Russia might be a scary place

So I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to depart for St. Petersburg. It's boring so I'm reading my itinerary pamphlet. Just in case I'm not nervous, here are some of the precautions that my school took the time to mention:

1. In Siberia polar bears sometimes come into the towns

2. Do not buy alcohol from unknown, dubios or strange kiosks. It might be paint thinner or suntan lotion.

3. If you mail a letter it will take at least two weeks to reach the outside world.

4. Keep your papers on you at all times. The police can make spot checks on the street to see your passport and visa. Seriously! It's like Arizona, but legal.

5. The Russian medical system is "hit or miss" in terms of getting a good doctor or someone who doesn't know what they are doing. It can take 2 hours for an ambulance to reach you. In a real emergency, take a cab.

6. Don't drink the water. St Petersburg has a parasite in their water caled giardia and if you even swallow the water while brushing your teeth you will have stomach pains. You also have to take pills for a month that turn your skin yellow. The tap water also may have a high metal count due to pollution.

7. Have safe sex. Russia has a 1% HIV positive population and a serious general STD problem.

So hopefully I'll survive :) If not, there's a 7-11 in my terminal where I can join some Danish boys for some 7am pineaple Bacardi breezes to help calm my nerves. Seriously, this happened.

I Just Ate a $500 Scandinavian Forest

So on Wednesday I went to NOMA. Ive only been waiting for this for about 6 months, and literally woke up at 8am that morning because I was so excited. 

Here are some of the things I ate. Im sorry I can't remember every detail of each dish, it was a lot of food (and wine!) and Im not a stenographer.

 Crispy pork skin with black currant leather and pine salt

  This had pate inside and chocolate powder on top

 My favorite: caramelized milk skin with frozen cod liver and kelp

 Quail eggs smoked in hay

 Fava bean and beach herbs

Berries and cucumber, the season for this cucumber is only about 3 weeks long so we were lucky

 Beef tartare filet, wood sorrow, tarragon emulation  

 Cauliflower and pine with horseradish creme

 Cabbage wrapped pike perch with verbena and dill

 Egg we cooked ourself in hay oil

 After adding the herbs 

 They let us go in the kitchen!!!

NOMA staff room

Socialized Healthcare is THE SHIT

So today I had my first experience with the Danish healthcare system. I was expecting long lines, hard to get appointments and all the other bullshit that Republicans warn against.

Instead on Thursday I called between 8 and 9am which is the Danish way to get a doctor's appointment. I told the lady I was a study abroad student and that I needed a refill on my prescription. She offered for me to come in that day or else Friday morning.

I got there Friday morning and waited a full 15 minutes. I met with the doctor for about 5 minutes and she handed me a prescription and sent me on my way.

I went to the apotek and got a number. I waited for one person, and then handed the lady my prescription. She didn't tell me to come back in an hour or the next day, she just handed me a 6-month supply of pills. Oh, and I paid 600kr. That's a little over $100. So I just paid almost the same as what I pay for one month in the US for 6 months.

In the span of 45 minutes, I was able to see a doctor and get my medicine for the entire rest of the time I will be in Denmark.

Talk about a WIN for socialism.

True Life: I Live in Denmark

I've had a few people ask me what life is like here. So I decided to document an averageish day here in Copenhagen. So...this was my Tuesday. 

In the morning I taught English at the muslim private school. I had to wake up early and walk to Nørrebro to get there. This is what Danes look like when they commute to work. This is nothing, but its a lot of bikes and its pretty intense.

In class today we learned about the differences between American English and British English. Things like who says pants vs. trousers and what you get if you order chips in different countries. I helped teach the difference between "do" and "does" and then answered some questions about life in America.

After teaching, I was hungry, so I decided to stop into a 7-11 for the most delicious ham and cheese croissants ever. They are less than $3. Soooo yummy.

This is my view on the way back into the city for class.

Next, I had 3 hours of class here in Vestergade 23. Classy right? The inside is actually super nice.

First I had Danish Language. We are still practicing things like how to say where you are from and how you get to school. Mostly we talked about Danish history. Then I had Danish politics and society with my hilarious teacher. He is always talking about how "America gives shit about welfare" and its my favorite. We are doing presentations on various political parties in class right now. So I got to learn about the red-green alliance, which is, I kid you not, code for communists who really like the environment. This is a picture of their leader. She is 28, and has been leading the party since she was 22. But seriously, does she look like a communist to you? I think she looks like she should be setting the table at her grandmother's house.

After school, I decided to go to the grocery store. I went my local Netto, which is basically like trying to by groceries at a gas station/albertsons/pharmacy. It looks like this. Seriously, the happiest country in the world and this is where they buy their groceries.

Next I had a field study for my Sociology of the Family course. We visited a co-housing community west of Copenhagen. This is the train station during rush hour. I really love trains. Especially trains with free wifi. I also saw this super cute dog on the train.

So this is the co-housing community. There are 54 families that live there. They all have their own apartments but they also all eat together for dinners if they want. I sat next to an adorable blonde Danish family (weird right?) and asked them all kinds of questions about why they chose to live in this type of community. 

