Friday (8/25)-
To summarize this day in one word, I would pick “Eventful”. We started the morning at the Copenhagen City Museum and spent an hour and a half learning the history, architectural elements, significant figures, and overall complexities of Copenhaegen. It was incredible to see the layout of the entire city and to hear from real people what is currently taking place in Copenhagen on an economic and infrastructure level while the people continue to uphold and appreciate historical factors. As someone wholly intrigued by Danish sustainable architecture (bæredygtig arkitektur), I found it fascinating to see how the layout of houses, the city parameters, and commuter routes all play a role in a symbiotic society. Next we had a lovely walk over to The Worker’s Museum (arbejdermuseet)! Though this museum seemed inconspicuous at first, I can say without a doubt that this experience brought out the inner child in everyone. For approximately 30-45 minutes we all got to explore the interactive museum of Danish workers, and in all honesty I think it turned into much needed play time for University students… At the end of this childish yet educational escapade, we made our way down to øl-Halle where the class tried traditional smørrebrød and other Danish foods for the first time. As someone who grew up eating Danish foods with my family, I was excited to see everyone’s reactions to the meals that hold immense nostalgia for me. This being said… I think everyone had a little too much fun, because next thing you know we were running to our next location. Cisternerne. An old water reservoir turned into an eclectic art gallery. Though the shift from museum to unique art gallery was drastic at first, I have to say this was an incredible and one of a kind experience. We walked down into the cool, wet caverns and before we knew it we were immersed in a rainbow labyrinth! Koosmoja is the South Korean Artist behind the rainbow light show, and her discussions of elements, cardinal directions, and appreciation for the natural world closed the day/ academic week in an elegant and view altering manner (plus I think everyone needed a little bit of cold air after a hot and humid week). On an academic level as it relates to the program’s themes of colonization, art, and activism, I felt these three destinations provided much needed background to lesser known narratives in the city. The City Museum provided insight on individuals who helped build the city who are often forgotten in the story, The worker’s museum redirected typical intrigue on royals and political affairs to that of the working class, and Cisternerne reminded us that immigrants and people of color in Denmark provide a fundamental understanding of art and culture that cannot be ignored.
Monday (8/28)-
If there is one thing I can say about our program's itinerary for the trip is that it is VERSATILE. We are having a great time experiencing the city while also being reminded of the complexities that go along with history, sociology, and economy. Today started out with an incredibly inspiring trip to “Stedet at være”, the Place to Be. This is a large home used to help those more vulnerable in the community, similar to community centers/ homeless shelters in America. This was a great opportunity for the class to get a look at Social work in Denmark and grasp yet another narrative that is often overlooked in the stories of the city. Tina and Sussanah were our lovely guides for the morning and threw out insane statistics on the exposed population of Denmark, and inspired us to take back an element of kindness and acceptance to the states that is often missing. I personally felt inspired by the notion of treating a houseless individual as a whole person. Someone who deserves comfort, someone who has problems, someone who has capabilities, someone who has value and autonomy despite what society says. Following the morning’s event, we all met up on “Marmorbroen’, the Marble Bridge, outside of Christiansborg Palace. Here we started a walking tour guided by Morten, in which he discusses 18th century history in Denmark. On this tour we discussed the palace, visited Gamel Strand, stopped by a haunted street, visited a 300 year old bar (no drinking), talked about the royal theater of Copenhagen, visited the Queen’s current castle, and finally stopped at a military base that has been present and used for centuries. This tour was prefaced by watching the movie “A Royal Affair” to give background on one of Denmark’s most scandalous political occurrences regarding a German Doctor, an English Queen, and a Danish King and essentially how two foreigners ruled Danish Reformations and Enlightenment.
Caption - A look inside a place for vulnerable community members to stop, get food, get help, and relax.
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