Curious in Copenhagen

I now understand the true size of Denmark's largest capital city after walking miles (approximately 12 miles) through Copenhagen. This day was designed specifically for our independent research to prepare for our teaching lesson. My initial idea of lessons revolved around making inferences about a culture using pictures and videos through technology. However, after spending hours in Copenhagen, I am sure this plan will change due to the numerous information I obtained today.

We started our morning walking to the eastern part of the city in another area called Christianhaven. We explored Christiania (you tube video), which has been a so-called free town since 1971. There are around 1,000 people who live in this area, who have a very liberal view on laws, especially concerning the use of drugs. The town was founded by a group of hippies in the 1970's and the Danish Parliament legalized the city in 1989 and exempted these citizens from the heritage and environment conservation. The Christianans live in a "free zone" meaning there are no cars along with maintaining their own schools and ways of living. People may visit this area, but no photographs are allowed due to the government constraints. I felt somewhat uncomfortable walking through this "village", but it was very quiet during the early morning hours. It became an unforgettable learning experiences for these NC educators.

We briskly walked to our next stop in the heart of the city and probably the most famous tourist attraction in Denmark-The Little Mermaid Statue located in Langelinie Pier. Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale about her, while Disney created a movie about her, and she has become the most photographed statue in the world. HC Andersen published the story in 1837 about little mermaid who saves the life of a shipwrecked prince and sets off on a quest to win his love. The price she would pay is dear because she would have to sacrifice her voice and her beautiful mermaid tail in order to become human. If he decides to marry another, she would turn to sea foam and disappear forever. Her statue looks as if she is waiting and searching for her prince.

Another popular statue was the Gefion Fountain, which is the largest monument in Copenhagen. the goodess, Gefion, is the main figure of this "wishing well."

After these sightseeing endeavors, we ventured to the Danish Resistance Museum. This included artifacts that focused on the Danes' reaction to the Germans occupation during World War II. The resistance was created for the Danish to work secretly against the Nazi takeover. It is very similar to the concepts of the Underground Railroad or the American colonists' plan for revolution from Great Britain. Sonya, who teaches US History in Edenton, gave me the idea of using Lois Lowry's Newberry Award Winning novel, Number the Stars, with my fifth graders.

After Hitler's declaration to deport Danish Jews, many Danes offered support to find hiding places for the Jews. The Danes felt that the persecution of minorities was not acceptable in their culture, so they took immediate action against it. After walking through this museum, I left with somber emotions of how the world treated a race so terribly.

More information about Danish Resistance

We walked quickly to the Queen's Church to watch the changing of the guards, which occurred each day at noon. Prior to this event, we had enough time to view the beautiful St. Frederik's Church. The churches in this city are amazing!

This ceremony reminded me of the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, DC. These soldiers reminded me of toy soldiers with their march and their bear fur hats.

Being in the Queen's Square encouraged me to learn more about the royalty in Denmark. After hearing bystanders talk about the Queen, it was obvious she was highly respected and admired. From my understanding, their monarchy is similar to Britain because the Queen has no official power (she does sign the Parliament Bills) in the government. It was recently voted that the first born of the royal family an be king or queen since the queen was the eldest of three sisters. The Royal Family can be found everywhere---post cards, magazines, books, and even huge billboards. I learned more in the gift shop about the royal family than anywhere else!

I guess we were so inspired by the royal family that we decided to take a tour of the Rosenborg Castle. This is a beautiful historic building that has some of the Denmark's greatest treasures, including the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but I was one again left speechless after entering each room full of history from hundreds of years ago. I did notice that the precious gem, amber, was used in chandeliers and jewelry by the kings and queens. Therefore, I purchased an amber charm for Beth as a Denmark keepsake.

By this time, we had been so busy we had forgotten to eat lunch and it was already 4:00. Instead of ruining our dinner, we decided to find the corner pastry shop. Denmark is known for their delicious sweets, so I would not have been experiencing culture without my delicious cinnamon roll.

