Googling Estonian

I've had a couple interesting conversations with my friend about the internet of all things. It should be obvious to me, but I'll admit I don't often think about googling in Estonian so it's not.... but there's just so much less out there. It's easy to get the feeling when on the "English" internet that the information truly is limitless.... but my friend says it's quite often that you just are the first person to be wanting to know / write about how to replace something in a recipe or... something.

We had an intense experience yesterday. Still not done thinking it through. First we wandered the old town, seeing the adorable christmas market stalls, lights everywhere, cute shops, people selling "glogi" - mulled wine.... and then even Santa with a sleigh. Seriously. Round the corner and there on one of the busiest streets in Tallinn there were two men passed out on the curb. At first I thought it was a performance art piece... I mean, no one was doing anything to help but people were watching. To top it off, two people dressed as hyperbolic monks were standing ten feet from them, handing out fliers for a restaurant. My friend immediately went to check on them... we made sure they were breathing, she shook them forcibly and yelled in Estonian... but they wouldn't wake up. She made sure the ambulance was coming and put them both in the recovery position.

My friend's father has been working as a medic and first aid teacher for about 20 years... it's his mission to change the culture that allow for people to walk by people who are passed out in the streets in the dead of winter. People so easily to assume that someone else will take care of the situation. To be clear, I don't think this passivity is an "Estonian thing". It is, though, incredibly dangerous here with such harsh weather. My friend did say that she thinks Estonians are particularly unsympathetic to drunks or drug addicts. It's still somehow ok for otherwise kind, educated, responsible people to look upon drug addicts and alcoholics as inhuman, unworthy of medical attention - human attention. This brought me back to a particular week on the Humanity in Action program this summer that was centered around the lives and challenges of sex workers and drug addicts. Even for the human rights / social justice minded,  these people are often seen as less, or separate. I was proud to see my friend's response and watch her take charge of the situation.

A jarring encounter, and a stark, but realistic, contrast to the glowing santa-filled picture of adorable Tallinn.

Danish Darkness Descends :S

Yeah I like alliteration and I'm not afraid to show it.

It's official. It's almost 1pm here in Copenhagen and that means I have 3.5 hours more of light today. WHAT. This is when the sun sets in Seattle at the darkest point of the year  :S

(Speaking of emoticons though... Danes are ALL about them. I can't sort it out. On the one hand super NOT emotive, but so free with the little punctuation-based emotions. Makes me realize my gendered assumptions about this sort of thing when my guy friends are always sending me smilies and hearts.... still throws me off, I'm embarrassed to say!)

This week at the HIA Senior Fellows board meeting we were setting dates for our upcoming events and it was hilarious to me how much winter weather / darkness factored in! No one wants to arrange anything in December because it's hyggelig enough with all the Christmas and people are busy and cosy.... But then someone suggested we set the New Year's brunch, workshop on conflict resolution and application reading party in February because "we'll need something to look forward to". I thought it was a bit humorous but there was nothing funny about the looks on their faces. We then realized that we were going to have chill out a bit and not have an all-HIA-all-the-time month of February...

A couple months ago my friend Rasmus told me warningly that I better find hobbies that I can do in doors and activities that will bring me in contact with other humans during the winter. Again I thought he was making fun of the situation somehow but oh hell no he was dead serious. And he's followed through, too! He helped connect me with a friend who plays frisbee and I'll be going to my first practice next week :)

THAT EMOTICON WAS ENTIRELY UNPREMEDITATED.

All this darkness has also made me realize how crazy I've gotten about hygge times and candles. The other day I was having lunch with a Canadian friend. We lit about half a dozen candles in the middle of the day and stared at them dreamily. It was at that point that we both had to admit that something is up with this place... neither of us would EVER do that at home. Nor would I find it sensible to even buy candles. Now it's like... oh, 4pm candlelight, duh!

Wish me luck with this gloomy Scandinavian business. I can't complain too much though because Hege and Lotta will remind me that Norway is further north and Helsinki is wayyyyy further north. The shortest day of the year in Helsinki is six hours long... I just looked it up. That's just sick.

