Hygge!

The weather is really getting nippier here and with that change I am beginning to more fully understand the danish word/lifestyle of Hygge. There is no word like this in the english language, although people translate it as cozy that does not fully capture the concept. Wikipedia supplied me with this excellent discription...

"One of the fundamental aspects of Danish culture is "hygge", which, although translated as "coziness" is more akin to "tranquility". Hygge is a complete absence of anything annoying, irritating, or emotionally overwhelming, and the presence of and pleasure from comforting, gentle, and soothing things. Hygge is often associated with family and close friends. Christmas time when loved ones sit close together with candles lit on a cold rainy night is "hygge", as is grilling a pølse (Danish sausage) on a long summer evening. These examples, although they do not precisely define "hygge", can give an English speaker an idea of a deeply valued traditional concept of Danish culture"

When discussing this with my host family they also noted it can be different people and although it is often characterized by this relaxing snuggley scene if your a person who gets the best feeling you can by exercising or playing a sport you love (aka many of my family members) you can feel hygge then too. I felt Hygge today when I was at Kafe Kunsten (which means something like cafe of art), a local coffee I frequent. I came in from the rain and the shop owner showed me he just put a back massageing cover on one of the chairs so I sat and had my sore back (from squash saturday) messaged. Then I ordered my chi latte, which comes with delicious gingersnaps if your not taking the drink to go. I sat a a booth with a candle on the table and my friend put on a jazz record on the player it was very Hygge!

Alternitively I have taught my host family a related english term that they really like.... Food Coma and now they are always saying at the end of dinner we are all in a food coma!

This is the cat Finke she is feeling Hygge on my bed, or maybe its a food coma I can't tell...

Swedish Adventures

Last thursday to saturday I was in sweden with my class. DIS knows students want to travel so they build in travel into the curriculum. This was the short study tour and in a few weeks I will be going to turkey with this same class on a long study tour which should be really exciting. We went to sweden because this class is about "migration and identity" and sweden and Denmark have vastly different policies on immigration so we are comparing the two. On the trip we mixed business with pleasure and had an all around great time. It was fun to get to know our classmate and professor. Some of our academic activities were lectures at a university in Malmo as well as Gothenburg (the third and second largest cities in sweden), a visit to the house of humanity and the museum of world culture. What turned out to be pretty funny about this trip is that we went to Gothenburg, a city Davis and I explored before DIS started and some of my experiences were the same. First we stayed in the same hostel then after a yummy dinner bought by DIS we went across the street for drinks at the bar in the restaurant where davis and I had dined. Talk about de ja vu! It was a pretty funny experience having DIS buy a round of drinks for the whole class and to essentially partying with your professor, this is not something I could see happening in the United states.


Restaurants that provide you with crayons are the best kind of restaurants.

We took a rainy boat tour in Gothenburg

The museum of world culture had this cool multicolored stacked people wall.






On saturday we drove south in our bus and stopped to have an exciting morning of kayaking and a boat ride. Her are a few picture of the day. It was beautiful when we stepped off the bus but then the clouds rolled in to become dark and windy. In the last photo my professor being a little goofy.



When we got back I spent the rest of the weekend being pretty mellow and this week I have been doing school and hunkering down in the less nice weather we are having now.

These pictures are corresponding to my last post... more to come from the sweden trip!

Tivoli Concert

Changing of the guard at the royal palace

Cool! Building... can you see the picture its making? (hint: its a map)