I think after an exhausting day, most of us looked for something familiar from home. So what better place than the mall? The hometown girls (Cindi, RuthAnn, and myself) walked along the canal to find the mall less than a mile from our hotel. The mall wasn't much different from the ones found in the United States. We ate at an Italian restaurant with a buffet and we were served by a Lebanese waiter with Danish customs (not tipping at restaurants is expected in Denmark). That was a multicultural experience, say the least. We were all somewhat anxious about tomorrow since we would be spending the night with our host families in Odense.

Lesson Learned:

There is nothing better than a cinnamon roll after touring the entire city of Copenhagen.

Velkommen Ven Til Danmark!

Velkommen Ven Til Danmark! "Welcome to Denmark!"

My biggest challenge has been interpreting the Danish language since their alphabet consists of o's with slashes through them pronounced as a short u sound. There are the a's with dots on the top of the letter. It is interesting to hear Danes speak because they seem to talk straight from the bottom of the throat. I thought rolling my "r's" were difficult in Spanish, so I know there is is no way to even attempt to learn Danish. Even though the Danes have their own language, most of them are fluent in English. This might be due to the fact that the children in Denmark learn English early in school. Maybe an idea for the Americans to start with our students with other languages?

Our morning started early traveling to Riso, National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy. Our presenters, Stephanie Ropenus and Leif Sonderberg gave us background information of Denmark's conscientious efforts to conserve energy from the last sixty years. My father would have been excited to hear about Niels Bohr, the famous Danish scientist who was known as the father of nuclear energy. We concluded our visit to an open field to study the windmills.---a valuable source of energy for Denmark.













The windmill turbine extends to 40 meters-much larger than it looks in the sky!



We ate lunch and headed back to the Copenhagen Energy and Waterworks Place. This was an innovative science center for children to learn more about science through hands-on activities. The director of this incredible place was Jesper Steenberg, and some of us referred to him as Willy Wonka due his creativity and excitement for his area of expertise.




What better way to teach children about the importance of our septic/sewer systems than letting them actually go down into the sewer first by the toilet and see what lies below. We even had to put our hands in dark holes to pull out things that are not acceptable to throw down the toilet---interesting. Rats were among us via a web camera from a real sewer. Okay, yuck is right but we will always remember that lesson!


















After being in the "sewer" we climbed to the top of the roof where students experiment with solar power and hydrogen to produce energy.

After these learning experiences, we reflected as a group to really question if different was always better. We discussed how it was easy for the Danish to conserve energy together since they are a smaller country (5.6 million people) than the United States. However, we challenged ourselves to think of ways this could work for America.

Since this was my first full day in the city, I was anxious to explore Copenhagen. I honestly pictured this city to be much more quaint, similar to the movies I have seen where there are small shops with a few people on the streets. Wow, I was wrong! This was a New York City, just with cobblestone streets and 400-year old buildings. I spent the entire evening learning more about this city and just about the Danish people in general. Bill Ferriter, our education leader for this trip, served as our tour guide since he had been on this trip two years ago.

Pay attention to the speed limit sign---why doesn't it say mph? Remember the entire world uses the metric system while the US has customary measurement!






The train station---very similar to the New York Subway system, except much easier!







Hans Christian Andersen overlooks the heart of his hometown city. He is the world famous author who wrote The Ugly Duckling, The Matchbox Girl, and the Little Mermaid.











There is a bike lane on every street, another way the Danish sustain energy and stay skinny!












We climbed to the top of the Observatory to view the entire city. Peter the Great used to ride his horse up this round building. They have a bike race every year to remember this historical happening.

We had dinner along this beautiful canal, another
incredible experience.



















Tivoli is one of the world's oldest amusement parks. Walt Disney even visited here several times before Disneyland. You could hear kids screaming a mile away from the exciting rides.























Niels Bohr and the Martin Luther statues were photographed for Daddy and Will.
















Lesson Learned:
It takes me several minutes to convert DKK (Danish Kroner) to American money, so I hope that I am not spending too much money because everything is expensive here. I tried the soft ice (basically soft serve ice cream that tastes like fluffy icing) and it cost $4.00 or 22 DKK.

