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wait did a black woman randomly accuse you of enslaving their family?
that would be interesting, because black people don't do that!
Are you certain? Here in the south they have (could be just Virginia). I remember moving here from Hawaii in '95 and being accosted with it from time to time. Got really aggravating - especially since I'm Native American and don't go around accusing people of stealing my land. Haven't had it happen in awhile though.
OH OH OH AND, black women seriously have an attitude problem, holy shit. I'm sorry lady I'M 18, I DIDN'T ENSLAVE YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER. 80% of the black women I spoke to looked at me with utter disdain, and contempt even the one working in Abercrombie and Fitch. The men were fine, especially the older men because they know how relatively good they've got it compared to 30 - 40 years ago. I actually experienced the same kind of thing with the inuits of Greenland, the young inuits saw me and my parents as the "white devil" who took their country but the older generation were warm and understood how much change we'd brought around for them and how much welfare we get for Greenland compared to before.
Yeeaaaaah. Well, as a half-Black female, let me assure you its not just you they give attitude to. Its...anyone who happens to walk into their unfortunate path. Not ALL of us, obviously, but I have noticed it a great deal from that side of my heritage. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it has to do with slavery, just a general "don't try to fuck me over" persona they happen to adapt. A lot of us are friendly though
So yeah, there is a small minority of black females that do have a serious attitude problem, but its not all of us. Just a small minority of really loud people. You can find them anywhere and in any race. Working at Macy's back in Colorado, I've run into white women with serious attitudes. It really just depends on where you're at.
Mim on
BlueSky: thequeenofchaos Steam: mimspanks (add me then tell me who you are! Ask for my IG)
S'true. An entire half of my family tends to fall in to black stereotypes in behavior, but it's from the local culture, not their race. Africa is about the only inhabited continent NOT represented in our bloodlines.
Is there anywhere in the world where American accents are dug, or does everyone just think we sound like baboons?
Depends on the accent, in Britain at least, the 'General American' won't even be blinked at, but an interesting regional accent will get attention, positive or negative depending on the accent and the listener. Though the British reserve our best disdain for the low regarded local accents - an American accent is in my experience quite unlikely to be disliked. Its volume on the other hand...
Yeeaaaaah. Well, as a half-Black female, let me assure you its not just you they give attitude to. Its...anyone who happens to walk into their unfortunate path. Not ALL of us, obviously, but I have noticed it a great deal from that side of my heritage. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it has to do with slavery, just a general "don't try to fuck me over" persona they happen to adapt. A lot of us are friendly though
So yeah, there is a small minority of black females that do have a serious attitude problem, but its not all of us. Just a small minority of really loud people. You can find them anywhere and in any race. Working at Macy's back in Colorado, I've run into white women with serious attitudes. It really just depends on where you're at.
Yeah of course I know, it's just I wasn't expecting so many of them to live up to the stereotype created by silly sitcoms.
All of it. 80% of Danish TV are American and English TV shows, with the other 20% being Danish versions of English TV shows (X-Factors and Britain's Got Talent etc.) and actual Danish shows. DR1 the Danish equivalent of BBC usually brings out 1 show a year that they really spend big bucks and it always blows everyones mind e.g. Nikolaj og Julie, Kroenikken and Oernen etc. Not that you'd know them. We do sub all of the American/English movies and series rather than dub them which is why Scandinavians are easily the best at English in the world without having it as a native language, with the Dutch/Belgians maybe as good since they sub too.
This might be redundant, since I'm Danish like the OP, but I'll answer any questions about our mighty nation and its territorial disputes with Canada. Also pastries.
Stop trying to take our islands!
YOUR ISLANDS? I think your mistaken, they're OUR islands.
Depends on the accent, in Britain at least, the 'General American' won't even be blinked at, but an interesting regional accent will get attention, positive or negative depending on the accent and the listener. Though the British reserve our best disdain for the low regarded local accents - an American accent is in my experience quite unlikely to be disliked. Its volume on the other hand...
Oh jesus, joseph and mary I can't stand Geordie or Scouse accents - they're absolute aweful.
