Copenhagen: Won.

To everyone who read my blog while I was abroad, I apologize for not updating it much once second semester got rolling.  I just want you all to know that my year in Copenhagen was the best of my life.  I’ll never cherish anything so much as the memories I made in Denmark.

More snowy adventures

Cheryl and I had another snow-themed day trip yesterday.  We decided to go to Klampenborg, which is fairly close to the city and easily accessible by the S-train and bus systems.

The reason Cheryl picked Klampenborg (I had previously known only that it existed) was that it has a really lovely deer park, called Jægersborg Dyrehave.  The entire park was covered in a blanket of snow (although much of it was more like white ice since the day before it had melted a little bit and then froze over again), and there were small flurries of snow throughout the day.  It was much colder in Klampenborg than in the city center, but it must not have been too bad since I forgot my hat and still came back with both ears attached to the sides of my head.

The park was really beautiful, especially with lots of snow covering the entire landscape and all of the paths.  It was a rare sunny day in Denmark, which made it all the more exciting.   Sometimes, I swear I can hear a voice in my skin calling out for vitamin D.  We also saw a fair amount of deer that were not very shy at all, as they were laying on piles of straw just off the beaten paths.  I’m used to seeing deer close up since I live in northwestern Pennsylvania where accidentally hitting deer with your car is almost as much of a pastime as hunting them and their jerky (note: neither activity is one in which my family participates, thankfully).

We walked out of the park for a bit and up almost to the edge of the sea.  There was a possibility to get rather close to the water, but we were up on a hill overlooking it and decided that we were close (and cold) enough as it was.  It might not have been a very eventful day, but our outdoor adventure, coupled with a nice hot drink and apple pie at a café, was a good example of the Danish hygge and a nice way to get out of the urban setting for once.  It’s important to remember that Denmark is more – albeit not much more – than just Copenhagen.

Racism in Denmark

Last Thursday, I was required to attend a debate for one of my classes (Cross-Cultural Encounters in a European Context).  The debate was moderated by our professor and featured a member of the social liberal political party in Denmark, Radikale Venstre, and Dansk Folkeparti (the Danish People’s Party).

For those who are less than familiar with the Danish political landscape – so, essentially everyone reading this blog – Radikale Venstre is traditionally a centrist party with a history of forming coalitions with the centre-left Social Democrats.  Radikale Venstre is immigrant friendly and progressive on integration issues, at least by Danish standards.  The Dansk Folkeparti, however, is a radical right-wing populist party that is disgustingly xenophobic and holds extreme prejudice towards Islam and the Muslim immigrant community.

The man from DF said some of the most hateful things that I have ever heard from a politician’s mouth, save for Rick Santorum’s homophobic remarks and maybe some of the things that Jean-Marie Le Pen and Pim Fortuyn have said in the past.  He spoke as if Muslim is an ethnicity.  He used the words “immigrant” and “Muslim” almost completely interchangeably, made a lot of factually inaccurate points and used warped analysis of statistics to prove his points.  I challenged him on a remark that he made about Muslims being a hindrance to gay rights in Denmark by pointing out that Sweden was more advanced on gay rights and also much more progressive on issues of immigration and integration.

The point that struck me most during this debate, however, was his remark that “Racism does not exist in Denmark.”  I was more inclined to believe that homosexuality does not exist in Iran!  I recently started volunteering at the DRC, an organization that documents racial discrimination claims in Denmark.  Part of my job is to summarize court cases based on discrimination – which is illegal in Denmark.  Interestingly, the DF representative at the debate had been arrested previously for racism.  It’s funny that he should say something doesn’t exist when he himself is guilty of it.

During a debrief of the debate in class on Monday, my professor also said that he doesn’t think racism exists in Denmark.  My hand shot up and I explained a case that I had read at work in which a man was called an “Arab pig” by his employer.  My professor said that this is probably based on prejudice against Islam as a religion, not race – but I think it’s important to remember that not all Arabs are Muslims, and certainly not all Muslims are Arabs.