Ride to Roskilde and Skipping to Sweden

My second morning in Denmark and I awoke still feeling exhausted. Maybe I need to be in the bed earlier than 1:00am Europe time instead of trying to stay up at the 7:00pm North Carolina time. Our group once again enjoyed breakfast in the downstairs of the hotel---this always consisted of yogurt with cereal, every kind of bread imaginable, and some type of meat. Even though I wanted to try something Danish I decided to stay away from the meat in the mornings.

This morning was designated to be spent at the Viking Museum. I experienced my first train ride in this city and it reminded me a lot of the subway system in New York City (except much easier to understand the stops). Once arriving to the train depot in Roskilde, I realized that this was also a busy town, but not as bustling as Copenhagen. Roskilde was actually the first capital of Denmark along with five viking ships being sunk off the coast between 1070-1090 A.D.

We walked down the cobblestone streets and enjoyed a scenic shortcut through paths and gardens along the way to the museum. The Viking Museum intrigued all o f us regarding the excavation of the ships since they were over a thousand years old. The archaeologist studied the ships carefully to restore them in the original form, and it took only 25 years---talk about patience.

The history buffs in our group were in awe over the artifacts, so we had to leave them behind to continue with our journey.

As with all window shopping, there becomes an item one can't live without and this became my longing for leggings. A fashion statement in Denmark (and Europe) was the trend of leggings, no matter the color, under dresses or even longer shirts. I was in need of these particular necessities because my legs were freezing since I brought mostly dresses and skirts. I went into a contemporary store called Dere's, which reminded me a lot of our Express. The leggings were luckily on sale and this became my first keepsake from Denmark. Thank goodness they will keep me warm throughout the rest of the trip.

In the middle of the afternoon, we maintained our energy and spontaneity to travel to Malmo, Sweden (Malmo actually has two dots of the "o" in this word). It became easier to manage the train schedule and we arrived to Sweden in 35 minutes. We crossed over the Oresund Bridge, which connects the two countries and is known as the world's largest bridge carrying both road and railway traffic.

Sweden was similar to Copenhagen with the beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets, but still not quite as busy. Sweden's prices were also much cheaper, so of course we took advantage of the souvenir gift shop before returning to the expensive Danish prices. While browsing through toy shops, we discovered the Swedish word for Cinderella was "ash pot." Doesn't sound as romantic...

Sweden still accepted the Danish Kroner for currency, even though their primary currency was the Swedish Kroner. To determine the American value of expenditures, in Denmark dividing by 5 was used, but in Sweden we divided by 9 (which explains why it was cheaper). As mentioned before, I was constantly doing mental math calculations to convert money, temperature, time, and measurement.

Malmo was hosting a worldwide youth soccer championship during our short visit to the city. There was an entire square reserved for this exciting event with music and radio stations scattered everywhere. The United States had lost the day before, so we did not see any fellow American athletes. This sport is not referred to as soccer as in the states, but as football. It remains to be a popular sport in Europe.

We found our way back to Copenhagen by train and walked miles trying to locate Hard Rock Cafe, and it turned out to be near our hotel in the opposite direction. I know this is the typical tourist American attraction, but at that time, we were craving just a regular cheeseburger. Additionally, it was important for me to take home the regular memento (Hard Rock Hurricane glass) from this world renown restaurant.

Tomorrow will begin our independent research day, and I will be traveling with Sonya and Bernard---aka the speedy walkers, so my tennis shoes are ready!

Lesson Learned:

Nothing taste better than an American Cheeseburger after spending hours in two European countries.

Denmark-Part 2

It was refreshing to have a shower and some rest before leaving for the Newark airport AGAIN. I was eager to be on a plane to Europe. Instead of flying straight to Denmark, some us had a layover in Paris and Amsterdam. I was disappointed separating from everyone, but those were the only confirmed seats available to get us to Copenhagen. I was assigned with the group going to Paris with hopes of seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa---bust as with my luck, I stared at airport walls the entire day. It took approximately seven hours to reach Paris and then the time change began now becoming Monday morning (6 hours ahead). One stop closer to Copenhagen, even though upon our arrival, we were made aware that we were once again not confirmed. This equated leaving Paris at 8:00pm instead of 3:30 that afternoon...ughh!

