Danmark

I had a really good week and a half since I last wrote. I had a busy week in parliament and got a chance to go see the lords in action. Niels took me minigolfing with his friend Janus. It was amazing to observe another culture and to reconnect with someone who had played such an instrumental role in my life.

Niels also took me to his parent house that evening. They were exactly the same since I last saw them in Denmark. His Grandmother came as well. Also, his brother philip. We had a barbecue, and as always, the Danes offered me everything in the kitchen. They are such moderate, mellow, yet sophisticated people. I absolutely love Denmark.

Niels took me back to his apartment afterwards and I met his girlfriend Sophie. She is incredibly beautiful, as well as sweet and nice. Its funny in Aarhus, everyone rides there bike. They also use a bike lock that goes through the frame and the back tire so you can't ride the bike. That means the just leave bikes sitting on the sidewalk, not tied next to a bike rack. At first I just thought they were all unlocked.

The next day Niels took me ove to his friends house to watch some football. His buds were real cool, and again I felt more at home than I do in the UK. Denmark is a lot like the US, except they do everything right. They have such a high quality of life that it makes me wonder if their lives are too boring, that there is not much personality or character to the place, you just live life. Its a hard emotion to describe, but it feels like something is lacking there. Life is almost too simple and perfect in Denmark!

Niels then took me to his house where he had friends over and we watched Denmark Cameroon. It was fun to watch the game with people speaking another language. It was also funny watching people trying to speak to me in English and then to each other in Danish. I could tell it was a strange arrangement for them.

I talked to a lot of Niels' friends to get different perspectives on the Danish way of life. It is an intersting way of living.

Niels then took me to see the nightlife around the city. We did not return until 4:30 in the morning, and the sun was as bright as it is midday. That Sunday, Niels, Sophie, and her friend Tina showed me around surrounding villages near Aarhus.

They then took me to the airport. My visit to Aarhus was really cool. Niels went above and beyond what he had to do in showing me a good time. I absolutely love the country, and the city.

Some distinct cultural differences between our experience, and the Danish
-Smaller cars and a different set of brands
-A washingtonian would feel like they were in a rural area back home in the Danish countryside
-Denmark leads the world in windmill technology, Niels is soon getting a job there
-People live in the same town they grew up in, yet they travel to a lot more different places
Example Niels and all his twenty something friends have lived in Aarhus since birth, something most Ameicans do not do. The ties to family and the home city are more like Germany than in the United States. They also travel a lot more then we do. Niels girl friend was going to Africa in a week and his best friend was going to Indonesia and Singapore.
-They ride bikes everywhere, the actually have three levels of curbs, one for the road, one for bikes, and one for the sidewalk in descending order of height.
-Every girl here is a lot more fit. Absolutely beautiful girls everywhere
-At some points it felt like I was back home. I would go up to a counter and be shocked that they were not speaking english to me, i just reverted back to my normal standards without me even realizing it.
-Smaller dwellings, way more nicely decorated.

I headed back to London that night and had another week of class at the LSE (which is always surreal being there) as well as at the Palace and Portcullis. I got lunch with a girl named Brittany from GU who works right across from me. Neither of us knew the other was interning in parliament, nor did we actually know each other from back home. Watched the US game and the British game at the same time. It was fantastic.

I also saw a play at the globe theater, Henry IV. It was really cool. You have to stand for three hours, and I hate playsm but definitely something you have to do in London.

On Thursday I hiked around Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath. It is an amazing park and it was fun to people watch and go get away from the city. I also got to see some surrounding neighborhoods, including Well Walk and Flask way. Really posh neighborhood around Hampstead, perhaps the poshest in London outside of Belgravia. From Parliament hill you can see every landmark in London, amazing views.

Wish everyone well and hope everyone has a great weekend

-Bryce

Second Week of Parliament

It is now done! I helped with a campaign for the chair of a commitee for my MP. I did a lot of letter to constituents about a whole lot of issues. It is really sad with some of the cases and my hearts go out to some of the people that are suffering.

It ends up being that the office where I work has Liam Fox's secretary in it. I am hoping to meet him some time, but unfortunately we are moving next week.

I went to PMQ's last week. It is an amazing theatrical experience. That night I also got to meet Jon Bercow. He was doing a lecture for Hansard at Parliament and we all got to go. It was an amazing experience.