Maryam al-Khawaja and Bahraini human rights

This weekend I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet Maryam al-Khawaja, a Bahraini-Danish human rights defender. Born while her family was in exile in Syria due to her father's decades long struggle for human rights in Bahrain, Maryam came to Denmark when was was two and lived here for twelve years until her family was able to return to Bahrain. Today Maryam is again based in Denmark because her family has been brutally targeted by the Bahraini regime. Her father has been imprisoned and tortured numerous times and remains in prison today along with his brother and daughter, one of Maryam's three sisters. Their life sentences were upheld this September.

Maryam heads the foreign division of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights... she speaks with an incredible passion and conveys the political nuances at play domestically and internationally in Bahrain with insanely articulate ease. The Humanity in Action Senior Fellows network in Denmark (I'm on the board) invited Maryam to come present her work and life's story in an informal lecture setting.

Here's an article that Maryam wrote about the misinformation about Bahrain that is rampant in Western media: Beneath Bahrain's Shia-versus-Sunni narrative, only the tyrants benefit. Maryam poignantly explained how over the past 80 of popular uprisings against repressive Bahraini regimes, the dictators have portrayed the people calling for human dignity and rights as whatever happened to be the international enemy of the day - Marxists, Communists, terrorists, and now Iran-sympathizers. Yes, that wasn't a typo - EIGHTY years of uprisings about every ten years. Today another false narrative paints the uprising as a wild mob of Shia Muslims revolting against a Sunni minority when in fact the revolution in Pearl Square was about demands for freedom, not religious sectarianism.

Maryam's father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, received the Politiken (one of Denmark's largest and most influential newspapers) Freedom Prize this year for his bravery and activism. Anders Jerichow is one of the editors of Politiken as well as the chair of HIA Denmark's board, and so invited HIA Senior Fellows to join the event this afternoon honoring al-Khawaja and sharing his story. I have more to say but... I'm quite sleepy so more soon....

CPH: DOX film: The Act of Killing (9 Nov)

 http://www.dfi.dk/Nyheder/FILMupdate/2012/oktober/The-Act-of-Killing-aabner-CPHDOX.aspxhttp://www.youtube.com/watchv=THh1krqYwo4&feature=player_embedded

Because Hege said so:

Apparently I haven't been posting enough according to the tastes of my new friend Hege. She isn't really (sorry) my prime audience given that I get to see her on a regular basis. But I'll dedicate this post to her anyway.

Things are overall still going well. I have to remind myself that it's ok to be tired, to need alone time. I don't need the go-go-go attitude because I really want to settle in and make a happy sustainable life for myself. Copenhagen can be both an incredibly easy place to be and a really cold/rough place. I will write more about this when I have more energy... but in some ways I think the culture shock I'm having here strikes a different, perhaps more personal chord than it did for me in Thailand or India. I need to mull it over before I try to put it into words. Today I did have a great conversation with a Canadian who is also on my program and has been living in Copenhagen for over a year. She confirmed what I was feeling - which is always wonderfully reassuring. She has lived in Syria for six months and various other places as well.

While I ponder this.... some more photos of Nørrebro:

Facts about me:

The shampoo I use is called "Nordic Hair Care" and the tagline is: "Fint, Nordisk Hår - Hennot Pohjoismaiset Hiukset" That's Danish then Finnish for "Fine Nordic Hair!"

Last weekend I went to an "underground feminist year-end party" that a Danish classmate invited me to. I spent a lot of the weekend wandering around with my new friends and showing THEM places in Copenhagen - kind of a novel role reversal for me! I successfully managed to navigate us to this funky venue with wonderful stuff all over the walls and a nice vibe. Our friend from school wasn't there yet so we lingered outside for a bit but then dove in and danced for I think over two hours before she showed up, hahaha.... she was at a cousin's birthday party.

Last night I joined the HIA (Humanity in Action) Denmark Senior Fellows Board! I was unable to attend the general assembly at the end of the summer but had expressed interest in joining... I thought it wouldn't be possible so I was just showing up to hopefully be able to join on in some projects that need extra hands on. But turns out Linda, the President of the board and all around fantastic human who has the effect of calming everyone/thing around her, had already had adding me to the board as an agenda item. After the meeting I stayed out with a couple others, went to a cafe. It was cosy.

Had a roommate bonding night this weekend watching "Klokkeren fra Notre Dame" - the Hunchback of Notre Dame in Danish. Teehee. Mirjam (my roommate) also has Mulan and Parent Trap in Danish... and some other slightly more sophisticated stuff.

