All good things must come to an end...

Yesterday, Anne came by to say good bye despite being very sick... Anne is so sweet.

Today, I woke up to say good bye to Amanda as she went off to school... Amanda is now like my little sister and I'll miss her very much.

My taxi comes to take me to the airport in two and a half hours, then I will say good-bye to Pia. She has done SOOO much for me and I don't even know how to begin to thank her.

I bought all of them nice Christmas gifts to show them how thankful I am. Only, traditional Danish Christmas gifts are very small... And, while my gifts weren't extravagant, they were more than they were used to recieving... which made it a little awkward. But everyone loved their gifts. Pia and Amanda are shipping their gifts to me, and Anne got me a very beautiful necklace.

Writing this is very hard because I'm holding back tears because I'll miss them all so much. I am very much looking forward to going back to my friends and family in America, but its hard saying goodbye when you don't know when or where you'll see them again. We've made promises to come visit each other (Amanda and Pia promise to bring Anne.) But that won't be for at least 2 years.

I'll also miss Denmark very much. While, the things I miss in America are all people and less things... What I'll miss here is both. I love walking down Stroget, a walking street without any cars, when its dark at 4 PM, with the fir tree garland strung over the top of the street... With the lit up hearts and stars. Passing the store windows with their Christmas lights and holiday displays... I'll miss walking past the stands with glugg and roasted almonds... that are roased right there on the spot... with the smell filling the air as you pass another talented street performer playing violin... or the piano that he brought out there in a bike trailer... or just singing Christmas songs. The whole city is just filled with hygge... The Danish word for cozy that means so much more than just 'cozy.'

I'll miss the public transit. Here, when traffic gets bad, they add bus routes and bike lanes. I don't like driving. I love having a (reliable) bus or train take me places... Or riding a bike. Driving... just isn't enjoyable for me. But, in order to have any sense of independence in most parts of America, you -need- to drive. Here, you can take a train to any city in Denmark. And there will be busses to take you the rest of the way (for the most part.) I like that. I respect that.

I'll miss St. Peders Bakery... With their 12-kr daily specials... Tuesday is muffins. Wednesday is snails (like cinnamon rolls). And their chicken bacon sandwiches... So delicious. And, only 5 minutes from class. The chocolate filled croissants... AMAZING. I think I bought one just about every week. I will have to hunt down a place that makes them in America. They will get my buisness for sure.

There are so many other things... like how every cafe/restaurant has candles and is extra cozy and living so close to where everything is happening and feeling safe walking alone anywhere at any time and how for every thing you need, theres a separate, specialized store (it just makes things cute. Its worth the extra effort...) and how the city looks, with its colorful old buildings and no sky scrapers... just beautiful spires. Just... so many little things.

I have to come back. Most importantly, to see Pia, Amanda & Anne again. But also, I want to share this with friends and family from back home. I want to take them to La Glace to taste the best hot chocolate ever in an extra cozy cafe. I want to take them to Tivoli... and down Stroget at Christmas time.

And there are so many things I wanted to do that I never got the chance to... Like go to Amager Strand or to the Round Tower. I never got to go to the HC Anderson's Museum... Or take the ferry to Oslo, Norway. I just became so comfortable here, that I'd always just say "I'm here for 4 months. I'll do it next week." But now, there isn't a next week.

When people ask me, "Are you excited to go home?" Yes, I'm excited to go home. See people I haven't seen in at least 4 months. But I'm not excited to leave. Not at all. I'm almost dreading having to leave. I like it here.

DIS/Sandholm Soccer Match!

So. I'm writing a paper (LAST ONE!) But I found this on the DIS website:

Its an article about the soccer match I played in!

If you follow that link, there's a slide show of pictures from the soccer match. I'm in two of them! Can you find me?! There's the team photo... and an ACTION SHOT!

Nisser.

I love Danish Nisser.

Nisser are Danish Christmas Elves or Pixies. They live in your attic and wear red floppy hats (kind of like Santa hats, minus the white fluff.) They love rice pudding, so, throughout December you have to leave some out for them. If you do, they put presents in your stocking! If you don't... they tease you. They love rice pudding. There are two kinds of rice pudding, the kind you eat for dinner, which just has cinnamon, sugar and butter on. There's another kind for dessert. It has extra cream in it and you put cherry syrup on top and theres an almond in it somewhere. Whoever finds the almond gets a present!

