7) Nuts - They like all varieties of nuts except peanuts. Apparently they see peanuts as an American thing or something to eat at bars (Booya!)
8) Courses - It seems that Danes enjoy having coursed meals more than Americans. The six hour dinner last night had effectively six courses: snack, appetizer, vegetable, main course, dessert, and tea. Here's what the meal included:
Snack: Martinis and potato chips
Appetizer: Fish eggs and lemon cream on hash browns with white wine
Vegetable: White asparagus with boiled shrimps
Main course: Roast beef, eggplant and tomato salad, fried potatoes, and gravy with red wine
Dessert: Caramel flan with strawberries
Tea: Coffee, tea, and hard cider with Hawaiian chocolate (thanks Tori!)
Okay, I think that's enough for you all to chew on for now. That's the every so often blog. Bon appetit.
To start with meal etiquette and mannerisms, they tend to eat three meals a day like every government suggests, but their dinner is fairly late at about 7:00 or so, sometimes getting as late as 8:00 or 8:30. They also often have tea and sweets a while after dinner, usually being around 9:00 or 10:00. The entire family is also expected to be at all meals unless there's some extenuating circumstance, and they seem to always sit at a table and talk with each other rather than watching TV, movies, etc. There are also often candles at the dinner table and gentle music playing in the background, contributing to a hyggeligt atmosphere (i will have to explain that in a later post).
Meals are also incredibly long. The typical meal with my host family lasts about an hour to two hours. If friends or family are visiting, then meals can get much longer; yesterday, when my host mom's sister and her husband were visiting, I think that I stayed in the dining room from about 7:00PM until 1:30AM. This seems to be common, as my host parents stay out about that late whenever they go to dinner at someone else's house. If you are visiting for dinner, you are also expected to bring a gift, whether that be chocolate, flowers, wine, etc.
One incredibly amusing cultural difference between Danes (and i think Europeans in general) and Americans is that Danes are absolutely insistent on using a knife and fork for almost everything. They eat pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, and just about everything else with a knife and fork. I found this to be absolutely hilarious when I went to my host brother's Superbowl party, an American-themed party with "Real American BBQ Burger Buns" and beer and nachos and all that. However, one of the guys at the party started eating his burger with his hands, then gently put the burger down and just said "I can't do this" and got a knife and fork. For trying so hard to imitate Americans, I am extremely amused that they are so attached to this behavior. (Also, never just eat with your fork; that's bad manners and apparently a dead giveaway that you are an American).
Okay, now to the actual food. To be honest, the cuisine is not THAT much different than the states; here's a synopsis:
1) Bread - Danes eat rye bread, almost to the exclusion of everything else. They consider anything that's not rye "white bread" and the whitest bread to be "French bread." My host parents scoff at Americans for eating so much "white bread," despite me attempting to make the argument that wheat is actually healthier than white.
2) Vegetables - This one is interesting. I may be wrong about this, but I think that most Danes consider potatoes to be a real vegetable on par with all the rest. As such, every Danish family consumes an ungodly amount of potatoes; apparently my host mom's dad says that any meal without meat, meat sauce, and potatoes is not an appropriate meal. Other than potatoes, typical Danes seem to eat incredibly few vegetables; my host mom says that she is the exception in that she insists on including at least one (non-potato) vegetable with every meal. They also never seem to eat corn unless its in soup (something that's offending my Iowa nature to no end).
3) Dessert - In general, Danes don't seem to have what we would normally categorize as dessert, and they make fun of Americans that insist on having some dessert item at every meal. However, when they do have dessert, it is usually very fancy. For example, last night's dessert was a caramel flan with some type of fruit sauce and strawberries.
4) Meat - Danes seem to eat quite a bit of meat, possibly on par with Americans. However, much of it is fish. They eat pork, beef, and chicken like Americans, though I haven't seen any turkey. They love their fish, especially marinated herring for lunch and smoked salmon in an appetizer. Fish eggs often seems to be a common appetizer (not caviar, as apparently caviar is only from this one type of fish). They also seem to leave a goodly amount of the fat on the meat, many just eating it along with everything else. They also eat pork rinds as a snack, something that I have tried a couple times and just can't stomach. They also eat quite a bit of sushi and liver patte, two things that I have not been brave enough to try (the liver patte apparently they use instead of peanut butter, and something to the tune of 70-80% of Danes eat liver patte sandwiches every day at work).
5) Portions - One brilliant thing that Danes do is what we call "family style" meals where the main course is simply served in little dishes and people help themselves to however much they want. This is great for me (covers up the fact that I'm always taking seconds), and I am beginning to think that this might be an effective method of controlling the Danes' weight as they only take as much as they want. In light of this, they routinely make fun of Americans for having such large portions.
6) Toppings/Sauces/etc - Toppings on stuff seem to be a little different here. Danes seem to butter their bread on almost all occasions, and my host parents keep asking me why I don't add butter to everything. They also seem to serve a sauce (au jour or whatever the French call it; it's effectively a gravy) with most dark meats. On sandwiches, they tend to use mayonnaise a lot, though they never seem to use ketchup or mustard on anything except burgers. They like horseradish, and this Indian meat topping called mango chutney, kind of a sweet and spicy spread to put on meatballs.
7) Nuts - They like all varieties of nuts except peanuts. Apparently they see peanuts as an American thing or something to eat at bars (Booya!)
8) Courses - It seems that Danes enjoy having coursed meals more than Americans. The six hour dinner last night had effectively six courses: snack, appetizer, vegetable, main course, dessert, and tea. Here's what the meal included:
Snack: Martinis and potato chips
Appetizer: Fish eggs and lemon cream on hash browns with white wine
Vegetable: White asparagus with boiled shrimps
Main course: Roast beef, eggplant and tomato salad, fried potatoes, and gravy with red wine
Dessert: Caramel flan with strawberries
Tea: Coffee, tea, and hard cider with Hawaiian chocolate (thanks Tori!)
Okay, I think that's enough for you all to chew on for now. That's the every so often blog. Bon appetit.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Church, churches, and stuff before the advent of the churches: Rome Part 2
Good afternoon again, all. I hope that your days are going swimmingly. As promised, here is the second update about my experiences in Rome, this time on topics of a little more gravity.
5. Ancient Rome
Let’s start with a light and frivolous topic: massive architectural feats intended to inspire a sense of power and fear in the masses built by slaves. Over the course of two days, I visited the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the ever tourist-infested Colosseum.
The Palatine Hill was absolutely beautiful, and I think that it was likely one of my favorite stops on my trip. In legend, this is where Rome began, where Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf mother, and where a great many Roman emperors had their personal houses. All of the buildings were obviously in a state of ruin, some to the point of being unrecognizable, yet others surprisingly intact given the passage of two millennia. I saw the ruins of the home of Augustus, a fighting ring, Nero’s tunnel systems beneath the area, and the Temple of Apollo. I think that I personally liked this stop so much because it was so quiet (very few tourists when I went there early in the morning) and there was a nice mix of buildings of ancient importance and nature’s reclamation of the land.
Next I went to the Roman Forum, which, to be blunt, was a bit of a let down: almost all of the structures have been completely destroyed over time, and the place is absolutely crawling with tourists. Nevertheless, I did succeed in seeing in Arches of Septimus Severus and Tito, the forbidding Basilica of Constantine, and the famous Temple of Vestal Virgins.
My last stop was the Roman Colosseum, likely one of the most popular tourist sights in the world and certainly one of the most romanticized in Hollywood. I got a slew of very neat pictures from there, including both the typical “Hey, I’m in the Colosseum!” shots and a very more subtle pictures such as of the faint frescoes that are barely visible on some of the walls as well as varying column architectures. There were hundreds, probably thousands of tourists there.
