I'm Just Dansking in the Dark

A few things before I get started:
First, bonus points for anyone who gets my lame joke with the title of this post. Super bonus points for anyone who laughed.
Second, apologies for not updating more frequently. I've fallen into quite a routine here, and I'm not going to waste everyone's time by regaling you with stories about what I had for dinner or how much laundry I did this week.
Third, there won't be many pictures in this post. Bear with me.

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So, a few weeks ago I began classes to aid me in my quest to learn Danish. By all indications, this is going to be an extremely fruitless quest.  I was aware before starting this that Danish is a hard language to learn, particularly the pronunciations, but i had no idea just how hard it would be.
Some fun facts about Danish:

• According to our instructor Mogens (pronounced 'Moans'), there are nine Danish vowels. There are more than 30 ways to pronounce them.
• There are two words for 'one'. 'en' and 'et'. There are no set rules for when you use one rather than the other.
• In fact, it seems there are very few actual rules involved in Danish. Conjugation is almost nonexistent. Obviously there are tenses, but that's all.
• There is no rhyme or reason whatsoever to pronunciation, other than that when 'kk' appears in a word, it always makes a hard 'g' sound.

How I feel in class every week.

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Word of the Day:

 

Actually I'll give you a few phrases to make up for the non-excitingness of the rest of this post.

 

Slappe af: Relax, chill out. Pronounced 'slappuh ay'. 'Ay' here being the best approximation of the way you'd say the letter A when saying the alphabet.´

 

Tillyke med fødselsdagen: Happy Birthday. Pronounced 'tilluga (rhyming with 'beluga') mell fooselsdayen'. The 'oo' is like the 'oo' in 'book' but with really rounded lips.

 

Explaining how to pronounce Danish is impossible.

 

Swedish Adventures

As a DIS intern, I am contractually obliged to lead at least one trip during my 13 month stint. This may be the best part of the whole contract. This weekend I made my first foray into leading trips that are not strictly wilderness outings. Luckily I got to ease into this new role by leading an adventure trip, so for most of the time I was on familiar outdoorsy ground. St. Michael's Wilderness Program, you trained me well.

Now without further ado, the Sweden canoeing and hiking trip, mostly in pictures.

Jonas, the front man of the winning canoe, aka my canoe. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this had a lot to do with my masterful steering. Thanks for all your instructions Pop.

We made some fluffy new friends while waiting for everyone to arrive at the landing point.

We got to go back to Ladonia.

Ladonia was a big hit. And as the highly professional tour guide I am, I did some pretty intense research on the 'sovereign nation'. Some fun facts:

• Its national anthem is the sound of a rock being thrown into water.
• Ladonia is currently at war with Sweden, the U.S.A., and San Marino.
• There are two words in the Ladonian language- 'waaaaaaaaal' and 'yp'. No idea what they mean.
• Citizenship to Ladonia is free. In a rather amusing misunderstanding, back in 2002, Ladonia began receiving a huge amount of citizenship applications from residents of Pakistan. It turns out that they were under the impression that this was a quick, easy and legitimate way to move to Europe. Oops.

Happy students climbing in Nimis.

Inside Arx, a cement castle-like structure in Ladonia.

 

Back at the hostel, playing the Viking game before dinner.

Grilling and chilling with the best bus driver ever, Rene.

Listening attentively to directions on rappelling.

James Bond level intensity right here, and this is only the practice cliff.

That thing in the middle. We rappelled down it. It was intense.

That little building on top of the hill is the Kullaberg Lighthouse, home to the brightest light in Sweden, or so I hear.

Over the edge...

Orienterring, aka walking to our first swimming location.

The second swimming location. Ideal, except for the presence of jellyfish.
 

 In all, an amazing trip. Good times were had by all. Everyone agreed that Scandinavia was a better place for not brooking frivolous lawuits. Perhaps DIS graduates will be able to break the U.S. of it's unfortunate habit to sue at the least provocation.

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Word of the Day: (Actually, two for the price of one!)

 

Vandmand: A non-stinging jellyfish. Pronounced 'von-mon' with a slight Jamaican accent.

 

Brandmand: A stinging jellyfish. Pronounced 'bron-mon'. Also with a slight Jamaican flavor.

 

These may seem like odd words for me to have learned, but to make long story short, I had the misfortune to encounter a brandmand while minding my own business out in the Baltic. For future reference, get vinegar on jellyfish stings, and do it fast. I had to wait 5 hours until I got home to my vinegar supplies. T'was unpleasant.

 

Epic Bike Adventures: The First of Many

This past Sunday I decided that I was done laying around like a load on weekends and decided to take advantage of the still fairly warm weather. To that end, I came up with the brilliant plan to bike from Copenhagen to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. This is somewhere I've been meaning to go since my last time here. And as the icing on this artistic cake, there is currently an amazing exhibit on new Nordic architecture. Super-duper!





Our route is in blue. A little over 35km each way... BYAH!

Unsurprisingly, it was a beautiful ride. As you can see, the entire trip paralleled the ocean, so the views were plentiful. And we got to see some rad sights along the way.

Arne Jacobsen's fairly famous gas station on the outskirts of Copenhagen.

A nice Viking-esque carved log.

The cattle were most picturesque.

The view from the driver's saddle.

Only 1 km to go! All the excitement!

Louisiana itself is a really cool museum, and it's in a great spot, overlooking the ocean. They also seem to have new exhibits in pretty frequently, so it seems like a good place for repeat visits. Plus, with our student IDs, there's a discount. And discounts are always nice.

