Prison, the Danish Navy, Fish, and Fairy Tales!

Hej!

I apologize once again for the delay in getting this up. I haven’t have had access to a computer for the past couple of weekends and these law school applications have been tying me up! Excuses aside, I hope you are all doing well and that you find this at least semi-entertaining!

Before I start, I will include a couple of pictures of the DIS building. These pictures are from the top balcony, looking down into the school’s courtyard. As you can see, it is a beautiful day in Copenhagen. Apparently, these blue skies and 70 degrees are quite unusual, and about every Danish person I know has found every opportunity to tell me that this will soon end and it will become dreary, rainy, and dark. Hmmm, that sounds familiar…:)

So, since I’m weeks behind, I will dedicate this time for the things that I did last week/weekend. First, I must clear up some erroneous information that I posted last time. Denmark is not made up of 3 islands…it’s made up of 406! I was a little off, but there are 3 main islands, on which I actually spent most of last weekend. Last week was my program’s first study tour to Western Denmark. We started traveling west to Korsør which houses Denmark’s only naval base. Denmark’s navy used to be the second largest in Europe, behind England, but it isn’t anymore. Denmark used to own a large part of northern Europe also, but it has slowly shrunk in size. We toured around the naval base and discussed Denmark’s military involvement across the globe, which for such a small country is pretty significant in number. Other than that, I can’t really remember much that was extremely significant other than the ships were huge and I cannot believe sailors don’t get so claustrophobic in such tight quarters. Apparently, there are only about 4 women that are in the Danish Navy, so if I run out of money while I’m here, I might sign up for it. :) (LEFT ABOVE: Naval ship we toured / RIGHT ABOVE: View off top of ship (in the background is the 2nd longest suspension bridge in the world, Dad :) / LEFT BOTTOM: Those pink things are jelly fish that were in the water next to the naval ships!)

We then traveled to the farthest west coast on the farthest west island of Jutland where we spent the night on sand dunes and looking at the stars. Well, we actually stayed in a hostel, but spent most of the time outside. The rest of the weekend was spent learning the EU fishery policies that have been implemented in Denmark and visiting the fishing port, which once again, used to be the largest in Europe but now exports and imports more oil and windmill blades. Denmark is completely self-sufficient when it comes to providing energy for itself, which even though it is a small country in comparison with the United States is still pretty impressive. Anyways, sorry, I know this is getting very educational sounding. I’ll just finish up by saying that our last stop was on the center island of Funen in the city of Odense where we visited Hans Christian Anderson’s home and the official H.C. Anderson museum. Sadly, I can’t really say that I’ve read any of his fairytales, except for The Little Mermaid and The Princess and the Pea, both of which I only read/saw Disney versions. To be honest, I’m glad about that, because I hear that the real version of The Little Mermaid ends with Ariel dying and Eric marrying the big octopus woman. Apparently H.C. Anderson had quite an eccentric life, but regardless, he’s quite celebrated across this little island. (LEFT ABOVE: Port city Hvide Sande where we stayed the first night / RIGHT ABOVE: Cement sculptures on the beach of fishing port city Esbjerg (symbolize pure and innocent person's meeting with nature...) / BOTTOM LEFT: windmill blades; that little object on the bottom left corner of the picture is bigger than a person... / BOTTOM RIGHT: H.C. Anderson's home)

We also visited quite a few grand and beautiful churches while on the tour, but I will leave those descriptions to the pictures. (LEFT: Odense Church where the only Danish Saint is buried under the church / BELOW: Church in Yelling dating back to the 1200's; outside lies a rock that is "the birth certificate of Denmark.")

Although it was nice to have a break from the city life, I was glad to get back to Copenhagen last weekend. Western Denmark has its own beauty, but it is a lot more rural and more industrial with visible smokestacks and factories than the quaint feeling of Copenhagen. Apparently, the people, especially in Jutland, are very different than those in Copenhagen. That is what I hear from the city folk, so DIS decided that it would be a good idea if we went up to someone in Western Denmark and talked to them about how they felt about the differences. Yea, can you imagine how awkward that was? That’s like going up to someone in the farmlands of America and asking them what they feel the difference is between them living there and people living in New York City. Ok, maybe it isn’t that extreme, but still, a couple of us Americans going up to a salesman in a trendy clothing store to ask him about the differing lifestyles was still extremely strange. Apart from a lot of embarrassing questions and answers, we basically got out of him that people are very regional in Denmark and typically do not leave where they grew up or where there family is. For a child to move across the country (which remember, Denmark is only about 5 hours from coast or coast) is very traumatic on a family. (LEFT: Local Danes in Odense)

