Pornography and Narwhals.

A couple things: So many people smoke here that the other day I was actually craving a cigarette all day. Good to know that I should probably not be a social smoker because I'd might not be able to quit as I'm getting cravings without ever buying a cigarette.

Also, the other night Magnus (host dog) wanted to go outside and it was about 9 degrees F with the wind chill so kidding around I say "Nooo Magnus! You'll freeze to death!" And my host brother just replies "It's okay, he's a viking." I laughed so hard. It's really interesting how the Viking history is still so integrated into Danish society. They love it and they are still so proud.

It seems like right now all of my classes are piling on the work. I've had two speeches, two midterms, and two papers in the past week and a half. At least I can get it over with before the study tour. MILAN FOR A WEEK BABY!! I'm really excited! Italy just seems so... unique and so full of history (and Italian men ;D). After this trip I think the rest of my program is just going to take off insanely fast. I mean, three weeks after this trip I'm going to Portugal and Czech for a couple weeks and then after a few more weeks the whole thing is over. GOOD LORD! I need to blog more! Aah!! Slooow down life. Slooow down!!


Side note, so this week is the first time I've ever used pornography in an assignment before. As I was printing the picture of a woman smiling down at a large penis at school I felt so awkward, thinking to myself: "...Is this okay??". It's really interesting to see how the gender roles are similar and different from the united states though. For example, pornography (we all had to go find porn magazines around Copenhagen, purchase them and then bring them to class to analyze, compare and contrast): I’m going to be honest and say that I’ve probably seen a fair amount of porn for a female. Most of the American pornography I’ve seen is just… not attractive to me. The women never seem to really be enjoying themselves. They look vacant, angry, vapid, or just completely inhuman. What I immediately noticed in the pornography in class was that in a lot of the pictures, the women were smiling. Smiling! Imagine that! They actually looked like they enjoyed what they were doing. Although I’m not sure how mainstream the magazine I bought was, or if it was actually aimed towards men, I really liked that most of the women inside looked like normal women (even though plenty of women are commonly still "enhanced" in some way). There was quite the variety and they definitely didn’t airbrush as much as they do in American porn (In other words: so they do get razor burn! Hurray!). Either way, as I looked through the other magazine my group brought and caught glimpses of open pages across the room, I did notice a lot of smiling naked ladies. It was kind of hilarious too. Someone holding one of the magazines would raise their hand to contribute to the class discussion and then continue casually flipping the pages filled with pictures of giant, throbbing cocks thrust in to a young womens' joyful faces.

See, she's so happy!:

I really do love how casual, open, and involved my classes are. Last Wednesday, I went to an open prison! (No pictures, sorry. They weren't allowed.) Denmark is pretty famous for this. Basically the idea is that there's no walls/fences (Although there are fences now because of people trying to get in to harm the inmates. Gang stuff.) and the inmates can visit their families/friends a certain amount of time a month, go to college, etc. They could just simply walk out and go on their merry way, but that really doesn't happen unless they are being threatened by other inmates-- and before something dangerous happens they'll usually talk to a guard about it so they can be moved to another building. Besides, if you try to escape you'll get sent to the closed prison with the really dangerous criminals and then... it just sucks for you. So the prefered place is the open prison and the inmates typically behave themselves. My professor made it a point to show us how the knives in the inmate's communal kitchen were just sitting around-- no chains attaching them to the wall.

The goal in Denmark is rehabilitaion of criminals and a typical "life sentence" is about 16 years and they seem to be doing pretty well. I felt pretty bad on the tour though because I was absolutely freezing and exhausted. I was literally falling asleep standing up. I almost fell over a couple times. It was pathetic. >.> At the end I made a real douche of myself too, haha. I was walking back to the bus and I ran into the inmate that helped give my class the tour. I told him thank you and he says "You're welcome, have a good drive home." But I was so tired that I just registered him saying "Have a good day", so I just said "Thanks, you too." Then after a second I thought-- wait! He can't go home! Aaah!! I felt like a total jerk. It was a fun time though, haha.

I had another field trip scheduled right after the prison tour to go see Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen made by Christian IV. (It's literally about five blocks from my school and I had no idea! What??) This is actually the treasury where the King and Queen keep their regalia, which explains the guard with the M16 walking around outside. I was really draggin' ass, but our tour guide was just AMAZING and so I really perked up. I wish he could follow me everywhere and explain the whole world and its history because he makes even the most minute detail facsinating. For example: "You see, the king and queen just loved pearls. It was a brilliant way to show their fortune and power-- that you could discover this beast, tear him open and find this beautiful little jewel inside". He sure knew how to enunciate-- awesome guy. :)

Here's me freezing to death in front of Rosenborg Castle:



These are the more modern king and queen's crowns. The larger one is the king's of course because the queen's had to perch way up on top of her wig. The king's crown has over 2,000 diamonds on it and that giant saphire on the front is the real deal:


This was the old crown the kings used to use before it went out of style and they decided to make that newer style in the picture above. I personally like this one better, it's so intricate. There's lots of little jewels and statues of birds and goddesses etc on it. Very beautiful:

And here is the king's throne. It's actually made out of narwhal horns and the funny thing is that he told everyone that he had it made out of unicorn horns-- and they all believed him! People were highly interested in this and it was proven many years later that unicorns did not, in fact, exisit. Hilarious! But still, I think narwhal horns are pretty impressive. You can especially see them by looking on either side of the part of the thone you would lean your back against:

It was definitely an educational day. My host mom picked me up after work and I completely passed in the car on the way home and was a zombie for the rest of the evening until I went to bed.

And now, I think I'll do just that. Nighty night!

- Jenn