Be Our Guest

I mentioned earlier that mom and Steve came to Copes for a week, but I never gave a full recap. So here it is:

When I picked them up at the airport, I brought a small Dannebrog (Danish flag) to wave when they got off the plane. I was so stoked to see them after almost 3 months of being apart (the longest I've ever gone without seeing my family!). Despite Steve's pleading for a cab, we went into town by Metro, since its cheaper and I knew exactly where their hotel was.

We arrived at Central Station, and I announced "ta-da, the Astoria hotel!"

"That's nice, Franni," Steve replied. "But we're staying at the Ascot."

Oops.

We took the cab after all.

After they unpacked, we decided to go for a walk around town. As we left the hotel, we bumped into Steve's buddy Steve "Toots" Toltz. Toots was in town for a conference and happened to be staying at the same hotel, so we all went out for coffee.

Dinner was at the restaurant that Walter always makes us go to. They have awesome burgers that are so big, you have to eat them with a knife and fork, plus really good fries and microbrew beer. I had a chicken sandwich with curry sauce, chutney and pineapple - really tasty.

The next day, we went to the Jewish museum. It is small, but quite excellent. The building is brilliantly  designed by architect Daniel Libeskind and contains interesting artifacts about the history of Jews in Denmark, with a focus on the rescue of almost the entire population from the Nazis. I would highly recommend it.

Lunch was at the cute and super-bourgeois Cafe Katz. My vegetarian pasta and Mom's goat cheese salad were out of this world. I haven't been to restaurants at all in Copenhagen because everything is out of the price range of your average college student, so it was great to be spoiled for a few days. However, I think Steve's favorite eatery in Copenhagen was the bagel joint down the road from DIS (they make bomb tuna salad), so... yeah.

When I had class, I sent them off to several museums, including my favorite, the Statens Museum for Kunst, and the Louisiana. I went to the Louisiana the week after, and we all decided that the Manga exhibit was surprisingly cool (albeit sketchy as hell) and Per Kirkeby is a Grade A bullshit artists. Art history-types out there, help me out: does anyone understand this dude? It all looked like nonsense to me. For instance:

But I digress. We also had a great time at the Museum of the Danish Resistance, which was amazing and is a definite must see. The scope and variety of artifacts is astounding and it gives an extraordinarily detailed account of the German occupation during World War II. We spent a ridiculously long time there. After, we ate at a cute cafe called "Mormor" ("grandma" in Danish) and shopped at Magasin. I almost bought a pair of red snakeskin skinny jeans at TopShop, but managed to restrain myself, haha. Later, we crashed my Danish class' hyggenat (hygge night - no good translation) and saw the new James Bond movie. Funnily enough, most of the bad guys are Danish actors. Huh.

Mom and I had a ridiculous meal at NOMA, a two Michelin star restaurant in Nyhavn. We ate lunch for 4 hours. 4 hours. Of non-stop eating. Here are some photos of the crazy shit we consumed:

Friday, we hung out at Robert's, my favorite coffee shop, and got fredagskage (Friday cake) at St. Petes. We went to Tivoli in the evening, and walked around, enjoying the lights and music and general magical Christmas spirit. We even caught a laser light and fountain show! Unfortunately, the camera was dying, so we didn't get good pictures. But the aebleskivers og glogg were terrific and we played with animatronic pixies. A cute time was had by all.

But seriously, I am so lucky that Mom and Steve managed to make it out to Copenhagen. Being on a program with other American students, you always have a bit of "America your home" with you; however, I don't miss America so much as I miss "Burlington my home," specifically "Family my home." Seeing this more personal and concrete representation of home meant the world to me. 

Things that are Awesome and Weird

1. Thanksgiving with a large group of Polish men

If you ever had my grandma's sponge cake or my mom's cranberry relish, you too would be heartbroken to be spending Thanksgiving on a different continent than the people you love the most.

Scratch that, everyone I know who is studying abroad was bummed about the prospect of a family-less Thanksgiving in a country where turkey is mostly MIA. Luckily, most of us had a great evening. Let me tell you about mine:

DIK, one of the kollegiums (Danish dorms), was having a potluck, so I bought an obscene number of vegetables at Netto and made not one, but two giant salads. There was a pretty big crowd at DIK (30 people or so), with people from all over the USA, plus Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Romania and Poland. Poland represented big time. Dinner was great: We had 2 kinds of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, creamed spinach, peas, garlic bread, clementines, gravy (no, not on the clementines, silly), mini apple pies, ruggelach, cookies, raspberry cheesecake, pumpkin pie, cranberry bread... and, yes, even turkey. Plus wine. Lots of wine. All kinds of wine. Holy crap we drank so much wine.

