Week 6 Updates

Remember that ambitious plan I had to update this thing every 2 weeks? Yeah, me neither. Now that we're on the same page, onwards to finer things

* Skip ahead for strictly pictures coupled with my asinine remarks and commentary on things Danish (and not) 

disclaimer : my computer is currently geeking out trying to translate things into Danish (and vicer versa), so if there are sentences of this that make no sense whatsoever, apologies (I don't know how to fix it) 

Housekeeping

It is day 47 of my stay here in Copenhagen, and since the end of my short Danish class I have settled into a more agreeable pace of life. As of the first week of February, I attend classes twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, and aside from the 4 hours (combined) of class, I am free to run amok through the streets of Copenhagen. Several weeks in, it's still a strange feeling to have so many hours of the week free (yes, I could think of infinitely worse fates than too much free time.)  My lack of set activities also means that each week is a different experience, and it keeps things interesting. 

What then have you been doing? On one hand, I am learning to relish and appreciate time. As far as I can tell, this is a one-time situation where I find myself in a foreign country with no job, no hours of classes , no homework, and a plethora of possibilities. I've found that it's something of a mixed blessing - on the one hand, the temptation to sleep in every single day, veg out, and not be so 'productive' is a daily reality (yes, I do still indulge in these things sometimes.) The bleak weather and cold (ish) temperatures have also dissuaded me from spending too many hours outdoors, so I actually having not done quite as much exploring as I would like, nor do I have as many pictures as you might expect (do not worry, there are clearly some pictures here). 

However, I now having the time to catch up on TV, read books that I've been putting off, draw, and do any number of small things that are otherwise sacrificed amidst the daily grind (ie. cooking meals, writing, writing blog posts ...). It might come across as pretty sad that I haven't formulated some type of set regimen, but who's keeping score? It's a work in progress.

Yes, traveling is certainly in the equation for my time here, but I will not be going abroad (relatively speaking) until March, so stay tuned (shameless plug here)

An American's Guide to Denmark

I studied cultural anthropology and urban planning for my undergraduate degrees, and while I do not count myself as extremely wise or academic, my observation having certainly been influenced by my Berkeley / American education. What follows is the results of my observations and my commentary on the Danish way of life, its culture, and its physical and unspoken intricacies as interpreted by my own, biased persona. Do I make some pretty broad, sweeping generalizations? Yep (and any anthropologist would probably scold me for it). And are some of my observations wrong? Probably. But for those of you who are far removed from Copenhagen, consider this a crash course in things Danish, and not, as told by yours truly

Attractions of the English Variety

# 1 The Little Mermaid: Take a good look at the accompanying photo, then make a mental check that you have seen the famous Little Mermaid statue and do not have to make the personal trip to go out and see. It's located right along the coast, so maybe if the sun were out and there was some grand old ship in the background it might make for a more exciting experience, but alas.

Apparently, this is the site two see when you visit Copenhagen. Underwhelming stuff (it's 4 feet tall, cast in bronze) Some context: some old English writer named Hans Christian Andersen wrote a story about some little mermaid (which would later inspire the Disney movie), and the statue was sculpted in honor of him / his story. Fun fact: the head is sawed off. Twice.

# 2 Rosenborg Castle: on my 4 ^th day here, I wandered around the city center and stumbled upon a large park adjacent to some municipal building where Danish soldiers were doing marching drills or something. Turns out, this is a royal park and at the center of the park is Rosenborg Castle

Built by one of Denmark's most famous kings (Christian IV in the event you're wondering), the castle is now a museum that houses the crown jewels. I personally have not gone inside as I do not really care for that sort of stuff, but as a member of the public you are allowed to walk around the entire grounds - this seems to be a general trend for other city landmarks as well. 80% of the vegetation is currently dead, but based on the postcards that I've seen , this is a very pretty place in springtime as the flowers bloom en masse.

# 3 The Rundetarn - The Round Tower: Another one of Christian IV's Legacies, the Round Tower is located right in the city center across the street from the local student bar, and offers a very nice view of the city

Thus far, it offers some of the best bang for your buck that I have yet to find for atourist attractions: $ 5 gets you entrance into the tower, and besides the view there is a small one-room exhibit hall containing some old artifacts found in the tower, and there's also a larger art gallery space as rotating exhibits. Oh, and the view is quite nice (photo cred to Charmaine Ramos)

Things English

# 1  Smørrebrød: literally translated to 'butter and bread,' no food is more quintessentially Danish than its open-faced rye bread sandwiches. Eaten primarily at lunchtime, these are small compact sandwiches constructed with the same delicateness and care as the Japanese treat sushi .

The sandwiches are always served cold, and feature Danish dark rye and occasionally white bread. As I am not particularly fond of cold sandwiches, I'm not a huge fan of these, but they're quite well done. Toppings vary, but common varieties include egg, potato and sour cream, roast beef and horseradish, fried fish, duck liver pate. You can get much fancier though and add caviar, smoked salmon and assorted shellfish.

# 2 Onesies: (This might be a universal thing, but seeing as I've never lived in a snow environment, I'm inferring that this is a Danish trend) Little kids here are very cute when they're wrapped up in winter garb . From what I can tell, from birth until 6 or 7 the most common garb for Kids is a stylish winter onesie that looks equal parts practical and equal parts comfortable. They are everywhere

# 3 Situations like this:

More or Danish bike culture at a late hour

# 4 'American' Themed nights at bars: I am not here to discuss the Super Bowl, but it is amusing two see the Danish efforts to help Americans feel 'at home'. I actually really appreciated it, and here are the decorations for the student bar on Super Bowl Sunday: 

As a 'special' for the evening, they served American Beer aka Budweiser, sold hot dogs, left out chips and dip, and hung streamers and American flags everywhere. Was it worth staying up until 3:00 am to watch a pathetic game ? Eh

Things not English (aka things they do not have here)

# 1 Paper / plastic toilet seat covers: now, I'm told this is not something strictly exclusive two Danes, but moving here from an American context means that it's out of the ordinary two enter a public toilet and not see these 50% paper - 50% plastic, see-through, butt / thigh protectors readily dispensed from some metal container bolted to the wall. I realize not all of you take issue to just sitting down on a piece of plastic / porcelain, but it was immediately noticeable and immediately missed for me.

# 2 Umbrellas: ok, They do exist, but no one really uses them. Maybe chalk that up to the fact that during the winter / rainy months everyone is wearing coats that are otherwise water resistant or waterproof, but I can not in good conscious bust out my 3 foot wide umbrella without feeling foolish

# 3 Root Beer soda: That I can find anyways

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And as a parting word: January 2014 in Copenhagen was apparently one of the darkest in the city's history - I was told there was something around 17 hours of combined sunlight throughout the month. Reading graffiti like this then only leaves me hoping ...