Good afternoon, all.
Well, I misspoke about updating from Indianola; right now I am back at Grinnell. I have seen so many people that I have missed for such a long time; I am so blessed to have so many good friends and such loving parents.
Coming back was interesting, though uneventful. I flew from Copenhagen to Chicago and then Chicago to Des Moines; the Copenhagen-Chicago flight was interesting in that I left at 3:40 and arrived nine hours later at 5:15. There were a few other DIS students who flew back on the same plane, which was a pleasant surprise.
I did have, however, numerous bursts of culture shock in my transit. First, during the long flight, I talked local, state, and national politics with the woman sitting next to me; she was an avid supporter of Obama, and she decried how the Republicans had become the party of "No!" This experience was rather perplexing to me; to be frank, I agreed with most of her points and arguments for her political beliefs, but I quickly realized that she was locked in this politically-polarized mindset demonizing the opposition. I then realized that I, for maybe the first time in my politically-aware life, was somewhat removed from this polarized system. I began to realize that American politics are always in a constant state of deadlock, while European politics are much more conducive to compromise and even consensus (well, on many things, anyway; some things still completely divide the EU, like the Iraq War). Given my gradual realization that I was returning to the American political atmosphere, I merely stated that compromise was necessary for us to really enact positive and lasting change.
Upon arrival in Chicago, however, I was veritably assaulted by American-ness: I noticed dozens of differences immediately, ranging from the gruffness of airport employees to ridiculously long security lines to cowboy hats to American fashion to weight problems to English-everywhere to American dollars to the English measurement system. After transferring my luggage, I went to a Chili's Restaurant in the airport and ordered the least-Danish thing on the menu: Chili Bacon Burger. Not only was it a sandwich, but I ate it with my hands, it was spicy, it was a mix of all sorts of flavors, and it was indescribably messy. While breaking my fast of American food, I just sit and watched people, noticing how different everyone looked and how they interacted with each other. I find it hard to put it into words, but I looked at my fellow Americans as... interesting.
On the flight to Des Moines, I had another sociopolitical encounter of a different variety. I spoke with a strong conservative who expressed his concerns about how country's tendencies towards socialism. After I told him that I had just gotten into Chicago from Copenhagen, he was curious to know how the Danes handle issues such as taxation and gun control; as could be expected, my responses surprised him. Here was an entirely different political discussion; while I did not sense this man harbored any hostility towards those of the "other side" here, I was exposed to arguments that were so different than any European or DIS student political arguments. With these three experiences, I realized that I was going to have to navigate American politics and culture again.
After much longing, imagining, and waiting, I finally arrived back home in Indianola and then went to my other home at Grinnell. The inevitable "How was Denmark?" was asked again and again; I felt that my answers have been getting more creative over time. I have indeed developed inter-cultural skills; I had a lot of fun; I saw many places that I had only dreamed of seeing before.
However, the answer to, "How was Denmark?" is not nearly as interesting as "How did your experience in Denmark change you?" That is a question that is much deeper and requires much more thoughtful contemplation. That answer will come in the next post, in what will likely be the final post before the closing of this Blog. Stay tuned.
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
A couple museums and some reflections
Good evening, all. I hope the day finds you well.
I do not have too much to write about this evening, but I feel that it is still incredibly important for me to keep a running update on how things are going. Here goes.
With my European Storytelling class, we went to the Frilandsmuseet, an open-air museum of old Danish and Swedish houses. The houses are apparently in almost the exact same condition as they have been for over a hundred (and some up to two hundred) years, the vast majority of them having been deconstructed from elsewhere around Denmark or Sweden, numbered, and then re-erected board by board and piece by piece at this museum. The buildings certainly looked authentic: the boards were of awful quality (apparently Denmark has very bad wood for construction purposes, so that's why most of the old houses' timbers are leaning to one side). We saw the village pond, the village tree, and all that, as well as the inside of a few homes. Because of the persistent cold every winter, very little of old Danish homes were heated, and the heat that was there was often the same heat source used for cooking. In most well-off homes, there used to be kind of a chimney room, where the blazing fire would heat stones that would be used for cooking, with an exit for the smoke at the top. The houses of the rich also often had an immense pile of manure in the center of the farmhouse in order to prevent other people from stealing your manure (mind-boggling, isn't it?) Danish egalitarianism was seen throughout the homes, as servants were allowed to eat with the family and often even sleep in the same bed as the master or children.
The storytelling element came into play when we talked about the "little folk" that helped do chores and protect the farmland. Previous Danes believed in the existence of tiny creatures that helped with housework; they would protect the family and farm from harm as long as the family left spilled food or drink for them to eat. There were also apparently some "little folk" rumored to live in the nearby forests, but those types were evil and malicious and abducted people to experiment on and terrify them. (One of my fellow classmates at this point made an astute observation that, while modern people don't often believe in little home elves running about the house, many still do believe in aliens that live in outer space that abduct and experiment on people). Apparently the little folk were supposed to be the angels that fell with Lucifer, not really evil beings but rather not-so-perfect beings.
Later that day (yesterday), I went on another museum trip, this time to the State Museum of Art. I was very pleased to find out that it was free; however, I must admit that it was not as much to see as other museums I have been to lately (maybe I spoiled myself by going to the Vatican Museums and the Hermitage?) The scope of art there was vast, ranging from 15th or 16th century to the present day. I must admit that, despite having gone to the Louisiana Museum and being exposed to the best modern art in Denmark, modern art still just doesn't do it for me, so I mostly spent time looking at the older stuff. There were an assortment of really gorgeous landscapes and still-lifes, as well as depictions of many mythological events such as the falling of the Titans. Of course, in almost all of the Christian artwork, Mary was the absolute focus; maybe I would have to be Catholic for that fascination to make sense. There was a photography exhibit on the top floor, though I was a little disappointed in that the vast majority of the photographs were heavily edited either through darkroom techniques or Photoshop, so it was kind of hard for me to get very excited about those. Then there was the modern art exhibit, some of which was kind of interesting: I liked the art from the era of intense Danish nationalism, most especially when the subject matter was something that I recognized from Copenhagen.
Besides these two museum trips, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience here at DIS. There's so much to say; studying abroad is so much more complex than just a blog post can describe. I have done so many things that I never would have imagined doing: seeing the Winter Palace, integrating with a Danish family, seeing the Sistine Chapel, talking about ancient European stories's influence on modern video games, stood in the meeting rooms of the European Union, navigating a foreign city by myself... Now, classes are almost over, and in 9 days I will be heading back to the US. I have been talking with my friends here a lot about the program; what we have liked and what we have disliked. Many of us feel that the academics here are incredibly easy, with the obvious exception of pre-med, child development, or architecture students. Most of us loved the study tours, I feel, one person even going so far as to say that they are the reason that they would recommend DIS to future students. Some people felt that they did not learn anything in any of their classes and that this all has been one long vacation.
My analysis (and there will be more in posts to come, never fear) is that, with a few exceptions, DIS gives you what you put into it. The courses are easier than Grinnell, pure and simple; however, many of the readings are just as informative. I have written about the same number of papers that I do at Grinnell, but they are shorter and graded significantly easier. Tests are more about memorizing information rather than synthesizing it; however, there is a lot of information to memorize, especially in the science classes. If you want to get drunk every other night and drink yourself stupid on all of the study tours, you can; if you want to visit museums, get heavily involved in Danish culture, and have a cultural experience in many different cultures, you can do that too. The program is so large and so flexible that all 660 of us have probably had very different experiences. Personally, I have absolutely loved being able to take applied classes, and I truly feel that I have gotten some insight into some of the practical skills that might be needed if I decide to go down a particular career path. I certainly am burning with desire to study a language again, likely due to my amazing Danish professor. A host family is a mixed blessing, as it is incredibly cultural and insightful but very lonely. The study tours were amazing, and I cannot recommend them highly enough if someone wants to come to DIS to see Europe, which is not as shallow of a goal as I had once thought. Denmark is certainly a safe, wealthy, quiet country, and I can certainly understand why Danes are so reluctant to stray far from their little fairy-tale-land.
More, hopefully more thought out reflections will come later.
I do not have too much to write about this evening, but I feel that it is still incredibly important for me to keep a running update on how things are going. Here goes.
With my European Storytelling class, we went to the Frilandsmuseet, an open-air museum of old Danish and Swedish houses. The houses are apparently in almost the exact same condition as they have been for over a hundred (and some up to two hundred) years, the vast majority of them having been deconstructed from elsewhere around Denmark or Sweden, numbered, and then re-erected board by board and piece by piece at this museum. The buildings certainly looked authentic: the boards were of awful quality (apparently Denmark has very bad wood for construction purposes, so that's why most of the old houses' timbers are leaning to one side). We saw the village pond, the village tree, and all that, as well as the inside of a few homes. Because of the persistent cold every winter, very little of old Danish homes were heated, and the heat that was there was often the same heat source used for cooking. In most well-off homes, there used to be kind of a chimney room, where the blazing fire would heat stones that would be used for cooking, with an exit for the smoke at the top. The houses of the rich also often had an immense pile of manure in the center of the farmhouse in order to prevent other people from stealing your manure (mind-boggling, isn't it?) Danish egalitarianism was seen throughout the homes, as servants were allowed to eat with the family and often even sleep in the same bed as the master or children.
The storytelling element came into play when we talked about the "little folk" that helped do chores and protect the farmland. Previous Danes believed in the existence of tiny creatures that helped with housework; they would protect the family and farm from harm as long as the family left spilled food or drink for them to eat. There were also apparently some "little folk" rumored to live in the nearby forests, but those types were evil and malicious and abducted people to experiment on and terrify them. (One of my fellow classmates at this point made an astute observation that, while modern people don't often believe in little home elves running about the house, many still do believe in aliens that live in outer space that abduct and experiment on people). Apparently the little folk were supposed to be the angels that fell with Lucifer, not really evil beings but rather not-so-perfect beings.