While wandering around Vanløse headed towards my friend's house to pick up the bike she is letting me borrow for the year, I made friends with a lovely older lady and her Westie!!! MOM, here's lookin at you. The Westie is 11 year old and his name is Tiko. We spoke for about 15 minutes, all in Danish! Which got me to thinking.... older people are often so patient. And less often great at English. And always a group of people I like being around. So my roommate suggested that I volunteer with the Red Cross in a sort of adopt-a-grandparent program they have. We'll see how much time I have.... but I think it could be really lovely.

Today a Danish student from my program and I made a pact to teach each other Danish/English! We're going to meet once a week and exchange lessons. She is already quite good at English (duh) but wants to expand her vocabulary and improve her writing. I need lots of help. We're going to start with pronunciation and general conversation. I also really like her so there's a not so hidden agenda of making friends... :)

Satisfied, Hege?

Some photos of my neighborhood:

This is my apartment building.

BiH continued...

After the conference we had the chance to visit Mostar and Ljubuski in the South of BiH. Our close friend Marija is from Ljubuski - it's a town of about 10,000... meeting her family was just WOW. Like I said before, the absolute highlight of the trip. I tried my best to communicate with her mom and Grandma in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian but of course I have my limitations. I was able to greet them formally and tell them the weather is beautiful. I love language... my goodness. I am entranced by this place! I want to learn the language, settle into the flow of it.

"Old Town" of Mostar - an area that has been repaired since the war.

Mostar is quite a vortex. For five hundred years Moslem Bosnians and Catholic Croat Bosnians lived side by side in the city - about an even balance of the two groups all the while. During the war the two groups initially banded together to protect the city from Serb Bosnian invasion. Sadly after they were successful they two groups began to war with each other. From the Croat perspective both groups turned on each other, from many other perspectives the Croats turned on the Bosniaks. Then, of course, Croat, Bosniak, and Serb children have completely different curricula in school. Including language (though it is more the 95 percent the same language), geography, history, culture, religion, literature.... One giant hurdle to reconciliation between groups in the country.

But back to Mostar. The gorgeous, infamous Stari Most - the famous bridge of Mostar, was destroyed in the war but has been symbolically repaired. The city is insanely beautiful.... turquoise clear river running through, cobbled winding streets all about, hilly little neighborhoods, mosques and mosques and cathedrals and cathedrals. Europe's tallest cathedral tower is in Mostar. It looks quite like a minaret. Many believe (and with reason) that it was built to counter the cityscape that includes so many minarets.... quite provocative.

There is a long, long tradition of young people jumping off the bridge. For the decade after the war when the bridge was blown out people apparently carried on with the jumping from the makeshift scaffolding bridge that stood in before funds were gathered.

Usman, myself, Aisha, and Sofia - taken from Stari Most.

Still today there is a de facto division of ethnic groups in Mostar - the dividing line, a boulevard that runs parallel to the river, is still a dead zone. No one wants to build there because neither community wants to invest in the area. So all along the road you see empty shells of buildings, bullet holes all over walls.... Mostar was the most destroyed city in the war.

Marija was a great sport touring us around in circles to look at old pretty things.... this was the first old beautiful bridge we came to (not Stari Most) and we photographed the shit out of it.

Ljubuski, where Marija is from, is almost all Croat Catholic.... Although there hasn't been a census in Bosnia since the war for political reasons it is estimated that Ljubuski is about 90 - 95 percent Croat. For the first time this year BiH is planning to hold a census of the country. The reason it is so contentious is that after - and during - the war people fled/migrated/moved to parts of the country where "their" ethnicity - or at least the ethnic group they are identified with - predominates. The country is, for the reason, much less mixed than it used to be in many places. But no one knows the extent of it and therefore no one can use that information politically. For school funding, to draw election districts... it could open a WHOLE can of worms. It's unclear to me who will benefit and who will lose out in different contexts but I'm sure someone more well versed than me could break it down.

For example, Srebrenica, site of the deadliest massacre of the war, is no longer home to nearly as many Bosniak people as it used to be. The Republika Srbska does NOT recognize that the massacre took place and, given that Srebrenica is right in the middle of the Serb dominated district... in school Bosniak children in that area learn that Srebrenica was "liberated" in 1995. In years since the '95 tragedy, members of the Serb community in Srebrenica have held concerts in honor of Mladic, convicted Serb war criminal who ordered the killings in Srebrenica, on the anniversary of the event. There have been moves to allow people who are from Srebrenica but fled in the wake of the massacre/genocide (that term is political) to vote in the Srebrenica local elections. Normally you can only vote where you reside. This would inflate the "Bosniak vote". It seems to me that the census could help minority groups in Bosnia (meaning, groups that occupy the minority in their community) with representation... I have no idea how it'll pan out. But it does seem that this information could be extremely powerful.

