A long one. Maybe pretend it's two posts? :)

Hi everyone!

I've just returned from my European Politics and Society study tour to Jutland and Northern Germany, so I have a lot to talk about (and think about)! I'll write another post about my experiences soon, but today I wanted to catch up on an interesting part of last week.

One of the really nice things about DIS, my program, is that it incorporates field studies as a regular part of each course. There are no classes on Wednesdays, when these field studies take place. Tomorrow, I'm visiting the Danish Red Cross, which is responsible for housing and acclimating new immigrants to Denmark during the very first stages of their arrival, with my Migrants, Minorities, and Multiculturalism class. I've also, uh, gone with my entire Health Care in Scandinavia class to a pub to study Danish smoking habits (and enjoy some nice, free Danish beer).

But the most enlightening visit so far, with my Danish class, has been to... a gymnasium.

I've been asked many times by friends back in the States about how Danes feel about the American elections, specifically the McCain/Palin ticket. The answer I've been giving is that nearly all follow it intently; US policies have no small impact on the lives of people around the world, and this is a nation with 87% voter turnout in the first place. Most are completely befuddled about Sarah Palin. ("What? Why? How?") After talking to a few Danes, I've come to realize that it's the American identity politics that are the confusing part. Denmark is going through some interesting times right now with immigration (mainly from Muslim countries) and nationalism/xenophobia, which warrants another post later, but the electorate (93% ethnically Danish) and politicians are mostly homogeneous, and the socialized systems contribute to a sense of a classless society. (I'm not one to evaluate the truthfulness of this, but I've heard it said many a time during my three weeks here.)

Our walk to the gymnasium took us through the neighborhood of Hellerup. Hellerup is the setting of the TV show "2900 Happiness," the Danish equivalent of "Beverly Hills 90210," because it is a "well-off" part of town. But no manicured lawns here - to be honest, it looks pretty much just like any other quiet residential neighborhood I've seen in Copenhagen, except for maybe a few houses having three stories instead of two.

The gymnasium our class was visiting was actually not a fitness center, but a high school - that's what they're called here in Denmark. Gymnasium roughly encompasses ages 16-19, although many take a year or two off in the middle, and the schooling runs partway through what we'd consider college. ("University" here is a combined bachelor's and master's program.) There are many differences between the American and Danish school systems, but when our class walked through the doors of Øregård Gymnasium, we all felt instantly like we were back in high school. Dozens of gorgeous and well-dressed (and mostly blond) people were staring unsmiling down at us, and we felt totally out of place... until we actually met them. They were SO nice! Sophie and Josephine (who showed me and Dean around) told us that "Danish boys are just shy" and that they weren't trying to isolate us. It was just all of our assumptions doing that to ourselves! Aww, studying abroad...

Anyway, the Danish students asked us about high school life in America ("Is it anything like Mean Girls?"), and wondered what American teenagers do after school. "Well... many stay after school for a few hours at sports practice, and the others are rehearsing performances or planning events or working on projects, often until late at night... things they enjoy, but many do it so they can get into college."

The students were shocked: "Don't they have to prepare exercises for classes?" (Danes join sports leagues and clubs unaffiliated with their schools, and when they apply to university, they submit only their GPA.)

"Yes, that comes afterwards, and then you sleep for five or six hours."

"That sounds awful!"

Which led to a discussion of all the other things that affect getting into college: "Well, you have to go to good schools, but the funding is configured in such a way that poor neighborhoods have poor schools, which is a big reason the class structure is so rigid... Then, it helps if your parents went to that college too, or especially if they gave it lots of money... Then there's the cost itself... And even if you go on a scholarship, you're still going to be at a big disadvantage if you're a person of color or your parents didn't go through the same educational system."

Their response: "But... that's not FAIR!"

"Nope. Not really."

How stereotypical is it for some kid to go study abroad in a European welfare state and come back all high-minded and idealistic about US domestic policy? I feel like a lot of us here are trying to check ourselves from being that kid. I can't count the number of times I've been in a class that's discussing some successful Scandinavian policy and someone's been like, "That's great, it works really well here, but it wouldn't work in the US because... it's too big." Or, "The national culture is different there." "People aren't ready for it." This always makes me feel a little conflicted, because I don't want to be that kid, either, but at the same time, being here has really brought home how astounding the income inequality (as a manifestation of everything else, including health and education systems) is in the US. And it's hard not to make comparisons that end up favorably for the happiest place on Earth. Denmark is far from utopian, but some things just work better here, and I wish they worked better at home, too. Is that just unstudied idealism?