The Ostrich part deux/zwei/dvě/two

We took an early, early train to Vienna – because apparently we’re incapable of doing things at normal humane hours while in the Salzburg region. I passed OUT quite effectively. It turns out that traveling by train in India gave me the uncanny ability to sleep in trains no matter the discomfort level. Here’s how I woke up:

Kelvin: “Alice, we’re almost there, just one more stop until Vienna Hauptbanhof”

Alice: (delirious) “If it’s Hutteldorf we should get off….”

Kelvin: “IT’S HUTTELDORF!”

Kelvin dashes off the train with his bags nearly collinding with local train conductor:

Train conductor: “Hutteldorf…” (As if to say, ‘really, this isn’t an important place, you know that, right?’)

Kelvin: (nodding emphatically) “HUTTELDORF!”

So off we went…and met up with two friends from my SIT program! This first day we mostly explored as much of Old Vienna as possible. We dipped into some unbelievable churches and simply delighted in the ENDLESS and decadent architecture. What really struck me about Vienna was how the old, beautiful buildings just keep going and going. Since the Austria-Habsburg Empire was in power not SO long ago compared to other European greats, cities were already quite large during their heyday. And Austria has the money to keep up these gorgeous monuments… so the city is chalk-full of beautiful streets to gawk at. We treated ourselves to the famous “Sacher tort” (a chocolate cake from Vienna) at a famous Viennese restaurant. I split one – though it WAS decadent and lovely, it was also large and expensive…

Vienna day two!

Exploring the Schonbrunn palace. By the way, German is a hilarious language. I want to learn it now! Add that to the list. When we were in Italy, I kept bemoaning the fact that Italian is a fairly useless language… (Political incorrectness alert) – if only the Italians had colonized as effectively as the English, Spaniards, or French! Then there would be somewhere larger than the state of New Mexico where I could speak Italian. (I checked… Italy is 116,304 square miles and New Mexico is 121,593…. yikes.) But back to Ostrich - I mean Austria. I would highly recommend the Schonbrunn palace to anyone going to Vienna – the audio guide you get with entry is SO COOL! Does a great job of leading you through the palace and the history of the place. I was continually struck with the fact that, at least in my schooling, I learned SO little about Central and Eastern European history. The Austrian-Habsburg Empire was massively important, but Kelvin and I (relevant because we both went to Lakeside) agreed that we only heard about it when it interfered with Western European powers. There’s so much to know…

Next stop: the Opera! We stood in line for some nose-bleed balcony seats and thus got to see Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” in the famous Vienna Opera house for 4 Euros. It was fairly uncomfortable and we couldn’t see the full stage during the first half… but that really didn’t matter. It was a WEIRD Opera. Apart from being horribly sexist and racist it was simply trippy! I didn’t know Mozart had that in him. The music was, of course, magnificent.

Vienna to… Breclav?

Everyone except Danika and I left early in the morning for Geneva... so now we were officially released into the wild on our own. Danika and I both follow the “spontaneous, see where life takes you” travel philosophy. We’re happy to go along with others who have a solid plan for the day… but once left to our own devices, life got a lot more random. We started off fairly normal, however. I met up for breakfast with a Whitman friend who is studying in Vienna and went and saw the famous Lipizzaner stallions at the Spanish Riding School as they did their morning exercises! They are famous for their highly controlled, stylized steps and jumps that look like horse dancing. The breed was developed at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna in the 16^th Century with support from the Hapsburg Empire and has been operating ever since. It’s dressage riding at it’s finest. If you’re curious – here’s a wikipedia article about the Spanish Riding School in Vienna where I watched the exercises: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Riding_School.

Without further ado Danika and I said good ye to Vienna and bumbled off to the main train station…in search of a way to get to Prague. We were at the wrong train station, turns out. We thought we’d get the better of the train-info lady (who was rather short with us) so we headed off in search of “Breclav” where apparently a train was leaving for Prague much sooner than the 2.5 hours wait the info-lady suggested. Well. Gosh. Thankfully we asked a local guy how to get there after a bit of confusion….

Alice: “Excuse me…. can you tell us how to get to Breclav station?”

Kind Austrian: “That’s….not in Austria.”

Alice: “Ohh. We’re going to Prague.”

