Danishes in Denmark.

By now you've come to expect matters of pertinent substance from my posts, and continuing that tradition is of utmost importance to me and my blog. Now look at these pictures of the pastries I've consumed since arriving in Denmark:

That is all, thank you for your time.

Sweden.

My past three days (Feb. 9-11) were spent roaming the southernmost regions of Sweden with my Sustainable Development class of 21 students. I'll keep this short. Here's a breakdown:

Thursday, February 9, 2012:

Thursday we went to Malmö, oft considered Copenhagen's sister city. They're connected by a giant bridge. It wasn't a very picturesque city like I've come to expect from pretty much every single place on this continent; it more reminded me of Cleveland. Did you know I love Cleveland? Yeah, I'm pretty sure my whole first post was on that.

In Malmö we saw the Scandinavian Green Roof Institute, which was actually a white roof institute because we decided to go in February when it was -8ºC and snowy. I'd post pictures, but you'd actually just be looking at a photo of a roof with snow on it, so I won't.

Next we ate lunch at a restaurant called Salt & Brygga. It was voted the most organic dining location in the world. Don't ask me by who, I'm just really trusting that the owner was not lying to us.

Later in the day we toured the region on our bus and observed the 2nd largest photovoltaic cell in the country, located on top of a maternity hospital. I will show you a picture of that. Here is a picture of that:

It's kind of like a visor for the building. Like what your Dad would wear when you visited Disney Land in 1997. Visors are in this season.

Friday, February 10, 2012:

Friday we visited an after school center for preschool kids that was focused on perma-culture, sustainable farming, and pretty much everything else that I'd want in a place that I'd want to send my children to. They recently installed a station to practice blacksmithery. That's a word, don't look it up.


They had lots of cats. This is a picture of me petting two cats:

So far my favorite European cats. I tried to implore to them what a distinct honor this title was. They seemed to get it.

Later we visited a biogas plant where we learned the town of Kristianstad only puts 1.5% of their waste into landfill, the rest going to biofertilizer and biofuel for cars and heating. The guy was super biased since he worked there, and more than anything he left me curious as to the negatives of the practice. There's gotta be some, I'm just sayin'. I won't bother with a picture of that. If you want illustrations then go read a Maurice Sendak story. Christ. (I recommend Where the Wild Things Are).


That night we visited Bäckaskog Slott, a castle, where we went on a ghost tour and had dinner. Here is a picture of my dessert. Yeah, I know, the Maurice Sendak thing from literally three lines up, but it was really delicious, okay?:

But seriously, Maurice Sendak is great.

Saturday, February 11, 2012:

Today we stood out in the -10ºC cold for a while and learned about how the city of Kristianstad was at the bottom of a lake basin because humans decided they needed more agricultural land to make vodka.

Then we went curling. This is me curling:

THAT IS ALL.

A Traveler's Guide to Copenhagen, As Interpreted By Someone Who'd Never Been Out of the U.S. till 13 Days Ago.

Alright. So, you're traveling to Denmark but you don't know a thing about the Danes. I'm here to help. Call me an expert, an authority, a specialist, whatever, but I know what I'm talking about. See: I've been not in the United States for nearly two weeks, so I'm pretty much what you'd regard as an aficionado on this kind of stuff. So, without further ado, I present to you:

The Danes

The Danes are kind people. They will give you one of their spare guitars if you engage them in conversation about being sad that you don't have a guitar for an entire semester abroad.

Danish people literally give you guitars.

Literally all of them smoke cigarettes. If you don't also, you're not going to fit in here. Note: I don't fit in here. Also, about 40% of them bike everyday. Like me at Miami. Like everyday. And everywhere. Everything is pretty much flatter than something really flat, making it easy to get around. They also smoke cigarettes while they bike.

This is typical on many streets, and it's also February.

Alcohol is pretty much part of every social function and/or meal after 4pm. Carlsberg Brewery, the 4th largest brewery in the world, is headquartered here. That's their joint.

So modest.

