An Excursion to Malmö

Today, I went on a trip to Malmö, Sweden with several of my DIS friends. We went because we needed to do some winter shopping, and it is much more affordable than in Copenhagen. The exchange rate is better, and the taxes are lower, so it was defiantly worth the trip. A train ticket costs about $25, so it doesn’t take much to make the trip fit into your budget. We took the train from Copenhagen, and about forty-five minuets we were in Sweden. The train goes through a tunnel partway under the water, and the rest of the way it runs on a bridge. Once we were in Malmö, we found a map that would lead us to the shopping areas of the city. We walked down the main pedestrian street (something like Strøget in Copenhagen), and we stumbled upon an international food fair. Much to our surprise, it was the same fair that was at Gammeltorv (in Copenhagen) just a few weeks ago. We even recognized some of the same salespeople. It seems they travel from city to city in the summer, and Malmö happened to be right after Copenhagen. We all got lunch, and ate on a bench in a small square next to a cemetery.

We eventually found our way to a large mall, which had a bunch of very nice stores. The prices we very reasonable, much like what you would find in the United States in a nicer department store. However, the sizes are all over the place. It seems that there is really no standard, as sometimes they were much larger than in America, while other times they were not. I ended up finding two shirts, a sweater, a nice winter coat (for my trip to Russia), a scarf, and gloves. I should be set for the winter now, with the exception of some warmer boots, which I think I will try to find a little later in the year.

Overall it was a nice trip to Sweden, and was very much worth the time and travel expense. I would like to go back sometime to see some of the architecture and history of Malmö, as I didn’t have time to see much today. Door-to-door, the trip was a little over 12 hours for me, partly because I live so far from Copenhagen, and took the busses today instead of biking. There was somewhat of a delay in the train back to Copenhagen, but we are not sure why, as the announcements were in Swedish. At one point, we were actually on the wrong train, thinking it would take us to Denmark, when it was really going deeper into Sweden. Luckily, we weren’t the only ones to make the mistake, and we all got off before the train left the station.

I have a fairly quite Sunday ahead of me. My host family is visiting London this weekend, so I am just going to take it easy tomorrow. My week also looks pretty easy. However, I am leaving for Lithuania on Sunday, so I defiantly have something to look forward to. To end with, here are some photos of one of the main squares in Malmö, right by the train station.

Transportation: Bikes

This blog entry is the first in my series on different means of transportation in Denmark. One of the first things I remember seeing when I arrived in Denmark was that there were a lot of people on bicycles. The more time I spent here, the more I noticed that bicycles are absolutely everywhere. There are more than four million bicycles in Denmark, which means on average 83% of Danes own a bicycle. In Denmark, 20% of commuters travel in bicycles, compared to less than one percent in the United States.

Apart from riding bicycles much more, Danes also seem to be more talented on bicycles than Americans are. They ride at high speeds, right next to cars, busses, and trucks, without helmets, and are often holding something in one of their hands. I have seen bicyclists holding flowers, smoking, talking on the phone, holding an umbrella, drinking coffee, and even carrying a painted canvas once, without any problem at all. It is really incredible.

They also have what are called “Christiania Bikes.” They are named after Christiania here in Copenhagen. You can read about it in my post here. They were first made for people in Christiania who wanted to transport materials to build houses from recycles materials. However, they are now very popular all over Copenhagen from transposing groceries, building materials, and even ones children. I am told that Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark, takes his two young children to kindergarten everyday in a Christiania Bike. Here is a Christiania Bike designed for transporting children.

Here are some more photos to show you just how many bikes there are. You see them everywhere.

Additionally, bike locks work differently here. When I first saw all the bikes, I thought that none of them were locked up. I soon learned that it is unnecessary to lock bikes to something; rather the lock just prevents the back wheel from moving, as there is a bar across it. This means that you can pick up a locked bike and carry it away, you just cannot ride it. Unfortunately, bike theft is a problem here, and every hour about eight bikes are stolen. However, if the bike had an approved bike lock on it, insurance will replace the bike for you. There is also a new program that is beginning to be implemented which allows you to have a location device on your bike, so that it can be located if it is stolen.

Fortunately, my bike has not been stolen, although it has already happened to a few DIS students. However, from what I have heard, this was due to the fact to not using the proper bike-locks. I ride my bike about three miles every day, to and from the train station. However, this is nothing compared to my host father, who rides more than 16 miles everyday to get to and from his job in a neighboring town.