Kind Austrian: “Okay. You need to go (directions to same place mean info-lady told us about)

Alice: “ohhh Danke shehn!”

And we’re off, like a herd of turles. The train ride was amazing fun, as I find they usually are. We thought that Breclav was in Slovakia so we were going to get off because, you know, why not…. but it looked really dark and boring. And we realized it was just a border town in the Czech Republic… so we made a very solid game-time decision to stay on the train.

PRAGUE!!!! We were staying at the “Mosaic House”. Which we thought was a hostel. Well, it IS a hostel but it’s also SO MUCH MORE! There’s a hostel under ground, a night club, a bar, a room with a giant TV screen, and lots and lots of eager staff waiting to help YOU. When the concierge told us we were staying in the “Oasis” the circle of confusion was complete… It turned out to be a really nice hostel and not at all loud because they keep people underground… but so weird.

Bonjour!!! I am on a farm in France - neAr St. Nazaire outside of Nantes on the atlantc coast. I am on my friends iPhone so excuse mistakes.....

This is a really nice and reflective way to finish out my time in Europe. Yesterday I harvested cucumbers and tomatoes and took care of hundreds of chickens. Today I built a gate with the Belgian girl who lives and works her long term. I am enjoying using my french... It is great to see that it has improved a lot since I lived in Suisse AND that I can communicate with people apart fro
My host family on more than a passing basis. But still I miss Danish. I'm not kidding! Ther is something about that strange little Nordic language that really works for me.

I have sen writin letters to peopl n my HIA program as a way to reflect on it. Time consuming but a great way to process. I'm hoping to get through everyone though that s a tall order...

Love you much. All my best from the farm


Alice

Actually in Switz again!

Hello all. Here I am writing from Signy, Canton de Vaud, Suisse. Back in the host family where I stayed when I started writing this blgo! I originally wasnàt sure I would end up here this summer but thought it would just be simple to use the same blog... but here I am. how full circle of me.

But before Swityerland I went to Hungary with my good friend from HiA...

BUDAPEST WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! My friend Ben and I from the HiA program were aboslutely perfect travel buddies. We just walked and walked and walked for hours every day. Literally ten hours on foot one day. Budapest puts the so called European travel capitals to shame, Iàm not kidding. it is gorgeous, rich in history, bustling with life. I just canàt say enough about it! Hungarian is a nutty language though. It sounds like galloping horses. Ben and I took a day trip to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. I love that kind of spontaneity. He proposed it at 11pm and we got up at 6 the next morning to head off to Slovakia! Funnn. A cute little former Soviet capital. DAYUM it was hot - about 100 degrees every day. Hmmm random story - it took us a slightlz paiful hour and a half to find the entrance to the 'castle caves' - these caves that run under Budapest castle that have been around since cave peopl times and were used to store treasure by kings and queens, during the world wars, during the cold war, and now as a museum of course. They were fascinating - but also suuuuper strange in parts. There was a big exhibit on 'homo consumus' - meaing u now in the age of capitalism who consume a lot of materials and arenàt connected to our modes of production. It was fascinating, but super edgy and strange and not something i would normally expect from a state government - more as an avant garde art project. So it was interesting to me that it was a state run museum that put it together.

Yesterday my host mom Gudrun and I swam in Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) and lounged around by the lake for a while - and then she took me to this bizarre Swiss park in the Jura Mountains. My French has improved by leaps since I first came ti la Suisse! It was really gratifying to talk to her and Hermann, her long term boyfriend. He doesnàt speak any English so communicating with him is even more of a full on French experience. They have an SIT student staying with them for the 5 week summer program right now. He is originally from Germany but has lived in the states for the past 6 yeras - so he speaks German and not French. The conversations between the four of us are hilarious. Gudrun is fluent in all three - Hermann and I speak French - Max (the student) and I do English - and Hermann speaks enough Swiss German to get by - but that is essentiallz a different language from 'High' German so that is another struggle bus!

Okay I am tired, tired, tired and tomorrow I head for a farm in France. It is Bastille day as well so that will be interesting :)

Love,
Alice

BUDA

Hello from Budapest!