6. Churches in Rome
As a whole, I felt as though my experience in Rome was often just a wire to wire trip from one amazingly beautiful church to another amazingly beautiful church to yet another amazingly beautiful church. Almost all of them were arranged in about the same manner: a few dozen chairs were placed in the center of each sanctuary; statues and paintings from famous artists lined the walls; an immense, gold-covered altar was in the opposite corner from the entrance; a side exit led to prayer rooms and a gift shop; and candles could be lit and notes written in honor of someone or something for a donation to the church. I will now make an incredibly brief list of the churches that I did see, and list any lasting impressions that I had from particular locations:
1) Santa Maria Maggiore
2) Santa Maria degli Angeli – seems to have been converted into a science in Christianity museum, with the works of Galileo described and Galileo quotes filling the room – there was also a Meridian line
3) Santa Maria della Vittoria – high altar was absolutely covered in gold and bronze – location of St. Theresa in Ecstasy, one of the more thought-provoking Bernini works that could be interpreted as depicting the awe of an encounter with the divine or sexual climax
4) S. Ignasio di Loyola – church dedicated to the founder of the Jesuits
5) S. Pietro in Vincoli – this one took me forever to fid because it is both up an alley and up a hill – though, it did have a very cool skeleton statues and a gold-covered organ
6) S. Gregorio Magno – it was closed, but I saw it from afar
7) S. Giovanni e Paolo – lots and lots and lots of cool chandeliers
8) S. Nicola in Carcere
9) Chiesa di San Bartolomaeo – this was neat because it is on the Island on the Tiber, the world’s smallest inhabited island
10) Basilica di San Cecelia – there was a cool statue that is an almost perfect representation of St. Cecelia because they found her perfectly preserved body somewhere in the depths of the church
11) Chiesa di San Crisogono – incredibly ornate gold and wood ceiling
12) Santa Maria in Trastevere – absolutely beautiful fresco/painting/thing on the back wall of the church, every square inch of the background covered in gold
13) S. Maria in Cosmedin – a very simple church, but home to the Mouth of Truth, where tourists have their picture taken sticking their hand into the mouth of this giant mask thing – yes, I did it too
14) S. Maria del Popolo – amazingly pretty church with cool angel statues right next to the Piazza del Popolo, one of the more relaxed, romantic-couple-friendly tourist traps
15) Saint Peter’s Basilica – otherwise known as The Vatican. This is the church of all churches, housing the altar from which only the Pope can serve the Eucharist as well as numerous famous works of art including Bernini’s immense baldachin standing over the altar and Michelangelo’s Pieta just inside the front door. There is also the Throne of St. Peter, a wooden chair flanked by statues and gold decorations. One of the lesser known sights inside was a little red disk on the floor just inside the door, marking the spot where Charlemagne was crowned by the pope. On the day prior to exploring the basilica, I was actually among the masses blessed by the Pope in his Wednesday address. This address was very cool to me, as the Pope demonstrated that he could at least read five languages fluently.
7. Vatican Museums
So, I was a typical tourist and saw the Vatican Museums, and I have quite a few reflections from that.
To start off with, actually getting into the Museums is a chore. Most tourists simply stand in line and wait for the ticket counter, though the wait for that can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Myself, I bought a ticket online and was able to bypass the ticket counter, getting from the general vicinity into the Museums in a matter of minutes.
Secondly, the Museums are absolutely packed with people. Often I did not have enough space to turn around throughout the tour; this was especially true when near the big touristy items. From what I saw, there was a constant flow of people from one end of the Museum to the other almost all day almost every day. Navigation was made even more difficult by the abundance of tour groups going through the Museums in little clumps, thus blocking an entire hallway if the group stopped to look at an ill-placed exhibit.
Thirdly, the Museums are just too big: there are too many incredible works of art. The length of time that it takes to get from one end to the other (it is intentionally set up as a one-line tour in order to speed tourists along) is beyond the attention span of any mortal.
Despite these hassles, the exhibits inside were absolutely incredible. I saw a series of Bernini angels, ancient gold-covered icons, 500 year old Papal maps, a collection of Roman and Greek sculpture and architectural fragments, Rafael’s The Transfiguration, Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness, the immense Rafael rooms where he and his students both did their work and completely covered the walls in continuous paintings, modern Christian art exhibits, and, of course, the Sistine Chapel, two immense paintings detailing the creation story and the Last Judgment. These works were absolutely breathtaking; to say that my eyes have seen these works of art is a privilege that I wish I could share with others.
8. Religion or business…?
On a more critical note, this week allowed me to see Christianity in both its incredible splendor and eerie excess. The first sight of the gilded everything is awe-inspiring; the realization that almost everything was bought and constructed with money from indulgences, offerings, and Crusade-loot is also awe-inspiring in the dark sense of the phrase. I obviously don’t have the facts for this, but if the gold from just one wall of some of these churches could be sold today, then the money would be able to jump start a third-world economy. I cannot even fathom how different our world would be if Christianity had used the incredible wealth that it accumulated in the Middle Ages and Renaissance to fund development projects and take care of the poor worldwide.
Even today, the churches that I visited were made to accumulate money. The lights above many of the statues and frescoes were lit for five minutes for $3, writing a note for special prayer cost $2-3, lighting a candle cost about $0.70 a candle, donations were required to take pictures with some historical sights like the Mouth of Truth, and even hearing an automated message about the history of a church cost $3 each. There were also gift shops in almost every church, each selling items identical to some that I found in tourist shops outside for over twice the price. The ultimate insult was actually in the Vatican Museums, where the pre-defined path for all visitors was created to require all visitors to go through every souvenir shop located within the Museums, including special stands that sold prints of paintings recently passed. The Sistine Chapel also did not allow pictures, though the stand immediately afterwards sold various prints of the composite paintings before the exit. While some of these costs could be argued to be necessary to prevent rampant overuse (e.g. everyone’s flash bulb degrading the quality of the Sistine Chapel or tourists wasting electricity by keeping lights on over famous paintings), the possibility of extortion and its capitalization were blatantly obvious.
In conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the week. It got a bit lonely, but the meetings with four of my fellow Grinnellians really helped with that. The food was fairly tasty throughout, but I would wager that it is even better in the more expensive restaurants from which I kept my distance. I hope that this has been a good and insightful read.
That’s the whenever-I-get-around-to-it blog. I’m Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.
5. Ancient Rome
Let’s start with a light and frivolous topic: massive architectural feats intended to inspire a sense of power and fear in the masses built by slaves. Over the course of two days, I visited the Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, and the ever tourist-infested Colosseum.
The Palatine Hill was absolutely beautiful, and I think that it was likely one of my favorite stops on my trip. In legend, this is where Rome began, where Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf mother, and where a great many Roman emperors had their personal houses. All of the buildings were obviously in a state of ruin, some to the point of being unrecognizable, yet others surprisingly intact given the passage of two millennia. I saw the ruins of the home of Augustus, a fighting ring, Nero’s tunnel systems beneath the area, and the Temple of Apollo. I think that I personally liked this stop so much because it was so quiet (very few tourists when I went there early in the morning) and there was a nice mix of buildings of ancient importance and nature’s reclamation of the land.
Next I went to the Roman Forum, which, to be blunt, was a bit of a let down: almost all of the structures have been completely destroyed over time, and the place is absolutely crawling with tourists. Nevertheless, I did succeed in seeing in Arches of Septimus Severus and Tito, the forbidding Basilica of Constantine, and the famous Temple of Vestal Virgins.