Overall, bikes are a major part of life here in Copenhagen. Most of the major streets have bike lanes, as well as traffic lights for the bikes. Many of the traffic signals in Copenhagen are actually timed for bicyclists, not for cars, so that if a bicycle were to hit one green light, he would hit all of the others. If you are ever driving in Copenhagen, you have to know that bikes have the right of way, followed by pedestrians. And if you are ever walking in Copenhagen, you had better watch out, because the bikes really aren’t going to stop for you.

Looking Forward

This past week in Denmark has been fairly uneventful for me. It was the first ‘normal’ week I have had in Denmark, so far. I had no field trips around Copenhagen, nor did I travel anywhere. I suppose this means I am getting somewhat spoiled by DIS, and all of the wonderful things we get to do while I am here. I had a wonderful relaxing weekend at home in Hillerød with my host family, and I finally had the chance to get caught-up on all of my reading and homework.

For a week where I feel I didn’t get that much accomplished, I certainly spent a lot of time looking forward to that the rest of my semester will look like. It is going to be pretty busy for me and my classmates, and should give me some great material to put on my blog. Here is a brief overview of what I have planned so far. Next weekend, I am taking the train over the sound to Sweden to try to do some shopping. It is starting to get cold here in northern Europe, and I am in definite need of some warmer cloths, especially a winter coat. We are going to Sweden because the taxes are lower than in Denmark, and the exchange rate is about 35% better when compared to the American dollar. The city of Malmö, Sweden is located just over the Øresund (the part of the ocean separating the Danish Islands from the Swedish mainland), less than 20 miles from central Copenhagen. I need to make it to Sweden this early in the year, because the very next weekend I will be leaving for my week-long trip to Lithuania. I will be going with the same class that took me to Germany, and we are going to be exploring different ethnic identities in this post-Soviet EU country. Needless to say, it is going to be moderately cold, about 50°F. Believe it or not, the Capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is only 500 miles from Copenhagen, the same distance between Denver and Wichita, KS. After I get back from Lithuania, I will be back in Denmark for another three weeks. After that, DIS gives us two weeks to travel on our own or in groups. For the first week, I am going on a DIS guided tour of Russia. We will visit St. Petersburg, Novgorod, and Moscow. Russia is going to be even colder that Lithuania, probably around 30°F. Part of our trip will be taking a night-train from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which will defiantly be an interesting experience. After I get back from Russia, I will be departing for some independent travel in Sevilla, Spain. I am going to be spending a week exploring the city on my own, and hopefully speaking Spanish the whole time. The weather in Seville is going to be geaorious, especially when compared to Russia. It should be around 65° while I am there, which sounds fantastic. Needless to say, I am looking forward to all of my travels, and can’t wait to tell you all about them when I return.

As for what I did this week, I don’t have too much to report. I made all of my travel plans for Sevilla, which is a relief to have out of the way. I also went to see the Pedro Almodóvar film, which was released recently here in Denmark. It is fortunate that I understood the Spanish dialogue, because the film was subtitled in Danish. I enjoyed the film quite a bit, and would encourage you to see it when it comes out in the states, which will probably be sometime next year. Otherwise, it was a restful week here in Denmark. I should have some more interesting posts for you in the next few days, I just have to get them ready with pictures.

The Danish-German Border Region

This last weekend was my first study tour with DIS. Each core program has a short study tour and long study tour built into the curriculum. My class took our short tour to the Danish-Germans Border Region from Thursday to Saturday. My class is about cultural migration and identity with Europe, so we went to the border to learn about Danish minorities within Germany, and German minorities within Denmark. The border between these two nation-states has moved quite a bit over the years, so on each side of the border there are substantial portions of the population whose national identity does not correspond to where they live. This has caused some problems over the years, however now a lot is being done to promote cultural interaction, as well as to sustain these two small communities.

We started out in southern Denmark, in a town called Kolding. Here we visited a castle that was located on the historical border between Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig. In the late middle ages, the county was officially part of the Kingdom of Denmark, but only because the Duke has pledge allegiance to the King of Denmark. This castle was built to remind the Duke that it was the king who had the power in the relationship.

Koldinghus Castle

A view of Kolding from the Castle Tower

Next, we drove to northern Germany, to the town of Schleswig (from which the Duchy gets its name.) We visited a Danish school called the A.P. Møller School. There is a whole system of Danish schools in Germany, which are funded by the Danish government, in order to provide the Danish community with a link to Denmark. Many believe that the Danish school system is superior to the German system, and for that reason, many parents choose to place their children in the Danish school system, instead of the German one. It is important to note that each person in this region is permitted to identify with either national community, and for that reason German parents can place their children in Danish schools. The German-Danish distinction is not based on race or ethnicity, or even necessarily language or culture. Each person much make a personal decision as to which nation they wish to identify with, and many chose a combination of the two.

