Eight-legged Freaks

Well, Drew had said that I would fill everyone in a little more on what exactly we saw in Freetown Christiana in Copenhagen and, as promised, here goes. For any of you who have been to the Haight Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco you will have a bit of an idea of what the Freetown Christiana is like. Christiana was an old military base of sorts that was abandoned. After its abandonment by the military the homeless and different squatters of sorts started to move into the area. They settled it and eventually earned a semi-legal status of their own sort of community. The buildings are covered in graffitied murals that are extremely political in nature. When you first walk into the area it is really like walking into a different world. There were vendors at different stands and other folks just standing around in common areas. There were fires burning in barrels and signs everywhere that warned against taking photos. These signs are an echo back to the free cannabis trade that used to occur in the Freetown. Though cannabis was never legal in Copenhagen, many did not mind keeping the cannabis trade contained in the Freetown area. The Freetown area had its own community standards against any drugs harder than cannabis and, throughout the entire city of Copenhagen, there was very little in the way of hard drugs. Since the open trade has been shut down (in 2004) there has been an explosion of hard drugs on the streets of Copenhagen. One of the most interesting things that we saw in the Freetown was a sign as you leave that informs you that “You are now entering the EU”…and it does, indeed, feel as though you are stepping outside of the EU when you are in the Freetown.

Alright, so I have some very exciting news for everyone. As many of you already know I have ‘suffered’ many years from an absolutely debilitating fear of spiders. It is an absolutely ridiculous fear but, nonetheless, has left me in tears or paralyzed with fear more times than I actually care to admit. Anyway, I was looking at a brochure for a local tourist attraction; Butterfly & Insect World and noticed that they had something called Spider Phobia workshops. I gave the place a call and made an appointment so this past Thursday I headed out there in hopes of coming to grips with my ridiculous fear. Kevin, the man who was helping me, met up with me about a half hour before the handling sessions at Butterfly World. He showed me around the different exhibits that they had and was very gentle when bringing me to look at the cases with different spiders in them. It was nice to have someone helping me who was so understanding and considerate of my fear. After the handling session (where Drew and I held a millipede and a python!) Kevin pulled me aside for a little one on one time with Abbey Sue. Abbey Sue is a rose tarantula. Kevin worked me up to holding her, very slowly. First he started by allowing just one of her legs to touch me while he coaxed her from one of his hands to another, then he let her leg rest on my hand, then we had two legs touch, then we had her first legs touch, then she walked across my hand on the way to his and, finally, I held her. I was even okay when she moved a little while I was holding her. I discovered that I really was okay with holding a tarantula because they are such a slow moving spider. I also discovered that they are an incredibly primitive spider and can be killed just by dropping them a few feet. So, after I got comfortable with Abbey Sue we moved on to the real challenge: a common house spider. Really, I must clarify that this “common” house spider was HUGE (probably close to 1-1 ½ inches in diameter…very leggy). I have rarely seen something like it in my home but I’m glad it was so big because it really was frightening. We put the spider in a Rubbermaid container and Kevin manipulated his movement. It was incredibly nerve-wracking for me and Kevin was very patient in reminding me to keep breathing and stay calm. After a while of Kevin manipulating the spider’s movement he put me in charge of it. With a long stick I was required to push the spider around and get used to it’s quick, jerky movements. This was honestly one of the scariest things I have ever done but, after a while, I realized that the spider (almost completely blind) had no idea I was coming until I actually touched it. I had to work to get the spider on a flat part of the bin as it was full of ridges and, once there, place a plastic cup over the spider. Once the plastic cup was placed there I would slide a piece of laminated cardstock underneath and lift the spider, still in the cup, out of the box. This is a method that I can now use to remove spiders from my home. I practiced this technique about five times until it was closing time at Butterfly World and Kevin had to kick me out. This session was so incredibly fulfilling for me I can’t even explain but it felt good to finally realize that I am able to control my fear of spiders. I still hope that I never have a house spider like the one I practiced with crawling on me but, if I did, I know I would survive! Plus, Kevin equipped me with my very own plastic cup and slider so I can continue to catch spiders all on my own!

The rest of our weekend was very nice. We had a house trip with students on Friday to the Scottish borders region. We went first to the Bowhill house which is where the Duke of Buccleuch (the Duke who owns the house we stay in) currently lives. It is just one of his many properties (he is the largest private landowner in Europe with more wealth than the Queen) and it was magnificent. It is crazy to walk through a “family home” and see the same paintings hanging on the walls that you see in textbooks. We also saw a model for the renovation that was intended for the house we currently live in. Had the renovation actually happened our house would be at least four times its current size and I’m guessing we wouldn’t be living here! After the Bowhill house we went to Melrose Abbey where the heart of Robert the Bruce was buried after it was brought back from the crusades. We ended the day with a stop off at Scott’s view, a magnificent viewpoint over the Border’s landscape and one of Sir Walter Scott’s favorite places (thus the name).

