Laughing In Denmark: Hygge, Prison Tour, Eyes, and Andy!

The word hygge is unique to the Danish language and it's a word that has no direct translation into English because it is so much more than just a word. The Danes often refer to it as a phenomenon. Loosely translated it means “cozy.” During my Danish class we spent about 15 minutes trying to define it and here are some of the things we came up with:

-It can often be used to describe a good time had with family and friends, however, you can be hyggelig alone

-It often involves talking, eating, or playing games, but you could be hyggelig just reading a book on you own

-Setting is not necessarily important, but many times it involves candles-the Danes love candles. This may be because they give off a feeling of warmth and feeling welcome

-It is a time when you are so engaged in whatever you are doing that you don't have any worries about the outside world

-You have a feeling of being content

Two weekends ago, Zoe's parents and brother came to visit. They spent a night in Borup where we had a big feast. Helle, with Stine and Cecilie's help, made the best meal I have ever eaten in my entire life. It consisted of veal with or without bearnaise sauce, the best carrots ever, amazing potatoes, roasted red peppers, bruschetta, and a broccoli and onion casserole type of dish. This amazing dinner was followed by pancakes (crepes) and oreo cupcakes made by Stine and Ceclie. They could open their own bakery and make a fortune selling just these cupcakes-that's how good they are. Each cupcake has half an oreo on the bottom of it and the frosting contains crushed up oreos. The following night we all went to Louise (my oldest host sister) and her boyfriend Tim's apartment for dinner. Louise and Tim are awesome. They are so nice and as we found out, also great cooks. They made us salmon, mushroom risotta, and carrot puree followed by a mixed berry dessert topped with a crunchy gronola type topping and white chocolate. This was the second best meal I've ever eaten. (Don't be jealous mom-I will still like your cooking when I come home). I spent both Monday and Tuesday night at Louise and Tim's apartment since I had to be in Copenhagen very early both Tuesday and Wednesday morning and since they live pretty close to DIS it was easier than going all the way home to Borup. They were so sweet to let me stay there. When we went to their house Monday night, Helle drove us, so naturally I fell asleep in the car, and didn't bother paying attention to where we were going when we left. So when Tuesday night rolled around I was a little nervous about getting there when it was dark put and I was by myself. Despite Louise's straightforward directions I still managed to get off at the wrong bus stop and make a wrong turn, resulting in me wondering around the wrong apartment complex in hopes of finding their apartment. It was around midnight and I was in a different country wondering around an unknown neighborhood and I wasn't having a mental breakdown or crying hysterically which is probably what would've happened had this situation occurred a few months ago. Instead, I just kept repeating to myself what my dad has always told me, “You are never lost-you're always somewhere, you just don't know where.” These words of advice helped me to realize that 1. being lost isn't the end of the world-there is no need to panic 2. Exploration is the best way to learn-I don't think I will ever get lost going to their apartment again 3. My sense of direction is even worse than I thought (didn't think that was possible).

Most delicious meal ever

Plate #1 out of...?

Oreo cupcakes!