The HiA summer program is over now…. It doesn’t feel real! Parts of the Berlin conference were wonderful – some of the speakers, meeting fellows from the other four programs, hearing more about HiA from the people who founded it and are those who are involved now. There was also an itch to just be hanging out together and seeing Berlin but luckily we were able to have plenty of both worlds.

I guess it officially ended on July 3rd with the end of the conference but about a dozen of us stayed around in Berlin for a few days after so it felt like a continuation of HiA on our own. None of us really cared what sight seeing we were up to as long as we were spending time together. Plenty of neighborhoods to explore, a couple of museums, and that one important wall.

Six of us took a day trip to Sachsenhausen concentration camp just an hour north of Berlin. Hard to really put that into words. I wasn’t unequivocally shattered and sad per se – mostly just very detached and deflated. Looking at the cremation chambers gave me a literal gag reflex. This particular camp is unique in that most people there were political prisoners rather than Jews. When Germany was split in East and West Sachsenhausen was in the DDR and it was under that government that the camp became a museum/site. It churned up a lot of controversy because the commemorations were solely to the communist who were persecuted by the Nazis and not at all to the Jewish people who were there. It also heavily thanked the Soviets for freeing the camp. In reality the Soviets kept it running as a quasi-work camp for a couple years after the war. History is never subjective.

Leaving my HiA friends was unbelievably difficult. I don’t know how it happened but I love these people, I realy do. I feel insanely close to many of them after just five whirlwind weeks. I have learned so much from them and changed the way I think about myself and the world. It’s hard to say exactly how yet but like I struggled to convey in my last post – I can tell that there are many changes yet to unfold form this experience. I feel like talking a little bit about some of my friends and what I learned from them:

Sofia is able to be critical of almost any idea without shutting down a conversation. She doesn’t just “play devil’s advocate” – her brain is that actively engaged in conversations and her mind is that flexible to see outside of the mainstream. She’s a law student in Stockholm now interested in immigration and migration there. It seems that every conversation we have somehow involves her telling me the story of a social movement in Sweden or political figure in India or feminist author I simply must read – her thirst for and grasp of world knowledge is amazing. It intimidated me at first, but she is so warm and affectionate as well.

Thomas was my Danish partner for our final article for the program. He is an incredible idealist through and through but such an intelligent, confident, and creative one. Hearing him speak about the social welfare state was so revealing about Danish culture and my assumptions about political systems. To him, it simply makes sense that the strong should help the weak and that society should reflect that logical truth. Thomas is SUCH a nice guy - he felt terribly for expensive everything was in CPH so he insisted on treating me to so many drinks and kebabs and paper-writing snacks. He’s also a complete weirdo/dork – organized us playing Danish children’s games, had a literal “yes hat” that he wore when we went to clubs, and has the best quirks – some typically Danish and some entirely Danish like the nose tap, the tongue click/head bob… to be imitated at a later date ☺.

Marija is from Bosnia and seems so wise to me. The social and political climate there fascinates me… I mean, there was genocide just 16 years ago, but you’ve got to go on, as she says. Her views on holocaust remembrance and education were always extremely strong and sure – she gets frustrated when too much emphasis is placed on the past because she sees people in her country focusing on retribution rather than the future. She is extremely nonjudgmental – her focus is on doing what is in her power.

Theis, like Sofia, helped me to challenge my definitions of “normal” and “possible”. We "got" each other from the beginning and so became really, really close. He seemed to know things about me that I hadn't verbalized - he's several years older than me,

Love,
Alice

Kærlighed til folket

Kærlighed til folket means "Love to the people" and is a song by a Danish reggae band that I saw performing in Christiania at a festival a couple days ago.

I have learned SO so much about immigration, migration, security politics, DENMARK, Europe... but most importantly about myself - making my boundaries, valuing my contributions and abilities, listening to my intuition. So much good stuff. I am a bit deliriously tired today... but wanted to post something. We had a final wrap up of the CPH program - everyone presented their articles and we did a little wrap up exercise. So insane that it is coming to a close! We were asked to share a little bit about what we are bringing away from the program.