On Sunday we led a group of students up Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh. Arthurs Seat is an extinct volcanic ridge with great views of the city. It is a good challenge to get up the ridge but very rewarding once you make it to the top. Drew, as always, chose the hardest way up and the hardest way down and ended up coming down about half of it on his butt.

We had a nice St. Patrick’s Day. After a hearty meal of Irish stew, Irish soda bread, Irish gingersnaps and green punch back at the house we headed into Edinburgh to celebrate at one of our favorite Irish pubs here. Many of the students were a little more hardcore and actually flew to Dublin for the day to celebrate…I don’t ever remember being that crazy when I was a student here but I guess times are changing!

It seems as though spring has finally arrived in Scotland and it is glorious! We head off on spring break tomorrow. I’m not sure we’ll be able to update along the way so I’m sure our next blog will be incredibly long!!

Sweden and Denmark!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Copenhagen had Mountain Dew at the 7/11)

Well I have so much to say I dont know where to begin...... Sweden and Denmark were awesome. The most exciting thing about the weekend was I found my personal Holy Grail, Mountain Dew in Europe. I know that is a very small thing to be so excited about but I was think I had to go 6 months without it and when I found it I got really excited.
While we were in Sweden we did a lot of site seeing. The Hostel we stayed in was a boat and we had some nice fews of the river in which Stockholm was built around. One of the things I didn't realize until we got there is Stockholm was a city of islands. I believe there are around 40 different islands in the city of Stockholm.
We started the day off by getting onto a 'Hop on and hop off bus'. We took the bus all around the city listening to the audio tour and figuring out where we wanted to go. Once we got around we decided to get of and go to the Vasa Museum which had a boat that was built and sunk in the 1600s. It was made of wood and when they finished making it they found out they didn't build it right. Once it hit rough seas it capsized and sunk. It wasn't until the 1960s that it was discovered and salvaged. It was under water for so long that they have to regulate the temperature and humidity inside the museum so the boat doesn't fall apart.
That was really interesting and if you want to see more pictures of the boat you can go to http://picasaweb.google.com/drewmclean2486/SwedenAndDenmark#. That is also where all of out pictures from this trip are.
We also went to the Scandinavian Zoo that is in Stockholm. The zoo had animals that all were found somewhere in Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark). There were Grey Wolfs, Grey Seals, Elk (known to us as Moose), Grizzlies, Otters, and many other little animals. My favorite was the cute little otters because when we got to there area the two of them were showing off for the crowd and squirming around on their back. I really wish we would have gone to the zoo in the summer bacause when we were there all of the Grizzlies were hibernating.
That night we went to Fridays for dinner and got yelled at by the waitress. Aparently if you were going to only order appetizers you had to sit in the bar area. We told the hostess that we were only going to order apps and she sat us in that section. The waitress told us about the rule and said "just so you know for the next time". Kels and I looked at eachother and laughed. "The next time", if we ever make it back there I think the least of our worries will be where to sit in Fridays.
That night we took a night train to Copenhagen, Denmark. That was another interesting night of sleep. First we slept on a boat now we were sleeping in a sleeper car on a train. That sounds a lot better then it actuall was. Kels and I had the top bunks of a room that was about the size of a closest and had two sets of three layer bunk beds. Inbetween the bunk beds there was about 2 feet of walking space and a tiny ladder to get up to the top on. Between the top bunk and the ceiling there was about 3 feet above the top of the bed.

Once we made it to Copenhagen at 8 am Sunday morning we had to go into the 7/11 to ask the cashier how to call numbers here in Denmark. We had gotten Thomas' (the guy we couch surfed with) phone number and neither Kels nor I could figure out how to call him to let him know we made it. Once we got a hold of him he came and met us in a square outside his house. The first thing he said when we met him was he had 3 czech girls at his place getting ready. He had them couch surfing the night before and it sounds like they partied hard because Thomas told us on the way to his house he was still stoned. Which I dont know if thats what he ment literally or if that is just an expression for people in Denmark to say they are still drunk. Anyway, we got to his place dropped his stuff of and headed of into a full day of walking. Being Sunday a lot of the museums and stuff were closed so we just walked around the city.
We walked into this area called Christiana and it was the creepiest place I had ever been. We felt like we were in the movie Hostel. Kels will write more about the history of Christiana and what it reall was, in the next blog.
After a full day of walking and seeing the Little Mermaid sculpture we went back to Thomas' flat and hung out watching tv, eating pizza, and drinking beer for the rest of the night. We got up in the morning and caught the first train to Billund , which was where our flight departed from, and we saw the first ever LegoLand. Now when you look at the pictures keep in mind we were on a moving bus and it was hard to get good pictures while moving.
The last thing I would like to point out is inside the Billund Airport they had these booths inwhich you could smoke in and it would ventilate outside. It was pretty cool. I've never seen anything like it.
Well that was our weekend in a bottle and I hope you will go chech out our pictures on picsaweb and also I hope all is well back home.

We Miss You All

Kels and Drew