Another factor in its favor is the buffet offered in the cafeteria. For 119 krone you get all the delicious food your stomach can hold. I'm pretty sure i had about a gallon of cream of mushroom soup. Biking really whets your appetite.

One of the building blocks used for the shell of the Reykjavik Concert Hall.

A lake. There was a children's area around this, complete with playhouses, a place to try your hand at oil painting, and a fire that kids were roasting dough over. I've rarely wanted to be a child so much.

Another feature near the lake.

No kids' area would be complete withotu a giant slide. And no amount of 'maturity' or 'propriety' was going to keep us off it.

The lunch buffet, round one. Probably the best 119 krone I've ever spent.

This sculpture reminded me a bit of Sauron's helmet/tower.

Roy Lichtentstein. Ja tak.

Artsy. Hey Adam.

After perusing all the art at our disposal, and the gift shop, it was finally time to remount our steeds and head home. The trip seemed a little faster in reverse, even though there was an intense headwind for much of it. And we amused ourselves by checking our progress on the transportation zone maps on all the bus stops we passed. It's the little things in life.

The fields on the way home at almost sunset.

There's me, on my majestic beast.

Almost home.

Things I discovered about Denmark on this trip: Suburban Denmark isn't much different than New Jersey. Or perhaps Westchester is closer to the mark. There are SUVs, hills, some woods, and even roadkill. I forsee more biking roadtrips in my future.

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Word of the Day:

Lækker sild: An attractive girl (or guy I guess). Pronounced 'lay-guh seeldt'.
Literally though, it means "delicious herring". Cultural differences are funny.

Home Sweet Home

Some of you know that I moved into my new, permanent apartment this past weekend. Those of you who didn't know that, know now. It's quite a relief to finally unpack and have my own space. As nice as the place I was living for the past five weeks was, living out of a suitcase gets old, really fast. So without any more ado, some pictures of the new abode.

The kitchen. My new roommate/landlord Teresa and I both agree that wood was a good choice. Much nicer looking than the plain white cabinets that are so common in Danish kitchens.

The bathroom, which may or may not be the best part of the whole apartment. It's got a heated floor... Ja tak!

The view from my window. Thar be the famous lakes.

The desk/table/organizational corner.

And the piece de resistance, By far the largest bed I've ever had all to myself. In my opinions it's a bit too big and lonely. But aside from that, can you say 'hyggelig'?

Here's a fun game for all of you readers out there: How many of the furnishings in my apartment are from IKEA?
 
If you said all of them, you're right. Pat yourself on the back for being able to spot cheap yet attractive and durable Scandinavian design.

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Word of the Day:

 

I wasn't just speaking rhetorically when I threw that Danish curveball into my writing.

Hyggelig: There is no literal translation for this worth. It means something along the lines of 'cozy', but it's more than that.

It's pronounced 'hoog-lee'. But the 'oo' sounds more like 'ü', for those of you that know what that sounds like. The noun is 'hygge', pronounced 'hoog-eh'. Same deal with the 'oo' sound.

 

London Porter

Beer and a lake.

Today's (or rather yesterday's) sampling was the London Porter, clocking in at 6.8% a.b.v. This was definitely one of my favorites so far- very dark, with hints of chocolate and coffee. Yum! It reminded me a lot of Magic Hat's Ravell, if any of you are familiar with that delicious brew.
As an added helping of excitement yesterday, we witnessed an apartment fire, and the København Brandvæsen (Copenhagen Fire Department) in action. Don't as for a pronunciation guide on that, because i haven't the faintest idea how to say it.

Denmark, the only place where you can watch a conflagration with beer in hand. Adam is generously demonstrating this.

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Word of the Day:

Selv tak: You're welcome. Pronounced 'sell tock'.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Think of Copenhagen and chances are one of the first things that comes to mind is a load of bikes. Biking is by far the best way to get around the city, thanks to the bike lanes that are, well, everywhere. Knowing this, obviously the first thing I had figured out when I got here was a sweet ride. Seriously- that was the only permanent thing I had settled when I landed here.

This is not my bike. But that's how common they are here- they wind up tossed in lakes.

My bike and I have an interesting relationship. He (most definitely a male, though I have yet to decided on a name for him yet) has already tried to kill me twice, tipping over on me/with me on him in some rather unfortunate situations. But other than that, he's been a good and faithful steed, allowing me to transport all worldly goods to my new apartment in just 3 trips. Yes, I biked across the city with 50lb suitcases. Who needs a gym?
But that's not the point of this post. The point is, biking roadrage. Or rather, biking frustrations. 
I will be the first to admit that I haven't been biking here long. But there are rules to biking, and there is etiquette. And just as with driving, when people violate those two things, I become peeved. There are a lot of people on the roads, and these are the only things that keep them drivable.

Pictured: very light bike traffic on a summer afternoon.

The worst violations, in my opinion, are people walking in the bike lane, slow bikers diddling down the center of the lane or worse still, swanging side to side, and of course, people who don't signal. So basically all the worst annoyances of actual driving. But on a bike you can see the faces of the people around you, and they can see yours, so it is possible to pass someone disdainfully. And let me tell, you, that feels good.

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Word of the Day:

Bryst: Breast. Pronounced "broyst", but with a soft-sounding R. Yes, this an important word, and one we learned from watching real Danish TV. We still have no idea what the show was about, but this word kept turning up so much that eventually we had to Google it.