Later that day (yesterday), I went on another museum trip, this time to the State Museum of Art. I was very pleased to find out that it was free; however, I must admit that it was not as much to see as other museums I have been to lately (maybe I spoiled myself by going to the Vatican Museums and the Hermitage?) The scope of art there was vast, ranging from 15th or 16th century to the present day. I must admit that, despite having gone to the Louisiana Museum and being exposed to the best modern art in Denmark, modern art still just doesn't do it for me, so I mostly spent time looking at the older stuff. There were an assortment of really gorgeous landscapes and still-lifes, as well as depictions of many mythological events such as the falling of the Titans. Of course, in almost all of the Christian artwork, Mary was the absolute focus; maybe I would have to be Catholic for that fascination to make sense. There was a photography exhibit on the top floor, though I was a little disappointed in that the vast majority of the photographs were heavily edited either through darkroom techniques or Photoshop, so it was kind of hard for me to get very excited about those. Then there was the modern art exhibit, some of which was kind of interesting: I liked the art from the era of intense Danish nationalism, most especially when the subject matter was something that I recognized from Copenhagen.
Besides these two museum trips, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my experience here at DIS. There's so much to say; studying abroad is so much more complex than just a blog post can describe. I have done so many things that I never would have imagined doing: seeing the Winter Palace, integrating with a Danish family, seeing the Sistine Chapel, talking about ancient European stories's influence on modern video games, stood in the meeting rooms of the European Union, navigating a foreign city by myself... Now, classes are almost over, and in 9 days I will be heading back to the US. I have been talking with my friends here a lot about the program; what we have liked and what we have disliked. Many of us feel that the academics here are incredibly easy, with the obvious exception of pre-med, child development, or architecture students. Most of us loved the study tours, I feel, one person even going so far as to say that they are the reason that they would recommend DIS to future students. Some people felt that they did not learn anything in any of their classes and that this all has been one long vacation.
My analysis (and there will be more in posts to come, never fear) is that, with a few exceptions, DIS gives you what you put into it. The courses are easier than Grinnell, pure and simple; however, many of the readings are just as informative. I have written about the same number of papers that I do at Grinnell, but they are shorter and graded significantly easier. Tests are more about memorizing information rather than synthesizing it; however, there is a lot of information to memorize, especially in the science classes. If you want to get drunk every other night and drink yourself stupid on all of the study tours, you can; if you want to visit museums, get heavily involved in Danish culture, and have a cultural experience in many different cultures, you can do that too. The program is so large and so flexible that all 660 of us have probably had very different experiences. Personally, I have absolutely loved being able to take applied classes, and I truly feel that I have gotten some insight into some of the practical skills that might be needed if I decide to go down a particular career path. I certainly am burning with desire to study a language again, likely due to my amazing Danish professor. A host family is a mixed blessing, as it is incredibly cultural and insightful but very lonely. The study tours were amazing, and I cannot recommend them highly enough if someone wants to come to DIS to see Europe, which is not as shallow of a goal as I had once thought. Denmark is certainly a safe, wealthy, quiet country, and I can certainly understand why Danes are so reluctant to stray far from their little fairy-tale-land.
More, hopefully more thought out reflections will come later.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Short Travel Break, Post 2: Louisiana, May Day, Swing, and a Special Hat
Good evening, all.
So, here comes another blog post your way. I have a lot of very short subjects to discuss today, so hold onto something because away we go!
First, I went to Louisiana on Friday. Yep, Louisiana ... Museum of Art. It is in a city called Humlbæk just north of here, and it's a modern art museum. I went with my host parents on Friday. It was quite a place: there was already any room to park around the museum (despite there being 100-200 parking spaces), and this place is in a town that's smaller than Grinnell. There were actually a surprising number of really well-known artists' works, including one Monet and a couple Picasso. A few exhibits were really interesting, such as a few mobiles made from painted straw; others were definitely "Is that art?" moments, such as a solid blue painting called "Monoblue" set across from a solid pink painting called "Monopink." There was also a collection of 10,000+ plaster casts (the artists said that no two were alike), and two immense bronze spiders. I was glad I went, even if I am not usually one for modern art.
Saturday was quite a day, though not exactly as I had planned. In the early afternoon, I left for Copenhagen to go to the big May Day celebration. However, upon getting off the train at Østerport, I had a horrifying realization: I had left my black wool hat on the train! I turned around as fast as I could, but could only watch as the doors closed and the train sped off to the airport with my hat on it. I was crushed... it was a great hat... I went to the ticket counter and said that I had left something on a train, and they told me to call the main office. I did that, but it was in Danish, so the only thing I could do is leave a message (or, at least, I thought I left a message). Then I went to the ticket counter in Nørreport, hoping to find someone else to tell about my hat. They said that there's nothing they can do, and that I should call this different number after 3:00. So, without my hat, I decided to go kill time at the May Day thing that I had planned on attending.
The best way that I can describe the May Day thing is a mix of Block Party, 10/10, the Iowa State Fair, and the Harkin Steak Fry saturated in Communism (Now if your head is not spinning after that, then I have failed). Anyway, so it is a big communist/socialist political day, and there's Communist and Social Democratic party people distributing leaflets and waving red flags and all that. There was a lot of hammer and sickle emblems all over everything, too, and socialist/communist politicians were giving speeches. However, there were also tons of merchants selling all sorts of things, including scarves, jewelry, hats, hot dogs, kebab, thai food, and a bunch of other stuff, so that part was very fair-like. Then there was alcohol. And by that I mean there was alcohol ... and lots of alcohol. There must have been 100+ clusters of Danes sitting around on the grass (the event was held in a big park near the football stadium), each cluster with at least one 30 rack of beer. And the average age was incredibly low, I would say maybe around 30 at the highest. Most of the groups looked like late high school students or early university students, each with their own rack of Carlsberg beer or Sommersby hard cider (keep in mind: the drinking age is 16 here). It was loud and noisy and law-violating (saw plenty of jaywalking, public intoxication, and indecent exposure), certainly not consistent with any of my previous encounters with Danes, except maybe at the FCK football game. Oh yes, and there were concerts going on at the same time as all this.
However, I didn't exactly do much while I was there: I didn't feel like drinking, I wasn't hungry, I didn't want to buy any overpriced accessories, I didn't have anyone to talk to, and I didn't understand any of the speeches; the event was more of a case study of Danish society rather than an actual event that I attended. And I was also missing my hat terribly...
After my camera battery died, I left to go call the number about my hat. They said that I needed to file a lost and found report, and that the sooner I did that, the more likely it would be that I could get my hat back. So, I went back home (an hour long trip, as you already know), and then filed the report. I then killed some time, trying to not think about my lost hat, then, after calling the train station again and having them say that they did not find my hat upon cleaning the trains, I decided to go train hopping to see if I could find my hat.
So, I went to the station and hopped on the train to Vedbæk. No hat. Then I got off and killed some time walking around the empty Vedbæk school before getting on the train to Skodsborg. Again, no hat. In Skodsborg, I walked around a forest killing some time, then got on the train to Klampenborg. Again, no hat. In Klampenborg, I walked around the station and tried to look at it as a logic puzzle; the people at the station said that they have no idea where the trains go once they reach their final destination because they get renumbered upon a successful run. However, I realized that I had left my hat on the :02 indirect train between Nivå and Kastrup. If the train comes at 20 minute intervals and it takes about an hour to get from one to the other, then it would make sense that there are six trains running on that circuit. However, the circuit was about to close soon, so I realized that I could only check two more trains and would have to leave one unchecked. So, I got on the train to Hellerup and went to my previous seat and behold! there was my hat. I grabbed it and proceeded merrily to Hellerup, where I caught a train back to Rungsted. This was an extremely lucky occurrence: any drunk idiot could have picked it up (or thrown it away or vomited in it or goodness knows what else), or the train conductor could have picked it up and thrown it away... but they didn't, and my train hopping paid off. I consider myself very very lucky.
My last interesting thing of the weekend was another session of swing dancing. I think that I wrote about this last week, so I won't talk about it to much here. I danced with a goodly number of people; however, I've come to notice that the dancing scene is a little less casual here than at the Grinnell Swing Society. Here, most people seem to come with their significant other and do not spend much time dancing with anyone else unless they are both particularly experienced in swing dancing. This was certainly not always the case, but I felt like it was an incredible challenge for me to find any available follows for much of the dance. Today, I danced with a Pole, a German, and a few incredibly experienced Danes, and they have told me what many experienced follows have told me: relax and loosen up, only then will I really start to get into the music.
Anyway, that's a wrap for today. Sleep beckons. That's the news, and I'm outta here.
So, here comes another blog post your way. I have a lot of very short subjects to discuss today, so hold onto something because away we go!
First, I went to Louisiana on Friday. Yep, Louisiana ... Museum of Art. It is in a city called Humlbæk just north of here, and it's a modern art museum. I went with my host parents on Friday. It was quite a place: there was already any room to park around the museum (despite there being 100-200 parking spaces), and this place is in a town that's smaller than Grinnell. There were actually a surprising number of really well-known artists' works, including one Monet and a couple Picasso. A few exhibits were really interesting, such as a few mobiles made from painted straw; others were definitely "Is that art?" moments, such as a solid blue painting called "Monoblue" set across from a solid pink painting called "Monopink." There was also a collection of 10,000+ plaster casts (the artists said that no two were alike), and two immense bronze spiders. I was glad I went, even if I am not usually one for modern art.