No offence to any Geordies or Scousers out there, I just don't want to hear you speak :P
Cristo on
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
I am sorry to say that racism in Denmark has been on the rise for the last decade, at the least. The right-wing populist "Danish People's Party" has entirely too much influence, and most other parties are copying their agenda to some degree. That said, there aren't hate crimes, White Supremacists or stuff like that in any noticeable amount. And most people are decent and kind on a personal level - they just vote for jerks. Also, the racism is almost entirely directed towards Muslims. They're like our blacks, or Jews (yes, I am Godwinning my own country)
The largest concentrations of immigrants are in the capital Copenhagen ( especially the neighbourhood Nørrebro) so this or Aarhus is the place if you want to blend in. In the country, almost everyone is white, but friendly and welcoming enough. If you want to go rural i recommend Svendborg on southern Funen - beautiful nature, lots of creative people and liberals (yes, ok, hippies).
Also, we're apparently the happiest country in the world.
YOUR ISLANDS? I think your mistaken, they're OUR islands.
Dannebrog shall flutter forever in the winds of Hans Island. God Save the Queen (Margrethe, not Elizabeth or Victoria)!
But on a more serious note, I am probably going to Canada this summer - Montreal to be specific. And then a roadtrip through New England. Any of you North Americans got any tourist tips, if it's not too OT?
Is there anywhere in the world where American accents are dug, or does everyone just think we sound like baboons?
They're much less interesting when you're exposed to them via TV all the time. A southern accent is probably the exception, though.
So you're telling me that leaning on an affected Southern accent is useful somewhere other than the side of a road, talking to a good-old-boy traffic cop? Sign me up!
SithDrummer on
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
This might be redundant, since I'm Danish like the OP, but I'll answer any questions about our mighty nation and its territorial disputes with Canada. Also pastries.
Stop trying to take our islands!
YOUR ISLANDS? I think your mistaken, they're OUR islands.
It's adorable to see lesser countries squabble over territory. Any land you own is land we haven't bothered to take. USA! USA! USA!
Don't take it too seriously because I'm kind of hoping to flee to your country if this whole America thing doesn't work out.
Cervetus on
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jakobaggerLO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTOREDRegistered Userregular
I am sorry to say that racism in Denmark has been on the rise for the last decade, at the least. The right-wing populist "Danish People's Party" has entirely too much influence, and most other parties are copying their agenda to some degree. That said, there aren't hate crimes, White Supremacists or stuff like that in any noticeable amount. And most people are decent and kind on a personal level - they just vote for jerks. Also, the racism is almost entirely directed towards Muslims. They're like our blacks, or Jews (yes, I am Godwinning my own country)
The largest concentrations of immigrants are in the capital Copenhagen ( especially the neighbourhood Nørrebro) so this or Aarhus is the place if you want to blend in. In the country, almost everyone is white, but friendly and welcoming enough. If you want to go rural i recommend Svendborg on southern Funen - beautiful nature, lots of creative people and liberals (yes, ok, hippies).
Also, we're apparently the happiest country in the world.
But I want to take a picture cupping the mermaid's boobs! :P
Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep them in mind if I ever get the chance to visit Denmark.
Because those people are....racist? That is usually what you call not liking someone solely based on their race.
I'm pretty sure that you know that isn't the reason. If we were so racist we wouldn't have let them in in the beginning, like Switzerland.
No, it's the way more than a few of them have acted after we let them in. All their gangs and shit, Black Cobras this and International Bande that and whatnot.
You know almost a third of all the incarcerated in Denmark are immigrants? 955 out of 3,700, comparing that with a population of 300,000 to 5.3 million says something. Granted that's a statistic from 2004, but something tells me it won't have gone the other way since then.
I'm pretty sure that you know that isn't the reason. If we were so racist we wouldn't have let them in in the beginning, like Switzerland.
No, it's the way more than a few of them have acted after we let them in. All their gangs and shit, Black Cobras this and International Bande that and whatnot.
You know almost a third of all the incarcerated in Denmark are immigrants? 955 out of 3,700, comparing that with a population of 300,000 to 5.3 million says something. Granted that's a statistic from 2004, but something tells me it won't have gone the other way since then.
And absolutely none of this is from racial profiling et al?
But I want to take a picture cupping the mermaid's boobs! :P
Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep them in mind if I ever get the chance to visit Denmark.
)
Also, don't take too much heed about the racism thing. It's mainly directed at Muslims, I think most of the anger directed towards them was the way a lot of them reacted after the Muhammed Cartoons.
But at least we aren't like the Spanish! Danes are only hateful against the Middle East, the Spaniards hate everyone who isn't Spanish. I live in Southern Spain, and you won't believe some of the shit we have to put up with.
whereas the USA has had roughly the same culture from coast to coast for many a year now.
Eh. You'd be surprised.
