3 days left

The rain in Spain may fall mainly on the plain, but in Denmark it isn't quite that picky. I remembered to bring my umbrella and I still feel like I'm soaked.

The IT intern took all the IT workers out to eat tonight on DIS's dollar. We went to a place called Chili's, which serves amazing burgers. Between the drink, the burger/fries, and chicken wings I guess I cost DIS over $25... tuition dollar at work. It was a half-pound bacon cheeseburger and quite amazing.

Absolutely pouring by the time we got out of there. On the way back to DIS there was a guy standing in Gammeltorv in the pouring rain dressed in a much too large clown suit. He had the monster shoes, red nose and all. The clown had handcuffed himself to a sign and was blaring out strings of horrible sounds from an old tuba. Due to the rain there was nobody else around in the square, just this one lone clown, handcuffed to a sign, blowing notes in a tuba. Quite the sight. :)

All final tests done. One final paper to get turned in by Friday afternoon.

My flight is leaving Copenhagen 3:35pm on Saturday. Arrive at OHare 5:30pm, leave OHare 8:00pm. Arrival at Minneapolis 9:24pm Lindbergh Terminal. Flight to Minneapolis is United Airlines 597. I would just hop on the train when I got home, but somebody forgot to build it I think. Maybe I could hop on the bus... er, I think they forgot to get that running too.

2 finals, 2 papers left

The end of school for the year is in sight. Always a nice feeling. To think that I only have one more year left! I better get a lot of learning done.

It will be sad to leave Copenhagen. If I ever come back, it probably won't be for a long time. It will be nice to be home again too though.

So much to get done before I leave. Things to see, people to say goodbye to, maybe some souvenirs to buy, school to finish, etc. I need to somehow fit an entire room of "stuff" into 2 suitcases.

Hej hej

Uff Da

Well, got that out of the way. I got a B+ on the danish oral final, which I am very satisfied with. It had three parts:

- Prepared presentation (tell about yourself)
- Interview (teacher plays the character of a student, and you ask questions to find out about this person. then after you find out, you tell what you know)
- Conversation (given a starting point of what I did over Easter vacation, it is supposed to be a 5-6 minute free conversation)

I did well on the first two, and 'ok' on the last part. The conversation is definitely the hardest, and I didn't understand all of her questions. There is another person in the room who is the grader. She said I had a good command of the language, and had good use of inversion and subordinate phrases. I guess thats good.

In Danish, sometimes you flip the subject and verb in the sentence. For example, "On the weekend, I play chess". In Danish, you would literally say "On the weekend, play I chess." That is only if "On the weekend" is there. It would still be "I play chess on the weekend."

I weekenden, skal jeg skak med min far. Min far spille skak men ikke saerlig godt. :)

Hi

Yo. Update your blog. :)
Sister

20 minute oral final in Danish tomorrow. Aaaargh!

Bought a bike

I bought a bike. I'd take a picture for you, but it is dark out. I would say tomorrow, but I'll probably forget.

It is a decent used bike I bought from a shop. The guy told me 800kr ($133). I asked if that was negotiable and he said maybe. I left and looked at a different place, but they only had new bikes and the cheapest was 1300kr. I asked the front desk receptionist at DIS if she thought 800kr was negotiable (and maybe how negotiable). She thought it might be able to be brought down 50-100 kroner at some places, but at others probably not.

I went back and ended up paying 790 kr. He threw in a new lock and changed the front tire (it wasn't in very good shape). The bike has a 3 month warranty, so if it has any problems I can bring it back and they'll fix it for free.

It is 3-speeds. The gear system is different than a US bike. The chain doesn't move, but rather it is an enclosed system (of gears I guess). Turning the pedals backwards puts on the brakes like it would on a kids bike. I like that. :) It is a more mountain bike frame with thick tires. Most Danes ride "city bikes" with thin tires, etc.

Hopefully I can sell it before I leave for close to what I paid. Otherwise I guess it is a birthday present to myself! It is much too nice out to sit on a bus for 30 minutes each day.

DIS show off week

DIS has been entertaining a group of administrators and professors from a bunch of US universities this past week. I guess they are trying to sell them on the quality of the DIS program. These people have been sitting in on classes, etc.

It was kind of entertaining to see them going through some of the same things we did when we got here. Just today, I saw:

- A lady almost getting run over by a bike.
- A guy taking pictures of a taxi. (All taxis in Denmark are Mercedes)
- A guy showing up late to class because he had problems figuring out the public transportation.

They all seem unconfident and uncomfortable, which is humorous to me for some reason. :)

Health Care

I'll move the topic from tabloid-friendly royalty babies to something a bit more substantive. :) Susanne sent me this email:

Denmark was just named the "Happiest Country on Earth"!

Was watching a morning news show ABC's Good Morning America and they interviewed some happy person who was in charge of the survey to find the happiest country. She said that Denmark is the happiest country because the people have such low expectations of everything. Said don't get her wrong, they aren't pessimistic. To the Danes pleasure in life is a gift. They are a satisfied people.
They are modest.

Showed the crown prince and his family and various places in Copenhagen. Interviewed a Dane who had a broken leg and was unable to go to work. He was happy because he knew that he would be taken care of by the government and its good health care system and that he could go to where ever and get the cash that he would need because he couldn't work. As an aside, the interview did mention how
much the Danes have to pay in taxes for health care.

Find the video here: www.ABCNews.com/GMA

I was just in that park they filmed in yesterday. I saw some people filming, but it wasn't the ABC people. (Danish TV I think)

Denmark has won those surveys before about being the happiest people.

As far as health care, it is taxed and run by the county. There used to be 13 of these in Denmark, but this year (or maybe last year) they restructured this to 5. So, about a million people in each county. Health care is about 75% of the county's spending. You can choose which hospital/clinic you go to, and the government publishes "average wait" for each hospital. Danes don't just pay into a giant national pot, but to a more local level.

Different areas in Denmark might be slightly different in what they offer. Our history professor said his daughter in Copenhagen got "top of the line" braces for the 7 years she had to wear them. In western Denmark, they might cover braces but not the leading edge expensive variety. Overall the quality of Danish public hospitals and health care is very good.

Denmark also has a couple private hospitals. They always have some private business competing against the public entities, because then you can tell if the public entities are less efficient than a private company would be. My politics professor says that if the public entities aren't competitive, then you can just sell them and everyone is better off. So to keep the public services, they have to be competitive. The hospitals also compete across the county borders, since people have a free choice which hospital to go to.

Denmark does the same with buses, trains, schools, etc. There is a large national rail services, but also a few private companies that run some routes.


Denmark pays $2,743 per capita for health care (2003). US payed $5,711 per person in 2003. Canada spent $2,998 a person . So overall we really pay twice as much for our health care, and still have tens of millions of people who can't afford it and don't have any. Maybe the higher taxes aren't too bad. :)

Ten days

Ten days without a blog post. I seriously have thought about writing something many times since then, but unfortunately thinking about it and doing it aren't the same.

The Danish crown princess Mary had a daughter yesterday. The first baby girl born in the Danish royal family since 1946. The Copenhagen buses were all driving around with their two little Danish flags flying above the windshield. They did that for the Queen's birthday too. Very festive. All the newspapers had a picture of crown prince Frederik with a big smile on his face with the quote "hun er fantastisk". She is fantastic.

For those of you who haven't kept up on your knowledge of the Danish royal family, it is the oldest monarchy in the world. It goes back to Gorm the Old in the 900s, and his son Harald I Bluetooth who united Denmark. Queen Margrethe II has been queen since 1972.

Her son Crown Prince Frederik is next in line to the throne. Crown Princess Mary is his wife. They also have an 18 month old son, Christian. Princess Mary is an Australian who met Prince Frederik at the Sydney Olympics.

The royal family is very well liked by the people of Denmark. They don't play any role in government beyond a symbolic one, and are kind of the face of the Danish people. They don't take any opinions or positions on any political issues. Some Danes question why a modern society still has royalty (and gives them money, a palace, etc). In the end though, they are very well liked and nobody would seriously consider getting rid of the royalty. Maybe if they did something terribly outrageous and embarrassing to Denmark, but that isn't going to happen. The royal family might be analogous to the American flag in some sense. A non-political nationalistic symbol of a people...?