My last stop was the Roman Colosseum, likely one of the most popular tourist sights in the world and certainly one of the most romanticized in Hollywood. I got a slew of very neat pictures from there, including both the typical “Hey, I’m in the Colosseum!” shots and a very more subtle pictures such as of the faint frescoes that are barely visible on some of the walls as well as varying column architectures. There were hundreds, probably thousands of tourists there.
6. Churches in Rome
As a whole, I felt as though my experience in Rome was often just a wire to wire trip from one amazingly beautiful church to another amazingly beautiful church to yet another amazingly beautiful church. Almost all of them were arranged in about the same manner: a few dozen chairs were placed in the center of each sanctuary; statues and paintings from famous artists lined the walls; an immense, gold-covered altar was in the opposite corner from the entrance; a side exit led to prayer rooms and a gift shop; and candles could be lit and notes written in honor of someone or something for a donation to the church. I will now make an incredibly brief list of the churches that I did see, and list any lasting impressions that I had from particular locations:
1) Santa Maria Maggiore
2) Santa Maria degli Angeli – seems to have been converted into a science in Christianity museum, with the works of Galileo described and Galileo quotes filling the room – there was also a Meridian line
3) Santa Maria della Vittoria – high altar was absolutely covered in gold and bronze – location of St. Theresa in Ecstasy, one of the more thought-provoking Bernini works that could be interpreted as depicting the awe of an encounter with the divine or sexual climax
4) S. Ignasio di Loyola – church dedicated to the founder of the Jesuits
5) S. Pietro in Vincoli – this one took me forever to fid because it is both up an alley and up a hill – though, it did have a very cool skeleton statues and a gold-covered organ
6) S. Gregorio Magno – it was closed, but I saw it from afar
7) S. Giovanni e Paolo – lots and lots and lots of cool chandeliers
8) S. Nicola in Carcere
9) Chiesa di San Bartolomaeo – this was neat because it is on the Island on the Tiber, the world’s smallest inhabited island
10) Basilica di San Cecelia – there was a cool statue that is an almost perfect representation of St. Cecelia because they found her perfectly preserved body somewhere in the depths of the church
11) Chiesa di San Crisogono – incredibly ornate gold and wood ceiling
12) Santa Maria in Trastevere – absolutely beautiful fresco/painting/thing on the back wall of the church, every square inch of the background covered in gold
13) S. Maria in Cosmedin – a very simple church, but home to the Mouth of Truth, where tourists have their picture taken sticking their hand into the mouth of this giant mask thing – yes, I did it too
14) S. Maria del Popolo – amazingly pretty church with cool angel statues right next to the Piazza del Popolo, one of the more relaxed, romantic-couple-friendly tourist traps
15) Saint Peter’s Basilica – otherwise known as The Vatican. This is the church of all churches, housing the altar from which only the Pope can serve the Eucharist as well as numerous famous works of art including Bernini’s immense baldachin standing over the altar and Michelangelo’s Pieta just inside the front door. There is also the Throne of St. Peter, a wooden chair flanked by statues and gold decorations. One of the lesser known sights inside was a little red disk on the floor just inside the door, marking the spot where Charlemagne was crowned by the pope. On the day prior to exploring the basilica, I was actually among the masses blessed by the Pope in his Wednesday address. This address was very cool to me, as the Pope demonstrated that he could at least read five languages fluently.
7. Vatican Museums
So, I was a typical tourist and saw the Vatican Museums, and I have quite a few reflections from that.
To start off with, actually getting into the Museums is a chore. Most tourists simply stand in line and wait for the ticket counter, though the wait for that can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. Myself, I bought a ticket online and was able to bypass the ticket counter, getting from the general vicinity into the Museums in a matter of minutes.
Secondly, the Museums are absolutely packed with people. Often I did not have enough space to turn around throughout the tour; this was especially true when near the big touristy items. From what I saw, there was a constant flow of people from one end of the Museum to the other almost all day almost every day. Navigation was made even more difficult by the abundance of tour groups going through the Museums in little clumps, thus blocking an entire hallway if the group stopped to look at an ill-placed exhibit.
Thirdly, the Museums are just too big: there are too many incredible works of art. The length of time that it takes to get from one end to the other (it is intentionally set up as a one-line tour in order to speed tourists along) is beyond the attention span of any mortal.
Despite these hassles, the exhibits inside were absolutely incredible. I saw a series of Bernini angels, ancient gold-covered icons, 500 year old Papal maps, a collection of Roman and Greek sculpture and architectural fragments, Rafael’s The Transfiguration, Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness, the immense Rafael rooms where he and his students both did their work and completely covered the walls in continuous paintings, modern Christian art exhibits, and, of course, the Sistine Chapel, two immense paintings detailing the creation story and the Last Judgment. These works were absolutely breathtaking; to say that my eyes have seen these works of art is a privilege that I wish I could share with others.
8. Religion or business…?
On a more critical note, this week allowed me to see Christianity in both its incredible splendor and eerie excess. The first sight of the gilded everything is awe-inspiring; the realization that almost everything was bought and constructed with money from indulgences, offerings, and Crusade-loot is also awe-inspiring in the dark sense of the phrase. I obviously don’t have the facts for this, but if the gold from just one wall of some of these churches could be sold today, then the money would be able to jump start a third-world economy. I cannot even fathom how different our world would be if Christianity had used the incredible wealth that it accumulated in the Middle Ages and Renaissance to fund development projects and take care of the poor worldwide.
Even today, the churches that I visited were made to accumulate money. The lights above many of the statues and frescoes were lit for five minutes for $3, writing a note for special prayer cost $2-3, lighting a candle cost about $0.70 a candle, donations were required to take pictures with some historical sights like the Mouth of Truth, and even hearing an automated message about the history of a church cost $3 each. There were also gift shops in almost every church, each selling items identical to some that I found in tourist shops outside for over twice the price. The ultimate insult was actually in the Vatican Museums, where the pre-defined path for all visitors was created to require all visitors to go through every souvenir shop located within the Museums, including special stands that sold prints of paintings recently passed. The Sistine Chapel also did not allow pictures, though the stand immediately afterwards sold various prints of the composite paintings before the exit. While some of these costs could be argued to be necessary to prevent rampant overuse (e.g. everyone’s flash bulb degrading the quality of the Sistine Chapel or tourists wasting electricity by keeping lights on over famous paintings), the possibility of extortion and its capitalization were blatantly obvious.
In conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the week. It got a bit lonely, but the meetings with four of my fellow Grinnellians really helped with that. The food was fairly tasty throughout, but I would wager that it is even better in the more expensive restaurants from which I kept my distance. I hope that this has been a good and insightful read.
That’s the whenever-I-get-around-to-it blog. I’m Aaron Barker. Good night, and good luck.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The truism holds, but, for goodness' sake, don't do as the Romans do anywhere else! - Rome Part 1
Good evening, all.
I apologize for the lengthy delay in my blog update; I have been in Rome over the past week, and over the past few days I have been getting back in the swing of things academically and couldn’t find the time to do a proper update. Well, now I have a little time, so here goes. I will structure this and the sequel post a bit differently than previous posts, as the haphazardness of my Rome schedule does not really facilitate discrete conversation topics.