Saturday was quite a day, though not exactly as I had planned. In the early afternoon, I left for Copenhagen to go to the big May Day celebration. However, upon getting off the train at Østerport, I had a horrifying realization: I had left my black wool hat on the train! I turned around as fast as I could, but could only watch as the doors closed and the train sped off to the airport with my hat on it. I was crushed... it was a great hat... I went to the ticket counter and said that I had left something on a train, and they told me to call the main office. I did that, but it was in Danish, so the only thing I could do is leave a message (or, at least, I thought I left a message). Then I went to the ticket counter in Nørreport, hoping to find someone else to tell about my hat. They said that there's nothing they can do, and that I should call this different number after 3:00. So, without my hat, I decided to go kill time at the May Day thing that I had planned on attending.
The best way that I can describe the May Day thing is a mix of Block Party, 10/10, the Iowa State Fair, and the Harkin Steak Fry saturated in Communism (Now if your head is not spinning after that, then I have failed). Anyway, so it is a big communist/socialist political day, and there's Communist and Social Democratic party people distributing leaflets and waving red flags and all that. There was a lot of hammer and sickle emblems all over everything, too, and socialist/communist politicians were giving speeches. However, there were also tons of merchants selling all sorts of things, including scarves, jewelry, hats, hot dogs, kebab, thai food, and a bunch of other stuff, so that part was very fair-like. Then there was alcohol. And by that I mean there was alcohol ... and lots of alcohol. There must have been 100+ clusters of Danes sitting around on the grass (the event was held in a big park near the football stadium), each cluster with at least one 30 rack of beer. And the average age was incredibly low, I would say maybe around 30 at the highest. Most of the groups looked like late high school students or early university students, each with their own rack of Carlsberg beer or Sommersby hard cider (keep in mind: the drinking age is 16 here). It was loud and noisy and law-violating (saw plenty of jaywalking, public intoxication, and indecent exposure), certainly not consistent with any of my previous encounters with Danes, except maybe at the FCK football game. Oh yes, and there were concerts going on at the same time as all this.
However, I didn't exactly do much while I was there: I didn't feel like drinking, I wasn't hungry, I didn't want to buy any overpriced accessories, I didn't have anyone to talk to, and I didn't understand any of the speeches; the event was more of a case study of Danish society rather than an actual event that I attended. And I was also missing my hat terribly...
After my camera battery died, I left to go call the number about my hat. They said that I needed to file a lost and found report, and that the sooner I did that, the more likely it would be that I could get my hat back. So, I went back home (an hour long trip, as you already know), and then filed the report. I then killed some time, trying to not think about my lost hat, then, after calling the train station again and having them say that they did not find my hat upon cleaning the trains, I decided to go train hopping to see if I could find my hat.
So, I went to the station and hopped on the train to Vedbæk. No hat. Then I got off and killed some time walking around the empty Vedbæk school before getting on the train to Skodsborg. Again, no hat. In Skodsborg, I walked around a forest killing some time, then got on the train to Klampenborg. Again, no hat. In Klampenborg, I walked around the station and tried to look at it as a logic puzzle; the people at the station said that they have no idea where the trains go once they reach their final destination because they get renumbered upon a successful run. However, I realized that I had left my hat on the :02 indirect train between Nivå and Kastrup. If the train comes at 20 minute intervals and it takes about an hour to get from one to the other, then it would make sense that there are six trains running on that circuit. However, the circuit was about to close soon, so I realized that I could only check two more trains and would have to leave one unchecked. So, I got on the train to Hellerup and went to my previous seat and behold! there was my hat. I grabbed it and proceeded merrily to Hellerup, where I caught a train back to Rungsted. This was an extremely lucky occurrence: any drunk idiot could have picked it up (or thrown it away or vomited in it or goodness knows what else), or the train conductor could have picked it up and thrown it away... but they didn't, and my train hopping paid off. I consider myself very very lucky.
My last interesting thing of the weekend was another session of swing dancing. I think that I wrote about this last week, so I won't talk about it to much here. I danced with a goodly number of people; however, I've come to notice that the dancing scene is a little less casual here than at the Grinnell Swing Society. Here, most people seem to come with their significant other and do not spend much time dancing with anyone else unless they are both particularly experienced in swing dancing. This was certainly not always the case, but I felt like it was an incredible challenge for me to find any available follows for much of the dance. Today, I danced with a Pole, a German, and a few incredibly experienced Danes, and they have told me what many experienced follows have told me: relax and loosen up, only then will I really start to get into the music.
Anyway, that's a wrap for today. Sleep beckons. That's the news, and I'm outta here.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Short Travel Break, Post 1: Day-Trip to Sweden
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
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
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Religion, Theology, and some Reflections
Good evening all.
So, we're in the middle of midsems week right now, hence why my updates have been lacking lately. Nevertheless, I will press on! To infinity and... never mind.
Here might be an appropriate time for me to talk about my encounters with religion since coming to Denmark. To be blunt, I have had very little experiences due to a variety of reasons.
Let me start with Denmark and religion. Unlike the States, Denmark does have an official religion: Lutheranism. A portion of the incredible taxes that Danes pay goes to support the local churches scattered across the country, these churches being officially sanctioned by the government. You might think that this is a sign of strong prominence of religion in the country; however, the inverse is true. The Lutheran state churches are falling into dereliction, many towns only having one state-sponsored church with a weekly attendance of about 50 or so, mostly older citizens. Despite this, almost every Dane goes through the confirmation process at the state churches, resulting in a contingent of adolescents attending a handful of services a year. In some ways, it seems as though the state churches are only there as a formality, as some priests have honestly admitted that they only do the job to pay the bills and that they do not actually believe in God. An incredible amount of Danes say that religion holds little or no part in their daily lives, while many will say that religion is a personal matter or profess to believe in some indistinct higher power.
Beyond these churches, there is only a handful of independent churches, and my host parents informed me that there are only about three churches with regular attendees in the northern coast region of Copenhagen. According to recent polls, less than 10% and possibly as few as 5% of the population attend worship services on a regular basis. Add to the mix that very few of these existing churches have services in English and my search for church fellowship has been rather difficult.
I was successful, however, in finding one church that is willing to accommodate international worshipers like myself, and that church is ReGen. Surprisingly, it is loosely affiliated with the Baptist church, and they have people available at each service to offer translation during the sermon. Though, due to the facts that the church only has services once a week and that I have been off traveling on many said weekends, I have only been able to go to the service once. The necessity of translation was a little awkward, but I certainly did appreciate the work that the congregation did to ensure that I had a fulfilling religious experience.
The part that I have really latched on to, however, is the international Bible study associated with the church. The Bible study is conducted in English, and it is composed of a wide range of international individuals including one Englishman, two Australians, three Danes, one Swede, one Ukrainian, two Americans, and one Singaporean. We are currently working through a book called The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers, a work that challenges Christians to derive their identity from God and not from the culture around them. While we literally just started the book (I have only read parts so far), the discussion that we had was incredibly thought-provoking and a bit heated at times.
From what I understand, the debate hinged on Sayers' argument that pre-modern Christians used only the identification of "Christian" for their personal identity and sought to improve their lives because of their focus on God. However, with the development of the scientific method, self-centeredness, and especially pop culture, Christians began to lose sight of God when forming their identity and instead looked to other sources of recognition than God. As a group, we discussed whether or not it was indeed wrong to seek other sources of wisdom and identity besides our spiritual lives, arriving at a bit of a loggerheads about whether or not we viewed pre-modern Christians as more God-focused and striving for moral improvement more than modern Christians.
Anyone who has had any semi-religious conversation with me will know that I completely reject this proposition, and that it will likely take a flawless gem of an argument for me to accept even part of what this author has to say. A large part of my experience abroad has been revealing to me what the facets of my identity are, my discussions with my host family uncovering the assumptions that I make without cognizance. As could be guessed, I derive much of my identity from the culture around me, and my identities as an American, a political scientist, a Christian, and even to some extent a European have come into focus since I have been here.
Obviously, this discussion will continue as I delve into this book. That's the every-so-often-blog. Stay classy, world.
So, we're in the middle of midsems week right now, hence why my updates have been lacking lately. Nevertheless, I will press on! To infinity and... never mind.
Here might be an appropriate time for me to talk about my encounters with religion since coming to Denmark. To be blunt, I have had very little experiences due to a variety of reasons.
Let me start with Denmark and religion. Unlike the States, Denmark does have an official religion: Lutheranism. A portion of the incredible taxes that Danes pay goes to support the local churches scattered across the country, these churches being officially sanctioned by the government. You might think that this is a sign of strong prominence of religion in the country; however, the inverse is true. The Lutheran state churches are falling into dereliction, many towns only having one state-sponsored church with a weekly attendance of about 50 or so, mostly older citizens. Despite this, almost every Dane goes through the confirmation process at the state churches, resulting in a contingent of adolescents attending a handful of services a year. In some ways, it seems as though the state churches are only there as a formality, as some priests have honestly admitted that they only do the job to pay the bills and that they do not actually believe in God. An incredible amount of Danes say that religion holds little or no part in their daily lives, while many will say that religion is a personal matter or profess to believe in some indistinct higher power.
Beyond these churches, there is only a handful of independent churches, and my host parents informed me that there are only about three churches with regular attendees in the northern coast region of Copenhagen. According to recent polls, less than 10% and possibly as few as 5% of the population attend worship services on a regular basis. Add to the mix that very few of these existing churches have services in English and my search for church fellowship has been rather difficult.