After eating ourselves into the requisite food coma, one of the Polish guys busted out an acoustic guitar and we sang dorky acoustic guitar songs, like "Wonderwall" and "Save Tonight." Astrud even managed to figure out the chords to "More Than Words," which added to the evening's nice 90s power ballad flavor. But in a good, hygge kind of way, ya dig?

Sadly, we never went around and said what we were thankful for. So I think I will do that in section #2.

2. Things I am thankful for in Denmark

• Sankt Peders Bageri - the best pastries and coffee I have ever had. A day without St. Petes is a day without sun. Truly. This is by far the best thing about Denmark.

• Cafe Culture - few things are more delightful sitting in a warm, cozy spot with an overpriced beverage. Plus they don't kick you out after 5... hours

• Watching the sun rise over the ocean - I kind of hate waking up before the sun (6:30AM), but its almost all worth it to watch it come up over the water while on my bike/bus. Something I would never do at Wesleyan.

• Open container laws - it never gets old! Drinking beer in public whenever you want (saw a dude with a Tuborg at 7:45AM, bless his heart) never. gets. old.

• My little kids at practicum - so cute. Can't handle it.
  

3. Field Trip to the Experimentarium

We went to the Experimentarium, which is an interactive, science-themed children's museum in Hellerup ("the Miami of Copenhagen," according to Pearse).

The experimentarium is AWESOME. They have a WIND TUNNEL. And DISECTIONS OF EYEBALLS AND BRAINS. And stuff that spins and other stuff that goes up and down and other stuff that shakes and lights up and makes noises. Oh! And a lion that you put your head in its mouth and it registers how loud you scream! Oh man. Seriously, if physics class were like that at Winsor, I might actually understand the universe. Maybe not, but I would definitely be more inspired to continue the science thing further.

The two best sections were a station about exercise and burning calories. I challenged Seth to a simulated triathalon: biking, ERGing and wheelchair racing. (He won, but I came pretty close in the wheelchair race!) As you move the machine, a drop of sugar water falls into the cup, depending on your heartrate and fat burn. At the end, the amount of sugar water you get represents the calories you raced off. Pretty nifty - good workout, too.

The other was the "Sensetunnel." John and I went in without knowing what it was. That was scary. The "touch" room is pitch black, and you have to feel your way around. The "sight room" is all mirrors (see photo), the "smell room" reeks - things like that. Awesome.

And speaking of being blinded with science...


4. Stiff by Mary Roach

So, I just finished a book about cadavers. It was awesome - totally worth all of those weird looks I got on the train every morning. And funny.

No, really! Check it out:

"The human head is of the same approximate size and weight as a roaster chicken. I have never before had occasion to make the comparison, for never before today have I seen a head in a roasting pan. But here are forty of them, one per pan, resting face-up on what looks to be a small pet-food bowl. The heads are for plastic surgeons, two per head, to practice on. I'm observing a facial anatomy and face-lift refresher course, sponsored by a southern university medical center and led by a half-dozen of America's most sought-after face-lifters." (p. 1)

Roach goes on to describe topics ranging from testing the "stopping power" of bullets on cadavers to crucifixion experiments to medicinal cannibalism. You learn about the ethics of organ transplant and anatomy studies. Every day I wondered whether I should drop my majors and pick up studying recess - excuse me, kinesiology - like Oleg so I can learn about how bodies work. But I think the book was sufficient and I would recommend it to anyone except the squeamish.



5. MGMT concert

I almost forgot! It was pretty good - the crowd was big and really into it. They sounded tighter and more confident than when they opened for of Montreal, but the complete lack of between-song patter was kind of awkward. The backing band was great, and they even played "Kids"! Well, kind of. Andrew and Ben just boogied around stage to a vocal track while the band played live. They must really hate that song. Too bad for them, its a crowd pleaser.

My biggest complaint was that the show was short, which is to be expected, seeing as they only have 1 album. They didn't play any covers, though - I was sort of hoping for a reprise of "Brown Eyed Girl." But the Danish hipsters were out in full force and ate the whole thing up. And we all boogied to "Electric Feel." Videos are up on youtube. And you know what else is on youtube?

6. The bald guy from Aqua (you know, the "come on Barbie, let's go party" guy) is on a Danish reality show called "All Stars" in which he competes against other Danish has-beens to see who can direct the best choir. His group of all-white Danes from the lovely island of Bornholm decided to sing "They Don't Really Care About Us," Michael Jackson's ode to depressed conditions in the ghetto.