And that actually leads to an interesting (to me) question.
What parts of America did the Europeans who have visited see? NYC and DC are places I like to visit and they are similar in they are both world capitals (if you will), have some extreme wealth strata and are highly populated by people who have come to the city for its economic opportunity. There are some of the "bluest" (in our political language) places in the country. To me it seems like the places a visitor is most likely to travel to - NYC, DC, Boston, LA, SF, SD, Seattle, Philly, maybe Chicago - tend to be coastal, more educated, liberal, etc. I wonder what the "red states" look like to an outsider, whether the South or the sparsely populated Plains and West.
And absolutely none of this is from racial profiling et al?
It might be, who knows. All I know is everytime I'm in Denmark and I turn on the radio or watch the TV, there's always been a rape or murder with a suspect or criminal caught being of "another ethnic distinction". They never directly say Muslims or whatever, they're always careful to say that and I realise how the media like to pick on certain cases and that white people commit crime to and blah blah blah but Danish news aren't like Fox. We've basically got DR and TV2 News who are the equivalent of BBC and CNN/Sky News (although not nearly as international).
Like it or not, there's a serious problem. Partly it's our fault for not successfully integrating them when they first arrived, and partly it's their fault for not doing enough to integrate.
I'd say in scandinavia a problem with imigrants is that they are asylum seekers. That is to say they come here claiming to be persecuted in their own lands. While this is often true, they also often tend to forget telling why they where persecuted. Like for being a drugdealer or crook. And its not like we can call up their old countries and expect a straight answer( So mr. Iranian goverment man, you say Ali is a sheep-fucking crook and not a pro-democracy student like he claims? We will send him straight back to you then :P).
BTW Cristos, the reason loads of spaniards hate foreigners is because a lot of them settle in the south of spain and treat the natives like crap, expecting everyone to bow to them an do things their way.
Kipling217 on
The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
OH OH OH AND, black women seriously have an attitude problem, holy shit. I'm sorry lady I'M 18, I DIDN'T ENSLAVE YOUR GREAT-GRANDMOTHER. 80% of the black women I spoke to looked at me with utter disdain, and contempt even the one working in Abercrombie and Fitch. The men were fine, especially the older men because they know how relatively good they've got it compared to 30 - 40 years ago. I actually experienced the same kind of thing with the inuits of Greenland, the young inuits saw me and my parents as the "white devil" who took their country but the older generation were warm and understood how much change we'd brought around for them and how much welfare we get for Greenland compared to before.
Yeeaaaaah. Well, as a half-Black female, let me assure you its not just you they give attitude to. Its...anyone who happens to walk into their unfortunate path. Not ALL of us, obviously, but I have noticed it a great deal from that side of my heritage. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it has to do with slavery, just a general "don't try to fuck me over" persona they happen to adapt. A lot of us are friendly though
So yeah, there is a small minority of black females that do have a serious attitude problem, but its not all of us. Just a small minority of really loud people. You can find them anywhere and in any race. Working at Macy's back in Colorado, I've run into white women with serious attitudes. It really just depends on where you're at.
It must be something that happens to Europeans and other white people?
Okay, that came out weird, but I think that's the case. I first came to the American South about six years ago, maybe a bit less, after living primarily in East Asia.
Not surprisingly, that was the first time I'd interacted with Black Americans in any major numbers (there were a handful in Yokohama, but most black people tended to be from south/western Africa, and even those were fairly rare). And to be completely honest, I have no complaints about politeness from black women here. Really, of any age group.
I do have a lot of complaints about white people--very specifically, adolescent white men--who have a minority of people who are very obnoxious if you have an accent (this pushed me towards learning a more neutral English). It's kind of hard to describe beyond "these kids have serious attitude problems" and "they clearly think their God's gift to this world". I think, however, this might be a Georgian thing. Perhaps my experiences with black women are also part of the Georgia culture.
When I came back to Georgia from service in 2008, it was particularly bad again, because I'd unintentionally lost a lot of my progress towards neutral English, and I ended up "getting lip" for my accent again, but it went away as soon as I got to Athens.
But to return to the point--no rudeness experience from black women. If I think very hard, I can think of one or two incidents of rudeness from strangers that would qualify, but it's still less than for white women. I say white women because there are very few women in this part of Georgia who are not white or black, and even then, it's staggered very heavily to the former. Maybe I've just experienced a unique circumstance, or maybe it's because I don't Caucasian European or American?
I am really far behind on American race relations, as you might have figured.
