this is it

Hello, all! Posts on "How to Be a Great Dane" have come to an end. If you're looking for more posts, check out my other blog. All the best to you!

intermission

Well, I'm back in the States if you didn't know it yet. And with that transition comes the realization that my life at this point is full of bouncing around to go to different places and do different things.

Take my 2012 for instance. The way it's broken up feels to me like a play in three acts with a couple of brief intermissions spent with my family. Act One - Denmark. [Intermission] Act Two - The Ranch. [Intermission] Act Three - Eastern. As I write this I'm at the end of Intermission #1, having spent a joyful and memorable week with my family. I was home just long enough to see everyone, do my laundry, re-coop, change out costumes, and gear up for a different role to play. Away with the sweaters and scarves, winter boots and European chic in exchange for plaid shirts and bandanas, cowboy boots and western wear galore.

But since this blog is dedicated to my time in Denmark, I suppose I should tell you how Act One ended. Last time I wrote was just before my final week in Denmark. Since I'd finished all my classes I got an entire week to go and do whatever I wanted. The "whatever I wanted" consisted of finishing out my Copenhagen bucket list and revisiting the places that had become "my spots" around the city. I honestly don't remember right now everything that I did but I have it written down somewhere. So sorry if you were actually interested in details. But a couple of highlights included spending lovely afternoons biking around the city and taking pictures of all the touristy things, visiting the grave where HC Andersen and Kierkegaard are buried (Niels Bohr is also buried there but I couldn't find his grave), seeing various friends for one last time, making a trek over to Malmo, Sweden (which is less than 30 minutes from Copenhagen) and finally climbing to the top of Our Savior's Church to touch the gold ball up on top. Here's proof:

By the time it was all said and done, I was honestly ready to get on the plane. Not because I'd gotten sick of Copenhagen but because, as I wrote in my last post, I knew it was just time to move on. 

Since this is my last post I thought about writing a long and thoughtful entry about the ways in which I grew to become more like a Dane during the semester (after all, my blog is called "How to Be a Great Dane" and I honestly didn't write much answering that question - sorry). But I decided against it for this reason: once you're different it's hard to put into words just what makes you so and once your perspective is changed it's hard to describe how you used to view the world; all I can say is that yes I changed and that yes I became at least a little bit more Danish - and the rest you'll just have to get out of me in conversations. Which I prefer anyway.

Instead, I thought I'd end this post with the tale of the final leg of my journey back home. I had an abrupt "welcome" back to the States in the Dulles airport in DC. It was there that I was reminded of the hurried pace of American life, of inefficient service and impatience with non-English speakers, of the prevalence of arbitrary rules and laws, and of the unspoken code to always answer "how are you" with a "good" or "fine." After I boarded my plane from DC to Jacksonville, I was busy ranting in my journal about all of this when I heard the following: "Welcome aboard to full service to Albany!" Albany. Definitely not Jacksonville. The completely wrong direction in fact. Somehow I had actually managed to board the wrong plane! I successfully traveled all around Europe for four months in countries that don't have English as the native language and on the very last day of traveling and in my native country, I somehow ended up on the wrong plane. Well, let me tell you, I booked it off that plane. But by the time I got off, the plane I wanted to be on had already left. Being the competent world traveler that I am... I had a bit of a nervous breakdown. Meaning I collapsed underneath the departure sign of the terminal and let loose tears of exhaustion, frustration, and culture shock. I still wonder what people were thinking of me because I was a real mess right then. Eventually I pulled it together and everything worked out, but not before shedding a few more tears and calling my parents several times to figure out a re-booked flight. The only person to speak a word to me during my disheveled state was a clearly-Southern mom who said, "Sweetie, it can't be so bad. Missin' your plane isn't the worst thing that coulda happened to ya." Even though I knew she was right, my response was: "Yeah but I've been traveling for four months and all I want to do is get home!" (I'm glad I refrained from adding "And I really dislike America right now!") Still, when I combine her advice with the fact that, for my mom, a phone call from her daughter in tears, at the time when her plane was supposed to be in the air, translates as "my daughter's about to be in a plane crash," that Southern lady is right: There are far worse things that can happen. So, as cliche as it sounds, better to look on the bright side. 

And on that note, God bless America! =)

[End of Act One.]

P.S. If you'd like to keep up with me from here on out, check out my other blog Trinkets and Travels. Vi ses!

Turtle Chronicles Pt 5 and final

My dear traveling turtle friend, Chester, has been very active during the past 6 weeks. In that time alone he was in 7 different countries. Adding that to the previously-traveled-to nation of Italy, and that makes 8 European countries in all. Not bad for the little guy! Here's evidence of his many final adventures. 

Hamburg, Germany

Cologne, Germany

Cesky Raj, Czech Republic

Paris, France

Paris, France

Paris, France

Zurich, Switzerland

Bergen, Norway

Bergen. Norway

Bergen, Norway

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo, Sweden

Malmo, Sweden

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark

Back in Denmark. Perfect way for Chester to end his European tale. Off to more adventures in the USofA!

the end and the beginning

The time was at 14:00 today (that's 2pm for all you Americans) and the place was Gråbrødretorv (an open square near my house where I love to sit underneath a giant ol' tree). I had just finished my last class - not just of the day but of the entire semester. I had walked to the square in a confused daze because I found it so strange to consider the fact that I won't be going to any more classes in Denmark and that I have barely over a week left of living here. So I returned to something familiar and pleasant - my spot on the bench at Gråbrødretorv. Here I sat contemplating life and bemoaning the fact that I'm leaving Copenhagen next week. I was in the middle of writing a sentimental entry in my journal when... 