Balkan wanderings - Sarajevo

Hello! I haven't been writing in a long while because I haven't had a computer or consistent internet... but a lot has happened. Most importantly - I AM AN AUNTIE!!! My brother welcomed his first child into the world on July 3. Her name is Alice Juliet Kinyon Minor. Though I am having a wonderful time traveling I really can't wait to get home and meet my newest loved one.

The program is over! strange whirlwind of a finish! As always with these things.

This is a group shot of Copenhagen 2012 in the Christianshavn meeting room :) Wonderful group of people.


Bosnia.... it was one of the most powerful weeks of my life. After the HIA conference in Sarajevo I stuck around and saw the city for a day. We (five friends from my program last year plus an HIA fellow from France) took a trip around the outskirts of Sarajevo. Amazing views from the hills, local watering holes, and of course the tunnel of hope. The 800 meter long, 1.5 meter high tunnel through which military personnel, civilians, food, supplies, medicines... everything... came in and out of Sarajevo during the four year siege. The entrance is strangely anonymous. A family allowed the tunnel to emerge in the basement - taking enormous risks in doing so of course. Like many areas of Sarajevo there are still bullet holes all over that home.

This is me and my friend Una (she works for HIA doing office and book keeping stuff) along the river that runs through Sarajevo. That is a cultural center behind us. Una is so amazing! Blessed to have her as a new friend. Una, and Sara and I spent an afternoon wandering at the end of the conference. It was a welcome change of pace to be in a smaller group and without a particular agenda of things to see and do. I'm so glad I'll get to live in the same place as the two of them soon.

(side note: my friend, who is Bosnian, opined that the bullet holes left behind in Sarajevo are a complicated mixture of not having the funds to repair and not wanting to cover up the conflict. Sarajevo is majority Bosniak. The war can be somewhat considered a civil war - but it was also largely a war of aggression from the Bosnian Serbs against the Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats.... but I hesitate to categorize too much. If I've learned anything in Bosnia it is that you cannot say anything about the war or ethnic groups without several caveats. Ethnicity doesn't equal religion and vice versa... but often they stand in for each other politically. which leads to more tension.)

While in Sarajevo we also visited Srebrenica, the site of Europe's worst genocidal crime since World War Two. Obviously a difficult visit. An over three hour bus ride from Sarajevo, extremely hot - the Balkans are HOT. We met with a man who survived Srebrenica, Hasan Nuhanovic. He was a translator for the Dutch peacekeepers who turned 6,000 Bosniaks over to the Serb army. He was forced to turn over his parents and brother to the Serbs but held back himself to translate. Over the past 9 years he has been engaged in a law suit against the government of the Netherlands... but the trouble is, UN troops can't be prosecuted on the national level.

Here is a video of him:  http://www.ushmm.org/genocide/take_action/gallery/portrait/nuhanovic

It was a powerful presentation. Hard to say much more about it. We all sat in a large hall and he began to talk. A few minutes in he told us that we were sitting in the large containment area where the Bosniaks were gathered before they were slaughtered. Where he had said goodbye to his family 17 years ago.

Another thing Bosnia has taught me - 17 years is an EXTREMELY SHORT TIME.

Sarajevo is filled with this tumultuous cascade of lightness and weight. Young people carry the stories and prejudices of their parents, the elderly remember a time when everyone coexisted, and ethnicity is never far from the surface although everyone looks the same. Seriously. They are all Yugoslavians. There are different religious roots but no one is "purely" Croat or Bosniak or Serb. And Muslims are not "new". In Mostar, Muslims and Catholics coexisted peacefully for five hundred years before the war.

The HIA conference was really fantastic. I saw presentations on Internally Displaced People in Bosnia from the war - there are still thousands. The shifting political landscape and national economy makes it hard for them to return home - either members of a different ethnic group have moved into the area or there is no longer a home where they lived... etc. I also learned about segregated schools in Bosnia. A MAJOR issue.