Oh that's another thing. For those of you who moved to the US from other countries, do you feel that this country is noteworthy in its freedom compared to other developed nations, or are we a bunch of grandstanding bullshitters?
Oh that's another thing. For those of you who moved to the US from other countries, do you feel that this country is noteworthy in its freedom compared to other developed nations, or are we a bunch of grandstanding bullshitters?
Compared to other developing nations? Most of the elements of one's life are relatively constant across the first world. Some countries have mandated military service, and some have higher taxes... but for the most part you can get up in the morning, eat with your family, go to work, buy crap with the money you made at work, go to the movies, talk crap about the president, volunteer in the political process, have sex with whoever you want as long as they have pubes and are alive...
I come from Israel which, while no Saudi Arabia, is definitely a little limiting in lifestyle in some parts of the country. To me America is 'more free', but so are the other first world countries I've visited- Germany, France, etc.
It was actually this place called the Goose Tavern, I forget what street it was on. It was in one of those newish suburbs once you get way north of Dublin, a few blocks away from some old college/school where we used to go to class. We all went there to drink because it was just a few blocks away from our host family's houses.
Maybe it wasn't so much ritzy (like, posh) as it was just a really nice pub. Good carpet/rugs, big leather seats, stuff like that. It didn't have really expensive drinks or anything, most of the people looked like old-timers or regulars. You could tell it wasn't really the sort of place people came and got really trashed but, you know, hell with it, I'm an American on a study abroad, you have to keep up appearances.
And yeah, I had heard Ahern wasn't that popular in Ireland but it's still pretty cool to say that I ran into a head of state in a pub, you know?
Best laugh I've had today, and I just got back from Observe and Report. Well, it was a bit of a shithole when I lived around the corner from it about 2 years ago. Definitely, definitely NOT posh! But, if you had a good time, who cares?
Well, keep in mind that I'm a Kentuckian, so I have very different standards on what makes a "nice" pub than what you probably do. Around here I'll pretty much give a :^: to anyplace that's well-lit, has places to sit and you don't feel like you're going to end up in a fight before the night is over. Pool tables if you're really classy. A shitty bar (we don't even really have what I would call a 'pub') would be one that was either a haven for obnoxious frat boys (irritating) or if you're really unlucky and end up in the wrong part of town, gun-wielding rednecks (bad) or burly drug dealing bikers (fucked). So, as long as there's carpet on the floor instead of sawdust and the barstaff isn't composed exclusively of ex-cons, it feels pretty nice to me.
I'll also second that I liked Galway much better than Dublin. Relaxed atmosphere, easy to get around in, and not so much a rat-race like Dublin is. I also found the west Irish accent was much easier to understand than the Dublin accents I heard; for the first few days in Dublin I kept having to ask people to repeat themselves and I hate doing that. I think it's because a lot of our ancestors back home originally came from the western side of Ireland.
Also, speaking of accents, that was one thing I really liked about Ireland - people didn't give me shit for mine. I have a pretty thick accent and it was even thicker back then, and people in the US can be pretty openly condescending toward you if you have an accent like I do. In Ireland, though, we actually had people we were talking to compliment us on the way we talked; I guess we didn't sound like most of the Americans they were used to hearing.
EDIT: Also, rereading my message, I meant to say the Goose wasn't what I would call "posh", just... comfortable. At least compared to what I'm used to.
Interesting timing. My sister is moving to Germany soonish. Something about a job as an au pair. Doesn't speak a word of German, which confuses the hell out of me. Well, she might know "guten tag!".
So. What can she expect? How much of a culture shock is it going to be? Are there enough dual-language types that she can get by, or is she going to need a massive crash course?
Anywhere you move is going to be a culture shock. Hell, moving to another city can have a pretty big culture shock if it's far enough away.
She'll pick up the local language pretty quick when she has to start using it for pretty much everything. It really doesn't take as long as you'd think when you're completely immersed in it from sunup to sundown.
Oh that's another thing. For those of you who moved to the US from other countries, do you feel that this country is noteworthy in its freedom compared to other developed nations, or are we a bunch of grandstanding bullshitters?
My brother complains about the fact that when living in an American suburb, your entire life is essentially already planned. There's no creativity. Where you go and hang out is already dictated. You go to the mall. Where you skate. What you do during the weekends. Who you hang out with. What clothes you wear. That you have to rent a limo for the prom. It's all inside this network of things someone already planned out for you by someone else in advance. He keeps saying that he feels sorry that there are so many American who grow up inside suburbia.
