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!