1. Tourists
One of the first thing that I noticed about my trip to Rome was the absolute superabundance of tourists, even more specifically, American tourists. Apparently this week was one of the first weeks of completely nice weather, and it also heralded the beginning of the tourist season. I heard lots of English from fellow tourists throughout the week, and the hotel at which I stayed consisted almost entirely of American or British tourists and businesspeople. The vast majority of the big sights were absolutely crawling with tourists for most hours of the day, though a few of my early-morning trips were devoid of the clamorous and incessant tourist chatter. Rome is obviously used to the abundance of tourists, however, as almost all shops near the tourist traps were about two to three times more expensive than identical items a few blocks away (I often saved a great deal of money on meals by walking those extra couple blocks). Many restaurants also advertise their tourist-friendliness by having “Tourist menus,” though one café in particular rejected this whole notion and had a sign written in perfect English that said: “We do not believe in war or tourist menus.” Rather odd.
2. My hotel
I will admit that I have no idea how I lucked into getting some bargain rooms at this hotel. It was the Sheraton Roma Hotel, and, from sheer appearances and quality of services, it was absolutely incredible. There were waiters or bellhops (is that the right word?) everywhere, and the ground floor for dining, socializing, and conferencing was absolutely immaculate. This was clearly where Americans stayed if they wanted a very comfortable stay in Rome. However, along with that were the prices of just about everything in the hotel, and, I must admit, they were outrageous. And not just a bit outrageous: very very much outrageous. A shot of coffee at the bar cost about $5, and the breakfast buffet cost $32. Their afternoon “snack” sandwiches were about $13 a piece, and forget about ordering any alcohol if you wanted to keep any Euros left in your pocket. The gift shop was equally crazy, and, to cap it all off, the dinner buffet cost a whopping $60. How in the world this place had a bargain room listed on Expedia, I have no idea.
3. Italian people
This is a topic for very constructive and interesting analysis, though I will have to be a bit blunt to do so. Put simply, the Italians are incredibly different than Danes. Danes will speak in hushed tones to each other on the metro or bus, and only on a very rare occasion will speak or even look at someone that they do not know. Italians, on the other hand, seem to speak loud and gesticulate wildly enough for the entire compartment to hear their conversation. Italians also seem to make eye contact with each other very frequently, sometimes even engaging in small talk like is typical of Americans. Even more amusing is the rise and fall of the Italian voice, as everyone from a three year-old to an old maid sounded almost exactly like bosses from The Godfather. While this all may sound like a criticism, it is not really intended to be such; it is just an indication of an entirely different culture, one that allows emotion to be expressed much more freely than in the controlled Scandinavian culture and likely even more than most typical American settings. (There was also an abundance of public displays of affection, which was both kind of charming at first and kind of annoying after a while).
One place where I will make a value judgment, however, is on Italian driving habits which are, put bluntly, terrible. There is both a tendency for cars to run red lights and pedestrians to jaywalk, and almost every time I had to cross a major street in Rome I felt like I was playing Chicken with everyone in a 20 yard radius. I have absolutely no idea how there aren’t major traffic accidents at every intersection at least once a day.
4. Italian language and English proficiency
Lastly for today are just some brief observations on language. In written form, Italian is strikingly similar to Spanish, often to the point that I could read some advertisements in Italian in entirety. In oral form, however, there are some marked differences, including an abundance of z’s and i’s. I also noticed that incredibly few nouns in Italian end in a consonant, a characteristic that seems as though it would greatly limit the flexibility of the language.
Despite how similar it was to Spanish, however, my limited Spanish knowledge did me little good in attempting to communicate with Italians. Even worse, the degree of fluency in English throughout Rome is incredibly varied, many speaking little, if any, English. This held true even among shopkeepers near major tourist areas, which was incredibly surprising; you would think that it would just be in shopkeepers’ best financial interest to have some degree of knowledge of the English language, but I get the impression that this is not the case. As it stood, I had great difficulty trying to communicate on the streets of Rome throughout my trip, and often just stuck to pointing and staying silent as much as possible.
That’s the update for today. I will post more tomorrow.
I apologize for the lengthy delay in my blog update; I have been in Rome over the past week, and over the past few days I have been getting back in the swing of things academically and couldn’t find the time to do a proper update. Well, now I have a little time, so here goes. I will structure this and the sequel post a bit differently than previous posts, as the haphazardness of my Rome schedule does not really facilitate discrete conversation topics.
1. Tourists
One of the first thing that I noticed about my trip to Rome was the absolute superabundance of tourists, even more specifically, American tourists. Apparently this week was one of the first weeks of completely nice weather, and it also heralded the beginning of the tourist season. I heard lots of English from fellow tourists throughout the week, and the hotel at which I stayed consisted almost entirely of American or British tourists and businesspeople. The vast majority of the big sights were absolutely crawling with tourists for most hours of the day, though a few of my early-morning trips were devoid of the clamorous and incessant tourist chatter. Rome is obviously used to the abundance of tourists, however, as almost all shops near the tourist traps were about two to three times more expensive than identical items a few blocks away (I often saved a great deal of money on meals by walking those extra couple blocks). Many restaurants also advertise their tourist-friendliness by having “Tourist menus,” though one café in particular rejected this whole notion and had a sign written in perfect English that said: “We do not believe in war or tourist menus.” Rather odd.
2. My hotel
I will admit that I have no idea how I lucked into getting some bargain rooms at this hotel. It was the Sheraton Roma Hotel, and, from sheer appearances and quality of services, it was absolutely incredible. There were waiters or bellhops (is that the right word?) everywhere, and the ground floor for dining, socializing, and conferencing was absolutely immaculate. This was clearly where Americans stayed if they wanted a very comfortable stay in Rome. However, along with that were the prices of just about everything in the hotel, and, I must admit, they were outrageous. And not just a bit outrageous: very very much outrageous. A shot of coffee at the bar cost about $5, and the breakfast buffet cost $32. Their afternoon “snack” sandwiches were about $13 a piece, and forget about ordering any alcohol if you wanted to keep any Euros left in your pocket. The gift shop was equally crazy, and, to cap it all off, the dinner buffet cost a whopping $60. How in the world this place had a bargain room listed on Expedia, I have no idea.
3. Italian people
This is a topic for very constructive and interesting analysis, though I will have to be a bit blunt to do so. Put simply, the Italians are incredibly different than Danes. Danes will speak in hushed tones to each other on the metro or bus, and only on a very rare occasion will speak or even look at someone that they do not know. Italians, on the other hand, seem to speak loud and gesticulate wildly enough for the entire compartment to hear their conversation. Italians also seem to make eye contact with each other very frequently, sometimes even engaging in small talk like is typical of Americans. Even more amusing is the rise and fall of the Italian voice, as everyone from a three year-old to an old maid sounded almost exactly like bosses from The Godfather. While this all may sound like a criticism, it is not really intended to be such; it is just an indication of an entirely different culture, one that allows emotion to be expressed much more freely than in the controlled Scandinavian culture and likely even more than most typical American settings. (There was also an abundance of public displays of affection, which was both kind of charming at first and kind of annoying after a while).
One place where I will make a value judgment, however, is on Italian driving habits which are, put bluntly, terrible. There is both a tendency for cars to run red lights and pedestrians to jaywalk, and almost every time I had to cross a major street in Rome I felt like I was playing Chicken with everyone in a 20 yard radius. I have absolutely no idea how there aren’t major traffic accidents at every intersection at least once a day.
4. Italian language and English proficiency
Lastly for today are just some brief observations on language. In written form, Italian is strikingly similar to Spanish, often to the point that I could read some advertisements in Italian in entirety. In oral form, however, there are some marked differences, including an abundance of z’s and i’s. I also noticed that incredibly few nouns in Italian end in a consonant, a characteristic that seems as though it would greatly limit the flexibility of the language.