Friends at dinner

All the time Things happen to me and I think..owww this is noteworthy I should post about it on my blog but then either I cant remember later or As of late I have not been able to put finger to keyboard and write it all out. So this will be some recap. This weekend was a busy one for me. Starting on Friday when I went o dinner and a concert at tivoli ( famous amusement park in Copenhagen) with my host family and their friends. This whole experience was totally surreal because it was all 100% Danish. Everyone I was with was a dane and so most of the time they were even speaking Danish which to my ear sounds like nonsense. Although an effort was made to keep me in the conversation you can imagine in a group like that people just act in their normal habits so there were many moments where I was sitting in cloud my own thoughts surrounded by the most unfamiliar voices. I had a fun time feeling immersed but it was exhausting! I also witnessed some other funny Danish things like eating a hamburger with a fork and knife and having ordered one myself I did not want to be rude and shove this huge burger in my mouth American style so I conformed which was kind of funny. The concert was a pop/rock band called big fat snake and although all their songs are in English they would switch to Danish when they addressed the crowd which sounded funny to me. That day ended with me feeling like I had been on a caracul going around for hours.
Saturday was busy also. I went during the day to go shopping with an American friend and Danish girl and although it is fairly expensive to buy things here there still are stores that are cheep like the Swedish company h&m which we also have in the us so I did get a few basic things. I then went home to change and get ready for a night out. First on the agenda was dinner with 2 American friends. It was totally picturesque. We at outside seating on a pretty street with a very attractive Spanish waiter and music being played by street musicians, we were all eating it up(not just the scene but also the yummy food we ordered)! After dinner I proceeded to a friends apartment where a group was gathered including his Danish roommate and her friends. After having a nice time getting a sample of what danish sarcastic humor is like. Later we all walked to a party for university of Copenhagen students. Time flew and before I knew it I was going to the train station to catch the 2am train! The next one would not have left until three! The train is thankfully a very save and easy way to travel even so late at night there are plenty of passengers and no threat of robbery or anything scary.
Sunday I slept in a good deal and then had to get up to go to a picnic with my host family and all the other people in my program. It was a really beautiful day, maybe the last really warm day I will get here but it was great. To sit out in the sun and enjoy a good lunch and some scwepps lemon...a drink I wish they sold in the US! The rest of the day was spent doing homework and relaxing.
This week has been pretty uneventful just class and work and trying a new drink (chi latte) at a cool cafe where I like to go, i am sure there are other things but nothing is coming to mind. Tomorrow I leave for Sweden on a study tour with my class that will last until Saturday. We are going to gothenburg... A city Davis and I explored before school and I just found out we are staying at the same hostel where we stayed... I think I may have some Deja vu!

Birthday!



The DIS party


Views of and from the tower

Fødselsdag

Yesterday was my birthday or Fødselsdag in danish... the first word I have really learned to say in the very difficult language. I would love to hear how everyone I know would try and pronounce it! for starters even knowing what letter the one one that looks like an O with a slash thought it is tricky. My host parents has a great time watching me struggle to say it but were impressed when I got it down. Most of this post will detail my birthday activities but a quick update on my weekend.
On friday night DIS, the program I attend here, threw us a party at a club down the street from school, serving us free drinks and everything, something a US university or student program would never do so that was a little funny. I attended and had a fun time dancing with some friends to the tunes the DJ supplied which included some funny american songs like a remix of summer lovin and grease lighting which I loved. Taking the train from where I am staying to the city is very easy and only takes 15 minutes so that was my mode of transportation and even at my 12:30am return the trains had many people and felt very safe. On saturday I went to the mall with my hosts and shopped around for rain boots. Later in the day I walked around the city for a bit with a friend from DIS. We climbed a cool tower where you could walk outside on the spiraling top (picture provided). That night I lay low and stayed home for a pizza dinner with my host brother Mikkel (14). I also finally got some laundry done...phew! Sunday was mostly relaxing but I went with Brian and Gitte (the parents) to walk around an amusement park near their house that was having the last day of the season. We got some great Ice cream and enjoyed a little sun. I had lots of reading to do for Monday so that pretty much wrapped up the weekend.
Monday is going to be ignored here and we will move right to yesterday! The day started out great, although I had to wake up earlier so we could eat together before Brian and Gitte had to run off to work it was worth it. We had eggs rolls and some really yummy Mint tea that I am getting addicted to. The table was decorated with the Danish flag on the tablecloth and mini standing flags too... that have lots of country pride here. After that nice start I got on the train at 7:50 to go to class. There was a little hitch here when at one of the stops a person spoke in danish over the loud speaker and suddenly 90% of the people got up and got off the train! I had no idea what was happening and just sat there.A moment later I asked a man who was sitting nearby if he could tell me what it had said. He translated that there was problem with some of the train signals and the train on the next track was leaving to Copenhagen before the one I was on so that is why the people rushed to it. At that point it was too late for me to get on that other train and it was full to the doors so I just had to wait. Fortunately I had given myself a good amount of time to make it to class so was not worried and the train started moving soon and it was only a bit slower then normal so the crisis was averted! The highlights of the rest of the day were the 0% chance of rainfall all day... the first time I have seen the happen, walking around a beautiful park with a pond in the middle in the sunshine, eating a really delicious sandwich for lunch, having some after lunch ice cream, having a really great and filling dinner at a "running sushi" restaurant where there is a little conveyer belt next to the table where you grab up any sushi or other assortment of sides and small dished that looks good, and it was all you can eat! Man I was stuffed. AND when we got back to the house Gitte had made my a traditional layer cake which sounds like Lowe cake when they say it but it is mostly made of the frosting, which is like a hybrid of whipped cream and chocolate moose... it was SO good and a perfect end to a great birthday.