Hey there readers,
Last week I said I was going to post more either about Denmark or about gun control (and perhaps both) but until I've figured out what I'm going to say about either I wanted to recommend one of my favorite books that I recently reread.
We've probably all heard the saying that books have the power to take us on journeys to places we've never been before. As a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, I have to agree with this statement (how else could we understand Middle Earth, Westeros, Arrakis, or even what Earth could be like in the future?) but I think it rings true especially for travel writing, and there is no better travel writer in my mind than Bill Bryson.
Bryson's A Walk in the Woods, published originally in 1997, is his account of walking on the Appalachian Trail, mostly with his old friend Stephen Katz. Some of you may be familiar with the Appalachian Trail, but for those who aren't, the AT (as Bryson commonly abbreviates it) is a hiking route that stretches from Georgia to Maine and is considered one of the longest hikes in the US if not the world. Most who try to hike the whole thing at once are young, physically fit people who can take several months off from school or work, buy a bunch of backpacking gear (or perhaps use what they already own), and want the challenge of walking through the wilderness for several months.
Bill Bryson and Stephen Katz do not fit this description. They are older, out of shape, and used to the creature comforts of home. And that is precisely what makes this book so good. I like hiking, and I like seeing nature, but I know that I don't like sleeping in tents or "roughing it" for days/weeks at a time. I get twitchy without good internet access and I'm certainly not physically fit enough to navigate some of the rougher sections of the AT. Through Bryson, I get to experience what it would be like if I went on the Appalachian Trail without leaving the comfort of the living room or commuter train. He has no trouble describing all the times where he and Katz realize they aren't "backpacking material," but makes it clear that there are still moments where he is glad he chose to walk the AT. In one particular moment, Katz loudly complains that were he at home, he'd be drinking cream soda and watching a new episode of the X-Files (which sounds a lot like what I did for my last Winter Break), but in the next moment, Bryson muses that while he misses TV and soda, he's gained an appreciation for walking in the woods for hours at a stretch, to the point where everything kind of blurs together and he gets to be alone with his thoughts, although interrupted at points by Katz (and would be even better with a package of Oreos). He points out that most of the literature on the AT glosses over moments like these, and occasionally some of the greater hazards of the trail, which makes his story seem all the more authentic.
Bryson takes his own experience and adds a wealth of knowledge about the trail as well as nature and national parks across the US. Thanks to these parts of the book, I felt like I was reading more than just a travel diary and was really learning something (I'm tempted to add "You're learning while you're having fun!" or something along those lines, but I hate it when people do that). There are moments where he adopts the tone of a worried conservationist, and points out that our forests and their plant and animal life are dwindling if not being rapidly destroyed, but he grounds everything he says in cold hard facts. Moreover, this tone never lasts so long that I felt like he was hitting me over the head with depressing facts about nature.
Bill Bryson is a great scholar with a witty, fantastic sense of humor, but more than that, he is a sublime storyteller. For anyone with a passing interest in nature, or just a desire to read some great travel writing, I highly recommend Bill Bryson's best book, A Walk in the Woods. At about 300 pages, it's what I'd call a short read, and his writing style ensured that it never felt like I had to force myself along.
Cheers!
Friday, January 25, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Copenhagen: Week One
It's been almost a week since I left America for my semester adventure in Copenhagen, and I must say the city continues to impress me, despite how bitterly cold it has been here. It may not be as cold as it is at home right now, but you experience it differently here. In Cleveland, we complain about how cold it is, but we really only feel the cold when we're walking to and from our car, or perhaps when we run out to get the paper in the mornings. Copenhagen is a walking city, and that means I walk in whatever the weather may be, and right now, that weather is cold, cold, cold. At least we've had some sun, so the cold is bearable and the city is as beautiful as it could be in January.
Orientation was great. I feel more comfortable taking public transportation - how often do you get half an hour of time set aside to read or listen to music? - and I've learned that Copenhagen is a lot more compact than I originally expected.
One thing I really like about all the classes I've had so far is that the professors seem to care about creating engaging discussion with contradictory viewpoints. Not a single one intends to simply lecture us, or to create the kind of "discussion" where we all just nod our heads and agree, or conversely just disagree. We're all expected to have our own opinions and back them up with some sort of evidence or reason.