You must see this.

But there you go you're sailing away - but there you are

Context for this post:
The metro broke down last night. Not only did I miss my bus, but it broke at a random stop that I had never been to before. This means that I walked 6 miles in the snow in HEELS around midnight to find a cab. No, I had no idea where the hell I was. No, there was no one around. No, my host family was not answering their cell phones.

This most unfortunate series of events gave me a lot of time - in between my brain's howling obscenities - to reflect upon my experience in Denmark.

DIS probably won't give this post "blog of the week." But here goes:

I appreciate my experience here. I have known from the outset that the opportunity to live in another country is an incredible privilege. For the most part, I think I have made the most out of what Denmark has to offer: academically-culturally (museums and such), socio-culturally (meeting Danish people, experiencing traditions), socially (bars, clubs - though not to the extent you might expect. More on that later.), naturally (the gorgeous landscapes), architecturally, politically, commercially, religiously.... I think I have covered the majority of my bases here.

Yet I have found this study-abroad experience lacking on a few levels. Academically, its not Wesleyan. It didn't pretend to be. Our assignments are predominantly "busy work" and, well, they've been keeping me pretty darn busy. I just wish that I felt like we were going more in depth, given the time committment expected. But... so it goes, I guess.

For Danish class, we had a project to "capture Danishness" through a 10-minute PowerPoint, which got me thinking. The entire time I have been here, I have been wondering about that whole "Danes are the happiest people" thing. Why? What makes them the happiest?

I think I have an idea:
Danes are very satisfied with the status quo. Now, the status quo is pretty great here. You have a lovely childhood, the welfare state takes care of your needs, you have had the same group of friends since pre-school, you can take a 3 week vacation to Thailand (no joke, this is really common). No complaints, really. If something bad happens, you watch it on TV and say, "tsk tsk, something should be done about those Arabs" - because, see, to a Dane, everything is the Arabs' fault - and then you drink some beer.

Harsh? Maybe. But here is my point: Danes are complacent and I am not. I'm not saying Danes are stupid and I'm not saying they are lazy; I am just saying that they are very satisfied with the way the world works. And the way the world works in Denmark is that all the people who look the same stick together. I could never live in that society. I need tension and discomfort and new experiences from people who aren't clones of myself. In retrospect, given my personality, I should have studied someplace like Paris or London or Cape Town - a wealth of diversity and excitement. Copenhagen is exciting, but the people aren't as dynamic as I had hoped.

But I knew that I was entering a homogenous society, which I precisely part of the reason I wanted to come here. I have never and will never again live someplace in which everyone is the same. Therefore, in order to get a) a true cultural immersion and b) a completely different cultural experience, I had to go someplace that wasn't necessarily what I liked, but what I needed for my own personal and intellectual growth.

On drinking culture:
My "party girl" rep continues to amaze and confuse me. Ryan always tells me, "girl, you so crazy!" Yeah, I'm a bit of a goofball and have few reservations when it comes to adventure (laser tag? karaoke? inappropriate dance parties? road trips to nowhere? LET's GO!). I make it out at least once a weekend, of course. But no, people, I am not in the clubs every night. No, people, I have not broken a thousand Danish hearts. Sorry, people, I'm usually fast asleep by 3AM.

I wonder if I am suffocating my "fun-ness." Am I just being too cheap/lazy? A little. But the Danish club scene isn't like those infamous Parties on Fountain. I like being around people I know (at least tangeantially) when I go out, I guess. And those sexy Danish men you are all imagining? They are AWKWARD. And not that cute, either. I really have no interest in them, which is a pity, because short brunettes are really in demand here. I guess they like diversity after all, haha.

In sum:
Parties are good, but without a great crew to share them with, who cares? And good conversation in a cafe is preferable to deafening techno in a club every time. Well, almost every time. Like, 90% of the time. Sometimes, man, I just wanna daaaaaaaaaaaaance.

I didn't leave MA or Wesleyan because I was unhappy. I have a great relationship with my parents. I love Wes. I love everything about Wes. I don't want to leave Wes. I knew that before I even thought about going abroad. That's why, even though I am having an amazing experience here, I am homesick. This whole thing would be so much better if all of you were here to share it with me.

That being said, going places alone never scares me. I don't think of it as being such a big deal. When people ask me, "don't you have any friends in Denmark?" I say, "no. That's why I am going to Denmark. To make friends." I like my independence and I like having to figure my own shit out. I like having time to think, because, as you all know, the middle part of my brain-filter-mouth mechanism frequently malfunctions.