Denmark is in many ways much more tolerant and much more equal than the United States.  I prefer life here to life in the States, without a doubt.  But denying one of the fundamental problems of Danish society does a disservice to this country and to its people.

Visions of Eurovision

This weekend, my friend André made me inexplicably happy when he texted me to say that there was an impromptu gathering at his apartment to watch the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, a contest that serves to determine which song will be Denmark’s submission to the Eurovision Song Contest.

For my American readers, Eurovision is a song contest held every year, and each country in the European Broadcasting Union is supposed to submit an entry.  There is a contest in May when each artist performs their song, and judges and the public vote (you can’t vote for your home country).  This year, the contest will be held in Oslo, Norway.  Eurovision was once perceived as a chance to show off national pride – countries submitted their best songs and it was a great honor to win, not only for the artist and songwriters but for the whole nation!  Today, this contest has turned from a nationalist showcase of quality music to a campy skin-fest that is primarily targeted at twenty-something gay men.

Needless to say, I love Eurovision.

Since each country has to make an entry, there has to be a way to determine which song will be submitted.  In Denmark, there is a contest called the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, and a similar competition in Sweden is named Melodifestivalen.  We watched both at André’s this weekend.  It was really a dream come true for me – I followed the competitions, particularly Melodifestivalen (Sweden has fantastic music), via internet last year, but now I was actually able to watch them live on TV!  Sweden’s competition is ongoing, but the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix held all of its rounds in one go (which meant that the winner had to perform at the beginning, the semi-finals and the finals all in one night!).

I believe that the actual Eurovision contest will be held after I go back to the United States.  I’m really disappointed, especially since it’s being held in Scandinavia.  Check out the winner of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, and note the fabulous costumes and excessive use of wind-machines.

In the west of Denmark…

After last semester’s short study tour to Germany, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this semester’s trip to other parts of Denmark.  I went along with the other students in the Migration and Identity program at DIS (I was in European Politics and Society last semester) to Odense and Århus.

Our first stop was Odense, Denmark’s third largest city.  Odense is on Funen, an island to the west of Zealand where Copenhagen is located.  On the bus ride to Odense, our professor turned on a film and was pretty intense about making us watch it, which was a change from the more lax attitude that my tour leaders adopted last semester.  I thought right away that this trip was probably going to be more rigidly structured than either of my study tours last semester, which is odd considering that our long study tour visits were to the actual bodies of the European Union.  When we arrived in Odense, we went to a presentation by the Ethnic Job Team and Odense Immigration Council in Vollsmose.  The presentation was pretty interesting, if only because all of the people speaking were from very different backgrounds (various parts of Africa and Southwest Asia, mostly).  Hearing about the work that they all do and how difficult it can be was a reminder of just how much of a struggle it is to be a non-ethnic Dane living in Denmark.

After this visit, we went to the Brandts Museum to see an exhibit called I-Lands, which was a collection of modern art depicting various types of islands – literal, metaphorical and everywhere in between.  The exhibit was interesting and our tour guide made it worthwhile.  It was actually a pretty good follow-up to the previous visit, since living in Denmark as an ethnic minority can definitely make someone feel isolated, as if on an island.

We had lunch at a restaurant called The Ugly Duckling (that was the translated name, anyways) – appropriate, considering that Hans Christian Andersen was born and raised in Odense.  I wish we had gone to see his house and all of the other HCA tourism that is available.  Lunch was a buffet that I mostly found to be unappetizing.  We actually had a buffet at every DIS-provided meal on this study tour, which made it easier to find food that I liked but was not as good – nor as warm – as most of the food that we had last semester.