Despite how similar it was to Spanish, however, my limited Spanish knowledge did me little good in attempting to communicate with Italians. Even worse, the degree of fluency in English throughout Rome is incredibly varied, many speaking little, if any, English. This held true even among shopkeepers near major tourist areas, which was incredibly surprising; you would think that it would just be in shopkeepers’ best financial interest to have some degree of knowledge of the English language, but I get the impression that this is not the case. As it stood, I had great difficulty trying to communicate on the streets of Rome throughout my trip, and often just stuck to pointing and staying silent as much as possible.
That’s the update for today. I will post more tomorrow.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Orthodoxy, Kremlins, and the Sleeping Man
Good evening all.
Here comes the second installment of my Russia trip narrative. I will try to add a little more culture this time, and end with a list of highlights and amusing quotes about Russia. I apologize in advance if I get some names or progressions mixed up, though I guarantee that I am doing my best.
We started with the same breakfast as the past two days, then packed our things and headed for Novgorod. Novgorod was originally the northern capital of the Kiev state, the political body that would eventually become modern day Russia. The city eventually came into conflict with Moscow after the Tatar invasion, losing the conflict and Moscow being established as the capital. Today, Novgorod is a city of about 200,000 that is a popular historical tourist spot for Russians seeking insight into their history.
In Novgorod, we first visited the Novgorod Kremlin. Now, to disambiguate, almost every old Russian city has a kremlin, the word translating to “wall” and often being used as a garrison point for the local militia. The walls have been renovated multiple times, but sections of it date back to the 15th century. Inside, we saw the Monument of 1000 Years of Russia, constructed in 1862, and St. Sofia’s Cathedral dating all the way back to 1050. We then walked across a bridge over the Volkhof River and saw the old merchants’ quarter filled with churches built by the guilds. After this excursion, we went to a restaurant for lunch where we had the traditional cabbage, beets, and unidentified meat (though the ice cream for dessert was very good).
We then went to likely one of the more tense visits of the tour: St. George’s Monastery, tended by a Russian Orthodox monk named Dmitri. He gave both the history of the monastery and a pseudo-sermon through translation by our professor, and then showed us the inside of the monastery he tends. Afterwards, he answered questions, which gave us an opportunity to learn about the Orthodox faith directly from an active member in the tradition. He was certainly not harboring any pluralist tendencies, saying multiple times that those who have heard about the Russian Orthodox Church and failed to accept its teachings and traditions will be unable to pass God’s exam on Judgment Day. After his lecture, we took a quick look around the rest of the church grounds and then went into town to have dinner. A few of us went to a very nice restaurant where we had grilled salmon, tea, hash browns, and boiled vegetables.
After dinner, we all hopped on the train for Moscow. Now, this was my first overnight train experience, and I have to say that it was much better than I had expected/ been told by other people who have taken overnight trains. We slept four to a compartment, and chatted for a while until sleep overtook us one by one.
We awoke the next morning in Moscow, and transferred to our hotel right away to freshen up and/or catch up on sleep missed on the train ride. Almost immediately upon our arrival, I could tell a marked difference from St. Petersburg, Moscow filled with skyscrapers, decisively cleaner, and certainly not doing anything to hide the fact that it is one of the world’s largest cities. The city is laid out and run very functionally, with two road rings around the city that are in a constant state of traffic jam. We then started our bus sight-seeing tour, working our way to downtown Moscow to see Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and the Moscow Kremlin. We had a tour through Lenin’s Tomb, the most heavily guarded tourist attraction that I have ever seen, and then had lunch at a few fast food restaurants right off the Square. Amusingly enough, Lenin and Stalin impersonators dotted the square, as well as people dressed as cartoon characters. We then went to see an immense Marx statue, Moscow State University, and a picturesque platform overlooking the city skyline.
Upon our return to Red Square, we met up with some students who attend Moscow State University and broke into small groups to disperse ourselves around the city. Three Russian girls named Nina, Anastasia, and Marcia joined my group of four Americans, and we went to see some of the more obscure sights of the city including an immense square filled with grand architecture dedicated to the working people of the Soviet Union. The square seemed to have been, at one point, used as a form of consulate of the USSR’s component republics; now, it is an amusement park and hangout of teenagers and young adults. The place touched me in a way, forcing me to realize that the Soviet Union was indeed taking action to empower its people, and has left a strong impression on the minds of future political leaders and the people of Russia. We then took the monorail to a small shopping and dining center to have dinner at a restaurant called Moo-moo’s, where we had extremely cheap yet quality food. Afterwards, we went to one of Moscow’s walking streets where we bought some beers and talked in a small park.
The conversation with the students served a function that I am at a loss of words to describe. I met three typical Russian students, who attended a university and went about their daily lives in a city that was regarded as the source of all evil by the American government. They had lived through the fall of the Soviet Union, yet they seemed to harbor absolutely no hostility or even uneasiness towards the United States. In fact, many of them wanted to visit the US, though they said that they still want to call Moscow home for the rest of their lives. I shared a meal, a walk, some metro trips, my interests, my dreams, their interests, their dreams, lots of laughs, and even a talk about our love lives with people and not former citizens of the “evil empire.” Similar to my first encounters with my fellow students at Grinnell, I have again realized that our world is first and foremost composed of people and not Americans, Russians, Jews, Christians, etc.
I now have a human face to evoke whenever people talk about “the Russians,” an absolutely invaluable experience that, I feel at least in this moment, breaks away my stereotypes and mental images to open my consciousness to the experiences of other people.
The next day was certainly a climax of political, cultural, and historical importance, the day where we visited the Kremlin. After a thorough security check, we were allowed onto the grounds of the Kremlin, where we had a guided tour. We saw the office building of President Putin, as well as his administrative building, as well as the Czar Cannon and Czar Bell, two amazing metal masterpieces that were actually never fired or rung. We then saw the three churches that were crucial to the daily lives of the czars, including the church where the czars were baptized and married, the church where they were crowned, and the church where they were buried. All Russian czars are buried here up until the 17th century, when Peter the Great moved the burial location to St. Petersburg. As could be expected, the churches were absolutely beautiful, housing both golden decorations and artwork that are national treasures to the Russian people. We also were given some free time to walk around the gardens and viewing platforms of the Kremlin, though we were explicitly told not to step on the street on threat of being arrested immediately.
After leaving the Kremlin through the gate where Lenin entered to take power in 1918, we then split up to explore the city on our own. I then headed off back to Red Square to meet up with Annie Brothers, who is currently studying abroad in Moscow. After a hug-filled reunion, we took a tour to see a few more sights that my study tour has missed. We went to building that housed the former KGB headquarters, as well as the Soviet Polytechnic Museum. Afterwards, we visited two memorials that were set up in honor of the people who died from the terrorist bombings early Monday morning. We then said our farewells, and I took the metro back to the hotel to shop at a large souvenir mall near the hotel. I then hopped on a bus at the hotel to head back to downtown Moscow for our farewell dinner, where we had an excellent meal and plenty of good vodka. Our newfound Russian friends also attended the event, and we shared a few laughs and stories about ourselves in a slightly inebriated dialogue. With that, the official stops of the tour had ended, and we got back on the bus to crash at the hotel.
Once we arrived at the hotel, however, not everyone got off the bus. After a good meal and a few shots of vodka, I was incredibly tired and fell asleep in the back of the bus. Unbeknownst to him, the driver left the hotel with me still sleeping in the back seat. I then woke up to the driver yelling at me in Russian, and he was extremely confused as to why I was still on the bus. Apparently he was in the process of cleaning the bus, and he stumbled upon a “sleeping man” in the back. I was extremely embarrassed and more than a little worried about how to get back to the hotel. The driver then took me in his car to a nearby thoroughfare, where he hailed a taxi and gave directions to the driver to get me back to the hotel. The trip went without a hitch (the driver’s smoking was a bit annoying, but I couldn’t complain), and then I met my professor out in front of the hotel at about 2:00 AM. I apologized profusely, and he simply laughed and said that he was glad that I did not spend the evening in the bus barn and miss the plane the next morning.