A couple weeks ago, we had rice pudding for dinner. We had some left over, so Amanda put 10 spoons in the bowl as Pia went and got the ladder. We put the rice pudding up in the attic (which took some doing.) A couple of days later, the Nisser left Amanda a present in her stocking!

I love the Nisser and I think I will adopt some to bring home with me. I've bought a couple of them, because they're cute. They look like little old men with long beards and knitted red hats.

Other Danish Christmas traditions? Advent calendars! They're big here. Amanda has six. two give her chocolate. One gives her real gifts (stocking-stuffer kinds of gifts) that Pia has bought for her. And then we all have our advent calendar scratch ticket! I need 3 more reindeer to win 5,000-kr. There's a candle too- it has numbers down the side of it and each day you burn the candle down to the next day, counting down to Christmas! I'm tempted to buy a bunch to distribute for next Christmas.

One Week.

With one week left, I have finally decided how to answer the question "Are you excited to go home?!" The answer is not a simple one. I am looking forward to going home. I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends and to spend Christmas with my family and to see Keno... And to move into my apartment in Gettysburg. However... I'm not looking forward to leaving. I love Copenhagen. I feel completely comfortable here. Everything is gorgeous and I've made some great friends and will miss Amanda, Pia and Anne a lot. So, my answer is, "I'm not looking forward to leaving, but I'm looking forward to being at home." Its a complicated answer... One that many people I've spoken to agree with, though.

Something that makes the aspect of leaving easier is that I know I'll come back. I'm still young, so I still have so much of my life to travel. There are so many places I want to go that I'll never be able to get to all of them, but I'd much rather live a modest lifestyle and then travel more. And I know that I'll make it back to Copenhagen at least once. Something else that makes it easier: Amanda, Pia and Anne all want to visit. I've told them that whenever they want to come, they are welcome to stay with me. This... might be hard while I'm at school, but I'd work it out for them.

The last month has been fairly relaxed... At least as far as adventuring goes. The workload has been... horrible. Its been harder than most semesters back at home, simply to make up for the fact that the first part of the semester is decently easy. I've written two papers this week... And I have another paper due the last day of finals (Tuesday.) I have 3 finals, which isn't bad. I'm not too worried about them. This semester was more about the experiences than the work, anyway.

Christmas spirit is all around, as I've mentioned a couple times. Last Sunday, we had Julefrokost (Christmas Lunch) with many students and host families. It was a lot of fun. I tried Curry Herring... and it was actually pretty good! There was so much Rice Pudding- a Christmas staple. Always delicious. We sang deck-the-halls and just chatted. Great fun. We played a fun gift-game too... one that I might try to introduce at Christmas this year for our gift exchange. You start by having everyone pass a dice around, rolling it whenever they get it. If they get a 6, they take a dice. After all of the gifts are taken, you set a timer, and continue rolling. But, instead of taking a gift, you steal one from someone else. It was a lot of fun. I won a super-mini radio!

Leaving the Christmas Lunch... The kids all got balloon christmas trees... Great fun on the train :P

There was a balloon artist for all of the kids.

They played Christmas music the whole time.

Our table! Kara & her host mom in the front.

Entrance to the lunch...

Me and Amanda!

Me and Michael! He says he loves me and my hugs :)

Amanda pouring me some coffee.

Me and Pia and Michael, waiting for the train to the lunch.

Me and Amanda fighting over some candy... Lady and the Tramp style.

That night was all-nighter night (as in, we finished it 15 minutes before we had to leave to catch the bus...) for my big 15 page final paper for Cross-Cultural encounters. It... didn't quite go according to plan and I don't have high hopes for it... But its done and turned in, and I'm rather glad its over. Class was fun that day... haha. But when I got home, I napped, at dinner... Then we all went to Julehygge at Amanda's school! Basically, everyone in Amanda's class went and brought their parents. Some teachers came too. We sat around and socialized while eating desserts and drinking Glugg (warm red wine, that was cooked with orange rinds I think, with almonds and raisins in it.) All of the kids played a gift game and it was all hygge :D

Amanda, Me and Anne!

Me and Anne!

Some of Amanda's classmates.

Yesterday was the last day of classes. Some of my classes... I'm very glad their over. Others, Like migrants, minorities and multiculturalism and service learning class, I'm SO sad their over. I've learned a lot in both of them and the professors were AMAZING. All of the professors AT DIS were amazing. But anyway, after MMM (where we ate tasty, tasty pastries,) I went with a friend (and some of her friends that I hadn't met before) to the Christiania Christmas Market. I bought Pia her gift and another gift. Thought... I'm not sure who its for though... Today, I'm doing research for my LAST paper... doing a little bit of christmas shopping, and playing some indoor soccer with some Asylum seekers! Should be a good day.