After lunch, we headed to Syddansk Universitet to hear a lecture from Mehmet Ümet Necef.  His lecture was titled, “Is Denmark Really a Racist/Islamophobic/Xenophobic Society?”, and his answer to that question was a resounding “No.”  According to Necef, Denmark’s immigration laws are “not that strict.”  He made quite a few good points throughout his lecture and was a bit over-the-top and charismatic in making his claims, but the idea that Denmark has lenient immigration laws is ridiculous.  One might say that Muslims have a harder time getting into this country than Americans have getting troops out of Muslim countries!  Necef made some unfair and untrue statements about the United States (homosexual sex is not banned in any state; see Lawrence v. Texas 2003), and he was constantly comparing Denmark to the US when it was not always relevant, but overall his – albeit frustratingly lengthy – lecture was one of the more interesting parts of the trip.

After this lecture, we continued on our bus to Århus.  I was a bit upset that we didn’t get to properly see Odense – I have no pictures of the city, and we didn’t take any kind of walking tour at all.  I know that these trips are supposed to emphasize academics, but I think that tourism, culture and individual exploration are vital!  If what we’re going to study is integration and multiculturalism, it would be nice to get a better sense of the culture into which people are being integrated.  Last semester, we at least got to take a guided tour of Lübeck and had about 4 hours to explore Hamburg on our own.

In Århus, everyone was so famished that we immediately decided to head out to dinner.  My group of friends decided upon Piccolo, an Italian restaurant whose name is quite literal – our dishes were really small!  At least the prices were relatively reasonable (by Danish standards), and the white wine sauce was delicious.  We then met up with our professors at a brewery and had a night cap, and after that I went with a few new friends to a bar called Under Masken that had what I think was a Jamaican theme.  There was a huge fish tank in one of the walls!

The next day started a little too early and was a bit too packed for my liking, but it included one of our best visits of the trip.  We went to Søndervangskolen, which I guess I would call a grammar school – it’s called an “all-day-school” if you translate it from the Danish, and the students are mostly aged 8-16.  Over 3/4 of the students at this school were of a non-Danish ethnic background, which made it very interesting.  We began by hearing some of the teachers speak about their experiences at the school, and then we were split into groups and guided around by ninth graders who spoke – no surprise, Denmark! – near-perfect English.  Ninth grade here does not necessarily correspond to ninth grade in the US, but it’s more or less the same age group, except in Denmark it is always the last year of all-day school and is not part of their equivalent of high school.  Touring the school was really fun, as we got to actually interact with students and talk to them about a wide variety of things.  Even the ethnic-Danish children there were clearly from less affluent families than most of the Danes I’ve met in and around Copenhagen.  It is shattering to realize that Denmark is not as classless as it leads the world to believe (although income disparities really are much, much lower than in the United States), but it was also refreshing to see people who were not rich, white epitomes of Scandinavian “perfection.”  It was much different from visiting a gymnasium in one of the posh suburbs of Copenhagen last semester, where we talked to students who were going on a field trip – to America!

After this, we went to a huge bazaar (Bazaar Vest) where we had lunch.  It was mostly Turkish and Arab vendors, and included an unimaginable number of shops, ranging from enormous produce markets to tiny ice cream stands.  The food was not so much to my liking, and I ate fish and chips and purchased some dried fruit, but I still had a fun time with my friends.  The bazaar was cool, but nothing like I had expected – it was entirely indoors and very labyrinthine.

Our next stop was Gellerup Parken and the Brabrand Housing Association.  Here, we listened to a man talk about the plans to renovate an old neighborhood that is generally known as a ghetto (it’s so much less ghetto than almost anywhere in the United States).  To be honest, I did not really enjoy this lecture.  The man’s interest in the project was clearly genuine, and I have a great deal of interest in and respect for what he had to say, but it was presented in a rather boring way.  After we heard him speak, however, a group called Youth 4 Youth gave us a tour of the neighborhood and a presentation on their volunteer work as role models for the local youth.  This was more interesting, as the presenters were closer to my age and very passionate about helping out in their community.