It was surreal to finally be in Europe and I became the typical American tourist still glancing at gift shops and challenging myself to eat something authentic from the cafe. I even tried to practice French language, since that was the only foreign language I took in high school. So I only understood oui "yes" and bon voyage "have a good trip!"
When we descended in Copenhagen, the view was breathtaking---the windmills, the water, and the beautiful landforms of Denmark. I had to remind myself that it was still daylight at 9:30pm, which really made it difficult to adjust to the time difference.

We considered ourselves fortunate that our luggage was at the baggage claim (remember our bad luck) and we waited for a taxi. It was obvious we were in Europe since every cab was a Mercedes. I also noticed that all the cars were smaller, no SUV's. The smaller, the better!




When arriving to the CabInn, we were happily greeted by the rest of our friends and colleagues. We looked at each other sleepily and went immediately to bed. The hotel rooms were no different from the cars---extremely small! I immediately went back to my college days because it reminded me of my dorm room. Cindi had luckily figured out how the lights worked (you have to put your room key into a slot), along with the faucet and shower. We also maneuvered our suitcases and travel items to make sure we had enough room to walk. Sleep sounded wonderful and stayed tuned for the many adventures in Denmark!

Video of our hotel room at the CabInn:


Lesson Learned:
We are not in America anymore...

Denmark-Part 1

It was sensible to divide this trip into two parts because of the numerous experiences prior to arriving to Denmark. This is the type of story my kids would love to hear, so blogging will allow me share this craziness with everyone! At this moment, I am resting in a Best Western in Fords, New Jersey (first time here) as we await another shuttle bus to take us BACK to the airport. Our journey began at the Raleigh-Durham airport yesterday morning at 10:00am as we prepared early for our 12:45pm flight to Newark. We boarded the plane and since this was my third experience on an airplane, I just held my breath as our plane prepared to lift into the horizon. The pilot and flight attendants went through the safety procedures and we even had our seat belts fastened when we kept hearing the announcement, "we still do not have confirmation for take-off, 15 more minutes." After several 15 minutes turned into 2 hours we ended up back in the terminal for Newark flight. So our 12:45 flight didn't leave until 5:00pm because of a thunderstorm in Washington, D.C. The other teachers who departed from Charlotte were already boarding the plane to leave for Copenhagen, talk about bad luck for all of us!




After a 2 hour nap in the clouds, we arrived to Newark safely and then plopped right on the floor keeping our fingers crossed as our fearless leaders, Bill and Lindsey, spoke with the representatives at the Continental Airline desk. They remained at the front of the line negotiating with Emmanuel (yes, we even knew his name) for 3 hours until we received meal vouchers and hotel rooms since we would be in New Jersey the rest of the evening. We located our luggage at baggage claims and slowly trudged to catch the shuttle along with the hundreds of other people who were also frustrated with the situation. At this point, we couldn't help to ask ourselves what would happen next?


Well, the bad luck continues as we rode 30 miles away from Newark standing up on a bus holding over the maximum capacity of fifty people. My arms cramped from holding on the the overhead rails, but great exercise right? After finally getting off the Interstate (or whatever they all it in New Jersey), we came upon the entrance of the Holiday Inn when the manager told us they were overbooked. So the shuttle bus driver just kept driving not letting us know where we were going. Now I was scared and wondered if it was too late to return home! Of course, I knew nothing else could possibly go wrong. Then, we had the room key that didn't work so another ten minutes of waiting on our suitcases.

I am already exhausted and we still haven't crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of being in Europe, I am looking at a 25 ft. statue of either Ghandi or an Indian hero, but thankfully we have ordered Domino's Pizza since we are famished from no dinner. As Bill would say, that would be the silver lining to this situation and let's not forget we will be in Denmark tomorrow (hopefully).

Lesson Learned:
No need to worry about the concept of time in an airport and to find the silver lining during all situations.