I was successful, however, in finding one church that is willing to accommodate international worshipers like myself, and that church is ReGen. Surprisingly, it is loosely affiliated with the Baptist church, and they have people available at each service to offer translation during the sermon. Though, due to the facts that the church only has services once a week and that I have been off traveling on many said weekends, I have only been able to go to the service once. The necessity of translation was a little awkward, but I certainly did appreciate the work that the congregation did to ensure that I had a fulfilling religious experience.
The part that I have really latched on to, however, is the international Bible study associated with the church. The Bible study is conducted in English, and it is composed of a wide range of international individuals including one Englishman, two Australians, three Danes, one Swede, one Ukrainian, two Americans, and one Singaporean. We are currently working through a book called The Vertical Self by Mark Sayers, a work that challenges Christians to derive their identity from God and not from the culture around them. While we literally just started the book (I have only read parts so far), the discussion that we had was incredibly thought-provoking and a bit heated at times.
From what I understand, the debate hinged on Sayers' argument that pre-modern Christians used only the identification of "Christian" for their personal identity and sought to improve their lives because of their focus on God. However, with the development of the scientific method, self-centeredness, and especially pop culture, Christians began to lose sight of God when forming their identity and instead looked to other sources of recognition than God. As a group, we discussed whether or not it was indeed wrong to seek other sources of wisdom and identity besides our spiritual lives, arriving at a bit of a loggerheads about whether or not we viewed pre-modern Christians as more God-focused and striving for moral improvement more than modern Christians.
Anyone who has had any semi-religious conversation with me will know that I completely reject this proposition, and that it will likely take a flawless gem of an argument for me to accept even part of what this author has to say. A large part of my experience abroad has been revealing to me what the facets of my identity are, my discussions with my host family uncovering the assumptions that I make without cognizance. As could be guessed, I derive much of my identity from the culture around me, and my identities as an American, a political scientist, a Christian, and even to some extent a European have come into focus since I have been here.
Obviously, this discussion will continue as I delve into this book. That's the every-so-often-blog. Stay classy, world.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
The American Embassy, Football, and Solitude
Good evening, all. I made a promise to deliver two updates today and, by cracky, even if it keeps me up an extra 20 minutes, I'm going to do it.
First interesting note that has happened since last week: I went to the American Embassy to ask if there was anything they could do about treating my leg. I feel as though I had pretty much exhausted everything that the Danish healthcare system could offer me (I saw the general practitioner again, and she did not want to question the orthopedic surgeon and thus recommended that I just take pain killers and flex my leg a lot). Anyway, so I went to the embassy. Unsurprisingly, the American Embassy was a freaking fortress. I couldn't even approach the door without being stopped by two guards, and they took my driver's license inside to do a background check or something like that while I waited outside in the cold. Afterwards, I had to go through the typical security thing, even having to give up my cell phone. In any case, I got in to speak with someone, who basically said that there's nothing that the Danish healthcare system or the American embassy can do about getting me further treatment, and they sent me away with a list of doctors that I could call for second opinions as long as I was willing to pay full price. It was also interesting to note that, despite this being the American embassy, it seemed as though most people working there were native Danes. Huh.
Anyway, the next interesting thing that has happened was a football game this evening. And no no, it was not just any football game: it was the FCK and Brønby football game, the infamous game that inspires the most crowd wildness of any other game in Denmark.
This is an incredibly important game in Denmark, as it pits the city's favorite, FC København, who is also the top dog in the Danish football league, versus the number four team, Brønby, who is based on the outskirts of Copenhagen. All of us DIS students that were taking Danish were given free tickets to the game, which was quite awesome since buying a ticket cost something like $50 or so.
Anyway, team spirit was incredibly high even 45 minutes before the game started, and there was an entire section of fans that were standing and cheering and waving FCK flags for over three hours straight. There were big canisters of confetti shot around the stadium, and an FCK flag was even draped over the crowd at one point in the game. The Brønby team also displayed incredible (if a bit more dangerous) spirit by setting off some type of firework during the pre-game and game itself, bright red lights and lots of smoke emanating from their side of the field.
The game itself, sadly, was not nearly as interesting. Neither team scored for the first hour, and the first goal was, of course, scored by FCK in a rather anticlimactic goal kick, if that's what you call it. The game certainly was fast-paced, however, despite the absence of scoring, and it certainly blows American football out of the water for amount of action without stops (oh yeah, I forgot to say: football here means soccer, but I'm sure that most of you already knew that).
FCK scored one more goal in the last few minutes of the game, and it was a basic shutout. I have a feeling that even if the second goal was not scored, both teams were playing defensive enough that the one goal was certainly enough to be a game-ender. Also, for those of you who are wondering, food and drinks were not exceedingly expensive in the stadium; in fact, they were about the same as overpriced stadium food in the States.
What was rather appalling, however, was the incredibly awful behavior that occurred outside of the game. Upon returning home, my host family told me that at least six people were arrested prior to the game, and I am certain (and hope) that yet more were arrested afterwards. Droves of Danes roamed the streets, throwing bottles, getting into fights, and generally causing havoc for the city. Police were out in force, many of them wearing what looked like armor and carrying riot helmets and other gear. While I was on the train home, a fight broke out literally right in front of me, two men throwing blows at each other and running as fast as they could down the length of the train. I had to duck out of the way of their fight when it started, unfortunately ending up in the lap of a few people seated on the train. This was absolutely awful; while I had never seen a big city after a big, important sporting event, this was certainly not something that I ever wanted to see. If my class had intended to give me a cultural education, they certainly did.
I will conclude by saying that this weekend was a peculiar one for me as I spent almost all of it alone. My host parents left on Friday afternoon and arrived home this evening, so I had the entire house to myself. They even took the dog with them. I was also instructed to maintain the house spic and span, as they had an open house this afternoon, the real estate agent letting himself in earlier today and confusing me significantly. I saw so few people over the weekend that, on Saturday, I spent an entire 24 hour period not physically seeing another human being. I'm not sure that's happened in my life in years, maybe it hasn't ever happened during my entire life.
At any rate, I spent a lot of time playing video games and, when that got frustrating or boring, doing homework and thinking. The later is the more interesting, and I began to contemplate what I wanted to do with myself over the next few months, what else I need to get out of my study abroad experience. More importantly, I pondered what I would do with free time that came up later in my life. I realize that i definitely need to spend some of my own time studying language, probably Spanish. I've realized just how limited I am knowing one language and, even if that is not apparent in Denmark where everyone speaks English, it definitely was a problem on my study tour. I also thought that I might be served well by learning some more about computers, specifically programming, so that I can do a little more of my own computer maintenance. Anyway, things to think about.
For now, bed.
First interesting note that has happened since last week: I went to the American Embassy to ask if there was anything they could do about treating my leg. I feel as though I had pretty much exhausted everything that the Danish healthcare system could offer me (I saw the general practitioner again, and she did not want to question the orthopedic surgeon and thus recommended that I just take pain killers and flex my leg a lot). Anyway, so I went to the embassy. Unsurprisingly, the American Embassy was a freaking fortress. I couldn't even approach the door without being stopped by two guards, and they took my driver's license inside to do a background check or something like that while I waited outside in the cold. Afterwards, I had to go through the typical security thing, even having to give up my cell phone. In any case, I got in to speak with someone, who basically said that there's nothing that the Danish healthcare system or the American embassy can do about getting me further treatment, and they sent me away with a list of doctors that I could call for second opinions as long as I was willing to pay full price. It was also interesting to note that, despite this being the American embassy, it seemed as though most people working there were native Danes. Huh.
Anyway, the next interesting thing that has happened was a football game this evening. And no no, it was not just any football game: it was the FCK and Brønby football game, the infamous game that inspires the most crowd wildness of any other game in Denmark.
This is an incredibly important game in Denmark, as it pits the city's favorite, FC København, who is also the top dog in the Danish football league, versus the number four team, Brønby, who is based on the outskirts of Copenhagen. All of us DIS students that were taking Danish were given free tickets to the game, which was quite awesome since buying a ticket cost something like $50 or so.
Anyway, team spirit was incredibly high even 45 minutes before the game started, and there was an entire section of fans that were standing and cheering and waving FCK flags for over three hours straight. There were big canisters of confetti shot around the stadium, and an FCK flag was even draped over the crowd at one point in the game. The Brønby team also displayed incredible (if a bit more dangerous) spirit by setting off some type of firework during the pre-game and game itself, bright red lights and lots of smoke emanating from their side of the field.
The game itself, sadly, was not nearly as interesting. Neither team scored for the first hour, and the first goal was, of course, scored by FCK in a rather anticlimactic goal kick, if that's what you call it. The game certainly was fast-paced, however, despite the absence of scoring, and it certainly blows American football out of the water for amount of action without stops (oh yeah, I forgot to say: football here means soccer, but I'm sure that most of you already knew that).
FCK scored one more goal in the last few minutes of the game, and it was a basic shutout. I have a feeling that even if the second goal was not scored, both teams were playing defensive enough that the one goal was certainly enough to be a game-ender. Also, for those of you who are wondering, food and drinks were not exceedingly expensive in the stadium; in fact, they were about the same as overpriced stadium food in the States.
What was rather appalling, however, was the incredibly awful behavior that occurred outside of the game. Upon returning home, my host family told me that at least six people were arrested prior to the game, and I am certain (and hope) that yet more were arrested afterwards. Droves of Danes roamed the streets, throwing bottles, getting into fights, and generally causing havoc for the city. Police were out in force, many of them wearing what looked like armor and carrying riot helmets and other gear. While I was on the train home, a fight broke out literally right in front of me, two men throwing blows at each other and running as fast as they could down the length of the train. I had to duck out of the way of their fight when it started, unfortunately ending up in the lap of a few people seated on the train. This was absolutely awful; while I had never seen a big city after a big, important sporting event, this was certainly not something that I ever wanted to see. If my class had intended to give me a cultural education, they certainly did.
