Walking in a Winter Wonderland

My first weekend in Copenhagen was a success! Rach asked what my favorite thing about Copenhagen was, and really the first thing I thought of was walking around. It's just such a beautiful city. Saturday night we went on a late night walk around the city and it felt completely safe. There aren't very many big cities you can just walk around aimlessly at night! One thing I've noticed being here is how few cars there are on the street. I asked someone at DIS about it and apparently Denmark has an extremely high tax on car (it costs something like 250% of how much someone would pay in the US). So, car manufacturers send their most basic cars for sale here, because any special model simply wouldn't sell! That means that there are a ton of bikes (one of the best cities for biking) and a great public transportation network (which I haven't actually tried yet and I'm a little bit scared of haha). There's also a pretty high tax on American fast food (like McDonalds) because of the high fat content... I don't understand the details of that one, but thought it was an interesting little fact. When we got back from our walk we watched a Danish "black comedy" called the Green Butchers. It was definitely interesting and entertaining, but very very odd. Danish black comedy is definitely something different. Then, we woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning and there was an inch or so of snow everywhere! It was stunning so we went around the city (again) and took pictures.

 I also went up to the Round Tower, which is Europe's oldest working observatory. It is about 6.75 meters high and you can see pretty much the whole city at the top. There are windmills set up off the coast and you could see those easily. Apparently, on a clear day, you can see Sweden, but it was a bit cloudy (and I didn't actually know where to look to see Sweden anyway haha). It's only 5 minutes from my house, so I may visit it a few times this semester (it'd be great to be up there at night)!

A Week Away From Home

It's hard to believe that it has only been a week since flying out of Houston... It feels like I've been here for so much longer. I've met so many people, seen so much of the city, done so much. And I still have 3 and a half months! I mean, I'm sure it will speed by later, but now it feels like I'm going to be here forever. Which is great haha. I mean, I've definitely been a little homesick, but it's really just every once in awhile, and I think understandable considering I'm completely out of my comfort zone haha.

It was a pretty great week though! I know my way (at least around our area) fairly well. Even when I don't find whatever I'm looking for, I can always find my way home, so that's the important thing haha. Classes seem like they'll be really interesting, though. I mean, that may change as we go haha, but, as of now, they'll be good!

Sustainable Development: I haven't had an 8:30 class in awhile, so that'll be difficult, but only living 5 minutes away from the class makes it pretty easy haha. I think the class will be good! A lot of it is going to be things I've already talked about in other classes, but I honestly won't remember details anyway, so it'll be good to go over it again haha. And we get to go on trips and have guest speakers, so even if it's not exactly what I expected, it'll be interesting! And the teacher is an adorable little Danish woman who seems to really know her stuff.

But then, all my teachers seem to be pretty great. Most of DIS's teachers are only part time, so they all have other jobs, either teaching at the University of Copenhagen, or doing research. My Gender Perspective on Human rights professor is a lawyer by trade who has a NGO for women (and men) involved in sex trafficking to Denmark. She used to be a high profile criminal lawyer in the Netherlands and United States (she said she was almost always the youngest and only female person at work). So when she came back to Copenhagen, she decided to do something new and has really affected so many women's lives.

Then the Renewable Energy Systems professor was a representative for Mexico in some kind of climate conference. Again, definitely knows his stuff. It'll be more technical and science-y than I'm used to, but it'll be good to actually understand the mechanics of the different energy systems! Instead of taking  Sustainable by Design, I decided that I wanted some sort of cultural class. So I'm taking the History of Copenhagen and we're studying kind of like city planning in reverse. Just understanding why the city looks like it does and how it grew and all that. The teacher, again, is adorable. It's just too much haha...

So I'm not really sure what we're up to today, but I'm sure there's something to see! Exciting times! Hope everything is going wonderfully with you all!