After this event, we had dinner at a restaurant called Cucos – another buffet, much better than the last one but not completely delicious.  My class went to the brewery again after dinner where we had free drinks on DIS, and then we all followed our professor to a bar that was rather classy and expensive, but very lively.  Coincidentally, the security guard at that bar was one of the volunteers from Youth 4 Youth, so he got us all a 20% discount on our drinks, which made them much more affordable.

The last day in Århus started early for anyone who wanted to go ice-skating, but I decided with my friends to forego that activity and instead sleep in a bit and explore the city since we hadn’t seen much of it (by daylight, anyways).  We found out that it’s a very beautiful but not very busy city (even the bars weren’t so busy on Friday night, and it’s a major university town).  That day also involved a scheduled trip to the ARoS museum, which was a really amazing modern art museum.  In fact, I enjoyed this museum almost as much as the Centre Pompidou in Paris!  We didn’t get to go through every exhibit, but it was really interesting, and I finally got my picture taken with the enormous statue of a crouching boy – one of the major touristy photo ops for DIS students!

We had lunch after the museum – another buffet, with a weird combination of breakfast foods and lunch foods, but not really brunch foods – and then headed back to Copenhagen.  Our professor put on another movie, but we were all sleeping and talking through the whole ride home.  I wish I had seen more of Århus, as it was truly very pretty and quaint.  Last semester’s study tours had much, much more free time during the day, giving us a chance to pursue our own objectives and take in the sites, meet locals, etc.  I really preferred it that way, and I hope it will be like that when we go to Istanbul.  Still, even if it sounds really corny to say it this way, I made amazing friends on this trip and can’t wait to see them in class – and for those in the other section of the class, in Turkey!

The snow-covered kingdom

If I told you to imagine Denmark in winter, you’d probably picture lots of snow.  Lots and lots of snow.  This is Scandinavia, after all.  But you’d be severely mistaken, according to most of the locals, who tell me that they haven’t seen more than mere flurries of snow in the past 15 years (albeit the temperatures are often far below freezing and the windchill is unimaginable).  This year, however, Denmark is finally getting its fair share of snowfall, and I couldn’t be more delighted!

Where I grew up in northern Pennsylvania, four feet of snow did not even guarantee a school cancellation, but my last two years in Washington, D.C. have been mostly devoid of snow.  I was set to experience more or less the same thing with Denmark, knowing what I do about the Gulf Stream and all.  But this weekend turned out to be a series of fun adventures in the winter wonderland that this country has turned into.

On Saturday, I woke up to my friend Cheryl’s phone call at 9:00 a.m.  She asked, “Do you want to go on an adventure?  If so, meet me at Central Station in an hour.”  By 10:30, we were on our way to Roskilde – a town not far from Copenhagen that is internationally famous for its music festival.  We decided that we would go to the cathedral in Roskilde, since it’s rather famous and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It’s my goal to see all 890 sites before I die.  The cathedral was really beautiful, especially from the outside.  The inside seemed nice, but much of it was blocked from view by interior scaffolding (I swear, it’s on every building in Europe).  Also, there was an entrance fee to see the cathedral – only the Danes are so irreligious as to charge you to go into a church.  (This is actually not true – £18 to see Westminster Abbey.)

After walking through all of the various rooms of the cathedral, Cheryl and I decided to go to the viking museum that is built on the shores of a fjord.  The museum itself is a rather hideous cement building from the late 1960s, but we went inside anyways.  We decided that the museum was rather small and, since we both come from countries where the government pays for the museums, we didn’t much feel like handing over more kroner to see a few ancient ships (especially when there are numerous ships on display outside the museum!).  Instead, we went to a restaurant made mostly of glass – it had spectacular views of the fjord – and had a rather pricey but delicious lunch.

Not wanting to go home for the day, Cheryl and I decided to walk out onto the vast, frozen fjord.  We had a bit of trouble figuring out how to safely get to the center where the ice was thickest – it was rather slushy towards the land, but eventually we found a nice frozen spot just off one of the docks.  We walked around and stomped in the snow that had accumulated on the ice.  It was so pretty and such a cool experience, being so far out from land!