I have learned to listen closely to myself. Being around so many of the Danish fellows who are older than me, 24-28, made me realize and embrace how young and inexperienced I am in many ways. I am still charting the boundaries of who I am. That is neither a good or bad thing - it just is. But accepting it is vital. Sorry this is so philosophical... it is what is on my mind. This is the most adult environment I have ever been in. We were very much peers with the leaders of the program and the speakers etc. I liked it SO much... and helped me articulate why college can be frustrating for me sometimes. Not very adult at all. I am tired of the Whitman "we're happy, well-meaning people who want to make a difference...." attitude that doesn't go along with action in most cases.

I wrote my final article with my friend Thomas, a Danish fellow, on asylum policy in Denmark and Europe generally. I learned SO so much about the nuts and bolts of these systems but what was most interesting of course was getting Thomas' perspective. Coming from Denmark the idea that the strong help the weak is almost... unexamined. It is what you do. It is what a welfare state is all about. At first he was confused when I asked him to justify it for me - he didn't know what I was asking. The experience showed both of us where a lot of our assumptions lie abotu the role of government, the law, and civil society. Asylum policy EU/European (there are complicated and boring overlaps and discrepancies there...) is fraught with human rights issues. Asylum seekers are shuttled around the continent or left in Greece's - officially - broken system to rot. I would love to tell you all about it in person but I am afraid my head is exploding off of it right now. So I will just say - Thomas and I had SOOOO MUCH FUN working together. We camped out in his apartment, bought provisions for the several days and just kept it upbeat and fun throughout. He has the strangest, most Danish sense of humor. By the way - I LOVE Danish humor. It is kind of dark in the British sense but a little less depressing, weird in different ways. The Danes just keep it casual, they're great people. Thomas and I had taco day one day, pineapple snacks.... so much coffee and tea... his girl friend brought us snacks while we were working. The friendships are to me clearly the coolest aspect of this program. I have learned mountains from these people.

A couple days ago I went out to dinner with my mom's friend from college, Ron Seversen! We really hit it off and had so much to talk about. It was neat to hear his perspectives on how Denmark has changed, why he thinks Denmark is having so many problems with ethnic tension and race relations, what is happening with the right wing in Denmark. So many good conversations. Afterwards I wandered around Norrebro with two Bosnian friends form the program. It was such a funny little evening - these two lovely Bosnian people are so different from anyone I know, from any lives I have known about. They lived through war in the Balkans and have very different, distinct memories and interpretations of that time. Marija says that she finds a lot of similarities between the Bosnian case and Israel-Palestine. Though of course it is much less violent. Anyway, Norrebro, where we were wandering, is a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants and young people. The favorite neighborhood of most of the Danes on the program because there is so much happening there, so much life.

SOOOO tomorrow I leave for Berlin! We have a conference there through Sunday and then I will be there for a few more days until heading on to Budapest, Geneva (visiting old host fam!), Nantes to farm, and Paris. I am STOKED for Berlin. Seriously stoked. It sounds like one of the most engaging, historic, artistic, active cities in the world.

I will miss practicing my Danish! I have become halfway decent and I really enjoy the game of it. Makes me excited to take German next year... though I think I will be secretly - or not so secretly - wishing it were Danish all the while :)

Love to the people, Kærlighed til folket!

~Alice

Prison

Today we did a site visit to one of Denmark's open prisions. It was unbelievable. The whole philosophy surrounding imprisonment is completely opposed to the US ideology of punitive sentencing... The prisoners here could literally walk away from the prison if they chose to. They would just be caught and put in a closed prison - which is still much more humane than American prisons. One of the inmates (prison guests would be a direct translation of the Danish) gave us a tour along with a guide. When he walked into the room it was clear that he brought his identity and humanity with him. Prisoners here cook for themselves (yes, the get to use butcher knives), clean, work, and generally make their own lives go on. The Danes believe in "normalization" - keeping life in the prison as close to life outside as possible so that when inmates go back into society they are able to function successfully. the idea is to restrict a prisoner's liberty but only to the extent absolutely necessary. There are no minimum sentencing laws. No private prisons.

It made me think - why do we lock people up? to restrict their liberty? To punish? To prevent them from offending again? So what are the most effective ways of doing this? Are we doing it for the good of society, for the satifaction of the victim, for the betterment of the victim?

In the afternoon we had lectures abotu the history of prisons in Europe briefly and Denmark more extensively as well as on torture - the politics and rhetoric of torture, post 9/11 climate for torture, etc.