Now, I shall leave you with some cute pictures:

Kara, Amanda, and one of those 'baby' rabbits.

Amanda and the 'baby' rabbit. (Her name is Mille.)

Amanda, with Mille on her back.

Christmas in Copenhagen: Pictures!

Illium! Department store by DIS, right of Stroget.

Ice skating on Kongen Nytorv! Giant ring around a statue- free... if you bring your own ice skates.

Bus, bike Christmas trees... Very Copenhagen.

Cute dog rolling around on the ice rink on Kongens Nytorv

All the trees around the rink had pretty lights!!!

More Illium! Note the garland above the street? Its on most of the streets. Makes everything look so cheery!

Kongens Nytorv at dusk.

So I may be a little obsessed with the Illium. I don't shop there. But its pretty and changes colors.

Me with the tree on Radhusplads! (Town Hall Square)

Tree with Town Hall!!! The little woven heart ornaments- very Danish. :)

I still have Czech Republic to report on... And 'Thanksgiving'... and probably some other stuff too. But thought you'd prefer some pictures!

Ode to SheZone.

Every weekend, when I should be doing my homework, I don't. I run off to Norrebro, to the Hillerodgade Swimming Pool. For 3 and a half hours on Saturday, and 2 and a half on Sundays, I'm there volunteering with SheZone. I'm going to go for the next to weekends too, not because I have time and don't want to see any more of the city, but because I'm really going to miss going every weekend. Sure, it was dissapointing finding out I wouldn't be able to spend my weekends traveling... But this was so much more. I can always travel. I have my entire life to travel. But, when will I have 4 months to volunteer in another country? The decision to volunteer while in Denmark was honestly the best decision I made. My regrets? Travel break, and missing two of the weekends. Now, with only two more weekends left, I'm just now solidifying the bonds I've made with some of the women and girls. Yesterday, before we even got in the water, one of the ladies came up to me and just started talking to me. It was one of the ladies I had worked with every Saturday since I started--she has some problems with her kick. She kicks... but doesn't move. At the end of yesterday, I finally said something that made sense... And she could move! It was the same thing I'd been saying since I started, just in a different way. The smile that it put on her face when she finally got to move, though... Was amazing. I worked with her and another lady earlier in the day. The other lady, who doesn't speak any english, was one I'd worked with a lot just so she could overcome her fear of the water. "Bange! Bange!" She would say, while clutching her kickboard to her chest. I learned that that meant "afraid" then gave her another kick board and a floaty noodle and helped her across the pool. Since then, she's trusted me, despite the language barrier. Working with the two of them on floating, was great. The one I've helped with kicking knows english. So, she would translate for the other one. It was great being able to work with them and being able to build that relationship and trust with them. And, it was great seeing the bond that the two of them had made too. I'll miss the two of them.

They're all such sweet ladies and girls. Not a one of them gets angry at me for not knowing danish (like a few of the danes I've met...) and we try to work through it. One thing that still gets to me though... Is when we're in the pool, everyone is friendly and talks to me and smiles and everything. But, as soon as we get out of the pool and into the locker room or the lobby or to the bus stop... It all stops. Even the trio of girls who follows me in the pool talking constantly... Silence outside of the pool. I get smiles every once in a while, but nothing more. Even their demenor changes. Once they step foot outside of the building, everything gets a little more somber. Maybe it is due to the Danes and their stereotype of the Muslim Immigrant. They don't really give them a chance. I even heard a story of a bus driver who shut the door in the face of one before driving off... When he had seen him coming.

I want to do something nice for everyone there the last time I go... but I don't know what I could do? Just a little something, to thank them all. I feel a little bad, building up this trust and this sort of relationship... then just leaving. It doesn't seem fair. But, despite this, I'm glad I did it. And wish I could continue. I don't think there are any programs like this in America, otherwise I'd try to get involved. As it is, if I ever come back for an extended period of time, I'll be getting in contact.

SNOW!!!

It snowed today. A good bit too. Like... almost a centimeter? Maybe? Its SO pretty :) Gabi, Sarah and I went out and danced around in it. It was much fun.

