Copenhagen was the world's stage for athletics, grace, and beautiful movement this past weekend. Participants from all over the world arrived to show their finesse, hard work, and determination. But, who's country would win? Who would show that they, indeed, were champions of the world? In fierce competition, enemies and friend were made, hearts were broken, and dreams did come true.

At this point, you're probably saying, "Caitlin, as much as you'd like to be in Italy right now for the Olympics, stop fantasizing and realize that you're in Italy's neighbor to the north, Denmark." Well, poo poo to the Olympics! I was talking about the International Break Dancin' Competition held in Copenhagen this weekend, FLOOR WARS. Teams of three competed in face-offs on an open floor as the DJ spun mad tunes in the background. Did you not think that Estonia was known for its break dancing? Well, me neither until I saw 3 Estonians doing back flips and head spins to blaring hip hop. What about Norway? Iceland? The Netherlands? Did they field teams? You bet, but they sucked. The South Africans were amazing, but lost out early because they had a face-off with a Copenhagen team (and despite the absolute awful dancing of this particular Danish team "Rumble Pack", home crowd advantage sealed their berth to the final round). China and another Copenhagen team were my favorites.

All in all it was an excellent evening. I must admit that I'd never seen so much urban American culture, especially in a room full of a thousand Scandinavians. I normally don't like hip hop, rap, or anything related disc spinning and baggy clothing, but I had an amazing time. Who would have thought I'd have to go to Copenhagen to see my first break dancin'?

The weather is definitely getting warmer and I was able to walk outside with only a long sleeve t-shirt and down vest today. Hopefully this trend will continue.

This past week was filled with adventure, and pictures of myself next to weird things! My school took all students on 3 day tours to various locations throughout Denmark. My group, of about 40 students, went from Copenhagen through Aarhus, to Aalborg, and on to Skagen. Essentially, we drove to the most northern part of Denmark (ie the NORTHERN MOST POINT ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE!). We also saw some fun things on the way!

Below is a picture of me standing in front of a famous statue in the Arhus Art Museum (ARoS). It was a beautiful museum, similar in architecture to the Guggenheim. The museum covered Danish and Scandinavian Art from the 1700s onward. There were many fine pieces, including this massive statue of a boy below with real cloth shorts and life like hair. The eyes were very provocative and reminded me of Lord of the Rings..."My precious..."

Other weekend highlights included a trip to a Danish primary school, ages 7-16. This was my favorite part of the trip because I am huge Social Policy nerd. The Danish education system is very different from that in the States in many respects. Education and class time are very liberal with lots of breaks, and lots of "talking." Instead of traditional discipline, students are forced to work out problems through discussion. As one of the teachers commented, the first section of school (7-16) is primarily about teaching students to be good citizens, with other skills being secondary. You might scoff at the idea, if you are a person only interested in the 3 R's when it comes to learning. Keep this in mind: when I sat in a small group to talk with 13 year olds, they spoke to me in perfect English, which they had only started learning three years prior. Although we mostly talked about video games and professional wrestling (Ahh, the joys of being in a group of only boys), they were able to articulate their thoughts very well. I was very impressed. My only recollection of high school Spanish consists of Como esta? (how are you?) and donde esta el bano (where is the bathroom?). Granted, the latter phrase is critical, but not exactly impressive. The picture below is the class I visited, I'm in the back left.

Following this morning excursion, we also hiked along the Rajberg Mile, the largest sand dune north of the Sahara. Sound like a pleasant walk? Well, the Sahara isn't covered in 3 inches of blowing snow. It was more of a trek. However, as a "reward" our tour leader gave us shots of a special Danish liquor when we reached the top of the dune. It reminded me of Robitusson cough syrup mixed with salt water. Luckily, on the walk back to the bus, my mouth was filled with a mixture of sand and snow every time I breathed in. It made for a nice chaser.

Finally, the conclusion of our tour, following another art museum, a Naval Base, and lots of time in the bus, we reached Grenen, where the Baltic and the North Seas meet at the northern point of Denmark. Skagen, the nearest town is a popular summer resort, but was pretty dead during our visit. If you have any interest in Scandinavian architecture, you might know of the famous color "Skagen Yellow" which is used on many rural Danish homes, and is the color of almost EVERY building in this town. Anyways, we walked from the parking lot for 20 minutes in a blizzard to the end of the point so that every one could take their picture touching the two seas. Despite the awful weather, it was actually really fun, as there were many shells to be found under the snow. One fellow student actually removed his clothing and ran into the water, getting completely wet. It was about 20 degrees F outside with blowing snow and sand plus a 5 hour bus ride back to Copenhagen. I was contented simply touching both seas. You can see in the picture below.

The trip was fantastic overall. I met some nice friends on the bus, had a few lively nights out in deserted resort towns (off season=cheap beer), and ate lots of candy provided by DIS. Driving from Skagen to Copenhagen reminded me of basketball bus trips in high school. I drove across an entire country in the time it takes to get from Billings to Missoula. Yeah Montana, bigger IS better!

As promised, I visited a Danish Open prison this week. Jyderup Open Prison, approximately 70 km out of Copenhagen houses several hundred inmates in a beautiful pastoral setting. Open prisons are the second stage (of three) of the Danish criminal justice system. The Danes believe in a system called "normalisation" instead of simply incarceration. Normalisation refers to the idea that the prisoner should live in conditions as similar to outside life as possible. The lack of liberty and independence is the only punishment, unlike American prisons where threats of violence, disease, sexual abuse, and overcrowding are commonplace in addition to time spent without liberty. Closed prisons, the first level, are more rough, with less amenities, shared rooms, and more dangerous conditions. The most serious offenders (murders, rapists, etc) go to these prisons first, and there is a gang culture, particularly the Hell's Angels and other motorcycle gangs. After a amount of time considered sufficient, prisoners are promoted to the open prisons. Less serious offenders typically start in the open prison system.

