Jeg kommer fra Texas!

As you may can tell by the title, I am slowly learning Danish. I have also learned a few of their customs. A dinner at my Marketing professor's house helped me to realize some of the differences between our culture and theirs. Most noticeable, of course, was the food. Frikadellar, meatballs of pork and veal, were served with potato salad and vegetable salad. The potato salad is completely different than what you would think. It is all white, and I can't exactly explain the taste. I want to say really dull ranch. Keeley and I went to a buffet that had Danish food. We noticed that all of the vegetables are served cold, their bread is very heavy, and there are far more carbs than protein. It seems like there isn't a main dish but more of a culmination of different vegetables, breads, and meat. Anyways...The food is very different. For dessert she made "apple cake," but I think it was more of an apple pudding with crumble and whip cream. Sounds pretty gross, but it was surprisingly delightful.

I don't know if you took note of where this dinner was: at my professor's house. They are very informal here. There is no professor or doctor, just a first name is used. I think this is because it is an egalitarian society. Their belief in equality and uniformity is shown in a multitude of ways. One way that I have noticed is their need to sit down to have a talk. When I struck up a conversation in the community kitchen one day, I was invited to sit down and chat. I read that this is because they believe you should be equal and neither one should look up or down at the other when conversing. (most of all height is in the legs instead of the torso)

Danes are also independent from an early age. It isn't uncommon to see a 7 year-old riding the metro to school alone. I also noticed that my professor's children (14 and 17) both left to find their own way to a friends house via train and walking (18 is the driving age here, but still noone drives). My danish teacher told me today that from the first day of kindergarten they elect class representatives. The little representatives voice the opinions of the class to the teacher and help in the decision making of the teachers on different activities for the class.

On to something more fun...Fashion! You can't go wrong with skinny jeans or tights (Good thing all these Danes ARE skinny). Long shirts are worn as dresses and paired with tights. Converse shoes are very in, as are scarves. You can pair ANYTHING with a scarf and make it European! Flats are always a good choice and so are cold-weather boots. You don't, however, need to wear make-up or fix your hair (I like that). I tried one morning to fix my hair, and I discovered why it appears that they don't fix their hair. It is sticky here, and they ALL commute in the outdoors. I walked to class, and, by the time I got there, I was a mess.

Along the route to class, I see so many bakeries and ice cream shops. You can spot the bakeries (bageri) by looking for an upside down pretzel symbol with a crown. There is such a wide selection of breads and cakes. My personal favorite is the chocolate croissant, but my favorite place that I have seen so far is Falafel. They make waffles and sell ice cream, sometimes together. Seems like a brilliant idea, but really it is just historical (where do you think they got the idea for a WAFFLE cone). Besides spotting bakeries and ice cream shops, an out door cafe is always in site. They even give the guests blankets on cold days. There is often tables, chairs, and umbrellas set up and just one tiny building for cooking and servicing the guests.

I will soon have pictures up of some of the things I have seen around Copenhagen. Let me restate that I LOVE COMMENTS AND EMAILS! I get discouraged if I don't think people are reading my blog. So please do send an email to mollymurdock@msn.com. I WILL RESPOND!

PS The title means "I come from Texas." It is pronouced...ya kommeh fra Texas