Other than this, though, my day was quite nice. I had classes... but classes are interesting. After Migrants, Minorities and Multiculturalism I went grocery shopping with Sarah for dinner, then went to the Jul i Nyhavn (Christmas (Yule) in Nyhavn) market... And bought my ornament for the exchange! You'll love it ;) haha. We also walked through Kongens Nytorv... Which was decorated SO well and was BEAUTIFUL... with an ice skating rink that I'm very much looking forward to going to. :) Its in a circle around the statue in the middle :)

The whole city is decked out in the Christmas spirit and has been for... about 2 weeks. Its gorgeous. They counter the fact that it gets dark SO early by covering everything in beautiful lights. All of Stroget has pine branches draped across and lights and hearts... And the stores all have their Christmas window displays up... Just walking through town (especially in the snow) makes everyone SO happy. :)

Anyway, after going to the Christmas market, Gabi and I went back to her kollegium and hung out with Sarah in her kitchen. We made fruit pizza and ate a bunch of it while watching Love Actually and then we made dinner... Complete with fresh made tortillas! Yum! So good. It was also nice sitting there and talking to all of Sarah's friends that came in. There were three (Danish) students that we met and just hung out with. They were super nice and fun to talk to... And tomorrow they are throwing a christmas lunch for everyone in the hall!!! Fantastic. Kinda wish I could have done a Kollegium... But my host family is great too. I shall talk to Gettysburg about this.

But yeah. I hope to get pictures of the snow fun soon (Gabi and Sarah took the pictures.) And SOON I will get pictures of Stroget and all of the pretties that lie there :)

Have a great evening everyone! Season's Greetings!

Random Snow Pictures:

Last Week + Sandholm & Shopping!

Hello! So, life... has been pretty busy here in Copenhagen. Its... the beginning of the end. Its rather bitter sweet. I'll miss Copenhagen a lot and I'll miss my Copenhagen family more. But I'm missing being home and with my family and friends and Washington and Gettysburg... Things like that. But, as it is the beginning of the end, the work load has... Quadrupled. Before travel break, we had reading and an occasional assignment. Completely manageable, allowing for ample time to explore the city and do things. Now... everyone has multiple (group) projects for multiple classes along with many term papers to write. Its... rather stressful. The weekend before my birthday (and my birthday too... ) I spent every minute I wasn't in class, sleeping or eating doing work... And then, at the end of the day, I looked at what I had gotten done and it was nothing. Very fulfilling. So, I have given up on work. Readings have been tossed aside, papers... are getting done (slowly, but surely) and I'm happier for it. Everything (work-wise) will get done. AND I'll have much time to enjoy my last month in Copenhagen (its gone SOOO FAST!!!) I will... leave the boring work bits out of this post, no worries! And, I'll pick up with where I left off.

Warning: Its been a while since I've posted, so this'll be LONG.

Weekend of 8th & 9th. This was the weekend where all I did was work... Kind of. (I lied a little. Sorry!) Saturday I went and volunteered. I LOVE volunteering. I always have so much fun. This time I learned the word for scared . I was helping one lady who was SO scared of the water... I held her up as she kicked across the pool... And then, with her little bit of english, she thanked me. Then, she was talking to another lady and waved me over. The other lady looked scared so I tried to help her... But she kept saying "Banka! Banka!" Eventually, from her grasping the kickboard so tightly, I figured out that this meant scared. So I gave her a floaty noodle and two kick boards, and off we went. By the end, she was still scared, but was greatful for the help. Then, the next group was younger girls. But its the last group I remember. There were 3 girls, who spoke pretty good english, and they basically followed me around asking me for help. It was... annoying at first because other people needed more help and they wouldn't let me escape, but then it was cute. I helped them a bit, but couldn't get them to understand that to swim you needed to understand how to kick... then how to do the arms... then you could swim. Not just... okay swim! But they were cute. Anyway. After all of that, I went and got dressed and everything and headed to the bus stop. The first lady that I'd worked with ended up being the mom of one of the girls that followed me around. So I walked with them to the bus stop. I wanted to talk to them so bad... but I felt back making the girl translate... And, while they were both so full of smiles and laughter while IN the pool... outside, they just looked solemn. Inside, we both work so hard to communicate... But then we left and suddenly... everyone gave up. Beyond smiles of recognition... There wasn't much. The rest of the night I just worked...