In many ways I agreed with him even though when I'm looking at Europe and America there's not too much difference. I mean, we still have planned neighborhoods and social stigmas and all of that in Europe, but...there's just this weird stigma surrounding life in America that's hard to put your finger on what exactly it is and what is causing it. So, I know exactly what my brother is talking about because I can also sense it, but we both can't really figure out exactly what's causing it. For some reason we feel more locked in as human beings here. It has nothing to do with wealth or freedom, really.
Mastgrr on
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Oh that's another thing. For those of you who moved to the US from other countries, do you feel that this country is noteworthy in its freedom compared to other developed nations, or are we a bunch of grandstanding bullshitters?
My brother complains about the fact that when living in an American suburb, your entire life is essentially already planned. There's no creativity. Where you go and hang out is already dictated. You go to the mall. Where you skate. What you do during the weekends. Who you hang out with. What clothes you wear. That you have to rent a limo for the prom. It's all inside this network of things someone already planned out for you by someone else in advance. He keeps saying that he feels sorry that there are so many American who grow up inside suburbia.
In many ways I agreed with him even though when I'm looking at Europe and America there's not too much difference. I mean, we still have planned neighborhoods and social stigmas and all of that in Europe, but...there's just this weird stigma surrounding life in America that's hard to put your finger on what exactly it is and what is causing it. So, I know exactly what my brother is talking about because I can also sense it, but we both can't really figure out exactly what's causing it. For some reason we feel more locked in as human beings here.
Wow. There are plenty of valid complaints against Suburbia, but that just might be the dumbest one I've ever heard.
A good cheeseburger was hard to find in Israel in my childhood- for obvious reasons.
Well, they exist if you look hard enough, the same as you can find shrimp if you look really hard.
Do you know how long it's been since I had some decent falafel/shwarma? Or even bad falafel/shwarma?
I remember I was in this burger joint in Jerusalem last summer and we were sitting at the bar or whatever, talking to the cook, and these two girls from California, presumably Jewish but obviously not very devout, walked in and said, "CAN I JUST HAVE, LIKE, A CHEESEBURGER, WITH...". The cook didn't speak much English and he just looked at them like they'd tried to order fried rat or something, so my best friend and had to explain to these two Valley Girls, in our braying mid-Appalachian accents, "You cain't git a cheezeburgur here. You cain't mix yer dairy and meet products becaws it vilates one of the rules in the Talmud."
It was surreal, to say the least. I kept expecting Steve Martin to walk in or something.
Duffel on
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
A good cheeseburger was hard to find in Israel in my childhood- for obvious reasons.
Well, they exist if you look hard enough, the same as you can find shrimp if you look really hard.
Do you know how long it's been since I had some decent falafel/shwarma? Or even bad falafel/shwarma?
I remember I was in this burger joint in Jerusalem last summer and we were sitting at the bar or whatever, talking to the cook, and these two girls from California, presumably Jewish but obviously not very devout, walked in and said, "CAN I JUST HAVE, LIKE, A CHEESEBURGER, WITH...". The cook didn't speak much English and he just looked at them like they'd tried to order fried rat or something, so my best friend and had to explain to these two Valley Girls, in our braying mid-Appalachian accents, "You cain't git a cheezeburgur here. You cain't mix yer dairy and meet products becaws it vilates one of the rules in the Talmud."
It was surreal, to say the least. I kept expecting Steve Martin to walk in or something.
I love living near a Labanese Taverna, so I can get that shit whenever I want. So good.
Oh that's another thing. For those of you who moved to the US from other countries, do you feel that this country is noteworthy in its freedom compared to other developed nations, or are we a bunch of grandstanding bullshitters?
My brother complains about the fact that when living in an American suburb, your entire life is essentially already planned. There's no creativity. Where you go and hang out is already dictated. You go to the mall. Where you skate. What you do during the weekends. Who you hang out with. What clothes you wear. That you have to rent a limo for the prom. It's all inside this network of things someone already planned out for you by someone else in advance. He keeps saying that he feels sorry that there are so many American who grow up inside suburbia.
In many ways I agreed with him even though when I'm looking at Europe and America there's not too much difference. I mean, we still have planned neighborhoods and social stigmas and all of that in Europe, but...there's just this weird stigma surrounding life in America that's hard to put your finger on what exactly it is and what is causing it. So, I know exactly what my brother is talking about because I can also sense it, but we both can't really figure out exactly what's causing it. For some reason we feel more locked in as human beings here.