Our group packed up after a rushed breakfast the next morning, and got to the Moscow airport without any major problems. The plane left on time, and even arrived a bit early to Copenhagen, with the “sleeping man” on board.
This trip to Russia was undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I believe that it will prove incredibly useful both in telling stories in the Grinnell Dining Hall in the future and in giving me a real notion of what is meant when one speaks the word “Russia.”
Well, that’s my Russia trip. I hope that you have enjoyed the read. Here are a few memorable quotes that will hopefully provide some merriment. Now, I need to pack for my trip to Rome!
Jon = Tour leader Anna = Russian tour assistant Dmitri = Russian Orthodox monk
Jon: “You don’t want to eat traditional Russian food. Traditional Russian food is salted fat on bread with salt on it.”
Jon: “This is a country that has won wars with its weather.”
Jon: “Moscow is very clean: of trash, of illegal immigrants, of dissent…”
Anna: “This is Russia: nothing’s weird” (in reference to the fact that you can get almost any medication at the pharmacy without a prescription)
Anna: “The US is too fair; it’s too hard to get arrested.”
Dmitri: “Until the age of 25, women are attracted to men with strong arms and teeth.”
Dmitri: “We see Protestants as little children who refuse to do their homework.”
Hairdryer sign: “Do not by wet hands touch hair dryer.”
Here comes the second installment of my Russia trip narrative. I will try to add a little more culture this time, and end with a list of highlights and amusing quotes about Russia. I apologize in advance if I get some names or progressions mixed up, though I guarantee that I am doing my best.
We started with the same breakfast as the past two days, then packed our things and headed for Novgorod. Novgorod was originally the northern capital of the Kiev state, the political body that would eventually become modern day Russia. The city eventually came into conflict with Moscow after the Tatar invasion, losing the conflict and Moscow being established as the capital. Today, Novgorod is a city of about 200,000 that is a popular historical tourist spot for Russians seeking insight into their history.
In Novgorod, we first visited the Novgorod Kremlin. Now, to disambiguate, almost every old Russian city has a kremlin, the word translating to “wall” and often being used as a garrison point for the local militia. The walls have been renovated multiple times, but sections of it date back to the 15th century. Inside, we saw the Monument of 1000 Years of Russia, constructed in 1862, and St. Sofia’s Cathedral dating all the way back to 1050. We then walked across a bridge over the Volkhof River and saw the old merchants’ quarter filled with churches built by the guilds. After this excursion, we went to a restaurant for lunch where we had the traditional cabbage, beets, and unidentified meat (though the ice cream for dessert was very good).
We then went to likely one of the more tense visits of the tour: St. George’s Monastery, tended by a Russian Orthodox monk named Dmitri. He gave both the history of the monastery and a pseudo-sermon through translation by our professor, and then showed us the inside of the monastery he tends. Afterwards, he answered questions, which gave us an opportunity to learn about the Orthodox faith directly from an active member in the tradition. He was certainly not harboring any pluralist tendencies, saying multiple times that those who have heard about the Russian Orthodox Church and failed to accept its teachings and traditions will be unable to pass God’s exam on Judgment Day. After his lecture, we took a quick look around the rest of the church grounds and then went into town to have dinner. A few of us went to a very nice restaurant where we had grilled salmon, tea, hash browns, and boiled vegetables.
After dinner, we all hopped on the train for Moscow. Now, this was my first overnight train experience, and I have to say that it was much better than I had expected/ been told by other people who have taken overnight trains. We slept four to a compartment, and chatted for a while until sleep overtook us one by one.
We awoke the next morning in Moscow, and transferred to our hotel right away to freshen up and/or catch up on sleep missed on the train ride. Almost immediately upon our arrival, I could tell a marked difference from St. Petersburg, Moscow filled with skyscrapers, decisively cleaner, and certainly not doing anything to hide the fact that it is one of the world’s largest cities. The city is laid out and run very functionally, with two road rings around the city that are in a constant state of traffic jam. We then started our bus sight-seeing tour, working our way to downtown Moscow to see Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and the Moscow Kremlin. We had a tour through Lenin’s Tomb, the most heavily guarded tourist attraction that I have ever seen, and then had lunch at a few fast food restaurants right off the Square. Amusingly enough, Lenin and Stalin impersonators dotted the square, as well as people dressed as cartoon characters. We then went to see an immense Marx statue, Moscow State University, and a picturesque platform overlooking the city skyline.
Upon our return to Red Square, we met up with some students who attend Moscow State University and broke into small groups to disperse ourselves around the city. Three Russian girls named Nina, Anastasia, and Marcia joined my group of four Americans, and we went to see some of the more obscure sights of the city including an immense square filled with grand architecture dedicated to the working people of the Soviet Union. The square seemed to have been, at one point, used as a form of consulate of the USSR’s component republics; now, it is an amusement park and hangout of teenagers and young adults. The place touched me in a way, forcing me to realize that the Soviet Union was indeed taking action to empower its people, and has left a strong impression on the minds of future political leaders and the people of Russia. We then took the monorail to a small shopping and dining center to have dinner at a restaurant called Moo-moo’s, where we had extremely cheap yet quality food. Afterwards, we went to one of Moscow’s walking streets where we bought some beers and talked in a small park.
The conversation with the students served a function that I am at a loss of words to describe. I met three typical Russian students, who attended a university and went about their daily lives in a city that was regarded as the source of all evil by the American government. They had lived through the fall of the Soviet Union, yet they seemed to harbor absolutely no hostility or even uneasiness towards the United States. In fact, many of them wanted to visit the US, though they said that they still want to call Moscow home for the rest of their lives. I shared a meal, a walk, some metro trips, my interests, my dreams, their interests, their dreams, lots of laughs, and even a talk about our love lives with people and not former citizens of the “evil empire.” Similar to my first encounters with my fellow students at Grinnell, I have again realized that our world is first and foremost composed of people and not Americans, Russians, Jews, Christians, etc.
I now have a human face to evoke whenever people talk about “the Russians,” an absolutely invaluable experience that, I feel at least in this moment, breaks away my stereotypes and mental images to open my consciousness to the experiences of other people.
The next day was certainly a climax of political, cultural, and historical importance, the day where we visited the Kremlin. After a thorough security check, we were allowed onto the grounds of the Kremlin, where we had a guided tour. We saw the office building of President Putin, as well as his administrative building, as well as the Czar Cannon and Czar Bell, two amazing metal masterpieces that were actually never fired or rung. We then saw the three churches that were crucial to the daily lives of the czars, including the church where the czars were baptized and married, the church where they were crowned, and the church where they were buried. All Russian czars are buried here up until the 17th century, when Peter the Great moved the burial location to St. Petersburg. As could be expected, the churches were absolutely beautiful, housing both golden decorations and artwork that are national treasures to the Russian people. We also were given some free time to walk around the gardens and viewing platforms of the Kremlin, though we were explicitly told not to step on the street on threat of being arrested immediately.
After leaving the Kremlin through the gate where Lenin entered to take power in 1918, we then split up to explore the city on our own. I then headed off back to Red Square to meet up with Annie Brothers, who is currently studying abroad in Moscow. After a hug-filled reunion, we took a tour to see a few more sights that my study tour has missed. We went to building that housed the former KGB headquarters, as well as the Soviet Polytechnic Museum. Afterwards, we visited two memorials that were set up in honor of the people who died from the terrorist bombings early Monday morning. We then said our farewells, and I took the metro back to the hotel to shop at a large souvenir mall near the hotel. I then hopped on a bus at the hotel to head back to downtown Moscow for our farewell dinner, where we had an excellent meal and plenty of good vodka. Our newfound Russian friends also attended the event, and we shared a few laughs and stories about ourselves in a slightly inebriated dialogue. With that, the official stops of the tour had ended, and we got back on the bus to crash at the hotel.