This is the courtyard in the compound. All the houses have outside entrances as well as doors to the courtyard. Its definitely a pretty personal living style, but I can see the benefits. Danish average children for a family is 1.8 and in this community it is over 3. I guess families are able to have more kids here, and I would definitely consider it if I was a single mother or something. 

Once I got home, I decided to stop in on each floor to see what people are doing. I do this often, partly because I like my housemates and partly because its a lot of stairs and I don't mind stopped to rest on each floor. This is my roommate Mayrah trying to stick a candle in Marsha's clavicle. So here is the ground floor for you...

On the first floor, my floor mate Will and Camilla are cleaning up. Camilla bakes a lot, and I am fond of her.

I skip the second floor because they are technically not culinary, and therefore are anti-social towards us. I spend the evening relaxing and hang out with friends while we watch Danish tv for the first time. After watching a CSI where a lady is murdered in a McDonalds in Tennessee, several people on my floor decide to go get McDonald's. I cave and eat some kids chicken nuggets, which are one of the only things that taste exactly the same in any country. So that was my day. Just a regular Tuesday :)

From the people who brought you IKEA....

So I know I'm normally writing amazing blogs about things people at home really want to know about like ice, prostitutes or canned fish. However, I have to take a moment to be typical and mention what an AMAZING experience I am having.

I just got back from spending 3 days in Sweden studying integration and immigration with my class and it was phenomenal.

Adventures began at 6:30am where my housemate Chandler and I woke up to stock up on croissants from 7-11 before heading to the square to wait for our bus. Our class is big enough that we get a double decker bus and we were committed to getting the front row in the top. We were 45 minutes early. Worth it.

We then had the best view possible to experience the bridge from Copenhagen into Malmö. It’s a crazy piece of engineering that involves an epic tunnel that you come out of in the middle of the ocean and then drive on for something like 12 minutes to get into Sweden.

We spent the day in Malmö walking around town and doing interviews for our class project. I also saw a real Swedish IKEA and ate knockoff Swedish fish (ironically not as good).

On our way up to Gothenburg, we watched this thing that I literally cannot even put into words what it is. It’s this show with puppets and for the Christmas season there is a short episode of this show each day leading up to Christmas. So just keep in mind that this is a show that aired during normal primetime TV and is aimed at everyone. I cant even begin to warn you of what’s coming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G6c9EigyOc

The best part is, if you can speak Danish, this is basically a PSA about integration. Integration. I also had the pleasure of my professor narrating this to us over loudspeaker saying “I'm a fully integrated woman” in his best creepy lady voice. People actually cried from shock.  Upon arriving in our hostel we made some new friends  from Germany, Italy and Australia which was pretty cool to hang out with some non DIS/American people.

The next morning we went to the world cultural museum, took a boat tour and listened to some lectures at the local university. Our dinner was also amazing. Any school that provides for its students a multi course steak dinner with wine pairings will make me a happy camper. (Seriously dad, so worth the money). Next we went to a bar where I drank Swedish beer with my professor and watched some 20-year-old classmates challenge grown-up Swedish men to outdrink them. Surprisingly, they did not succeed in this venture. I joined Stephan, the giggliest man I have ever met, in watching these boys take dips and then spit them into their gin and tonics.

Saturday was the best day ever. We had to be up super early (extra early for me and Chandler, who made sure to get the same seats for the ride home) but it was absolutely worth it. We went to Åkulla Bokskogar for kayaking, nature hikes and team building activities.  I happen to love kayaking and had a wonderful time paddling around the lake despite less than ideal conditions. However, my team was the worst at things and our consolation prize were promotional toothbrushes Notice that the name on the toothbrush is different than the lodge we were at, and also please take time to notice the emoticon printed on the toothbrush. I know Danes love to text emoticons, but this was a whole new level.

Finally, to top of my Swedish experience, we had lunch. Our lunch consisted of none other than SWEDISH MEATBALLS. I can now say I have eaten actual Swedish meatballs in Sweden. I literally had to stop and revel in both this fact and the most delicious gravy of my life.

ICE! Seriously.

So Europe in general does not seem to be very into ice. Not only is there no icemaker in my freezer, there are no ice trays. There are also no ice trays in the stores nor are there bags of ice that you can buy.

I was discussing this with my Danish family at dinner last night, and Anette immediately runs to the kitchen and returns to hand me a pile of blue bags with a look of “oh well here you go”. I did not see any ice, so needless to say, I was pretty confused.

So here it is: the most AMAZING invention I have ever seen. My host dad Jørgen is always telling me about the great things Danes have invented (Lego, Skype, the little mermaid) and he has somehow never thought to mention this.

So here’s how it works. First, you fill the bag with water.

Then, it seals itself. I am not kidding. You just fill it up and when you turn it upside down nothing spills. Then you put it in the freezer.

Then you freeze it. After its frozen, you pull it apart.

Then you have a pile of ice that can be used to chill beverages of your choice. Im a little bit excited.