Spring in Denmark

As spring approaches and the WPI campus begins to bloom, the thoughts of most students and faculty turn to classes, graduation, and Quadfest. However, there are currently fifteen students and one professor whose minds are a million miles away from all this, literally. I am one of this group of people- those completing their IQPs in Copenhagen, Denmark, and I know I am not the only one to believe that living in this amazing city is and will remain one of the best experiences of my entire life.

During the first week here, one of our WPI advisors, Peder Pedersen, gave us daily tours of the city and showed us many of the popular sights- everything from the newly-built Danish Design Center to the beautiful Town Hall, located at one end of the Stroget, the longest pedestrian street in Europe. Every time I turn a corner I see something beautiful in this city, and that first week I was amazed by just about everything. Copenhagen is all brick and cobblestone, with historically old churches standing next to new apartment buildings painted in contrasting bright primary colors. The bicycle is one of the most popular modes of transport, and most streets have both a sidewalk and a bicycle lane, each with its own set of stoplights. With the promise of warm weather came outdoor tables at every café, usually with street performers entertaining the diners. There are flower and fruit stands everywhere I turn, and huge fountains in the town squares. I remember carrying a camera everywhere I went during that week, and being constantly amazed by the beauty contained in every day life.

Many of us are committed to continuing our education of the city, and we spend nights and weekends seeing the sights and discovering everything we can. We went as a group to the ballet at the Royal Theatre, and several of us saw the opera Falstaff there a few days ago. Being students and buying the tickets the day of the performance allowed us to find seats that cost less than the program did, and it was a night I will not soon forget. The beauty of the gold-and-chandeliered theatre combined with the music, costuming, and scenery allowed us to overcome the language barrier posed by an Italian opera subtitled in Danish. In the words of Dave Jasinski, the whole experience was top-notch.

We have ventured outside the city as well, as individuals and as a group. Last weekend, we took a train about a half hour to Hillerod to see Fredriksborg Slot (Palace). We got off the train at the station, bought some fruit at one of the local stands, and set out walking to find the castle. We walked for about ten minutes in what we thought might be the wrong direction, and were just about to head the other way when we turned a corner and found ourselves at the top of a small hill, overlooking a huge moat with the 1596 castle looming behind it. What a breathtaking way to discover such an amazing building.

Treasures seem to be lurking around every corner in this city. I took a bus to the tiny town of Dragor a few weeks ago, having overheard that although there was nothing to do there, it was good to see. I got off the bus and wandered for a bit down the cobblestone streets barely large enough for one car. The tiny homes had thatched roofs, and in the center of a group of houses there would be a community water pump. I looked around me, turned a corner, and was faced with the ocean, stretching in front of me until it reached Sweden, which I could see on the other side. The icy cold wind whipped across the water, creating whitecaps and bending the sea grass almost to the ground, while the fishing boats banged against the docks and the occasional Danish local would wave to a friend, holding on to his hat to prevent it from flying away. This quintessential European seaside town is located only a half hour from the biggest city in the country.

Even though we enjoy spending time getting to know Denmark, each of us has an IQP to complete, and for my group of three, that has been one of the most rewarding aspects of our trip. We are analyzing commuter traffic patterns at eight companies in Christianshavn, (a neighborhood of Copenhagen on the other side of the city from where we live) and suggesting initiatives for the companies to take to promote the use of sustainable transportation (bikes, buses, trains) among their employees. I had no idea of the scope of this project before I arrived, but every day a new professional calls our liaison, a local environmental agent, to inquire about the project or to request the results of our survey. Working with our liaison, Anja, and other environmentally aware professionals around the city has opened my eyes to what an environmental disaster the USA is compared to Europe, and the scope of the problems as well as the solutions to help solve them. We are truly living our IQP, as we either take the bus or ride a bike to work in the mornings, and we are excited about our suggestions to the companies, as well as waiting to see how our project affects other companies in the area.

Our contact with the citizens of Copenhagen has extended beyond our projects to our everyday life. The Danish are an amazing people- they are reserved and quiet with strangers (no one speaks to each other on the buses, or smiles at each other on the streets) but once a tiny line of communication has been opened up, they are some of the most helpful and generous people I've ever met. They laugh at my limited Danish, and insist on practicing their English on me instead, which is usually spoken with a beautiful British accent and better grammar than I have. Our liaison already had us over to dinner at her house, where we stayed for over five hours, talking to her and playing with her baby boy. Coffee is served at every meeting, and at least a few minutes are allowed for casual conversation and laughter. They are extremely witty, with a streak of sarcasm, but a deep caring for each other and for the world around them, and I am lucky to be living among them for seven weeks.

If you are considering completing a project overseas, I cannot encourage you enough to go away. There is so much to learn from another culture, and so many things I didn't even know I was missing before I left the US. If you are going to Copenhagen, you are so lucky- it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, with a population of people who are passionate about their jobs, but know how to relax on the weekend or a sunny afternoon. The Danish have a word called "hygge" which has no translation in English, but most closely resembles cozy or comfortably happy. This afternoon, I felt myself adapting to the city as I rode my bicycle home from work and stopped at the bakery for fresh bread and at a roadside stand for vegetables and flowers. As I curled up in my windowsill with my bread and cheese and wondered about the best way to describe my experience to you, hygge came to mind. In Denmark, hygge has been present everywhere I've gone for the past few weeks, and I do not doubt that I will continue to experience it until I am forced to leave this city that I have fallen completely in love with. Hygge, as with every new experience, does not have to be searched out or sought after. It's waiting for you- all you have to do is turn a corner.