Pictures

I have a lot of catching up to do. Apparently I hadn't uploaded any pictures from March before I left, so here are a bunch I found on my computer. From around Copenhagen and from Malmo Sweden. Click on the picture to go to that photo album. I recommend doing the "slide show"...you can click on it on the album page once you get there.

These are pictures between March 3 and March 12 before I left on my trip. I think the pictures and albums have dates.

2007_03_03 Christianshavn, Copenhagen

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^

2007_03_05 Strøget and a park

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^

2007_03_08 Osterbro

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^

2007_03_09 Malmo, Sweden

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^

2007_03_11 Spring in Copenhagen

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^

2007_03_12 Ungdomshuset, Lakes

Click above to see all the pictures in that album ^^^^^


If you read the blog, please leave a comment! It's really nice to know that people are reading it. :) It is also helpful to write with an audience in mind...so it is nice to know who the audience is.

Mange tak! (many thanks)

The other Copenhagen

We had our IBE (business program) dinner last night. It was at a restaurant called the RizRaz downtown Copenhagen. It was a buffet-style meal which turned out to be all vegetarian. Certainly different from any buffet we'd see in Minnesota I think. Some foods were better than others, but overall it was a good meal. DIS bought us 2 drinks as well.

Today I went to a seminar on "strategic planning". It was an optional thing which DIS offered for the first time. One of the professors at DIS (he teaches the international terrorism class) works for the Danish Intelligence Agency, and has taught this little seminar in other places before. So they decided to do it here too.

Strategic planning is a way to "prepare for an uncertain future". Basically it was a way of taking a really complex issue, simplifying it, and then drawing conclusions from that on what the future might hold. Used by intelligence agencies, businesses, etc. The class went from 9am-4pm today, and we tackled the issue of "the world in 2027". It was very interesting -- I liked it.

Walking home afterwards, it was really stunning to see the difference in Copenhagen from just last Monday when I got back. That was a colder, windy day and there was nobody around. Today is almost like summer, and it was like being in a different city. Tons of people everywhere enjoying the sun. All the squares and along the canals are full of people enjoying the weather. Every restaurant has large outdoor seating areas setup, which were just packed with people. The contrast with the earlier Copenhagen is really huge.

I'm visiting the Been family tomorrow afternoon, and then going to the F.C. København soccer game tomorrow evening. They play OB. FCK is the best team in Danish soccer and OB (from the town of Odense where Hans Christian Andersen was born) is the second best. It is required for my danish class, so they bought the tickets for us. Should be very exciting.

Two big papers and a lot of other stuff to get done in the next 1-2 weeks, but I'm really going to try and write about this trip...

Vi ses!

Home?

I'm back in Copenhagen, where everything is familiar and I don't understand a word. :)

Was up at 3am to get a taxi to Victoria Coach Station, then a bus from there to Stanstead airport. Arrived at the airport a bit before 5am. Checking in went quite smoothly, so I had a little time to waste. Malmo-Sturup airpot is about an hour bus ride to Copenhagen. I'm really not sure how much cheaper or better this route was. In the long run it was probably cheaper, but I did end up spending about $60 getting to and from the airport (and I had to be up at 3am). Cheaper, but maybe not significantly enough to justify the hassle.

Copenhagen was its sleepy self. I woke up at 3am in London to car traffic outside the hostel. At 11am in Copenhagen there weren't more than a handful of cars. More people walking and biking, but even those people were few in number. Half of them were tourists...you can tell because they are always looking around, staring at maps, holding a camera, etc.

I'll write about the trip when I get ambitious.

London

I made it to London after some transportation adventures in Parma. I think the Beardsley school is bigger than the Parma airport. I'm paying 1.50 pounds for 20 minutes on this internet, so not going to type up a lot right now.

I'm staying at Meininger hostel in London, which is in the Baden-Powell House. Baden-Powell was the guy who started Scouting. The Queen had this place built in the 1960s, and they have some exhibits, etc on scouts. Nice free breakfast too.

Did a free tour of London today. They used the tour to try and sell their other (pay) tours, but I didn't bite. The guy was quite good though.

I'm spending quid like crazy here. The exchange rate is horrible (1 pound = 2 dollars). A meal at McDonalds/Burger King is about 4-5 pounds with drink, fries, and burger.

Not much time left... I leave Monday morning from Stanstead airport at 6:50am. Stanstead is about an hour outside of London, so I'm definitely going to be up early. That was the only flight to Malmo, Sweden on the cheap RyanAir though. Malmo will be about another hour bus ride to Copenhagen...but it is much cheaper going this way. Most of the cheap airlines don't fly into Copenhagen airport.

When in Rome

I don't know where I am. helpp!

Actually I'm pretty sure I am in Rome. Rome is crazy. If you only get your foot run over crossing the street, then you should be happy. Tons of little cars and mopeds not following any recognizable rules. My feet really hurt. Not from getting run over though...walking. I took the metro once and it was like a cattle trailer, shoulder to shoulder with people. Walked the rest of the day. Saw the collesium and palatine hill for free. They really cost 11 euro, but this lady gave me her pass because she had to get to the train station. Then I jumped at the back of some tour groups and got some nice info. :)

Trains are awesome. I decided to leave Venice at 1:30pm the other day (before I got hungry again and had to buy more expensive Venice food). Made it to the train station by 2:00pm, bought a ticket for 2:30pm. Went back to the hostel, got my bag, filled my water thing, and was on the train with 10 minutes to spare. You can't do that with an airplane...would take that long to get through security.

Going to get up early and go to the Vatican tomorrow. Staying here in Rome again tomorrow night. I will stay somewhere Sunday night. Monday-Tuesday I plan to be in Cinque Terre. Wednesday I'll stay in Parma before my flight on Thursday to London.

Everybody in the tourist industry and everybody under about age 30 speaks English. I think that is the same about anywhere in Europe.

I've been writing some things in a journal, so will make more blog posts about my trip later when I don't have to play 2€ an hour.

Ciao!

Leaving for break

I didn't get all my blog posts done that I wanted, but such is life.

I will be in Berlin until Tuesday, and then in Prague until Friday with DIS. On Friday I will take the train to Vienna. The following week I will travel to Venice, and then to Rome/Cinque Terre and wherever as time allows. On April 5 I booked a flight from Parma, Italy to London. I booked a flight on April 9 to Malmo, Sweden. The cheap airlines fly there rather than Copenhagen airport. There is a regular bus running from the Malmo airport to Copenhagen.

My flights weren't quite as cheap as I had hoped, but such is life. They were still very reasonable I think. The Easter Monday flight ended up being a little over $100. That is about double what it would have cost flying on the following Wednesday. Classes start again on Tuesday, and I figure if I were to skip classes that Tuesday I would spend way more than $50 by staying in London. The flight is a 6:50am flight (only time). I guess I'll be up early. :)

cya!

Karin's trip updated their blog

It sounds like they had a lot of fun. Link, click here

Travel destinations

I wrote a little about the food club in my last post, so I won't repeat it.

I asked the floormates at dinner tonight where they thought I should travel to. As Suzanne was there (the Norwegian girl), they were very quick to say not Norway. The perception of Norway is that is is very expensive (compared to Copenhagen, I find it hard to believe). Jonas had a humorous story about going to a grocery store in Norway and they only had half-cucumbers for sale. "They can't even afford whole cucumbers!" Suzanne said Norway is the place to go when you are retired and can afford it. :) She said when she is retired she'll take a boat trip up the coast.

The general perception was to steer clear of Germany too. "Nothing there besides factories." After a little debate they decided that there wasn't any nature in Germany at all (besides Bavaria perhaps). Obviously the Danes were poking fun at some of their neighbors. :) They said if I was in Vienna that was plenty for Germany/Austria ("it's all the same"). Spain and southern France had high marks, as did the beaches in Croatia/Greece.

Observations on Danish culture

This is the paper I wrote for my Danish class. We were to pick three observations on Danish culture, and then describe/analyze them. If possible, we were to compare to our home country and to include elements from our class discussions.

Observations on Danish culture

In experiencing any new culture, certain things stand out as being surprising or different. While Danish culture has many similarities to Minnesota culture and values, a few experiences have stood out in the first few weeks here.