Once we arrived at the hotel, however, not everyone got off the bus. After a good meal and a few shots of vodka, I was incredibly tired and fell asleep in the back of the bus. Unbeknownst to him, the driver left the hotel with me still sleeping in the back seat. I then woke up to the driver yelling at me in Russian, and he was extremely confused as to why I was still on the bus. Apparently he was in the process of cleaning the bus, and he stumbled upon a “sleeping man” in the back. I was extremely embarrassed and more than a little worried about how to get back to the hotel. The driver then took me in his car to a nearby thoroughfare, where he hailed a taxi and gave directions to the driver to get me back to the hotel. The trip went without a hitch (the driver’s smoking was a bit annoying, but I couldn’t complain), and then I met my professor out in front of the hotel at about 2:00 AM. I apologized profusely, and he simply laughed and said that he was glad that I did not spend the evening in the bus barn and miss the plane the next morning.
Our group packed up after a rushed breakfast the next morning, and got to the Moscow airport without any major problems. The plane left on time, and even arrived a bit early to Copenhagen, with the “sleeping man” on board.
This trip to Russia was undoubtedly one of the most memorable experiences of my life, and I believe that it will prove incredibly useful both in telling stories in the Grinnell Dining Hall in the future and in giving me a real notion of what is meant when one speaks the word “Russia.”
Well, that’s my Russia trip. I hope that you have enjoyed the read. Here are a few memorable quotes that will hopefully provide some merriment. Now, I need to pack for my trip to Rome!
Jon = Tour leader Anna = Russian tour assistant Dmitri = Russian Orthodox monk
Jon: “You don’t want to eat traditional Russian food. Traditional Russian food is salted fat on bread with salt on it.”
Jon: “This is a country that has won wars with its weather.”
Jon: “Moscow is very clean: of trash, of illegal immigrants, of dissent…”
Anna: “This is Russia: nothing’s weird” (in reference to the fact that you can get almost any medication at the pharmacy without a prescription)
Anna: “The US is too fair; it’s too hard to get arrested.”
Dmitri: “Until the age of 25, women are attracted to men with strong arms and teeth.”
Dmitri: “We see Protestants as little children who refuse to do their homework.”
Hairdryer sign: “Do not by wet hands touch hair dryer.”
Saturday, April 3, 2010
This is a country that has won wars with its weather: Russia Study Tour Part 1
Here begins my detailed account of my trip to Russia, a week full of adventure, experiences, newfound friends, reunion of old friends, good food, bad food, and places of world historic importance. I will go through this entire story in two posts, one today and one tomorrow. I will attempt to summarize interesting culture, history, politics, and events as I go along; I am sure that I will have much more to tell at another time, however. Here we go.
So, we started the trip on Sunday morning by flying out of Copenhagen airport. We had a pretty uneventful flight and arrived in Saint Petersburg. To give a brief history, St. Petersburg was built by Peter the Great as a Europeanized capital for the Russian state, and as such the city was very similar to western European cities. The layout was very logical and centered on the royal fortress, the architecture clearly reminiscent of “The West.” There was some deviation, as there were many massive apartment complexes on the outskirts of the city that were completely stark, likely built in the Soviet era. All of the buildings downtown were rather short (less than five stories) because by law none could be taller than the czar’s Winter Palace.
So, we checked into the hotel, an absolutely massive building far from the center of the city that is frequently used to host multiple wedding parties with hundreds of guests each simultaneously. We saw a series of limousines (including one hummer limo) outside and some stragglers from a recently finished wedding party. Our living arrangements were rather cramped as we forced three people into rooms meant for two by adding an extra cot and rearranging the furniture. We then went to a pizza restaurant near the hotel with a sketchy looking fellow wearing a pizza-suit out front. The food was pretty good, though entirely westernized.
We then went on a metro sight-seeing tour with our professor Jon, an incredibly energetic fellow that is ludicrously knowledgeable about Russian history, lifestyle, and culture. We went from metro to metro, attempting to get a general idea of the layout of the city and how to travel via metro. The metro buildings themselves were beautiful, a construction of the Soviet era to be used by the common people and made to look like underground palaces for the workers. Marble arches, immense murals, and golden statues covered the system, certainly giving the city a regal feeling. We then went to the Café Jam, a restaurant where we were served a multiple-course meal of high quality, authentic Russian food despite the restaurant being run by Danish-Russians. In addition, DIS bought us one shot of vodka each, and I was proud to have my first ever shot of hard alcohol as Russian vodka in Russia. We then retired early and cleaned up for the next day.
The following day was our first full day in Russia, and it accelerated to an awesome climax. We had breakfast at the hotel, a huge smorgasbord of authentic Russian food. It was here that we really got insight into Russian diet, and we realized the importance of boiled vegetables (esp. beets) and pickled vegetables (esp. cabbage). Potatoes were also in abundance, along with Russian pancakes that are a bit similar to French crepes. While I considered the food to be relatively good at the start, the similarity of taste across almost all Russian dishes (especially the beets and cabbage) made me absolutely disgusted by the end of our tour.
After breakfast, we had a bus sight-seeing tour, visiting many of the famous sites of the city. We started with the Peter the Great statue, the first statue made in Russia, a symbol of the Europeanization of the Russian state in the early 18th century. We then went to The Arrow, a central location to get an amazing view of the city. From here, we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress, a massive complex built by Peter the Great for use as a garrison point for his soldiers and was later used as a prison. (Also of note, in contrast to the traditional bell ringing, a resounding crack of cannon fire rang through the area at noon). Inside the fortress, we went to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a beautiful Russian Orthodox place of worship. The church was filled with gold icons, a sealed inner chamber, and served as the burial place of Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, and Grand Duchess Anastasia. Afterwards, we went to a site of incredible contrast, namely the Eternal Flame. A constantly-burning flame was created in all Russian cities to commemorate those who died in war, specifically the Great Patriotic War (as Russians call World War II). This particular flame was encircled by a Leninist wall, predicting the end of all war through Marxist ideology. Afterwards, we visited the Church of Spilled Blood, an ornate church again filled with gold that is distinctive because of its blood-red exterior paint. After a very pleasant meal at a small café, we then went on the Dostoevsky walking tour where we visited one of the author’s old homes and where he had the events of the novel Crime and Punishment take place, including Raskolnikov’s house and the house of the murdered money-lender. We then toured another beautiful church, this one being pastel blue, similar to the other pastel colored buildings in St. Petersburg, and then went to a synagogue. The synagogue was preparing for the Seder, the first night of Passover, and some of our fellow students signed up to attend the service the following evening.
The real excitement was saved for the evening, however. We had a simple dinner of perogies, a traditional Slavic food that has successfully taken root in North America and Western Europe that consists of a baked dumpling filled with various meats and vegetables. After the meal, we went to the famous Mariinsky Theatre to see Swan Lake. The theatre itself was breath-taking, golden tiers of seating and the famous, ancient Mariinsky curtain separating the stage from the audience. While I have never seen another ballet and thus have no measure for comparison, the performance was awesome. There were four scenes in three acts, the plot revolving around a young prince’s promise to wed a beautiful woman who is cursed to become a swan during daylight. I was most impressed with the incredible athleticism of the dancers, their balance and ability to perform countless spins back to back was ridiculous.