They are punctual people. Be on time or be scrutinized privately because they're too nice to scrutinize you publicly. One of the only rules I have with my host family (aside from water the plant in my room once a week and keep the window open five minutes a day) is "be home at 6pm for dinner, or tell us the day before if you won't be home for dinner the next day."

This is a picture of a clock symbolizing the importance of being on time.

Socially, the Danes don't interact. If someone is sitting you in on the bus, you don't say, "Pardon me, friend, but I need to get off here, would you excuse me." You instead rustle your bags as to passive-aggressively alert them that they need to vacate their seat so you can get up. My kind of people.

Also, you don't acknowledge strangers as you pass them on the sidewalks. Just keep looking forward.

Furthermore, there isn't a Danish word for please, and their word for "excuse me" is rarely used. I feel awkward when I accidentally let either phrase slip in English. Pretty much everyone speaks English, by the way. Except for bus drivers who usually just get angry if you approach them with questions regarding being lost/finding your way to anything familiar or recognizable.

Don't you dare say please to this man.

Well, there you have it. You're pretty much a Dane yourself now. Or at least you would be, like me, if you visited Denmark for almost a half of a month. Man, I'm so cultured. You're welcomed.

Till next time,

Tyler

Pretty much Danish

Copenhagen, Denmark Expert

One Week.

It's now been a week since I was last in America. I've spent nearly 8 hours completely lost in the city just walking around, but that's really fun. I had my first "Americanized" food experience the other day when I stopped into McDonalds and bought a McBacon for 20 kroner. That's like $3.50. Everything's more expensive here, but that's what comes with a 60-70% tax rate. There are quite a few McD's and Burger Kings, and a couple Subways, but that's all I've seen from the corporate America food industry so far.

One surprise is the number of 7-11's they have here. I'd equate it to the number of Starbucks found in a mid-sized city. They're pretty expensive, but they are responsible for so much (e.g. My first night here I received my transport pass for the metro, bus, water cab, etc., and it had the wrong zones of use printed on it, so I took it to 7-11 and they fixed it).

Here's what's up: The Danes are the nicest people I've met. Having not played or handled a guitar in over 5 days, I was going through withdrawal, so I went up to a street musician to ask if he knew if any of the local music shops rented, and he just straight up offered to let me borrow one of his guitars for the semester, no questions asked. I pick it up from him Monday.

I'm taking 4 classes: Sustainable Development, Intro to Danish, Renewable Energy Systems, and Danish Politics and Society. Three of them on Monday/Thursday, and Danish Politics on Tuesday/Friday. Wednesdays are either off days, or field experience days for some classes.

Some upcoming events I'm looking forward to are a beer tasting at one of the oldest breweries in the Nordic region, a trip to Kronborg Castle (of Hamlet fame), and a Reggie Watts concert (tonight!).

Wind turbines woooo. Had to pay 25 kroner for this view of the city.

Statue in a public square.The iPhone 4S has a superb camera, no?

Also, Denmark is home to Lego. Here's one of the Lego stores here:

THIS IS MADE COMPLETELY OF LEGO'S. IT'S TALLER THAN ME. That mural on the right is also all Lego's.

That's all for now. Live long and prosper. If you feel like it.

Copen-hangin'.

Hey y'all. I accidentally a 5-hour nap on Sunday, so to counteract that and massive ongoing jetlag, I stayed up all night reading Kurt Vonnegut's last book and listening to Danish radio. Man do they love their smooth jazz. Anyways, due to this, I have not slept in 28.5 hours. Why am I writing now? Not sure, I'm frickin' exhausted. It's 8:45pm and I'm already turning in for the night. But I love you, dear reader, and you're reading this for a reason, no?

Being sleepless is an alright way to experience your first day in Copenhagen. It was great weather, about 32ºF all day, and finally sunny after raining my first two days. I got off the metro at the exact right spot, a whole hour earlier than I had to! The building I was looking for was literally across the street, and since I didn't know what it looked like I started walking in the opposite direction and then was forced to search København for it for about 55 minutes, getting me there right on time. Here's the DIS strings, they played some Ludwig Von, Lennon/McCartney, and the like:

They're playing Yellow Submarine; Hey Bulldog would have been so much cooler.