Take the question we started off with in my "Critical Thinking in a European Context" class: What does it mean to think? We heard all sorts of explanations, and I would encourage you, dear reader, to consider the question yourself. Is it to analyze the hows and whys of an event or being, or is it merely a deliberate action? Admittedly, our class did get bogged down in the semantics of whether or not thinking requires rationality and therefore what irrational thought might be, but even then, talking about logic and rationality as they relate to thought is another worthy discussion.
However, I am a political science major, not a philosopher, so I don't have a pithy statement on thought, nor do I intend to prattle on for pages on end meditating or discussion what thought might or might not be, so here's another question we were asked, in my "Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism" class: What was the single most important event for terrorism in the past 40 years or so? I considered the Mumbai Siege or the Brevik Case in Norway, but I, along with pretty much everyone else in my class, answered that 9/11 is most deserving of the title. Fair enough, and I would expect a similar response from most of my readers. What about 9/12, though, the day America responded and developed the War on Terror, which to this day shapes foreign policy across the globe? What about 9/10, the day before we all clearly saw terrorism as the chief threat to America's existence (or at least thought of it as such)? Again, there is no clear answer here, but these are the kind of questions I love that we're asking in class.
In my other two classes, we've debated if hollow-point bullets are illegal or immoral and under what circumstances they might be a solid ethical choice of ammunition (if you smell a possible gun control article in the future, you're right - I will likely offer my thoughts in the next week), as well as what makes Scandinavian Crime Fiction so wildly popular. In the interests of time and space, I won't go into detail on these two topics. The point is, I like all of my courses so far than I ever have before, which is high praise considering the quality of my classes at my home college. Engaging discussion is what keeps learning interesting for me, and it has never felt so present than it does here. I can tell it is going to be a fantastic semester.
Cheers!
Orientation was great. I feel more comfortable taking public transportation - how often do you get half an hour of time set aside to read or listen to music? - and I've learned that Copenhagen is a lot more compact than I originally expected.
One thing I really like about all the classes I've had so far is that the professors seem to care about creating engaging discussion with contradictory viewpoints. Not a single one intends to simply lecture us, or to create the kind of "discussion" where we all just nod our heads and agree, or conversely just disagree. We're all expected to have our own opinions and back them up with some sort of evidence or reason.
Take the question we started off with in my "Critical Thinking in a European Context" class: What does it mean to think? We heard all sorts of explanations, and I would encourage you, dear reader, to consider the question yourself. Is it to analyze the hows and whys of an event or being, or is it merely a deliberate action? Admittedly, our class did get bogged down in the semantics of whether or not thinking requires rationality and therefore what irrational thought might be, but even then, talking about logic and rationality as they relate to thought is another worthy discussion.
However, I am a political science major, not a philosopher, so I don't have a pithy statement on thought, nor do I intend to prattle on for pages on end meditating or discussion what thought might or might not be, so here's another question we were asked, in my "Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism" class: What was the single most important event for terrorism in the past 40 years or so? I considered the Mumbai Siege or the Brevik Case in Norway, but I, along with pretty much everyone else in my class, answered that 9/11 is most deserving of the title. Fair enough, and I would expect a similar response from most of my readers. What about 9/12, though, the day America responded and developed the War on Terror, which to this day shapes foreign policy across the globe? What about 9/10, the day before we all clearly saw terrorism as the chief threat to America's existence (or at least thought of it as such)? Again, there is no clear answer here, but these are the kind of questions I love that we're asking in class.
In my other two classes, we've debated if hollow-point bullets are illegal or immoral and under what circumstances they might be a solid ethical choice of ammunition (if you smell a possible gun control article in the future, you're right - I will likely offer my thoughts in the next week), as well as what makes Scandinavian Crime Fiction so wildly popular. In the interests of time and space, I won't go into detail on these two topics. The point is, I like all of my courses so far than I ever have before, which is high praise considering the quality of my classes at my home college. Engaging discussion is what keeps learning interesting for me, and it has never felt so present than it does here. I can tell it is going to be a fantastic semester.
Cheers!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen
Alright, so I decided that making a full separate blog just for my travel experiences would be a bit much, so I'm going to post about my spring in Denmark here.
There's already so much to say, even though I've been here less than 12 hours. It's hard to sum up what Denmark has been so far... I'm tempted to settle for "just the right amount of different," but that doesn't seem to do it justice.