I will conclude by saying that this weekend was a peculiar one for me as I spent almost all of it alone. My host parents left on Friday afternoon and arrived home this evening, so I had the entire house to myself. They even took the dog with them. I was also instructed to maintain the house spic and span, as they had an open house this afternoon, the real estate agent letting himself in earlier today and confusing me significantly. I saw so few people over the weekend that, on Saturday, I spent an entire 24 hour period not physically seeing another human being. I'm not sure that's happened in my life in years, maybe it hasn't ever happened during my entire life.
At any rate, I spent a lot of time playing video games and, when that got frustrating or boring, doing homework and thinking. The later is the more interesting, and I began to contemplate what I wanted to do with myself over the next few months, what else I need to get out of my study abroad experience. More importantly, I pondered what I would do with free time that came up later in my life. I realize that i definitely need to spend some of my own time studying language, probably Spanish. I've realized just how limited I am knowing one language and, even if that is not apparent in Denmark where everyone speaks English, it definitely was a problem on my study tour. I also thought that I might be served well by learning some more about computers, specifically programming, so that I can do a little more of my own computer maintenance. Anyway, things to think about.
For now, bed.
Mussels, Genocide, and the Prostitution Info Center: Brussels / The Hague Study Tour Part 2
Hey all.
I am sorry to keep you in anticipation for so long. As compensation, I will do TWO blog posts today! That's right! Two blog posts for the price of one! You're not going to get a better... okay, I'll give up on that.
Anyway, the study tour continued. We went to the US Mission to the EU at the Maison du Dragon hotel (which was a very amusing location because everything was in Chinese, including the exit signs. Then again, it kind of makes sense, since there are probably multitudes of individuals from China visiting Brussels for some reason or another). There, we listened to two speakers present about the US's role in working with the EU, and got some of their opinions as to the future of the Union. While the discussion was rather safe and reaffirming things I had already heard, they did point us towards some Department of State internships that we can apply for in order to get started in an international career for the US government. I might have to look into that. From there, we got lunch (I had a very tasty ham sandwich that was a fraction of what it would cost in Copenhagen) and then walked to the European Parliament building. My group and I got a little lost on the way there, but we eventually found the correct location.
Put simply, the Parliament building is awesome. There are flags from all of the EU countries around, there are people starting petitions and awareness campaigns right in front of the building, the building itself was immense and certainly official-looking. We had a very brief tour of the Parliament room itself, looking at the 768 (or was it 786?) seats of the Parliament and the translation booths nearby. The amazing part about this institution is despite their size, they seem to get significantly more agreement in general than in the US. Now, this is certainly comparing apples and oranges, from what I have learned so far this semester, but the amount that this body is actually able to get done is amazing to me.
We then had a lecture from one of the Danish parliamentarians. Despite the fact that he was discussing some of the same issues that we had heard about in the other lecture earlier today, his talk was much more interesting in that he gave his own opinions and analyses, even if that might not be the official opinion of the Danish state. This was a sharp contrast with the Americans from earlier today, as they very stated very clearly that they could only speak on behalf of the American government. The Danish speaker did give some amazing insights into the current workings of the system, including that he works a lot with other Social Democrats rather than with his other Danish parliamentarians. A centerpiece of his lecture was also on Joseph Nye's "Soft Power," which was a book that I had read for my US Foreign Policy class last semester. (On an amusing note, he also said that he laughed hysterically at US Senators that came over to Brussels and had notes that said "What is the EU?" He said that he certainly didn't have to bring notes that said "What is the US?" More amusingly, I had seen such documents created for Senator Harkin before while I was working there over the summer..."
Anyway, the day continued, and our groups fragmented again. I went off by myself for a while to go souvenir shopping and to get an authentic Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce, which was absolutely amazing, leagues better than Golden Malted "authentic" Belgian waffle makers that we have in the US, I am sorry to say. Anyway, then we went to Chez Leon, which was a cozy restaurant where we had the famous mussels, which, as my professor said, "Mussels is famous for its Brussels." I think that it was the first time that I had had mussels and, despite the fact that they looked absolutely disgusting, they tasted okay. I think I prefer crab though. Afterwards, we spent our last night in Brussels, and I went to a bar called Delerium where I got a cherry beer. It was very very tasty, though many people joked that it was a fake beer.
The next day was certainly a memorable one. We started the day by leaving the hotel early and heading off to NATO. Consistent with America's paranoia about potential attacks, NATO is not on any GPS service, nor is it marked on any online map website. Most hilariously, when we finally were able to find it, the place was an absolute fortress with 10-15 foot chain link fence topped with a few feet of barbed wire. This was apparently only the temporary NATO headquarters, though they have been there for 40 years. This entire scenario was absolutely hilarious...did anyone really think that not having NATO on Google Maps would do anything to prevent someone from finding the barbed-wire surrounded complex in the middle of Brussels?
Anyway, we had two lectures here, the former of which was fairly typical and not particularly interesting. He did give a few good points about the purpose of NATO post-Cold War, and he detailed the great lengths to which NATO troops had gone to ensure some form of security in Afghanistan. (I should note that, between lectures, I got a little confused and went to the bus instead of the location for the second lecture, and was thoroughly embarrassed about having to go through security again. The second lecture, however, was from an American working at NATO who, amazingly enough, was the most blunt and opinionated person that I we had heard yet, sometimes saying opinions that even I would not have expressed in public. This again was incredibly different from the Americans yesterday, this particular speaking going so far as to take off his microphone and shout out a few opinions to the crowd. He said that NATO is pretty much dominated by the United States, and that the rest of the European countries are not pulling their weight militarily. He made the amusing analogy of Snow White and the 27 dwarves, which was absolutely scathing. It should also be noted that, just prior to the beginning of these lectures, I was absolutely astounded by finding Christina Hu, which inevitably resulted in a few great hugs. What amazing chance that I would find another Grinnellian while on a study trip to NATO!
After leaving NATO, we went to certainly one of the more unique locations for our tour: the La Trappe Monastery and Brewery. The monastery had been there for over 800 years I believe, and, after running into financial trouble in the late 19th century, the monastery started producing beer. This immediately solved the financial problems, and has put Trappist monasteries as some of the most famous beer exporters in the world. We had a tour of the beer-making facilities, as well as the grounds of the monastery, and also learned about how the monks had devoted their entire lives to working at the monastery, one man doing this at the age of 27. The monastery produces about 3-4 million L of beer annually (about 1 million gallons), and we were fortunate enough to have both a nice dinner at the monastery and given the opportunity to taste six different Trappist beers. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and arrived at our hotel in The Hague, which was an absolutely beautiful hotel.
The next morning started with an equally beautiful breakfast, having every type of breakfast food you could imagine and then some, including a salmon buffet. My roommate and I agreed that we had done nothing so far on this tour to deserve such lavish treatment, though we both thoroughly enjoyed the food, me eating two plates full and him five and a half.
We then went to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. As expected, this place also had some pretty stiff security, as there were two security checkpoints. After a brief wait, we were actually allowed to go into the viewing room for the courtroom and were able to witness the proceedings against one of the generals of the Yugoslav Army, who is charged genocide. He was sitting only a few feet in front of our group. While at the time the gravity of this situation did not really sink in, now, chills run down my spine when I think about the court case that I had witnessed. After given a decently long time to view the proceedings, we had a lecture from one of the prosecutors at the facility, a American woman who had previously served as a prosecutor for child abuse in Texas. Despite her "twang," she gave an incredibly powerful speech about the important of bringing justice to the Balkans, and not in the style of the "cowboy justice" of an eye for an eye but instead focusing on restorative justice by allowing the victims to express themselves and sending those responsible for the horrible actions to prison for what will likely be the rest of their lives.
After such a grave event, our last study tour stop was possibly of equal importance though certainly more exotic. It was in Amsterdam, and, for starters, I should discuss some of their laws. Put simply, lots is legal in Amsterdam, including the sale of marijuana and "magic mushrooms." Prostitution is also entirely legal, even going to far as to be institutionalized with specific buildings built for the prostitutes to show themselves in the window to prospective customers. We visited the Prostitution Information Center, an organization in the heart of the Red Light District. There, we spoke with the founder, a former prostitute, who helps to distribute information both to tourists about the sex business in Amsterdam and to prostitutes themselves to ensure that they do their jobs safely for both themselves and their customers. She strongly pushed for the legalization of prostitution worldwide, as it would allow these women to come out of the shadows and assert both their rights as sellers in this market and their right for respect from the general community. Even as a Grinnellian, this was an absolutely flooring experience, and, IO must admit, I did not leave the lecture or the tour of the Red Light district entirely unsympathetic. There is a lot to these arguments for legalizing prostitution and, even if it is not something that is morally palatable to the rest of the world and especially not in America, it is certainly an interesting counterargument to all those pushing for cutting perceived vices from our modern society (and this is coming from someone who has spoken many times on the evils of alcohol).
Anyway, we broke up into groups for dinner: I had a nice salad and finished a few other peoples' pizzas, and then the tour concluded. We hopped on the bus and took the 10 hour or so drive back in two long sessions. The tour was great, incredibly thought provoking, and I feel that it has helped me develop a more international mindset.
That's the blog for now. I will be back this evening for another update.