And the next day I worked too. Until I went back to volunteering. Which, was canceled at the last minute. However, Megan was there with me to volunteer, and we just decided to head over to Pasha Kebob to get some falafel. Its...rather tasty and one of the few foods you can buy for less than 5$. Pasha Kebob is just a kebob place I pass on the bus everyday and want to try. So we went in... it was a REALLY NICE kebob place with free tea and great decorations... Super. We order our falafel and then start talking to the cashier since we were the only ones there (and... we had to do an interview for class...) He was super nice. Like, usually, cashiers don't want to talk to you, but he was rather chatty! He's from Iraq, and has been living in Denmark for 8 years with his family. He says he likes in in Denmark... but that Iraq will always be his home and he looks forward to going back... once things calm down a bit... After we'd talked to him for a bit though, he changed the topic a little. He spent quite a bit of time making sure we understood this one thing. He explained it many times, each time in a different way. He said that many times when he meets Americans, when they find out he is from Iraq they get scared and act different and run away and he didn't understand why and didn't like that. He said that it is not something between him and I... it is something between our governments. He drew a sharp distinction between the two... something the media does not do. The media seems to dehumanize everyone in Iraq... Which is why the Americans probably view people from Iraq so poorly. But anyway, after that, another customer came in and we'd finished our meals... So we headed our separate ways home...

At home, Amanda was very much looking forward to making cookies. I'd promised that I'd make cookies for her class (which I was going to visit on Wednesday.) So, we made... SNICKERDOODLES! Yay. They were rather tasty. Nothing so exciting in making cookies (everyone loves cookies!) BUT I learned something... CRAZY. THEY DON'T DIP COOKIES IN MILK! I had to teach them. They thought I was crazy. Situation has been remedied!

Monday, my birthday, I worked ALL day. No good. Highlight of my day? I got a box of chocolates from Mike! And a cute little dear from Nara. :) Pretty much adorable. I got a bunch of birthday card too, which definatly were also great. Thanks to Jennifer and Amanda/Zoe/Ryan/James and Grandma and Grandpa! Everyone did a great job of planning so things would arrive on my birthday. :) I also had a panel debate for class... all about media representation of immigrants. It was interesting... but a lot of the same stuff as media representation of blacks in America so... yeah. I learned some interesting things, like how most immigrants move out of what the media calls 'Ghettos' and things like that. It helped me to realize that, yes, things aren't great here for immigrants and there a big stereotype against them... But its no where NEAR as bad as it is in most places... After the panel thing... There was a class dinner... And then I headed home. Yay! Tuesday night was the REAL celebration. Kara, Megan, Gabi and I were all going to go to ice bar. Kara... got pnuemonia and was in the hospital... so she couldn't come... But Gabi made the rest of us dinner (THANK YOU GABI! YOU'RE MY HERO!) and we went to Ice Bar!!! Yay Ice Bar :D As it was Tuesday night... and we went at 9:30 PM... no one was really there... except for us and the bartended. Which was cool. We got awesome pictures of the place and spent a good bit of time talking to the bartender (who gave us all free second drink because it was my birthay :) ) Good times. :) We kept trying to make ice towers out of the glasses (made of ice...) but they kept taking the glasses away... Sooo... yeah. Haha. Great fun.

Me at the Ice Bar!!! Don't you love the awesome parka?

Shika (Deer) Mike sent me! Isn't it ADORABLE?!

Thursday wasn't so exciting. But notable things did happen. I got home from a long day and was talking to Pia, who told me that Amanda had brought the 3 baby rabbits that did not have homes to the pet shop since they could not take care of so many rabbits... :( I liked the rabbits! But anyway, then Pia went on to say how Amanda had started crying because she had to give the rabbits away... And then while she was crying about the rabbits... she had started crying more about how I was going to leave too... :( So, I decided to spend the rest of the day hanging out with Amanda. Amanda and her best friend Anne have started just coming and hanging out in my room with me. Its really sweet. They'll just come and Anne will listen to my iPod and Amanda will video chat with a friend and we'll dance and they'll sing and just chat. Its very nice.

Amanda dancing to my iPod :D

Me and Anne! Shes so sweet!


Me and Amanda and the 'baby' rabbit that she got to keep. Its not so baby any more...