To start, I was worried yesterday, as I commonly am before long trips. At about 17 weeks, this is the longest I've been gone from the United States and certainly the longest I've been gone from home. Again, the trip is only starting, but I still managed to fill my head with all kinds of concerns: "What if I don't meet anyone friendly?" "What if it turns out I don't like Denmark?" "What if my host family doesn't like me?" etc.
Luckily, those concerns went away one by one, starting in the airport after I said goodbye to my family. I met several other students going to Denmark, and that number easily tripled when I got to Toronto and then doubled from there once I reached Copenhagen. Side note: after weeks if not months of my family trying to figure out how to pronounce "Copenhagen" I've now heard the correct way is with a long A (i.e. CopenHAYgen) not CopenHAWgen as we'd been saying originally. More on that later. At any rate, it quickly became clear that I was not alone and would have no trouble finding other students to talk to, as most everyone I met who was going to DIS was friendly.
Describing Denmark itself remains difficult. I mean, how do you describe an entirely new country that you've never been to, and honestly, that you didn't think you'd be going to even a year ago? First, the airport is astonishingly clean and modern. Maybe it was the jet lag, but I was even in awe of the incredibly nice hardwood floors that I saw after customs - certainly a major step up from the scuffed-up tiles of most American airports. I can't remember the last time I've cleared customs so easily. For better or worse, the weather is similar to Cleveland's - it's cold outside, and it was a little overcast today, but that isn't anything I haven't experienced before. The sun does set awfully early, but that comes with studying in a Northern country in January.
So far, my host family has been fantastic. I am living with a host mother and her daughter, who is just a few years younger than I am. They've both been very welcoming, and have helped me a lot with adapting to Denmark even in this short time. Danish people seem to be a little quieter than Americans, but that turns out to be a good thing - they're happy to chat but they never seem loud or in your face. I have a really nice room, and unfortunately I spent most of my afternoon catching up on lost sleep, but I can at least say that my bed is quite comfortable.
The Danish language has been the one major hurdle since I got here, but my host family speaks outstanding English, so the language barrier is nowhere near the problem it was when I was in Russia last summer. Basically, nothing in Denmark is pronounced the way it is spelled. Fair enough, you might say, but I was surprised to what degree that holds true. For example, I'm living in a town called Køge, which you might pronounce "Ko-gay" or "Ko-geh". First off, the ø is pronounced "oo", and the g is silent. Then the "e" isn't really pronounced much either, so it turns out sounding like "Kooe", with the e providing the slightest of inflections at the end of the word.
More to follow soon - there's four months of adventure ahead!
Cheers!
There's already so much to say, even though I've been here less than 12 hours. It's hard to sum up what Denmark has been so far... I'm tempted to settle for "just the right amount of different," but that doesn't seem to do it justice.
To start, I was worried yesterday, as I commonly am before long trips. At about 17 weeks, this is the longest I've been gone from the United States and certainly the longest I've been gone from home. Again, the trip is only starting, but I still managed to fill my head with all kinds of concerns: "What if I don't meet anyone friendly?" "What if it turns out I don't like Denmark?" "What if my host family doesn't like me?" etc.
Luckily, those concerns went away one by one, starting in the airport after I said goodbye to my family. I met several other students going to Denmark, and that number easily tripled when I got to Toronto and then doubled from there once I reached Copenhagen. Side note: after weeks if not months of my family trying to figure out how to pronounce "Copenhagen" I've now heard the correct way is with a long A (i.e. CopenHAYgen) not CopenHAWgen as we'd been saying originally. More on that later. At any rate, it quickly became clear that I was not alone and would have no trouble finding other students to talk to, as most everyone I met who was going to DIS was friendly.
Describing Denmark itself remains difficult. I mean, how do you describe an entirely new country that you've never been to, and honestly, that you didn't think you'd be going to even a year ago? First, the airport is astonishingly clean and modern. Maybe it was the jet lag, but I was even in awe of the incredibly nice hardwood floors that I saw after customs - certainly a major step up from the scuffed-up tiles of most American airports. I can't remember the last time I've cleared customs so easily. For better or worse, the weather is similar to Cleveland's - it's cold outside, and it was a little overcast today, but that isn't anything I haven't experienced before. The sun does set awfully early, but that comes with studying in a Northern country in January.
