Festelavn!

[photo: The Danish version of Halloween is called "Festelavn".  The celebration takes place before Lent and involves wearing funny costumes and hitting the "cat in the barrel".  Back in the day I'm sure some unfortunate felines fell victim to this holiday, but now the barrels are filled with candy, like a piñata]

Yesterday a friend and I hopped on the regional train and headed over to Malmø.  After about a half hour ride (I still can't believe how close Denmark is to Sweden) we arrived at the central station.  The city is perfect for day trips with plenty of little shops, cafes and such.  We stopped by the Swedish Design Center and saw some of the most oddly shaped chairs in the world.  Before we headed home we stopped by a store that sold wooden shoes and a traditional bakery.   

[photo: The holy grail of my European travels - A Swedish Chef!  I know Thomas will be excited about this, as will anyone well versed in The Muppet Show]

[photo: The Swedes are all about peace, love, and pastries]

My Cross Cultural Encounters class has started working on our project with asylum seekers.  Each group is teamed up with a Danish immigrant to investigate various topics for a magazine published by the asylum center.  Our group is focusing on a play called "Fence".  Playwright Michael Svennevig tells the story of Sandholm Camp, an asylum center where many of the residents suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome.  The camp is located near a military firing range (not exactly helpful for people recovering from war-related stress).  We start interviews next week, which should be thought-provoking to say the least. 

[photo: When I truly have to get some reading done I head over to the University of Copenhagen library.  It might just be the quietest place in the city.  The first time I walked in my converse were squeaking, and every time I stepped I felt like my shoes were shouting "american american american america"]

    
[photo: This sign is next to a door off the alley I walk down on my way to class in the morning.  I don't know what the Fabulab is, and the key-pad lock has kept me from finding out.]

"I sure hope 'melet' means flour"

[photo: For breakfast this morning I tried to make Vibeke and Marianne some good ol' American flapjacks.  They tasted just fine, but it's clear I need some practice.  "This one looks like Sjælland!" exclaimed Vibeke.  I've provided a map of Sjælland to illustrate my level of incompetence]  

Yesterday Vibeke and I went to a concert at Copenhagen's new concert hall.  It was classical music featuring soloist Andreas Scholl.  When he first started singing I pretty much had to pick my jaw up off the floor (check out the video to see why).  The new concert hall is a bit awkward for large crowds to navigate, but it's beautiful in the actual auditorium.  There were several terraces arranged sort of "in the round" to provide seating for 1600.  The design was very organic, with no right angles or straight edges (hence the difficulty when finding one's seat) and it was all done in a light wood lit by a sort of orange glow from the lights.  Essentially, I felt like we were in the middle of a peach.  It was a wonderful concert.  

[photo: I like to start my day right with "Guld Korn" cereal.  I was doing so well with the games on the back...until I got to the word scramble]

At least once a week I try to grab some shawarma for lunch.  I think this is technically a Turkish dish, but it's all over Copenhagen (hot dogs are to New York City as shawarma is to Copenhagen).  It basically consists of beef, lettuce, magic sauce, and pita.  The beef is cut off a spindle which is usually displayed in the window of the shop, a form of advertisement so effective it's almost cruel.  It's become a sort of bragging right if a DIS student can find the cheapest shawarma in town.  

 
[photo:  Lots of host families are out of town this week, so the DIS kids are banding together to make dinner for each other.  On Thursday we managed a chicken-vegetable-rice combo with some curry thrown in at the last second.  Mission accomplished]

A local cafe by day / bar by night called the Studenterhuset (student house) is run mostly by University of Copenhagen students and DIS volunteers.  I worked my first shift on Wednesday night and had a blast!  Behind the counter I found some flyers they were going to put up for swing dancing on Sunday afternoons.  After joining the Bradley Swingers last semester, I've been feeling a bit deprived.  After a late pancake breakfast, I can't think of a better way to procrastinate on a lazy Sunday.  

It schnowed!

I have about a ten minute walk to the s-train station.  Here's some stuff that I see along the way.

[photo: This is my street, which as of yesterday I can pronounce correctly.  And yes, the city dots all the j's at the end with a little heart]

[photo: Ok, I might have the coolest host family, but these guys would probably be the second coolest host family.  Check out that playhouse!]

