I’ve just arrived here in Copenhagen for the second time in as many months and it is just as wonderful and exciting as I remember. It’s been too long since I’ve had the chance to visit, to really settle in and get comfortable. In winter of 2014, at the end of my contract as a Peace Corps Volunteer leader, I had the opportunity to visit my brother, who was settling into his life here in Copenhagen. Now, two years later, it’s the middle of 2016, and here I am. Sitting in a room on Sankt Hans Torv, freshly returned from a visit to Berlin, and a fantastic two weeks in Poland at the EMGS summer school, overlooking the streets and rooftops of Norrebro and contemplating solidarity. What does it mean? What are the lessons we’ve learned as a society? As Europe pulls together, and the United States continues to fragment as the political scene heats up, I’m here studying the processes of globalization, the shrinking of our world and it’s connections. Here I am, longing for a bit of solidarity, as I prepare myself for integration into a new society, a new university, and a new adventure. Girding myself for the bureaucracy and frustration of registration and recognition in a foreign society.
I’d been pulled away after my first two weeks, but it’d been enough time to start to feel comfortable in the streets and feel of Copenhagen’s summer. Now as my mind started to settle into the idea of Copenhagen once more, there was another adventure and travel on the horizon. In just a few days we’ll head out to the airport, climb aboard a plane and head to Myanmar and Thailand. I’m certainly looking forward to it.
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