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.