A bird pooped on me. Large and fresh and right on my shoulder. I was in mid sentence and the bird went and pooped on me and broke my train of thought completely. But I'm glad he (or she) did. I laughed quite literally out loud. Not one of those fake out loud laughs that people say they do when they write LOL but an actual laugh. Which is strange to do on your own anywhere but especially so in Denmark. 

As I said, I'm glad that bird pooped on me. Not because I hated the scarf it ruined (I actually quite liked it) but because it sent me on a completely different train of thought. The rest of this is based off what I'd written.

It's over. I have 8 days left until I leave. I know it's time to leave, I've been preparing for it to be time to leave but [insert bird poop falling and subsequent laughter]... Ok I have to admit that the bird poop incident of 2012 just broke my thought process and what I was going to say doesn't seem important anymore. What does seem important is to remember that life happens and that I can choose to mope about the sad stuff or to be happy about the good stuff. Something tells me to choose the latter. 

I've become a student of life while being abroad. Though I learned a lot in the classroom the majority of what I learned this semester came from outside of it - from wandering new places and getting to know them, from hours in conversation with people from other cultures, and from observing and being open. Beyond all the Danishness I've learned so much about and have in many ways taken on as my own, my broader outlook on life has changed and I realize that the good experiences I'm having don't have to end when I go back to the States - and for anyone else, they don't have to start just when you're abroad. 

All it requires is an open mind and a willingness to step out wherever you're at and try new things. In the words of an all time favorite character, Miss Frizzle from Magic School Bus, "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" Though you probably won't end up traveling through a friend's digestive system or being baked into a cake, you just might make a new friend or, in my case, find that you have a secret obsession with rye bread.

Life is full of opportunities to say yes or to say no. I find that I've been saying yes way more frequently while abroad than I might've normally, and I've been loving my time here because of it. For example, my favorite trip this semester began with the simple thought, "Hey I'd really like to go hiking in Norway." I said "Why not?" and ran with it, booked a cheap flight, found a place to stay via CouchSurfing, and packed my backpack for a solo 5 day adventure in Bergen - the city of seven mountains and the gateway to the fjords. I came away from that trip with the confidence that, come rain or snow, I can hike mountains on my own; with the discovery that Norway (especially the fjords) is one of the most beautiful places I've seen; and with the experience of creating a unique CouchSurfing family (1 Latvian, 1 Slovakian, 2 Americans, and 1 Norwegian family). The days were simple, lots of nature and conversation and no technology, and the evenings were well spent over shared meals and stories and hours of game playing. An experience I wouldn't trade for anything... and wouldn't have had if I didn't take the chance of going. 

Life's like one of those "please touch" interactive museums, not a stale museum where you just stand politely and look at artifacts. It would be very possible to create artifact after artifact of past experiences and to spend all my time thinking of those memories (and in some cases regrets). Remembrance has its place but life shouldn't be lived there. Life should be enjoyed in the here and now, and it should be spent doing things you love alongside the people you love.

Yeah I'm saying goodbye to a place and to people I've grown attached to. But I'm not leaving empty handed; I'm carrying back with me the fruit of much growth, a new-found appreciation of candles and cycling, and a realization that "How are you" is a question only worth asking if you truly want the answer. And I'd like to think that through time spent volunteering and in making friends I'm leaving a piece of me behind here, too. 

So, you see, instead of focusing on what I'm leaving it's better to focus on where I'm going and to remember to live fully no matter what country I'm in. This isn't really an "end" that I've reached, then. It's just the beginning. 

A bit of natural beauty for you... #1: Norwegian mountains

#2: Danish flowers... Happy Spring!

P.S. I expect this to be my last post before coming back to the States. Something about wanting to live fully during my last week in Denmark - which does not include spending tons of time on a computer. 

O Nettle, Where is Thy Sting?

Ever since I was a kid (and especially when I was a kid) I haven't exactly had the fondest view of stinging nettle. I just saw it as this awful little green weed with the power to make my skin burn.

But now this sworn enemy of mine has been conquered. And eaten.

Yup, that's right. I ate stinging nettle today. More like I cooked and ate stinging nettle today.

As part of living in the Green House at DIS we have a weekly dinner that we take turns cooking, and tonight was my turn to be a co-chef. Since we're also part of a vegetable co-cop in Copenhagen, we get 2 bags of fresh veggies from local farmers for making the meal. Every week's an adventure because we end up getting things we never would've imagined having to cook with. Like Jerusalem artichoke. Or celery root. Or... nettle. But what's study abroad for but taking on challenges and growing from new experiences?

So for my next new experience, cooking nettle it was - and cook it we did... into a soup along with those Jerusalem artichokes and some good ol' fashioned potatoes and pureed to perfection. Result? Deliciousness.

I can say one thing for sure: living in the Green House has broadened my horizons and given me more confidence when it comes to cooking unusual vegetables. And conquering childhood enemies.

The Enemy

little things that mean the most

Since being back in Copenhagen from all my European travels, I've decided I really love this place. I mentioned that at the end of my last post, but it's worth repeating. Just why do I like it here so much?

Reason #1: Outdoor kindergartens... Where else could 'being in school' mean 'building forts, exploring the woods, and climbing trees?' I recently spent a day visiting an outdoor kindergarten and fell in love with the educational model. Young kids from the city are taken out into the country where they spend their 'school day' just playing outside - rain or shine. The Danes have it right: kids need to spend time outdoors (heck, people need to spend time outdoors) and there's so much to be learned via nature and play that can't be learned in a classroom.