This evening I took part in the food club of our floor in the kollegium for the first time. Hans had wrote in the kitchen book he was making dinner, and to sign your name if you were brave enough to eat it (an example of Danish modesty). As I had been invited earlier to come to the food club, I signed up. Before I even describe the meal, I think the entire idea of a food club is something that is different from home. Part of that arises from the living arrangements, as we don't have a common kitchen we share with others. If we did, I don't think a formal food club would be setup. A few friends might cook a meal together (and maybe personally inviting some other friends), but we wouldn't make a formal club or advertise the event for all to come. Forming clubs about nearly everything is common in Denmark, and this is an example of that.

When I showed up for the meal, only three people were there. It was rather awkward, because while they had greeted me with “hej” when I entered the kitchen, they returned to their danish conversation immediately. I was left out of much of the conversation before we sat down to eat a half-hour later. In the US, I think more introduction and conversation with the newcomer would have been initiated. Although foreign to me, the article by Anne Knudsen explains this as somewhat normal behavior. The other members of the food club were not trying to exclude me, but rather include me by not drawing attention to my newcomer status. Acting differently when I came in the room would have drawn attention to inequality, which would have been very un-Danish.

As the British resident on our floor showed up and we sat down to eat, everyone was very nice to turn the conversation to English and we had a great time. We passed dishes around the table like at home. Pork chops, peppers, and rice were certainly not new foods for me, and the food was similar to what I'd probably eat at home. After everyone helped clean up (as we would at home), the food club played Trivial Pursuit. It was in danish of course. The toughest part of the game was them translating the questions, but that made it even more enjoyable for all. Had I not read Anne Knudsen's article and discussed it in class, I might have really felt unwelcome when I first came to the food club. As can be seen by the way the rest of the evening played out, that was certainly not the case at all. And Hans was a very good cook!

Another experience that stands out has been my time volunteering at Øster Farimagsgade school with a seventh grade English class. On my first visit, the seventh graders were finishing a test. Two guys finished early, and gave me a tour of the school. As we walked around, I commented to them that they must be the best ones at English since they finished so fast. The rest of the class was still working a half-hour later. Their reply was “no no, we just don't look over our answers twice”. They might not have looked over their answers, but it was because they knew it all so well that they didn't need to. This comment resonated with me, as we had discussed in class how signs of competition and inequality tend to be suppressed in a classroom setting. Rather than being puzzled by the reply, I feel like I understood him much better because of our discussion in Danish class.

A third observation from my time in Denmark that has surprised me has been the way Danes talk about other Scandinavian countries and other continental European countries. I didn't expect all of the “wise-cracks” and shots at these different countries. From my perspective they are quite similar and I figured Danes would have the same perception. At almost every chance, Danes (ranging from those on my floor to professors at DIS) will make fun of Norway, Sweden, France, or Germany. These comments might be at Swedes waiting for the light to cross an empty street at midnight, or at Norwegians for only selling half a cucumber in the grocery store. I think the comments are made in much the same way that we might talk about Wisconsin or Canada at home. The Danish people have a lot of patriotism and pride in their country. Perhaps not even in the country specifically, but in the Danish people themselves. Contrasting Danes with other cultures (who might actually be quite similar) is a way that the Danish culture is maintained I think. Drawing a border between who is and who isn't Danish is a way to make “being a Dane” something to be proud of. One could probably draw parallels to the immigration issue here as well.

Blog posts I'm going to write

I'm getting a little behind on writing some of these. I looked back, and I never did write a post about our Jutland trip! I guess I talked about it on the phone and in email with people. It is tough to remember who I discussed what with. :)

Blog posts I'm going to write:
- Jutland trip
- Trip to Malmo, Sweden this last weekend
- Some things from class (EU ag policy, Danish welfare state)

Hopefully I can get these done before I leave on Saturday. Things aren't looking good though, as it has dawned on me that I have an awful lot to get done. A paper for my Danish class, a paper for my history class, a paper for my philosophy class, and Danish vocabulary homework. Then I need to pack and figure out where I am traveling to! I need to buy a return flight ticket as well, and have it mailed to Johannes in Vienna for me to pick up when I visit. I really should spend some time emailing/etc about a summer internship before I leave as well.

Our business class leaves Saturday morning at 8:15am by bus for Berlin. We stay there for 3 days (visiting some companies, some museums, etc). Then we travel to Prague for 3 days (more company and cultural visits). Then on Friday I'll take the train to Vienna (thats the plan anyways). Stay for a few days, then to Venice->Rome->Cinque Terre. I'll probably get a flight on Thursday/Friday (April 5/6) to London or Dublin and spend Easter weekend there.

Oh, and the floor decided that there is going to be a poker game Friday night. I don't really need to sleep do I?

I do update my blog more than Karin's spring break trip does. :)

Travel break plans

I still have no firm plans on where I'm going for the travel break, but things are beginning to fall into place a bit more.

From March 17-23, our business class will be going to Berlin and then to Praque. My plan at the moment is to take the train from Praque to Vienna, and visit Johannes for a few days. After that, I have a little under two weeks to see things and get back to Copenhagen for class on April 10.

The two areas I've been thinking about visiting are the Alps and Italy. I don't want to try and cram too much stuff in though, so I don't just spend all my time running to trains, sitting on trains, and finding a new hostel. I might skip the Alps and come back some day and see them during the summer. Italy sounds a lot warmer at the end of March.

I'll probably head to Venice. A friend told me I have to go to Cinque Terre, which is apparently great scenery and hiking along the coast. Then I can hardly go to Italy without going to Rome.

If I budget 2 days in each place and 2 days of travel between them, that puts me at about 8 days. The question is where to spend the rest of the time.

I had thought about maybe going down to Sicily, seeing Mount Etna, etc. It is an overnight train ride from Rome. I could fly out of Palmero airport to the UK relatively inexpensively, and then fly to Copenhagen relatively inexpensively from there. Regardless of how I end up flying home, I'll likely be going through the UK because all of the major budget airlines have their hubs there.

Going to Sicily, I'd probably have to skip some places like Florence to leave myself enough time.

The alternative would be to spend a few days in the Alps or northern Italy instead, and fly out of Rome. Easter weekend is the end of our holiday though, and it might be very busy time to be visiting Rome and trying to see the sights.

Another alternative would be to fly out of Italy earlier, and spend a few days in England or Ireland since my flight is going there anyways.


Sigh. I really do need to figure out where to purchase my return plane ticket from. I can probably have it mailed to Johannes and not Copenhagen, but prices will probably keep going up the longer I wait.

If you have any thoughts, please do share!

Karin

Some info from my sister. :)

I'm going on a volunteer trip over Spring Break with an organization called Students Today Leaders Forever. The trip is called Pay It Forward (it is modeled after the book/movie). Basically, we are going to be going to 6 different cities and helping out in different areas within the community.

The organization that is running the trip has set up a blog so family and friends can keep track of where we are and what we are doing each day. I'm not sure exactly what they are going to be putting on it but if you are interested in following along, here is the website:

http://apollo.stlfbsu.org/

Jante Law

I mentioned this in the last post, so I thought I'd paste it in. The "Jante Law" came from a book by a Danish writer where he portrays his view of what it was like to grow up in a small Danish town. It isn't a law, per say, but rather an idea in Danish culture that has roots way back.

The ten rules are:

1. Don't think that you are special.
2. Don't think that you are of the same standing as us.
3. Don't think that you are smarter than us.
4. Don't fancy yourself as being better than us.
5. Don't think that you know more than us.
6. Don't think that you are more important than us.
7. Don't think that you are good at anything.
8. Don't laugh at us.
9. Don't think that anyone cares about you.
10. Don't think that you can teach us anything.

It is a somewhat controversial topic in Denmark and is probably debated how much it still applies in large cities like Copenhagen. But I think it gives a good picture of why Danish culture is the way it is in different ways.

Do we have some of these ideas in Minnesota too?

People in our block

We had a party in the kitchen on Friday and I got to meet a lot of the people who live in the block here. Magnus, a Danish guy from the west coast of Jutland, is studying at Roskilde University about 30 minutes west of Copenhagen. Hans is from southern Jutland and also studying here in Copenhagen. A Norwegian girl, Suzanne (I think that was the spelling) from Oslo is here studying at the Copenhagen Business School. Her boyfriend (Tony, from London) is living here currently. I guess they met while she was studying in Thailand and he was traveling there. Sofie (from Copenhagen area I think) is studying Danish. I guy I met earlier, Rognas, is studying software/IT at Roskilde. He's from Lithuania.