The A.P. Møller School is a high school built about one year ago, and is probably the nicest high school I have ever seen. It was a donation from Arnold Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, the richest man in Denmark, and the heir to the Mærsk shipping company. The high school is rumored to have cost $100 Million US Dollars, and is designed by the same architectural firm that designed the Copenhagen Opera House (also a Mærsk donation). Here me met a scholar who has studied border regions in depth, and is also a social studies teacher at the school. He talked about the history of the region, as well as the issues regarding minority identity in border regions.

The Library

Assembly Hall

Schleswig Cathedral

From Schleswig, we made our way to Flensburg, Germany for the night. The next day we explored the town, and then got a lecture from another professor who is an historian and very well acquainted with the area.

He then took us to back to Denmark, to see Dybbøl Banke, the sight of the 1864 war between Denmark and Prussia that pushed the border to the north. We then went to in Sønderborg Denmark, where we had a night tour of the castle there, and then spent the night at a local hostel. The next day we had a lecture at the University of Southern Denmark about the socio-economic issues facing the Danish German Border Region. After that, we were on our way back to Copenhagen.

Overall, I would say it was a very good study tour. We learned a lot about history, politics, and culture of the border regions. We met some very interesting academics, and saw some amazing places. I actually was relieved to be back in Denmark, because linguistically I understand just a little more than I did when I was in Germany. Many of us found that we were actually starting to rely on our Danish skills when we were among German speakers. We also had to sort through Euros for the first time on this trip, as Denmark has not yet adopted the Euro. As a final thought, here is a picture of the breakfast we had in Flensburg Germany. We ate in a small café in the attic of a building just off the main walking street. It is owned by an elderly German woman and her husband, neither of whom spoke English or Danish. Nevertheless, between the students who spoke English, the professor who spoke Danish, and the bus-driver who spoke Swedish, we were all able to communicate and enjoy a wonderful meal together.

Roskilde

As promised, I am now going to tell you about my day-trip to Roskilde, on my first full Sunday here in Denmark. It was a DIS sponsored event, so there were about 20 other American students. We took a bus to the city of Roskilde, and visited the Roskilde Cathedral, as well as a Viking Ship Museum. Roskilde is an ancient city located about 1 hour west of Copenhagen. It was originally founded during the Viking Era, and over the years, it grew in importance and size. Today it is a town of about 45,000 people located at the end of a long fjord that connects the city directly to the sea.

Our first stop was Roskilde Cathedral, a magnificent red-brick building that was build during the 12th and 13th centuries, when Denmark was still a catholic state. It incorporates both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. What makes this cathedral particularly important to Danish history, besides its art and architecture, is that it is the final resting place of almost forty members of the Danish royal family, going back to Svend Tveskæg (Sweyn the Forkbeard), who died in the year 1014. It also houses many of the Christians and Frederiks. Since 1513, every King of Denmark has been named either Frederik or Christian, with the exception of the current Queen Margrethe II. The current Crown Prince will become Frederik X, and the next Christian will be the eleventh. These monarchs, and their queens, are placed in exquisite coffins around the cathedral, many in side chapels off of the main cathedral. I though it would be best just to show you some of the pictures of the cathedral, with brief captions.

Tomb of Frederik II, King of Denmark-Norway. Lived 1534-1588.

Christian VII of Denmark-Norway. Lived 1749-1808.

Frederik V of Denmark-Norway. Lived 1726-1766

The Main Altar

The Queen Margrete I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Lived 1353-1412. Founder of the Kalmar Union.

The Main Organ

The ceiling in on of the side-rooms.

Frederik VIII with his wife Louise of Sweden-Norway. Lived 1843-1912 and 1851-1926.

And finally, the outside of the cathedral.

I also visited the Viking Ship Museum. In the 1960’s, a group of fishermen discovered several Viking ships on the bottom of the fjord floor. It turns out that at sometime towards the end of the Viking Era, several older ships were intentionally scuttled in the fjord, blocking all but one of the pathways into the harbor. This prevented others who were not familiar with the fjord from reaching the villages within. The ships were excavated and conserved with wax, so that today we can see what some of these ships might have looked like. Just to show how far the Vikings explored, several of the ships were from Denmark, another from Norway, and one from Ireland. Here is a photo what remain of the Viking ships from Roskilde fjord.

