"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots."
- Marcus Garvey
This week has been pretty eventful. Not the eventful of doing crazy new and exciting things everyday, but the eventful of everyday life with close friends. Monday was Niklas' Birthday. We began a tradition, if you can call a tradition something you have now done twice, of bringing a cake to the birthday person and singing to them at 12:00 on their birthday. So we did that and then Monday night we actually had a real birthday party.
I received a frantic sleep deprived phone call from my friend Seonaid asking me to make the cake, and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself.
Also it is a Danish tradition to decorate everything with Danish flags for birthdays.
These two, in the above photo, are Niklas' roommates two lovely Danes: Philip and Mikkel, another side note Mikkel is applying to study abroad in Madison so I will still be able to see a beautiful blond Dane even when I leave here.
Then on Tuesday Kate and I went back to the National Museum. If you can recall Kate and I went to the museum one of the first days of being here. However after attending a Nordic Mythology lecture in which my professor showed about 20 photos of things we should have seen at the National Museum that we didn't we figured we should go back. Lo and behold there was an entire floor that we didn't know existed, that held everything that my teacher told us we should see.
Also on the way to the museum we were able to see some of the Queen's horses being exercised.
So in the museum we saw a few interesting things. The first being this:
So to my hunting friends, what is this? The sign said an elk, but doesn't it look more like a moose with the horns?
And then there was this animal that just looks awesome and has an awesome name:
And then we found the dead people, otherwise known as mummys. This first mummy is a women with a two year old child next to her.
This is the Trundholm Sun Chariot, actually this is a replica the real one is on loan to London, it is dated to 1800 to 1600 BC. This artifact is interesting because it was made somewhere by the Danube River, which means that the early Danes traded with people of that area.
Real Viking helmets, except not really worn for fighting only for looking pretty.
I will say it again, I am pretty sure Dr. Seuss came to Denmark to make up some of his stories. These are lur an ancient Danish instrument.
This is the Gundestrup Cauldron, I just think it would make an awesome punch bowl.
And then there was an exhibit on Native Americans, Denmark seems to have a fascination with Native Americans it is slightly strange. I don't know if you can see the title under Pow Wow but it says, "We Dance. We're Alive" Right, so I am sure that's exactly what Native Americans say all the time.
I could have also bought an awesome t-shirt, but I resisted, it was tough but I managed.
I have been doing really well here about eating well and not eating out. However on Tuesday when we left the museum it was pouring rain so Kate and I decided just to get some KFC and sit and relax inside Scandinavia's largest mall, Fields. It was delicious by the way, but it would have been made 10x better if Denmark had Ranch.
Also on Tuesday work began on an empty lot next to my building. These pictures were taken when I was happy about seeing Caterpillar equipment because it made me feel like my dad was near. Now however I truly despise this backhoe because it likes to begin work right outside my window at 7:00 AM!
I also finally was able to take a photo of a John Deere Tractor, side note why is a tractor pulling a boat?
And finally we come to the culture part. Friday night Copenhagen had a city wide Kulturnatten, or culture night. It was this amazing night where the entire city came to life. There were thousands of people going through the streets, the gardens were lit up with hundreds of lanterns and twinkle lights, and there were so many places that I would have never been allowed into if not for this night.
The first thing we did was climb the Rundetaarn, also lit up.
This tower is one of the only medieval buildings left in the city. The main building is a church, when it was first built the attic of the church was used as the library for the university. The tower was built for astronomy. Also interesting fact, the tower does not have steps, it has a very steep ramp going all the way up. This way the king could just ride his horse up the tower and he didn't have to walk, and people say my generation is lazy.
And even thought the picture is really bad I had to share, because it was a marching band of postmen, how amazing is that?
Then we were able to tour the Odd Fellows Palace, in which we had to wear these beautiful blue booties. The palace was were the movie The Royal Affair actually took place. Now the palace is the lodge of the Odd Fellows Society.
And this is the Queen's Garage, no big deal.
Then what says Danish Culture better than a Medieval Times, with knights fighting and fire throwers?
I thought this was a caramel apple when I bought it, and was super super excited, but then I ate it. It turned out to be an apple covered in melted sugar and cinnamon. Still pretty good, but not as good as a caramel apple and impossible to eat without getting all over your face.(note to Katie, I love the hat and everyone here wants one.)
After the strange Medieval Times experience we toured the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful and lit up. After that we were able to tour the Royal Guard Barracks. I really wanted to take a photo in the fighter jet, but apparently it was only for little kids.
And finally we went to Christiansborg Palace, which is currently the home of the Danish Parliament. We however went under the building. Christiansborg was built on the site of the original castle built by Bishop Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen. So we toured the ruins under the Palace, it is amazing that something built in 1167 can still be around and look so strong.
It was a really good night and I am really glad that I went, but now I am here all alone. That is every other exchange student has gone on a trip since next week is our fall break. I however are staying here because... I am going to Italy!!!!!!!! In November, but I decided to stay here over the break so that I could go there later. I am so excited! So far I have bought tickets to tour the Vatican and then to see the Last Supper painting in Milan. When I came here I told people in my snooty voice that I could always go to Western Europe when I was older but I was definitely kidding myself! I want to go to Rome now, and now I am.
Random Denmark Facts
- Denmark is made up of 444 islands, only 76 are inhabited.
- Denmark has no public drinking laws or closed container laws, so you seem people all over the place drinking
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