There were a number of other Danes at the party I didn't get a chance to talk to much.

Other people living on the floor (who didn't come to the party) include 2 brothers from Africa. I don't really see them and it doesn't sound like anybody else sees much of them either. Nobody really knows them. There are 2 Chinese couples I think. They are always cooking late at night when I go in there. The Danes haven't really gotten to know them very well either they said. Then there are two people from Romania living on my floor. The girl (can't think of her name right now) has been studying here for 4 years (computers, information systems). Her brother, who is older, lives here now too and he is working. They live in different rooms I think, just on the same floor. She said she was working too, at the airport.

About Romania

I talked to the guy for awhile at the party and his sister for awhile this evening. Their names are hard enough for me to remember and pronounce, much less spell, so sorry for the lack of names. He is a "transit worker" with a moving company. I think he drives truck around when people move. He really likes it, because he is getting a very good wage here in Denmark and he gets a chance to see the whole country. He can work for 5 hours in Denmark and earn the wage it would take someone at home 24 hours to make.

Romania is a new member of the EU as of January 1, 2007. As such, there is free movement of people, goods, money, etc in and out of Romania. They said that basically an entire generation of young people have left Romania. There is no future in trying to stay and work/live in Romania compared to what they can earn in Spain, France, Italy (and Denmark/Sweden, etc). She says that the politicians say this is a good thing, because these young people will send money back to Romania and maybe come back themselves and it will help the country grow. Unfortunately, as money comes back the prices for things have been going up dramatically. Her mother sometimes works 7am-9pm and is really only earning enough money for her apartment and food. Not enough money to save. Her comment was that younger people like to have a little extra spending money too, and it is just impossible in Romania with those wages and the increasing cost of living. So the young people are being forced out, rather than necessarily choosing to leave.

They are both from the Transylvania region in Romania, where the dracula castle is. Dracula was a book, but it drew on connections from a Transylvania/Romania ruler who had a habit of killing lots of people by impaling them on a sharp pole. They both say it is a very beautiful area and I get the impression that they'd certainly be living in Romania if they could. There just isn't any future or means for a future in living there. The Dracula Castle is actually owned by an heir to an old "Germanic" dynasty in Romania, and he is trying to sell it currently. The Romanians had kicked this dynasty out of Romania, but they did end up keeping their property. Now a big issue is if he can sell it to whoever he wants for the highest price. She said it had been decided that he had to offer it to the community for a price they could pay, but it is currently in the EU court system.

About Lithuania

Rognas is a really tall guy. He must be well at least 6'6"...I don't know. Much taller than me. I get the impression they follow the NBA quite a bit, because when I mentioned I was from Minnesota he immediately placed that with the Timberwolves. He is here studying and gets a free education in the Danish system, although that isn't the reason he's here. Says Lithuania was the biggest country in Europe, but by the late 1700s had become part of Russia. They became there own country again after WWI.

They have their own language and culture, but people swear in Russian. He was unaware that Canada/Minnesota/etc had sent so many furs back for hats in Europe. Thought that was just Russia.

Thats about all I can remember...conversation was a few days ago.



I'm pretty sure I was younger than everyone there. Most Danish students are older than those in the US. They finish gymnasium one year later than we finish high school (they are roughly comparable). Then is is common for a student to take a year or so off and work some, travel, or spend some time at a folk high school (like an American college campus kind of... they take classes and live with people... no grades or credit). After that they'll work towards a Masters degree or something like that. School is paid for and students get a living subsidy. It isn't much, but enough to cover the minimum basics of a place to live and food. This can last a maximum of one year longer than the offical length of your degree program. So if your masters is supposed to take 5 years, then the student aid will have a maximum of 6 years. There is some room for error if students need to choose a different line of study, if they get very sick, or something like that.

My Danish teacher says that Danish students have a much higher dropout rate than in the US. I think you can explain that pretty well based on the price we have to pay. If you have already spend $20,000, you have a lot of incentive to finish. With a high minimum wage in Denmark, there maybe isn't as much of a discrepancy in wages between someone with a college degree and someone without one?

Our room is always the "American" room, although there has never been guys in here before (always girls). They never really met the last people who lived here. The American girls just didn't really interact with them at all. I get the impression that most of the people in the block haven't been here an extremely long time.

The Romanians and the British guy definitely are the most outgoing people. Danish people are quiet reserved. From what we talked about in Danish class, it is kind of goes along with the ideas of equality. They don't want to draw attention that you aren't equal (as far as knowing people, how things work, etc). Also a little bit with the Jante Law...it could be viewed as trying to be better than somebody else by showing off all the "people you know".

Anyways, just my impression. The Danes invited me to their Thursday food club.

Tearing down the Youth House

The Youth House, source of all the demonstrations/riots the last few days, is being torn down (or so I read in the news).

Associated Press article

I guess that is one way to stop the young people from using it again. I don't know if it will solve the problem though, as they will probably be even more mad now than they were before. We'll see what happens.

Update

Here is a news story from the English language weekly, The Copenhagen Post:

With the smell of burnt plastic, wood and other refuse still hanging over the streets of the Nørrebro district, residents and shop keepers are beginning to clean up after a day of violent protests by supporters of the Ungdomshuset youth collective.

The main Nørrebrogade thoroughfare was still closed to cars Friday morning, but cyclists were able to weave their way past melted rubbish bins and charred bike frames set alight by the young people as they reacted to an early morning police action to evict the squatters.

After what police called a 'quiet' afternoon, the riot broke out in earnest when a rally held by supporters moved in against the police, casting cobblestones and erecting baracades across Nørrebrogade and other side streets.

Police arrested 219 people in conjunction with the riots. Another Ungdomshuset rally has been called for this afternoon, and police have called in reinforcements from throughout the country in expectation of a new wave clashes.

Sympathy protests were staged in the cities of Aalborg and Århus. German police report arresting 14 people in Hamburg in conjunction with protests outside the Danish consulate.

Young people have also reportedly held demonstrations in Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Flensborg and Vienna in support of the Copenhagen protests.

Danish police have tightened control at its borders in order to prevent foreign protesters from entering the country.

I guess the main issue is the fact that the kids thought the city had given them the house, which it sounds like they did. After the fire in the '90s and the condition of the house, the city didn't want the liability of safety concerns anymore so they sold it to a lawyer. That lawyer then sold it to this conservative Christian "sect". When it was still public property, it was legal for the kids to be there. After the city sold it, it became private property, and it became illegal for them to be there. So when the Christian group asked the police to clear out the house, the police had to do that. Really the issue started when the house was sold.

I think 90% of Danes are really against these demonstrations. These kids are abusing the Danish welfare system. They say they are anarchists but still want all the benefits of the Danish welfare state and handouts like this house. Danes really don't like violence either. There has never been a revolution in Danish history, which is different from about every other European country. Everything is about compromise.

Anyways, the issue is far from over. They will need to find some resolution somehow or the fighting in the streets will probably continue.





(if the video is jerky, just press pause and wait for a minute before letting it play)

Visit to Øster Farimagsgade

I visited the 7th graders again today. The principal came in (I assume he was the principal) and told the class something. I'm pretty sure he was telling them about the raid on the house and that they should be careful walking home.

They were finishing giving presentations on a book they read. It was a book in English, and they had to give the presentation in English. This was their first presentation in English that they've given. I was very impressed. I could certainly understand everything they said, and not really many grammar issues either. Much better than my Danish! Many Hans Christian Andersen stories. One girl did a Maya Angelo story. One girl did hers on a Paris Hilton autobiography.

Afterwards I got to chat with some of them. They told me all about the issues with this "house" in Copenhagen. They knew some kids who were going to demonstrate. Older than them. But 15-16-17 year olds.

They start/end school at different times each day I think. Just depending on when they have classes. Today was about 9:30am until 3:30 pm.

The class I go to is 9:45am-11:15am. Afterwards they have their lunch break. There isn't a cafeteria at the school...everybody brings a lunch from home. Most people do anyways. Some of them don't eat anything, which didn't surprise me. There were certainly kids at home at that age who would eat a bag of chips or something for lunch. If school doesn't start until 9:30 for them today, I imagine they've just eaten breakfast not too long ago.