The ships were also used to make modern reproductions, used to study Viking technology. They have sailed all over the Northern Atlantic using nothing more than the wind, and man powered rowing.

This weekend I am going to be visited the Danish-German Border region, to learn about Danish minorities in Germany, and German minorities in Denmark. I should have some more interesting posts after returning from this short study-tour.

Another interesting weekend in Denmark

I am still planning on filling you in on my day-trip to Roskilde last weekend, but for now I want to tell you about my trip to an accommodation center, where the Danish Government houses asylum seekers waiting to have their cases to become refugees accepted or rejected. It is located on the island of Amager (pronounces ama’ah, don’t ask me why) about one hour from central Copenhagen, by public transport. It houses families, as well as individuals, who have applied to the Danish government to be granted refugee status (as protected by the Geneva Conventions). Before that status is granted, they are considered asylum seekers, and are therefore not allowed to work for a salary. They are granted a small daily allowance to care for themselves, as well as housing, some education (mostly for children), as well as medical care if they are sick. The accommodation centers are funded by the Danish government, but are managed and staffed by the Danish Red Cross.

I traveled to the center with a reporter from New Times, himself an asylum seeker from Northern Africa, who introduced me and two of my class mates to several middle eastern asylum seekers who live at the center. We video-recorded some of the interviews, to eventually be uploaded to the New Times website, but several of the Iraqi asylum seekers were not comfortable being taped, due to the governments recent treatment of asylum seekers from Iraq. Many of these people left Iraq over ten years ago, because they were in danger of the Ba'ath government. However, now that there is a new government in Iraq, the Danish government believes that the asylum seekers no longer have a valid case to become refugees. Many of their cases have been denied, and the Iraqis are required to leave the country. Recently, a group of rejected asylum seekers took refuge in a church in Copenhagen, because they feared to return to their homes, and they were forcefully removed and deported by the police. The Danish government signed an agreement with the Iraqi government, which threatened the Iraqi’s with withholding aid if the asylum seekers were not taken back. According to the asylum seekers I met today, of the Iraqis who have already been deported, most of them were either arrested by the Iraqi government, or taken by terrorist groups. Their whereabouts are unknown, and they have not contacted their friends and families back in Denmark, where many of them have lived for the last ten years.

There is some frustration among the Danish people with their government’s treatment of asylum seekers, and foreigners in general. Since 2001, a right-of-center party has controlled the Danish parliament, with significant support from a conservative party, as well as from a far-right nationalist party, known as the Danish People’s Party. From what I have learned and read, this party is primarily focused on slowing, stopping, or even eliminating immigrants from Denmark, but run on a populist part platform that appeals to the poorer, less-educated, and generally those who are not familiar or comfortable with foreigners, because they do not have any contact with them. This party is especially hostile towards Muslims, and has recently proposed a ban on wearing a burka in Denmark. On of this party’s slogans is “Denmark for Danes.” They currently hold about 15% of the vote, which may seem small, but in a multi-party parliamentary system where there is a minority ruling coalition, they hold a lot of power. Because the governing coalition government does not hold a majority of votes, they must rely on other parties for support, and this has pushed many of the policies of Denmark to the right in recent years.

Overall, it was an interesting trip, and I met several interesting refugee-seekers, each with a story to tell. Many of them did not intend to end-up in Denmark, but were caught trying to travel to Sweden which has a much more liberal refugee-policy. Some of the have lived here for ten years, and are still waiting to have their cases heard by the Immigration board. I met a Kurdish man from Syria who, because of his ethnicity, does not have citizenship in any country, nor do his two children, both of whom were born in Denmark. I met a Palestinian-Christian many from Lebanon who fled religious persecution, and has several times attempted to take his life in his short time in Denmark. I also met several Iraqi’s both Arab and Kurdish, who fear to go back to their homes because of violence, and because Denmark is now their home, where they have friends and family. Most of them had no idea when their cases would be heard, and all they can do is wait for the final word, which decided whether or not they will be allowed to live in Denmark, or be deported.

I leave you with a link to a website I found several months ago, when researching my study abroad in Denmark. It is an open letter to the then President-Elect Barack Obama from Jacob Holdt and Rune Engelbreth Larsen, a Danish photographer and a writer and political commentator. They believe that because the world will be looking to Denmark in December for the climate change summit, attention should be drawn to some of the more fanatical elements of this party, which many are beginning to compare with the anti-Semitism that plagued in Europe seventy years ago.

Please follow this link to read the text, and to see the video.