So, yeah, it's good that I'm a little lonely. And it's good that I am not going out all the time. And it's fine that I don't loooooooooooove the Danish people and the Danish lifestyle. Studying abroad doesn't have to be the most super-incredible-fan-fucking-tastically-awesomely-awesome experience of my life. But I am getting what I wanted and needed:

I am learning about the world.
I am learning about myself.
I am on my way.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

True Story:
Woke up this morning, checked weatherbug.com (the weather in Denmark? scattered drizzles, Gene Kelly showers, or miserable, apocalyptic downpour. but I digres...) and it said flurries! Snow flurries! This weekend! Yay!

I went outside to get my bike and landed smack on my ass. Why? Ice.
Ice?
Ice!
Yay!
(sort of)

Winter is here. As David mentioned in his blog, autumn is much shorter in Western Europe than Eastern America. I was sad to miss the New England fall for the first time in my life, but even sadder to not experience that glorious first winter snow. The way the air is so cold it shoots through your puffy coat and into courses through your body. You feel it in your teeth.

As I mentioned earlier, Christmas hubbub is already in the works. Christmas beer is out and the Christmas markets opened in Nyhavn. I am thoroughly enjoying the international market in Gammeltorv and have been eating my way across Europe (first up: Dutch pancakes, followed by apricot croissants from France and Spanish paella. Tomorrow its either kangaroo, ostrich or crocodile burgers. Your thoughts?). There are pine garlands with red hearts along the Strøget and kiosks are selling aebleskiver and gløgg. Best of all, Christmas Tivoli!



(more on this when I do the big post about my parents' visit)













Thanksigiving is on Thursday and that should be... interesting. See, Jacob thinks I know how to prepare the meal myself. I don't. I'm more of a sous-chef than an actual cook, really. Like, I follow directions well, but I don't really "know what I'm doing." PS: sticking my arm in turkey cavities? Nej, tak.

Well, we shall see how that goes. In the meantime, I'll be singing "jingle bells" and avoiding my Health Care in Scandinavia research paper that's due tomorrow.

We Are Family

My parents are in town!!!!!

Hadn't expected to update the blog while they are here, but this evening was just so great I had to report while it was still fresh in my mind.

Mom and Steve finally came to visit the host family today, which happens to be the Danish holiday of Mortensdag. Mortensdag is the feast of St. Morten, Bishop of Tours and commemorates... something about Morten's getting betrayed by ducks? And then having to slaughter them? I really don't understand what went down (or why St. Morten also goes by the alias St. Jordi), but here's the Danish wikipedia article. Anyway, the Danes celebrate on November 10-11 by lighting candles and eating ducks and having a hygglit evening with friends and fam.

I really wasn't worried about my parents and host parents' getting along. Conversation flowed smoothly and it was wonderful to see Jacob's mom (host far-mor, if you will) and hear about her travels in China. I forget what we discussed, but it was lovely. And we ate and laughed and ate and drank and ate.

Boy, did we eat.

The duck was spectacular. Jacob really outdid himself. It was served with hot shredded red cabbage, two kinds of boiled white potatoes (plain and with caramel sauce... wahwahwaaaaah so good!), dried spiced apricots, plums and grapes, potato chips (idk) and 3 different kinds of liquor. First was a Christmas beer from a microbrewery, then a red wine, followed by gløgg for dessert, which is a Danish mulled wine with nuts and raisins. Dessert was, of course, Jacob's special æblekage with homemade piskefløde and preserves. I kind of feel sick from eating so much, but it was WORTH IT.

It was so nice to hear all of the wonderful things the Stages had to say about my family. Even Tobias commented that mom and I look exactly alike! Jacob, washing dishes only in a tshirt, boxerbriefs and "Hot Stuff" apron, commented on how "kind and open" my parents are. Trine was glowing and raving about them. I felt extremely proud. So glad to be reunited with the folks for a week! I am incredibly lucky.

Santa Claus is coming to town?

I think Denmark can best be described through the 4 Bs:
Bread
Bikes
Blondes
Beer

Last night, I experienced the Danes' intense affection for B4, specifically Tuborg Julebryg, Christmas Beer.

The night Carlsberg releases its Christmas beer is known as "J-Dag (day)," an unofficial national holiday in which the vast majority of Danes over age 18 hit the bars. J-Dag used to be on a Tuesday, but was moved to Friday because employers complained of too many workers calling in "sick" the next day.

So, in the name of cultural experience, we decided to check it out.