Wow. There are plenty of valid complaints against Suburbia, but that just might be the dumbest one I've ever heard.
I'm inclined to agree. If I had to criticize American suburbia, I'd say because much of it strikes me as a financially and environmentally unsustainable model of human existence, like a very mild version of Dubai, but on a scope on the order of magnitudes greater than anything else ever created. There are lots of cities all over the world that are extremely monotone and repetitive. I grew up in one.
One thing that greatly impressed me in America was the lack of mandatory military service for males. I was very impressed by this, especially given the military status of the country itself. Of course, I had to go back home for more than a year to do my service, so I'm biased.
It sucked, so I'm considering its absence a noteworthy freedom in America. Plus, it sucked in a sort of developing country, so....relevant, I think?
Man that's some ridiculous religious law. Not even anything wrong with either of them, but if they touch then they activate magical powers to send your soul to hell. I guess it's the religious equivalent of "It's not gay unless balls touch."
Posts
Are you certain? Here in the south they have (could be just Virginia). I remember moving here from Hawaii in '95 and being accosted with it from time to time. Got really aggravating - especially since I'm Native American and don't go around accusing people of stealing my land. Haven't had it happen in awhile though.
Yeeaaaaah. Well, as a half-Black female, let me assure you its not just you they give attitude to. Its...anyone who happens to walk into their unfortunate path. Not ALL of us, obviously, but I have noticed it a great deal from that side of my heritage. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think it has to do with slavery, just a general "don't try to fuck me over" persona they happen to adapt. A lot of us are friendly though
So yeah, there is a small minority of black females that do have a serious attitude problem, but its not all of us. Just a small minority of really loud people. You can find them anywhere and in any race. Working at Macy's back in Colorado, I've run into white women with serious attitudes. It really just depends on where you're at.
Depends on the accent, in Britain at least, the 'General American' won't even be blinked at, but an interesting regional accent will get attention, positive or negative depending on the accent and the listener. Though the British reserve our best disdain for the low regarded local accents - an American accent is in my experience quite unlikely to be disliked. Its volume on the other hand...
Yeah of course I know, it's just I wasn't expecting so many of them to live up to the stereotype created by silly sitcoms.
All of it. 80% of Danish TV are American and English TV shows, with the other 20% being Danish versions of English TV shows (X-Factors and Britain's Got Talent etc.) and actual Danish shows. DR1 the Danish equivalent of BBC usually brings out 1 show a year that they really spend big bucks and it always blows everyones mind e.g. Nikolaj og Julie, Kroenikken and Oernen etc. Not that you'd know them. We do sub all of the American/English movies and series rather than dub them which is why Scandinavians are easily the best at English in the world without having it as a native language, with the Dutch/Belgians maybe as good since they sub too.
YOUR ISLANDS? I think your mistaken, they're OUR islands.
Oh jesus, joseph and mary I can't stand Geordie or Scouse accents - they're absolute aweful.
No offence to any Geordies or Scousers out there, I just don't want to hear you speak :P
Tourism: the freetown Christiania in Copenhagen, and well, the rest of Copenhagen. Particularly interesting if you like: history, architecture, design, beer, beautiful people. Apart from that: southern Funen, Silkeborg, northern Jutland, the small Islands, town of Ribe. There are lots of CouchSurf users, stay with them, and don't see the Little Mermaid, H.C.Andersens house and other cliché tourist stuff. It is lamer even than tourist stuff in other countries.
Spoilered for rant about Denmark:
The largest concentrations of immigrants are in the capital Copenhagen ( especially the neighbourhood Nørrebro) so this or Aarhus is the place if you want to blend in. In the country, almost everyone is white, but friendly and welcoming enough. If you want to go rural i recommend Svendborg on southern Funen - beautiful nature, lots of creative people and liberals (yes, ok, hippies).
Also, we're apparently the happiest country in the world.
Dannebrog shall flutter forever in the winds of Hans Island. God Save the Queen (Margrethe, not Elizabeth or Victoria)!
But on a more serious note, I am probably going to Canada this summer - Montreal to be specific. And then a roadtrip through New England. Any of you North Americans got any tourist tips, if it's not too OT?
A couple pages back, but... we went to Hard Rock at Down Town Disney, and it was fucking great.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
Truth has been spoken!
It's just a damne shame that the current Danish monarchy is a stain on our national pride.