So far, my host family has been fantastic. I am living with a host mother and her daughter, who is just a few years younger than I am. They've both been very welcoming, and have helped me a lot with adapting to Denmark even in this short time. Danish people seem to be a little quieter than Americans, but that turns out to be a good thing - they're happy to chat but they never seem loud or in your face. I have a really nice room, and unfortunately I spent most of my afternoon catching up on lost sleep, but I can at least say that my bed is quite comfortable.
The Danish language has been the one major hurdle since I got here, but my host family speaks outstanding English, so the language barrier is nowhere near the problem it was when I was in Russia last summer. Basically, nothing in Denmark is pronounced the way it is spelled. Fair enough, you might say, but I was surprised to what degree that holds true. For example, I'm living in a town called Køge, which you might pronounce "Ko-gay" or "Ko-geh". First off, the ø is pronounced "oo", and the g is silent. Then the "e" isn't really pronounced much either, so it turns out sounding like "Kooe", with the e providing the slightest of inflections at the end of the word.
More to follow soon - there's four months of adventure ahead!
Cheers!
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
What to Expect in 2013
Hello again readers!
I finished an outstanding book today (The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick - figure I'll plug it) and one point it made is that whether you're just doing day to day stuff or working on something big (blog, novel, physics research, postmodern sculpture, whatever) it's good to know what you're working towards and to think you're filling a "hole" or niche. For example, Hardwick's niche is that he blends comedy and technology. What I realized after reading this was I've described my blog as "Come read some thoughts I have!", which really isn't all that appealing and, moreover, is what I'd estimate about 60% of blogs claim to do. I wouldn't follow a blog if that's all it claimed to be and I wouldn't expect you to either. With that in mind, this is me saying, or at least attempting to say, what my blog is about and a little more about what to expect in 2013:
Politics: This is first and foremost what I created the blog for. My goal is to make all of my arguments accessible without sacrificing a detailed argument. I'll respond to political issues as I see them, from the local to the international, but I'll also post here and there about my areas of interest, like Belarus and Zimbabwe.
Nerd Stuff: I've been a nerd since I was born really, so if I see something really cool, or just really geeky, but especially both, I'll write about it here. In that case, I'll try to include pictures. Admittedly, "nerdery" includes a wide range of things, from video games to books to technology, so this part will be all over the place.
Beyond: These two topics encompass a lot, but I'm hoping to expand on both of these. I really don't want this to be a "hey, listen to me talk about...stuff" blog, so at the very least I'll try to be worth reading no matter what I say. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm hoping to do some stuff with podcasting and YouTube, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself. Another idea I have, assuming I get the readers, is to pose some sort of discussion question and see what people have to say. Again, these are all possible idea and we'll see what happens down the line, so stay tuned everyone, and I hope I don't disappoint.
Cheers!
(Okay, I wanted to try the signoff "cheers!" because it reminds me of my time in Scotland, which is how everyone says goodbye, pretty much, so I'll see if it works.)
I finished an outstanding book today (The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick - figure I'll plug it) and one point it made is that whether you're just doing day to day stuff or working on something big (blog, novel, physics research, postmodern sculpture, whatever) it's good to know what you're working towards and to think you're filling a "hole" or niche. For example, Hardwick's niche is that he blends comedy and technology. What I realized after reading this was I've described my blog as "Come read some thoughts I have!", which really isn't all that appealing and, moreover, is what I'd estimate about 60% of blogs claim to do. I wouldn't follow a blog if that's all it claimed to be and I wouldn't expect you to either. With that in mind, this is me saying, or at least attempting to say, what my blog is about and a little more about what to expect in 2013:
Politics: This is first and foremost what I created the blog for. My goal is to make all of my arguments accessible without sacrificing a detailed argument. I'll respond to political issues as I see them, from the local to the international, but I'll also post here and there about my areas of interest, like Belarus and Zimbabwe.
Nerd Stuff: I've been a nerd since I was born really, so if I see something really cool, or just really geeky, but especially both, I'll write about it here. In that case, I'll try to include pictures. Admittedly, "nerdery" includes a wide range of things, from video games to books to technology, so this part will be all over the place.
Beyond: These two topics encompass a lot, but I'm hoping to expand on both of these. I really don't want this to be a "hey, listen to me talk about...stuff" blog, so at the very least I'll try to be worth reading no matter what I say. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm hoping to do some stuff with podcasting and YouTube, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself. Another idea I have, assuming I get the readers, is to pose some sort of discussion question and see what people have to say. Again, these are all possible idea and we'll see what happens down the line, so stay tuned everyone, and I hope I don't disappoint.