I am sorry to keep you in anticipation for so long. As compensation, I will do TWO blog posts today! That's right! Two blog posts for the price of one! You're not going to get a better... okay, I'll give up on that.
Anyway, the study tour continued. We went to the US Mission to the EU at the Maison du Dragon hotel (which was a very amusing location because everything was in Chinese, including the exit signs. Then again, it kind of makes sense, since there are probably multitudes of individuals from China visiting Brussels for some reason or another). There, we listened to two speakers present about the US's role in working with the EU, and got some of their opinions as to the future of the Union. While the discussion was rather safe and reaffirming things I had already heard, they did point us towards some Department of State internships that we can apply for in order to get started in an international career for the US government. I might have to look into that. From there, we got lunch (I had a very tasty ham sandwich that was a fraction of what it would cost in Copenhagen) and then walked to the European Parliament building. My group and I got a little lost on the way there, but we eventually found the correct location.
Put simply, the Parliament building is awesome. There are flags from all of the EU countries around, there are people starting petitions and awareness campaigns right in front of the building, the building itself was immense and certainly official-looking. We had a very brief tour of the Parliament room itself, looking at the 768 (or was it 786?) seats of the Parliament and the translation booths nearby. The amazing part about this institution is despite their size, they seem to get significantly more agreement in general than in the US. Now, this is certainly comparing apples and oranges, from what I have learned so far this semester, but the amount that this body is actually able to get done is amazing to me.
We then had a lecture from one of the Danish parliamentarians. Despite the fact that he was discussing some of the same issues that we had heard about in the other lecture earlier today, his talk was much more interesting in that he gave his own opinions and analyses, even if that might not be the official opinion of the Danish state. This was a sharp contrast with the Americans from earlier today, as they very stated very clearly that they could only speak on behalf of the American government. The Danish speaker did give some amazing insights into the current workings of the system, including that he works a lot with other Social Democrats rather than with his other Danish parliamentarians. A centerpiece of his lecture was also on Joseph Nye's "Soft Power," which was a book that I had read for my US Foreign Policy class last semester. (On an amusing note, he also said that he laughed hysterically at US Senators that came over to Brussels and had notes that said "What is the EU?" He said that he certainly didn't have to bring notes that said "What is the US?" More amusingly, I had seen such documents created for Senator Harkin before while I was working there over the summer..."
Anyway, the day continued, and our groups fragmented again. I went off by myself for a while to go souvenir shopping and to get an authentic Belgian waffle with chocolate sauce, which was absolutely amazing, leagues better than Golden Malted "authentic" Belgian waffle makers that we have in the US, I am sorry to say. Anyway, then we went to Chez Leon, which was a cozy restaurant where we had the famous mussels, which, as my professor said, "Mussels is famous for its Brussels." I think that it was the first time that I had had mussels and, despite the fact that they looked absolutely disgusting, they tasted okay. I think I prefer crab though. Afterwards, we spent our last night in Brussels, and I went to a bar called Delerium where I got a cherry beer. It was very very tasty, though many people joked that it was a fake beer.
The next day was certainly a memorable one. We started the day by leaving the hotel early and heading off to NATO. Consistent with America's paranoia about potential attacks, NATO is not on any GPS service, nor is it marked on any online map website. Most hilariously, when we finally were able to find it, the place was an absolute fortress with 10-15 foot chain link fence topped with a few feet of barbed wire. This was apparently only the temporary NATO headquarters, though they have been there for 40 years. This entire scenario was absolutely hilarious...did anyone really think that not having NATO on Google Maps would do anything to prevent someone from finding the barbed-wire surrounded complex in the middle of Brussels?
Anyway, we had two lectures here, the former of which was fairly typical and not particularly interesting. He did give a few good points about the purpose of NATO post-Cold War, and he detailed the great lengths to which NATO troops had gone to ensure some form of security in Afghanistan. (I should note that, between lectures, I got a little confused and went to the bus instead of the location for the second lecture, and was thoroughly embarrassed about having to go through security again. The second lecture, however, was from an American working at NATO who, amazingly enough, was the most blunt and opinionated person that I we had heard yet, sometimes saying opinions that even I would not have expressed in public. This again was incredibly different from the Americans yesterday, this particular speaking going so far as to take off his microphone and shout out a few opinions to the crowd. He said that NATO is pretty much dominated by the United States, and that the rest of the European countries are not pulling their weight militarily. He made the amusing analogy of Snow White and the 27 dwarves, which was absolutely scathing. It should also be noted that, just prior to the beginning of these lectures, I was absolutely astounded by finding Christina Hu, which inevitably resulted in a few great hugs. What amazing chance that I would find another Grinnellian while on a study trip to NATO!
After leaving NATO, we went to certainly one of the more unique locations for our tour: the La Trappe Monastery and Brewery. The monastery had been there for over 800 years I believe, and, after running into financial trouble in the late 19th century, the monastery started producing beer. This immediately solved the financial problems, and has put Trappist monasteries as some of the most famous beer exporters in the world. We had a tour of the beer-making facilities, as well as the grounds of the monastery, and also learned about how the monks had devoted their entire lives to working at the monastery, one man doing this at the age of 27. The monastery produces about 3-4 million L of beer annually (about 1 million gallons), and we were fortunate enough to have both a nice dinner at the monastery and given the opportunity to taste six different Trappist beers. Afterwards, we got back on the bus and arrived at our hotel in The Hague, which was an absolutely beautiful hotel.
The next morning started with an equally beautiful breakfast, having every type of breakfast food you could imagine and then some, including a salmon buffet. My roommate and I agreed that we had done nothing so far on this tour to deserve such lavish treatment, though we both thoroughly enjoyed the food, me eating two plates full and him five and a half.
We then went to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. As expected, this place also had some pretty stiff security, as there were two security checkpoints. After a brief wait, we were actually allowed to go into the viewing room for the courtroom and were able to witness the proceedings against one of the generals of the Yugoslav Army, who is charged genocide. He was sitting only a few feet in front of our group. While at the time the gravity of this situation did not really sink in, now, chills run down my spine when I think about the court case that I had witnessed. After given a decently long time to view the proceedings, we had a lecture from one of the prosecutors at the facility, a American woman who had previously served as a prosecutor for child abuse in Texas. Despite her "twang," she gave an incredibly powerful speech about the important of bringing justice to the Balkans, and not in the style of the "cowboy justice" of an eye for an eye but instead focusing on restorative justice by allowing the victims to express themselves and sending those responsible for the horrible actions to prison for what will likely be the rest of their lives.
After such a grave event, our last study tour stop was possibly of equal importance though certainly more exotic. It was in Amsterdam, and, for starters, I should discuss some of their laws. Put simply, lots is legal in Amsterdam, including the sale of marijuana and "magic mushrooms." Prostitution is also entirely legal, even going to far as to be institutionalized with specific buildings built for the prostitutes to show themselves in the window to prospective customers. We visited the Prostitution Information Center, an organization in the heart of the Red Light District. There, we spoke with the founder, a former prostitute, who helps to distribute information both to tourists about the sex business in Amsterdam and to prostitutes themselves to ensure that they do their jobs safely for both themselves and their customers. She strongly pushed for the legalization of prostitution worldwide, as it would allow these women to come out of the shadows and assert both their rights as sellers in this market and their right for respect from the general community. Even as a Grinnellian, this was an absolutely flooring experience, and, IO must admit, I did not leave the lecture or the tour of the Red Light district entirely unsympathetic. There is a lot to these arguments for legalizing prostitution and, even if it is not something that is morally palatable to the rest of the world and especially not in America, it is certainly an interesting counterargument to all those pushing for cutting perceived vices from our modern society (and this is coming from someone who has spoken many times on the evils of alcohol).
Anyway, we broke up into groups for dinner: I had a nice salad and finished a few other peoples' pizzas, and then the tour concluded. We hopped on the bus and took the 10 hour or so drive back in two long sessions. The tour was great, incredibly thought provoking, and I feel that it has helped me develop a more international mindset.
That's the blog for now. I will be back this evening for another update.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Quintessential study abroad: Brussels/The Hague Study Tour part 1
Long time no ... um, read?
At the crack of dawn yesterday morning, I returned from my long study tour. In as succinct and meaningful writing as possible, I will attempt to describe a few of the interesting, humorous, annoying, unique, and culturally-charged aspects of the trip. Here I go.
We started our tour on a bus at 8:00 on Sunday morning. Part of the trip was by ferry, just like the last trip, and I would say that my stomach managed significantly better than last time. After the ferry trip, we watched a handful of movies including the infamous Borat and Dr. Strangelove. We stopped at a few largely unremarkable rest stops, including one Burger King where the food was almost identical to its American counterparts (creepy!). We also got stuck in traffic for about two hours due to a road closure, for which DIS compensated by giving each of us a free beer. Upon arrival in Brussels, Belgium, we went directly to the Hotel Ibis at about midnight and subsequently crashed. The rooms were small but nice, though I only cared about the bed at the time.
The next morning, we started the day with a well-balanced, buffet breakfast, and then headed off to our first academic visit. Given that I was significantly sleep-deprived upon our arrival, Brussels in the daylight was beautiful. It was very modern and clean, a stereotypical bustling European metropolis. We went to the building that housed the Council of the European Union, and were given a brief lecture and question and answer session from a representative of the General Secretariat. While the lecture was rather unremarkable, it did give us some insight into the daily operations of the European Union (as a side note, all of the floors have a 0 after them, so the 8th floor is marked with 80. The speaker said that this was done to impress visitors with the immense quantity of floors in such a small building).