Last Sunday night, I had dinner in Svanemøllen, the town just south of where I’m living. I was visiting Kristine, a Danish student who actually studied abroad at Case last year and lived with one of my tennis teammates. Over pizza (yup…very Danish ;) ), we reminisced about Case and discussed Danish life. I think we both concluded that we both miss Case and its people, but do appreciate Danish life. One thing we did talk about was this concept of the Janteloven Laws. It’s a list of 10 “Commandments” that enforce a collective mentality of people not considering themselves better than their fellows. For example, the first one is “Thou shalt not believe thou art something.” While it is not as prevalently spoken about as it was in the past, it still is highly reflective in their principles of social equality (welfare), educational systems (all education, even through university is paid for), and even in their extraordinary efforts to save their Jewish population during World War II by clandestinely ferrying them all but 550 (out of 6000) to Sweden. Coming from a country of such competition and independent thinking, this has been something to adjust to. Danes seem initially to be cold and emotionless, but once you get to know them, they are some of the most generous and friendly people. It’s easy to see why now.

Ok, this is getting a little long, but I will end with clearing up why I have “prison” up in the title of this entry. Well, last week, I found myself in a prison in Jyderup, which is a town about an hour and half northwest of Copenhagen. Don’t worry, Mom and Dad, DIS bailed me out in time to make class…:) Just kidding. I’m taking a class on Criminology in Scandinavia and we visited an open prison for a field study. If you don’t recognize the term “open prison,” it’s probably because you have no idea what it is, because I sure didn’t. About 80% of the prisoners in Denmark serve at one time or another in an “open prison,” which is a prison where the inmates are given free access to roam the grounds and leave the prison, if they really wanted to, during the day. When it comes to a year from the end of their term, they are allowed to leave the prison to find a job or go to school for 8 hours a day as long as they are back by curfew. They can work inside the prison as well and are paid even if they don’t work so that they can buy food in the prison grocery store and cook for themselves in kitchens where they are given full access to all normal appliances, including all sizes of knives. Their rooms and living rooms look a lot like my dorm room from sophomore year in college, except they have their own bathroom, where I had to share one with 5 other girls. The most shocking of all is that the inmates at this prison are not just minor felons; they were murderers, rapists, and serious drug offenders. On average, criminals with serious convictions will not serve longer than 2/3 of their sentence which is usually around 8 years. You might think this is ridiculous, because when I first learned about it, I thought it was. Their perspective differs a great deal from ours in that they want to first rehabilitate the prisoners. They believe that going to prison alone is enough punishment in itself. A major difference is that Denmark needs people in their workforce and they are hoping and helping the inmates to adjust back to societal life to fill in that gap. Their theory is: who would you rather have back on the streets? Someone who has had constant contact with their family and loved ones and has been working consistently or someone who has been left festering solitarily in their cell and going to 'crime school' in prison? Is this method working? Well, recidivism rates are still relatively high, but on the whole, this country is a lot less violent than most. Unfortunately, there is not enough tangible data to accurately answer if it’s really working. We’ve had a lot of debates on this issue, and there are a still a lot of questions and concerns that I am still struggling with, but for the sake of not putting you all to sleep, I will leave it at that and maybe talk to some of you about it later. It’s definitely a different society here. (There are no pictures as we weren’t allowed to bring cameras…understandably.)

Well, excuse the academic lecture, but my classes here have really created a lot of discussion between my host family, me, and the people I have been meeting. American and Danish, I’ve spent time dining, shopping (of which I can afford nothing…it’s all very expensive), biking, and talking with many and have curiously enjoyed almost feeling like a freshmen again in this new school, new city, and new culture. (RIGHT: Anna and I fooling around while shopping!)

As I always say, TAK (thank you) for all the emails and love you have been sending me. I really do miss you all and honestly cannot believe it’s already been a month since I arrived here! Time flies, I guess, but I’m still loving it here regardless of being overcharged for my coffee and tripping over all the cobblestone. I still have to remind myself every once in awhile that I’m in Denmark, in Europe, many many miles away from home. I’m definitely getting into a groove though…one of less falling off my bike and more soaking everything in.

Love and blessings,
Christine