A Field Trip to Christiania

(Source: wikipedia.org)

Today, my Danish Language professor took us to see the Freetown of Christiania (Fristaden Christiania) here in Copenhagen. For those of you who don’t know about Christiania, here is a short description. In the 17^th century, he Kingdom of Denmark established a series of military ramparts and defenses in the town of Christianshavn, across the harbor from Denmark. They were re-fortified and utilized by the Danish military for several centuries. By the 19^th century, Christiania became an important producer of cannon balls and gun powder for the Danish navy, but after WWII, these supplies were essentially obsolete, and the military base was abandoned by 1971. In that year, a group of youths and other individuals who were having difficulties affording accommodation in Copenhagen broke into the barracks, and occupied them as squatters. Over the following years, members of many “unconventional” groups began to move to the area, including hippies, collectivists, and anarchists. The original mission statement of the community states that “[t]he objective of Christiania is to create a self-governing society whereby each and every individual holds themselves responsible over the wellbeing of the entire community. Our society is to be economically self-sustaining and, as such, our aspiration is to be steadfast in our conviction that psychological and physical destitution can be averted.” The freestate was essentially granted semi-autonomy by the Danish government, and until recently, has been a fairly peaceful community within Copenhagen.

Nevertheless, it is not without its problems. Although Chrisiania common-law states that hard drugs are prohibited, it has had problems with heroin and other drug users and dealers within its borders. Additionally, it is continually in conflict with the Danish government, especially since 2001, when a center-right government came into power. Many far right Danish politicians would like to see the community destroyed, while many leftist politicians value the fact that it offers an alternative way of life for those who wish to live it. The Danish police have recently attempted to crackdown on marijuana sales in Christiania (which are legal according to Christiania common law). This has caused a gang war between Danish Hell’s Angels, and second-generation immigrant gangs in Denmark, which has brought violence to Christiania, as well as other neighborhoods in Denmark. Biker gangs used to reside within Christiania, but they were thrown out by its residents after bringing the body of a murdered immigrant back to the community, and attempted to hide it there. Many were arrested by the police, and the rest were forced to leave for violating the law against violence.

Christiania, as I saw it today, is indeed a very interesting place. We had a guided tour by one of the spokes persons, and were able to see some of what life it like for the community. She explained how the residents of Christiania are tax-paying citizens of the Danish Kingdom who chose to live in a kommune (Danish for municipality, I live in Hillerød Kommune) which operates in a different manner that the other municipalities of Denmark. Christiania is divided into a series of smaller communities, each of which is self governed by a democratic council in which everyone participates. Some operate as “socialist” communes, while others do not. All community-members also participate in the Christiania-wide council, which addresses the needs of the community as a whole, such as sewage, garbage, street paving, and electricity. The residents of Christiania live in old military barracks, other building, as well as in homes that have built themselves (of recycled materials from the rest of Copenhagen). Nevertheless, all of the residents pay the same rent to the community, regardless of what kind of home they live in. The homes are allocated by the residents, and are given to people in terms of what kind of accommodations they need, the larger homes going to families with more children. Residents also have the option of building their own homes out of recycled materials that they can buy at a store in Christiania. They still have to pay rent on it though, just like everyone else. Residents can buy their groceries and other food items at stores in Christiania, which also has several restaurants, bars, cafes, art shops, and even one that sells restored wood-burning ovens. Overall, there are about 700 adult residents of Christiania, half of which work in Copenhagen. There are also about 250 children, who go to school in the public schools in Copenhagen, with after-school care in Christiania. Many residents work in Christiania itself, and are paid 1 løn per hour. The løn is a currency minted by the community in Christiania, and is worth 50 Danish kroner. The wage of 1 løn/50 kroner per hour is equal to about ten American dollars. Supprising, this is below Denmark’s lowest market wage, which is about 110 kroner ($22) per hour. However, as they do not have to pay large taxes to their local kommune, this wage is sufficient.

Here are some photos of what I saw in Christiania. They are primarily of the residential area, as photographs are prohibited in the main market. The ‘legal’ marijuana pushers do not want the police to have photographs circulated of them selling drugs, nor do the people want to be photographed purchasing marijuana.

There are a lot of very neat homes in Christiania, many of them built from scratch by their residents with recycled materials…

There is also a newly painted Tibetan Buddhist Stupa.

As well as some very beautiful antique wood-burning stoves, which the residents can buy for their homes.

Overall, it was a very interesting field-trip. I learned a lot about Christiania, as well as about Denmark in general. I hope you all have a chance to visit Christiania someday, especially before the government has the chance to take it down.