Our next stop was of a very different though more delectable nature. We stopped at Planet Chocolate, a private chocolateering company that makes all manner of world-famous Belgian chocolate. We had a lecture about the health benefits of eating chocolate (ahem), and then were given the opportunity to make our own pralines. As could be expected, the chocolate was wonderful, and the incredibly detailed process that goes into making each individual piece is absolutely mind-boggling. We were each given a few pieces to take home, of which I was very appreciative.
The next few hours consisted of free time, of which we were given the opportunity to participate in a three hour bike tour of Brussels. Despite my knee pain and lack of confidence in bike riding, I decided to give it a go.
And how I did not regret it. Imagine: biking down the bustling city streets of a European city, surrounded by immense, historic buildings, having a brief stop for some cherry juice, the wind in your face, and beautiful blue sky above. We saw the huge Palace of Justice, one of the world's largest buildings in the 18th (i think) century. We saw Manneken Pis, a statue of a small boy urinating that has become a symbol of Brussels. We visited a courtyard surrounded by statues representing each of the guilds of historic Brussels, constructed on top of an old burial ground. Despite getting cut off by a garbage truck and losing the rest of the tour group for about 15 minutes or so, this experience will certainly be something to remember for years to come. After the tour, we had a meal at the Drug Opera, which had great food finished with an authentic Belgian waffle with cream.
Afterwards, we went to Belgium's most famous bar, appropriately called Delirium. The bar is home to over 2,000 kinds of beer, many employees not actually aware how many different types of beer are on tap due to the ever increasing number. They have dark beer, light beer, heavy beer, cactus beer, cherry beer, beer in a glass boot, beer in a glass goblet the size of a water pitcher, you name it. I ordered the Chimay, which was a famous local beer. Sadly, it was rather unremarkable. The evening ended with me completely exhausted and crashing at the hotel at about 1:00 or so. Despite the relative disappointment at ending the day with a mediocre beer, the day was still spectacular on the whole.
On the whole, Tuesday was much less spectacular. For one, I woke up with a sore throat, likely the result of either being crowded on a bus with about 30 other people for two days or taking a sip from someone else's beer in a crammed, smoke-filled bar.
In any case, the day began with my group's political actor interview. Each group of three or four students were given the opportunity to interview someone who has had extensive experience with lobbying the EU, and it was our responsibility to get an understanding of how lobbying works for such a politically-odd organization as the EU. My group's subject was from the Dutch Product Board, and he told us how he got into the field and where he attempts to exert influence to product the interests of farmers in the Netherlands. The interview went fairly well but was also fairly brief; I hope that I have enough material to write a 2-4 page essay on the subject matter.
The rest of the day was rather humdrum. We went to the Musee Magritte, a museum dedicated to the famous modern artist Magritte... well, at least everyone else said he was famous. I don't know much about art, let alone modern art, though I will admit that he was very talented. We then went to the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU where we received a basic lecture as to the workings of the European Union, specifically focusing on how member states interact with the supranational organizations. We then walked to a bar where we were supposed to meet former DIS students and faculty, but they were nowhere to be seen. So, I trekked off with a few other people and had a nice French/Italian dinner and then crashed at the hotel.
That's the first three days. To be continued...
At the crack of dawn yesterday morning, I returned from my long study tour. In as succinct and meaningful writing as possible, I will attempt to describe a few of the interesting, humorous, annoying, unique, and culturally-charged aspects of the trip. Here I go.
We started our tour on a bus at 8:00 on Sunday morning. Part of the trip was by ferry, just like the last trip, and I would say that my stomach managed significantly better than last time. After the ferry trip, we watched a handful of movies including the infamous Borat and Dr. Strangelove. We stopped at a few largely unremarkable rest stops, including one Burger King where the food was almost identical to its American counterparts (creepy!). We also got stuck in traffic for about two hours due to a road closure, for which DIS compensated by giving each of us a free beer. Upon arrival in Brussels, Belgium, we went directly to the Hotel Ibis at about midnight and subsequently crashed. The rooms were small but nice, though I only cared about the bed at the time.
The next morning, we started the day with a well-balanced, buffet breakfast, and then headed off to our first academic visit. Given that I was significantly sleep-deprived upon our arrival, Brussels in the daylight was beautiful. It was very modern and clean, a stereotypical bustling European metropolis. We went to the building that housed the Council of the European Union, and were given a brief lecture and question and answer session from a representative of the General Secretariat. While the lecture was rather unremarkable, it did give us some insight into the daily operations of the European Union (as a side note, all of the floors have a 0 after them, so the 8th floor is marked with 80. The speaker said that this was done to impress visitors with the immense quantity of floors in such a small building).
Our next stop was of a very different though more delectable nature. We stopped at Planet Chocolate, a private chocolateering company that makes all manner of world-famous Belgian chocolate. We had a lecture about the health benefits of eating chocolate (ahem), and then were given the opportunity to make our own pralines. As could be expected, the chocolate was wonderful, and the incredibly detailed process that goes into making each individual piece is absolutely mind-boggling. We were each given a few pieces to take home, of which I was very appreciative.
The next few hours consisted of free time, of which we were given the opportunity to participate in a three hour bike tour of Brussels. Despite my knee pain and lack of confidence in bike riding, I decided to give it a go.
And how I did not regret it. Imagine: biking down the bustling city streets of a European city, surrounded by immense, historic buildings, having a brief stop for some cherry juice, the wind in your face, and beautiful blue sky above. We saw the huge Palace of Justice, one of the world's largest buildings in the 18th (i think) century. We saw Manneken Pis, a statue of a small boy urinating that has become a symbol of Brussels. We visited a courtyard surrounded by statues representing each of the guilds of historic Brussels, constructed on top of an old burial ground. Despite getting cut off by a garbage truck and losing the rest of the tour group for about 15 minutes or so, this experience will certainly be something to remember for years to come. After the tour, we had a meal at the Drug Opera, which had great food finished with an authentic Belgian waffle with cream.
Afterwards, we went to Belgium's most famous bar, appropriately called Delirium. The bar is home to over 2,000 kinds of beer, many employees not actually aware how many different types of beer are on tap due to the ever increasing number. They have dark beer, light beer, heavy beer, cactus beer, cherry beer, beer in a glass boot, beer in a glass goblet the size of a water pitcher, you name it. I ordered the Chimay, which was a famous local beer. Sadly, it was rather unremarkable. The evening ended with me completely exhausted and crashing at the hotel at about 1:00 or so. Despite the relative disappointment at ending the day with a mediocre beer, the day was still spectacular on the whole.
On the whole, Tuesday was much less spectacular. For one, I woke up with a sore throat, likely the result of either being crowded on a bus with about 30 other people for two days or taking a sip from someone else's beer in a crammed, smoke-filled bar.
In any case, the day began with my group's political actor interview. Each group of three or four students were given the opportunity to interview someone who has had extensive experience with lobbying the EU, and it was our responsibility to get an understanding of how lobbying works for such a politically-odd organization as the EU. My group's subject was from the Dutch Product Board, and he told us how he got into the field and where he attempts to exert influence to product the interests of farmers in the Netherlands. The interview went fairly well but was also fairly brief; I hope that I have enough material to write a 2-4 page essay on the subject matter.
The rest of the day was rather humdrum. We went to the Musee Magritte, a museum dedicated to the famous modern artist Magritte... well, at least everyone else said he was famous. I don't know much about art, let alone modern art, though I will admit that he was very talented. We then went to the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU where we received a basic lecture as to the workings of the European Union, specifically focusing on how member states interact with the supranational organizations. We then walked to a bar where we were supposed to meet former DIS students and faculty, but they were nowhere to be seen. So, I trekked off with a few other people and had a nice French/Italian dinner and then crashed at the hotel.
That's the first three days. To be continued...
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Sex and Violence: an Analysis
Good evening, world.
Today I will talk about the unique differences between Danish and American culture when it comes to two ever-so-hot topics of conversation, sex and violence. The cultural differences at play here have provided both some incredibly awkward moments and at least one potentially illegal one.
Let's turn to violence first. Generally, the Danes are less accepting of violence than Americans, and this belief is inherent in the entirety of their culture. Movies are more harshly judged based on violent content than sexual content, and I have not yet seen one advertisement using blood, violence, or gore to attract interest. As mentioned before, this also plays out in the crime rate, as any incident of violent crime within the city of Copenhagen almost undoubtedly reaches the front page. Gang violence has been labeled a major problem in the city, yet only 5-10 fatal incidents have been reported. While, statistically, the crime rate is not that much lower than the United States, the Danes seem far more aware of violent crime than their American counterparts.
The anti-violence streak is most evident, however, in weapons laws. Handguns are banned unless one has a license to carry one. Rifles, including hunting rifles, also require a license and a three-month gun safety course, and the rifles must be dismantled and kept in at least three separate containers in order to prohibit accidental discharge. The thought of being able to toss your gun into the back of your pickup truck and go hunting is absolutely revolting to Danes, though they view that image as the quintessential American. It is also quite possible that the knife of my utility tool is also illegal, so I had best keep it under wraps...
Sex and its ancillary subjects, on the other hand, Danes don't seem to have a problem with. Generally, the Danes are far more accepting of sexuality in daily life than Americans. Some advertisements contain nudity, and, from what I understand of the summer life here, it is not too uncommon for both women and men to go topless on a sunny beach. Every social institution seems to promote the use of protection for sexual activities, same-sex marriage is very much legal, and abortion is part of the universal healthcare system.
