Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
tear gas sux...
...in case you were wondering...
I attended a protest here in Danmark, just outside of kobenhavn. The protest was against the Sandholm Refugee Camp in Allerød which serves to isolate refugees from Danish society.
The purpose of isolation is pretty straight forward: It is to exclude the refugees from society and anything that resembles peaceful conditions and a normal life. The Sandholm refugee camp and the fences around it are brutal and concrete manifestations of racism.
So the aim of some was to tear down the wall and for others to show support. My preference was to show support, with the elderly and the young children, from a distance. An announcement was made the stated to the police that the people by the moving stage were supporters but not engaging in physical violence, so we hope for no violence from the police. I saw some arrests made and was surprised by the lack of physical violence. That was until they began with the gas. You know they gassed the people taking down the fence...not cool, but to be expected. Then, they launched an amped up dose into the crowd of peaceful observers--knowing there were elders and children.
I cannot type it into words without being moved to emotion, but the moments with the gas were easily the best and worst moments of my life. Best in that as the effects of the gas hit us, we clung together. Each one of us cursing in our respective languages (and sometimes in languages other than our own) and we held on to one another for strength speaking tongues in a way. cathartic, i suppose.
the worst in that i know what it is to die. as we left they threatened to set their dogs on us and the dogs they threatened looked thirsty for our blood. I was terrified. It was emotional. and in the end the police followed some people home.
currently, my eyes burn and my throat is a bit scratchy.
i think i will be ok and live to fight another day...
no fence uncut
no wall unclimbed
no racism unquestioned
I attended a protest here in Danmark, just outside of kobenhavn. The protest was against the Sandholm Refugee Camp in Allerød which serves to isolate refugees from Danish society.
The purpose of isolation is pretty straight forward: It is to exclude the refugees from society and anything that resembles peaceful conditions and a normal life. The Sandholm refugee camp and the fences around it are brutal and concrete manifestations of racism.
So the aim of some was to tear down the wall and for others to show support. My preference was to show support, with the elderly and the young children, from a distance. An announcement was made the stated to the police that the people by the moving stage were supporters but not engaging in physical violence, so we hope for no violence from the police. I saw some arrests made and was surprised by the lack of physical violence. That was until they began with the gas. You know they gassed the people taking down the fence...not cool, but to be expected. Then, they launched an amped up dose into the crowd of peaceful observers--knowing there were elders and children.
I cannot type it into words without being moved to emotion, but the moments with the gas were easily the best and worst moments of my life. Best in that as the effects of the gas hit us, we clung together. Each one of us cursing in our respective languages (and sometimes in languages other than our own) and we held on to one another for strength speaking tongues in a way. cathartic, i suppose.
the worst in that i know what it is to die. as we left they threatened to set their dogs on us and the dogs they threatened looked thirsty for our blood. I was terrified. It was emotional. and in the end the police followed some people home.
currently, my eyes burn and my throat is a bit scratchy.
i think i will be ok and live to fight another day...
no fence uncut
no wall unclimbed
no racism unquestioned
Saturday, October 18, 2008
re-lackadaisical
hello world. i am sorry that i have been absent; i have been traveling with a combination of dodgy internet and too much good times! i am afraid that i cannot say much in this post. what i will say is that roma is the most beautiful city in the world. if you have not seen it yet, see it soon; europe and socialism are better than america and capitalism; and i have a renewed passion for latin-based languages/people. if you ever want to go to a spanish language catholic mass let me know. i am determined to train my brain and maybe go to school surrounded by spanish speakers.
for now...
ciao di roma
for now...
ciao di roma
Saturday, October 11, 2008
a day at the cliffs
Through the RUC international club, I was able to spend a day at Møns Klint. It was a wonderful day of walking, minor hiking and accidentally climbing down the side of a mountain. I tell you this: never follow a man from Verona anywhere. He will only take you down.
On the way there:
(lord help me. i was soooo hung over.)
once there:
the cuter little mermaid 
feet in the baltic sea 
beautiful day.
our return trip:
el fin
On the way there:
(lord help me. i was soooo hung over.)once there:
the cuter little mermaid feet in the baltic sea beautiful day.our return trip:
el fin
shanny described eternity
I spent a day with Italians in Copenhagen.
ate lunch
visited the marble church
saw the little mermaid
felt up the little mermaid 
ate ice cream
saw a windmill
in a fortified city 
and took many pictures of us enjoying ourselves on our sunny day
ate lunch
visited the marble church
saw the little mermaid
felt up the little mermaid ate ice cream
saw a windmill
in a fortified city and took many pictures of us enjoying ourselves on our sunny day
Thursday, October 2, 2008
remissed the boat
I have been a poor travel blogger. So, I will take this time to apologize to my vast readership. I'm sorry.
