Denmark: Eurovision queen

I can't wait to book my ticket to Copenhagen!!! 

Last night Denmark conquered Europe on the motes of "Only teardrops", signing one more year of Scandinavian hegemony on the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC).

Since 1956, ESC sees singers from all over Europe (actually, an extended area that includes, among others, Israel and Azerbaijan) competing in a live show, in order to bring the contest in their home country the next year. This year, the show was hosted by Sweden, who won last edition with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen.

Eurovision Song Contest is a festival that gathers all sorts of music genres and performers and last night was no exception: we enjoyed fireworks, voiceless bimbos, folk music, lesbian kisses...

To be honest, although I voted for my home land (Italy) I was hoping on the success of Denmark and I really think she deserved to win. At least for the effort this nation puts in this contest: they have a whole national competition, called Melody Grand Prix, exclusively meant to choose their candidate and they have young singers able to sing in English! 

I must say, I appreciate that some countries decide to perform in their own language, but, then you should not pretend to get a score of any relevance. Italy, together with Hungary, Iceland and many Eastern European countries had this strategy and it apparently did not pay back.

Since I am in Denmark, this year I have been able to follow the whole contest, including the two semi-finals:; only 26 countries can take part into the final show: 20 of them through semi-final selection and 5 of them are lucky ducks, enough loaded to (literally) buy their way to the final, plus last year winner. This year, the "Big five" group included France, Spain, UK, Germany and Italy. I don't understand if it's because they have no money to host such a huge event (I'm talking about Italy and Spain), but, in my opinion, they really didn't put much effort in it. France and Spain ranked respectively 23rd and 25th (out of 26) and we let this speak for itself. Germany gave us the chance of a trip back to the 1990s and Italy gave us a glimpse of Metro-sexual macho (I liked the style but his eyebrows were so creepy!), but the boy can definitively sing. Anyway, the "I-don't-wanna-win" award goes to.....(drum roll) United Kingdom and the mummy of Bonnie Tyler that has been dusted off and botox injected here and there for the occasion. She was breathless after her performance...

With its high and lows, I really enjoyed last night show and I completely disagree with those saying that the competition was about the least bad song. The songs quality is improved very much since last year. Is the crisis closer to an end and countries see the possibility of including gazillions for the show in their budgets? We hope so! In the meantime, see you next year in Denmark :)

Did you like the show? Who did you cheer on and what did you think about the performances?

Let us know and    ♫ "how many times do we have to fight... only teardrops..." ♫

Danes on wheels

Denmark is known worldwide for its bicycles, in fact, Danes rides their bikes everywhere: to work, to school, to the grocery store, to take their kids to school, to the recycling station...
When I first moved to Denmark, I had no other choice to go around but to find a bicycle, but, it's not that simple when you are an exchange student. You don't speak the language so all those second-hand exchange webpage are pretty much off limits. If you manage to get the phone number of a 2nd hand bike seller, you might be unlucky and find out that that he/she is one of the few Danes that don't understand English. At a certain point you are desperate and willing to pay any price in order to not take the bus anymore (it's so expensive!).
My first bike costed me 600 danish crowns and it was definitively not worth it. But I fanlly I had a bike!
The next challenge was that of learning how to ride it. It wasn't my first time on a bike, but, it seemed to be: the seat was so tall (for my 1,60 mt. height) that anytime I had to stop I had to jump off, but, the main problem was to actually stop.
Here in Denmark, most bicycles have a funny break system: you don't have the two handles on the handlebar, but you have to turn the pedals backwards in order to slow down and, ultimately block the back wheel. That took quite some practice, but I can say it's not bad at all! To all the Danes this system is known as the most efficient: normal breaks won't survive more than one rainy/snowy winter and get rusty right away.
As the whole society, Danish bike traffic runs smoothly and precisely, because most (if not all) citizens carefully follow the rules: sign when you go right, sign when you stop, use lights, use helmets... Denmark is populated with a well disciplined army on two wheels.
Problems start arising when you add wheels. In fact, if Danes are wonderful cyclist, you can't say the same for their driving skills. I can't count the times I was standing at an intersection and felt sorry for some poor gearshift levers, tortured by reckless drivers (and, no, I'm not talking about women only).
I actually understand the challenges of driving a car in cities where bicycles are everywhere: Danish drivers are extremely respectful of bikes. Maybe because, if they hit a cyclist, they risk to lose their driving licence and they rather come to an informal agreement with him.
Of course, all I'm saying is a generalization of my personal experience and if I had to base it only on the past two weeks I would say that riding a bike in Denmark is hell!
The other week I was almost invested by a bus that, while I was driving straight through a crossroad, decided to overtake me and turn right. This week, instead, in the same day, I fell off my bike (because I was trying to avoid hitting the pavement, stopping and signing with my hands all at the same time) and risked to be invested by a postman on a moppet who probably had a bad day and decided to drive among bicycles waiting for the green light.
All in all, riding your bike in Denmark can be a deadly experience, that gets you a heart attack everytime you get out of the door or it can make you feel the most environment friendly and physically active person in the world.

What do you think about my experience on wheels? How is/was your experience of driving in Denmark? Are Danes super conscious or reckless drivers/cyclists?

Leave a comment on this post and have a nice day!