So. Many. Pancakes

My host mom, Helle

Wednesday I managed to find my way back to Copenhagen on my own from their apartment (which I was quite proud of). I had to meet at 7:15 in order to go on a field study to an Open Prison in Jyderup. An open prison is exactly what is sounds like. Although it does have two fences around it, they are not meant to keep the prisoners in, they are meant to keep other people out. The main gate is always left open, meaning that prisoners can just walk out if they so desire. The first fence was about four feet high and that was put up in order to keep the local neighborhood residents from walking their dogs on prison property. The second fence is about six feet high, and that was put up in order to make it harder for drug dealers from the outside to get drugs to the prisoners, as well as an added barrier for anyone that may want to harm the prisoners. Apparently a few years ago a few men who had something against some of the prisoners came in with a machine gun. When one of the prisoners went to run away he was shot, but only in the butt so he was fine. At the prison we were given a tour by one of the guards as well as one of the prisoners named Rolland. They were both awesome. When the guard was telling us the story about the machine gun she forgot the English word for butt, so she just pointed to hers, and we all replied with “butt.” However, Rolland corrected all of us and said “gluteus maximus.” I was dying laughing. Rolland was up to par on his anatomy. The guard was this short little woman with short, purple hair-so funky. Prisoners in Denmark don't wear uniforms so Rolland was rocking a pair of stylish jeans, a puffy winter jacket with a fur lined hood, and what looked to be brand new sambas. So stylish. Upon walking in, it instantly reminded of a college dorm. There were no bars-just a long hallway filled with rooms on either side, with normal doors, many of which had pictures or decorations on them. We were told that most prisoners get a single (a luxury I didn't even have at college until my junior year) and that they each had their own shower and bathroom in their room (a luxury I have never had at college or at home) and they were provided with a mini fridge. I believe that the guard said televisions used to be provided, but now the prisoners are responsible for bringing them in if they want one. Many of them also had playstations or other gaming systems in their rooms. Rolland was kind enough to let us see his room, although he was embarrassed that it was a mess. His room was bigger than both my single at college and my room at home and it was not a mess. All of the prisoner's are required to either work or go to school. They get paid the equivalent of about $15.00 a day and with this money they can go to the grocery store, located on prison grounds in order to buy their food that they need to prepare for themselves. Touring the kitchen was interesting to say the least. It looked like any other kitchen: complete with large knives (like 8 inches long). The guard said she had worked there for 13 years and no one had ever been stabbed-they stick to fist fights. The guard had no weapons on her-just a walkie talkie. While in the kitchen we noticed that there was a high chair. We were told that every weekend the prisoners are allowed to have up to four adults and one child visiting at a time, but there is no limit to the number of people that can come and leave throughout the weekend. They had a room set aside for this visiting time that looked a lot like a large living room, complete with a fish tank, as well as a kitchen. We were told that this environment made the prisoner's children feel more comfortable since they weren't being locked in a room. It was also explained to us that every third weekend the prisoner's are allowed to go home and visit their family. That's pretty nice. When we asked the guard how many people “escaped” each year she said probably about five. However, she said that most of them aren't running from their sentence. Many will leave if they feel threatened by another prisoner and then they show up at another open prison a few weeks later and ask to finish their sentence there. Granted, not everyone goes to an open prison. If your sentence is more than five years than you have to go to a closed prison. However, when you have five years left to your sentence you can be moved to an open prison. The average life sentence in Denmark is 16 years, so if you were to murder someone you would be in a closed prison for around 11 years and then be transferred to an open prison for the last five. This would never go over in the US. Upon touring the gym we discovered that the prison has state of the art tanning beds-one where you lay down as well as a stand up one. So many choices. We were told that most prisons have tanning beds because they couldn't figure out a reason not to have them. They aren't making the inmates any more criminal, so there is no reason not to provide them. The goal in Denmark is to make the inside of the prison as much like the outside world as possible, that way when the prisoners get released they can easily integrate themselves into a normal lifestyle again, and they haven't forgotten how to cook or do their own laundry. There philosophy behind this style of prison makes sense. As Rolland told us, it costs about $400 a day to have someone in jail. If you keep them locked in cages like animals, they aren't learning anything so when they get released they will have trouble finding a job and without an education or a job they will most likely turn to what they know best: crime. However, if you give them the opportunity to get an education and learn a trade, then your money is well spent because when they are released they will be less likely to turn to crime and instead will be able to contribute to society. As the guard put it, they use the prisoners natural talents to help them learn a trade- “If the inmate is in jail for stealing cars, we teach them to become a car mechanic.” However this system doesn't work for everyone. Rolland kept referring to the low life prisoners who sit in their rooms playing playstation and smoking hash. To him, they were wasting the resources that were available to them in order to aid them in turning their lives around. When my teacher told Rolland that many of us where probably curious as to why he was in jail he replied with a laugh and said, “Oh, right, about that. Well...the police found 1.8 kilos of cocaine in my backyard.” With another laugh and a wink he continued, “Ya know, for personal use.” What a jokester. 1.8 kilos is about 4 pounds of cocaine. Definitely not only for personal use. When he was caught, Rolland was in school to be a teacher. He has since undergone major drug rehabilitation and has chosen to live in a drug free building. He explained to us that drug use (mainly hash) was very common in Danish prisons and that he had worked very hard to be clean and didn't want to be around the “low life prisoners who smoked hash all the time.” He is the editor of the prison newspaper and when he gets released he hopes to become a psychotherapist. He seemed to have really changed his life around. Not only did he have great shoes, but he also had an awesome sense of humor. Before we were about to leave my teacher told the guard and Rolland not to go anywhere because she had a present for them that she had left on the bus. Rolland quickly responded with, “Yeah, that's what you said last time too. I still haven't gotten the present.” So witty. By far the best field trip ever. Unfortunately I was unable to take pictures, so hopefully you can imagine what it looked like from my description.

In class last week our ophthalmologist teachers asked for three volunteers to have their one of their eyes dilated. We were to do an ophthalmology lab where we could play around with all of the equipment and we were told it would be easier to see certain things if some people got their eyes dilated. I had never had it done before so I figured why not. Once Torbin (our teacher) put the drops in my eye I noticed immediately that my eye was burning. I asked him if it was supposed to burn like hell to which he responded, “Yes, yes, it will sting a bit.” He could have warned me. Having one dilated eye and one normal eye was a really strange feeling. It stayed like that for about five hours after the drops were initially put in,so that was fun. Nonetheless, it was fun to be able to determine what one's eyesight was and how to correct their vision with the different lenses, learn how to look at the eye using a slit lamp, play around with an ophthalmoscope, and attempt to have a picture taken of your eye. I say attempt because anyone that knows me is aware that I can't keep my eyes open for normal pictures, where the flash is at least four feet away, never mind a flash two inches in front of my eye. My teacher was amazed at the fact that after at least four attempts my eyes were closed in every shot.

Freaky eyes-one normal pupil,one dilated pupil

Last but certainly not least, on Thursday my friend Andy came to Copenhagen. He was in the city to meet up with his cousin who is studying abroad in Germany, as well as his cousin's German friend. I haven't seen him in over a year so it was awesome to be able to hang out. We all met up Friday night and went to the Kulør Bar. Afterward, I spent the night at their hotel so that we could get up early the next day and do some sight seeing. However, we only had time to go to Christiania before Andy had to catch his flight back to Barcelona. Christiania is an area in Copenhagen that has declared itself a free place from the rest of the city. It has its own set of laws and is basically a hippie town. There is a street called Pusher Street that is just filled with hash vendors. The Danish authorities know about the drug trade in Christiania but have been unsuccessful in putting an end to it. It is a huge tourist attraction because it is a place unlike anything you have probably ever seen. Hanging out with Andy felt like People to People all over again, minus about 39 other students. I'm planning on visiting Andy in Barcelona during my two week travel break that way we can have another European reunion!