Tomorrow we are visiting a refugee camp for asylum seekers! It should be a fascinating day as well. It is rare that outsiders are allowed into the camp.

Outside of the official HiA events I have been having a blast with all the fellows. Yesterday I wandered aroudn Christiania (look it up if you don't know about it... it is a free area established by hippies 30 years ago) and then met up with a Danish friend and he showed me a neighborhood I hadn't been to - Norrebro. Today a bunch of us sat by the canal and talked for ages - about politics, yes, but other things as well! We struggle to get off the human rights/international relations/Danish politics vein of conversation at times... :)

Ok. I am going to go make dinner for my host family. They are wonderful people - I feel very fortunate to live with them!

Love.

busybusy!

hey friends!

sorry not to blog much, we are BUSY here, and with great things. This weekend we finally had some free time but i was constantly with people - seeing Malmo, Sweden with a bunch of the others, wandering around Copenhagen with some of the Danes. I have gotten very close very quickly to quite a few of the people on the program. One of them is actually from Seattle and is one of my closest friends! He reminds me SO much of my friend Zach from Whitman, it is uncanny. And a comfort :) Love you, Zach! The Danes are determined to show us a good time and shelter us from anything less than extraordinary. On Friday there was a Brazilian Carnival in one of the big public parks that they took us to - after a long day of program events. I also ended up at a Pakistani whirling dervish drum circle and the anthropology end of year party at Copenhagen university because one of my Danish friends goes there. We saw a play called "The White Man" last monday about immigrants dealing with Danish society - it tried to portray the range of approaches to integration - or assimilation as the case may be - amongst immigrants. There were real life moments tossed in artfully. It was a powerful experience for the Danes to see. As one of my Danish friends put it - the play was aimed at well meaning liberals in Denmark who don't think they have any racist tendencies because they are part of this lovely welfare state based on equality of opportunity... It isn't a tirade against extreme racism - that wouldn't be remotely controversial. My friend who took me to the anthropology year-end party said that it was the perfect example of his experience of the well-meaning white man in Denmark. Very kind and fun, quite 'open' to new experiences - but never really aware of the way a lot of Danish people are living. And not quite wanting to be aware.

Lots of interesting speakers - quite a few on human rights law and the differences between Danish and American courts. The Queen has an IMMENSE amoutn of power in actuality - it is a bit odd really. And seems to fly in the face of what Denmark is proud of - the equality it offers to all its people. Many young people would abolish the monarchy if they had the choice. But it's not relaly important enough to completely fight for.

Learnign abotu immigration in the Dnaish context has totally thrown me for a loop. I can't quite really articulate how different things are here from the American discourse but WOW if I thought I knew "about immigration" I was sorely mistaken. A good reminder that we are composed of the contexts and experiences we have the chance to take in. Minorities are grouped together here in a different way from the states. It is Islam and not Hispanics that are stigmatized... but it's not like you can just insert the would 'Muslim' in any mention of 'Hispanic' in the American context. Denmark is happy to welcome in asylum seekers who are persecuted for political or social reasons - Denmark has welcomed quite a few LGBT people who are unable to return to Iran, for example. But then the welfare state component throws a bunch of twists into the equation. Many people are put off when asked to pay into a system that will support new comers who havent been paying into the system. Many more Danes however would argue that it is vital to the social cohesion of Denmark (something we hear abotu constantly) that all people in the country - regardless of citizenship status - receive the same social benefits. Otherwise they will never feel the necessary connection to the country and it would be a serious human rights violation.

Language. Denmark simply doesn't have the language to talk about racial, ethnic, and religious debates/diversions. Literally they lack words in many cases. Ideas about structural racism, ethnic identity, coexisting identities, and more are brand new here. A friend of mine on the program has a Danish mother and a father who is half Iraqi and half Iranian. She considers herself Danish and has talked abotu how it is really impossible to be both in this country. Another friend has a Danish father and Chilean mother - her mother was a refugee from Pinochet;s regime. She feels Danish but always seperate and less Danish. These women are both highly educated and engaged in political conversations abotu Denmark.

okay I am EXHAUSTED. I have more to say but i gotta go. This program is nothing if not FAST paced! I will be back though, I enjoy reflecting on here.

Love,
Alice