adventures in vikingland

09 March 2011

Foggy Days London Town

At some point this year, I realized that an old friend from Loudon (who I hadn't seen in about, oh, 11 years) was living in Europe also--London to be precise. After a brief reconnection on facebook, plans were quickly made to trade countries for a couple weekend visits. I would spend my birthday weekend in London, and Hannah would later come to Copenhagen to visit. Little did we realize that a month later we would also end up in Ireland the same week to see each other again.

So then, here are a few highlights from London Town:

London Eye, from Green Park near Buckingham Palace.

Mad hatter for Tea in the Park?

This gate is Canada. No, seriously, it doesn't lead TO Canada, but is the gate representing the queen's dominion over Canada :)

This would be Buckingham Palace. I'm not super touristy, but it wouldn't have been a weekend in London without at least seeing the famous gate. My only real thoughts were, Thank God this is not the WEDDING weekend!!!

And, of course, you know I had to see the British Museum of Natural History's new DARWIN exhibit. Pretty cool, and I'll def use some of that material in my classes.

Gotta try fish'n'chips and MUSHY peas in London. Yes, that's right folks, those mushy green things on the side there are mashed peas. No seasoning, and rather gross. Fish and beer were tasty though. :)

St. Paul's Cathedral from Millenium Bridge

Views from the top of and below St. Pauls

Double Decker Bus!

Phone Booth!

Weekends at the Markets

PANORAMA SHOTS

RANDOM THINGS AROUND TOWN

something political

i've been laughing recently with another fulbrighter here in dk about the relative differences in our blogging lives. i tend to lean more on the photo and adventure side of life--sharing brief cultural exchanges and pieces of my life here. he, on the other hand, shares these quite eloquent thoughts about the culture and politics of life in copenhagen. i've often laughed and said we should do a joint post--readers would REALLY be getting a full view then. but in tribute to this "other" blog perspective, i'm going to share some different kinds of stories these next few months. one of them is a news article from the copenhagen post. cph post is one of the few english news sources, and is linked with expat in dk, which gives it a somewhat foreign/integration slant. that aside, it's hard to deny the facts of this brief article..

Integration or Assimilation

New immigration minister: become like us or stay away

WEDNESDAY, 09 MARCH 2011 10:35 DV NEWS

Søren Pind prepared to further tighten immigration laws

Either foreigners make an effort to become Danish or they can just stay away from Denmark, according to Søren Pind, the new immigration minister. Only hours after taking over as immigration minister after Birthe Rønn Hornbech was fired yesterday, Pind declared himself ready to tighten up the immigration laws.

According to Pind, it should be set in stone that Denmark has room for foreigners that adopt and respect Danish values, norms and traditions; if they don’t, they shouldn’t be here at all.

“The way I see it, when you choose Denmark, you choose Denmark because you want to become Danish,” Pind told Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

He highlighted a misunderstood notion of integration, where traditional Danish values have been compromised in an attempt to accommodate foreigners. This, he said, is a threat to Denmark as a nation.

“In my view, a mixture of cultures and the trails it carries with it makes the whole thing crackle, and I will do everything I can to fight that,” he said.

This is great news for the Danish People’s Party (DF). “There are several areas where tightening measures are needed, so Søren Pind’s statement is definitely good for us to hear,” said DF’s immigration spokesperson Peter Skaarup.

In the opposition, Socialist People’s Party (SF) immigration spokesperson Astrid Kragh said that the nation is under threat if Søren Pind fails to realise that he needs to focus on high-priority tasks involving ghettos, education of non-ethnic youths and unemployment among foreigners.

02 January 2011

Various Celebrations and Meetups

Birthdays in Denmark involve a lot of national flags. Danes love to decorate with the Danish flag--any type of party--Christmas, birthdays, sales, anniversarys--are usually full of the red and white colors.

Halloween is not a big holiday here, but some Danes are embracing the sugared dress up night. The student bar and university hang outs all had some kind of event--I opted for a greek look, going as Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

National dress is a part of most scandinavian and german culture. This is a dirndl from Munich--if you want to know more about the German trachten, see my previous post on Oktoberfest and Bavaria. =)

It's located here.

The national dress is a much bigger part of Norway culture than Denmark--at least, that I have noticed. When I was in Bergen (northern Norway) there were several shops that sold the costumes, but I have never seen this in Denmark. Though, I will say that neither of these compares to the clothes in Germany/Austria.

One of my favorite restaraunts in Copenhagen hosts a variety of taxidermic artwork. It's called Bankeraat, and the walls are full of ethnic and otherwise furry stuffed items.