"Copenhagen Weekly" described the J-Dag events, including a launch party at the Carlsberg Factory at 7:45 PM. When Gabi, Liza and I arrived, we were delighted to see snow in the streets! Fake snow, of course. Snow that looked like... foam? Beer head foam? In the road? Awesome! (but kinda gross, too)

Well, turns out the party at Carlsberg was only for Carlsberg employees. Oops. Awkward. So we joined up with a HUGE group of DIS students to head into Copenhagen proper.

All of the bars on the Strøget were decked out with lights and balloons and, yes, more beer head foam piped out from the roofs like snow. We managed to split off from the gigantic and awkward crew of Americans and find a table near the door of the Irish Rover. Everything was ridonkulously expensive (a pint of Leffe Brune was 49DKK!), but came with a free cup of Julebryg, which is really good.

According to the Carlsberg website, "Tuborg Julebryg (5.6% ABV) is a bottom-fermented, wiener beer brewed on lager, münchener and caramel malt with English liquorice. The beer is dark-golden with a fresh aroma of caramel, grain, liquorice and blackcurrant. It's excellent with traditional Christmas recipes, smoked fish, grilled/fried herring, smoked ham with curly kale, roast pork and duck."

Carlsberg employees dressed as "pixies" (elves for you Americans out there) scamper into each bar once a night with several big cases of beer, blinking santa hats, stickers and other nonsense. Everyone sings "jingle bells" with "Ju-le-bryg! Ju-le-bryg! Tuborg Julebryg!" replacing the normal words. You sing and shout and push to get free beer. Its awesome. We also caught pixietime at The Globe, which was equally a hoot.

A very merry early Christmas, everyone!

Hope: No Longer Audacious

It is 5:22AM in Copenhagen and I am watching Senator John McCain's concession speech. The headline on my television says, "Barack Obama Elected President: CNN Projection - McCain 155, Obama 306."

Part of me is in shock, part of me is not surprised at all, yet all of me is at peace.

Growing up in a blue state, I spent the first half of my life watching Democrats in power and feeling that the American government reflected my family's values. My grandfather was a World War II vet who wore flag pins on the lapel of his blazer before they became a fashion statement. I made flag cakes on the Fourth of July and never begrudged saying the "Pledge of Allegiance" each morning in elementary school.

I saw no reason for the 2000 election to be any different. I went to bed confident in my Vice-President's victory and woke up hopeful. As the days and weeks dragged, pregnant with tension and chads, I was convinced that it was just a ridiculous phase in my country's history. It will pass. Clinton will come back. America will still be great.

I see no reason to recount the loss of our collective innocence in September 2001. But I will say that I have felt like a foreigner in my own homeland for the past 8 years. I chalked my alienation up to several factors: teenage rebellion, an increased consciousness, a generally precarious political situation. But one thing remained constant:

I never blamed President Bush. That was too easy, too obvious. My newfound cynicism was borne from something less concrete and more profound, I was sure of that. It can't just be one man.

I have always considered myself an optimist in every respect... except for politics. There is a newspaper clipping on my bedroom door at home that says, "Politics. From the Latin "poly" meaning "many," and "ticks" meaning "blood-sucking parasites." I had no trust for politicians - any politician in any government in any country. Therefore, I was wary of Obama and downright terrified of the ObamaNation "YES WE CAN" groupthink.

But now I'm watching John McCain say, "the failure is mine, not yours."

Of course he is referring to losing the election, but that statement has made me think.

I became disillusioned as a result of the actions and inactions (mostly the latter) of the American people, the American president and the global community. It was not America itself.

Tonight, I believe in America.

I know I'm unintentionally regurgitating tired pundit lines and I'm sorry. But that is how I feel. I think our country redeemed itself by choosing Senator President Elect Obama. We aren't a bunch of stupid, backwards, unchanging, passive, racist hicks. We can change. We can move forward. We can hope. Yes...

we can.

(That's the first time I've said that without making a joke, by the way)

John McCain just said, "believe always in the promise and greatness of America... Americans never quit. We don't hide from history, we make history." I didn't for a long time. But now I think I understand.

America is not George Bush.

America is not Barack Obama.

America is not me. Or my grandpa with his flag lapel pins. Or the pundits or the soldiers or the intellectuals or the hicks.

America is at once more solid and more amorphous than that. Living abroad and traveling has taught me that. I have never been one for partisan politics and I am not going to start now. My faith in my country has not been restored merely because the comparative liberal has been elected, that would be petty.

My faith has been restored because I see that America can move forward. America can heal. And this resolve comes from the mouths of all Americans, not just those in Florida and Ohio.

Now Obama has taken the podium:

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

I am crying. I am actually crying.

"Change has come to America."