Reason #2: National Research Day... 4/20 may mean something completely different to some, but here in Copenhagen it meant hosting an outdoor research symposium that was more or less like a giant science fair. On my way back from classes, I stumbled upon a large collection of tents in Frue Plads (a plaza nearby) which I later discovered was part of an annual festival to promote the sciences. When I got closer I noticed that there was everything from microscopes to a man dissecting an otter inside. So after I stopped to touch the otter guts (gloves of course) I tried my hand at designing my own windmill. I have a new respect for engineers because I stunk at it.

Reason #3: Organic Day... Similar to the above except with live animals instead of dead ones. Stumbled upon the festivities on my way home from church. It consisted of a lot of tents, a couple of cows, a big screen broadcast, and a whole ton of people. Free yogurt and milk galore and stickers saying 'jeg ♥ øko' (I love organic).  Judging by the number of people there (mainly families), it seemed like a big deal for the Danes. Big day for the cows in Denmark, too, because apparently it's the day they get let out into the fields - or something like that. But for Copenhagen in particular, which is a bit short on cows, it was an excuse to promote organic food, let kids milk fake cows, and have a whole lot of fun.

Ok so clearly those aren't the most important reasons I like Copenhagen... but they're all things that made me happy to be living here.

around the world (of Europe) in 14 days

Spring break in the world of DIS is a two week long European traveling extravaganza. They provide planned trips if you want an easy way of doing out-of-the-ordinary traveling or you can just opt to travel on your own (personally, I decided to go half and half). By the end of it you've had a whirlwind of experiences from the eye-opening to the breath-taking to the live-and-learn.

I started off with spending 3 days in the Czech countryside at Hruba Skala (an old castle turned hotel) that became home to 40 DIS students and our Czech guides as we did a range of outdoor adventuring - archery, hiking, ziplining, high ropes bridging, rock climbing, rappelling, and caving. You certainly get a different take on a country when you're army crawling through a dark cave tunnel or hanging on to the side of a rock-face. As I felt quite at home in spending the entire day romping around outdoors, I would've gladly spent the rest of my travel break perfecting my climbing skills... but there were more things to be seen.

Before leaving the Czech Republic, we spent a day in Prague. With the aim of finding my way to the Dvorak Museum, I ventured out and spent the day on my own. I never did make it to that museum, but I did find some great things. I tasted a local pastry called trdelnik which was shaped like a cylinder and tasted a whole lot like one of those cinnamon soft pretzels, went to the top of the Eiffel-look-alike Petrin Tower, spent a leisurely time at the Czech Museum of Music (which had an exhibit on Dvorak), and topped off the day with  the classic meal of goulash.

Next on the agenda was going to Paris. I hit up all the typical touristy hotspots, as did the thousands of other people who were in Paris for Easter weekend. It was exciting to see so many things I grew up hearing about and seeing in pictures, from monuments to artwork... like Van Gogh's painting of his bedroom (when I was a kid a played this board game called Masterpiece that highlights great works of art, and I always liked that particular Van Gogh painting). I can also add my name to the list of people who's climbed to the top of the Eiffel Tower (I should say climbed 2/3 of it... the last 1/3 is an elevator), and I became quite fond of Parisian parks as well. Paris is such a huge city, and - though I only scratched the surface of it in a couple of days - I liked what I saw.

After Paris, my last two stops were to visit friends in Switzerland and then Germany. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and to get a different perspective on those areas from people who live there, and I had a most memorable experience of going on a run around a lake in Switzerland with a gorgeous view of the Alps (but of all days to leave my camera at home!).

To be entirely honest, though, it was really good to get back home to Copenhagen. My eyes lit up when I heard, for the first time in two weeks, Danish being spoken in the airport, and it was refreshing to not have to consult a map for directions.

In three months of being in Copenhagen, I've left and returned to it three times. And every time I realize just how much I love it here. 

making a list and checking it twice

Two more things have been crossed off my list of places to go in Denmark: the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and the Little Mermaid. 

Louisiana is a must-see museum if you're in Copenhagen. I went there a couple weekends ago. It's a bit out of the city, about an hour train ride away. I'm admittedly not a huge fan of modern art, but I really appreciated this museum. The building it's housed in is relatively small, has a lot of windows in place of walls, and has multiple exit and entrance points so that you're encouraged to take a break from the exhibits and get some fresh air outside on the trails and down by the sea. I like the idea of combining the natural and the man-made in one's appreciation of beauty. The tour guide said that Louisiana was designed to be a place where you could comfortably spend an entire day and to be a place where you felt like you were just visiting a relative. My favorite exhibit, and where I spent the most time by far, was from the photographer Andreas Gursky. His art is something you have to experience because he has massive prints that capture, at the same time, incredible detail and vast perspective. I thought about buying a postcard of one of his photos, but the 4x6 print just didn't do justice to it. 

The Little Mermaid is also a must-see, though not because it's large or prominent. Just because it's one of those things that Google Images considers to be quintessential Copenhagen. And the area where it's located is a beautiful place to walk around down by the canals and near the old battalion protected by very steep grass hills/walls. There's even an old-fashioned windmill nearby which I have plans to return to and take pictures.

The Little Mermaid

P.S. This is the other place that's classic Copenhagen according to Google: Nyhavn (new-houn).
I went there recently, too.

through a glass dimly

Sometimes it seems like an injustice to an experience to try and reduce it to a short, few hundred word blog post. In this case I find that to be especially true. Just a few hours ago I returned from a weekend in Hamburg, Germany with my Holocaust and Genocide course; I don't need to elaborate any more on the purpose of the trip. 