On Sunday, I had another blissfully wintery day.  Cheryl invited me to go sled-riding at Frederiksberg Gardens with her, André and Annie.  I had never been to this park before, which is really regrettable since I live within reasonable walking distance, and it’s ridiculously beautiful!  I left my camera at home that day, but fully intend to go back just to get some photographs of the pretty landscape (which I will add to this blog post to make things more exciting).

When André and I got to the gardens, we waited for everyone else and watched figure skaters on an outdoor ice rink, which was really charming.  After Cheryl and Annie arrived, we broke out into a snowball fight (Americans vs. Europeans).  On our way to the hills in front of Frederiksberg Palace, we saw a tree full of pacifiers.  Apparently, little Danish children gather up all of their old pacifiers and hang them by ribbons from the Pacifier Tree, leaving notes with their offerings to declare that they are big boys and girls.  There were even huge cookies hanging in the tree – gifts for the Pacifier Tree to thank it for receiving pacifiers.  This country is so weird sometimes.

Not being able to find a proper sled, Cheryl had picked up a yoga mat at the mall.  It turns out that this is not conducive to successfully sliding downhill.  We then gathered  a variety of broken sleds that children had discarded and decided that we would deal with the potential danger of riding these second-hand sleds downhill.  Hey, in a country were a bottle of Coca Cola is over $4.00, you have to save money where you can.

Overall, this weekend was a great success.  The weather is a bit cold for my liking (and now that I seem to have lost my transportation pass, it’s about to feel a lot colder), but Denmark is so beautiful right now.  I can’t wait for our short study tour, which starts tomorrow – Odense, Århus and the Danish countryside should be beautiful in blankets of white.

Jeg er back.

It’s been about ten days since I left the United States, so I suppose it’s about time I gave an update on everything that’s been going on since my return to Copenhagen.

When I arrived in Copenhagen, I had the same feeling that I usually get when I go back to Washington, DC after winter break.  I felt at home, I felt all of the normal things that I felt when returning to school.  I was a bit sad this time, though, because most of my close DIS friends from last semester are gone now.  Walking into the DIS building and seeing it really crowded but not recognizing anyone was a really strange experience that threw me out of my comfort zone.

I’ve spent most of my time since returning either with my friends from last semester, my friends from GW, or my Danish/European friends.  Being with them now makes me kind of sad because I have bonded with them enough to consider some of them amongst my best friends, but I no longer have the comfort of telling myself that we have one more semester together, and I have to accept that Danish immigration laws are much too strict for me to realistically consider moving back here one day.  Unless we are all one day living in the same city by coincidence, this will be our last four months together until our friendships must rely on Skype and frequent flyer miles.

But I digress.  Being back in Denmark after spending several weeks in the United States has made me appreciate both countries perhaps more than I once did.  I loved the diversity that I saw in the States – it’s so weird being back in a country where everyone is white and everyone who isn’t is “otherized” (and even those who are not white are relatively homogenous within their own communities).  The amount of homelessness and poverty that I witnessed in DC was a startling reminder of the inequalities that plague America but are largely absent from Denmark.

Regardless, I have increased my respect for the United States.  The things about it that frustrate me still frustrate me more than ever (ahem, Scott Brown’s victory).  Still, the diversity in the United States is something that I appreciate.  Riding the Metro in DC and being in the ethnic minority was a refreshing experience that provided a reality check for someone who’d spent a little too much time in Denmark.  It is Denmark’s commitment to consensus and to classlessness, however, that made me realize just how much the United States frustrates me.  Also, the food is much better (and more fattening, I admit it) in the States.  Sorry Denmark, but I’m just not down with pickled herring.

I’m really looking forward to this semester, even if I don’t have much energy for meeting new friends at DIS and even if I am sad that it’s the end of my time with some of the best friends I’ve ever had.  I can’t wait to finalize my travel plans, to go on my long study tour to Istanbul, to do all of the touristy things I haven’t done yet, and to down some Tuborg with the greatest – if not most introverted and xenophobic – people in the world.

