Yes, I am Scandinavian.

The secret is out - I AM, in fact, ethnically Scandinavian and no matter how dementedly out of place I make myself everyone in Northern Europe seems to give me the benefit of the Scandinavian doubt.

A prime example: My mom and I were at the Tivoli amusement park In Copenhagen a- it is the oldest amusement park in the world - no plastic or florescent lights are allowed - it is hilarious and magical. There are business men wandering around in droves, having a drink, etc.... DANES - not tourists. Mom and I got on a Merry-go-rounds (they had legitimately scary rides but this was mom´s top pick) and we were gleefully holding onto the giraffe when a Danish security guide wandered by, yelling at us happily. We just laughed and he said some more Danish things, we laughed some more and he wandered off, laughing to himself. It is just SO EASY to pretend to me Danish....

Doesn´t always work though - We were at the King´s botanical gardens - nest to Rosenberg Castle and a gaggle of Danish schoolchildren were about, having some sort of treasure hunt. I was standing by a Hans Christian Andersen statue quite innocently when suddenly they descended. Our dialogue:

Ring leader child: kjøflkjd dølkjf fæs Hans Christian Andersen?

Me: blank stare

child: øølkdsføljk dslkjf

Me: Dansk? (which, to translate for the non-Danes among you, means "Danish?")

Mom and I also visited Kronborg Castle in Helsingør! It is the castle that Hamlet is based on - Elsinore = Helsingør in English. I am really truly enjoying learning about all this history that I am connected to somehow through my family. I had no idea that Denmark once ruled most of Sweden and Norway and Estonia. Back in Copenhagen we went to the National Museum and nerded out over some history - Neanderthal innovations to a 2004 pot-pushing cart donated from the experimental commune "Christiania" locate inside of Copenhagen. The museum actually attributed Scandinavian stoic-ness to the introduction of coffee and tea to the area. Apparently the Vikings would have been sweet lambs had they substituted the flask for a latte.

Ok I´m off for now!

leave comments if you want, I love hearing from you!

Made it to Denmark. (with some miracles along the way)

Hello all!

We were all loaded into the shuttle van when my dad asked his typical, dopey question "So do you have you tickets and passports!" Well, I very much did NOT. I might be making a mistake by publicizing how ridiculous I was but OH WELL. We spent 20 minutes looking for it around the house, the cars, the bags - anywhere - and then my dad called Bartell drugs and they had it (Dad I´ll never call you dopey again). the shuttle man swung by Bartell`s, muttering curses upon my soul and the lives of my children´s children all the way. We only got our boarding passes printed by a fluke - we were ten minutes too late but the system messed up and let us through... we also almost missed our flight in Amsterdam because the plane was late due to Icelandic volcanic activity. Obviously. I had to promise my mom that this isn´t how I always travel. (oh and the airline also lost my bag but it´ll show up in a couple days)

First day in Denmark! Copenhagen - or København as it is called in Danish - or CPH or KPH for abbreviation - is splendid. Itøs just overflowing in cute coblestone walk ways - pedestrian only - and adorably dressed people biking around for their commute to save the environment and get exercise. I can REALLY understand why Scandanavians flock to the Pacific Northwest. I mean - on our boat tour of the canals and harbor we motored past a guy who popped out of his houseboat and into a kayak for an afternoon paddle. (Hello Lake Union!) Except they´re much better dressed than us Northwesterners. Not an inch of fleece to be seen and lots of trench coats, nice pants, smartly dressed men... things that would seen eerily out of place in Wallingford, for instance.

I´m blond. I have the chance to travel a great deal. Up until now by blond hair has always been this pulsating beacon of otherness, visible for miles in all directions. NOW it gets me Danish greetings on the regular. I am actually part Danish from my Grandpa Hughøs side - and another part from far northern German - so the Danes are not total looners. I´m planning learning enough basic phrases to get by as a socially demented Dane. If you can call that "getting by".

Danish is fun. ÆfrøæåÅÆxØ Søg sider på dansk. Nyhavn er et havnekvarter i København.'

I´m so so excited for my program to start after having seen Copenhagen - it is definitely a place I will be thrilled to spend five more weeks exploring! For now, though, mom and I are having a great time sight-seeing together and trying to decifer Danish. (Yesterday I could have sworn the lady biking by said "I´ll plaster ém - I ate my perfume!" The jury is out.)

More soon!

-Alice

Off to Europa!

I'm headed to Europe for the next two months so I am planning on using this blog for updates once again. I received a fellowship with Humanity in Action to take part in their program in Copenhagen, Denmark. Along with nine other Americans, 10 Danes, 3 Swedes, and 2 Bosnians I'll be looking at WW2 resistance to Nazi persecution in Denmark and modern day minority rights challenges. The focus is on Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11 - in Denmark mostly but also Europe generally. I'll also be farming in France for two weeks at the end :)

Love to you all, I'll try to keep this up!

~Alice