On tuesday I went to a lecture for a new book about Russian oligarchs from a former BBC correspondent and on Thursday I went to a lecture about the philosopher Spinoza. In general it was a really busy academic week. My goal is still to meet David Cameron.

The game was really cool. Everyone was against the states and every vocally. I was so happy when we got that lucky goal. They got crushed here. On the way back home I gave crap to every English person I saw. All who were really drunk.

Last week I also saw Nottinghill in Nottinghill. It was a surreal experience. The Polish girl got an apartment in Nottinghill.

Things that are substantially different here:

The toliets have a button to flush and have no water pressure

There is a hot water faucet and a cold water faucet, but they are never combined

Toilet paper comes in individual sheets

There are no dryers

Elevators are tiny and they have no close door buttons


Thats all for now

Parliament So far

I have been back from Edinburgh for about a week now, so I will give you a general run down of my activities.

Last weekend I came back and took a tour of stamford bridge in London. It is a really cool stadium and the neighborhood around it is awesome as well. Chelsea is so far my favorite place in London. The home dressing room was probably the coolest part and I wish they did tours back in the states like they do at stadiums here. I got to see where Lampard, Terry, and Malouda changed, got ready, and even took showers. A neat part of the tour was walking out onto the field from the tunnel, it definitely had an weird creepy feeling to it. Brought back some memories.

I went to soho later that night. A very independent and strange scene. Lots of gay clubs and bars, lots of indy bars. Not really my place but you have to go at least once in London. My preferred nightlife area is Camden Town, just northwest of where I am staying, though I have not been to Leceister Square at night yet.

I also visited St. Pauls and a Roman temple in the middle of London last weekend. A lot of Roman remains still exist beneath the city, just no chances at archaeologically finding them since the ground is still occupied.

On monday I went with a couple folks to Bath and Stonehenge. Bath was amazing. I just took a class on Roman archaeology so it was breathtaking to see the actual workings of a Roman bath. Also had a decent Roman archaeological collection from the surrounding area. Bath the city is super cool too. Very Georgian in architecture and more my size compared to London. It is in the base of a river valley with the Avon flowing through. It was close enough to the Welsh border to see Wales.

We later went to Stonehenge. It was not as impressive as I would have imagined. It was interesting to see another archaelogical site, but it was not as massive as Bath. Very much enjoyed how everything lines up with the sun, as well as the many ancient graves you can see for miles around.

I headed into work on Tuesday. Westminster is a truly awesome building. The palace structure is even more impressive on the inside then the outside. I got my security pass and met the daughter of my MP who is her main PA. We went to her office and she showed me around.

Their is a lot more interaction with local constituents in Parliament then I thought there would be. I assumed people voted based on party, not the actual MP, but it seems that a large factor for each voter is how well the MP represents the local constituency. It is a strange dyanmic between national and local, because at Parliament, MPs typically go along with their party, with very little indepedent voting. They are a lot less autonomous then our representation in the states, regardless of how the media tries to portray partisanship back home. Here they have a lot of communication with locals, yet at the national level, through a variety of mechanisms they are forced to vote along party lines.

Having a security pass is really cool. Just showing a badge and entering Westminster is awesome. There are multiple pubs within the palace, as well as lots of little historical sites. Food is ridicoulosuly cheep in there as well. Its fun just seeing randomn people on tv in person. It is strangel eery walking around the grounds in places that you would never have access to if I was not in this program. It is strangely surreal.

Today I went to Notting hill to go to portobello market. I bought a citizen watch and a couple of gifts for people back home. Unfortunately my camera has broken, so no new pictures. I also have a gotten a fishing pole, though the way they do it here is far different. I made sure to see the places where they filmed Notting Hill while there. Pretty cool to actually see it.

Next week I get to go to PMQs, watch it on CSPAN. I have had insider access to here and the scottish parliament so far and it is pretty amazing. Priceless experiences.

Musings about culture here so far

An amazing amount of pitbulls, by far the most popular animal

all of their newspapers are tabloids, the amount of objectivity is ridicoulous

David Cameron is massively tall.  I saw him and he is a good 6'3 or 4.

People here dress a lot more nice and I finally have seen some attractive women, it took awhile.

It is a very diverse area, but completely different blend. I like the islamic population here and I want to visit those areas in the future.