The next day, Friday, was just class and things for the most part. After Migrants, Minorities and Multiculturalism, Gabi asked if I wanted to go to Gammel Torv (the plaza right next to school) with her and another friend to scope out the... INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL! So, of course, i accepted. I tried all kinds of sausages and cheese and jams and balsamic vinegars from all over the world! Heh... The balsamic vinegars? They had FRUIT FLAVORS for, like, ice cream. SO GOOD. OMG. Then, I saw a french cookie stand... and looked up... AND THERE WERE GRANDMA'S WAFFLE COOKIES! I just about died. Then droped 2$ on a cookie. It was the classic waffle cookie... but minus the maple topping. But... it was NO WHERE as good as Grandma's. Not even close. It had a funny taste and was harder and more powdery. I'm still glad I bought it though... Reminded me of home. THEN... Crazy things coming up... We passed an exotic meat stand. So, the three of us bought a... KANGAROO BURGER!!! And split it. It was SOOOOOO GOOD. It was kind of like beef... But with more flavor and a little more salty. Amazing though. I highly reccomend you eat some kangaroo. Anyway, after that, I went home and ate dinner... Hung out with host family a bit... Then went to Gabi's kollegium to watch Devil Wears Prada and chat. It was a good way to end the night :)

Saturday I slept in then went to volunteer. I... had an AMAZING time... as usual. It was only me and the instructor, so it was a little crazy. But so much fun. I worked with the same ladies I've been working with, which is really nice because I've gotten to know them a little and build trust. I had a great time. And, with the younger girls, we've been playing a game like tag, only, if you get tagged, someone has to come save you so you can move again. So I've been playing with them. And thats SO MUCH FUN. As I was leaving, Malou, the coordinator kept telling me what a great job I did and how big of a help I was. It was really no big deal. I have a great time and teaching swimming is something I love to do. And I like playing with kids. So... its all good. But it was nice to have the recognition? Yeah. After volunteering, I went to Kara's and we... did homework and ate licorice pandas. They're tasty. Amanda, you might be getting some at some point. Just so you know. :D

Sunday... I skipped volunteering (I told them ahead of time and they were cool with it though.) It made me sad because I look forward to it... But Pia wanted to take me out to a birthday dinner and I wanted to do that and the weekend is the only time when I don't have class or something I can't get out of... So... Sunday it was. Michael and Pia and Anne and Amanda and I all made the 20 minute bike ride down to Pia's favorite restaurant, Jenson Bofhus. Which, she loves for the salad bar (it was weak as far as options... but apperently the best in Denmark! And it tasted good. So hey!) It was good. And I had fun :) But... not really much to say. Just a relaxing dinner with the host fam and Anne :D.

Monday... was INSANE. I had 3 meetings and classes and surveys to give and so much stuff. I had class... then surveyed people... then found out one of my meetings was cancelled and another combined with the other... So magically, things worked out. Which... I was perfectly fine with! The day before I'd had a Thai food craving... So I went to the Thai take away place I pass frequently in my newfound free time... Only to find that its freakishly expensive (13$ for takeaway?) and, upon eating it, I found that it was the worst thai food I've ever had. It... wasn't bad per se. But... I've only had delicious thai food. And this wasn't. But yeah. After that I had a paper topic/class rep meeting with my core class prof. She's amazing. And so sweet! I wish I could just sit down and chat with her about things... not paper or class. Class rep meeting... I just said things that people had told me to say... I like the class for the most part. I just don't really see how it fits in with the program. But thats not her fault at all. Result of class rep meeting?! TWO WEEK PAPER EXTENSION FOR THE CLASS! Do I get gold stars or something for this? I should. But yeah... Then we talked about Kara & I's term paper. Our topic is Second Generation Muslim Female Immigrants and how they reconcile thier parent's identity and their religious identity with their Danish and secular identity... Yeah. Should be... fun. Interesting at the very least. We have to do atleast 3 interviews for it, so we're going to talk to an expert (yet to be decided...) and then do many informal interviews with Muslim women at a SheZone event going on this Saturday. Its a giant festival with workshops that should be a lot of fun :)