As always meeting new amazing people was a highlight of the conference. So we did some fun / upbeat stuff too. Here we are at the Eurocup semifinal, Italy vs. Germany. That's Kasper, Margrethe, me, Pierre-Anthony, and Una.

And here I am at the conference closing reception in a building overlooking part of the city. Bosnia is GORGEOUS. absolutely beautiful. the beautiful photos are coming soon.... That's Ogi and Tara behind me.

Outside our hotel which was in the hills of Sarajevo overlooking the city center, etc. Gorgeous, gorgeous place.

Marija and me in Sarajevo Old Town. FANS are such a good thing. Marija had one in Copenhagen last year and I thought it was a fashion statement type situation... No. So much more than that.

When we went on our tour of Sarajevo was stopped at an ancient Roman bridge on the outskirts of town (after looking at the tunnel of hope). I made 'friends' with two little girls... they taught me some Bosnian. "Volim vas!" We love each other! and of course: "Vi volim Bosnia!" We love Bosnia. Dang I love children... I have been wanting to snatch them all up - especially since I'm about to meet my newborn little niece when I come home! Every kid is a major reminder of her for me.

More later.... I am in Belgrade now and want to see a little something... we took an overnight bus here from Montenegro and are all a bit drowsy but I think I'm fresher than most. I'm a solid bus sleeper.

The next post will be a bit more upbeat - abotu our visit to Marija's place - my friend from Southern Bosnia, and Mostar and Dubrovnik. And buses in between... transit is always amusing....

All my love,
Alice

Amager Fishing!

Last Thursday my friend Kasper took a bunch of us fishing at Amager! It is on the ocean across from Sweden, overlooking the Øresund straight where there is a bridge to Malmo, Sweden.
 

This is us on a little hill next to the coast.... again taken by the talented Eda Elif Tibet. It was SO SO windy and sunny - though the sun is setting here.
 

And here is a group of us with a flag we found.... That is (from left to right) Arvid, me, Marijana, Tara, Carol, Ogi, Brandon, and Doron in front. Quite a fun crew.
 

Here is a view looking out at the ocean... Love the windmills. Kind of like Walla Walla, huh?
 

In the background of this next photo you can see my friend Kasper fishing... he is REALLY really into fishing and took us to his favorite spot on the outside of the city. It was super windy though so he was pretty much that only one that could cast his line without totally losing control. Still - we had SUCH a fun time sitting around all together, having some beers and chatting until the sun set. Which is quite late in a Danish summer of course.
 

Welcoming Weekend

This weekend was the `welcoming weekend` for the summer program and damn it was exhausting!! Really interesting to be on the staff end of things. Of course last year I had a burning need to interact and be known by people... but I don´t really have that impulse now. Much more of a listener role. Just by human nature people treat people in positions of authority differently. It is just so hilarious though because I´m not much older than many of the participants and younger than many others. Ironically though just by seeming somewhat ´disinterested´ by hanging back a bit you seem more ´cool´. Human nature is hilarious.

The Danish interns are really wonderful and have been super keen on including me in their social group. I am focusing on remaining in the present with the program - it isn´t that hard for the most part because there is so much going on but I also can´t help but think about my life this fall! Like I know I´ve said before...

On Saturday we had THE most famous journalist in Denmark come speak to us. Unsurprisingly - he is a TV personality as well as editor etc - he was an incredibly engaging speaker. So much of what he was talking about ran all through my thesis - theories of civic and ethnic nationalism, the formation of the Danish state as a response to massive territorial loss, nationalism as scary-bad but Danish nationalism as not SOOO bad.... all these things about perceptions of immigrants. The way Denmark has responded so much more harshly and racistly to immigration than Norway and Sweden though they share much of the same dialogue on other politics and obvious cultural connections. Right now I am SUPER tired so I should go to sleep... More soon! Love, Alice

Hello Again - I have not quite figured out how to do paragraph breaks on this thing... they show up in the draft but not when I post it - so my apologies for now! These last few days I have been having quite the cycling experience!

