Scandinavian culture

This week held the dates for both my University's International Culture night, and the city of Copenhagen's Kulturnatten (Culture night). So I figure that will be a good place to start.

Because both culture nights coincidentally fell on the same night I had to budget my time to allow me to get a taste of both. International culture night at my university was held in the University Pub on campus. There were presentations by students about their home countries, and also Danish folk dance music and dancing instructor. The music group consisted of a harmonica, a couple fiddles, and a bass. It was fun to watch as students twisted and twirled and clapped in circles and in unison to the traditional sounding music. After enjoying the university activities for a few hours I decided to head downtown for some more culturing. While downtown I was met with a ridiculous amount of people. It is a pretty unique experience; all the local shops are open late and all the cities cultural attractions were open late also. The streets were lined with hotdog and caramelized almond vendors. There were musicians on every corner, and a cornucopia of musical sounds filled the air. It was like a big citywide carnival. What I found interesting were the abundance of Native American street performers. They were decked out in ritual featherhead dresses, and leather clothing accented with the latest Nike's, of course. Seems as though our European friends find something captivating about the fluty drum beating songs of our country's original inhabitants.

I have been talking a lot about culture lately and have been trying to practice what I preach a little bit and actually learn and understand more about this frequently used word. I have been learning new and different things each week about what I think it means. This week I am realizing that the culture we live in is enormously important and influential; it answers all the questions for us that we don't have time, desire, or knowledge to answer for ourselves. It provides a subconscious blueprint for living and effects the everyday assumptions we live with. We will never in our lives have enough time to learn everything about our beliefs, morals, or method for discernment. This is where our culture comes in and fills the gap. I don't think any of us even pay attention to how much we are affected by the world around us. This week I have come across what to me is one of the biggest differences between the Scandinavia culture and the small town US culture I have grown up in. That difference is marriage. Now for some background information that leads me to my culturally different discovery.

Two nights a week I take part in an extra Danish language course. This week we were leaning about family, and how to introduce your family and describe simple things about them. As we were doing this we were asked to create a family tree and tell about our cousins and such. As an interesting side note, we learned about the Danish naming tradition. The most popular names in Denmark end in "sen" which means "son". For example, Jensen is "son of jens". An extended example would be if Hans Jensen's father was Jens Peterson, then Hans' father's name was Jens and his grandfather's name was Peter. Hans' son would then have the name Hansen. It looks like somewhere in my family tree I have a relative with the name of Anders. Getting back on track, our teacher had mentioned some statistics on names and divorce rates and such. Unfortunately, I didn't catch everything he said but thought it would make for interesting Denmark Facts. So while doing some research to gather the desired information I ran across a couple articles on the subject of marriage in Scandinavian countries. They suggested a decline in the importance of marriage. This struck my fancy and attention as I am to be married next summer and am investing a lot of time and effort into planning and making important the "biggest day of my life". So, I read on. It seems that in Denmark, and other Scandinavian countries, marriage and parenthood are no longer assumed to be one in the same. The article showed statistics that sixty percent of births in Denmark are to those who are unwed. I was surprised by this and decided to inquire about my findings with some Danish friends. They confirmed that it was not expected for people to marry if they had children whether on purpose or by accident, and it was not uncommon to raise a family and never be married. Marriage in Scandinavian countries seems to have become a less and less important part of raising a family, or even necessary to show ones love for another person, as cohabitation is a norm over here and seems to be gaining momentum in the US. I guess only time will tell if we will follow the Scandinavian lead, but definitely an interesting difference to note.

To change gears a little bit, my project team is finishing up our first draft of the 30+ page interim report discussing our findings up till now. We have to put together a presentation and finalize this report in the next weeks. I think we are on track to do something good, as our advisors have been saying positive things. Being from the US and speaking "good English" is a double-edged sword. I am naturally the best candidate for proof reading and correcting grammar. I kind of feel bad because when I am proof reading other students work I can tell them whether it sounds correct or not, but am unable to tell them why. Because I haven't studied grammar since middle school and foreign students study grammar continually, they actually know more of the "rules" to the English language than I do. They still ask me to "learn" them some English though, so that helps give me confidence that I still hold an edge over them.

After school this week, about thirty students from the international program got together to play a little European football; soccer for us American folk. I was eager to join, although I must admit I was a bit nervous because the last time I played organized soccer was a pretty long time ago. I think I may have been 8, or so, years old when I actually practiced and played regularly. The Europeans are mildly obsessed with the game so naturally you can see my dilemma. Anyway, I decided the best way to combat the possible embarrassment I was facing was to add a little humor. I was quick to make sure that everyone knew that soccer wasn't as popular in the US and that I should not be held responsible for my actions. Everyone enjoyed a good laugh as I whiffed on a couple of sure goal shots. Needless to say, I was able to inflict some revenge when I actually scored a goal. I made sure the other team and goalie, most of whom I am friends with, knew that an American who doesn't play soccer just scored on them. Good times were had.

This week marks the first time I wiped out on my bike since I have been here. I guess it was inevitable since I have been riding everyday. I will attempt to lay out the scenario. I had just finished my Danish language class for the evening and, to my delight, found it to be raining outside. It actually rains about 170 days a year in Denmark, which is annoying when your only mode of transportation is bicycle. So I tightened up the hood on my waterproof jacket and mentally prepared for the inevitable leg soaking about to take place. As an engineer, my natural instinct is to think logically, so my thought process led me to believe that the faster I go the less time I will spend in the rain. So I cranked along fast approaching a corner that I must navigate in my race toward home. My next thought process led me to believe it necessary to carry as much speed as possible through the corner so that I would arrive home in the shortest amount of time. So combining the slippery rain soaked surface, my excess speed, the shadows of night, and a magical moving curb, I took a dive. Luckily for me the skin on my knee broke my fall as I tumbled over the handlebars. I look back and think it funny how I reacted as I righted myself after the fall. I quickly got back up and on the bike and tried to act like I didn't just hit a curb and crash. I didn't do a full assessment of the damage until I got home. Most of the damage, thankfully, was confined to my pride.

The crash and soreness from playing soccer slowed me and my ambitions a little bit this weekend. It is autumn break in Denmark this week, also known as the potato holiday. Historically this is the time of the year when everyone would drop what they were doing and help with the potato harvest. Now they have machines to do the work but have wisely kept the tradition to take the week off. So my host family was bustling with energy as the fall break was upon them, and provided some good distraction from the mild soreness I was undergoing.

I think that about sums it up for this week, thanks for reading and I hope you are enjoying the colors of the fall season.

• Vi ses (Danish for: see you, pronounced: vee-say-seh)

  

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