No school buses. Most of them live close by. Either within walking distance, or they take a bike or public transportation.

I played some basketball with them during their lunch break. Need to take your shoes off before going in the gym. Julie (the teacher) played basketball too. The kids all call her Julie. I was a little taller than most of them. :) But not by too much though. It was a lot of fun, and I was only a few minutes late for my philosophy class. It was time well spent. They are all quite good at English, but a little shy and unconfident with speaking it, so playing basketball with them should help.

A little excitement in Copenhagen

Some demonstrations in Copenhagen today after the police evicted some squatters from a house they've been living in since 1982.

Associated Press news article
BBC News article

A little background on the issue:

Danes view themselves as a very tolerant society. A quote from a Dane:

Denmark is a very tolerant country. In all sorts of ways.

Take gay rights. Our country was the first to allow same sex marriages back in 1989. Take the generous social benefits in Danish society; we tolerate that a minority of unemployed may not really want to work, because we want to secure help to those who do. And Danes have a high tolerance of inappropriate behaviour – particularly if it involves drinking. A shrug is a typical response when someone makes a complete fool of herself at a party. “She was drunk”, it’s said afterwards. And all is forgiven.

In Denmark we cherish tolerance. It is an important part of our self perception.

In the 1970s, some Danish people took over an abandoned military barracks in Copenhagen and kind of declared this as an autonomous region. My Danish politics professor described them as the "flower power" crowd. As Danes view themselves as tolerant, and really favor compromise over conflict in just about all areas of government, Christiania was allowed to stay. It actually isn't too far from my kollegium. You can click the link if you want more information about it.

Along those lines, in 1982 the municipality of Copenhagen allowed a group of young people to inhabit another building owned by the city, called Ungdomshuset. This is where the problems were today. I guess the building had a bad fire in the 1990s, and it turned out to be in worse shape than authorities thought. They wanted to renovate the building, but the squatters didn't cooperate. Anyways, the city of Copenhagen sold the building in 2000 to a Christian group. The squatters refused to leave. The group that bought it was well aware that this was the squatters intention before they purchased it.

Anyways, the squatters were still there until today. The city of Copenhagen, friends of these squatters (in Christania and elsewhere), and others had tried to find compromises. They raised money to buy the house back from the Christian group, but the group didn't want to sell. They found a different house for these people to have, but the squatters said they weren't leaving.

It went through all kinds of court battles, and the squatters lost and were ordered out by December 14, 2006. There were some riots on December 16, 2006 about the issue by these people in Copenhagen. I think it got kind of violent when the police came to break it up.

Anyways, the police raided the house this morning and arrested about 70 people I think. There were demonstrations all day today. Police in riot gear driving around in 10 person blue vans. Nothing violent though. They think these demonstrations might continue for awhile, with friends of these squatters from other countries maybe coming.

It was all over the news tonight. There were 2 helicopters flying over Copenhagen all afternoon. Nothing to worry about though. This area where the "action" is about a mile north of the metro station I get off at to go to DIS. My kollegium is in the far opposite direction. This is what DIS had to say:

Some of you may be aware that Ungdomshuset, a center for youth in Copenhagen, has been slated for closure and that there has been much controversy over this, including some violent protests in December. This morning Ungdomshuset was raided by the police; in response supporters of Ungdomshuset have started to gather in the surrounding area of Nørrebro. DIS students are strongly advised to avoid Nørrebrogade from the roundabout to the lakes. There is a potential that protests could spread to other areas of the city, including around Nørreport station and/or Rådhuspladsen (City Hall), over the coming days. If you see a large crowd, please avoid it, and do not walk or bike down any streets which are blocked by the police.

At this point, we currently assess the risk to DIS premises as LOW and to DIS students as LOW

So, no worries.

There were some demonstrators near city hall this afternoon after I got out of class and was heading towards my bus. I stayed well clear, but did snap some pictures from a block away.

2007_02_28 Demonstrations

I was very impressed with the police. They were extremely non-confrontational, but at the same time certainly made a big splash with their presence. The major Copenhagen newspaper had people all over town handing out "special editions" for free. I have no idea what is in it, but lots of pictures.

I'll let you know if anything new happens.

Visited Vestre today

We visited Vestre today, which is Denmark's center-right party. The biggest party in Denmark.

The party has 16 full time staff. An annual budget of about $6 million dollars, most of it funded by the state. That is their total budget for the entire country. Smaller than a senate race in the US?

Denmark has a 3 week election cycle. The prime minister calls the election, and then in 3 weeks it happens. I get the impression that this is a very busy time. :) Political television advertising is *not* allowed, so costs are kept down.

Travel break traveling

Our next study tour runs March 17-24. We then have March 24 until April 9 to travel on our own. I've been busy researching different places and trying to decide where I'd like to go and what I'd like to see.

A lot of people are trying to do the whole London->Paris->Barcelona->Rome->Vienna super whirlwind tour in 2 weeks. I don't have any interest in that at all. Besides the fact that those transportation costs add up, you don't really actually see any of those places. You see the top 3 sites in a town, and then it is off to sit in the airport waiting for the next flight. It is probably delayed too.

I think I'll pick one area of Europe I'd like to see, and then leave myself time to actually see some stuff without sprinting to the next. Where that destination will end up being, I do not know. I'm definitely going to stop by Vienna and visit Johannes. I've been thinking of going down and exploring Italy from there. Maybe Praque (where our study tour ends) -> Vienna -> Venice -> Florence -> Rome -> Sicily? Unfortunately that means bringing my business attire with me in the suitcase for those two weeks. Maybe I can just mail it back to Copenhagen inexpensively... The alternative is to go with DIS on the bus back to Copenhagen, but that seems a waste of time and heading in the wrong direction.

Europe has dozens of really low-fare airlines. This is good when you are trying to find really cheap flights (sometimes $10-20 flights, although the tax more than doubles that), but it also means that you have to spend *a lot* of time searching different airlines, different flight dates, and different destinations. The majority of really cheap flights go to and from the UK. I think it is usually cheaper (sometimes quite a bit) to fly to one of these hubs in the UK and then fly to Copenhagen or Malmo, Sweden (across the strait) from there. You also get a day or part of a day in London or Dublin out of the deal.

No more snow

Yea, our "most snow Copenhagen has had in 10 years" is gone. I guess higher than freezing temperatures and rain will do that.

A few things I learned my Danish Politics and Society class. Denmark's labor force is highly organized into unions. Actually everything in Denmark is highly organized into groups, businesses too. These groups are an engaged part of the political decision making process, so Denmark has very few "outsider" lobbyists as we might have in the US. In return for having a say, these groups also have responsibility to hold their members to the agreements that are made, otherwise they won't continue to get that access.

Anyways, the overall-umbrella worker's union and the overall employer's union (Danish Industry something) have been at odds for quite a while, and it was looking like there was going to be a general strike in about a month of all members of this union. Which would have been about every worker in the country. 2 days before the first deadline they reached an agreement though.

Employers will give a 4% raise in salaries, increased funding to the job-training fund, increased funding to the pension fund, and raised the minimum wage slightly to 103.6 kroner. (about $18)

About the Danish flag... it isn't a patriotic symbol like our flag is. It is more a symbol of the Danish people. It isn't something they salute, but rather something used at birthday parties, etc.

I feel at home and settled in here. This really hit after our little trip and we came back home to "familiar" Copenhagen. There isn't anything in my daily routine that I feel uncomfortable with anymore. On the first day here, there was a lot of anxiety (if thats the right word) in just buying a danish at the bakery. Not knowing where anything was and dealing with jet lag... I feel very comfortable with the geography of Copenhagen now (and of Denmark overall). I've been taking the bus more and more, both due to the fact that I recognize where the stops are at and it is generally faster than the metro I think. Not faster in direct comparision, but faster when walking times are factored in. Contrary to what I normally end up doing, it *isn't* faster to just walk rather than wait the 5 minute for the bus to show up. :)

Smoking

I saw a man biking through København today and smoking a cigarette at the same time. That is a new one for me. He wasn't just biking with one hand either...both hands on the handlebars. Not exactly sure how that works.