I ended up getting very lost in the city with some new friends from Colorado College. We went to a quaint little café where I got a chai latte and pain au chocolat.

It was really great finally meeting some native English speakers, something I had not experienced since 2.5 days ago in London. It was really lonely knowing I was on an entirely new continent where I literally knew only one other person (sup Colin) for that period.

After exchanging $25.00 for 110 Krones, I spent an hour looking for a bus that would take me home. I ended up getting off at the wrong stop because it was dark and I'm American. That set me back another 25 minutes making me 40 minutes late for 6 o'clock dinner.

Upon returning home I had my first meaningful experiences with my host family. We ordered pizza (they eat it with a fork and knife, and popular toppings include kielbasa, chili pepper, and hotdog) and watched the Denmark vs. Germany handball game, which is a very popular sport here. (I want to take this time to mention that when I wasn't sleeping last night I was watching the NFL playoffs with Danish commentators, which was great because of how excited they got over every play that went more than 7 yards).

Here are some cool buildings I took pictures of:

Here is the clothing store "Troelstrup" attempting to sell jeans by using firewood.

Now I am tired and will sleep after what is now 29 hours.

Goodnight from GMT+1. Over and out.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Elliott Arrives in Copenhagen Late, Airlines to Blame

Copenhagen, Denmark - Miami University Junior Tyler Elliott arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark late Saturday after a series of unfortunate flight-related delays dashed his hopes of reaching the Nordic city at his originally scheduled time of 4pm (10am EST).

The trouble came when his flight departing Chicago, to London, sat on the tarmac for an unprecedented 2.5 hours following a power failure on the plane's central grid.

Tyler has traveled via air in times past, but never before had he been met with the kinds of delays seen leaving the "Windy City".

"I was, like, really shocked by how long we had to sit there," said Elliott, "and I never expected the delays to make me miss my flight from London to Copenhagen. Like, not cool bro."

After arriving in London three hours late, the Individualized Studies major rushed to security in a last-ditch effort to make his 2pm flight, but all efforts were in vain as the overly-polite British woman taking his ticket informed him of the bad news. In an effort to repair broken bridges, British Airways provided Elliott with a £10.00 meal voucher, which he used all but £.56 of.

Elliott is staying in an apartment five kilometers outside of Copenhagen, where his host family has graciously offered him a room for the next four months.

 

 Above: The Room Elliott has been given for the next four months.

The Ohio student reportedly enjoys the comfort of the bed and his two house plants (pictured), but would appreciate more outlets and lighting.

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I'm Leaving Tomorrow But I Could Leave Today (Hey Hey Woody Guthrie I Wrote You a Song...)

Well. It's happening. It really came out of nowhere. I lived life up to the very last point possible of my winter break, complete with an $88.00 final dinner and a Friday morning I won't soon forget. At noon I began packing the 2nd half of my things and 6 hours later I've said my farewells to my parents and I'm waiting at my gate. Doesn't feel at all like a month's gone by since finals week.

Break was a whirlwind.

My travels from here take me Cleveland>Chicago>London>Copenhagen. Chicago O'Hare is closed at the moment due to heavy snowfall, so in typical fashion my first flight is on mega-delay. It was supposed to leave at 5pm, got pushed back to 7, and now we're waiting on an update as to when the flight will actually leave. As of this writing it is 7:10. Departure is no time soon it seems.

Assuming all actually works out (lol), I'll be in Copenhagen tomorrow at 5pm local time (11am EST) where my host family will pick me up from the airport. For now, I'm stuck at gate A-1 in Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, listening to a Myanmar gentleman speaking Burmese loudly into his mobile with an authoritative tone, wondering if I should start drinking now or in Chicago.


Please listen to this song by Bob Dylan, preformed by him and George Harrison in 1970: http://bit.ly/ylRUju

Here's a picture of my Dad and Me right before going through security: