Well I am slightly past my 1st month in Denmark and all and all it has been great! Of course everything is what you make of it I suppose. I must admit the weather has been slightly depressing and the blank expressions on the faces of Danes in the streets do not necessarily reverse the effects of sun deprivation. But I stay busy and social and it works out.
You know that my blogs are totally random and I am going to keep them that way because when I am writing about something I am always thinking about something else:
So… recently there was a little accident in a town near Ishøj (my town of residence). Apparently there were plumbers working on some piping that was connected with sewage treatment and drinking water. Well they ‘fixed’ the problem ad the plant and informed the town that it was safe to turn on the water again. Naturally everyone did. BUT…. They plumbers hooked up the wrong pipes! So the ‘treated’ sewage water was pumping through the drinking water and the drinking water was pumping through the sewage pipes going out to sea. So basically people started drinking it and many grew severely ill… Gross…
I have come to the conclusion that I am not meeting enough Danes. I am in Denmark, soooo where are the Danes? To fix this problem I decided that I should join the youth department of the current political party in power, Venstre. The party is a center right party but the word ‘Venstre’ literally means ‘left’. They are what Americans would call a centrist-libertarian party which basically advocates classical economic liberalism, somewhat progressive social views and support for the welfare state. I joined last week and I am already going to a conference this weekend in Jutland or Jylland which in the main peninsula off the island. I will let you know how it goes (if I remember).
One of the characteristics of this culture which is annoying the crap out of me is their absorption of American culture. I am not anti-american by any means, but when you go to a country like Denmark you expect it to be different. Don’t get me wrong, Denmark is different to some degree but I feel as if there is a cultural convergence occurring where typical Danish language and culture is mixing with that of the U.S.. For instance many people who know English try to speak American English not British English. American music is HUGE in Denmark. I barely hear any music in Danish. Pop culture is highly influential and rap is more evident then I would have expected. There are quite a few rap type thugs I have ran into to. Now that is kind of sad in my opinion, especially in an economically egalitarian society. I will not get too into it but I would love to hear your criticisms.
At this point I would like to point out a few things I have noticed about either Danish culture or Denmark in general considering that I have had some time to analyze it. Here it goes, (sorry if I am being redundant):
1) Apparently Denmark is trying to be the fashion capital of the world because I have seen some weird combinations of clothes or what some people call clothes. For being an environmentally conscious country I would have expected to see a higher degree of respect for animals…. Well apparently it is better to save a tree or plant over killing a furry little animal. For instance I see mink coats everywhere! I hear that there are mink farms in Denmark and they slaughter these poor little animals and sew their hides together every so delicately to make these lavish coats. I see them a lot considering the cold weather… poor minks. Even worse and more in your face are the fox’s. Apparently it is fashionable to go in your back yard murder a fox and wrap its carcass around your neck. It really is kind of disturbing because the face of the fox is the part that women use to pin the to the tail to make the ‘scarf’.
It’s called synthetics, they are actually more effective and in some cases cheaper
2) Anti-Swede. After a few classes and a couple of museum tours, I have slowly begun to realize that there is some resent toward their northern neighbour of Sweden (Sverige, if you want to be correct). Anyways the 2nd day of my Nordic Mythology class, my Viking-like professor says to the class some thing like the Swedish Vikings ‘ravaged the town like heartless beasts’ and then he goes, well wait a second is anyone of Swedish descent here? Only two people raised their hands, a blond girl in class and me. Everyone laughed and expected it to be insulting. I thought it was funny. But then the professor kept saying things like ‘Ghastly Swedish Vikings!’ etc. without ever really thinking about it, ha ha. Then I went to a museum a couple of days later and the tour guide was talking about a particular war between Sweden and Denmark and she brought up a point like Denmark was foolish for negotiating something with Sweden because you can never trust a Swede! Haha, ok…
3) As some of you may know… there are some different laws in Denmark, laws that would probably never be passed at home. But one recent proposal in parliament caught my attention and made me laugh. They are proposing that they should make bullying illegal! WOW! That would have been amazing at some specific point in my life I suppose… but apparently if you are caught bullying you are subject to immediate removal from school, for the year! I do not believe it has passed yet, but the parliament is aware of it and will most likely vote on it.
That’s all for now. Your thoughts?
.
You know that my blogs are totally random and I am going to keep them that way because when I am writing about something I am always thinking about something else:
So… recently there was a little accident in a town near Ishøj (my town of residence). Apparently there were plumbers working on some piping that was connected with sewage treatment and drinking water. Well they ‘fixed’ the problem ad the plant and informed the town that it was safe to turn on the water again. Naturally everyone did. BUT…. They plumbers hooked up the wrong pipes! So the ‘treated’ sewage water was pumping through the drinking water and the drinking water was pumping through the sewage pipes going out to sea. So basically people started drinking it and many grew severely ill… Gross…
I have come to the conclusion that I am not meeting enough Danes. I am in Denmark, soooo where are the Danes? To fix this problem I decided that I should join the youth department of the current political party in power, Venstre. The party is a center right party but the word ‘Venstre’ literally means ‘left’. They are what Americans would call a centrist-libertarian party which basically advocates classical economic liberalism, somewhat progressive social views and support for the welfare state. I joined last week and I am already going to a conference this weekend in Jutland or Jylland which in the main peninsula off the island. I will let you know how it goes (if I remember).
One of the characteristics of this culture which is annoying the crap out of me is their absorption of American culture. I am not anti-american by any means, but when you go to a country like Denmark you expect it to be different. Don’t get me wrong, Denmark is different to some degree but I feel as if there is a cultural convergence occurring where typical Danish language and culture is mixing with that of the U.S.. For instance many people who know English try to speak American English not British English. American music is HUGE in Denmark. I barely hear any music in Danish. Pop culture is highly influential and rap is more evident then I would have expected. There are quite a few rap type thugs I have ran into to. Now that is kind of sad in my opinion, especially in an economically egalitarian society. I will not get too into it but I would love to hear your criticisms.
At this point I would like to point out a few things I have noticed about either Danish culture or Denmark in general considering that I have had some time to analyze it. Here it goes, (sorry if I am being redundant):
1) Apparently Denmark is trying to be the fashion capital of the world because I have seen some weird combinations of clothes or what some people call clothes. For being an environmentally conscious country I would have expected to see a higher degree of respect for animals…. Well apparently it is better to save a tree or plant over killing a furry little animal. For instance I see mink coats everywhere! I hear that there are mink farms in Denmark and they slaughter these poor little animals and sew their hides together every so delicately to make these lavish coats. I see them a lot considering the cold weather… poor minks. Even worse and more in your face are the fox’s. Apparently it is fashionable to go in your back yard murder a fox and wrap its carcass around your neck. It really is kind of disturbing because the face of the fox is the part that women use to pin the to the tail to make the ‘scarf’.
It’s called synthetics, they are actually more effective and in some cases cheaper
2) Anti-Swede. After a few classes and a couple of museum tours, I have slowly begun to realize that there is some resent toward their northern neighbour of Sweden (Sverige, if you want to be correct). Anyways the 2nd day of my Nordic Mythology class, my Viking-like professor says to the class some thing like the Swedish Vikings ‘ravaged the town like heartless beasts’ and then he goes, well wait a second is anyone of Swedish descent here? Only two people raised their hands, a blond girl in class and me. Everyone laughed and expected it to be insulting. I thought it was funny. But then the professor kept saying things like ‘Ghastly Swedish Vikings!’ etc. without ever really thinking about it, ha ha. Then I went to a museum a couple of days later and the tour guide was talking about a particular war between Sweden and Denmark and she brought up a point like Denmark was foolish for negotiating something with Sweden because you can never trust a Swede! Haha, ok…
3) As some of you may know… there are some different laws in Denmark, laws that would probably never be passed at home. But one recent proposal in parliament caught my attention and made me laugh. They are proposing that they should make bullying illegal! WOW! That would have been amazing at some specific point in my life I suppose… but apparently if you are caught bullying you are subject to immediate removal from school, for the year! I do not believe it has passed yet, but the parliament is aware of it and will most likely vote on it.
That’s all for now. Your thoughts?
.
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