Well, I have been all the way to Western Denmark and back. The short study tours were a little bit crazy, ours in particular. I hear word that other tours were only in two towns during their three day study tour; we went to EIGHT. Needless to say, we spent a good deal of time on the bus being shuffled from one 45 minute long stop to another, but I'd have to say that our little Philosophy group had a better time than a lot of other tours. There weren't quite as many people on our tour as others, so we got a chance to get to know each other better, and though there were definately some little cliques, we spent most of our time with lots of different people.
The first ridicuously long day began around quarter to 7 am at the train station:













We immediately left for the Kierkegaard Path in Tisvidleleje, a town about an hour from Copenhagen. There was only 45 minutes scheduled for the stop, but the long hike took a bit longer than 30 minutes at 9 in the morning, so by the time we even got to the ridiculous rock we were supposed to see we were all tired and rushed. This is the rock. It marks a coast that Kierkegaard once mentioned in a journal entry. While the town was completley picturesque, the rock was maybe a little bit lame.
















From the rock, we went to the supposed site of Helene's Spring and Grave. I say supposed because it turns out that even if there was ever a Helene to begin with, she is definately not buried anywhere near there. After seeing the large rock marking the once famous grave, we walked to the beach, where we were forced to take the traditional DIS tour shot of Gammeldansk, the worst snaps thing you have ever tasted. It was strong. I don't think anyone really enjoyed it...its one of those liquors that has a very long lasting burn after you drink it. I hear the Danish tend to put it in things when they drink it...I can understand why.


























From Tisvildeleje, we went to Soro, to see the Gymnasium there. A gymnasium in Denmark is like the Junior/Senior years of high school, if you can translate the completely different educational systems at all. After Soro, we journeyed to the Pedersborg Church, where Kierkegaard's brother was once the bishop. Then we headed for Kalundborg, a very small town that happens to have a hostel. They also have one bar in the entire town, which we all went to. I think it would be safe to say that everyone had a great time, despite the locals laughing at us all evening.

The next morning at 7, we left for Syddansk Universitet, in Odense. It was large, and we didn't have any directions or even the names of people to contact. It was a little bit crazy. We attended two lectures, one on the Mohammed cartoons (from the Danish perspective - very enlightening), and one on television and culture. After lunch, we left for Vejen, to visit the small sculpture museum there. Most of the works there are by Niels Hansen Jacobsen, but there are some by Ejnar Nielsen and Anna Munch too.














I will try to update with some more pictures, and some more activities from our trip soon.