[photo: This is the Mexican / Italian food place run by some Turkish guys.  I try to stop in on Saturdays]

[photo: "Democrats", the local toy store.  I think Dad and Grandpa will find this amusing.  Also, the little orange elephant in the corner glows at night]

[photo: Yeah, the Danes really are that happy]

[photo: Best graffiti ever]

Århus

[photo: If I had a dime for every bicycle I've seen over here I wouldn't need to go back to Bradley]

This may be a historic first.  I'm actually updating this thing on a Sunday as promised!  On Thursday my program (Migration and Identity) went on a study tour to Århus, the second largest city in Denmark.  We got to hear all sorts of people talk about immigration, integration, and what all this change means for the Danish society.  We had a lecture by a man named Mehmet Necef who tried to answer the question "is denmark a racist society?"  He was arguing that it was not, but nevertheless he managed to ruffle some American feathers during his speech.  
[photo: Our hotel, the Cab Inn, was located right along one of the canals]

We also stopped by the ARoS museum and got to see their new exhibit "Enter Action".  I'm not even going to pretend to understand modern art, but this exhibit was pretty nifty.  Everything was interactive and connected in some way to technology and its affect on society.  Check out a video of one piece called "Life Writer"
[photo: We visited Søndervang, a school with 80% non-ethnic Danes.  The staff and students described the challenges of having such a diverse student body.  In the teacher's lounge we found the quick solution to dealing with the issue: a beer machine]

The food on this trip was amazing, especially considering there were 40 in our group.  Buffets are pretty popular over here, and we hit 4 wonderful places.  I wish I knew the names of all the dishes, but I could barely pronounce them let alone spell them.  One dish was pretty familiar, though.  They served waffle bits with yogurt and some kind of heavenly chocolate sauce.  Next time you're whipping up some fancy breakfast I highly recommend this combo.  

This next week will probably be pretty busy as classes start to really kick into gear.  I hope all is well back in the motherland!

Looks can fool ya

[photos: I've been very lazy with my camera this week, so I just copied these from the net.  Above we have the new opera house, library, and theater.  All of these are located within a mile of each other along this canal.  Can you tell which is which?]

I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but this weekend Marianne competed in the national competition for indoor rowing.  She and her team managed to get 3rd place!  It was one of the weirdest / coolest things I've ever seen.  The competition was held down at a local sports hall where they filled the gymnasium with rows of rowing machines.  The machines were hooked up to all sorts of gizmos which were connected to a giant projector showing the distance traveled by each "boat".  The event was set up like a track meet with individual and relay events in distances from 200 m sprints up to 2000 m races.  The relay events were by far the most exciting.  Every 500 m the rowers literally switched places on the machine.  This is far more complicated than just passing off a baton and has much more potential for failure.  Vibeke took several pictures, so I'll try to upload them as soon as she sends them to me.  

In other news, I found an awesome author!  The father of the girl who stayed with Vibeke and Marianne before me gave them a series of books by Karen Blixen.  The books contain several stories filled with all sorts of mystery, romance, and murder (I'm currently reading Seven Gothic Tales).  Blixen often wrote under the name Isac Dinesen, so if you see either one of those authors on the shelf, check 'em out.  Blixen is a Dane but she wrote in English, giving the syntax kind of an interesting flavor.  

This last week I also started to delve into Danish film.  The film club had its first meeting on Sunday where we watched "Idioterne" (The Idiots).  It was filmed according to dogme 95, something I knew nothing about.  It was possibly one of the strangest movies I've ever seen, but I would still recommend it to those interested.  I don't want to spoil any of the plot, but here's a synopsis.

On a more random note, the strangest thing keeps happening.  Since I've arrived, four Danish people have come up to me and asked if we knew each other.  The conversation usually goes like this:

Dane: Undskyld, Fiskar eru hryggdýr sem dvelja í vatni og anda með tálknum? 

Me: Uhhh...

Dane:  Oh, Undskyld

Me: Wait, I'm sorry I don't speak much Danish

Dane: You just looked familiar 

Me: Oh...

Dane: ...

Me: I like your...country.

(followed by immense awkwardness if this happens on the train)

[photo answer:  top to bottom = library, theatre, opera house]