The first place we visited was Bullenhuser Damm, where 20 Jewish children ages 5-12 and their caretakers were brought to be murdered after having been part of medical experimentation. Today the building houses both a kindergarten and a therapy center in addition to a memorial museum. The upper floor of the museum has the history of each victim and his/her picture. The bottom floor is the basement where the actual crime took place; the image of its cold, white-washed walls will stay with me for a long time. On the wall was a quotation from one of the men who did the deed: "I asked Trzebinski if this had to be done, and he said orders are orders." Chilling. Outside is a memorial rose garden, a very personal way of remembering the lives of these children, as opposed to a colossal bronze monument. Separated by just a row of bushes is a playground for the kindergarten: the hope of lives now lived and the remembrance of lives lost all too young, right next door to each other.   

Bullenhuser Damm 

The second site we visited was St. Nikolai Kirke. When the Allied forces fire-bombed Hamburg (it was an important port city and the second largest city in Germany) in the 1943 "Operation Gomorrah," the spire of St. Nikolai was one of the only things to survive; the entire city otherwise was in ruins, and thousands of Germans lost their lives. One of the memorial statues in front of the church reads "No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it, and serve it. The truth is in all places." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer   

St. Nikolai Kirke

The third site we visited was the former location of the Neuengamme concentration camp outside of Hamburg. Over 100,000 people entered the gates of this camp; only half ever walked out. Many of those sent to this camp were political prisoners and were Russian, Polish, Norwegian, and Danish (the Danes who were there were resistance fighters). An eerie reality to this camp's location is that it was near enough to a residential area that people would walk past it in plain view while enjoying a nice Sunday stroll. The camp was  large, too; we walked around only part of it and still had covered a lot of ground. There were also memorial museum exhibits where, in as many cases as possible, the imprisoned were remembered individually through pictures, stories, and quotations. There's something to remembering the past in an individualized way; it helps you put a faces to the mass atrocities.  

former site of Neuengamme

What was going through my head during the weekend? On one level I was thinking about how you can read countless books and watch countless movies about the Holocaust but to actually visit places where those things you read about took place brings a whole new level of meaning. The rest was mainly a lot of questions: a lot of wondering why and how something that horrific could happen, how the value of a human life could be so diminished that millions could be taken without a second thought. There are so many factors involved that influenced the perpetrators and so many theories from researchers trying to make sense of them all (and I should know since I'm researching them for my final paper for this course). But at the end of the day no simple solution can be found and no explanation can suffice. Try as I may, I don't think I'll ever come to grips with why it happened. 

Or why brutal atrocities of any kind happen... which brings my thoughts quickly from the past to the present. Human lives are being trivialized, people are being abused, exploited, and killed. Now. Right now as I write this. Right now as you read this. It's too late to do anything about what happened in the '40s, but there's a lot going on in 2012, too. I hesitate to go off on an advocacy rant because whatever I tell anyone else to do I better be doing myself. 

But I think that the best way to remember those lives lost in the past is to do everything in our power to stop the cycles of destruction that are going on right now. At the root of these horrific events is the devaluing of a human life and the elevating of one life above another. That's where the problem starts. And we've seen where the problem ends... 

Whenever we look into the eyes of another human being, may we always see him or her as such, may we always give the dignity and respect that is deserving of a human life, and in doing so may we always remember that we are no more, nor no less, valuable than they. 

What's an elk?

March 20th: the first official day of spring and the half-way point of my semester. I've been in Copenhagen for exactly 2 months and have exactly 2 months to go. I don't know whether to react with "I can't believe I've been here that long already" or "Have I really been here that long - because it feels like I just got here." 

Either way I feel like I can definitely call Copenhagen my home. Or, rather, add it to the list of places that I've acquired as "homes" over the past 4 years. I'd like to think that I fit in pretty well here, too. I'm always flattered whenever Danes approach me and speak in Danish. That's a sure-fire sign that I look like I belong here at least (and there's definitely tourists around so it's not like it's assumed that everyone who passes by is a local - or at least that's what I've told myself). So apparently I've got my clothes and demeanor going for me even if I don't quite have the language thing down. Because I really have no idea of how to give directions to someone in Danish or how to carry on a conversation about a charity organization that I get solicited to support. Not things that you learn in a basic Danish course. 

On the flip side, on my weekly ventures to speak English with Danish middle school students, I've run into some interesting conversation topics leading to the need to explain things I've never had to explain before. Like what elk and moose are (which I thought I could explain by saying that they were giant deer - until I had to explain what a deer was) or what fried chicken is (by the way, it doesn't sound as appetizing when you explain how to make it) or what french fries and chips are (and the confusion between British-English and America-English terminology didn't help at all). Or here's another one: what an "American" cookie is like and the fact that it can come in so many varieties beside chocolate chip. Oh, and by the way, they don't have chocolate chips here so I had to explain what those were, too. Good thing there's a thing called pen and paper and skills I've acquired via many games of Pictionary.

In honor of the first day of spring, I tracked down a "spring in Copenhagen" picture from  Google. This flowers galore shot of Rosenborg Palace has yet to come, but I did eat lunch in this park yesterday, and it was warm and sunny albeit very windy (the lettuce from my salad started blowing away at one point).

Turtle Chronicles Pt 4... off to Italy

My little friend Chester decided that he needed a break from Denmark... so going south to Italy for a week seemed like the perfect solution! And after being gone from Copenhagen, he realized it's a pretty terrific place.

at the Duomo in Milan

on top of the Duomo

doing some exploration in Milan

going to see the Last Supper in Milan

a beautiful day in Lake Como

on the train from Lake Como back to Milan

flying back home to Denmark  - with free chocolate from the airline

Ciao, bella!

As I write this* I’m sitting outside on a beautiful spring day in Copenhagen. Yesterday I woke up in a German airport. The day before that I went on a run around Lake Como. And two days before that I was eating gelato in the Piazza Duomo in Milan. Needless to say I’ve had a whirlwind of cultural and travel experiences this week.