Each prisoner maintains their own bathroom and sleeping room, which are very nice and cozy. They are allowed to bring in outside things from home, such as tvs, chairs, and computers, as long as they meet certain requirements and do not contain contraband. At the beginning of their sentence, they may take specific trips (accompanied by a guard until trust is earned). Eventually the amount of time and distance is increased and they are allowed to take leave to visit friends and family once a month (for a weekend visit). Prisoners rarely fail to return (under 5%) because they know doing so will only increase their sentence, and they will lose privileges. Each prisoner is given a weekly stipend to purchase food at the prison store, which he prepares for himself in the communal kitchen. He may supplement this money by doing work at the prison, which most do. Others attend school (with permission), or like our tour guide, Lars (a businessman serving time for money laundering) maintain their business from the inside using the telephone and the Internet. Personal responsibility is a major component of the Danish prison system. After an amount of time in the open prison, prisoners are on parole, with monitoring.

I was incredibly impressed. Although this system would never work in the States due to shear size, it seems to work well here. As several of the guards said, "if you treat prisoners like animals, they become animals." This can be shown easily in American prisons, in which petty thieves end up more hardened and dangerous after spending time. In America, rehabilitation doesn't exist, and the problem keeps getting larger. Danes work to change citizens to become normal people who follow the rules, in America, as I see it, we are simply focused on revenge. I could discuss this issue for a long time, as I find it very interesting, but I don't want to be up all night!

I've done some other fun things this week. On Wednesday, I went to the Danish National Museum and saw a particularly interesting exhibit on the Nazis' occupation during WWII. My knowledge of northern Europe during the time has been increased dramatically. I will have to go back though, as the pre-historic section (Vikings) was closed for renovation. In addition, I went to the Death Cab for Cutie concert on Saturday night at a local night club. It was an incredible experience, and a much better show than the one I saw in Chicago. I slept in late today. :)

This evening, a large group of those who share my kitchen made a large feast of pasta, pizza, salad, breads and dessert. It was delicious! We were attempting to have a Valentine's Day theme, and share our love through food! Here is a group picture:





L-R (Name forgotten, Elena, Richard, Morten, Julien, Astrid, Malyna, Matt, Jorgen). Countries of origin include Hungary (1), Romania (1), Faroe Islands (1), Denmark (3), France (1) and the USA (3). An international meal!










This week should be exciting as I will be taking my first long trip (3 days) to the Northern most part of Denmark; the most northern part of Continental Europe! More pictures will come then!

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Well, as Shakespeare so eloquently put many years ago, great scandal has engulfed the country. If you haven't been following world news in the past week, I will catch you up. Several months ago, a Danish newspaper printed several caricatures of Muslims, and the prophet Mohammed in a very disrespectful way, including a picture of a Muslim wearing a turban with a bomb in the center. At the time of their printing, in September, little fuss was made. However, for some ridiculous reason, several other EU countries thought that it would be a good idea to reprint the pictures. Understandably so, the Muslim community in Europe and worldwide is up in arms, as the Qu'ran specifically states that you cannot draw the image of the prophet or Allah. There have been several demonstrations in Copenhagen, as well as several embassy bombings in Syria and Beirut. I have seen many images on tv of Muslims burning the Danish flag. Ahhh, feels like home.

I do not condone the drawings, I think that they are in poor taste, and it was an antagonistic move to reprint them several times over. However, the Danish government has a very firm freedom of press policy, which I do stand by. Regardless though, the newspaper editors should have shown better judgment. While they have apologized, threats by Al Queda continue. Its a little scary to be here right now. I went out to a club on Friday night and saw this sign:















The next day, on the street where I had been walking, there was a mini-riot/clash with the police. I believe that there is a disconnect between religious beliefs and freedom of press, and the two cultures cannot understand each other. I am safe though, and will continue to keep myself aware of any potentially hazardous situations.

In more positive and exciting news, I've done some wonderful things in the past week. I've joined the DIS Harmonies a capella group, which should be really fun. I couldn't go so many months without music in my life! I also discovered a wonderful forest near my Kollegium (about at 15 minute walk away) where I can go walking. The Brøndby Forest is several kilometers of walking trails through wooded areas near farm landscape. It will be my place of solitude when I need an escape. I heard an owl hooting during the middle of the day (odd, I think it has Seasonal Affectivenesss Disorder), and saw several birds, including magpies (again, feels like home). Below is a picture of the walking path. Music and a forest nearby means good things for my mental health!



















Also, I was able to see Fredricksborg Castle today as part of a tour group with my school. The castle was built in 1601 by Christian IV and now contains the Museum of National History. Among my favorite items was the first Bible printed in Danish following the Reformation. I was a bit tired for the tour, but I did take some nice pictures. I feel as though the grounds around it will be excellent for walking once the snow clears. Here is a picture of me in front of the castle:















I have an exciting week ahead. On Wednesday I will go to a Danish minimum security prison (No! I haven't committed a crime...yet). I will go with my Criminal Justice in Scandinavia class, which should be very interesting for a social policy nerd such as myself. Also, this Saturday, I will be going to a concert of one of my favorite bands, who just happens to be in Copenhagen; Death Cab for Cutie. I'm very excited to see how live music venues work in Denmark. Should be another exciting week.