…and you thought the Scandinavian winter was harsh?

I’ve been home for winter break for a few weeks now, and it’s been pretty relaxing overall.  There were some moments, however, where I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it home for the holidays.

On my last morning in Copenhagen, I awoke to my phone ringing at about 6:00 a.m.  It was my mom: American Airlines had called my home phone number to say that my flight to JFK was cancelled due to weather in New York.  I was hoping to get a flight re-routed through Copenhagen, but I couldn’t get through to the airline’s reservation hotline, so I went to the airport to see what I could arrange (I had a connection to make at London Heathrow Airport and didn’t want to be stuck in another city if I could avoid it).

When I got to the airport, I spoke with a man at the British Airways counter since they were handling my flight to Heathrow.  He informed me that the flight was not cancelled, and that I should proceed with my British Airways flight.  Believing him, I boarded my plane hoping for the best.  A few other DIS students were on my plane, all of them connecting to either JFK, Newark or O’Hare.  None of them had been informed of cancelled flights, so I assumed it was going to be fine, just like the British Airways employee had told me.  Wrong.

When I got from the British Airways terminal to the American Airlines terminal, I found out that my flight was indeed cancelled.  The people from American Airlines said that ALL flights to New York were cancelled, so even if there had been available seats with other airlines, they couldn’t possibly get us to New York that evening.  This was not true: my friend’s flight to JFK with British Airways was delayed by three hours, but she still made it home that night.  American cancelled prematurely, I just know it.

After waiting in line for three hours, only to be told that there was no point to my waiting in line by a rather bitchy employee of American Airlines, I found out (by calling a number on a very generous woman’s cell phone and waiting on hold for 45 minutes) that the only flights I could get to the US were to Boston on Tuesday.  As it was Sunday, I was stuck for two more days.  I later found out that the nice (and gorgeous) Swedish guy behind me in line was able to get a flight to JFK on Tuesday, but since I was able to have Tom pick me up, it wasn’t a really big deal where I flew into as long as I was landing relatively close to Connecticut.  I did, however, miss my flight to Pittsburgh on Tuesday (I was supposed to fly home after spending Monday and Tuesday with Tom).  Since my itinerary had been changed previously, this was actually the second flight I had purchased to come home.

So anyways, being trapped in London was not the worst thing in the world.  It is by far my favorite European city (although I’m still eagerly anticipating Istanbul, Prague, Budapest, Stockholm, et cetera).  I took the Underground into the city on Monday and did my Christmas shopping on Oxford Street.  Still having all day to do whatever I wanted, I ventured over to Trafalgar Square to see the Christmas tree (I thought I’d been to Trafalgar Square before; I guess I had thought I was there but was at a different obelisk?), I went to Buckingham Palace even though I’d already seen it, and after dark – which was rather early, it being the solstice and everything – I went to Westminster to see Parliament lit up and reflected in the Thames.  Just as I arrived at Westminster, it began to snow (it had been snowing earlier in the day but had eased up for a while).  Seeing the snowfall in front of Parliament was absolutely beautiful, and it was also very pretty on Regent Street, where I did some browsing in stores to keep warm before deciding to go to Westminster.

Since getting back to my home town in Meadville after a day with Tom and an uncomfortable flight to Erie, I have been inundated with snow.  The only days on which I don’t think I saw snowfall were Christmas day and the day after.  In fact, the already enormous amounts of snow melted on Christmas – the one day on which everyone appreciates a white-out.  Tom arrived on the first, and from that point on it did not stop snowing for eight days.

I don’t mean that it snowed every day for eight days.  No, no – this is northwest Pennsylvania that we’re talking about.  I mean that snow literally did not stop falling from the sky for eight days, twenty-four hours a day.  It was impossible to say whether or not the roads were being properly plowed, because it just didn’t make much of a difference.  I haven’t experienced that much snow since my early childhood – I swear, there were at least five feet of snow on the ground in many places!

