The Past Two Weeks of Copenhagen

Since I've been busy with my studio project, I haven't had the time to update much on the site. However, I haven't had much time to do anything else either. But for those days when it was absolutely necessary to put down the pen and paper and relax, I was able to fit in a little bit of fun:

Joe and I visited the legendary Christiana awhile back. If you don't know about it, Christania is a small sector in Copenhagen where students, low-wage employees, and rebels against institutionalized government congregated in the 50's and 60's. It is a shanty town of hand built structures and a vernacular appeal that is extremely unique. Christania is also know the world over for being an independent "society" of people who don't want to be forced to live the way the government mandates. Those living in Christania did not pay taxes to the government, they protested with rallies, and led free lifestyles. This may sound extremely similar to the hippies in America around the 1960's. And it was. Christania was, up until about 5 years ago, just pushed aside in Denmark's eyes. Nobody touched it, nobody cared. But times changed. The selling of marijuana began to run wild, and up unitl 5 years ago it was known that it was the center of the weed world in Denmark. New laws against marijuana have caused the police to patrol the streets night and day to stop any illegal activity. Although it is very rich in its drug community, those living in Christania don't like hard drugs.
In fact, there have been cases where those who start selling hard drugs like cocaine, crack, heroine, etc... have been muscled out and sent somewhere else because that is not the style of Christania. It's a fun place to be during the day, too. If you're not into the hashish that's for sale, there are plenty of other things to do at the local cafe's and jazz clubs. It's actually a family affair during the day. Families walk through the area like a park. Kid's ride their bikes around, people taking walks, people just hanging around, that sort of thing. So, although the pictures paint what would be considered a run down, gang infested part of an American city, it is infact the character of the people that live there that really adds a sense of community and safety instead of an inner city ghetto.

On another note, last friday was a belated festalavn party at DIS. Some of the guys in architecture put together a cover band and played for the party. They played anything from the Beatles to Coolio. Ganster's Paradise has never sounded the same.

My last adventure of the past week was last night. First concert in Denmark, or Europe for that matter. It was a Damien Marley reggae concert. Damien is Bob Marley's youngest son. It was a great concert, almost front row. Five of us went, Wylie, Ian, Ryan, Ben, and Carmody. Good times, good times.