Our first of two larger papers in my business class was due today, so I was up late last night writing it. It was an analysis of the competitive strategies of the three companies we visited on the western Denmark (Jutland) tour. Naturally I put off writing it until late. I kind of like writing papers late at night. You can focus completely on the paper, you have no distractions, and you are forced to keep at it or you lose out on sleep. Managed to get some laundry done and popcorn ate too.

Gangs of New York was on Danish TV yesterday while I was eating (with Danish subtitles). The Man with One Red shoe (Tom Hanks) was on TV the other day as well. Lots of American movies and TV shows.

Vi ses!

Denmark pulling out of Iraq

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen announced on Wednesday that Denmark is pulling its 430 troops out of Iraq. They did this the same day that Tony Blair in Britian announced the Britian was reducing its troop levels in southern Iraq.

We talked about this in my Danish Politics class. The reason for the pullout is basically based on the domestic political climate here in Denmark currently, and has really nothing to do with a military decision or something like that.

The current government here is a coalition of the parties on the right. Fogh Rasmussen is from Vestre, which is the largest Danish party and center-right in ideology. They have a coalition government with the Conservative party. Their government is also supported by the Danish People's Party, which is a very nationalistic party. So the government is run from the right.

They have been the coalition in government since 2001, and supported the Iraq War from the start. The left-wing parties were initially against it. Then after Bush declared "Mission Accomplished", the UN Security Council passed a resolution regarding helping rebuild Iraq. At that point, the left-wing parties in Denmark supported troops in Iraq to help rebuild.

Late last year the left wing parties in Denmark changed their position in opposition to Denmark getting bogged down further in the Iraq War, and wanted Danish troops out. This was a politically smart move for them, because public opinion is against the war. The Social Democrats (2nd biggest party) would like to regain control of the government, and opposing the Iraq War would help that. It was an issue they could attack Anders Fogh Rasmussen's party with.

Basically, Vestre wants to keep control of the government and they are diffusing the campaign issue now before it becomes a problem for them. The justification is that things in southern Iraq are "getting better", so Denmark has fulfilled its agreement. This is painted in contrast to Italy/Japan who just withdrew last year without finishing the job. They are sending 200 new troops to Afghanistan, because they don't want the impression that they are giving up on the war on terror.

From a small-country perspective, they need to have strong allies if they want to have influence. It isn't in Denmark's interest to alienate the US, so thats the reason for the increase to Afghanistan. Politics in Denmark is all based on compromise, and I think their foriegn policy is kind of being run the same way. They want to have good relations with the US/Britian, but still get out of an unpopular war. So they compromised and sent more troops to Afghanistan.

Snow Effects

Copenhagen can't handle this snow. The entire town has been barely getting by. The buses are all off schedule and coming at odd times ... the metro sometimes doesn't go all the way to the end of its normal runs ... the S-trains (trains to suburb areas) are all running really late or cancelled. Some kids who live farther out (and take the S-train in) were an hour late for our test in the business class today.

My Danish politics professor said this is the most snow he can remember in the last 10 years. My history professor made the comment that all Swedes keep tire chains in their garage so they get by just fine.

The roads are now starting to get cleared off a little bit better. I had to wait a long time for the bus today though. Here is a news article in USA Today about it. Jutland got more snow, but there is some reference to Copenhagen transportation at the end.

Visit to Øster Farimagsgade

I visited Julie's 7th grade English class today at Øster Farimagsgade. The class is about 20 kids. They were taking a test today, so I had a chance to sit and work on some of my Danish homework. 2 of the kids finished about a half-hour early, and they gave me a tour of the school. I commented to them that they must be pretty good to finish the test so fast. "Oh, no, we just don't look over our answers" was his reply. These two guys only took 30 minutes to do the test, and the rest of the class took an hour. I don't think the rest were looking over their answers for 30 minutes. :) Thats the response I would have expected though from a Dane.

The school is kindergarten through age 16. 3 stories and a basement. The gym is in a separate building in the "backyard". The kindergarten is also in a separate building back there.

I peeked at the front page of one of the tests. They were given about 30 words and had to write the plural form. Child, negro, deer, etc. I'm not sure what else was on the test.

For the last 10-15 minutes of class, I gave a little powerpoint presentation about Minnesota. I compared it to Denmark by putting a map of Denmark inside Minnesota. Denmark fits inside, and is about 1/4 the size of MN. We have nearly identical populations and size of economy.

Then I showed a bunch of pictures of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Ortonville, and our farm (got these from Johannes). Gave some facts about Minnesota, talked about the Mall of America, did a 2 minute overview of Minnesota history, and then told them the Minnesota sports teams.

I'm going to be going on Tuesdays after school to help in the library, and then on Thursdays in the 7th grade English class.

Day after Blizzard

I haven't been very impressed with Copenhagen's cleanup job after the Blizzard. Most of the sidewalks still aren't really cleared. The roads aren't much better. Everything is just a big slushy mess all over. The public transportation is goofed up today too. I think they've been spoiled by really nice winters, and aren't used to having lots of snow. I suppose we had 4-5 inches. North of Copenhagen they had as much as a foot.

Maybe I'm being unfair and we don't clean up much better in Minnesota. It just seems that there has been very little clearing of snow done. I'm sure the cobblestones don't make the cleaning any easier.

Ikea

I read this story from Reuters about Ikea starting to charge for bags in the US.

Every store in Denmark does this to cut back on waste. There is just a stack of bags at the beginning of the checkout line, and you throw as many as you want on the conveyor belt with your stuff. About 50% of the people get bags. The other 50% bring a backpack, etc to put their groceries in. I'm not sure how much the bags cost, because I've never bought any.

Those big Ikea bags are very nice though. DIS gave us one (our books came in it). Very heavy duty bag, and quite large. I use it to do laundry.

Blizzard today

Had a nice Minnesota blizzard today. First bad weather since I've been here really. Made me feel at home. :) Checked out the Statens Museum for Kunst today since there wasn't a whole lot one could do outside. This is a picture of the building I took on our bus tour (too much blowing snow for a picture today).

Candy

I found a really amazing candy bar made in Sweden. Chocolate/carmel etc. They were on sale for 16 DKK (about $2.80), so I bought one. It is really big, so maybe not really that bad of a deal. Also found some great cookies called Muslinger.

Our Danish teacher brought some licorice for us to try on Monday. I guess she eats it all the time, and it is probably the most popular Danish candy. It is like black licorice, but salty. Really sticks to your teeth when you chew it. From my perspective, it was edible but not that good. I don't really like black licorice in the first place.

I'll make a post about our trip to Jutland soon. I go to visit the 7th grade class tomorrow. Called Julie (the teacher) last night, and she scheduled a test for tomorrow so I probably won't be doing a whole lot. She had reserved a room for doing powerpoint too, so maybe I will still give a little presentation about where I'm from after they finish the test. Johannes had some nice pictures of our farm, so I'll use those.

Observations

It's raining today.

Just a few observations.

Always stand on the right side of the escalator. The left side is left open for people walking up. From what I understand, Danes don't really have a phrase for excuse me. So, if you are standing on the left side where you shouldn't be, they will just come up behind you and lightly push you. I think this is just meant as a reminder that you shouldn't be standing there and to get out of the way.

There are many young kids that I see riding mass transit alone. Kids of the age that I would expect their parents to be with them, but they are riding the subway by themselves. Also in central Copenhagen there are younger kids wondering about on their own. I guess they have been using public transportation from a young age, and Copenhagen doesn't have any bad neighborhoods or other reasons that would necessitate parents always watching over them. A Dane might say I'm overexaggerating this, but I don't think you'd see a younger kid riding the subway in New York City by themselves.

The taxes are very high in Denmark, although this hasn't prevented them from having one of the best economies in Europe. Our Danish politics professor frequently says the phrase, "the bumblebee can fly!". Apparently if you look at the size of a bumblebee and its feeble wings, it really shouldn't be able to fly but it does. Denmark's economy is the same way.

For wages up to about 25,000 kroner a month, the income tax rate is 40%. Over that rate, the income tax rate is about 70%. It is very difficult to become rich in Danish society. On the other hand, there is a social safety net from "the cradle to the grave". Denmark funds a comprehensive health care system, a great transportation system, aid for the unemployed, and other social programs. Danish college students are actually paid a stipend while they attend school. They certainly don't make money, but it is enough that they can get by with little debt when they graduate from school.