It's adorable to see lesser countries squabble over territory. Any land you own is land we haven't bothered to take. USA! USA! USA!
Because those people are....racist? That is usually what you call not liking someone solely based on their race.
But I want to take a picture cupping the mermaid's boobs! :P
Thanks for all the tips. I'll keep them in mind if I ever get the chance to visit Denmark.
I'm pretty sure that you know that isn't the reason. If we were so racist we wouldn't have let them in in the beginning, like Switzerland.
No, it's the way more than a few of them have acted after we let them in. All their gangs and shit, Black Cobras this and International Bande that and whatnot.
You know almost a third of all the incarcerated in Denmark are immigrants? 955 out of 3,700, comparing that with a population of 300,000 to 5.3 million says something. Granted that's a statistic from 2004, but something tells me it won't have gone the other way since then.
And absolutely none of this is from racial profiling et al?
Also, don't take too much heed about the racism thing. It's mainly directed at Muslims, I think most of the anger directed towards them was the way a lot of them reacted after the Muhammed Cartoons.
But at least we aren't like the Spanish! Danes are only hateful against the Middle East, the Spaniards hate everyone who isn't Spanish. I live in Southern Spain, and you won't believe some of the shit we have to put up with.
Eh. You'd be surprised.
And that actually leads to an interesting (to me) question.
What parts of America did the Europeans who have visited see? NYC and DC are places I like to visit and they are similar in they are both world capitals (if you will), have some extreme wealth strata and are highly populated by people who have come to the city for its economic opportunity. There are some of the "bluest" (in our political language) places in the country. To me it seems like the places a visitor is most likely to travel to - NYC, DC, Boston, LA, SF, SD, Seattle, Philly, maybe Chicago - tend to be coastal, more educated, liberal, etc. I wonder what the "red states" look like to an outsider, whether the South or the sparsely populated Plains and West.
Also, how awesome is Boston. Wicked awesome?
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
It might be, who knows. All I know is everytime I'm in Denmark and I turn on the radio or watch the TV, there's always been a rape or murder with a suspect or criminal caught being of "another ethnic distinction". They never directly say Muslims or whatever, they're always careful to say that and I realise how the media like to pick on certain cases and that white people commit crime to and blah blah blah but Danish news aren't like Fox. We've basically got DR and TV2 News who are the equivalent of BBC and CNN/Sky News (although not nearly as international).
Like it or not, there's a serious problem. Partly it's our fault for not successfully integrating them when they first arrived, and partly it's their fault for not doing enough to integrate.
BTW Cristos, the reason loads of spaniards hate foreigners is because a lot of them settle in the south of spain and treat the natives like crap, expecting everyone to bow to them an do things their way.
It must be something that happens to Europeans and other white people?
Okay, that came out weird, but I think that's the case. I first came to the American South about six years ago, maybe a bit less, after living primarily in East Asia.
Not surprisingly, that was the first time I'd interacted with Black Americans in any major numbers (there were a handful in Yokohama, but most black people tended to be from south/western Africa, and even those were fairly rare). And to be completely honest, I have no complaints about politeness from black women here. Really, of any age group.
I do have a lot of complaints about white people--very specifically, adolescent white men--who have a minority of people who are very obnoxious if you have an accent (this pushed me towards learning a more neutral English). It's kind of hard to describe beyond "these kids have serious attitude problems" and "they clearly think their God's gift to this world". I think, however, this might be a Georgian thing. Perhaps my experiences with black women are also part of the Georgia culture.
When I came back to Georgia from service in 2008, it was particularly bad again, because I'd unintentionally lost a lot of my progress towards neutral English, and I ended up "getting lip" for my accent again, but it went away as soon as I got to Athens.
But to return to the point--no rudeness experience from black women. If I think very hard, I can think of one or two incidents of rudeness from strangers that would qualify, but it's still less than for white women. I say white women because there are very few women in this part of Georgia who are not white or black, and even then, it's staggered very heavily to the former. Maybe I've just experienced a unique circumstance, or maybe it's because I don't Caucasian European or American?
I am really far behind on American race relations, as you might have figured.
I came for the freedom. I stayed for the boobies and cheeseburgers.
Never once looked back.
These are fantastic reasons to stay. I know several places I make pilgrimages to just for the cheeseburgers.
Compared to other developing nations? Most of the elements of one's life are relatively constant across the first world. Some countries have mandated military service, and some have higher taxes... but for the most part you can get up in the morning, eat with your family, go to work, buy crap with the money you made at work, go to the movies, talk crap about the president, volunteer in the political process, have sex with whoever you want as long as they have pubes and are alive...
