And by home, I mean Copenhagen.
Fall break could not have gone better. From sunbathing and swimming in Santorini to learning more about the Ottoman empire in Istanbul, there was never a dull moment. But I must say, come Sunday we were all missing Copenhagen with all its Christmas markets, fairy lights, and Hygge that we have come to love.
The Dane’s definitely manage to keep it Hygge despite the cool weather. Tivoli has recently been revamped in the spirit of Christmas, with fake snow decorating the grounds and Christmas lights in abundance.
But it’s not only Christmas that the Dane’s have been celebrating. Surprisingly there have been quite a few Thanksgiving treats around the place (although I still haven’t figured out why). Earlier today we stopped in at The American Pie Company to find that the only savory pies they were serving for the day were Thanksgiving themed. It wasn’t quite the Turkey, sweet potato, pecan pie, and everything else feast, but it was a decent shot nonetheless!
Copenhagen’s cafes were also something I’d missed. A while ago I had received a gift card from DIS to Next Door Cafe and a few days ago decided to cash in on it. One of the things I love about Copenhagen are all of the random vibrant spots you kinda just have to walk into by accident, and Next Door Cafe was no exception. It’s the kind of place that would have been too easy to walk right past because of its underground location and small hidden doorway. But luckily the chatter and laughter coming from inside was hard to miss. The food was great but the atmosphere was even better, and my favorite part of it had to be the secret little downstairs area that much more closely resembled a bar than your typical cafe.
Of course, classes were great to come back to as well. In Danish we’ve been learning about and discussing the Mohammed cartoons, which were a set of controversial cartoons published by a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, that ended up producing serious repercussions. It was interesting to explore this from a Danish perspective, especially given Denmark’s history of being a very homogenous society. This led to discussions around free speech and it was really interesting to compare and contrast the views of Danes with those of Americans. Another one of my classes, Thinking Lab, also decided to explore the concept of freedom this week, but in this case it was in terms of surveillance. The discussion ranged all the way from Snowden and the US government to how McDonalds is now testing the use of license plate and facial recognition to predict orders.
Outside of our regular class hours, another school highlight of the week was my Danish field trip to the language department of the Danish military. We attended a talk by one of the leaders of the institution and learned about everything from the rigorous training program undertaken by military translators to Denmark’s involvement in international relations. After the talk we were also lucky enough to have the opportunity to check out the housing quarters of the students.
All in all it’s been great to be home. But this post wouldn’t be complete without at least a few photos from our incredible week in Greece and Turkey.