Where did alll the fairy tales come from?

I just realize all the "Danish fairy tales" or "Anderson fairy tales", the terms I grew up with, were mostly from the writer Hans Christian Anderson (In Chinese the translation sounds like "an tu sheng" so I did not register at all even though I saw Anderson's name everywhere here). Here I picked an introduction to this writer whom I appreciate for filling up my childhood with tales of adventures and relevance to what life means to an under-10-year-old.

from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hcanders.htm

Danish writer, famous for his fairy tales, which were not meant merely for children but for adults as well. Andersen used frequently colloquial style that disguises the sophisticated moral teachings of his tales. Before achieving success as a playwright and novelist, Andersen was trained as singer and actor. Many of Andersen's fairy tales depict characters who gain happiness in life after suffering and conflicts. 'The Ugly Duckling' and 'The Little Mermaid' are Andersen's most intimate works.

"He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome." (from 'The Ugly Duckling')

Hans Christian Andersen was born in the slums of Odense. His father, Hans Andersen, was a poor shoemaker and literate, who believed he was of aristocratic origin. Andersen's mother, Anne Marie Andersdatter, worked as washerwoman. Although she was uneducated and superstitious, she opened for his son the world of folklore. Later Andersen depicted her in his novels and in the story 'Hun duede ikke'. Anne Marie declined into alcoholism and died in 1833 in a charitable old people's home. Andersen's half-sister Karen Marie may have worked as a prostitute for a time; she contacted her famous brother only a few times before dying in 1846.

Copenhagen as the classroom:sustainable urban design

Classes started today. Way better than the orientation. I begin to have a sense of what the Danish school means by Copenhagen as the classroom and Europe a learning and testing ground. There is of course so much to discoverfrom the heavy history of the Old world--Germany for one thing, a study of its own right. Many of the instructors are real-time practitioners in the field of the subject the teach--they work in Danish urban design, architecture, etc. firms, and do projects all over the world.

Never expect to find out so much about the science behind the way Copenhagen as an urban environment was built and is being built. CPH was the second (or maybe the first) to have pedestrian street, and its pedestrian priority streets work out pretty well as fine (cars and bikes are allowed but pedestrians are given the priority and these streets are usually mixed with pure pedestrian streets at 20% vs 80%).

A big complex of buildings are usually left free space in the center, mostly to get sunlieght into the buildings.

The marble surface in the Store Plaza was once too smooth and slippery. One day after it rained an old lady slipped on it and broke her hip. She sued the city and a shop owner donated some money to hammer the surface to make it somewhat rocky (individual philanthropic gestures were uncommon in Europe at that point, quite a difference with that in the U.S. but not without reason.



Copenhagen as the classroom: living with a Danish family. Having essentially stayed with three families in the last month or so, I deserve to have a say over.The difference I had with the British couple, the Danish host family and the American/Danish/Swedish family.



The Ronsholt family's comments about Danes being the happiest people in the world.Things generally work here. But maybe it is just a matter of communicational barrier or maybe there is more to be discovered and understood. Life seems so monotonic with these middle-class families but it just takes a little bit of initiatives to stir up some fun. And cooking is always the most fun thing to start with!

Copenhagen semester has kicked off!

From then on this blog will be dedicated my daily experience living and studying in Copenhagen, with special focus on the Danish sustainability and also bluntness, with a curiosity to seek Danish spirituality, if any. It will also include relevant, irrelevant, serendipitous, reasonless and biased observations, thoughts and quotes.

I stay with a very nice pure Danish host family who are just a little bit less enthusiastic about food than I am (by my standard this is considered to be very good, for those don't know me and food). It takes about 40 minutes to commute every day, including 10 minutes bike ride from home to local train station, 25 min train ride and another 5 minutes bike ride to school. It is a lot of time compared to at MHC. It is a norm here of course. Anyway I am generally excited to bike except now it is a little bit too cold so I take the bus to train station and walk.

The little six-year-old girl at my host family bikes to nearby school on her own and it is a norm here.

Driver's licences is allowed at the age of 18, but most Danes do not own a car until much later. Denmark has no car production whatsoever. Cars are imported goods with heavy tax on it. Cars were just like a rather new thing for a lot Danes. Gas of course if very expensive here as well as most European countries. Our Survival Danish class professor had a comment on how cheap gas is in the States and he wished it was the same here. But I mean, gas is by all means a little bit more properly priced than in the US, considering all its external environmental and social cost. It could be more expensive. It should be.

"Denmark is the Italy of the north, Sweden the Germany."

Danes could be both sky and blunt, and like to drink of course. At least most of them.