It all started off this past Monday when I embarked on a trip with 30 other DIS students to the city of Milan, Italy for a study tour on positive psychology. For a course on the “science of happiness” they certainly picked a good location to make us students happy.

Every day we had an academic visit where we visited professionals who use positive psychology on a daily basis. Most of them were researchers in the field – including the head of the European organization of positive psych – but others were anything from a meditation coach to a holistic health doctor. Besides hearing about the research and seeing positive psych in practice, it was enriching to see different and more local places in Milan than I would if I were only there as a tourist. How many people place universities and health care centers at the top of their list of places to see in Milan?

But believe me, when I wasn’t sitting in a lecture I was by all means being that tourist with a camera always in hand. I think I took over 600 pictures by the end of the trip - and eventually they’ll get posted. The first day we were divided into small groups, given a map and a list of things to see in Milan, and told to “have at it.” By far the best way to get acclimated to a new city. [Side note: my map reading and navigation skills grew exponentially during the week]. Highlight of the day was nothing related to what we were “supposed” to do: bumper cars. When we happened upon an all-but-deserted fairground and figured out that the bumper car employees were still there and willing to let us ram into each other for only a euro each, we couldn’t pass it up.

The next morning was (supposed to be) the day for me to see the famous Last Supper. This painting is pivotal in the art world because it’s the first time that any particular moment – capturing emotional responses and reactions from a very specific event – had been depicted. Prior to that a lot of art was stoic and stale. So way to go, Da Vinci! At any rate, I said “supposed to be” because we had a bit of a mishap getting there and arrived 15 minutes late. You might not think that’s a huge deal, except for the fact that we had a specific 15 minute time slot to enter the building. As much as I was bummed about the idea of not getting to see it, I have to admit I enjoyed the excitement of running through metro stations and down the streets (and the hot chocolate our tour leader bought us as a consolation – a warm cup of what was basically just pure melted chocolate). Before I leave you thinking that I didn’t get to see the Last Supper at all, though, I’ll add that by sheer providence another group cancelled and we were able to reschedule for the next day; normally it’s all booked up months in advance. So, yes, I did see it after all. And it was well worth it, too. Much larger and much more detailed than I’d imagined.

Speaking of things being large and detailed, the Duomo (cathedral) in Milan is incredible! There’s really no way to describe in words or even in a picture the feeling you get looking up at it. It’s massive, majestic, and magnificentally designed. I probably took a hundred pics of it alone. We also had tickets for rooftop access. Having grown up in the States where there’s so much concern about liability, I expected this to mean going up an elevator to something fairly enclosed. Besides the elevator part, I was happily wrong. We quite literally had free range of the roof of the Duomo and, since I went up there earlier than everyone else, I’m pretty sure I was the only one up there at one point. In other words there weren’t even employees up there keeping everyone safe or whatever. Mimicking Arnold from Magic School Bus, “this never would’ve happened in the States.”

And, after all that, I still have a few more things to share, prefaced by something I’ve learned: when traveling, unplanned and unexpected is always best so just go with the flow and see what happens!

1. A few friends and I were randomly invited to a local Italian event serving free wine and food. How could we say no? The best part was talking with two different Italian gentlemen. Hand gestures, basic use of Spanish, and even more basic knowledge of Italian apparently go a long way. (I didn’t understand everything they said but I did gather that one of them was 77 years old, had been to New York, liked to read newspapers, and knew a lot about China.) Whereas in Copenhagen everyone speaks English and you nearly forget that it’s not their first language, most people in Milan didn’t. But I enjoyed this fact. You get a much quicker understanding of a language when you’re forced to attempt to speak it. Also, I’ve decided that one of my life goals is to learn Italian; it’s a beautiful language and so much easier than Danish!

2. When I go to new places I’m a magnet to random brochures and newspapers. I enjoy trying my hand at reading in another language and looking at places to possibly go. Long story short, on an evening off, my friend and I ended up at a local performance that was essentially Cirque du Soleil meets hip-dance meets West Side Story. After braving our own way there and back across town and after seeing the fantastic show, I was in high spirits.

3. Lake Como. First, I have to say that Lake Como is a stunning place. I stayed there for just a weekend and didn’t want to leave! Nature was such a welcome site after being in a city all week (yeah I know I live in Copenhagen which is a city, too, but it's definitely not a city in the same sense). I could write an entire other entry about being in Como itself but I’ll save you the time in reading it by saying that the highlights were the railcar up to a smaller village on the mountain, doing paddle boats, having a spontaneous dance party in a park, and the simple fact of it being warm enough for trees to start blooming and not to wear a jacket. Also, I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I went on a run around Lake Como. There was something really special and memorable about it: the peace of the morning, the cool crisp air, the sun reflecting off the mountains – and most of all the fact that I felt bonded to the locals who were also out running. Even though we didn’t have a shared language, we could share the common view of the beauty of the morning and the satisfaction of a good run.

4. Last but by no means least, I had the joy of seeing a friend from Eastern while I was in Milan! It was such a strange (in a good way) experience to be able to say “Oh yeah we’re both gonna be in another country in the same city on the same afternoon so let’s do lunch. Ya know, no big deal. Happens all the time.” After organizing our rendezvous the old-fashioned way of saying “meet you at this place at this time” and finally getting there after my tram broke down, we had a great afternoon, and it was a much-needed time of catching up with a familiar friend.

Overall, what I found I enjoyed most about my time in Italy was 1. learning (on even a small scale) about their language and culture and 2. the excitement via challenges of traveling in a new place. Both of these things included making every effort to get away from the touristy hotspots and to explore places on my own whenever possible. And, by the end of the week, I can say that I’m geared up and ready for my next set of travel adventures: my upcoming 2 week break in April! 