Cheers!
(Okay, I wanted to try the signoff "cheers!" because it reminds me of my time in Scotland, which is how everyone says goodbye, pretty much, so I'll see if it works.)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Thoughts in Conflict
Because I felt that the old name sounded lame, no matter how long I thought about it, for 2013 I am renaming my blog "Thoughts in Conflict." My second choice for the name was "Pro-style Nerd," but if I find that this title doesn't work for me either, I can always change it to that or something else. I will author another blog soon, most likely, for my study abroad experience in Copenhagen, so this blog has nerdery, politics, and other topics I decide to write about.
With that in mind, I looked back and realized that in the 3 or so months that I've had this blog, I've only posted 5 or 6 times. Not too impressive, especially considering my goal when I started was to write once a week at the least. What happened? Well, a lot of things really. I focused on schoolwork a fair amount, and came out of the semester with reasonably good grades (economics notwithstanding), but I ended up using my spare time more to play World of Warcraft and League of Legends than anything productive. As some of my readers may know the end of the semester was kind of unpleasant and at the very least filled with a lot of work, so my spare time became less about reading or writing and more about vegging out and relaxing. However, with the new year I realized it was time to recommit to writing again and offering something up. I don't plan on forcing myself to write every day, since I would wind up writing posts I wouldn't like and that you wouldn't want to read, but I should be on more often.
I also thought about it for a while, and a part of me in October thought, "Waah! I've written like five posts and I'm not the talk of the town! What gives?" My inspirations to start blogging are people who have YouTube channels and podcasts and books and all sorts of stuff. This was one of those moments where I had to step back and reassess what I was doing. These people have also been on TV and made movies, but they're all older than I am and do this for a living. Admittedly, there is a part of me that would love to make my living by playing video games or talking about nerd stuff, but my real calling is in the political sphere, so my blog remains a fun outlet, and as long as I get a few readers, that's great.
Okay, this post has been one giant pat-myself-on-the-back, and I swore I wouldn't be one of those bloggers who talks about themselves and expects everyone to be interested. That said, I don't have anything particularly exceptional to talk about. I will say, however, that this year will bring lots more blog posts, hopefully all of which will be worth your time, and possibly some "Let's Play"-style YouTube videos and/or a podcast-type deal too.
Happy New Year everyone!
To start the year off, here's a fun video of a Scandinavian band playing Brahms on a variety of "instruments" like a bicycle, skis, etc.
With that in mind, I looked back and realized that in the 3 or so months that I've had this blog, I've only posted 5 or 6 times. Not too impressive, especially considering my goal when I started was to write once a week at the least. What happened? Well, a lot of things really. I focused on schoolwork a fair amount, and came out of the semester with reasonably good grades (economics notwithstanding), but I ended up using my spare time more to play World of Warcraft and League of Legends than anything productive. As some of my readers may know the end of the semester was kind of unpleasant and at the very least filled with a lot of work, so my spare time became less about reading or writing and more about vegging out and relaxing. However, with the new year I realized it was time to recommit to writing again and offering something up. I don't plan on forcing myself to write every day, since I would wind up writing posts I wouldn't like and that you wouldn't want to read, but I should be on more often.
I also thought about it for a while, and a part of me in October thought, "Waah! I've written like five posts and I'm not the talk of the town! What gives?" My inspirations to start blogging are people who have YouTube channels and podcasts and books and all sorts of stuff. This was one of those moments where I had to step back and reassess what I was doing. These people have also been on TV and made movies, but they're all older than I am and do this for a living. Admittedly, there is a part of me that would love to make my living by playing video games or talking about nerd stuff, but my real calling is in the political sphere, so my blog remains a fun outlet, and as long as I get a few readers, that's great.
Okay, this post has been one giant pat-myself-on-the-back, and I swore I wouldn't be one of those bloggers who talks about themselves and expects everyone to be interested. That said, I don't have anything particularly exceptional to talk about. I will say, however, that this year will bring lots more blog posts, hopefully all of which will be worth your time, and possibly some "Let's Play"-style YouTube videos and/or a podcast-type deal too.
Happy New Year everyone!
To start the year off, here's a fun video of a Scandinavian band playing Brahms on a variety of "instruments" like a bicycle, skis, etc.
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