Copenhagen is an insanely good place to bike. It's SO so flat, there bike lanes absolutely everywhere, and it's just how most people get around. Still... Thomas was quite nervous about me being on a bike. He went over the hand signing and traffic rules with incredible urgency. As much as I can obviously ride a bike, Copenhagen biking is NOT for the faint of heart. On the one hand cars respect bikes… but bikes don’t always respect each other. As the program director of HIA put it to me this afternoon, "Bikers in Copenhagen don't necessarily tolerate - well, they don't tolerate it if you don't know the rules". Danes are big on "tolerance" so that's saying something. The art of turning left in Copenhagen is my next hurdle. You have to cross the street and pull over and then turn with the other lane... all very interesting to read about, I'm sure. Seriously though, learning to bike in Copenhagen is, in my opinion, the absolute best way to see the place and get attuned to the 'beat' of it. I already feel much more centered and comfortable after just a couple days of exploring. I notice myself fading in between tourist and worker. When I have somewhere to be by a certain time I feel much more in synch with the flow of traffic and the city generally.

Because let's face it, Copenhageners don't head to the palace and little mermaid every day. Then when I don't have anything specifically to do - like the later afternoon today - I find myself meandering, checking the map more often. That's also nice. I toodled around the Marble Church, Amalienborg Castle courtyard, and the King's Garden. Still, I'm looking forward to getting more and more into the rhythm of living here. Anyhow! I've been having some meetings with the HIA staff and also had a chance to meet with the senior fellows network. I think I might run to be on the Senior Fellows Board next year! Great way to keep in touch with people, integrate into the senior fellows network, and of course practice my Danish.

Major Danish successes today = buying a transit card for logistics over the next couple of days all in Danish and carrying on enough of a conversation with an old man today in a church courtyard that he didn't realize I don't speak Danish. But who knows how deaf he is so I'm not giving myself a standing ovation on that one. Thomas and Sarah continue to be SO so kind to me. They want me to have “real Danish rye bread” so started making it on Monday – it’s a process.... SO GOOD. Really hard on the outside and moist/amazing on the inside. I will definitely be trying to recreate it with their guidance. 

Looking very much forward to the summer program... the final schedule is all printed and ready to go! It's a bit of a strange, amorphous role I play - I'm on staff but also the go between between participants and staff. A challenge to balance but it's going to be just great. Kærlighed til jer alle, Alice

Back in DK

HELLO ALL! I decided to make a blog - mostly, actually, because one of my professors suggested I do so as we were saying farewell on graduation day. If you know me than you certainly know that I went to Denmark for a fellowship last summer and had a shockingly good time. It was a human rights fellowship with Humanity in Action (HIA - http://www.humanityinaction.org/) focused on immigration, integration, and minority rights in Denmark. I went ahead and tried to learn Danish and wrote my politics senior thesis about anti-immigration politics in Denmark. I'm sure I'll talk about it more later...

My first 24 hours back in Denmark have been fabulous. I'm being hosted by my good friend Thomas from the program last year and his girlfriend Sarah. They really couldn't be kinder. Thomas prepared homemade bread and a hummus and all sorts of other things for me right upon my arrival. They then tucked me in for a nap... during which I apparently laughed for a really long time, really loudly. They were slightly concerned about me and checked in but I was dead asleep. When I woke up a couple hours later we headed to Christiania (if you don't know about it.... http://www.christianiaooo.dk/) to meet up with half a dozen other HIA friends for a concert by Thomas' favorite Danish band, I Got You On Tape (IGYOT).

Much more to say but first - my plans in the near future: I am here now as an assistant on the same fellowship I did last summer. The program focus will be very different so I'll be challenged not just with new responsibilities but with new material as well. Last summer we looked at the post 9/11 political landscape and this summer will be all about the interface between Danish civil society and the state. I'll be leading discussions, coordinating with speakers, and generally helping to make the program run. The fellowship ends with a conference in Sarajevo after which I'm traveling in the Balkans for a bit with some friends. THEN (and here's where it gets confusing) I'm going home for the rest of the summer to meet my brother's newborn baby (!!!), earn a little money, and be with my family. THEN I'm back in Denmark for graduate school in September.

I'll be studying at Aalborg Universitet, Copenhagen Campus in the International Relations and Development Studies program, under the Global Refugee Studies masters program. I'm so excited! The masters program was recommended to me by one of the Directors of HIA. Finally, the name of the blog: My mom's absolute favorite Danish sentence that I've tried out on her is, "Jeg kan ikke snakke dansk". "I cannot speak Danish". I WILL speak Danish by the end of my time here, that's a goal I will commit to publicly - so hold me to it, please! Vi ses! Alice