P.S. Italian food = delicious. Need I say more?  

*I wrote half this post at the beginning of the week but didn’t get a chance to finish and post it until today. So as I write this now I’m sitting inside my house...

Turtle Chronicles Pt 3

Time for the next installment of this little turtle's adventures in Denmark...

Chester met The Man Meets the Sea in Jutland

this time the whole family came along for a visit to the Botanical Garden

hanging out in an old plaza with neoclassical buildings 

blue skies - and old trees

exploring a costume / everything-random shop... here's the shrunken head basket

same costume shop... now with the bows and arrows 

LEGO store in Copenhagen 

oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day

Spring is in the air here in Copenhagen! In planning for the trip I'm not quite sure why I was under the impression that I was coming to a land of perpetual dark and cold... because it's barely even March and we've already had several sunny and warm days.[Disclaimer: warm is relative; it's still nothing more than the 40s]

Today was a particularly spring-worthy day... You know when you can smell the season in the air? Like the day when you wake up and go outside, take a deep breath and just know that the next season is there? Well that sensation happened to me today. It was accompanied immediately by seeing 2 guys walk by while eating ice cream cones, which I'm sure helped in bring about the spring mentality. Now for a brief tangent - just as Rita's in Philly does free water ice on the first day of spring, there's an ice cream shop here called "Paradis" that does free ice cream on - what seems to me at least - an arbitrary day in February. These Copenhageners don't delay in bringing about spring traditions.

Today was also one of those days that I by no means would've wasted spending indoors. So along with one of my friends and housemates, I spent the afternoon after classes at a historic plaza nearby where the sun shone brightly and the people-watching was prime. Best part was finally getting pictures of the baby strollers here; they're nothing like what I've ever seen before, and I've been making it a goal of mine to get a picture of one without freaking out the parents. I succeeded in getting pics of 3 in 30 minutes; hopefully I did it discretely enough to not creep them out.

Sometimes Danes leave their babies sitting outside while they go in to a shop. It looks here, though, like these strollers belong to the people eating - so that's good.

 Here's a close-up of  the Danish strollers: a boxy fortress on wheels. 

This Danish mom loved the weather, too, and stopped to enjoy it. Oh and I guess she loves her baby, too.

as free as the wind blows

This is my bike. I named it Blå (blue). 

This week I joined the ranks of Copenhagen cyclists. For a couple of weeks now I've had a bike sitting outside in the courtyard but either the weather's been too bad (by my standards - nothing stops the Danes) or I haven't had any place to go that I can't just walk to (gotta love my house's prime city-center location). And because the cyclists here have been riding a bike since before they could walk, I admit to being slightly intimidated at first to bike amongst them. But everyone's gotta start sometime - though at the rate I was going my "sometime" was never gonna come. So first came a couple of short test-drives (meaning that I took it out and rode straight for a while before getting off, walking across the street to turn, and riding straight back again - yeah, I'm a bit lame). Then came my first opportunities of biking to places I actually needed to go:  Østerbro to see my visiting family and Frederiksberg for a Jim Carrey film night with some of my new friends (both of these areas are sort of like suburbs to center-city Copenhagen). Success rate: 2 for 2.

Things I've learned from biking:
- I really love feeling free and independent - I feel both when I bike. I like feeling the wind in my face and hair and taking deep breaths of fresh, cold air - that happens when I bike, too. And I like having to be fully "in the moment," being slightly challenged, and having to use all my senses and navigation skills - yup, biking provides that as well. In the words of positive psychology, it's a "flow experience" for me.
- Letting people know if you're turning and/or stopping is extremely necessary to avoiding a painful and embarrassing bike-on-bike accident. So stretch your arms and use those signals.
- Turning left on a busy street is a complicated endeavor I have yet to master. Straight and right are more my cup o' tea. The left will come, though...
- Park at a bike rack if there's one around, but there's so many bikes in Copenhagen that everyone's used to having bikes parked up and down sidewalks. No biggie, then, if you have to do that, too.
- Contrary to what I thought, you won't be shunned by going slow if you have to. As with cars, stay to the right and you'll be fine. Sometimes you might even find people who are going even slower than you, in which case you can get a morale boost by passing them to the left.
- Biking gets you places a lot faster than walking. Go figure. What would've taken me 40 minutes to walk took about 20 minutes to bike. So I saved time and had a good time in the fresh air while doing it.
- If for any reason you get off your bike and walk with it down the sidewalk for a bit, you probably won't get any weird looks and may even pass someone else doing the same thing. But occasionally you might pass an old lady who makes a snide remark to you in Danish that you don't understand. Just keep walking.
- If you see policemen directing traffic, don't be alarmed. There just might be Royal Guards marching down the street you were supposed to turn on to. Forget about being on time to where you're going and whip out your camera to capture the moment.

trash on trash on trash

Yesterday I went to a trash museum. No, I didn't accidentally leave off the "y" or the "ed" from trash. It was an entire exhibit dedicated to something we have all around us and yet never give a second thought to: the trash we produce. 

The museum was divided into three sections. One about the history of Copenhagen's dealings with trash, another one about the current situation, and the final one about "how does this relate to me" / "what can I do about this" etc. 