Tom and I didn’t do much during his visit, but we did catch up with some friends.  I felt bad that I didn’t get to see everyone I wanted, and most of the friends I did see, I did not hang out with more than once or twice.  I don’t keep in touch with very many people from high school, especially when I’m abroad, so it’s hard to get in ample time with everyone when I’m home.  In addition to hanging out with my friends, we also went shopping a lot (and not just at Wal-Mart)!

Well, now I’m back in DC, where I’ll be staying at Tom’s place until the 14th, when I fly back to Copenhagen overnight.  It’s so weird being back on the GW campus for the first time since May, especially since my visit is so transitory.  I forgot how much I love it here, and I love how well I still know the place.  Everything is just the same, and the same things amuse and frustrate me, and for that I’m really grateful.  It’s going to be damn near impossible to leave America when it’s not Meadville that I’m leaving this time, but my real home.  I love this District.

Copenhagen, a love story.

The semester at DIS has come to an end.  There are no more exams, no more field studies, no more travel plans, other than a flight to JFK on Sunday after an extended layover at Heathrow.

I can’t believe how fast it went by.  There have been plenty of stories I never shared on here but wished I would have.  There have been lots of friends with whom I made plans that never became reality.  There are lots of places I said I’d visit or revisit but never did.  I know that I’ll be back in January for another semester, but saying goodbye to friends – best friends – who I just might never see again and will almost definitely never be with in Copenhagen again… it makes me realize how ephemeral my stay here really is.

The city is beautiful right now, full of the most splendid Christmas decorations.  I have to accept that I might never see the city decorated for Christmas again.  I had a very “hygge” Christmas party at Iason’s apartment this week and went shopping in the charming Christiania Christmas market.  These are experiences that I can probably never relive.  I hope to make it back here again (and again and again) throughout my life, but I might never be able to come at this time of year.

My life in Copenhagen will never be the same.  I will come back next semester to my European friends (and some of my GW friends will be joining me!), but it will not be the same.  I will miss my DIS friends so much.  And I realize now that, once I leave for good in May, the home that I found here will never be attainable again.

I’ve contemplated not coming back to DIS next semester.  I miss Washington, DC so much, and I miss my friends and my boyfriend.  I miss feeling really challenged by my classes.  I miss being able to afford normal things, like going out to eat and going to the movies.  But I’m so glad that I’m coming back because I still have so many things to see and re-see, so many friendships to continue cultivating, so much traveling to do outside of Denmark, and so much more.

Saying goodbye is always hard, and it’s been especially difficult with my DIS friends who are not coming back here in January.  So I say to you all – see you later.

‘Tis the season

Well, I really owe my faithful readers (Ricky, you might be the only one) an update on life in the past few weeks.

On the Wednesday before actual Thanksgiving, I celebrated Thanksgiving by having a traditional dinner at my networker’s apartment, along with our friends and another DIS student.  It was a lot of fun celebrating such a specifically American holiday with Europeans.  We actually had a proper Thanksgiving dinner too – mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet corn, apple pie… but we did have to make chickens, as turkeys are rather difficult to procure in Denmark, and we made gluhwein, which is not exactly a traditional Thanksgiving beverage.

On the actual Thanksgiving Thursday, I was in London, having left from Copenhagen Airport the night before.  I met up with some friends in London, and also went sightseeing.  I’d share a scene-by-scene recap of everything, but I’ve already done that for each city and it seems obnoxious at this point.  In summation, though, I stayed near the Great Portland Street tube stop, and my sightseeing was generally focused around Harry Potter/Princess Diana landmarks: Tottenham Court Road, Sloane Street, Kensington Palace, King’s Cross Station (platforms 9 & 10 under construction – problem!), the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk/Fountain, and Harrod’s (okay, I would have gone here anyways, but I did want to see Muhammad Al-Fayed’s ridiculously tasteless memorials to Dodi & Diana).  I also went to proper touristy places, like Westminster Abbey, the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, etc.

