National Identity

How one defines their national identity is widely based not only on the people, but several other factors like history, status, language and even economic issues.

Over the passed couple weeks here, I've realized how national identity manifests itself in different ways. Ask a Canadian how they might define their national identity and one might answer "I'm not sure". I think the reason that occurs is because we have a hard time seeing the differences between our own country and others that surround us (like America). We are quick to dismiss and assure others that we are nothing like Americans, however, we share many things (language, trade, land etc). What makes us unique? Our free health care or our education system? If these are the only things, it makes me wonder how we ever defined ourselves. I am not suggesting that it is a bad things, I merely found myself wondering about the phenomenon of national identity because here in Denmark it exists in a big way.

Denmark possess its own language, which is not spoken virtually anywhere else (with exception of some of the Nordic/Scandinavian countries). More than that, it has a rich culture and history that the Danes are aware of and continue to pass down from generation to generation. Sure, I took Canadian history in school, but the amount of pride that the Danes take in their history is astounding. Moreover, they are currently fighting to keep their own currency versus taking the Euro. In a country with a little over 5 million people they have done a remarkable job of making sure everyone around knows how proud they are. If you had never heard much about Denmark (much like I had not before I left), it is worth your time to know that these are proud people. They create a national identity that I have yet to see anywhere else. I don't want to argue about what is better or worse (because I haven't even an idea), but it is different and interesting to see.

I posted this video on Facebook, but since everyone so far has seemed to enjoy it so much, I thought I would put it up here as well.

I wanted to make something ridiculous for the Improv troupe I am a part of back home. It's something that we would all do together normally, but since I'm so far, I went solo on this one. Shout out to Margaret for filming and taking all the pictures. She helped me out even though she was mortified :).

Here it is, enjoy!

shorttt

AH!

It's been a week since I posted, sorry about the lack of post. This week has been very uneventful, just started school. I'm taking a Shakespearean lit course and a ancient textile course. Also have a Danish culture course, but it doesn't start for another 2 weeks.

I've been searching for a bike, but no luck so far. Hopefully I'll find something within the next week. I'll be post a vlog soon hopefully, but I just thought I would stop by and say HEJ!

Jeg elsker du and I hope you are all well :)

Meghan

Towers, food and Sweden

Hej!

I realize I'm a little late for a weekend update, but it's more of a last week update. My friend Heather came from Canada, she is studying in Aarhus but stopped by for a week visit. We explored more of Copenhagen and ended up going to Malmo (Sweden) on Saturday.

I had passed Rundetarn many times while walking downtown but never thought to go in. I had wanted to wait for a nicer day so that I could actually see the city, and not just fog. Rundetarn is a tower which overlooks all of Copenhagen. Because Copenhagen is so flat it means that the tower gives you an extraordinary view of the city. Heather and I decided, since the weather was stunning that day, to make our way to the tower and take a look. We ended up staying up there for about 40 minutes.

Notably, the tower also has a church in it and houses galleries and exhibits. When we arrived the exhibit being shown was Hungry Planet. Hungry Planet is a incredible display of pictures depicting the ways in which families eat all over the world (including the price of food per week and other prevalent information). Peter Menzel is the photographer responsible for the display (more info at http://www.hungryplanet.dk/ - it is in Danish, though I believe you are able to use Google Translate).

On Saturday Heather and I hoped on a train to Malmo. The ride takes about a half-hour and is quite calming. Once we arrived we ran into our first pay toilets at the train station. Needless to say we willingly paid.

We made our way toward the Malmohus Castle, which has been converted to house an aquarium, art galleries and a lot (seriously there was so many) taxidermied animals. Heather is by far one of the jumpiest people I know and we ended up giggling at the ridiculousness of being terrified by a stuffed harmless creatures. Unfortunately, we couldn't understand some of the displays because everything was in Swedish and Danish.

The rest of our day was spent walking around, shopping (it is great there) and eating some pretty awesome food. We even sat outside one of the restaurants and enjoyed the heaters and complimentary blankets instead of sitting inside. A good day all in all.

Elsker,

Meghan

Malmo lit up at night

Class is in session

Hej!

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog this past week, but it's been hectic. I spend most of the beginning of the week studying for my Danish exams (which were Wednesday and Thursday respectively). My friend Heather (who will be studying in Aarhus came Tuesday and is staying here for now as well). Anyways, I did pretty well on my exams and as a result I'm going to teach you some Danish in this blog! Be warned, its tough for me to explain how to pronounce the words but I will try my best.

