Oh Copenhagen

I have been slacking in my blogging as of late due to a high influx of homework and research to do. In the last two days i have written eight essays and read well over 300 pages while documenting my research about sexual violence used during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the human rights framework used to deal with such violations while also studying the role religious institutions in Eastern Africa play in local communities understandings of HIV and AIDS and the causes of such epidemics. Needless to say my brain is dead and I am developing carpal tunnel, a delightful combination for a twenty year old.

But... I felt I had to blog today because I have been seeing the most hysterical sights lately in the streets of Copenhagen:

Sight #1 (while walking to the library): I walked down one of the side streets I often pass through on my way to the University of Copenhagen, there is a quaint tea shop on this road, a hygge cafe, a sneaker shop, a store exhibiting a wide range of furs and hides.... and then two starkly (and completely) naked girls standing on the side walk painted like cats. Nothing but body paint on the corner of one of the busiest pedestrian streets in Copenhagen. No one was phased- no stares, no gawking, no double-takes. I am going to assume naked women painted like cats is a norm for the Danes, but one never can be sure. Well it actually turns out they were PETA protesters, protesting the fur shop above them and advocating for animal rights. I love there are activists here, but that was new for me. I was definitely the one doing double takes and gawking... I guess I'm not a true Dane yet.

Sight #2 (right before fur encounter): Near my school is a small convenience store in the downstairs of a building, selling candy, beer, soda, cigarettes all for relatively cheap prices. What makes this store different than the five other convenience stores on the road is that is seems to attract the drunks of Norreport (the neighborhood the school is in). Everyday a small community of mostly middle-aged men gather for twenty or twenty five beers outside of this store, sitting on milk cartons and chatting away. This starts on my way to school (around 8:30, they're early risers) and I'm not sure if it ever ends. There are usually the same people, sometimes new. They would be the homeless in America, but here they have homes, some even night jobs, but they retain a kind of community that mimics the homeless community in the States. Today I noticed something new... a baby! An old man, scraggly, white hair and a beard, with a Carlsberg in hand came walking up pushing a baby stroller. Upon closer examination I realized there was not in fact a baby, thank goodness, but rather he had hijacked someones baby stroller and proceeded to push it around the street of Copenhagen (it is very common to park your stroller outside shops, sometimes with a child in it, sometimes not, luckily this time it was not). He had taken this stroller, tucked in his 'babies' (aka a sixteen pack of beers) underneath the blanket and pimped out this stroller with flashing reflectors, Hawaiian flowers, stickers, fabric, etc. It was quite hilarious to see an old, haggard (and usually drunk) man pushing a very nice, well decorated baby carriage around , every once in a while tucking in the blanket around the cheap beer that sat inside as to protect it from the wind. Only in Copenhagen....

There is a lot more than went on in my past two week... more bad dancing and more Danes loving my bad dancing (and me loving the Danes more for loving my bad dancing), more studying, more sights, and definitely more sun than I have ever seen before while in Denmark.

But.. now I'm off again! It's first to the airport to pick up my lovely mother!! Then it's around the sights of Copenhagen, off to Berlin and then Prague. From there it Vienna for the day and the Athens and finally its Santorini for a lovely week in the Greek Isles!

More good stories and sights to come! (and hopefully more sun!)