Some adventures and more reflections

Good afternoon, all. I hope that the day finds you well.

I've done a few interesting things since last I Blogged (man, that sounds awful. We need to think up a better verb). I also have to study for a European Storytelling test tonight, so I'll try to make this slightly shorter.

First, we had our Photojournalism exhibition on Friday, which was very cool. Right now, our prints are hung in the DIS common room (where everyone goes to eat their lunch). As stated earlier, I did my photographs of a professor at Copenhagen University. I feel as though I have developed a lot through this process, and I hope that I can come back to the Scarlet and Black with a bit more experience than before.

After the exhibition, I went to Tivoli with DIS! Woot! Now, to explain what Tivoli is... it is kind of like an amusement park, but it is also a major concert venue (on Friday nights, i.e. when we were there) and garden (there are thousands upon thousands of beautiful flowers there that are all in bloom right now). As the rest of the DIS people clumped up and headed on their own separate directions, I was left wandering aimlessly for a bit until I met another of my lone fellow DIS friends also wandering aimlessly. So, we made a conscious decision to walk around together and explore. However, things took a turn for the daring when someone who entered with a season pass gave me a multi-ride ticket... which means that I could go on as many rides in the place as I wanted. My newfound friend also wanted to try every ride she could, so things got interesting. She went on a huge fast roller-coaster with three loops called The Demon; my courage was not sufficient to join her. Then we went to a big swing that lifted us high above the buildings of Copenhagen. I never really noticed just how low all of the buildings are: Copenhagen does not have any skyscrapers in the downtown area. The view was spectacular... then the swings started to spin, and I was quickly spun into a position that I had no idea what direction I was facing and where I was going next. Then we went on a few more tame rides (including one wooden roller coaster), and then, against my better judgment, she convinced me to go on "The Demon". I must admit, it was heart-rattling, but it was very fun.

After making ourselves almost vomit, we did some shopping and got candyfloss (that's apparently the European term for cotton candy; what an awful name). Then we listened to the concert, a performance by Swedish pop singer Lisa Nilsson. Put simply, she was excellent; it was mostly relaxed music with the occasional hard rock, and both her vocals and the bass guitar solos were stellar. We finished the evening by getting some chai tea and then watched an awesome light show over a lake while on a bridge over said lake. Being right in the middle of the show was cool, especially when a lot of smoke whooshed out from under us.

Sunday was also a bit of an adventure; I went with my host parents to Kokkedal Castle. I was a little disappointed in that the "castle" was actually just a really big mansion; no parapets, no moat, no big stone walls. Apparently the castle was used as a summer house by royalty in the distant past, then it fell into disuse over the years. Here's the interesting part: a wealthy, private individual bought the castle, and then began a massive renovation project. However, the fellow ran out of money, so the castle renovations remained unfinished. Then, the castle was bought by the royalty again, then sold again to a private individual to undergo renovations to turn it into a conference center. (I might not have all the facts straight on when this place changed hands, but the point of the matter is that the building has had a bit of a rough existence since its original construction in 1746).

Now, since I am in the midst of doing my evaluations for my DIS professors, it seems like it would be a good time to give a thumbs up and thumbs down list for DIS.

Thumbs up: Study tours are freaking amazing. They are well-planned, relevant for the course material, informational, fun, and allow for at least some free time. Two of the study tours are also entirely paid for by DIS in advance, so those are even more amazing. Then again, I should say that my program (European Politics) is renowned for its cool study tours, I believe.
Thumbs up: Course offerings are incredible. You can take almost anything that you can think of here, including applied sciences though not including theoretical sciences. I am so glad that I was able to diversify a bit, taking a Politics class, a psych class, an English class, a photography class, and a language class.
Thumbs up: Compared to other study abroad programs, DIS academics are very strong. The professors are almost all professionals in their given field, so, for the most part, they know what they are talking about. I felt that I learned a ton this semester, though that may have been due to my course selection.