I come from Israel which, while no Saudi Arabia, is definitely a little limiting in lifestyle in some parts of the country. To me America is 'more free', but so are the other first world countries I've visited- Germany, France, etc.
Well, keep in mind that I'm a Kentuckian, so I have very different standards on what makes a "nice" pub than what you probably do. Around here I'll pretty much give a :^: to anyplace that's well-lit, has places to sit and you don't feel like you're going to end up in a fight before the night is over. Pool tables if you're really classy. A shitty bar (we don't even really have what I would call a 'pub') would be one that was either a haven for obnoxious frat boys (irritating) or if you're really unlucky and end up in the wrong part of town, gun-wielding rednecks (bad) or burly drug dealing bikers (fucked). So, as long as there's carpet on the floor instead of sawdust and the barstaff isn't composed exclusively of ex-cons, it feels pretty nice to me.
I'll also second that I liked Galway much better than Dublin. Relaxed atmosphere, easy to get around in, and not so much a rat-race like Dublin is. I also found the west Irish accent was much easier to understand than the Dublin accents I heard; for the first few days in Dublin I kept having to ask people to repeat themselves and I hate doing that. I think it's because a lot of our ancestors back home originally came from the western side of Ireland.
Also, speaking of accents, that was one thing I really liked about Ireland - people didn't give me shit for mine. I have a pretty thick accent and it was even thicker back then, and people in the US can be pretty openly condescending toward you if you have an accent like I do. In Ireland, though, we actually had people we were talking to compliment us on the way we talked; I guess we didn't sound like most of the Americans they were used to hearing.
EDIT: Also, rereading my message, I meant to say the Goose wasn't what I would call "posh", just... comfortable. At least compared to what I'm used to.
Yeah but one of the worst meals I ever had was an English hamburger. Good god how do you fuck that up?
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
So. What can she expect? How much of a culture shock is it going to be? Are there enough dual-language types that she can get by, or is she going to need a massive crash course?
She'll pick up the local language pretty quick when she has to start using it for pretty much everything. It really doesn't take as long as you'd think when you're completely immersed in it from sunup to sundown.
My brother complains about the fact that when living in an American suburb, your entire life is essentially already planned. There's no creativity. Where you go and hang out is already dictated. You go to the mall. Where you skate. What you do during the weekends. Who you hang out with. What clothes you wear. That you have to rent a limo for the prom. It's all inside this network of things someone already planned out for you by someone else in advance. He keeps saying that he feels sorry that there are so many American who grow up inside suburbia.
In many ways I agreed with him even though when I'm looking at Europe and America there's not too much difference. I mean, we still have planned neighborhoods and social stigmas and all of that in Europe, but...there's just this weird stigma surrounding life in America that's hard to put your finger on what exactly it is and what is causing it. So, I know exactly what my brother is talking about because I can also sense it, but we both can't really figure out exactly what's causing it. For some reason we feel more locked in as human beings here. It has nothing to do with wealth or freedom, really.
Do you know how long it's been since I had some decent falafel/shwarma? Or even bad falafel/shwarma?
I remember I was in this burger joint in Jerusalem last summer and we were sitting at the bar or whatever, talking to the cook, and these two girls from California, presumably Jewish but obviously not very devout, walked in and said, "CAN I JUST HAVE, LIKE, A CHEESEBURGER, WITH...". The cook didn't speak much English and he just looked at them like they'd tried to order fried rat or something, so my best friend and had to explain to these two Valley Girls, in our braying mid-Appalachian accents, "You cain't git a cheezeburgur here. You cain't mix yer dairy and meet products becaws it vilates one of the rules in the Talmud."
It was surreal, to say the least. I kept expecting Steve Martin to walk in or something.
I'm inclined to agree. If I had to criticize American suburbia, I'd say because much of it strikes me as a financially and environmentally unsustainable model of human existence, like a very mild version of Dubai, but on a scope on the order of magnitudes greater than anything else ever created. There are lots of cities all over the world that are extremely monotone and repetitive. I grew up in one.
One thing that greatly impressed me in America was the lack of mandatory military service for males. I was very impressed by this, especially given the military status of the country itself. Of course, I had to go back home for more than a year to do my service, so I'm biased.
It sucked, so I'm considering its absence a noteworthy freedom in America. Plus, it sucked in a sort of developing country, so....relevant, I think?