Geography lessons, gentrification and unexploded ordinances: a weekend in Aarhus

After more than a year away from Denmark, I took a weekend trip away from Hamburg to visit my friends in Aarhus.

Aarhus has changed, and it hasn’t. After a 4-and-a-half hour train ride due north, I found myself downtown in a city which I had once called my home. It was a surreal feeling, with everything at once so strange and so familiar.

IMG_1593
Downtown Aarhus. The gray clock tower in the middle is City Hall.

The EU has designated Aarhus the European Capital of Culture for the calendar year 2017, which means the city will be organizing a series of cultural events in order to draw visitors and make a name for itself.

According to Wikipedia, Preparing a European Capital of Culture can be an opportunity for the city to generate considerable cultural, social and economic benefits and it can help foster urban regeneration, change the city’s image and raise its visibility and profile on an international scale.

You know what another word for “urban regeneration” is? Gentrification. And the gentrification was hard to miss.

Continue reading “Geography lessons, gentrification and unexploded ordinances: a weekend in Aarhus”

Advertisement

Hamburg, hard drives, and assorted observations

By now I’m settled into a pretty steady routine of studying, socializing, and living. I go to class four times a week – twice to Danish lessons and twice to lecture. I go out on Friday, and sometimes Saturday too, and do all the normal cooking/cleaning/grocery shopping things in between.

Last week there was a break in the routine as the lovely Edwin came to visit me for five days.

wpid-20141114_125119.jpg
The lovely Edwin as we walked through Godsbanen. I promise I’ll write about Godsbanen soon, okay???

Continue reading “Hamburg, hard drives, and assorted observations”

My new internship (and a long-overdue update on the past 6 weeks)

The classes portion of our program finished up last week. I really enjoyed the excursions we did every Tuesday most of all. Some memorable ones included: Touring a mosque in Kreuzberg, seeing an outdoor theater production in Monbijou Park, and touring a German radio station. Continue reading “My new internship (and a long-overdue update on the past 6 weeks)”