Surprisingly enough, Copenhagen is built on top of layers and layers of trash. This has a lot to do with the history of the city and how it expanded. Imagine being in charge of a circular city enclosed by walls. No one wants to deal with the smell of waste inside the walls so everyone just dumps it outside the city limits. No big deal, right? But then comes a time when the number of people grows and you have to expand your city. The only way to expand is to knock down those walls and build new walls with a larger circumference. But wait! There's a city dump outside the walls. Hmm. Whadya do? Well, your options are certainly limited - so you build right on top of the dump, of course. And that's exactly what Denmark did. Several times apparently. And when Copenhagen got too big then they started dumping their trash on the then-unpopulated area of Amager (Ah-mah) next door (which is why everyone still calls it Sh*t Island now... pardon my French). Still to this day if you dig under the city you're met with years and years of history via history's trash. You can learn a lot about people by what they throw (and don't throw) out. 

So, currently, what are Copenhageners doing about their trash? Well, for starters, they've stopped dumping it on the land of future homes. And after a couple centuries of using the poor to sweep the streets, they've moved along to some smart solutions. I'll just mention one: incineration. Copenhagen burns most of their waste (if I was really paying attention in the museum I'd mention a percentage). Then it's turned into energy. An interesting facet of this, though, is that they don't really recycle plastic here because, when you burn plastic, it produces a lot of energy. In a very eco-friendly city, I've found it quite surprising to see Copenhageners "carelessly" throw out large amounts of plastic. To be fair, they're really big on recycling glass and paper. And there's a lot being done with using recycled materials to make other products... like felt-covered chairs entirely out of soda bottles (don't ask me how they did that one). There's also a big movement of dumpster diving in Copenhagen. Personally I don't know if I'd want to eat food out of a dumpster all the time. But the museum exhibit did have a giant dumpster that was open for you to climb in and walk through (I'm definitely still a kid at heart). 

Besides recycling at a basic level, I have to admit that I've never really given a lot of thought to what happens with trash after I put it into the can. I mean, if I can't see it anymore it just disappears, right? (Guess I never fully mastered object permanence as a child.) But living in Copenhagen where the vibe of the city is to be both efficient and mindful of the environment I'm beginning to see things differently. I may never be like that family I read about who fit literally a year's worth of non-recyclable/compostable trash into a mason jar, but I can certainly be mindful about other things. Like not overbuying on food at the grocery store so that nothing goes bad. Or not throwing something away when I could recycle it, reuse it in another way or give it to someone else who could. The museum definitely gave me things to think about. 

Excuse me while I finish my water and throw out the bottle... just kidding.

western Denmark: where they speak "real" Danish?

Copenhageners and Jutlanders (Jutland is western Denmark) make fun of each other the way that northerners and southerners do in the States. One item of contention is who speaks Danish the real way (obviously both regions claim the authenticity for themselves). 

Last weekend I went on a study tour with my positive psych class to Jutland. If I knew more Danish maybe I could comment on the differences in pronunciations but frankly, minus a word here or there, all of it goes right over my head anyway. So I didn't (and won't) even try. Instead I'll just tell you about what I did for 3 days in Jutland. First off, I should say that the purpose of a study tour with DIS is like going on a really long field trip in order to see what you're learning in the classroom in practice in the real world; there's also cultural outings mixed in there. 

Day 1. Started off bright and early with 31 of us students loading into a bus and driving a few hours and across 2 giant bridges to our first destination: Esjberg, which is on the southwest coast of Jutland. In Esjberg we had Academic Visit #1 to an alternative education program for teenagers and young adults that focuses more on the holistic "building up" of each person than on any sort of measurable academics. Before leaving Esjberg we went to The Man Meets the Sea which is comprised of 4 (makes me wonder why it's not The Men Meet the Sea) giant, all-white statues of men sitting down. And it's built near the sea. After that we drove to nearby Ribe (the oldest town in Denmark), checked in to our hostel, toured the cathedral, and ate where we wanted for dinner. Two comments: 1. the hostel was much, much nicer than I expected (probably because my perception of hostel quality was tainted after my past Montreal experience) and 2. dinner in Ribe was great because my roommates on the trip and I ended up in a cute Italian restaurant where we were literally the only customers and the food was delicious and reasonably priced. Score.

Day 2. Up early (it was a trend of the weekend) and after an incredibly delicious breakfast at the hostel, we had a walking tour of the town of Ribe. Then we drove a few hours away to Aarhus (the second largest city in Denmark after Copenhagen). Academic Visit #2 took place at Aarhus University, were we learned about a program for university students to gain knowledge of self (focusing on personal strengths) and entrepreneurial skills and get help in starting their own businesses. For our afternoon in Aarhus we went to the ARoS Museum which is a museum with primarily modern art. It was by far my favorite part of the weekend even though it had nothing at all to do with positive psychology. The best exhibits for me were those with interactive art; I really liked how they incorporated multiple senses. In one of them you were in this black room that had one light shining on a wall of mist; the art happened when you walked through the mist and in to the rainbow the light created. Another one of my favorites was "the smoke room." Before entering this one you were warned that you wouldn't be able to see more than 1 meter in front of you and so to be really careful. With that warning in mind you step inside and are fully immersed in the color red (the room's filled with fog and has colored lights that create the affect); you walk to another part and are "in" the color green, then blue, and so on. Anyway, that's just two of the cool things I saw/experienced to give you an idea of it... After the museum we all went out to dinner in downtown Aarhus and were treated to the best salmon I've ever had followed by a very yummy apple tart dessert. And after that we all went to a concert by The Pigeon Detectives. Never heard of them in my life but, for those few hours, I went all out in pretending to be a big fan. This plan was helped by being right behind a group of Danish teenagers who were really into it. 