***Note: a lot of my explanations are in French, I apologize in advance, it just seems the easiest way to visualize the sounds for me

Basics:

Numbers:

1 - En

2 - To (French tau)

3 - Tre

4 - Fire (fia)

5 - Fem

6 - Seks (sex)

7 - Syv (Suv)

8 - Otte

9 - Ni

10 - Ti

The alphabet is said almost the same but I'll put it here, including the changes:

A (like the French et) - B - C - D - E - F - G (pronounced gay) - H (hoe) - I - J (Jol) - K (ko) - L - M - N - O - P - Q (like French cou) - R - S - T - U - V (Ve) - W (doubled ve) - X - Y - Z

Vowels (Seriously complicated, all of the A/E sounds are too difficult to differentiate unless you have a professional on hand, but you can hear them on google translate and try and notice the differences):

A (see above) - E - I - æ - å - ø (like the French eu) - U (ooo or French ou sound)

Basics:

Yes: Ja (Kind of sounds like ya, the Danes don't put a lot of emphasizes on J's)

He: Han

She: Hun

No: Nej (don't pronounce the J - Nie)

Me: Jeg

You: Du (doooo)

Thank you: Tak

Simple sentences:

What is your name:

Hvad hedder du? - Va hitha (like hither ending in an A) du (doo)

Where do you come from?

Hvor kommer du fra? - Vo (low O sound, like the French "au") komma du (doo) fra?

How many languages can you speak?

Hvor mange sprog kan du tale? - Vo (see above) maaaang (long A sound and a nasal NG sound - like saying ing at the back of your throat) spro kan du tale?

Hope you enjoyed this lesson! Sorry if it was too intense, I just thought I would give you a taste of my 3 weeks of classes :)

I will be doing an update of my weekend within the next couple days and I start classes Tuesday, should be exciting.

Elsker (prononuced elska),

Meghan

"Nerd-ing out" (a longer post)

It's funny sometimes what shocks or surprises us. Today I experienced a surprise that was surreal, one in which you realize the world is bigger than you.

I spend a lot of my young adult life enjoying historical literature and spend years pouring over books about WWII (because it was my first interest and I felt connected somehow, though to be fair I don't have any Jewish or German relatives). I adored reading the personal stories of peoples journeys through the labyrinth of disaster and hope. I had not felt that same sort of surreality in a long time...until today.

Margaret and I made our way down to Roskilde to see the Vikingeskibs Museet (Viking Ship Museum). The train ride was about 25 minutes and it was extremely relaxing (note: if you ever travel within Denmark, take the train, it's such a lovely experience). I had a basic and limited knowledge of what we would encounter once we got to the museum, but Margaret is an Archeology student so I knew I was in good hands. We entered the museum which looked fairly small, paid our tickets and threw our things in a locker. Once we walked over to where the boats were placed and I was in, well, shock. There were 5 large viking ships (some more complete than others) laying before our eyes.

The ships themselves have a rich history; during the 11th century the Vikings needed to protect their land against naval attacks and sunk 5 of their ship by filling them with rocks. The ships formed a kind of makeshift barrage and were discovered about 20 km north of Roskilde. The details are fuzzy as to what and who the Vikings were trying to keep out, but the ships shed new light on the ways in which the Vikings constructed their boats. Standing beside one of the larger ships, like the war ship for instance, brought butterflies to my stomach. Could you imagine living on one of those ships? No protection from the weather and certainly a lot of men crammed together to make everything work the way it was supposed to.

In 2007/2008, experimental research Archeologists sailed a replica of ships to Dublin. The project was a culmination of 25 years of research. They built the ship with the same type of materials, raw (wo)man power and determination as the Vikings did. The crew was comprised of 65 people, mostly volunteers. Looking at the footage and seeing how they lived during their time on that ship made me realize the vast and incredible things that mankind is capable of. Working as a team to create, sail and tolerate one and other for over 500 hours at sea.

(Margaret and I dressed like Vikings)

I felt like I was "nerd-ing out" a lot today, but it also brought new discovery to my love for history that I had lost or forgotten about. The Vikings were an incredible people that worked together, not apart, to achieve greatness. Plus they had some pretty badass poetry:

"Better gear

than good-sense

A traveller cannot carry,

A more tedious burden

than too much drink

A traveller cannot carry."

Elsker,

Meghan

Blue skies!...sort of (lots of pictures)

Today was one of the first days that the weather was semi-sunny. Took a tour of the Black Diamond, also known as the Royal Library of Copenhagen. It was stunning, the juxtaposition between new and old was staggering and put a smile on my face. There is something beautiful to me about the melding the past and future together to create something that still retains its history, yet inspires attention. I adore libraries so it was a great afternoon. The best part was standing in the library and finally seeing a little blue sky peaking through the clouds for the first time since being here :)

Photos!

The Black Diamond

The Danish Literature Room (Old Books) - it smelled amazing

Old Catalogues they used before everything was online

Books! - No I did not steal any, though I did want to...

View from inside the new building - Just let me live here

A picture from the exhibition that was being held in the basement

And just for Patriko, a few bike pictures

Elsker,

Meghan