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!