The next day, and also our final day in St. Petersburg, was equally as epic. We started with a planned tour called “Behind the façade,” an attempt to understand the daily lives of the residents of the city. Point blank, the living conditions were awful. We saw the infamous “communal apartments,” where about five families lived in one room each and shared a bathroom. The Soviet government dictated precise measurements of how much space was to be given to each person, and thus families were forced into quarters that would be unthinkable to an American audience. Even a few feet behind the carefully constructed image of the city revealed a dirty, bleak existence that is dominated by making only barely enough money to survive, one single room costing $200-300 in rent a month and a three-room studio being priced at $200,000. While this tour was only a glimpse into the poverty of the city, I felt as though I had witnessed enough to make me depressed about the daily life of many of the Russian people.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, and after another relatively pleasant meal at a local café, we went to the famous Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum of Art. Unbeknownst to many Americans, these two places are actually the same thing, as the museum is within the palace. As would be expected of an imperial palace, the royal sights were incredible including gilded rooms and malachite-encrusted columns. These signs of royalty seamlessly transitioned to the art museum, and we were given the privilege of viewing original Rembrandts, Monets, Picassos, and Da Vincis. Again, while my knowledge of art might be almost as limited as my knowledge of ballets, even I recognized the amazing quality of these paintings. The evening ended with some souvenir shopping and dinner at the Zoom café with the assistance of one of my friend’s friends who is currently studying abroad in Saint Petersburg.
And that’s the conclusion of part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 coming at you tomorrow.
So, we started the trip on Sunday morning by flying out of Copenhagen airport. We had a pretty uneventful flight and arrived in Saint Petersburg. To give a brief history, St. Petersburg was built by Peter the Great as a Europeanized capital for the Russian state, and as such the city was very similar to western European cities. The layout was very logical and centered on the royal fortress, the architecture clearly reminiscent of “The West.” There was some deviation, as there were many massive apartment complexes on the outskirts of the city that were completely stark, likely built in the Soviet era. All of the buildings downtown were rather short (less than five stories) because by law none could be taller than the czar’s Winter Palace.
So, we checked into the hotel, an absolutely massive building far from the center of the city that is frequently used to host multiple wedding parties with hundreds of guests each simultaneously. We saw a series of limousines (including one hummer limo) outside and some stragglers from a recently finished wedding party. Our living arrangements were rather cramped as we forced three people into rooms meant for two by adding an extra cot and rearranging the furniture. We then went to a pizza restaurant near the hotel with a sketchy looking fellow wearing a pizza-suit out front. The food was pretty good, though entirely westernized.
We then went on a metro sight-seeing tour with our professor Jon, an incredibly energetic fellow that is ludicrously knowledgeable about Russian history, lifestyle, and culture. We went from metro to metro, attempting to get a general idea of the layout of the city and how to travel via metro. The metro buildings themselves were beautiful, a construction of the Soviet era to be used by the common people and made to look like underground palaces for the workers. Marble arches, immense murals, and golden statues covered the system, certainly giving the city a regal feeling. We then went to the Café Jam, a restaurant where we were served a multiple-course meal of high quality, authentic Russian food despite the restaurant being run by Danish-Russians. In addition, DIS bought us one shot of vodka each, and I was proud to have my first ever shot of hard alcohol as Russian vodka in Russia. We then retired early and cleaned up for the next day.
The following day was our first full day in Russia, and it accelerated to an awesome climax. We had breakfast at the hotel, a huge smorgasbord of authentic Russian food. It was here that we really got insight into Russian diet, and we realized the importance of boiled vegetables (esp. beets) and pickled vegetables (esp. cabbage). Potatoes were also in abundance, along with Russian pancakes that are a bit similar to French crepes. While I considered the food to be relatively good at the start, the similarity of taste across almost all Russian dishes (especially the beets and cabbage) made me absolutely disgusted by the end of our tour.
After breakfast, we had a bus sight-seeing tour, visiting many of the famous sites of the city. We started with the Peter the Great statue, the first statue made in Russia, a symbol of the Europeanization of the Russian state in the early 18th century. We then went to The Arrow, a central location to get an amazing view of the city. From here, we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress, a massive complex built by Peter the Great for use as a garrison point for his soldiers and was later used as a prison. (Also of note, in contrast to the traditional bell ringing, a resounding crack of cannon fire rang through the area at noon). Inside the fortress, we went to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a beautiful Russian Orthodox place of worship. The church was filled with gold icons, a sealed inner chamber, and served as the burial place of Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, and Grand Duchess Anastasia. Afterwards, we went to a site of incredible contrast, namely the Eternal Flame. A constantly-burning flame was created in all Russian cities to commemorate those who died in war, specifically the Great Patriotic War (as Russians call World War II). This particular flame was encircled by a Leninist wall, predicting the end of all war through Marxist ideology. Afterwards, we visited the Church of Spilled Blood, an ornate church again filled with gold that is distinctive because of its blood-red exterior paint. After a very pleasant meal at a small café, we then went on the Dostoevsky walking tour where we visited one of the author’s old homes and where he had the events of the novel Crime and Punishment take place, including Raskolnikov’s house and the house of the murdered money-lender. We then toured another beautiful church, this one being pastel blue, similar to the other pastel colored buildings in St. Petersburg, and then went to a synagogue. The synagogue was preparing for the Seder, the first night of Passover, and some of our fellow students signed up to attend the service the following evening.
The real excitement was saved for the evening, however. We had a simple dinner of perogies, a traditional Slavic food that has successfully taken root in North America and Western Europe that consists of a baked dumpling filled with various meats and vegetables. After the meal, we went to the famous Mariinsky Theatre to see Swan Lake. The theatre itself was breath-taking, golden tiers of seating and the famous, ancient Mariinsky curtain separating the stage from the audience. While I have never seen another ballet and thus have no measure for comparison, the performance was awesome. There were four scenes in three acts, the plot revolving around a young prince’s promise to wed a beautiful woman who is cursed to become a swan during daylight. I was most impressed with the incredible athleticism of the dancers, their balance and ability to perform countless spins back to back was ridiculous.
The next day, and also our final day in St. Petersburg, was equally as epic. We started with a planned tour called “Behind the façade,” an attempt to understand the daily lives of the residents of the city. Point blank, the living conditions were awful. We saw the infamous “communal apartments,” where about five families lived in one room each and shared a bathroom. The Soviet government dictated precise measurements of how much space was to be given to each person, and thus families were forced into quarters that would be unthinkable to an American audience. Even a few feet behind the carefully constructed image of the city revealed a dirty, bleak existence that is dominated by making only barely enough money to survive, one single room costing $200-300 in rent a month and a three-room studio being priced at $200,000. While this tour was only a glimpse into the poverty of the city, I felt as though I had witnessed enough to make me depressed about the daily life of many of the Russian people.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, and after another relatively pleasant meal at a local café, we went to the famous Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum of Art. Unbeknownst to many Americans, these two places are actually the same thing, as the museum is within the palace. As would be expected of an imperial palace, the royal sights were incredible including gilded rooms and malachite-encrusted columns. These signs of royalty seamlessly transitioned to the art museum, and we were given the privilege of viewing original Rembrandts, Monets, Picassos, and Da Vincis. Again, while my knowledge of art might be almost as limited as my knowledge of ballets, even I recognized the amazing quality of these paintings. The evening ended with some souvenir shopping and dinner at the Zoom café with the assistance of one of my friend’s friends who is currently studying abroad in Saint Petersburg.
And that’s the conclusion of part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 coming at you tomorrow.
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