Thumbs down: Program might be simply too big. In general, the classes are quite large, as 4 out of 5 of mine had more than 30 people.
Thumbs down: DIS focuses on group projects, which, as much as I enjoy interacting with people, is incredibly inconvenient because none of us live anywhere near each other. If I could take the group projects at Grinnell and the individual projects at DIS, I would be much happier.
Thumbs down: A general expectation that students here love to party. Time to go out to a bar and drink is essentially included in the study tours, and the 4 days of classes every week facilitates people getting hammered on a regular basis. DIS faculty and staff also seem to drink just a little too much at times; I feel that it would be best if I not name names.

Anyway, here's a little more to chew on about my study abroad experience. Only 5 days until I arrive back in the states (AHH!) and only 7 days until I get back to Grinnell (AHH!)

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.

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.

Photographing Session 2: Frederiksborg and the Black Diamond

Hey all.

So, I had another few interesting adventures over the past couple days. Yesterday, I had some free time after my Photojournalism class and decided to go on a self-planned trip. So, I hopped on the S-Train to Hillerød to go take a tour of Frederiksborg Castle. On the way, it started to snow. And snow. And snow. Great big flakes, some clumps the size of quarters. I got off the train and headed north looking for a castle.
Well, the blizzard had gotten strong enough that I actually couldn't see anything in town. There was this big open thing in front of me that looked important, but I hadn't the foggiest notion if it led to the castle. So, I started to go around the big open space and, after asking directions a few times, I wound up at the entrance.

Just before finding the entrance, however, I found a young Spanish couple that were studying abroad in nearby Lyngby. They were also looking to take a tour of the castle, so we decided to walk together. Their names were Germán and Noelia. We paid for our tickets, and then were given a map and started the tour.

Unbeknownst to me prior to my arrival, the castle had actually been converted into a museum, with each floor depicting royal life at different eras since the castle's construction. The building was built during the time of Christian IV (one of the most famous Danish kings), though had to be reconstructed after a fire in the 19th century. The vast majority of the exhibits were paintings, some of them picture-frame sized while others filled a room. The great hall was epic, and I will be sure to find some way to send the pictures through this blog. The most peculiar exhibit was certainly the top floor, which was a tribute to modern Danish art that... well, didn't really do it for me.

Getting back to Rungsted, however, was a bit of an adventure. I went back to the train station, only to discover that almost all of the regular trains had been canceled due to the torrential snowfall. After an extensive wait, one train was able to leave for Copenhagen, and I hopped on that. I arrived in Copenhagen, however, asleep, and missed my train stop, getting off at an unknown station and having to find a bus that would take me back to Nørreport. I found one, and was back on the right path home. Upon getting back to Rungsted, we celebrated my host mom's birthday with a big dinner, lots of drinks, and a game of Trivial Pursuit.

Today's adventure was slightly less spectacular, but still interesting. I made another personal quest to find the Black Diamond in Copenhagen, a section of the Royal Library in Denmark. So, I hopped on a train bound for Copenhagen, got off at the big shopping mall, and headed towards the canal boat stop that would take me down the canal to the library. As I should have guessed, the canal was frozen, so there weren't any boats. Bummer. So I started walking... and walking and walking. Then I found this really neat looking building and went inside to ask for directions to the Black Diamond. Turns out that the interesting looking building was the Black Diamond, and I spent the next half hour touring both the modern and ancient halls of the Royal Library. I also paid $5 to look at a Greenland exhibit, which provided a plethora of examples for the impact of global warming. After observing another strange modern art exhibit, I left the Black Diamond and headed back home.

In retrospect, it is probably likely that I would have had a more enjoyable time on both trips if I were to have coordinated the visit with one of my fellow DIS people. Hopefully I will still be able to connect with at least a few other students while I'm here, as sometimes I do get rather lonely going everywhere by myself.

So concludes my blog post for today, and that's the way it is.

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.