SO much has happened in just a few days that there's no way to express it fully without blogging a novel and convincing people to never again read :p. Posts will probably slow down somewhat once I'm settled. BUT until then!
There is a dilemma that I face as a DIS student, and that is why in Hell I would ever want to learn Danish (Brandeis regulations aside). I have yet to encounter a resident of Copenhagen who speaks English with any degree of difficulty. I feel, though, that I'd be cheating myself out of part of the cultural exchange aspect of study abroad if I chose to avoid learning the language.
Part of our two day "Survival Danish" course was a tour of the neighborhood where DIS is located, during which our teacher pointed out locations based not on their cultural significance, but on their practicality. Once such place was 'Tiger" (she pronounced it something like "Teerhuh" with the "ee" truncated and the "rh" formed by pushing the bulky back of your tongue against your hard palate near where it transitions into the soft palate...I think). Another student and myself were hunting it down and got lost. We were in the middle of a square in the Stroget, or the main shopping area, so there were people everywhere to ask for directions. We found a group of snazzily dressed (compared to us drab Americans) teenagers who, because of their youth, were incredibly non-threatening. It's hard to get embarrassed about mangling a word or being lost when you're talking to 14 year olds. My friend asked if they knew where "Teerhuh" was...and no one did. Heads shaking, they asked us what it was, they asked each other what we meant, and then my friend spelled it for them. "Oh, Tiger. It's right over there" Not only was it pronounced without any trace of Danish, the store was literally 100 feet away on the other side of the square. Go figure.
The picture to the left is the three foot tall statue of The Little Mermaid, considered by non-Danes to be a shining icon of Denmark. Our Danish tour guide, however, wasted little breath on "the silly insipid girl on a rock," preferring instead to focus on the history of the area and what has been done to the mermaid. Since she is invested with such national power, she has been used as a canvas on which to express the populace's level of satisfaction with the government. She gets presents, roses, and such, and in less happy times she has lost her arm, her head, and on one occasion was dynamited out of the water. She actually had a ring of cement installed in her neck to help prevent future decapitation.
The picture to the left is a fountain. It's pretty.
The architecture here is wonderful - it's a blend of super old bricky stuff, and really sleek hypermodern glass buildings that are designed with specific intent, such as the lantern shaped opera house. It's really nice to see, especially because it all blends together harmoniously. The fearless leaders of Denmark made a conscious decision to have all new buildings designed with an eye towards maintaining and working with Denmark's existing, historical structures. The result is spectacular.
My Danish professor is brilliant. She is like a hardcore. crazy Danish mom-teacher. Basically, everything I want in a professor. We watched some music videos of Danish pop music today. Here is a link to a Danish teenage heartthrob from their TV show, "X Factor." As explained by my professor, since Denmark is such a small country, it doesn't have the same talent pool to draw on as larger programs such as the shows in America or the UK. Nevertheless, Martin is apparently a hot little number with the Danish teeny boppers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xamcfvbXayE (go to about 00:51)
Rule of the day:
If a "g" comes between two vowels, it is dropped.
Observations:
1) street musicians in Denmark are far more exciting to American street musicians. Not necessarily technically, but they play much sillier and more engaging music.
2) Light switches here are teeny.
3) it's possible to crossbreed a bicycle and a bulldozer. And then put children in it.