The most alarming incident came today when I was at the beach. Previously, I had heard about the practice of "Viking Bathing" by which Danes would break a hole in the ice, strip naked, and go for a 10 second plunge. While Danes swear that this is a perfectly healthy activity that helps blood circulation, I make the assumption that it also damages brain tissue. While walking down a pier today taking pictures of the frozen straight between Denmark and Sweden, I was perplexed when I saw a man walk by without a shirt. Upon a double take, I realized that it was not only a shirt he was missing, and that his girlfriend was also stripping. After the split-second of shock had worn off, I quickly diverted my gaze to the many boats frozen into the harbor. While my host mom wondered why I didn't ask to take a picture of them, I feel that my camera requires a higher standard of subject than that.
So, here's the question: which tolerance is better for society as a whole? I have a feeling that I won't discover the answer to that question with only four months of study. Either way the morale of the story is clearly: don't go skinny-dipping in February.
Today I will talk about the unique differences between Danish and American culture when it comes to two ever-so-hot topics of conversation, sex and violence. The cultural differences at play here have provided both some incredibly awkward moments and at least one potentially illegal one.
Let's turn to violence first. Generally, the Danes are less accepting of violence than Americans, and this belief is inherent in the entirety of their culture. Movies are more harshly judged based on violent content than sexual content, and I have not yet seen one advertisement using blood, violence, or gore to attract interest. As mentioned before, this also plays out in the crime rate, as any incident of violent crime within the city of Copenhagen almost undoubtedly reaches the front page. Gang violence has been labeled a major problem in the city, yet only 5-10 fatal incidents have been reported. While, statistically, the crime rate is not that much lower than the United States, the Danes seem far more aware of violent crime than their American counterparts.
The anti-violence streak is most evident, however, in weapons laws. Handguns are banned unless one has a license to carry one. Rifles, including hunting rifles, also require a license and a three-month gun safety course, and the rifles must be dismantled and kept in at least three separate containers in order to prohibit accidental discharge. The thought of being able to toss your gun into the back of your pickup truck and go hunting is absolutely revolting to Danes, though they view that image as the quintessential American. It is also quite possible that the knife of my utility tool is also illegal, so I had best keep it under wraps...
Sex and its ancillary subjects, on the other hand, Danes don't seem to have a problem with. Generally, the Danes are far more accepting of sexuality in daily life than Americans. Some advertisements contain nudity, and, from what I understand of the summer life here, it is not too uncommon for both women and men to go topless on a sunny beach. Every social institution seems to promote the use of protection for sexual activities, same-sex marriage is very much legal, and abortion is part of the universal healthcare system.
The most alarming incident came today when I was at the beach. Previously, I had heard about the practice of "Viking Bathing" by which Danes would break a hole in the ice, strip naked, and go for a 10 second plunge. While Danes swear that this is a perfectly healthy activity that helps blood circulation, I make the assumption that it also damages brain tissue. While walking down a pier today taking pictures of the frozen straight between Denmark and Sweden, I was perplexed when I saw a man walk by without a shirt. Upon a double take, I realized that it was not only a shirt he was missing, and that his girlfriend was also stripping. After the split-second of shock had worn off, I quickly diverted my gaze to the many boats frozen into the harbor. While my host mom wondered why I didn't ask to take a picture of them, I feel that my camera requires a higher standard of subject than that.
So, here's the question: which tolerance is better for society as a whole? I have a feeling that I won't discover the answer to that question with only four months of study. Either way the morale of the story is clearly: don't go skinny-dipping in February.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Newsrooms and the Folketing
Good evening all.
It's been a long time since I have posted anything, and there have been plenty of new events to write about, so it's time to get started.
For starters, yesterday was the first day that I had day-trip study tours, one for my photojournalism class and one for my European Politics class. For my photojournalism class, we toured the newsroom and photography hangout of one of the leading newspapers in Denmark, Politiken. We were all required to wear special stickers to get into the complex, as security has been incredibly tight since the issuance of the cartoon (If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it). We passed plenty of paper-strewn desks and empty coffee cups before arriving at the location of our lecture. We were given the inside scoop as to what happens at a daily newspaper like Politiken, and were even given a series of recommendations for our own photography.
The most tragic story told to us there was of a photographer named Peter, who volunteered to go to Haiti to document the aftermath of the earthquake (as a side note, apparently all flights to Port-au-Prince were booked with journalists within 30 minutes of the news break for weeks). Peter took amazing photographs which will become a centerpiece of a few Politiken stories, but at a high price: he has developed an extreme paranoia of death and catastrophe, and is currently undergoing counseling in Copenhagen. The photo editor said that Peter got too involved in the work he was doing, especially when Peter offered to help a few people he was photographing; personally, I think that it would be absolutely cruel to deny help in the name of increasing journalistic integrity.
After a break only long enough for me to wolf down a sausage, lettuce, cheese, carrot, and mustard sandwich on rye bread, I started on a trip to my next study tour, this time in the Danish parliament called the Folketing. We were apparently allowed to take this tour due to some personal connections of our professor the famous Jacob Buksti, the former minister for transportation for the Social Democrats and a well known figure throughout politics and the media of Denmark. We listened to a lecture from the Vice President of the European Affairs Committee in Denmark, essentially the go-to man for everything EU related within the country. We learned a little about the history of constitutionalism in Denmark, including the transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and from a bicameral to unicameral legislative system. The most interesting visit was certainly the legislative hall itself, where parliamentarians and administrators were actively debating some details on upcoming legislation. Nothing like democracy in action.
The other visit of note was completely accidental, and requires some explanation. For my photojournalism class, we have been asked to photograph one individual over the course of six photography sessions during the next three months, and the person cannot be anyone associated with DIS or our host family. So, after scouring Copenhagen for someone who would be crazy enough to let an American photography student photograph them over the course of the next quarter of a year, I finally found Marlene Wind. Ms. Wind is a Political Science professor at Copenhagen University, and she is currently doing research on EU integration and all its component parts including the Euro, immigration, budget concerns, etc.
She also, however, is frequently asked to give expert opinions on national television shows. So, upon my arrival to take her picture doing mundane office tasks, we instead rushed out the door, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the broadcasting center for Denmark Radio (which is actually a television station). I followed her as she whisked up the escalators, had a rushed make-up job, and into the television studio where they were about to present Deadline 17:00 live on national TV. I watched as the broadcast began and ended, and afterwards was given the opportunity to shake hands with the news anchor of the show (if you're looking for something equivalent, I would say a Danish version of Katie Couric would suffice). I took a few pictures and video around the studio, then concluded the day by hopping on the Metro back to Nørreport. While this little trip was entirely unexpected, it certainly was something for me to remember about my Denmark experience for years to come.
It's been a long time since I have posted anything, and there have been plenty of new events to write about, so it's time to get started.
For starters, yesterday was the first day that I had day-trip study tours, one for my photojournalism class and one for my European Politics class. For my photojournalism class, we toured the newsroom and photography hangout of one of the leading newspapers in Denmark, Politiken. We were all required to wear special stickers to get into the complex, as security has been incredibly tight since the issuance of the cartoon (If you don't know what I'm talking about, Google it). We passed plenty of paper-strewn desks and empty coffee cups before arriving at the location of our lecture. We were given the inside scoop as to what happens at a daily newspaper like Politiken, and were even given a series of recommendations for our own photography.
The most tragic story told to us there was of a photographer named Peter, who volunteered to go to Haiti to document the aftermath of the earthquake (as a side note, apparently all flights to Port-au-Prince were booked with journalists within 30 minutes of the news break for weeks). Peter took amazing photographs which will become a centerpiece of a few Politiken stories, but at a high price: he has developed an extreme paranoia of death and catastrophe, and is currently undergoing counseling in Copenhagen. The photo editor said that Peter got too involved in the work he was doing, especially when Peter offered to help a few people he was photographing; personally, I think that it would be absolutely cruel to deny help in the name of increasing journalistic integrity.
After a break only long enough for me to wolf down a sausage, lettuce, cheese, carrot, and mustard sandwich on rye bread, I started on a trip to my next study tour, this time in the Danish parliament called the Folketing. We were apparently allowed to take this tour due to some personal connections of our professor the famous Jacob Buksti, the former minister for transportation for the Social Democrats and a well known figure throughout politics and the media of Denmark. We listened to a lecture from the Vice President of the European Affairs Committee in Denmark, essentially the go-to man for everything EU related within the country. We learned a little about the history of constitutionalism in Denmark, including the transition from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy and from a bicameral to unicameral legislative system. The most interesting visit was certainly the legislative hall itself, where parliamentarians and administrators were actively debating some details on upcoming legislation. Nothing like democracy in action.
The other visit of note was completely accidental, and requires some explanation. For my photojournalism class, we have been asked to photograph one individual over the course of six photography sessions during the next three months, and the person cannot be anyone associated with DIS or our host family. So, after scouring Copenhagen for someone who would be crazy enough to let an American photography student photograph them over the course of the next quarter of a year, I finally found Marlene Wind. Ms. Wind is a Political Science professor at Copenhagen University, and she is currently doing research on EU integration and all its component parts including the Euro, immigration, budget concerns, etc.
She also, however, is frequently asked to give expert opinions on national television shows. So, upon my arrival to take her picture doing mundane office tasks, we instead rushed out the door, hailed a taxi, and arrived at the broadcasting center for Denmark Radio (which is actually a television station). I followed her as she whisked up the escalators, had a rushed make-up job, and into the television studio where they were about to present Deadline 17:00 live on national TV. I watched as the broadcast began and ended, and afterwards was given the opportunity to shake hands with the news anchor of the show (if you're looking for something equivalent, I would say a Danish version of Katie Couric would suffice). I took a few pictures and video around the studio, then concluded the day by hopping on the Metro back to Nørreport. While this little trip was entirely unexpected, it certainly was something for me to remember about my Denmark experience for years to come.
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