Tuesday... Was a good day... Other than that bit where I left late for class... was biking so fast the chain fell off and it was raining and I couldn't get the chain back on so I missed my train and would have been over 20 minutes late to class if I had decided to go... Haha. But, I hear I didn't miss much in class and the rain made my hair damp... which apperently makes my hair dry wavy. Which was really cute. So, no loss there. Classes... were boring. Except for Service Learning class, which, despite not getting credit for at all and basically ONLY taking for the fun of it since Gettysburg doesn't even recognize its existance as a class is one of my favorite classes. I love that class. We always have great discussions and everyone in the class is amazing. I really wish we could have had more class socials or something to get to know eachother. I did, after class, end up going back to the food fair with two people from the class Theresa and Ben. They got kangaroo burgers... then Theresa and I made plans to go shopping the next day as we split a crepe and a strawberry waffle between the two of us. Great fun. THEN we went to a panel debate. It was between... Naser Khader and Henene Mette Brix... Who agreed on many things... (which doesn't really make for a good debate... but... hey.) They were interesting. I really enjoyed listening to their side of things. Naser is the head of one of Denmark's political parties, and a Syrian immigrant and a Muslim (though... some muslims disagree with that last part...) He basically said Islam is compatible with secularism because you can follow the religion while still putting democracy and family first. (He says he loves his family more than the prophet Muhammed. This, apperently, goes against Islam.) Brix... I couldn't really hear very well. But she, I'm pretty sure, said it didn't. But she also mostly only talked about Muslim extremists and things like that... Basically, they were both very extreme and anti Islam in its pure form... Though in different ways. It was interesting to hear their points of view, though I think the best thing that came of it was all of the discussions everyone had about their views afterward, outside of the debate. Through various conversations, I've reflected a lot on what they've said... and what it appears to boil down to is where is the line between "Muslim" and "Not Muslim" drawn? Islam is an 'all encompasing" religion... which is supposed to define every aspect of your life... So, if you don't follow Shari'a law, are you still a muslim? If you put your family before Muhammed, are you still a muslim? Which, seems to be a big discussion within the Islamic community. Another interesting thing about the debate (which has a story that helps highlight it... but in a very negative way so it will come later as to not skew your judgement of this next bit.) is that they both said that discourse is one of the most important things in overcoming these obstacles and THE most important thing for democracy... yet... if you disagreed with their views... You were wrong. Brix at one point explicitly stated, "I feel lucky that we can have a conversation like this about this topic without a fundamentalist in the room!" Which... i thought just didn't fit with everything she was saying. If democracy is all about conversations... shouldn't you be having a conversation with everyone, not just the people you agree with? Nasar said he wouldn't be on a panel with an Imam. A third lady was supposed to be on the panel, a Buddhist who thought religion was a key part of democracy or something like that... But she fell ill. They were both very happy she couldn't come... Which I just think is closed minded. But whatever. Anyway. Crazy thing that happened. The way the panel was set up was that they each talked for 10 minutes, then they just took questions from the audience. Which went well for the first hour. and the second hour... But the time inbetween... Not so much. One guy raised his hand, stood up to ask his question... Kind of rambled for a bit... then got louder and said something to the extent of "have so and so tell your mom she does a good job giving you a blow job." To which... the entire room responded to with 10 second of silence... When Nasar (who isn't really respected by many Muslims since he's abandoned his faith but still claims to be Muslim...) broke the silence with a, "WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?" then Jakob (my teacher, the moderator) Told the 'questioner' to leave and that this isn't acceptable... Then Nasar's security went and grabbed the guy... He started screaming about free speech and if democracy is about free speech why can't he say this... To which he was told that no, hate speech is NOT free as he was escorted from the room. It was... rather tense and a little scary. But, as soon as the guy was gone... We just picked right back up. Which... I thought was good. Don't give him any attention... I was impressed Nasar stayed around though after being verbally insulted in such a rude and crude way... But yeah. Thats the excitement... :S

Enough of that excitement... After an all too short night of sleep, I had to be back down town at 8:30 to go on our feild trip to Sandholm, the Danish Red Cross reception and departure center for asylum seekers. Its way out in the middle of a military area... surrounded by nothing. Its the first place people seeking asylum are taken... And where they get registered and everything. There are usually about ~600 people living there... And there is a job center and medical center and housing and kindergarten and a cafeteria... All sorts of stuff. We had a breif introduction... Where we learned about how they go there and get registered... then they get sent to another center... then when they get denied refugee status, they come back to Sandholm... but few of them can leave and actually go back to their country, so they end up living there. People have lived there for as long as 11 years... After our introduction, we were given a tour. We started in the kindergarten, which is for kids up to age 6. There can be anywhere from 10-25 people in it... And they never really know how many will be there each day since they don't really receive word as to when the family is moved to another center or when they're sent away from the country... It was a small room, but nice. They only speak danish to the kids to try to get them to learn that, and the kids go there until they can go to regular school. When they reach that age, they can either chose to go to a regular Danish Public school if their danish is good... Or they can go to the Red Cross school if their danish isn't so good... It was a little awkward just crowding in... but then, I started playing with this little girl. She had arrived yesterday and looked rather sad... So I sat and played legos with her and handed her legos and she built a little house and by the end I had gotten her to smile a few times. We didn't speak at all... We didn't need to. Then... we had to leave. :( And that made me sad. I wanted to play with the little girl more! After that we walked past the tiny 2 room family housing... and then to the giant dorm building where mostly single men lived. The rooms... were smaller than many dorms... And 3 men lived in each room. We got to look in at one room... So small. The computer was in a corner... but you had to step on the bed to get to it... Later we found out that we were in the room of one of the three people in denmark who had been accused of attempting to murder the cartoonist fromt he cartoon crisis... Crazy. But yeah... then we went to the medical center... they all get checked out upon arrival... And kids get the same benefits as Danish kids... but adults don't have it so great. They only get surgery that is absolutely necessary... After the medical center, we went to the Job Center. Asylum Seekers can't get 'jobs' out in society, but they can get unpaid praticums or work in the asylum center. Actually, they're required to do that to get their spending money from the center...But they can do basically anything that their intrests lead them too- including writing for the center's newspaper. Then... that was the end of our trip... It was so interesting through. Its definatly a top 3 educational thing from the semester. I think the #1 spot is either Kirtimai or Sandholm... don't think that will be decided ever though. Not that it really matters...