New Yorkers must always win the Amazing Race

Today we did an activity based on the Amazing Race. We had a list of places all around Copenhagen and a small group of us wandered around and spoke to a person from DIS at each. We learned about Danish history, culture, politics, religion, it was wonderful. It was also a beautiful day (sunny!) but so cold. I did not bring my scarf or gloves, but I did whip out my bright red parka (make it more obvious I was American haha). But my group was great and it was a great day (and exhausting from all the walking haha). It was four of us wandering and one of them just looked at the map and knew exactly where to go. It was crazy. I mean, he said he was good with directions (which I attributed to him being from NCY haha), but it was pretty great! We saw most of what was on the list and I really appreciated him! We also had our core course orientation so we could meet our professors and get the dates of our long/short study tours. I am in Sustainability in Europe and we are going to an "Eco-village" in southern Denmark in early February then Amsterdam in March for 4 days. Classes start Thursday (yay for already assigned readings) and I'm looking forward to them! We're supposed to be visiting places that kind of match up with what we're learning about at the time (and we get to go on bike tour in the Netherlands haha). Other things I'm taking:
Renewable Energy Systems
Sustainable by Design
Classical Foundations: The Copenhagen Collections (and art history class and hopefully will be able to visit some of the local museums)
Gender Perspectives on Human Rights
Impressionism in Paris (a 1 credit class with a trip to Paris WHOA)

This is our house! It's beautiful and old and in the spring it will have ivy all over the sides.

We've been lucky to have 2 or 3 really sunny days lately, which is great for sight seeing haha. Also, I should mention, I've said the cold is pretty extreme, but that's mostly just because I'm not used to it haha... People from cold climates are fine, I'm mostly just a wimp.

This is Trivoli, an amusment park in the middle of Copenhagen. Apparently it's what Walt Disney based Disney World on. Who knew?! It's closed for the winter, but will be open when the weather gets better!

This was the home of the Danish royal family at some point, built by a king (I can't remember his name) who was very popular, but in the end left the city bankrupt, some due to his healthy social life. He had something like 6 kids with his wife, but is rumored to have 23 kids in total. You can't see them here, but there are two lions out side the castle, one with the mouth closed and the other opened. The tongue in the opened mouth apparently comes out and it's rumored that the king would take hide a key to the castle under the tongue, so he could sneak into the castle after a late night of drinking.

We were told by a tour guide that during the warmer months, this park is the best place to meet young Danes. Good to know!

So this is the royal church (I'm not sure what it's called but oh well haha). When it and the buildings where the  royal family lives now, were first built, it was based on a style of architecture from Paris. I can't remember what it was called, but they set everything up on an axis, with god at the top (this church), then the monarchy south of it (4 buildings, one for the queen, one for each of her two sons, and one for "official business"). 

With this statue in the middle! There were three or four copper statues of men on horses, and I have no idea which one this is haha.

Crown Prince Frederik lives here with his wife and 3 children!

I'm pretty sure this is is the queen's home...

And this the official building? But they're all pretty similar, so I may have mixed those up haha. But! South of this was originally empty land, which was supposed to represent eternity. So, God, the Monarchy, and Eternity for Denmark (or something like that haha), but one of the richest men in Denmark insisted on building an opera house where the empty space was, which apparently was some sort of controversy. It is also very expensive to run, so when the economy of Denmark kind of suffering from the global recession, there is talk of  the fancy building essentially a waste.

The canal where the picture on the right of my page was taken!

An old church with a tall tower you can climb (again, when it's warmer), and can apparently see Sweden from!

We spoke with the DIS person about religion when we were here and it was really interesting to talk about how it influences Danish culture. According to her, although the official religion is Protestant, it is a considered a private matter and it's not really discussed. It also doesn't affect politics nearly as much as it does here. Apparently, same-sex marriage either is in discussion/was awhile back because it is supported by a vast majority of Danes, but, because the State/Queen were technically protestant, there were worries it was "contradictory".

Parliament? I think. Maybe. haha. Denmark is a welfare state, so that means Danes are taxed as much as 60% of their income, but they get free health care, schooling, and even get paid to get higher degrees (and, most Danes, if the go to college, they stay to get their Masters degree, rather than stopping at bachelors like people here do). College students also get paid around $1000/ month while they're studying to cover living expenses. 

I think this was some sort of military specialist who came to Denmark shortly after it was founded (by a bishop in 1160). They had set up the foundation of the city, but had no protection from enemy armies, so he helped! This and the building above were built on land that used to be, essentially, swamp land. They had something like 10,000 oak logs put under holding everything up. Whcih seems odd. So it is possible 

So it should be an exciting class! With working in one of the offices, and being in the Green House (another picture right above), and doing little trips around Denmark (like visiting castles and hiking fjords), and exploring the city and meeting new people (I am determined to meet Danes, I just haven't quite figured out how exactly to do that haha) it'll be busy!