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That's right. I'm a Danish resident...for another 3 months and 4 days, anyway.

And after last week I'm a cultural resident, too.
Tuesday was my first day actually volunteering at the SKC. We started at the Town Hall where artwork from the program's users was on display. Their talent, mediums, and subjects vary, but they're all surely more talented than I am. Check their stuff out here.

The picture to the left is the work of a man diagnosed with bipolar disorder (I think). The pages are from his planner/calender. The ones at the top with a lot of scribbing were during his manic stages, when he was socializing, travelling, and feeling energetic. The figure on the left depicts these periods. The nearly blank pages toward the bottom were during his depressive stages when he was withdrawn, anti-social, and - as the figure on the right depicts - spiraling downard. The remaining 2 hours of my shift were spent sitting in the cafe, smiling at people and trying to make small talk about the upcoming election (taking nplace tomorrow). As I spend more time there I hope to find things to discuss with the users because at the outlook we really don't have much in common.





Wednesday is "field study" day, as I've probably told you, which means no classes. My positive psychology class took to the streets of central CPH to ask the Danes why their nation is consistently rated the happiest in the world. We asked questions like: "What makes you happy and why," "What is your job and why did you choose it," "How much time do you spend with friends," "Do you feel safe," "Can you trust your neighbors and your government," among others. We didn't make any breakthrough discoveries. But I think it's a cultural difference in expectations that affects happiness, particularly in respect to comparing the US and Denmark. For example, rain sucks. The other day I said to Lisbeth, "I didn't know it was supposed to rain today. But I guess I should just expect it by now." So when you expect the rain and make preparations for it, you learn to live with it. Also we have different expectations about life in general, like what success is, why one should choose a field of study or career, the importance of meaningful social relationships, etc. However, Lisbeth thinks the Danes might be lying.

On Thursday, DIS sent over 900 students to western Denmark, northern Germany, and Sweden on short study tours. We travelled with our 'core course' groups, which for me was positive psychology section A. See some of their beautiful faces below (we have 27 students total).

DIS knows what it's doing by making us travel together so early on.
We began our journey began in Copenhagen (far right on the map below - on Zealand) and our first stop was in Esbjerg (far left on the map below - on Jutland). We drove across the entire country which took 4 hours. We crossed the Great Belt Fixed Link (aka East Bridge) which is a big deal because upon its completion in 1998 it reduced traveling time by 1 hour on ferry to 10 minutes by car.  But convenience is expensive - it cost 1050 DKK ($210) for our bus to cross one way.

In Esbjerg we went to hear about "The Skills Project" - an 8 week program designed to teach teens and young adults from troubled backgrounds about how to live physically and psychologically healthy lives. 83% of program graduates have returned to school or found jobs. Students actually learn psychology theories and how to apply them to understanding their childhoods, who they are now, and what they can become by focusing on their personal strengths. For example, one girl lived in 15 places and attended 13 schools in 9 years. Others became 'parents to their parents' at ages 9 and 10 due to drug addiction and mental illness. It's hard not to think that programs like this should be studied carefully and implemented more widely in regular schools.

We continued on south to Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark. Its cathedral dates back to 1100 and its monestary to 1220. We toured the Viking Museum which was slow paced but necessary. And a little disappointing. We didn't hear any elaborate Viking tales and we found out they didn't even wear horned helmets.



Props to David Gwynn for this idyllic picture of Ribe.



That night some of us embarked on the Night Watchman's walk, a practice in Ribe since..forever. Historically, the Watchman had the duty of a policeman, security guard, and alarm system. He traversed the streets at night looking out for trouble of any kind. Today it's pretty much the only source of late night entertainment in Ribe, especially if you speak Danish and can understand the witty remarks he makes at the end of each stop on the tour to the chagrin of obnoxious American students. Some highlights: there are buildings which have no 90 degree corners. If the street curves, the buildings curve with it. If you buy a house in Ribe you are required to live there. We saw the house of Jacob Riis who was a social reformed in the United States and published the prolific How the Other Half Lives.

Friday we traveled to Århus, the second largest city in Denmark, to hear an economist present his findings on happiness and the good life from various cultures. For shock value, I'll tease you with some of his conclusions: not having children at home makes people happier, Republicans/right-wingers are happier, religion doesn't make people happier, having money matters and the welfare state has no influence on general happiness, and happy people tend to have lower life expentencies. He also found that Colombia (!) ranked second in terms of happiness and Mexico ranked seventh. The class did some seriously critical evaluation of these claims.

Also in Århus we visited the KaosPilots, an alternative professional school for young adults. It's a 3 year program that doesn't offer a degree, but teaches/develops leadership and management skills. Students work in teams to develop projects, some of which turn into for-profit entities. We did some team building within our class, such as "checking in" to share our best experiences abroad so far, and shouting out our passions, angers, and personal strengths. I loved that the goal of the program wasn't to get a prestigious piece of paper with a school emblem and academic concentration noted, but to create something tangible and develop oneself professionally and mentally. I need to keep these things in mind even while I pursue traditional forms of higher education.

We spent the night in Haderslev because DIS booked all the hostels in Århus and we had to go somewhere. The town was quaint and we hit the bar for some live music.

Saturday was dedicated to cultural sight-seeing in Kolding. I saw my first castle, Koldinghus. Again, slightly disappointing, but for good reason. It was founded in the 11th century but burnt to the ground in 1808. It was in ruins for nearly 200 years until a modern renovation turned it into a museum of 1500-present furniture and art, Roman and Gothic church culture, old-ish Danish paintings and crafts, especially ceramics and silver. It hosts design competitions and has a restaurant inside. But the view of the town was great and they fed us tart, so how can I complain?

And for your viewing pleasure...

...a parade of beliebers.

We got back to CPH after that whirlwind of adventure around 19:00 (7p) Saturday night. It really was a great time and I can't wait to get to Scotland with these people. This Sunday surpassed last Sunday in terms of glorious weather and I actually got into a bathsuit on the beach. Lone, Lisbeth, Chelsea and I had dinner and discussed travel and sight-seeing plans for the four of us. Lone made (Danish) goulash and crepes for dessert. Lisbeth was laughing at how much I was laughing, which was probably induced by the combination of wine, lack of sleep, and lots of hygge. But on the way home she agreed that we had had a good time and stated thoughtfully "Maybe that's why we're so happy."