Day 3: After staying out late the night before, we still had to wake up early. At least the hostel breakfast was yet again delicious and complete with freshly baked bread (I could've eaten an entire loaf by myself - it was so good). Then it was time for Academic Visit #3 and final, where we learned about a program that uses strengths building to teach and train young adults how to be successful in life and specifically in social entrepreneurship. The session itself was very thought-provoking and inspirational; one of those experiences that's hard to put into words exactly how it influences you. The one thing I can say about it is that I learned a new word (eldsjäl) - it's Swedish not Danish - which literally translates as "firesoul." After hearing the term "firesoul" it's just stuck with me and been at the back of my mind. There's something that resonates with me about the concept of being so passionate about something that you're described as having a soul on fire. I've been thinking about it a lot... To wrap up the study tour we went to a Danish cafe and had a traditional meal, complete with lots of different styles of herring. Then we headed back to Copenhagen. 

One more thing unrelated to the study tour but pertaining to that weekend: the night we got back from our trip, the house next door to mine - which is a kollegium (dorm) for U. of Copenhagen students - was hosting a Fastelavn party (think Danish version of Halloween). The only requirement was to dress up. I made a costume out of what I had - which ended up being a toga out of a blanket. Other people at the party had gone all out, though - there was everything from a human-sized hotdog to a giant cockroach. And to keep in line with Fastelavn tradition, there was time dedicated to "hitting the cat out of the barrel." There's a barrel full of candy (think piñata) that you take turns hitting with a wooden stick; whoever breaks it is given a special crown. I don't know the story behind the whole cat/barrel thing but I do know that candy's involved and that makes everything OK. 

a little dirt don't hurt

I like Copenhagen. Really I do. But one thing I miss seeing every day is some good ol' fashioned nature. I'm not even picky; I won't ask for a mountain or anything. Just give me some trees and some grass - anything that's just free and open.

So in my longing for wide open spaces I went on a quest this week to find a place that fills my nature-y needs. Monday afternoon I set out to go to the Copenhagen Botanical Garden along with one of the girls (a Dane) that I live with. Unfortunately it's closed on Monday (shoulda guessed it would be, since most of the museums and such are closed on Mondays) so then it was on to Plan B: my friend showed me the lakes region of Copenhagen which is made up of a series of 3 or 4 (man-made) lakes. Currently the majority of the water is frozen over so there were ice skaters and people walking about. But in the parts that weren't frozen there were swans and ducks galore (side note: swans exist here in the abundance that Canadian geese do in PA... and they're much prettier). Even though we were still right in the middle of all the city busyness it did my soul good to walk slowly, enjoy the scenery, and feel dirt (not cement) under my feet.

After that my appetite was even more whetted to go experience the Botanical Garden. On Wednesday, off I went (it takes about 10 minutes to walk there which is great). When I walked in I couldn't help but stop and take in the scene. I finally found a place (and right in the middle of the city chaos nonetheless) that had a woodsy feel to it. Despite the cold, I took my time wandering around the paths, and I didn't even care that I could still hear the sounds of city transportation in the background. Then I moved from the outdoors part of the garden to the indoors part. By indoors I mean inside a giant greenhouse that houses a rainforest! It was so cool! Well, warm actually. The greenhouse was made by a king in [insert date from a long time ago] and houses plants from all over the world and from different climates (the rainforest section is just the biggest one). Everything in it is vibrant and green. Near the entrance I noticed these 2 old spiral staircases. At first I couldn't decide whether or not they were for employees or for the public. Then I saw a small child walk down the 2nd one and decided she was too young to work there... so then I ventured up the 1st one and onto a circular ledge that went around the circumference of the dome. Awaiting me was a unique view of the rainforest from the vantage point of the treetops. Eventually I left the greenhouse and the Botanical Garden - but only because I had to be somewhere else - and decided that it's my new favorite place in Copenhagen and that I'll by all means be back.

[Transition] Because nature and food (specifically vegetables) are related in my head, I'm going to jump to a new subject: cooking.

Despite all my resolutions over the past few years to learn how to cook, my skills have been contained in the area of "the basics" and, more recently, bread baking. Nor would I've said I was confident in my cooking abilities or that I really enjoyed it (now eating on the other hand...) But in this new life of mine I'm forced to cook whether I like it or not. And as convenient as it was to live off of PB&J and bananas my first week here, my taste buds demanded an alternative. So I've jumped in with both feet into the wide and - I would now add - wonderful world of cooking. Whadya know? I really like it!

The other night I was "on duty" for helping to cook our weekly house dinner. I was standing at the sink rinsing off vegetables. Since they're all freshly grown by area farmers from the veggie co-op we volunteer at, there was quite a lot of dirt on them. But there was something really nice about "interacting" with my food in that way, from start to finish. And, slightly tangential, since we get veggies from the co-op we end up with all sorts of things, some I've never heard of  (ex: Jerusalem artichoke) or others I've never seen in their "straight out of the ground" form (ex: beet root). But it forces you to get creative, to discover new recipes, to try new things. And that's the part I've come to love about cooking. That, and having fresh and local vegetables around (with the dirt to prove it was just pulled out of the ground) coupled with the pressure to do something with so it doesn't go to waste. For both of these reasons I've spent several enjoyable afternoons in the kitchen chopping, cleaning, and cooking - again, mainly vegetables (I've only made one meat dish and it was salmon so that hardly counts).

Example 1: We'd gotten 2 GIANT heads of cabbage in our weekly veggie bag. And one of them was sitting in our fridge for several days when I decided that I wanted to make soup out of it. I looked up a recipe, added my own special touches to it, and ended up with a really yummy soup. Example 2: I love banana bread. I wanted to try out a baking substitute I just learned of - using avocado in place of butter. So between that and a couple of other additions like grated apple and chocolate, there was some delicious bread that was devoured by my housemates...

In sum: Dirt is good. Whether it's under your feet or on your food. (Before you wash it, that is.)