Perhaps one of the reasons that Denmark's economy is competitive is because they have a very mobile labor market. Unlike France and Germany, Danish companies can hire and fire workers very easily. This is similar to the United States, where workers can be fired and laid off relatively easily. Once out of a job, Denmark gives the person unemployment aid with conditions applied to it. Part of that is job training programs, so that if the unemployed can't find a job with their current skill set they need to get retrained to be able to fit into a new job in an area that needs workers.

Denmark is also different from France/Germany in that their economy is comprised mostly of small companies. There are few companies in Denmark with over 100 employees. A small company is probably able to shift their momentum to changing market conditions easier than a large company, so that is perhaps another reason why their economy does well. France and Germany have many large companies.

Most fast food places do not have free refills. The Coke 1.5 liter bottle was about 3 times the price of the generic cola in the grocery store.

Copenhagen has weather that flucuates more frequently than in Minnesota. I think we can generally predict our weather very well, and if it is sunny in the morning then odds are it will be sunny for the majority of the day. Copenhagen's weather is much more unpredictable I think. It might be nice in the morning, but the wind shifts in the afternoon and it is snowing. Mogens Been told me that it depends which direction the wind is coming from. If it comes from the east, you are going to get weather effects from the ocean. If it comes from the west, then there is land over there and you'll have different weather.

Copenhagen has no skyscrapers. Nearly every building is 5 stories tall. No exceptions for the most part. They all have similar architecture, and they all rise to the same height. I should ask someone about it, but I'm guessing there is some sort of city ordinance prohibiting different building in Copenhagen. The many church steeples are the obvious exception.

Copenhagen is a very "organically" laid out city. I would contrast it with New York maybe, which has regular city blocks. If you know the street in Manhatten, it isn't very difficult to find it. Central Copenhagen was once a fortified medieval city, completely walled off from the outside. All of those original roads and city organization are still there. The effect is lots of small winding streets and no rigid organization. Very few cars as well, because there simply isn't room to drive them, nor parking spaces to park them. Not to mention the 200%+ tax on cars. You must be 180% tax to register your car in Denmark. Then you must also pay the 25% sales tax. This isn't very popular in Denmark, but it generates billions and billions of krones in revenue. Removing it would be very difficult, because you'd have to either find some other way to generate that revenue or you'd have to drastically cut the social programs.

There are certainly parties in Denmark who would like to do that. Maybe I will make a post later about Denmark's politics.

I usually run into someone every day trying to sell me something on the street (a newspaper, magazine, etc). Or sign some petition, etc. They are always very well dressed and polite, and will start walking along side you and say "excuse me, can I ask you a question?", or "excuse me, do you have a minute?". I just keep walking. Most of the time they'll try starting a conversation in Danish, but I think that has even less chance of success. :)

An Update

Apparently I haven't been updating this blog very well. As I've been informed from a number of people, there has been no posts at all in February! :) I'll try to post more frequently...sorry for the lapse.

I've been using the kitchen here quite a lot now. Tacos were on the menu for yesterday, and I was able to use Carol's tupperware she sent cookies in to save taco meat for lunch today too. I've purchased a number of other meals as well. It is a little difficult finding meals that I can both cook and find the ingredients for. This isn't a bad thing, but a different set of challenges than I would have cooking at home. Not that I cook at home... :)

This weekend we go on our trip to western Denmark with the business program. Our events start on Wednesday afternoon when we visit Denmark's largest company, Maersk. This is the largest (or one of the largest) shipping companies in the world. They ship those large containers around the world.

On Thursday morning, we leave for western Denmark. Take a ferry to Aarhus, Denmark, which is the second largest city. From there we visit nearby Danish Crown, which is Europe's largest slaughterhouse and the world's largest exporter of pork. Danish Crown's export amounts to 6% of Denmark's total export. It is owned by more than 20,00 farmers. Recently it has been closing down a number of smaller slaughterhouses due to globalization pressures, which has brought it under some public debate.

On Friday, we visit Arla Foods. Arla Foods is Europe's largest dairy company and is a cooperative owned by approximately 13,650 milk producers in Denmark and Sweden. They also own several large European grocery store chains. We will visit their headquaters and a dairy. Also on Friday, we will visit Aarhus Kunstmuseum. This is a new museum that just opened in 2004.

On Saturday, we visit Ribe. Ribe is Denmark's oldest town. We will visit a museum about the town starting from the Viking age, through the Middle Ages, to about year 1700. Then a guided walking tour of the old town and the Cathedral. Then we drive back to Copenhagen that night.

You can click on the links above for more information. If you want to find these places on a map, I have laid out our route on Google maps. Click here to see where I'm going in Denmark.

On Sunday, the Been family has invited me over to their house again for dinner. I believe two of their three sons will be home as well. It should be fun.

I met with Julie at the Øster Farimagsgade school on Wednesday. I will be going to her Thursday morning 7th grade English class on February 22 to give a little presentation about where I'm from. She had two volunteers at the school last fall from DIS, and they did a number of lessons throughout the semester. Julie told me they weren't comfortable talking about US history, so she is hoping I can talk about that somewhat. Basically, her main goal is to force her students to communicate with someone who they can't fall back to Danish with. She says they know enough English to get their point across but many of them are not confident in doing that.

Pictures

Denmark 2007_01_29 Copenhagen to Amager

Walking around from Radhuspladsen Square to Amager. Click on picture to view the photo gallery.

Denmark 2007_01_28 Rosenborg Slot

Walking around from Rosenborg Slot to DIS. Click on picture to view the photo gallery.

Denmark 2007_01_26 Been residence

Snowfall around Orsends, and then the neighborhood that Mogens and Birte Been live in. Click on picture to view the photo gallery.

Rain Today

I don't have any classes on Wednesday, so I slept in today. Actually, I don't have class until noon on Mondays and Thursdays, so I can sleep in those days too. My schedule is very strenuous. :)

I took the subway into central Copenhagen today to get my CPR number. This is like a social security number, and you need it for the library and for health care. I had to go the the Copenhagen folkeregister (or something like that). Then you take a number, and wait until a person is available. She asked me which doctor I would like to use, male or female. Turns out there is a 60-year old male doctor 500 meters from Oresunds on Amagerbro Blvd. Thats who I'm signed up with now.

Taking a number is very common in many places. I stopped at the post office today, and it was the same thing. Take a number and wait until it is called. A post card stamp to the US cost 8.25 kroner ($1.38). That was more expensive than I was guessing.

Took a trip to Netto today as well. I guess that is the cheapest grocery store. Bought bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, chips. Sandwich materials. There wasn't much selection in this supermarket, so I might try going to a different one next time. I bought some butter-like stuff...not sure if there is real butter available. Butter is the kind of thing that doesn't have nice pictures or see-through packaging so you can see what you are getting. I managed to get through the checkout without speaking English. :) Not that I spoke any Danish either.

My new shoes are amazing. Might be the best shoes I've owned. I've done a lot of walking since being here, and my feet are never sore wearing these shoes. Well, I guess they did get a little sore yesterday, but that was after walking for 3 hours in the afternoon. The shoes are waterproof too, which is great. Walking around in the rain or in the slushy snow doesn't mean cold, wet feet. Copenhagen usually has a number of puddles at intersections or on sidewalks that you need to manuever, so the waterproof shoes is a very good thing.

Food is very expensive. I bought a muffin yesterday for 6 DKK ($1). Rolls and related things at the bakeries in town are usually about 7-10 DKK ($1-1.50). Eating at McDonalds is going to be about 50-60 DKK ($8-10). To eat any sort of meal at a fast food type place is usually at least 40 kroner. At an actual restuarant, probably much more.

The pizzeria and burger/fries place in our kollegium is quite cheap I guess. Austin got a pizza yesterday for 33 kroner (about $5.50). It was cheese-only, so maybe that is cheaper. Still, not too bad. I think you can get a burger/fries down there for 40-45 kroner. The ice cream is expensive though...I bought a Nestle ice cream bar that ended up being 14 kroner ($1.30).

The subway system runs similar to how MnDOT runs the light rail at home, on the honor system. They don't check your pass or ticket when you get on the train. You are expected to have paid the correct fare. Occasionally there will be an officer that walks down the train as it goes between stations and asks to see your ticket. It is a 600 kroner fine if you don't have the correct one ($100). I wasn't checked at all the first 6 days here, but have been checked twice in the last two days.

