I arrived in Denmark on Wednesday morning. Denmark is the only country I travel two where the line to the passport desk consists entirely of white people. I’ve written before how coming into Los Angeles, one rarely hears English spoken in the passport line. The same is true in New York, London and Amsterdam. Here, there was only one non-white person in the line. Everyone was speaking Danish.
Conversely to the immigration line, ITU itself is quite international. Most of the people I have encountered so far are not in fact Danish. One comment I’ve heard repeatedly has to do with the hours kept by the staff here: apparently they all leave at 1:00 or 1:30 in the afternoon. The common remark I’ve heard, even from Danish people is, “well you know, the Danish, they all leave early.” It was later explained to me that one of the reasons for this is the Danish system allows parents in two-income families to leave early to pick up the kids at childcare, so many administrative departments close early to accommodate this.
The ITU dorm buiding: Dig those crazy cantilevers!
The first few days have been a bit surreal. It’s Fall recess so the campus has been totally empty and quiet. ITU is sort of on this island of modernity, comprised primarily of university buildings and campus housing, and with all the modern glass buildings and the speedy elevators and cantilevers, I feel a bit like I’m in a scifi movie. Weirdly, there is no Internet in the apartment I am staying in (across a small canal from the ITU building), but otherwise it feels a bit like going 10 or 20 years into the future, or perhaps more aptly, going into some past idea of what 2010 would be like.
Danish children chasing swirling autumn leaves in the ITU courtyard.
I came into work Friday morning to find a bouquet of purple flowers left on my desk; apparently this is “from the department,” but was masterminded by Marjanne, the very nice lady at the front desk who is helping me with, well, everything, and Rosalda, the Ph.D. student who got me acclimated my first day since everyone else was “on holiday.” I had never met either of them before Wednesday, but for some reason they got the idea that I liked purple. ;)
Purple flowers on my desk.
Yvonne, whose apartment I am staying in, got home from India yesterday and has been acclimating me to the ins and outs of Danish appliances: how to use the stove, the washing machine, etc. She also loaned me an extra bike she has, and I discovered the amazing underground world of bicycle garages. Both the apartment and the ITU building have vast basements filled with bicycles, and ramps leading down to them for easy access.
Denmark is a very bicycle-centric city. Bikes are everywhere. There is even a “second sidewalk” for bicycling that is a tad lower than the pedestrian sidewalk, but also has a curb to the street. When I first came here, it took me a while to get used to this, as I would occasionally wander into the bike lane, which can be dangerous since it’s usually pretty busy.
And everywhere you go are parked bicycles. Dozens of them can be seen in neat rows on the sidewalks, in front of apartment buildings, and so forth. The Danish idea of a bicycle lock causes a shudder to anyone who is accustomed to biking in big American cities. In New York, for instance, you budget to replace your bike once or twice a year, because no matter how macho a lock you get, it will inevitably get stolen. Here, the locks are a small hook about the size of a bracelet, and latch onto the front wheel. Nobody tethers their bikes to poles or anything else. From what I gather, bicycle theft is rare. I’ve also been ogling the European city bikes here and pondering buying one just because they are so cool. At home in Atlanta I have an Electra, which is the closest thing you can get to a European City bike made by a US company. This afternoon will be my inaugural bicycle excursion so I’ll have more to report on cycling after that.
Crazy Danish bike lock (And no, this is not the bike I'm using here, but it does bear a striking resemblance to my bike at home.)
"Denmark is a very bicycle-centric city." - I know, probably a typo, still made me smile a bit. :-)
Posted by: Gert | November 09, 2010 at 06:47 AM