It was all lovely.  I have always said that I wanted to live in London, and being there only made me want to do so more.  Of course, I did realize that the London I imagined – while real – is probably inaccessible to me.  Living in Kensington, shopping on Oxford Street and working in an office building on the Thames is a perfectly wonderful idea, but the reality is that I will never be able to have/afford all of those things.  Ergo, I’ve concluded that moving to London is something I would definitely do, but it’s not the most important thing in the world.

I will say, though, that London was my favorite European city.  I’m glad I chose to study in Copenhagen, and Paris and Rome were great for vacations, but in terms of living, working, going out and having an actual life, London was perfect.  It felt much safer than anywhere in France or Italy (though not quite on par with Copenhagen) – no one begged me, tried to swindle me, or anything of that sort… of course, that could be due to the CCTV cameras everywhere?  London was so picturesque and the Brits are much easier to talk to than the Danes, though still not as sociable as Americans and Australians seem to be.  I guess the colonies acquired friendship somewhere along the way.

Since being back in Copenhagen, I’ve been rather busy.  DIS isn’t so very difficult, but when you have four papers due in one week, it doesn’t matter how challenging they are; that’s still a lot of work.  I’m taking a break in order to write this.  Still, I will say that I’ve been having fun lately.

Last week, I went to my friend Elisabeth’s house and we (the two of us + DIS friends) made a big dinner and had a slumber party, which was a nice change of pace since this is my first year not living in a dorm and therefore not being surrounded by my closest friends at all hours of the day and night.

I also went to Tivoli last week to get a drink (glögg, mmm) with my friend Cheryl.  The park is now decorated for Christmas, and it’s stunningly gorgeous.  Everything seems to sparkle.  I didn’t totally understand the Danish concept of “hygge” until the holiday season came around.  The decorations in this city are absolutely gorgeous!  My favorite scene in Tivoli was a weeping willow tree near the lake in the Chinese gardens – every branch was wrapped with tiny white lights, so when the willows blow in the wind, the lights swayed back and forth.  So enchanting!

The whole city is decked out for the Christmas season.  There’s a great store on Strøget called Royal Copenhagen.  It’s one of the most expensive stores I’ve ever been in and sells extravagant hand-painted porcelain and the like, and there are tables throughout the store decorated for the holidays by Danish celebrities (who are not famous anywhere else in the world, obviously).  It’s so cozy and beautiful – the entire city is really magical at this time of year.

It’s really interesting, also, to see the differences between Danish and American Christmas.  Danes, being the atheists that they are, don’t decorate things as much with religious symbols and stars.  Rather, they use hearts, traditionally red and white and woven from paper, to decorate for Christmas.  You can see these cute little decorations in all colors and sizes and materials throughout the city – the streets in Frederiksberg near my apartment have garlands strung above them that are adorned with plastic lights made to look like these hearts.   They are also hung on the large Christmas tree in Rådhusplads.  It’s quite charming.

The only other update that I have to mention is the climate conference (if you haven’t heard about this in the news, stop reading now).  It’s interesting to see the blend of sparkly Christmas decorations and climate-oriented things everywhere (in fact, the Christmas tree in Råhusplads is bicycle powered, so while it is lit up properly at night, a group of people can peddle on public bicycles to turn the lights on at any time).  There are exhibits in virtually all of the public squares, and in Rådhusplads, there is some kind of giant white globe that is illuminated by green lights at night.  I’ve yet to figure out what a lot of the displays are, but they are mostly really unique or interesting, so Copenhagen is an exciting place to be this month.

I’m hoping to do a lot of the touristy things that I’ve missed out on before I go home for winter break, but right now, although I sometimes wish I were staying in DC, I’m just feeling lucky that I’ll be back next semester, because otherwise I’d never get to see a lot of the sites that I’ve so far missed!