The subways run with no driver or any staff on board. All automated. There is a big window at the front of the train, so you can sit up there and watch as you zoom through the tunnels.

I think I'll be working in the IT department here for my work study, doing stuff in the computer labs. They assigned me to IT at a meeting on Monday, and I'm still waiting for them to send me an email about the training session.

It looks like there might be some difficulties with volunteering at the school. I talked with Julie on the phone last night, and the English classes are Monday, Tuesday, and Thurday afternoons. I have class Monday/Thursday afternoon, and I don't get done on Tuesday afternoons until 1:30pm. Apparently the other DIS volunteer has the same problem. Julie was a little disappointed that DIS didn't pay closer attention to when people had free spots in their schedule. I meet with her next Wednesday, so we'll see if we can work something out.

Classes yesterday

Some things from my classes yesterday.

Business class

The professor is the director of the Danish Brewers and Soft Drink Association. He helps beer and soft drink companies with their Danish and EU business strategies. He was formerly an executive with Scandanavian Airlines, and was a Danish diplomat to the EU in Brussels for 8 years. This class sounds like it will be very interesting, and he has a lot of first-hand experiences to bring into it.

One interesting comment he had about Norway. Norway has a very good economy (because of oil and natural gas), and hasn't joined the EU because they don't want to lose soveriegnty and the final say over economic matters, etc. However, it was hurting them to be outside the EU economic system, so they did join the common market because they really had no choice. In order to do this, they had to accept all of the EU economic policies anyways. So, by not giving up the final say in matters, they actually give up even more because they don't have any say at all. Norway actually loses soveriegnty by not being in the EU, rather than being in it. Follow that? :)

History class

I really liked this professor. He seems very knowledgable, and he gives a good lecture. The class is 20th century European History, and he spent basically the whole period explaining what the class was about. Discussed what fits into this time period (1871 unification of Germany to 1989 fall of Berlin wall). He said we really can't tell at this point if the period has ended, but he thinks it has. Maybe a better ending date would be 1982 with the first personal computer he said.

How to define Europe? Common heritage/background in Christianity. Compared to the other nearby cultures, Europe is similar. Historically large muslim areas to south and east.

Danish Politics and Society class

The professor was just in the Danish parliment for the last 12 years, so he has a lot of first hand knowledge too. Denmark has 6 political parties. The US Democrats would fit about in the center as far as Danish politics is concerned. The US Republicans would be far far to the right of any Danish political parties.

The Social Democrats (left of center) had been in power since the 1920s I think, but lost power in 2001 to Venstre (right of center). Venstre governs the country with the Conservative People's Party, but together they have under 50% of the legislature. So Denmark has a ruling group that doesn't even have a majority. Denmark's politics are full of comprimise as a result (rather than conflict). The system is set up so you need a majority to remove a ruling group from power, rather than a majority for them to get power.

About 75% of Danish vocabulary comes from German words. The grammar is completely different from German though, and has Angelo-Saxon roots I guess. So the grammar has more similarities to English than German. He said Norwegian was really just a dialect of Danish.

Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes have a lot of stereotypes of each other I think. Not all positive stereotypes either. :) I figured Scandanavia was Scandanavia, but I don't think anybody here would believe that for one second. While the rest of us might see a lot of similarities, they see a lot of differences. Perhaps both are right.

Mogens and Birte Been

I went to go visit Mogens and Birte Been this afternoon. They came to pick me up at 2pm, and then we drove to their home. They live in Bagsværd, which is about 15 km northwest of the center of Copenhagen. They are their own municipality, although I think it is considered part of "Greater Copenhagen". Click here to see their house. They live very close to a large lake. You can zoom out to get an idea of how far it is away from Copenhagen. It is quite close. I guess about a 20 minute ride on the S-train. Or 15 minute car ride.

They both have degrees in electrical engineering from what I understand. Mainly doing work with power electronics. Mogens worked for Phillips for a long time, in the lighting department. Now he does consulting work. He just got back from Serbia for a week, where he was giving advice to a steel girdar manufacturing company (on quality issues, etc). Been Business Development. Birte stopped her regular job a few years ago too, and now owns a small business too. She does work with acoustics and noise reduction in industrial areas, offices, etc.

They have 3 sons. 17, 21, and 25. The youngest just started gymnasium, and is in a rock band. The 21 year old is in the service, doing firefighting type work. The oldest will graduate this year with a Masters doing work in digital image processing.

They were very nice, and we talked for a long time. Mogens is big into kayaking and biking. He also is president of the local theatre association. We had a snack when I got there, and then took a walk around their neighborhood. I got to eat dinner with them too, which was very good. Pork chops, rice, and peas. Their house is not wood at all. Brick, and the walls are more of a cement/plaster/etc. Not sheetrock. Hardwood, brick, or tile floors with big rugs on them. Very cozy furnishings. The lighting is all hung really low, so you can easily see what is on the table, but the higher areas of the room are dimmer. Makes a nice effect in the room. Their main living/dining room has huge windows going outside, so they have lots of natural light as well.

I guess I should be thoughtful what I write in my blog. The whole world can read it. :)

Mogens commented that my accent sounds different than that of George Bush. I thought that was interesting that he noticed that.

Cars have a 180% tax in Denmark. The reason is to provide a disincentive for buying a car (and using public transportation or a bike instead), but they said that was just a convienant reason. Actually the big tax is a large revenue generator to pay for transportation costs, and thats why it sticks around. Same tax on motorcyles too. A Harley might cost 400,000 DKK I think he said. Some younger people are buying homes in southern Sweden now, because they can get a bigger apartment and buy a car cheaply. The bridge costs 235 DKK to cross though. $40. Cheaper if you do it daily. Train ride much cheaper.

Kvickly Supermarket

Took a walk down to Kvickly Supermarket today. Probably 6-7 blocks away, along Amager Boulevard (kind of the main street for Amager). Our guidebook says it is somewhat like a Super Walmart. I don't think I'd put it quite that way, but it did have a very large selection similar to a Super Walmart. The focus was mostly on food though, and then clothes/electronics/etc were added on to that.

Bought a shaver, headset for making phone calls, and two loafs of bread for DKK 491.90. About $82. The MOMS tax (25% valued added tax) was DKK 98.38 of that. So $16.39 of the $82 was tax.

The exchange rate is about $1 = 6 DKK. So I'm getting very good at dividing by 6 to get the cost in dollars. Yet another reason why your kids should learn those multiplication tables Mom. :)

Answering some questions

Some stuff that people asked me about in emails.

My camera is a Canon Powershot SD800. I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off on the camera (at Carlsberg Brewery), and it kept flashing and making glares on the beer bottles. So thats why there is a movie in that gallery...I figured the movie wouldn't make a flash.

I'm finding food to eat just fine. Haven't made much use of the kitchen yet though...still need to run into a Danish person in there and ask them the rules, etc. I think we have space in the cupboards and fridge we can use, but I want to make sure I don't take someone else's space...

The Amagerbro shopping area is huge...much bigger than it looks on the outside. Most stuff is pretty expensive I think. Lots of clothes and shoe stores. Everything is UDSALG UDSALG UDSALG (sale sale sale). 50% 50% 50%. I guess Denmark stores have two big sales a year. One at the end of January, and one at the end of August. We have sales for every holiday, and even a few extra holidays if the stores can create them. :)

In general, everybody speaks English (and quite well). They aren't annoyed when you start speaking in English, for the most part. I think most people are happy for a chance to practice.

Living in Copenhagen is very cool. I can get anywhere I want by walking or the easy public transportation. I haven't lived in a big city before, but this is very nice. No long driving commute to get places, and no traffic jams. Just a nice, green, walk to the subway (with a bakery on the way), and then a short subway ride into downtown Copenhagen.

A bit intimidating going someplace new, because you want to make sure you know how to get back. I have my address in my wallet, just in case. :)

People do have accents on their English. Some are much better than others. I ate at a bagel shop in Copenhagen, and the guy running it spoke perfect English with hardly an accent. Other people aren't as good, but you can certainly understand them. If anything, they will say the vowels just a little bit differently, or change the length of them just a little bit. So you can still hear the word, but the tone of it seems a little off.