After that adventure... I went completely the other way with my day... I went with some other people and we bought death by bailey's fudge... and OSTRICH BURGERS! So good. The ostrich... can't really be described... its a lean bird type meet; vaugely remincent of chicken... but with a different sort of flavor. Its a little tougher than chicken or turkey. But still very good. Also highly reccomended. Then Theresa, Sarah, Kara and I all went shopping. Sarah got tired and headed home... And Kara didn't buy anything. But... Theresa and I had a grand 'ol time making our bank accounts scream. End of the day? I bought 8 things. Sweater dress, turtleneck dress, purple leggings, purple leg warmers, black and purple polkadot skirt, white cardigan, black plain shirt and a really cute tank-topy dress that I can dress warmer... or wear in the spring :D I think I did pretty well. :D Look for pictures in the future :P

So, 4000+ words later, you've made it to the end. THATS what I've been up to for two weeks. Its been exciting and... fairly work filled (thought I've left those parts out...) If you've made it this far, you should leave a comment. I like comments. Now, I must go write a paper. Enjoy your morning/afternoon/evening/day!!!

Berlin: The Pictures!!!

Hotel: Its where all the dignitaries stay. And where Michael Jackson stayed and had one of his many bad-press moments.



Brandenburg Gate!



Memorial to the Murdered Jew os Europe.



What it looks like from the inside.



Where Hitler's bunker is/was.



This building is massive. Its impossible to take a picture showing you how big it is... Its bigger than a City block. Its one of the only remaining pieces of Nazi Architecture.



Same building, different angle. Its the tax building now.



In front of the Nazi building... This is what life looked like in East Germany. Its a picture of a protest.



The picture of the protest is put there to counteract this... THIS is communist propaganda to show how great life was supposed to be in East Germany.



Wall.



Topography of Terror exhibit... on the other side of the wall above.



Checkpoint Charlie, that's not charlie though, that's just some modern art.



The French Church...



The church across from the French church. Someone complained that they wanted a chapel too... So they build one just like the French Church!



Memorial to the giant book-burning that took place here (across from Humboldt University) If you look in the hole, its a giant room filled with empty book cases.



Memorial.



This was something important that I forget... It was built not so long ago... Early 1900s? Because someone thought he was important and should be buried in a great cathedral. So he built it... then had to leave.



This used to be the East German parliament? Only... they didn't have one. So it was all shopping and clubs and things... Then they found asbestos in it. So now its this.



TV tower. Built to show how rich the East Germans were!



The giant building Hitler wanted to build. basically, it was going to be GINORMOUS. If you look super carefully you might be able to see the person that was put there for scale on the steps... Actually, probably not. Because he's too small/ the building is too big...



Model of a gas chamber...



River Spree! Its the river Berlin was built on.



Probably important, but I don't know what it is...



Tiergarten! Yes, this is right in the middle of downtown Berlin.



A memorial for something...



I love this picture. See the cobblestones? They signify where the wall used to stand. See the bus? Its on both sides of the wall. 20 years ago this wasn't possible.



Wall... With picture!



Awesome clock! It told you what time it was all around the world. Because the time spins... and the places are on the bottom. Its awesome.



East Side Gallery. One of the pictures on the wall.



Dome on the Reichtag!



Inside off the dome on the Reichtag.



View of Berlin from the top of the Reichtag... Thats the Brandenburg Gate!