I have been very busy and never home. Although, we I try to recount all of my adventure it occurs to me that I do the same thing everyday and that thing is not much of a subject for blogging...partying.
Yes, there have been many parties.
First, there was Arsfest. This is the biggest party of the year for RUC and the longest. 13 hours of school-sanctioned drinking. There were DJs and two live bands. One was an AC/DC cover band and the other was called Chili Machine. They are a band that covers Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine. America's thumb print is everywhere I go. This was a very fun party, because I got to dance and go crazy with all of my favorite people at once: mis novios y los guapos de espana.
Then, there was a birthday for my friend Ranocchio. For the 1st time ever, I baked a cake from scratch. It was an adventure. 1st, the recipe called for baking powder and shortening and for some reason, I decided not to buy those items and did not realize the discrepancy until after the stores closed. Shortening was not a problem, because I had plenty of margarine. However, no levadura means no cake. Eventually, I pilfered some. So, that resolved itself. The other fun fact is that it is very difficult to mix frosting and cake ingredients without an electric mixer. This made the process take a bit longer and require a bit more love than if I were making a cake for someone in the states. The end result was a very homemade looking cake in the likeness of a frog, but a very delicious cake all the same.
I was impressed and have had many requests for my recipe. It was moist and vanilla-y and one of the most enjoyable cakes I have ever eaten. This might be because of all of the effort that went into it...We may never know. The evening ended with my friend locking himself out of his room and a bunch of drunk people trying to break in.
We were not successful. So, I had a roommate for 2 nights.
This past weekend, Christiania had a birthday. This meant an enormous party where people smoked as much hash as they had kroner for. It was very fun y yo estaba mucha borracha.
The following night was the future party. It seems funny to discuss the future in the past... This was an evening of tin foil (perro no te follo) everywhere. Truly an evening to be remembered.
Finally, the last three days have been a blur of debauchery. A lesson I have learned is if I don't want to get so drunk I need to stay far away from the Spanish. This is hard to do, because they are everywhere and always borrachos.
Currently, I am trying to catch up on uploading photos.
Also, on the 14th I will see La Traviata and on the 15th I will see Italy. What could be more exciting to look forward to?
I have been very busy and never home. Although, we I try to recount all of my adventure it occurs to me that I do the same thing everyday and that thing is not much of a subject for blogging...partying.
Yes, there have been many parties.
First, there was Arsfest. This is the biggest party of the year for RUC and the longest. 13 hours of school-sanctioned drinking. There were DJs and two live bands. One was an AC/DC cover band and the other was called Chili Machine. They are a band that covers Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine. America's thumb print is everywhere I go. This was a very fun party, because I got to dance and go crazy with all of my favorite people at once: mis novios y los guapos de espana.
Then, there was a birthday for my friend Ranocchio. For the 1st time ever, I baked a cake from scratch. It was an adventure. 1st, the recipe called for baking powder and shortening and for some reason, I decided not to buy those items and did not realize the discrepancy until after the stores closed. Shortening was not a problem, because I had plenty of margarine. However, no levadura means no cake. Eventually, I pilfered some. So, that resolved itself. The other fun fact is that it is very difficult to mix frosting and cake ingredients without an electric mixer. This made the process take a bit longer and require a bit more love than if I were making a cake for someone in the states. The end result was a very homemade looking cake in the likeness of a frog, but a very delicious cake all the same.
I was impressed and have had many requests for my recipe. It was moist and vanilla-y and one of the most enjoyable cakes I have ever eaten. This might be because of all of the effort that went into it...We may never know. The evening ended with my friend locking himself out of his room and a bunch of drunk people trying to break in.
We were not successful. So, I had a roommate for 2 nights.
This past weekend, Christiania had a birthday. This meant an enormous party where people smoked as much hash as they had kroner for. It was very fun y yo estaba mucha borracha.
The following night was the future party. It seems funny to discuss the future in the past... This was an evening of tin foil (perro no te follo) everywhere. Truly an evening to be remembered.
Finally, the last three days have been a blur of debauchery. A lesson I have learned is if I don't want to get so drunk I need to stay far away from the Spanish. This is hard to do, because they are everywhere and always borrachos.
Currently, I am trying to catch up on uploading photos.
Also, on the 14th I will see La Traviata and on the 15th I will see Italy. What could be more exciting to look forward to?
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